A petition for equality in the atheism/skepticism community

I don’t often plug petitions, given the general futility of these things (good intentions are no substitute for effectiveness), but there’s one floating around that I think absolutely merits signing and sharing as widely as possible in the hopes of focusing our push-back against all the sexist assholery that’s been dividing the once-concerted atheo-skeptic movement:

We, the undersigned, are atheists, skeptics and nonbelievers who value free speech and rational thought and who seek to build a strong, thriving movement that can advocate effectively for these values. We've chosen to put our names to this petition because we want to respond to a video created by a blogger calling himself Thunderfoot. In this video, Thunderfoot attacks named individuals who've been active in promoting diversity and fighting sexism and harassment in our movement. He describes these people as "whiners" and "ultra-PC professional victims" who are "dripp[ing] poison" into the secular community, and urges conference organizers to shun and ignore them.

We hold this and similar complaints from other individuals to be seriously misguided, false in their particulars and harmful to the atheist community as a whole, and we want to set the record straight. We wish to clarify that Thunderfoot and those like him don't speak for us or represent us, and to state our unequivocal support for the following goals:

We support making the atheist movement more diverse and inclusive. […]

We support strong, sensible anti-harassment policies at our gatherings. […]

We support the people in our community who've been the target of bullying, harassment and threats. […]

To put a stop to this bad behavior once and for all, we need to change the culture of the atheist movement so that sexism isn't condoned or defended, just as racism and homophobia aren't condoned or defended. We're grateful to the leaders of the movement who've spoken out against harassment, and we encourage all atheists and skeptics, regardless of their influence or prominence, to do likewise.

See? This is how mature, reasonable adults carry a discussion about sensitive issues: No demands that opponents be banned or censored; no hatred or vitriol towards people with differing opinions; no blatant dishonesty and misrepresentations of anyone’s arguments or attempts to rewrite the record; and no thinly veiled threats against their livelihoods or persons. Just a community coming together in the spirit of reason, fairness and equality in order to accomplish what is obviously and undeniably the right thing to do.

There’s already some impressive names in the list of signatories, and 308 people (and climbing fast) have added theirs as of this posting. I don’t think it’ll be difficult to bump that number up past the required 730 minimum before day’s end, do you? This is an international effort, so there’s really no reason not to add your mark right now.

(via @jennifurret)

Send her to college and save young minds from imprisonment

Jennifer from Charlotte, North Carolina had an unfortunate beginning. She hails from a Quiverfull homestead where her devout parents homeschooled and brainwashed her and her six younger sibling into believing a woman’s role in life was to be a baby-dispensing homemaker and little more. Thankfully, she was lucky enough to see the light and left as a young adult keen on trying to recapture the years of proper schooling that had been withheld from her. Naturally, her parents are refusing any and all support, including the mere act of signing her FAFSA, effectively turning her into an outcast.

There is hope, however. Jennifer has a plan: ^{[lightly edited for formatting]}

If I were to finish college and get a degree, I would first help my 6 younger siblings (specifically the two girls) to also find a way out and get on their feet and go to school.

Then, I would love to create a safe-house where children of religious homeschooling families can come to improve their lives and future and have hope.
From struggling with poverty, to being unable to get a job without a resume or employment history, and often a substandard education; the children of the Quiverfull movement have extreme challenges to overcome. A home like this would be a safe platform for them to transition into the world without being abandoned to struggle. Many of their parents wish this difficulty for their children, saying it will cause them to return and be content with the party line. I want to create a buffer for the pain parents cause when they shun and disinherit their children for religious reasons.
Because there are more of us every day, and so much pain and heartache.

I know that this is possible and I know that my education and success will pave the way for me to help others.
That is how I want to change the world.

She’s applying for a scholarship from WyzAnt, which uses popular vote to determine who gets their funding. Voting is incredibly easy – no registration or personal information of any kind is required – so do her (and the countless kids she may help free from religious indoctrination) a favor and endorse her, as I and 5,856 others (as of this writing) already have. The more, the merrier.

(via The Words on What…)

Daily Blend: Friday, September 07, 2012

Bill Donohue

Right-wing pundits everywhere wish to remind you they’re a bunch of lying sexist idiots.

Meanwhile, Bill Donohue ^[pictured] would like to remind you that he’s still a disgusting child-sexual-abuse-excusing jackass.

Petition to replace Columbus Day with Armstrong Day!

And finally, it would appear that the Disqus CAPTCHAs on this blog aren’t exactly language-sensitive.

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

Tags: Sandra Fluke • sexists • misogyny • misogynists • birth control • contraception • Todd Kincannon • Ann Coulter • Dana Loesch • Michelle Malkin • Michael Berry • Chris Barron • Jonah Goldberg • S.E. Cupp • Bill Donohue • The Catholic League • Sean Ratigan • Robert Finn • Catholic Priests • clerical child abuse • Columbus Day • Armstrong Day • Neil Armstrong • Christopher Columbus • Indians • Native Americans • Disqus • CAPTCHA

Daily Blend: Monday, April 23, 2012

Chuck Colson

Isn’t it actually a compliment when homophobes equate gays with the Devil? It’s like saying they’re so big and scary, they make God himself crap his pants.

Obama administration launches official Stop Bullying website.
(via Joe. My. God.)

Watergate felon-turned-anti-gay preacher Chuck Colson ^[pictured] dies at 82. Why, God, why? … not years ago?

Today in conservative asshattery: comparing the outrage over Romney sticking his terrified pooch on top of his car for a 12-hour road trip with the trumped-up nonsense over how President Obama once tasted dog meat as a child in Indonesia. Is there really no pseudo-scandal too abjectly pathetic for the Right to harp on?

Victory!: American Airlines plans to show interview with antivaccination crank Meryl Dorey. Skeptics everywhere roar, threaten boycott. AmAir backs down.

Jon Stewart brushes off the Catholic League’s inane boycott, which Bill Donohue’s ego interprets as a sign that he’s “getting to” Stewart.

This awesome fan-art raises a very important question: Where’s the Harry Potter animated TV series?!
(via @KyellGold)

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

Tags: StopBullying.gov • Stop Bullying • Obama administration • Chuck Colson • conservatives • Rightists • Tom Sexton • Big Journalism • Barack Obama • dog meat • Dreams from My Father • Mitt Romney • dogs • American Airlines • Meryl Dorey • Jon Stewart • The Daily Show • vagina mangers • Bill Donohue • Catholic League • boycotts • Harry Potter • fan art • Tristyn Pease

Daily Blend: Friday, October 21, 2011

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

• Marine veteran enters VA health clinic, gets subjected to three-hour-long homophobic rant from Christianist nurse. Do sign the petition to get that asshole fired.
  (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

• Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) entire New Hampshire campaign staff abandons ship.
  (via Right Wing Watch)

• The Denialist’s Rule: Science deniers must be equal parts stupid and dishonest.

• Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) cancels income inequality speech after learning it would be open to the public. ’Cause what’s the point of public speaking if you can’t fill the audience with sycophants?
  (via Right Wing Watch)

• Good point: If homosexuality is a choice, then “choosing not to be gay” inherently implies that heterosexuality is also a choice. Ha!

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

Tags: Esther Garatie • Lincy Pandithurai • Christianists • Michele Bachmann • New Hampshire • Global Warming • Richard Muller • quote-mining • Eric Cantor • income inequality • Dan Savage • homosexuality • heterosexuality • sexual orientation

Help out a fellow exposer of religious insanity?

I don’t usually do this sort of thing, but perhaps due to the lateness of the hour or simply because it’s an important issue, I feel I must ask for your help in rectifying an injustice. Consider it a shameless plug for a good cause.

Many of you who follow generally atheistic and anti-religious blogs will undoubtedly have seen more than a few videos of Christianist nuts doing what they do best, all caught on tape for the world at large to see and mock (or, oftentimes, feel both bewildered and terrified). One of the most proficient producers of these vids is the eponymous blogger at On Knees for Jesus, who regularly posts evidence of Christianity’s amazing mind-rotting capabilities. His material has been reposted far and wide, including here. (Though, I could’ve sworn I’ve posted more than one, but I can’t find any others. Eh.)

Now, naturally, there’s a number of risks that come with the territory of tirelessly exposing influential whackjobs, and for the longest time, OKfJ has been playing hopscotch over at YouTube when one account after another gets terminated due to his videos being repeatedly flagged for copyright violation (a favorite tack of censorial bigots’, made especially irritating by YouTube’s apparent policy of “delete first, ignore later”) and “hate speech” – which is especially laughable and ironic, given how his videos are nothing more than segments showing the raving deluded spout their spiel in their own words. In effect, Christianist zealots are flagging their own material as “hate speech”. The irony would be delicious if it weren’t totally lost on them … and if it didn’t come with such frustrating consequences for those who take the time and effort to post these videos.

And now, yet another of OKfJ’s accounts – the fourth, in fact – has been terminated for the usual reasons. OKfJ is understandably rather upset at this point:

Youtube account terminated again (fourth time)

very stressed out

no donations in last three months
can't type properly.

Stay tuned to see what I do

He has previously expressed how difficult it is to constantly reupload his videos every time he’s forced to start a new account. So, here’s where you come in, folks.

What the guy needs is support, in any way it can be offered to him, so go and make the justice fairy proud. Leave comments encouraging him to go on. Give advice on how to deal with the free-speech-hating trolls that keep knocking his videos down. Send suggestions for other video hosting sites that take the Fair Use doctrine more seriously. And most of all, if you have the ability, please dig around in your coin tray and offer whatever loose change you can for the cause (via PayPal). Consider it financial motivation to keep on exposing the cheaters and the bigots, the dangerous kooks and the deluded weirdos, the generally insane Liars for Jesus^TM.

His is an important voice in the community, and we cannot afford to lose him over the petty thuggery of those who cannot abide criticism. Help never goes unappreciated by those who deserve it.

Tags: OnKneesforJesus • On Knees for Jesus • YouTube • Christians • Christianists

Daily Blend: Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Dennis Markuze (aka David Mabus)

• ACT NOW: Sign this petition to get Montréal police to finally act against deranged fucknut Dennis Markuze ^[pictured] (aka David Mabus). (SPVM is finally scrambling. About goddamn time.)

• Sen. Kris Jordan (R-OH) on being accused of domestic violence: “She got a little upset. Girls do that.” (PersonalFailure at Forever in Hell has more.)
  (via ThinkProgress)

• Surprise: Ghanaian Christian church proposes “gay deconversion therapy” centers. They’ll have plenty of victims patients to choose from, what with the pool of arrestees.
  (via Joe. My. God.)

• Anonymous offshoot now Facebook.

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

Tags: Dennis Markuze • David Mabus • SPVM • Kris Jordan • Melissa Jordan • misogyny • domestic abuse • Ghana • Presbyterian Church of Ghana • Presbyterian Church • ex-gay • Anonymous • Facebook • vandalism • criminals • hackers • hacking

Florida sheriff’s outrageous persecution of atheist activist

EllenBeth Wachs

If these events transpired as reported, then this is beyond outrageous and well into criminal [original emphasis and links]:

Religious freedom is under attack in this country. Nowhere is this attack more defined than the malicious persecution of EllenBeth Wachs by Polk County, Florida, Sheriff Grady Judd.

EllenBeth, an activist for the separation of church and state, had, earlier this year, challenged Sheriff Judd, an outspoken evangelical Christian, over the illegal transfer of taxpayer property to local churches, which he had orchestrated in a politically motivated public relations stunt.

Additionally, she discovered, through her Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to Sheriff Judd, that Judd had illegally used his sheriff department’s credit card and other taxpayer resources for this purpose.

In retaliation over a dozen of Sheriff Judd’s deputies, in SWAT tactical gear, descended on EllenBeth’s home in March. She was arrested on felony charges, jailed, her home searched and personal items and documents seized. Why? Because EllenBeth, a retired attorney, had used the letters “Esq.” (an honorific used by both practicing and retired attorneys) after her name on those FOIA requests to the sheriff.

Sheriff Grady Judd

Among the items that deputies took in the search were incriminating documents sent by a sheriff’s department employee in response to EllenBeth’s FOIA requests. Moreover, the search included rummaging through areas that had nothing to do with the practice of law: searching her underwear drawer, her medical supplies, turning over her bed mattress, looking under chair cushions, probing into her cars as well as into her employees’ cars and purses, while holding them at gunpoint.

Then again in May, she was dragged from her home, arrested and jailed, including a week of solitary confinement, on another trumped up felony charge based on a neighbor’s alleged report that he had heard a sexual sound coming from the privacy of her home 48 days prior.

EllenBeth currently faces the possibility of years in prison. Most incredulously, no one has ever been arrested, charged, let alone convicted on the allegations that have been leveled at her in these charges.

Clearly, EllenBeth has been maliciously persecuted for standing up against the sheriff in her campaign to secure her -- and our -- religious freedoms.

Daily Blend: Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Bradlee Dean

• As fear-mongering continues, US crime rates keep sinking across the board.
  (via The Agitator)

• You know the preacher [pictured] invited to give an opening prayer at a state legislature is a bigoted asshole when the Republican who invited him publicly apologizes for it right after.

• Debunking the idiotic “you don’t need privacy if you’ve got nothing to hide” canard.
  (via The Daily Grail)

• Better sign this anti-US-Internet-blacklist petition, just case Congress really is stupid and craven enough to pass it.

• 6 Civil War Myths Everyone Believes (That Are Total B.S.)

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

North Carolina’s “legal rape” problem

If it’s not “yes”, it’s “no” [source | full size (300×324)]

What constitutes rape? Any form of sexual contact with another person without their explicit and knowing consent.

Finding someone walking alone in a dark alley and forcing them into sex is rape.

Getting someone to have sex with you when they’re too drunk or otherwise affected by drugs to fully understand what’s happening is rape.

Trying to have sex with someone who either doesn’t outright say “yes” or who explicitly says “no” is rape.

Unwanted sex is rape. You’d think this was a simple enough concept to understand. North Carolina courts apparently don’t think so.

If you begin having sex in the great state of North Carolina, want to stop, and your partner forcibly restrains you to continue having intercourse, well, you should have made up your mind beforehand. Once you've initially consented to the act, you relinquish the right to your own body, according to a 1979 state Supreme Court ruling: "no rape has occurred though the victim later withdraws consent during the same act of intercourse." If your partner ignores your pleas to get off you or causes physical injury to keep you from leaving, that's still just not rape.

In effect, this is a court decision legalizing rape.

It’s commonly accepted that most people are horndogs who will happily get hot & bothered any chance they get (not just men, despite the popular stereotype), but this biological notion also comes with the moral responsibility of self-control. Unless your partner lets you know, in no uncertain terms, that the sexual act to come is approved, then you cannot and must not try to drag them into it, regardless of how much you want it. Even if your partner originally wanted it and now wishes for the act to end as it’s underway, whether you’re just beginning or nearly done, it is your responsibility, as a moral being, to end it at once and let your partner be. It doesn’t matter how, when or why he/she says no – just stop. It’s really not that hard. (Plus, you would think the fact that your partner is in obvious distress would be an effective boner-kill for most people to begin with.)

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.