Daily Blend: 05/13/13

I’m usually proud of my country, but less so when my government decides to sell out science. ^[pictured] (Doesn’t all research eventually lead to “social or economic gain”?)

So much for the idea that dropping from the blogosphere will remove Jen McCreight from the focus of obsessed slimeballs. How brazenly douchey does one have to be to lecture someone about safety whilst deliberately exposing their location?

It’s sad when a silly screed against “liberals” is too inane to even be worth fisking for the lulz.
(via Right Wing Watch)

And finally, I am reaffirmed in my belief that babies are freaking weird.

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

Daily Blend: 05/01/13

Kiera Wilmot

How the hell can it be this hot this early in the year? This can’t bode well.

Animal liberation activists in Milan, Italy, heroically sabotage years’ worth of mental health research by releasing scared and helpless lab animals that cannot survive on their own.
(via Pharyngula)

Who made the “bad choices” here: the model high-schooler ^[pictured] who created a tiny pop in a bottle by mixing chemicals in an experiment* (To be fair, not generally a good [or safe] idea unless you know what you’re doing, which it didn’t sound like she did), or the dumbass school and police officials who got her expelled, arrested and are dragging her to court for “possession/discharge of a weapon”?
(via @radleybalko)

• Better yet: The school then respond to criticism by declaring that “there are consequences to actions”. Indeed, and those consequences are that students will refrain from ever exhibiting any curiosity or scientific interest at Florida’s Bartow High School in order to avoid violating their ridiculous zero-tolerance policy.
  (via Pharyngula)

Wait, hydrogen peroxide doesn’t work? Dammit, Cracked, stop exploding my beliefs.

And finally, happy decaversary to MythBusting! Even though I only started watching in 2005 (“Steel Toe-Cap Amputation, Bottle Rocket Blast-Off”)
(via @MythBusters; RT: @JamieNoTweet)

Today in bad Christianist analogies: Homosexuality vs. adultery

The unquestioned masters of horrible analogies are at it again: Here’s a delightfully nauseating video (in both style and substance) from Christianist group Faith2Action that tries to show why homosexuality is wrong … by comparing it to adultery:

My transcript (yes, you may feel sorry for me now):

TOM and his WIFE are seated on their couch. Both are overweight; Tom is neckbearded.^[1]

TOM: What I’m trying to say is … I have these desires, these … urges … and if I don’t act on them, I’m not really being true to myself.^[2] You love me, right?

WIFE: Of course I love you, Tom!

TOM: If you love me, you’ll support what I do, who I am! I’m … an adulterer!

Tom turns towards his MISTRESS, seated aside him and with whom he’s holding hands. (Not sure how his wife didn’t notice her.) Mistress is even more overweight and is clad in a glitzy purple top and necklace(s?), heavy makeup and sports a gaudy hairstyle.^[3]

TOM: Wow, that felt so good to say out loud!

MISTRESS: I am so proud of you for finally coming out!^[4]

TOM: [to wife] Well? Aren’t you proud of me?

WIFE: I, um …

TOM: Huh, I’m feeling a bit judged, here! Aren’t we, honey?^[5]

Donald Trump totes burns “overrated” JEW Jon Stewart

Presented for your enjoyment:

I promise you that I'm much smarter than Jonathan Leibowitz - I mean Jon Stewart @thedailyshow. Who, by the way, is totally overrated.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2013

I imagine The Donald being a failed high school class president candidate who pompously demands that everyone else respect his Very Smart Opinions^TM while everyone else, teacher included, don’t even bother to hide their laughter.

(via Wonkette)

Daily Blend: 04/15/13

Gitmo

My thoughts and hopes go to Boston, MA today. How utterly senseless.

Alternate lede: “Sure, Gitmo detainees ^[pictured] were captured without charges and illegally imprisoned far away from home for many years with zero due process … but hey, they get to enjoy books and videogames (in between all that sleep deprivation and waterboarding)!”
(via @ggreenwald)

In response to UK’s current measles epidemic, The Independent gives platform to discredited quack responsible for modern anti-vaccination movement. (They later retracted the article.)

Canadian feminist becomes latest target of those compassionate, “human rights”-oriented Men’s Rights Activists.

And finally, here’s what religion has done for us this month:

Transcript: (click the [+/-] to open/close →)

[−]

Massive Islamic protests in Bangladesh calling for the hanging of “blasphemous” bloggers;

The New Zealand Herald: “Beheadings in Papua New Guinea for sorcery”;

Five Jerusalem women arrested for violating Israeli law by praying out loud in public, which ultra-orthodox men find “provocative”;

The Guardian: “Muslim Brotherhood backlash against UN declaration on women rights”;

Hamas in Gaza Strip orders genderal segregation in all schools;

BBC News: “Kenya condom advert pulled after religious complaints”;

French man Wilfred de Bruijn assaulted and beaten for walking with his boyfriend in public;

Large anti-gay protests in Paris, France against pending same-sex marriage legislation;

Gay Star News: “Gay man ‘stoned to death’ in Somalia”;

Senior pastor Bertheophilus M. Bailey Sr. at Claremore, OK’s Mount Zion Baptist Church charged with punching his son in the face;

WHNT.com: “Former Franklin County Pastor Charged With Sexual Torture, Abuse”;

Teacher at Pleasanton, CA’s Centerpointe Christian Preschool ties up two-year-old girl for refusing to nap;

The Times: “Priest accused of sexual abuse at West Sussex children’s home”;

Indiana megachurch pastor Jack Schapp fired and jailed for molesting troubled 16-year-old girl across state lines;

BBC News: “Ex-priest Patrick McCabe sentenced for child abuse”;

Pastor Artelino Vallada at Toronto, CA’s Jesus Christ the Open Door Church charged with sexually assaulting four girls and women;

Irish Central: “Irish Priest accused of sexual abuse pleads with Pope Francis not to be dismissed from Church”;

Police confiscate computers from priest’s home after tracing downloads of child porn to his parish offices;

RTE News: “South African cardinal says paedophilia 'not a criminal condition'” [Which it isn’t. Child molestation is. Get it right, people. —JM]

Priest Angel Perez of Woodburn, OR’s Saint Luke Catholic Church accused of molesting 12-year-old boy;

al.com: “Former Wetumpka youth pastor sentenced to 10 years in prison in sexual abuse of child”;

Rev. David Kramer jailed for molesting young boys in US and Australia;

PostBulletin.com: “Oregon priest gets 6 years for child sex abuse”;

Associate pastor Darin Evans at Elmhurst, IL’s West Suburban Community Church imprisoned for having sex with an underaged girl in public spaces;

PressTV: “Austrian former priest charged with sexual abuse of minors”;

Rev. James Burnett of Mokena, IL’s Saint Mary’s Parish accused of molesting several young boys in his care; diocese accused of knowingly sheltering crooked priests;

Pink News: “Cardinal O’Brien alleged to have been in long-standing physical relationship with male priest”;

North Carolina Republican lawmakers propose bill to establish state religion (bill has since failed);

Oneindia: “Rajasthan: Video reveals family commits suicide to meet god”; and

Woman at church asks worshipers give “$100”, “$1,000” or “$150,000” if they can.

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

Houston restaurant’s beer sales pitch: domestic violence humor!

Snark fails me: Why would anyone, anywhere, ever think this was a good idea?

No, really. I understand the concept of no publicity being bad publicity and all that, but … really?

Some people are weird in a very frightening way.

(via ThinkProgress)

Local man debunks evolution, sets sights on gravity next

In which local Californian paper Contra Costa Times prints this cogent and thorough debunking of Evolutionary Theory:

Evolution is a fantasy

Jayne Thomas, in her March 29 letter, "Evolution is not a 'viewpoint'," is right in insisting evolution isn't a viewpoint.

The fantasy, not theory, of evolution supposedly works by survival of the fittest. Fittest for what?
Fittest to survive? So evolution merely asserts that those who survive, survive.

My friend, God, nearly laughed his head off when he heard that one.

Raphael Sealey

Berkeley

To be fair, anyone who still has imaginary friends is probably going to believe some pretty dumb things, anyway.

(via Friendly Atheist)

Is this how celebrities destroy their reputation?

Justin Bieber

I guess I’m a disbelieber now, too:

Yesterday night Justin Bieber visited the Anne Frank House, together with his friends and guards. Fans were waiting outside to see a glimpse of him. He stayed more than an hour in the museum. In our guestbook he wrote: "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber."

Yeah … if only she hadn’t been too busy hiding from a genocidal regime to fantasize about the teen pop sensation du jour.

(I was, of course, only joking with that title – it’s offenses like getting drunk at home or false accusations that ruin celebrities, not merely being so egocentric that they presumably sleep with plushies of themselves.)

(via Pharyngula)

Daily Blend: 04/12/13

Audrie Pott (15)

Understatement of the Day: “It turns out that the Obama administration has not been honest about who the CIA has been targeting with drones in Pakistan.”
(via @ggreenwald)

I just don’t have the patience (or stomach) today to write about the horrific Kermit Gosnell case, other than to affirm how it’s the perfect argument for why abortion should be fully legalized and easily accessible to ensure women never need to resort to such barbarity out of desperation.

Ditto with Vox Day’s predictably pathetic rant about how pro-choicers are all worse than Nazis and so on.

Another teenaged girl ^[pictured] commits suicide to escape persecution resulting from the publicization of her student gang-rape. Now to watch the rape-culture-soaked media fret over those poor arrested rapists. (Again.)
(via Pharyngula)

Appeals court denies Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli’s petition to bring back anti-sodomy law.
(via Joe. My. God.)

Uruguay becomes latest country to legalize same-sex marriage.

And finally, Cracked presents some popular online myths, revised for accuracy.

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

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.”

Daily Blend: 04/09/13

Rehtaeh Parsons

Another teenaged rape victim ^[pictured] falls victim to rape culture and takes her own life.

Today in pearl-clutching hilarity: Exposing the top “facilitators” of the US’s “porn pandemic”, including Google Play and the American Library Association! (Also: Bonus video featuring Morality in Media’s resident porn-awareness girl scout.)

Westboro Baptist Church to complete Roger Ebert’s awesome legacy.
(via Joe. My. God.)

And finally, I break my practice of ignoring such things by pointing out that the US Interior Department’s Instagram gallery is chock-full of fuckin’ awesomeness like this:
(via BuzzFeed)

[source | full size (607×600)]

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

Daily Blend: 03/31/13 – Happy Zombie Jesus Day

There’s something especially hideous about sentencing someone to complete surgical paralysis for a crime they committed as a juvenile a decade ago. (From a US-supported “allied” country, no less.)
(via @tomgara; RT: @ggreenwald)

Cracked has a very solid and informative piece explaining how the causes and nature of gun violence are never as simple as we make them out to be.

I am shocked, just as I assume you will be, to learn that the much-ballyhooed “college student suspended for refusing to stomp on Jesus!” story isn’t actually what the wingnuts claim it is.

And finally, while I find it odd that Google chose to celebrate Cesar Chavez over Easter, it’s hilarious how utterly incensed the Christianist-Right is getting over it. Gawd forbid a secular company not celebrate their cherished religious holiday!

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

Vox Day asks some (dumb) questions about feminism

Vox Day

Amidst reiterating his usual claim that feminists are literally worse than Nazis (because most of them promote abortion rights, and terminating pre-viability fetuses that can’t feel or think is obviously worse than murdering millions of mature adults), Theodore “Vox Day” Beale then presents one of his critics with the following query:

[T]he statement [that feminists demand that women be immune from any legal repercussions for any breaches of contract, theft, and murder] not only is true, but it can be easily defended. There is no reconciliation necessary to defend it because it is based on straightforward observation. I direct the following questions to A. Man.

1. Did American women not demand, and do they not presently possess, the right to break marital contracts at will?
2. Have feminists not defended the right of women to kill men who abuse them?
3. Does the feminist definition of abuse include non-physical abuse?
4. Have feminists called for ban on actions that make a woman feel uncomfortable?

And so, partly to break the tedium of spending all day coaxing recalcitrant audio mixing software into working properly, here I go:

1. Wait – that’s a bad thing? Forget for a moment about Vox’s apparent wish of stripping women of the right to extract themselves from abusive or loveless unions; the ideals of personal liberty and bodily autonomy alone – which, as a self-professed libertarian, Vox should take particularly to heart – require that people have the right to enter or leave any relationship as they see fit. (Or are women so inferior to the Great Purveyors of XY Chromosomes^TM that some fundamental freedoms are just too good for them?)

   Furthermore, how does giving women the right to file for divorce somehow equate to allowing them to break any other contract at will? And when has any feminist ever demanded such a thing? That’s an impressive hybrid of strawman and non-sequitur right there.

2. What a ridiculously loaded and overbroad statement. It would certainly help to know what the hell he’s on about; but ravings from fringe-dwelling nuts on street corners aside, no, feminists most certainly do not request the right to murder anyone they see fit, except in extreme cases of self-defense (an exception that applies to anyone, not just abused women).

3. No, Vox, that’s the standard definition of abuse, as employed by anyone, anywhere, ever. Look, it’s in the dictionary and everything:

Teacher offends high-schoolers with talk of vaginas and weather

Tim McDaniel

In today’s edition of what’s wrong with the US education system:

A Dietrich[, Idaho] science teacher is being investigated by the state’s professional standards commission after a complaint from parents over his teaching methods.

Tim McDaniel is being investigated after a complaint was filed by a handful of parents who objected to how McDaniel taught the reproductive system, Dietrich Superintendent Neil Hollingshead said.

Ooh, looks like we’ve got ourselves a pervert on our hands! Okay, so what did the miscreant do? What unwholesome, inappropriate, child-endangering teachings were forced upon his cherubic audience?

According to McDaniel, four parents were offended that he explained the biology of an orgasm and included the word “vagina” during his lesson on the human reproductive system in a tenth-grade biology course.

Oh, the deviant! What other unwholesome things did this fetishist do to those poor, defenseless young’uns?

According to a letter from the Idaho State Department of Education to McDaniel, the allegations also include that he shared confidential student files with an individual other than their parents, showed a video clip in class depicting an infection of genital herpes, taught different forms of birth control and told inappropriate jokes in class.

[…]

According to McDaniel, the commission is also investigating a complaint that accuses him of using school property to promote a political candidate. The complaint was because he showed the climate change film “An Inconvenient Truth,” also in his science class.

McDaniel said he includes the film to spark a discussion on climate change among the students. After watching the film, he asks students to write a response paper explaining their thoughts on climate change.

So he’s a political activist to boot! (Never mind that Al Gore hasn’t been in any elections in 13 years. That’s just no-good facts-talk.)

Daily Blend: 03/26/13

Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R-ND)

Applying for an internship/apprenticeship/something at a ranch tomorrow! Wish me luck. (Or a broken leg. However it goes these days.)

North Dakota Gov. Dalrymple (R) ^[pictured] signs law banning abortion at six weeks, presumably planning emergency fund for inevitable court loss. Wonder if he’ll also enact the even worse “personhood” law.
(via @BreakingNews)

Berlin-based company confirms their “atheist”-branded packages take significantly longer to reach their destinations, when they don’t go missing altogether. Looks like the US Postal Service has some explaining to do.

Oh, look, it’s another boilerplate, evidence-free diatribe about how “[m]ilitant atheism has become a religion”. (Hemant Mehta tears it apart, as does PZ Myers.)
(via @religionnews)

Vox Day: Egalitarians are “inferior beings” (because some of them sometimes make crude jokes on the Internet).

And finally, here’s the trippiest damn water spiral you’ll’ve ever did seen (more info here):

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

Daily Blend: 03/20/13

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

Happy tenth anniversary to the clusterfuck in Iraq and the spoon-fed lies that got the US populace to go along with it.

Another underage victim blamed for being raped by football players. Some people are just fucking sick.

Why is it that so many of those in charge of laws pertaining to computers and the Internet are absolute morons about computers and the Internet? (Though, to be fair, Rep. Gohmert (R-TX) ^[pictured] is usually wrong about everything.)

Another day, another blatantly dishonest global-warming-denying article from a renowned crank in a Daily Mail-associated tabloid.

I’m really embarrassed by fellow progressives’ penchant for nanny statism at times. Is it really that hard to commit to the ideal of personal freedom even if it means allowing people to make unhealthy choices?

Faithlessness is healthy and growing in Canada.

More of that Christian Love^TM, this time in Nova Scotia, Canada.

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

Vox Day: Indian rapes the fault of feminism and too many men

Vox Day

Here’s Theodore “Vox Day” Beale’s predictably charming take on reports that sexual crime appears to be getting worse in India. Guess who gets the blame (if not the actual criminals, of course):

Note that the problem in India is actually getting considerably worse despite the advance of sexual equality in Indian society that the feminists believe will solve everything. As we've learned to expect, feminism wreaks societal devastation even in the process of supposedly offering a means of improvement. In this case, it is the pro-abortion position that is leading to more rapes in India.

"According to the decennial Indian census, the sex ratio in the 0-6 age group in India went from 104.0 males per 100 females in 1981, to 105.8 in 1991, to 107.8 in 2001, to 109.4 in 2011. The ratio is significantly higher in certain states such as Punjab and Haryana (126.1 and 122.0, as of 2001)."

Damn those evil Westerners and their pro-women, abortion-promulgating ways!

I am curious to know, though, if Vox has any mechanism to propose – any at all – that would explain how or why a barely perceptible increase in men over the last few decades should excuse, justify, or even explain coherently, the sudden spike in sexual violence against women. Do they all just release excess testosterone into the air, which combines with greenhouse gases to drive male libidos upwards whilst ratcheting down their moral standards?

Or better yet, why do some people insist on twisting all sense and reason in order to blame biology for what is inherently a behavioral problem caused by a culture wrought with regressive sexual attitudes resulting from lacking education and insufficient law enforcement?

But leave it to Vox to find the silver lining:

The world is quite fortunate that India's excess male population appears to be inclined to occupy itself in pursuit of gang rape, considering that the more customary outlet is foreign invasion.

Yes, a (presumably, if not always evidently) thinking and feeling human being actually wrote that. The mind boggles.

You know, I have a hypothesis for why so few of Vox’s critics bother to refute him anymore – they’re just too goddamned embarrassed to share the same taxonomic classification as this glorified neanderthal to be able to stomach his revolting spiel for any amount of time. (Lucky for SIWOTI-afflicted masochists like yours truly, I suppose.)

Daily Blend: Monday, March 11, 2013

Duane Gish

Win for liberty: New York Supreme Court blocks New York City’s ban on large sugary drinks, which was to enter effect tomorrow.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

Condescending asshole tries so desperately hard to make the case that the skeptical movement is actually a religion-in-disguise for condescending assholes. It was less annoyingly tedious to sit through Al Stefanelli’s “atheist cult” tirade.
(via The Daily Grail)

There’s a special irony to seeing Vox Day, who’s spent the last several months smearing John Scalzi as “McRapey” over his own bizarre misunderstanding, accuse Scalzi of exhibiting “juvenile behavior”.

Duane Gish ^[pictured], shameless Creationist liar famous for the popularizing the “Gish Gallop” style of “debating”, has died at 92.

And finally, just the thing to top off a Monday:
(via @EmergencyPuppy)

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

Ray Comfort “detests religion”

Ray Comfort

Noted preachy Christianist Ray Comfort apparently takes exception to being called by his proper label:

Call me ugly, stupid, short, weird, an idiot, or just plain ignorant. Call me anything you want, but please, oh please, don't call me "religious."

I detest religion. It has caused multiple and tragic wars throughout history. It comes in second, after atheistic communism which is responsible for more than 100 million deaths.^{[Myth A17]} I'm pleased to say that I don't have a religious bone in my body. I don't believe that anyone can obtain eternal life by being religious, or by doing religious works (what are often called "good works"). I am a sinner, saved from damnation by the grace and mercy of God, and I am proud to be called a "Christian" because I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I believe that eternal life is a free gift of God that comes through sincere repentance towards the God we have offended and trust alone in the Savior, as taught by the Scriptures.

Um …

re·li·gion [ri-lij-uhn]
noun
1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.

Sorry, Ray, but just as reluctant self-styled agnostics can’t reasonably (or accurately) declare they hold no positive belief in any deities whilst rejecting the label of “atheist”, Bible-thumping Godbots who devote their lives to (literally) preaching their pet faith don’t get to avoid the mantle of “religious”, least of all due to some sort of guilt by association. It’s also somewhat perplexing for you to claim a distinction between being granted eternal (after)life by “being religious” and by being “a follower of Jesus Christ” and putting your faith in scripture.

The dictionary (an actual higher power!) hath spoken on this one.

Daily Blend: Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Jon Stewart

A sad reminder that liberals/progressives can be racist idiots, too.

Is there any climate-change-denialist argument (read: lie) that doesn’t invariably boil down to blatantly cherry-picking data?
(via @BadAstronomer)

While reading this breathtaking(ly bizarre and repugnant) homage to North Korea, try to keep in mind that it is not from The Onion.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

And finally, Jon Stewart ^[pictured] to take three-month hiatus from The Daily Show (which will be babysat by John Oliver) to direct his first feature film.
(via @ebertchicago)

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