Study: Conservatives actively prefer wasteful tribalism

I neglected to blog about this when I first heard about it earlier this week, but an interesting and revealing (if not entirely surprising) new study seems to confirm that not only do more hardline conservatives care little about preserving the environment, they’ll actively go for the more wasteful and inefficient route in order to spite ’em some tree-huggerin’ librulz, even if it means paying more out of their own pocket for it:

A study out today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined attitudes about energy efficiency in liberals and conservatives, and found that promoting energy-efficient products and services on the basis of their environmental benefits actually turned conservatives off from picking them. The researchers first quizzed participants on how much they value various benefits of energy efficiency, including reducing carbon emissions, reducing foreign oil dependence, and reducing how much consumers pay for energy; cutting emissions appealed to conservatives the least.

The study then presented participants with a real-world choice: With a fixed amount of money in their wallet, respondents had to "buy" either an old-school light bulb or an efficient compact florescent bulb (CFL), the same kind Bachmann railed against. Both bulbs were labeled with basic hard data on their energy use, but without a translation of that into climate pros and cons. When the bulbs cost the same, and even when the CFL cost more, conservatives and liberals were equally likely to buy the efficient bulb. But slap a message on the CFL's packaging that says "Protect the Environment," and "we saw a significant drop-off in more politically moderates and conservatives choosing that option," said study author Dena Gromet, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

[…]

Gromet said she never expected the green message to motivate conservatives, but was surprised to find that it could in fact repel them from making a purchase even while they found other aspects, like saving cash on their power bills, attractive. The reason, she thinks, is that given the political polarization of the climate change debate, environmental activism is so frowned upon by those the right that they'll do anything to keep themselves distanced from it.

Congressman Barton: Biblical Flood means drill, baby, drill

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)

Renowned oil shill Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) presents a novel argument to support his view that the US should totally greenlight the Keystone pipeline because humans aren’t responsible for that pesky climate change, anyway:

Barton then cited the biblical Great Flood as an example of climate change not caused by man.

"I would point out that if you're a believer in in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change and that certainly wasn't because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy."

I believe I have a new one for PZ Myers: “Bible-thumping dingbats wouldn’t be in any position to influence public or environmental policy based on ancient fairy tales.”

Humans destroy yet another creature’s natural habitat

Farewell?

Bow your heads, hold hands and weep, for the age of personal hygiene and grooming has all but brought about the end for one of our most cherished fellow companions on this green Earth:

Pubic lice, the crab-shaped insects that have dwelled in human groins since the beginning of history, are disappearing. Doctors say bikini waxing may be the reason.

[…]

“Pubic grooming has led to a severe depletion of crab louse populations,” said Ian F. Burgess, a medical entomologist with Insect Research & Development Ltd. in Cambridge, England. “Add to that other aspects of body hair depilation, and you can see an environmental disaster in the making for this species.”

Of all the worst things that could happen …

(via Joe. My. God.)

Daily Blend: Monday, January 07, 2013

James Dobson

Most Transparent Administration In History^TM allowed to continue hiding every single detail about its drone war.

Dishonest like a Breitbart acolyte arguing against gun control.

Looks like the design & technology community also has its issues with subconscious bigotry … and knee-jerk twits who perpetuate it.
(via @pzmyers)

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson ^[pictured] laments: “Nearly everything I have stood for these past 35 years went down to defeat.” Coincidentally, my causes are only getting better!

Research indicates crime rates may be directly influenced by … leaded gasoline? First I’ve heard of this; while certain hazards increase risks of congenital defects, can they really have such a clear effect on complex adult behaviors decades later?

And finally, this is even more tragic than what’s happened to the History Channel:

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Fox News: Liberals want to indoctrinate your kids with green-themed videogames!

Today in Fox News hysterical anti-green teeth-gnashing: LIBERAL ACTIVISTS ARE BRAINWASHING YOUR KIDS WITH ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS VIDEOGAMES!!!11!

My transcript: (click the [+/-] to expand/collapse →)

[−]

The anchor (can’t identify him) starts off by declaring that the “green police [is] trying to reach your kids at home on the videogame systems”. He specifically names SimCity Societies [2007], where “kids have to build environmentally friendly towns or face a fine”, and asks if this is good education, or a part of the liberal agenda.

He then brings on L.A. radio host TJ McCormack, who immediately calls into question the “credibility” of any games that focus on social causes, especially those that use “scare tactics” and “guilt”. The host brings up different energy forms available to players in SC Societies, and McCormack claims that nuclear energy is “arguably the safest form of energy out there”. He also mentions the game Fate of the World and asserts that the game is wrong for trying to place responsibility for the world in the hands of the player, who could be five years old.

The host reads a defense of FotW from one of its designers and retorts by saying that “parents don’t really know what’s in these videogames” and that games (SC Societies mentioned) might be teaching kids “lessons that might not be something their parents want their kids to learn”.

McCormack then brings up the online McDonald’s Video game game as an example of “fear” and criticizes it for informing kids about the “slaughter” of animals and for supposedly portraying McDonald’s as an “evil corporation”.

The host asks if this all amounts to “liberal fear-mongering” or “indoctrination”, as “critics on the right” are saying about these games. McCormack claims the supposedly scare kids. He then attacks them for being “boring”, claiming one “teaches kids how to do a tag sale”, while the host agrees, sniping sarcastically, “TJ, what’s boring about building pipelines? I don’t get it.”

Could there possibly be a bigger ado about absolutely nothing? I know it’s Fox’s M.O. to make shit up about the most benign things in order to keep its base in continual fear of the big, scary liberal machine and whatever, but we’re talking about videogames. That parents, should they feel so inclined, can simply choose not to buy, thus sparing their precious little urchins from having their minds befouled by the evils of games teaching about the importance of taking care of the natural world. (Scary, I know.)

Personally, what most amused me in this sordid exchange was when they got all up in arms about how these games were supposedly going to be played by “five-year-olds”. Yes, because nothing appeals to teh children like spending dozens of hours watching a city slowly rise from the earth as a result of tedious socio-politico-fiscal micromanaging.

These people aren’t just wrong-minded and demagogues; they’re outright delusional.

(Full disclosure: I am a SimCity fanatic and have been loyal to the series ever since I first started playing it … when I was nine.)

Tags: Fox News • T.J. McCormack • SimCity Societies • Fate of the World • McDonald's Video game • McDonald's • for the children

Daily Blend: Monday, August 15, 2011

Former judge Mark Ciavarella

• Former judge ^[pictured] who unjustly locked kids up for money gets 28 years. Maybe he’ll follow the lead of those of his victims who took their own lives.
  (via The Agitator)

• Gallup: Obama approval rating reaches all-time low (39% for, 54% against). With all the far-Right wingnuts winning straw polls, I’m honestly starting to get a bit apprehensive, now.
  (via ThinkProgress)

• 15 animals you won’t believe aren’t photoshopped. (Keep Jen McCreight away from #1.)

• Here’s a kind of glass-strewn beach I’m actually okay with. (Not that we shouldn’t stop dumping our garbage in the oceans.)
  (via The Agitator)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Mark Ciavarella • Gallup • Barack Obama • Cracked.com • Glass Beach • MacKerricher State Park • pollution

Plenty more fish in the sea? No, not really …

The great David McCandless at Information is Beautiful has released an animated visualization of Atlantic fish stocks in 1900 and 2000. The results are even worse than I would’ve guessed:

It took me a moment to even realize there was still actually some yellow. You know, there. Along the East Coast. Squint, you’ll see it.

Of course, I’m sure such a decline won’t have any negative effects whatsoever … right?

Tags: ecology • fish • fishing • Atlantic Ocean

Daily Blend: Thursday, June 02, 2011

Mayor Sam Adams

• Thought so. Phil Plait and PZ Myers both debunk the latest World Health Organization report about a “possible” link between cellphones and brain cancer.

• Portland, Oregon Mayor Sam Adams [pictured] proposes increased transgender healthcare benefits.
  (via @jakiking)

• Republicans scoff and deride the fact that taxes actually are lower now than they were under President Reagan.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Several former world leaders calling for an overhaul of international drug policy. Incumbents unlikely to give a crap, of course.
  (via The Agitator)

• Aside from the obvious and typical church/state issue, why the hell is this Giles County, TN school giving a prayer at a kindergarten graduation?

• I, for one, am shocked to learn that Islamophobic whackjob Pam Geller hadn’t already been hired by the WND.
  (via Right Wing Watch)

• Awesome: Guy has MacBook stolen, uses secret tracking software to photograph the thief. Then blogs about it.
  (via The Agitator)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Supplemental tags: Kooks/Cranks • Computers • Cool

Daily Blend: Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Mess in abandoned Detroit crime lab [source]

• Shockingly, Detroit police chief who left a crime lab open to the elements and intruders [pictured], compromising evidence and sensitive information, will not be disciplined.
  (via The Agitator)

• Miami, Florida cops confiscate and destroy cellphones of witnesses who recorded police shootings.
  (via The Agitator)

• Same-sex civil unions begin in Illinois.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Vox Day: “[A]round 100” children dying from vaccine-preventable illnesses is not enough to warrant vaccinating despite minute risks.

• Planet Earth Doesn't Know How To Make It Any Clearer It Wants Everyone To Leave.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Sunday, March 13, 2011

Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) [source]

• House Republicans doing their best to gut the EPA from regulating pollutants. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) makes fools out of them.

• Corpus Christi, Texas school that banned all clubs to prevent a Gay-Straight Alliance club now temporarily letting them form after facing legal heat from the ACLU.

• House and Senate Republicans continue to focus on jobs … that is, their jobs of not doing anything remotely productive.
  (via Fark)

• Shocker: SEC probe into Lehman Brothers “has hit so many snags” that officials might never bring company executives to justice.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• While this doesn’t seem as thuggish as anti-union Rightists make it sound like, it certainly is somewhat disturbing.
  (via Fark)

• I decree that every single moron who claims the Japanese quake was retribution for the Pearl Harbor attacks be shot up into space.
  (via Pharyngula)

• Amazing amateur video footage of Japanese (Tokyo?) skyscrapers swaying after the Japanese quake.
  (via Fark)

• Abandoned trailer for Monsters, Inc. 2: Lost in Scaradise.
  (via Fark)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Supplemental tags: Monsters Inc. • Movies

Daily Blend: Saturday, October 09, 2010

Michael Caine

• Civil and military scientists finally find possible answer to the massive honeybee die-off in recent years.
  (via The Daily Grail)

• ATHEISTS WILL KILL YOU ALL AND EAT YOUR BABIES!!!11!
  (via @PaulFidalgo)

• State or federal, it makes no difference: Wherever you look, too many prosecutors are incompetent and dishonest. And the courts want to give them absolute immunity?

• Unexpected good news: Bank of America indefinitely halts all foreclosures across the US, forcing others to do the same, giving clients a few weeks of breathing room.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Dr. Michael Mann, climatologist constantly targeted by anti-science witch hunts from Virginia’s crank Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, speaks out in the Washington Post: “[T]hey want to continue a 20-year assault on climate research, questioning basic science and promoting doubt where there is none.”
  (via @BadAstronomer)

• Muslim father whines that his daughter swims with both boys and girls at school. Token stupid quote: “Anyone's religious beliefs should be respected.” No, they bloody well should not. If your beliefs are stupid, irrational and detrimental, such as in this case, then they must and will be derided.
  (via @religionnews)

• American People Hire High-Powered Lobbyist To Push Interests In Congress. The Onion can be cruelly right sometimes.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Fox News, where all the relevant, hard-hitting questions are … replaced by this shit. (10/18 questions devoted to bashing Obama.)
  (via @todayspolitics)

Massive sea-life kill reported in Louisiana

Take a look at this photo, below. Three guesses what it is you’re looking at. (Hint: It ain’t some gravel road.)

That’s a southern Louisiana waterway in Plaquemines Parish, west of the Mississippi River. It’s also completely covered in dead fish and various other species of sea life, such as crabs, stingrays and eels. There was even a whale, reportedly.

Now, to be fair, it’s not yet sure how much of this can be blamed on the BP spill in the Gulf, though it likely accounts for at least some part of it. Large fish kills like this are actually a rather common phenomenon in the area thanks to “dead zones” where lower oxygen levels lead to widespread die-offs. The causes behind these lifeless zones are varied and mostly unknown, though naturally, human activity through the spread of toxic chemicals and waste are likely suspects.

Daily Blend: Friday, September 10, 2010

Binyam Mohamed [source: The Guardian]

Pop quiz: What’s more fun than having your computer glitch up and erase your (long-ass) post? Answer: Sending it plummeting three storeys out the window. Oh, I wanna.

• Take Action: Sign this petition by CREDO Action demanding that Bill Klesse, CEO of Valero Energy Corp., stop funding California’s Prop 23, which would reverse the state’s historic anti-global warming legislation AB-32.

• Binyam Mohamed [pictured], who was imprisoned and allegedly tortured at Gitmo for four years before being released, now cannot sue the CIA due to “national security concerns”. Because admitting you’re torturing innocents is, of course, damaging to more than your image as a supposedly morally superior country.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Follow-Up: Washington court of appeals put a hold on Judge Royce Lamberth’s ruling that blocked expansion of stem cell research.
  (via @BreakingNews)

• Gay Catholic mass in Britain. No, not a rainbow-colored neoplasm with bad teeth. Stereotypes FTW.
  (via Berenice Uden)

• 14-year-old science- and philosophy-loving atheist’s parents only let him read evangelical Christian books. Richard Wade’s advice: Screw that, head to the Internet and read all the science and philosophy you want. I wholeheartedly approve.

• Bears repeating: The GOP is owned and controlled by corporations.

• Terrifying lede: “Sheriffs in North Carolina want access to state computer records identifying anyone with prescriptions for powerful painkillers and other controlled substances.” Orwell, call your office already.
  (via The Agitator)

• The silly humor hides the sober truth.

A few petitions for you to sign (and help change the world!)

[source: Petition to Microsoft]

For the purpose of meeting today’s slacktivism quota, here are four petitions that I command you to sign. Yes, command, or else nothing gets done, dangit!

01: Save Girls from Female Genital Cutting

Sponsor: CARE
Goal: To demand that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton do all she can to urge countries practicing FGM to stop this vile practice.
Signatures: 21,860/25,000

Anywhere from “100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide” have had their genitals mutilated as a result of monstrous cultural practices rooted in misogynistic patriarchies, with millions more suffering through this ordeal every year. But you don’t need me to tell you about the inhumanity of such acts – you’re already well aware of it and have already opened the petition to sign it, haven’t you?

02: Tell the Senate: Keep Reducing Our Nuclear Arsenal

Sponsor: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Goal: Demand that U.S. senators ratify the new START treaty
Signatures: 6,647/7,500

Because the world could always use less weapons of mass destruction. (For U.S. residents only.)

03: Hey Glenn Beck: Stop Spreading Lies About Global Warming

Sponsor: League of Conservation Voters
Goal: Tell Glenn Beck to stop lying about Global Warming and clean energy
Signatures: 23,886/25,000

Because the world could always use less of Glenn Beck and his bullshit. Go forth and flood his inbox.

Daily Blend: Thursday, September 02, 2010

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) [source: 2012 Obama]

• Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour ^[pictured] (R) distorts history in claiming that Democrats opposed he Civil Rights Act of ’64.

• 50 Yahoo! Answers fails. Some of these are almost certainly just trolls; the scary thought is that most probably aren’t.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Democrats are looking increasingly screwed this November, no thanks to a White House that not only refuses to fight but also ignores and even dismisses its base.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Meet Jonathan Lee Riches, the world’s most litigious inmate. Nutter.
  (via @wikileaks)

• Fox News being Fox News, displays a graph comparing the costs of the Iraq War with the stimulus bill based on outdated estimates and cherry-picked data.

Daily Blend: Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Lt. Dan Choi [source: SDGLN.com]

Please, won’t someone drop by and knock my cat out? I love the stupid thing too much to do it, but my ears are about to burst if she doesn’t shut up soon.

• The World’s 13 Most Stunning Bridges. Not if it doesn’t include the Golden Gate, I say.

• Lt. Dan Choi ^[pictured], outspoken gay soldier against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, discharged from the Army National Guard. Whilst this is as unjust and sad as any other homosexual soldier being kicked out under DADT, it really was plain stupid of him to actually out himself on national television. What chances could he possibly have left then, when he so very publicly “told”?
  (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

• Finally, a sure-fire way to get conservatives to accept manmade climate change: Increasingly failed crop yields throughout Mexico may force millions of Mexicans to migrate into the US.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Sarah Palin candidly (or unwittingly) admits that she quit from Governor of Alaska mostly because of that darned media and its habit of poking around and uncovering her falsehoods.

• When Buildings Come Alive: Welcome to urban projection mapping.
  (via The Agitator)

• Moving story by PersonalFailure about the hypocrisy of pro-lifers (and why I never call them by such a misleading title – they are anti-abortionists and absolutely nothing more).

• Save the Gulf Oil Spill pets!

• Reckless Stupidity of the Day: Federal biologists release thousands of endangered baby sea turtles into western Gulf of Mexico in hopes that BP will have cleaned up oil spill by the time the turtles reach the now-affected areas.
  (via The Daily Grail)

• Real-life drowning people are much more still, quiet and helpless than Hollywood would have you believe.
  (via The Daily Grail)

• How much of your viewership is Black? MSNBC: 19.3% (145K/751K) | CNN: 20.7% (134K/648K) | Fox “News”: 1.38% (29K/2,102K). No surprises there.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Tennessee Republican gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, joining in with an intolerant crowd complaining about plans to build a local mosque: “Not sure” if Freedom of Religion also applies to Islam and Muslims as theirs is less a faith and more a “cult”.
  (via @todayspolitics)

As always, if you have any story suggestions, feel free to send them in.

Tags: bridges • Dan Choi • Don't Ask, Don't Tell • DADT • Mexico • agriculture • Sarah Palin • urban projection • pro-life • anti-abortionists • children • hypocrisy • Louisiana • pets • BP Oil Spill • Gulf of Mexico • sea turtles • drowning • Black people • MSNBC • CNN • Fox News • Tennessee • Ron Ramsey • Islam • Muslims • mosques

Daily Blend: Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) [source: The Confluence]

• “[The unemployed] are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities.” — Ben Stein, himself currently unemployed after caught participating in a credit scam. Don’t let him near mirrors.

• Are those Taliban-trained monkey soldiers for real? … Well, no, stupid.

• Sen. David Vitter ^[pictured] (R-Louisiana) first insults Rachel Maddow’s femininity, then offers a half-assed apology.

• Jay Bybee, one of the authors behind the torture memos that authorized the systematic abuse of Gitmo detainees, wants you to know that he’s really, really sorry … that he is facing criticism for his amoral and illegal actions.

• Better late than never: Mississippi’s Itawamba County School District – home of the Constance McMillen affair – finally agrees to change their backwards policy and bans anti-gay discrimination.

• Professional-grade douchebag Andrew Breitbart gets innocent US Dept. of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod fired with false claims of “reverse racism” gleaned from a dishonestly edited video.
  (via The Agitator)

• Your chance to redesign the BP logo! Here’s my favorite.
  (via The Agitator)

• Okay, I just can’t beat Akinator. Can you? (Note – I eventually won out with “Mischa Lecter”.)

• Gainesville, Florida bans “ladies’ nights” in bars because they apparently violate the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance. As a workaround, several bars begin “shaved leg night” and “high heel night” and oh, dear.
  (via Fark)

• So you’re an EMT who stood by and let a pregnant woman die during his coffee break? Karma’s a bitch.
  (via Fark)

• Media Matters on Glenn “context matters” Beck’s long history of quote-mining.

As always, if you have any story suggestions, feel free to send them in.

Tags: Ben Stein • unemployed • jobless • Taliban • monkeys • David Vitter • Rachel Maddow • bigotry • Jay Bybee • torture memos • Itawamba County School District • Mississippi • Constance McMillen • Andrew Breitbart • Shirley Sherrod • racism • reverse racism • BP • BP Oil Spill • Akinator • Gainesville, Florida • discrimination • bars • ladies' night • karma • Media Matters • Glenn Beck • quote-mining

Daily Blend: Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Beneath the placidly smiling face, the heart of a monster

• Remember that innocuous, imperfect Declaration on Religion in Public Life put together during the last Copenhagen atheist convention? It just sent Ken Ham into a delusional little paranoid fit. Laughter and exasperation ensue.

• Freedom of the Press wins out: Coast Guard finally removes ban prohibiting reporters and photographers from documenting the oil spill.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki ^[pictured] calls for the death of Molly Norris, the cartoonist who originally launched “Draw Muhammad Day” before withdrawing from the event for (ironically enough) safety reasons. Or, in which my anger at the Obama’s administration efforts to find and eliminate Awlaki just lost some (though not all) of its edge.

• Prominent Moscow art curators who set up an art exhibit satirizing the legal censorship of blasphemous art face 3-year jail sentences for setting up art exhibit featuring blasphemous art. Update: Both have been found guilty but received hefty fines without any accompanying jail time.

• So, if you’re an skeptic/atheist, are you a warrior or a diplomat? Personally, I’m really quite casual about it all and my attitude (ie. level of respect) towards others is determined by their own attitudes and actions, not what they believe in. As far as I’m concerned, believe in whatever the hell you want, just as long as you aren’t demonstrably harming anyone else in the process. In which case, the invective machine revs up with a wrathful roar.

• Fox “News” again trots out the 2008-era smear that Obama wants to teach sex to kindergarteners. What, run out of new fabricated smears?

• Just fucking don’t and shut up about it.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Yet another alleged terrorist at Gitmo is found innocent of all charges and released.
  (via @washingtonpost)

• The US’s current political choice: Nerds who can’t communicate vs. sociopaths who refuse to let anyone else have the country.
  (via @todayspolitics)

As always, if you have any story suggestions, feel free to send them in.

Tags: atheists • secularism • Ken Ham • Christian Persecution Complex • Freedom of the Press • BP Oil Spill • Coast Guard • First Amendment • Anwar al-Awlaki • Molly Norris • terrorism • Draw Muhammad Day • blasphemy laws • Yuri Samodurov • Andrei Yerofeyev • Barack Obama • lies • gay marriage • abortion • drugs • sex • hypocrisy • Gitmo • Democrats • Republicans • USA

Daily Blend: Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Ashlea Monigatti (16) Obviously, the very personification of “fat chick”, no?

God, I’m lonely. … Oh, right, I’m supposed to be tough. Um … yarr!

• Thug cop Jeff Overcash from Fort Lauderdale PD harangues a man for rolling his eyes at Overcash following an idiotic display of bravado, then later arrests the man when he tries to file a complaint.

• New study shows that voters are influenced less by analysis of candidates’ policies and (much) more by how charismatic they are. Truly a ground-breaking revelation, that.

• You really gotta wonder how Christians claim to know so much about Heaven and Hell if they’ve never been there (and never will).

• Schadenfreudelicious: Australian (Anti)Vaccination Network gets its ass chewed out by a governmental investigation, formally labeled as an antivaccination group and ordered to openly declare their antivax leanings whenever trying to spread (mis)information. Goddamn, that’s gotta hurt.

• The United States is divided by God – literally.

• There are two types of TMIs (Too Much Information): Either it’s private and improper to share, or it’s just pointless beyond human comprehension.

• A sizeable collection of the BP oil spill photos you the government doesn’t want you to see.
  (via @BPGlobalPR)

• Fox “News” legal analyst Andrew Napolitano went on with Ralph Nader and openly said that there’s “overwhelming” evidence that what Bush, Cheney & co. “participated in criminal conspiracies” that were “blatantly unconstitutional” and that they “absolutely should have been indicted”. Man with dead contract walking.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• 16-year-old Ashlea Monigatti ^[pictured] disqualified from Australia’s Next Top Model for being “too big” at 32-24-34 and goddamn she’s fucking gorgeous. Or, why I support finding anyone who supports these stupid shows and slapping them.
  (via Fark)

• Pahrump, Nevada sheriff’s attempt to charge a district attorney accused of diverting public funds goes slightly awry when the DA refuses to charge himself with any crimes. No, not making that up.
  (via Fark)

• 6 Things From History Everyone Pictures Incorrectly. Features blinding pyramids, feathery lizards and Chinesus.
  (via Fark)

• Why, I’ll bet Barry even has the gall to actually fall asleep at night. How dare he rest on his laurels so!
  (via Fark)

• When they retire, most people play cards or watch boring TV shows. This man built his own freaking personal subway. PWNed.
  (via Fark)

• In the midst of California’s new pertussis/whooping cough epidemic, the logical way to protect your 5½-month-old daughter is with proper vaccination herbs, homeopathy and chiropractic.
  (via Fark)

As always, if you have any story suggestions, feel free to send them in.

Tags: police • Jeff Overcash • law enforcement • sociology • psychology • voting • politics • Christians • Christianity • Heaven • Hell • Australian Vaccination Network • schadenfreude • USA • God • Wikipedia • toilet paper • BP Oil Spill • disasters • tragedies • Andrew Napolitano • Bush administration • Ashlea Monigatti • Australia's Next Top Model • modeling • Pahrump, Nevada • Tony De Meo • Robert Beckett • Cracked.com • subways • metros

Daily Blend: Thursday, July 08, 2010

BP board game box art

• When does “slave trade” become “Atlantic triangular trade”? When the Texas Board of Education says so, is when. For fuck’s sake.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• A happy story of a woman who gained a new face after 7/7 London terror attacks.
  (via The Agitator)

• Single mother of two with leukemia had her medical insurance coverage terminated (briefly) when insurer claimed she had underpaid her premium – by ¢1. Literally. A fucking penny. But, noo, the system’s just fiiine as it is, isn’t it, Rethuglicans?
  (via @todayspolitics)

• The Chicago public library commissioner, Mary A Dempsey, smacks down a previous idiotic Fox News report that claimed how public libraries are a “waste of tax money” and ought to be “on the way out”. Taking particular issue with the Fox report claiming that the clientele were focused on the free computers, not the bookshelves: “Your 'undercover cameras' shots were taken in a series of stacks devoted to bound periodicals used for reference. Next time, try looking at the circulating collections throughout the building.”

• Uninformed Creationist claims that “Darwinists” never criticize the sophistication and efficiency of the human brain. Allow PZ Myers to explain just how, despite its abilities that still defy human understanding in their awesomeness, the brain also has a multitude of harsh limitations that we could really do without, imperfections that arose as a result, not of intelligent design, but of a biological imperative for long-term survival.

• The BP Board Game. … No, seriously. BP made a board game ^[pictured]. About oil rigs. With “hazard cards” that resulted in spills. “Blow-out! Rig damaged. Oil slick clean-up costs. Pay $1million.” Oh, if only. If only.

• Lolwut?
  (via Diaphanitas)

• Food for thought about money for power: The average Japanese CEO has less than one-sixth the salary of the average American CEO. Not exactly surprising, given how some cultures still have a sense of shame.
  (via @todayspolitics)

As always, if you have any story suggestions, feel free to send them in.

Tags: Texas Board of Education • slavery • slave trade • history revisionism • wingnuts • Davinia Turrell • facial reconstruction • London bombings • health insurance • douchebaggery • libraries • anti-intellectualism • Mary A Dempsey • Evolution • Creationists • PZ Myers • neurology • brain • BP • board games • irony • lolwut • humor • Japan • United States • CEO salaries