After a bitchslap to gays in Maine, disappointment shifts to New York

The state of New York has been battling to legalize gay marriage for a while now, and until recently all signs were positive that LGBT people in that state people would finally be allowed to wed regardless of gender or sexual identity. Sadly, however, the gay marriage bill was rejected.

Naturally, you can count on the usual cranks to be cumming in their pants at the news:

"This is an enormous victory," said Maggie Gallagher, the leader of the anti-gay marriage group, National Organization for Marriage. "What you saw was the will of the people. ... The culture really hasn't shifted on gay marriage."

And, also naturally, she is wrong on every count. Three throws, three strikes. First, it’s not an “enormous” event; it’s merely delaying the inevitable by a year or a few, as far as I’m concerned (not to minimize how disappointing it is that it was rejected just now, though). Second, considering this little bit …

New York is one of the most politically liberal states in the country. Recent polls showed a majority of New York voters favor allowing same-sex couples to marry, but one poll showed the public evenly split.

… it’s therefore obvious that this was definitely not the “will of the people”, either, if every poll but one (therefore minimizing, if not eliminating, the possibility of poll bias and other incongruity) showed that the majority of “people” were all for legalizing same-sex marriage. And thirdly, considering how four out of five states that currently support gay marriage legalized it within a single year, I’m pretty sure that constitutes rather clear evidence to indicate that the “will of the people” and “culture” really has shifted on gay marriage.

And, for all those fools who proclaim that civil unions (which are legal in New York, thankfully) are “good enough” and that there is no discrimination being done in refusing gays the right to wed:

Gay rights lobby group the Empire State Pride Agenda said marriage would have entitled gay couples to 1,324 rights — from tax to adoption benefits — that otherwise would be denied.

But, of course, anti-gay marriage bigots will continue to press on about how there’s no difference between marriage and civil unions. Which, of course, raises two obvious questions: why ignore all the evidence that says otherwise? And, if there truly is “no difference”, then: A) why not use civil unions for heterosexual couples?, B) why not allow marriage for same-sex couples, and C) why keep the two as separate notions when they’re so very similar, eh? Just goes to show how bigot logic never really works.

The fight isn’t over (of course); the new focus is now New Jersey, where the Democratic-controlled state legislature, headed by Gov. Jon Corzine (who, defeated in a recent election, is set to leave office in January), is planning to take on the issue. People had better hurry, though, seeing as while Corzine himself stated he would happily sign a same-sex marriage bill, the newly elected Republican Governor Chris Christie will just as happily veto it. Huh, I almost didn’t see that coming. From a thousand miles away. Through a cement wall.

Technorati tags: gay marriage · same-sex marriage · New York

The “I Exist” support group lacks an attendee

Guess what I was thinking as I watched this commercial for Diet Dr. Pepper (blech). I’ll even wager two cents we’re all thinking the same thing.

All together, now: 3 … 2 … 1 …

There’s someone missing in that group.

(via Friendly Atheist)

Birds can be snarky, too

Birds are such a notoriously impolite, uncivilized bunch. The scallywags crap on your car, create an infernal racket outside your window at 6 AM that leaves you wishing you had a shotgun nearby, and … uh … can’t think of any other transgressions. But, be careful not to tell them how they piss you off, or they’ll just give you a piece of their collective mind:

[Click for full size]

Whatever your inclination is, don’t respond in kind, or you’ll probably end up taking a bird crap shower. Ze basterds.

(via Fark.com)
Technorati tags: animals · rudeness · birds

Stupid Quote of the Day: The Earth, she can’t be moved, see

Responding (in his usual sleazy way) to a skeptic who points out how the Bible proclaims that the Earth is “firm” and “immovable” and is therefore at fault as it implies the planet is fixed in space (ever heard of orbit?), Ray “Bananaman/Crocoduck” Comfort spouts more hilarious blogging fodder:

So let’s look closely at what the above verses actually say:

"He has fixed the earth firm, immovable."
"Thou hast fixed the earth immovable ..."
"He has fixed the earth firm, immovable ..."

The Bible says that the earth is immovable. It cannot be moved. So now is your chance to prove your point. Run outside and move the earth. Perhaps you and your friends could jump on it, or find a rocky outcrop and push it together.

Maybe after that little experiment you will concede that the earth is immovable.

You know, sometimes I really, honestly, wonder if he truly is being intentionally thick. Because a small part of my brain simply refuses to believe that anyone can really be that stupid. But, hope wanes.

It’s rather obvious that when the Bible refers to the Earth, it’s not talking about some rock, or a piece or part of the land, but “Earth” itself. Which, thanks to modern knowledge, we now know is a planet. So, the Bible is referring to planet Earth itself, that blue-and-white marble floating around in space on its elliptical orbit. Comfort’s derisory deflection about “pushing on a rocky outcrop” and whatever is pure willful dumbassery. It just has to be.

That, and, apparently, Comfort has never heard of such things as earthquakes, volcanoes, sinkholes, landslides, and so on – you know, all those natural (ie. “God-made”, surely) geological events that demonstrate, with rather chilling clarity, how the Earth is anything but “firm” and “immovable”. (I’d mention plate tectonics, but then, Creationists don’t believe in those, do they? Even though we can precisely calculate the ongoing separation between plates, a process that shifts entire continents by anything from 1 to 10 centimeters per year.)

One amazing picture, two lines of thought

As I stare at this incredible photo of a charging tiger, two thoughts come to mind simultaneously. The first is, predictably enough, “WOW” …

[Click for full size]

… and the second is, perhaps equally predictably, “What the hell kind of insane lunatic-of-a-photographer places himself in a position for a shot like that?!”.

Worked, though – guy’s safe and now has a crazy pic to add to his collection.

(via Fark.com)
Technorati tags: tigers · photography

People you really wanna punch in the face

There are all people whom you’d like to smack around a bit (or, for some, knock their heads off with a shovel). Cracked.com has the list of the top 7 inventors you’ve probably never even heard of, yet whose legacy makes you squirm, seethe and grow more and more prone to kicking your dog and kitty each day. Some examples …

#7. Mitch Bainwol, Head of the RIAA

The Man

Mitch Bainwol is the current CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Christ, do we even need to finish this entry? You've probably heard all you need to hear.

The Crime

The following scenario is brought to you by Mitch Bainwol:

After receiving an email from that unofficial Miley Cyrus fanclub message board that you're way too old to be signed up for, you find out that her new album has leaked to the Internet a month early. You can barely sit still as you joyfully count the seconds away to torrent download completion and pure unadulterated teen-pop magic. A few days later, you get another email that goes something like this:

Dear Anonymous Internet User,
Please give us $3,000 for that Miley Cyrus album you downloaded or we will end your shit.
XOXOXO,
The RIAA

[…]

#5.Ronald A. Katz, Inventor of the Automated Call Center

The Man

Ronald A. Katz is an innovator in the field of automated call center technology. That sentence alone should be hint enough that he's worthy of a shot to the grill, but we'll go on. His inventions are varied, ranging from moderately useful (toll free numbers, computer telephone integration units) to mostly ineffective (voice recognition systems).

But he also invented something else, something so nefarious that, if he happened to be in the room while you were using it, you'd very likely throttle his windpipe without so much as a second thought about the possible consequences.

Continuing from my last …

Thinking about arguments^[1] nonsense used against Evolution by Creationists, I remembered this brilliant “reply” (well, sorta) to their constant reuse of that “Evolution-violates-2^nd-Law-of-Thermodynamics” idiocy and just had to post it here. A thousand lulzes.

[Click for full size]

[1] ’Cause you just can’t call them that.

Technorati tags: Evolution · Creationists · Second Law of Thermodynamics · demotivational posters

Science vs. Faith: a chart of differences

If this doesn’t explain the scientific method with perfect clarity, along with demonstrating the unbridgeable chasm that separates science from faith, I dunno what does.

[Click for full size]

Absolutely.

Technorati tags: science · religion · faith

Dysfunctionality | “Levels of Wrongness”

This entry has been removed from Preliator and can now be found over at Creativitas. (See here for more info.)

My first eBay auction!

Several years ago, I won a little drawing contest and earned myself an authentic, autographed Ben Cahoon (Montréal Alouettes slotback) jersey (size medium). I kept it as the collectible that it is (read: my mother kept it, wisely not trusting me with its safekeeping) and today, it’s brand-spankin’ new, never worn or used. Not a crinkle in the cloth. =) So, of course, I’ve put it up for auction at eBay, hoping to score myself a decent wad of cash to buy myself my first laptop … or a new motherboard for my current computer.

Here’s my beauty:

[See the eBay auction here]

Go and make me rich! Right here! Now!! $_$ (Marvel at my photographic skillz while you’re at it.)

Auction’ll be open for ten whole days. Considering it was originally valued at over $3,000 (or so the contest presenter who gave it to me claimed), I think a starting price of $50 is more than fair enough. Hee.

Technorati tags: Joé McKen · auctions · eBay · Ben Cahoon · football · sports

Sean “Hacking-eMails-is-bad-except-when-it-suits-my-needs” Hannity

The Daily Kos has caught Hannity being a hypocrite when it comes to the hacking of private eMails. Just over a year ago, he was all upset and pissed when someone hacked Sarah Palin’s eMail account and agreed with Karl Rove when he said that the one(s) responsible should be “throw[n] under the bus”, because he “believe[s] in privacy”. And yet, when a hacker breaks into a climate research institution’s servers and leaks thousands of confidential, private eMails across the Web that plays directly into Hannity’s Anthropogenic Global Warming denialism …

Granted, catching Hannity being a hypocrite is “about as difficult as catching Sean Hannity being an idiot”, as Ed Brayton notes, but it’s still telling of the far-right-wing mentality: we’re all for it when it affects our rivals.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
Technorati tags: Sean Hannity · hacking · eMails · Sarah Palin · hypocrisy · Climategate

Republican tactical flowchart

Republicans have plenty of people to blame for their screw-ups – just not themselves, of course. Here’s a handy little guide for the cornered, answer-seeking Republican:

It seems to be missing Liberals, moderate Republicans, and China.

(via @todayspolitics)
Technorati tags: Republicans · flowcharts · humor · politics