The Top 10 (Most Inane) Anti-Christian Acts of 2012

The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, that one-man operation run by Gary Cass, is back with its annual collection of the very worst “anti-Christian acts” as chosen by poll respondents. Given that last year’s list didn’t include one single genuine act of anti-Christian discrimination that existed outside of the far-Right blogosphere, instead consisting mostly of Christianists whinging about having their privilege challenged, is there any hope this year’s iteration will include actual cases of actual bigotry or oppression against God’s Gentle People^TM?

(Spoiler alert: No.)

10. Target took a controversial and anti-family stand when it decided to support homosexual activist groups with the proceeds from a collection of “gay pride” T-shirts sold by Target. They decided to do so even after voters throughout the country, including just recently in North Carolina, have taken a stand against homosexual marriage. But, instead of allowing its customers to voice concerns, Target has decided to block emails.

ZOMG! A privately-owned corporation chose a stance they don’t like and then ignored their whiny protests! Obviously, that can only mean Target is in bed with Satan on the ghey issue. And that guff about voters turning down gay marriage is all the more brazenly (yet predictably) dishonest in light of the numerous pro-marriage-equality victories that swept the nation last November (which, last I checked, is much more “just recently” than last May’s North Carolina gay marriage ban).

9. The “chief diversity officer” of Gallaudet University, Dr. Angela McCaskill, was placed on paid leave and faced punishment and the possibility of loosing her job simply for signing a bill that asks for the issue to be put up for a vote so Maryland citizens can decide whether to accept or reject the redefinition of marriage.

Weaselly spin aside, this does appear to have been a bona fide case of administrative overreach. I can’t comment on the legality of McCaskill’s suspension as I don’t know what non-discrimination laws come into play, here, but it seems that she was protected by the First Amendment in signing that (ultimately fruitless) anti-gay petition and was eventually allowed to return to her post. No word on the apparent contradiction in having a “diversity officer” who doesn’t believe a large faction of the students in her charge should have the right to marry the ones they love after they graduate.

8. A group of peaceful demonstrators were recently assaulted in Little Rock, Arkansas during a rally against Obama-care and it’s abortion mandate. Thankfully this was all caught on camera, along with the man’s license plate number. But the police were slow to act, and seemingly had no interest in finding the aggressor

Daily Blend: Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Whitney Kropp

Antivaccinationists can revel in their latest victory as a record-shattering outbreak of pertussis (whooping cough) sweeps through the United States. 14 are already dead, most “among infants younger than 3 months of age”.
(via Rob F)

Today’s crack Daily Caller exposé: Retired military official posts his opinions about government corruption on the Internet! Also, he likes Keith Olbermann, so he’s obviously a hostile operative.

“Carrie with a happy ending” ^[pictured]: Michigan high school full of losers trumped by small farm town full of awesome.

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

Tags: pertussis • whooping cough • antivaccinationists • antivaccination • Daily Caller • Mike Russell • Keith Olbermann • Whitney Kropp • West Branch, MI

Daily Blend: Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Pres. Barack Obama

Quick notes: Firstly, in correspondence with both popular (or so) demand and my increasing weariness, I shall henceforth relegate most doggycide incidents to Daily Blend mentions and reserve individual posts to only the more brazen gob-smacking cases. Secondly, I’m retiring my “Fail Quote” tag as it’s become largely redundant.

Obama administration fights to keep the right to indefinite detention (that Obama ^[pictured] said he’d never use because it’s totally wrong).

Boy Scouts takes a leaf from the Catholic Church’s book, tries to cover up hundreds of cases of child molestation.
(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Doggycide in Bennington County, Vermont: Deputy resigns during an investigation into the shooting death of his neighbor’s escaped pitbull. Details are mostly anecdotal for now.
(via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

Doggycide in Elyria, Ohio: Police kill an “extremely aggressive” “pitbull” by shooting it eight times with a rifle. So many questions that this one-sided police release fails to address.
(via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

It seems New York State has some of the worst sex ed classes ever. (At least they’re illustrated!)
(via @pzmyers)

Conservative wingnuts whine about how the media doesn’t treat the Romney “47%” video with the same suspicion they reserve for serial hoaxer James O’Keefe’s bogus “stings”.

And finally, here are some awesome, touching and generally badass photos of military dogs.
(via @ebertchicago)

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

Tags: Barack Obama • Obama administration • National Defense Authorization Act • indefinite detention • Department of Justice • Boy Scouts of America • child molestation • Bennington County Sheriff's Department • Chad Schmidt • Donald Loveland • Melissa Kilbride • pitbulls • Elyria Police Department • June Ross • New York State • New York Civil Liberties Union • James O'Keefe • David Corn • Mitt Romney • John Fund • dogs • military dogs • army dogs

Daily Blend: Friday, September 14, 2012

What does the sexist hatred that’s been tearing at the atheist movement look like? Something like this. ^[pictured]
(via @pzmyers)

Minnesota school district needed a crushing courtroom defeat to remind them that students are also U.S. citizens with rights to privacy and free speech.

Kansas Republicans wish to remind you that they’re still a bunch of embarrassing idiots.
(via @BadAstronomer)

And finally, The Onion on religious riots: So true. So sadly true. (And so very, very NSFW.)

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

Tags: Rebecca Watson • misogyny • Skepchick • atheists • atheist movement • Minnewaska Area School District • Kansas • Republicans • Barack Obama • Kansas Objections Board • Kris Kobach • Judaism • Christianity • Hinduism • Buddhism • blasphemy • Moses • Jesus Christ • Ganesha • Buddha • The Onion

Daily Blend: Monday, September 10, 2012

James Yoakley

Guess what happened to a Tennessee high school teacher ^[pictured] who dared to defend atheist and LGBT students’ rights to free speech from their social-conservative administration? (Bittersweet ending.)

Oldie, but Dr. Rachael Dunlop has an awesome, all-in-one debunking of nine antivaccination lies and myths. (Includes bonus self-defeating antivaxxer attacks in the comments.)
(via Bad Astronomy)

And finally, give every U.S. President in history a combat knife, restore them to their peak physical condition, and throw them in an arena. Who would win? (Teddy FTW.)
(via @radleybalko)

@joemcken: I see him as the kind of guy who'd get revenge for nicking him by stabbing you in the eye twelve times with your own knife, and then call you a coward for not living to fight longer.

@VeritasKnight: No, he's more like...well, since we have to fight, then kills you, and laments the sad nature of human combat in a lusty voice.

(I just had to share that.)

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

Tags: Lenoir City High School • Krystal Myers • Zac Mitchell • James Yoakley • student journalism • student newspapers • vaccination • antivaccine • antivaccination • antivaccinationists • antivax • antivaxxers • Rachael Dunlop • U.S. President • POTUS

Ray Comfort still really doesn’t like atheists

Ray Comfort

This probably won’t be true of everyone, but I, for one, am pleased to note that that every atheist’s favorite rhetorical whetstone, Ray Comfort, has finally ended his months-long spam-a-thon of his dumb “godlessness leads to Nazis!” book and has returned to his favorite fundagelical spiel. It’s been getting lonely in my Necropolis since Pastor Tom Estes of Hard Truth turned out to be even more boring than I remembered, so I’ve finally returned the Banana Man to keep Vox Day company. (They go so well together, don’t you think?)

Comfort’s also come back with both guns bubbling. For example, did you know that public schools are where kids go to fall into drug abuse, sexual depravity and – worst of all – not Creationism? I know, that’s totally what I remember all my school years being like, too. (Well, except for the Creationism bit, as Canadian schools, especially in Québec, are generally pretty good at keeping religious fluff at bay.)

He also wants you to know that atheists are the reason why public schools are so very bad, m’kay:

Atheists want to keep creationism out of public schools. They see themselves as the intellectual saviors of the poor dumb college and university students, who don’t have the ability to think for themselves. These creationism censors are the book burners, who do what they do “for the good of society” --their godless society. And they do what they do in the name of “reason” and "science," when their atheistic belief is (in reality) completely unreasonable and absolutely unscientific.

Oh, those dirty, rotten, no-good, book-burning, student-distrusting, god-hating, unreasonable heathens! How dare they try to get government institutions to comply with the very first provision in the civil rights section of nation’s founding legal document? That’s just secular poppycock. And all their talk about providing students with the most accurate information available is really just a ruse to get them to shake their rebellious, Marylin Manson-filled heads at God’s Word, and you know it.

And you know you can take Comfort at his word – after all, he understands atheists so well:

If you think atheism is scientific and reasonable, let me ask you some questions. Do you believe that nothing created everything? If you do, that's not only unscientific, it's unreasonable. This is because your "nothing" isn’t “nothing” at all. It is something because it had the amazing ability to create everything. Perhaps you have changed your mind, and after hearing that you think that you then believe that something created everything, although you are not sure what that something was?

School to prison in one photo

What Mississippi’s “school-to-prison pipeline” looks like:

(Click the picture for source confirming its legitimacy)

Why, I bet that’ll teach him not to fart in class. Or maybe he just wore the wrong clothes to school that day. Who knows? There’re so many incarcerable crimes to choose from.

(via The Agitator & ACLU of Mississippi)

Tags: Harrison County, MS • juvenile detention • Meridian, MS • school-to-prison pipeline

Preschooler’s sign-language name violates zero-tolerance policy

Hunter Spanjer

This may just be the stupidest thing I’ve heard all month (and it’s been a long one):

Hunter Spanjer says his name with a certain special hand gesture, but at just three and a half years old, he may have to change it.

"He's deaf, and his name sign, they say, is a violation of their weapons policy," explained Hunter's father, Brian Spanjer.

Here’s a grand idea: If your policy prevents someone from just signing their name, maybe you’ve got a bad fucking policy. But then, it’s evidently just swell to the sort of bureaucratic goobers who think going after a handicapped preschooler for using sign language that reminds them of some completely unrelated symbol that is obviously entirely unfamiliar to said child is fair game.

At least these officials are doing him the favor of starting him early on distrusting the competence of public authority.

(via @radleybalko)

Tags: Hunter Spanjer • sign language • SEE • Signing Exact English • Grand Island, NE • Brian Spanjer • deafness

Daily Blend: Thursday, August 23, 2012 [1/2]

Tony Nicklinson

I managed to forget all about posting yesterday’s Daily Blend, so enjoy this double digest edition! (Part 1/2; stupid label length limits. Part 2 here.)

Not all evil originates in malice. Mindless adherence to heartless legal principles does the job just fine. (Update: Tony Nicklinson ^[pictured] finally passed away of pneumonia a week later.)

Meanwhile, British “pro-lifer” Richard Carvath devotes 2,700 “love”-filled words to calling Nicklinson a “selfish”, “dishonorable” “coward” and smearing those who wanted him to have the right to die on his own terms as a pro-“murder” “lobby”. Also, Jesus.
(via @RichardDawkins)

Hearteningly positive and insightful write-up about Atheism+ at the New Statesman.
(via @jennifurret)

Guess which virulently homophobic, “traditional values” preacher is now caught in a terribly embarrassing sex scandal today?

Once more debunking the patently false claim that nonreligious people are less charitable than believers are. Maybe if poll-takers stopped considering money given to fatten preachers’ wallets as “charity”?

Record-setting petty fascism leads an Oklahoma high school to refuse to give top student her diploma because she said “hell” in her valedictorian speech.
(via The Agitator)

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

Tags: Tony Nicklinson • quadriplegia • quadriplegics • High Court of Justice • paralysis • pneumonia • euthanasia • Richard Carvath • pro-life • pro-lifers • Atheism+ • A+ • New Statesman • Jennifer McCreight • Greta Christina • atheists • Grant Storms • preachers • sex scandals • family values • traditional values • charity • The Chronicles of Philanthropy • nontheists • religious nones • theists • believers • nonbelievers • Prague, OK • Kaitlin Nootbaar • Prague High School • Rick Martin

Daily Blend: Saturday, August 11, 2012

New WikiLeaks ^[pictured] whopper: Leaked emails expose TrapWire, secret U.S.-wide surveillance system that monitors everyone, anytime, anyplace, for “persons of interest”.

Welcome to Meridian, Mississippi, where (predominately Black) schoolchildren are sent directly to prison for skipping class, improper clothes, and “disrespect”.
(via @ebertchicago)

Give up, NOM: You know you’re tanking hard when you resort to passing your own paid staffers for supporters.
(via Joe. My. God.)

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

Tags: TrapWire • WikiLeaks • surveillance • United States of America • USA • Meridian, MS • DoJ • U.S. Justice Department • Lauderdale County Youth Court • Meridian Police Department • Mississippi Division of Youth Services • Civil Rights Division • due process • National Organization for Marriage • NOM • Minnesota for Marriage

Daily Blend: Friday, July 13, 2012

Your soul was tasty

Anyone feeling … paraskevidekatriaphobic?

Georgia’s Houston County School District had better prepare for more church/state violation lawsuits than they can count.

The city of Phoenix, Arizona officially responds to (read: debunks) Michael Salman’s lies about being jailed for hosting “Bible studies”.
(via Right Wing Watch)

Today in misanthropy: Tweeps likening Frank Ocean to Jerry Sandusky.
(via @radleybalko)

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

Tags: Friday the 13th • paraskevidekatriaphobia • Houston County, GA • Houston County School District • Freedom From Religion Foundation • FFRF • First Amendment • Establishment Clause • separation of church and state • Establishment Clause • Phoenix, AZ • Michael Salman • Bible studies • freedom of religion • churches • Frank Ocean • Jerry Sandusky • Twitter • homophobia • child molestation • rape • Penn State sex abuse scandal

Texas Republicans don’t want no kids thinkin’ fer themselves

The Texas Republican Party has released its 2012 platform, which essentially boils down to proudly declaring how they’re doing everything in their power to make themselves into the biggest, saddest bunch of paint-sniffing wingnuts imaginable. But between the usual anti-women, anti-science and anti-secular planks, there’s also this little gem that’s really straight out of the files of Well That Was Obvious [original emphasis]:

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

So, Republicans are officially declaring their formal intent to prevent teaching kids how to think for themselves in order to preserve the brainwashing their parents work so hard to force upon them?

Wait, that actually explains a whole lot, really.

(via Rob F)

Tags: Republicans • Republican Party • GOP • Texas • Texas Republican Party • critical thinking • knowledge-based education

Daily Blend: Friday, June 22, 2012

Gabe Suarez

Awesome: Cracked.com explains why the popular claim that men have three times as many sexual partners as women do is completely (mathematically) impossible.

Former SWAT officer ^[pictured]: Wanna avoid paramilitary-style police raids at 3 AM? Don’t live in a poor neighborhood (you druggie).
(via @radleybalko)

Clinton, N.C. third-grader strip-searched in public by assistant principal over a missing $20.
(via @radleybalko)

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

Tags: Cracked.com • Dennis Hong • sex • men • women • Gabe Suarez • SWAT • Special Weapons And Tactics • police raids • no-knock warrants • Justin Cox • strip-searches • Clarinda Cox • Union Elementary School • Teresa Holmes

Daily Blend: Saturday, June 16, 2012

Martha Payne

Some good news: Virginia Board of Medicine votes to protect existing abortion clinics from uselessly oppressive restrictions.

How the drone strike campaign in Yemen is helping al-Qaeda.
(via The Agitator)

Scottish 9yo ^[pictured] banned by local bureaucrats from blogging about disgusting school lunches. Internet uproar ensues. Council removes ban and apologizes.

If you thought the Christian puritanical fascism at Liberty University was bad, get a load of Bob Jones University.

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

Tags: Virginia • Virginia Board of Medicine • abortion clinics • signature strikes • drone attacks • Barack Obama • Obama administration • al-Qaeda • terrorists • Yemen • Scotland • Never Seconds • schools • Martha Payne • Veg • Argyll and Bute Council • Bob Jones University • Christians • Christianism • Christianists • purity • fascism • public relations • student handbooks

Texas high school principal doesn’t like the word ‘atheist’

The Secular Student Alliance group at La Porte High School in Texas recently sent a design for flyers to their school administration for approval. Here’s the response they received from Principal Todd Schoppe:

I’m not sure which is more revealing – the blatantly discriminatory rejection, the ridiculous declaration that merely the word ‘atheist’ (sans any mention of goals or ideology) would be enough to possibly “disrupt the education process” at the school, or that Mr. Schoppe apparently felt the need to scribble all over it like a three-year-old.

(via Friendly Atheist)

Tags: La Porte High School • Todd Schoppe • Secular Student Alliance • atheists

‘The Daily Show’ on adult film stars and slut-shaming

It’s apparently Comedy Central Day around here, so to complement my last post, here’s a report by The Daily Show’s Jessica Williams brilliantly exposing some of the mindlessly judgmental attitudes faced by sex workers:

Non-US readers: Click here to learn how to enable Comedy Central videos

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

[−]

JON STEWART: It’s prom time again, a time to create wonderful memories, at least for those who have dates. For those who don’t … you can always go into comedy. (Sorry.) Then, there’s the people who had dates, only to lose them. Jessica Williams has more.

---

JESSICA WILLIAMS (v.o.): Prom: A magical evening every student looks forward to, and Minnesota’s Mike stone and his date Megan Piper were no exception.

MIKE STONE: I invited twelve girls to prom and they all said ‘no’. Then I asked Megan, and she said ‘yes’, and I was very excited.

WILLIAMS (v.o.): But then, Mike’s school, Tartan High, discovered the truth about Megan.

STONE: The school found out about it, and they said that they’re not gonna allow it to happen.

WILLIAMS: Is it because she got bad grades?

MEGAN PIPER: I’m an adult film actress.

WILLIAMS: Wait, what?

PIPER: I perform pornography.

WILLIAMS: What?

WILLIAMS (v.o.): And concerned Minnesota mothers like Marjorie Holsten applaud the school’s action.

MARJORIE HOLSTEN: I agree with the school’s decision that she should not be allowed at prom. Her profession is pornography. Every young man there is going to be mentally undressing her, and maybe that’s the type of attention she likes, I don’t know.

WILLIAMS: Thank God what Megan’s doing is considered a felony!

HOLSTEN: I don’t think it’s a felony.

WILLIAMS: So, maybe it’s a misdemeanor?

HOLSTEN: Sadly, I believe that what Megan does is legal.

WILLIAMS: So, Megan Piper is an adult who is having consensual sex with another adult in a whole other state, in full accordance of^[sic] the law, and he wants to take her to prom?

HOLSTEN: Yeah – I mean, Megan Piper said, ‘No, I’m not gonna take off my clothes and go buck-naked,’ but – it’s like, that’s what you do in your profession.

PIPER: Why do you think I’m gonna do that?

WILLIAMS: Because you’re an adult film star. It’s what you do.

PIPER: So, what you’re saying is all I do is have sex with people? I don’t do anything else?

WILLIAMS: You’re probably having sex right now!

PIPER: No – I’m just gonna go there and be his prom date an do all the normal prom stuff.

WILLIAMS (v.o.): Okay, but what does “normal prom stuff” mean to a porn star?

HOLSTEN: Probably, he would have a flower for her.

WILLIAMS: Where would he put that flower?

HOLSTEN: There’d be nothing to pin it to, so he better get a wrist one.

Cut to: Piper is seen affixing the flower to the hem of her perfectly decent prom dress.

WILLIAMS: Then what happens?

HOLSTEN: Suddenly, they’re in this limo without adult supervision.

Cut to: Stone and Piper sitting apart in the limo, looking normal.

WILLIAMS: They’re alone?

HOLSTEN: Yeah! I hope that she wouldn’t seduce him, but then again, that’s what she does for a living.

WILLIAMS (v.o.): And we all know that if you do something for a living, that’s all you ever do. Like how pro football tackle everyone they see, and therefore would never be allowed at prom.

NEWS ANCHOR: Joyce Grendel, an independent high school student, tweeted [Joe] Haden and asked the football star to be her prom date tonight. Haden said yes.

WILLIAMS (v.o.): Okay, well – Megan is different. She’s uncontrollable.

PIPER: I don’t plan on doing anything sexual with Mike or any of his friends.

WILLIAMS: Mike, does that bum you out a little bit?

STONE: No.

HOLSTEN: My expectation is it would probably be kind of a boring evening.

WILLIAMS: So … why do we care again?

HOLSTEN: It’s the concept that she is a lady who, as a profession, takes off her clothes and does things.

WILLIAMS (v.o.): So, while we can forgive some things in our society, like manslaughter convictions and political corruption, there is one profession that is completely unacceptable. Thankfully, concerned parents like Marjorie will protect our children forever.

HOLSTEN: Teenagers have hormones going and – it’s not appropriate that they see these websites.

WILLIAMS: That’s right; teenagers shouldn’t be watching people have sex on the Internet. They should learn the way I did: by watching animals do it on the street.

HOLSTEN: Actually, that was how I taught my children. We started with a boy guinea pig –

WILLIAMS: What? You taught your kids sex ed with guinea pigs?

HOLSTEN: Well, we had a boy and a girl guinea pig who clearly liked each other …

WILLIAMS: Aren’t you afraid that these kids are gonna treat these guinea pigs like role models?

HOLSTEN: Uh … well, you really couldn’t see anything, ’cause they’re big, furry little fuzzball things. I mean, that’s why there isn’t guinea pig porn movies.

WILLIAMS (v.o.): For now. But let’s hope the porn industry doesn’t catch on.

You just gotta pity that poor mom. (And her kids, even moreso.)

But as easy a target as she may be, her nonsense is only representative of the general atmosphere of distrust and even disgust that surrounds the very notion of sex work in this society, a climate wherein performs (especially women) who work in that industry are reduced to their basest sexual characteristics and activities. People are allowed to be virtually anything other without having their chosen livelihood extended to represent the whole of who they are and what they do outside of the workplace, but when they engage in sex for money, that suddenly taints their entire persons? Even male porn stars don’t get it this bad (though prejudice against them is very real, too, especially for LGBT performers).

In the end, there’s just no way to win if you’re in the sex business. But as always, it’s even harder for women.

Tags: sex workers • pornography • porn stars • adult films • Jessica Williams • Megan Piper • Mike Stone • Tartan Senior High School • adult film actors • Marjorie Holsten

Ontario, CA orders all schools to allow gay-straight alliances

That wonderful sound you just heard was the shrieks of Catholic groups everywhere as the Canadian province of Ontario has just ordered that every school, religious or otherwise, must allow students to form gay-straight alliance clubs if they wish:

Ontario Education Minister Laurel Broten said there would be no compromises.

“Schools need to be safe places for kids to be themselves — and for some kids, that means being able to name a club a gay-straight alliance,” Ms. Broten said. “I don’t think there’s anything radical about allowing students to name a club.”

Church sources said they were blindsided and disappointed by the announcement. Cardinal Thomas Collins, the head of the Archdiocese of Toronto, is expected to make a statement on Monday.

The change in the provincial Liberals’ new anti-bullying bill — the Accepting Schools Act — is part of a government initiative to create a “safe and accepting climate” in schools, including Catholic schools, Ms. Broten said.

It’s important to note (as the article doesn’t appear to make clear) that this government rule only applies to publicly funded schools, regardless of religious orientation. Private schools are still more than welcome (so to speak) to be as discriminatory as their bigoted administrators see fit. But it’s always amusing to see religious apologists’ hypocritical privilege exposed whenever they rail against being forced to follow the government’s non-discrimination policies while at the same time happily accepting government funds.

Now counting how long before a fresh howl of outrage from Bill Donohue lands in my inbox.

(via Joe. My. God.)

Tags: Ontario, CA • Catholicism • Catholic Church • gay-straight alliances • GSAs • schools • Laurel Broten

Daily Blend: Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Pres. Barack Obama

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and “leader of the free world” ^[pictured] declares that “all military-age males in a strike zone” are “militants” and can be slaughtered with impunity. I’ve been gradually souring on the President for a long time, but this is just sick. Even Bush & Cheney were never this brazen about their bloodlust.

Ed Brayton provides some clarification – and mild reassurance – about the recent Gallup poll about abortion rights attitudes.

Some hope for Oklahoma as the state legislature shitcans three Creationist and anti-global warming education bills.
(via @BadAstronomer)

WorldNetDaily “exclusive”: Kooks declare that “miracles” in Men in Black 3 make the case for Creationism!
(via Joe. My. God.)

Great write-up about the decline and refitting of churches in Québec, Canada.

Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham to star in upcoming TV series, while Clarice Starling gets slotted on Lifetime (blech). I am perplexed.
(via Fark)

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

Tags: Barack Obama • Obama administration • militants • terrorists • Gallup • pro-choice • pro-choicers • pro-abortion • anti-choice • anti-choicers • anti-abortion • anti-abortionists • pro-life • pro-lifers • Oklahoma • SB 1742 • HB 1551 • HB 2341 • Men in Black 3 • Intelligent Design • Creationism • WorldNetDaily • WND • Drew Zahn • Quebec, CA • Quiet Revolution • churches • Christianity • Catholicism • Hannibal Lecter • Will Graham • Clarice Starling • Hannibal • Clarice • Lifetime • TV series

Daily Blend: Friday, May 25, 2012

Michael Rudi (17)

A third federal judge rules that the Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA) is unconstitutional.
(via @WTFcooner)

“Look, we understand that your asthmatic son ^[pictured] is dying, but we have rules, you know.”
(via @radleybalko)

Hemant Mehta at The Washington Post: How the Web is killing faith.

$9.95 for an online “Demon Test” from a renown Christianist fraud? You gotta be possessed.

Today’s unthinkable threat: Bullying alcoholic cows.
(via The Agitator)

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

Tags: Defense of Marriage Act • DoMA • Claudia Wilken • gay marriage • same-sex marriage • marriage equality • asthma • Michael Rudi • Deltona High School • faith • Christianity • Hemant Mehta • Demon Test • Bob Larson • demonic possession • cows • Boxford, MA • James Riter • beer

Bill Maher trashes so-called Liberty University

Sorry for the lack of blogging; I’ve been terribly uninspired these last few days (not to mention how this insane heat wave is almost literally melting my brain). To try and make up for it, here’s Bill Maher explaining how Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University is about as Orwellianly named as is Ken Ham’s Creation “Museum” ^{[brief sorta-NSFW image at the start]}:

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

[−]

BILL MAHER: And finally, new rule: You can’t expect me to believe anything Mitt Romney said last week at Liberty University, because A, he’s a liar, and B, Liberty University isn’t really a university. It’s not like an actual statesman visited a real college. It’s more like the Tupac hologram visited Disneyland and said what he would do as President during the Main Street Electrical Parade.

Yes, that’s right. Mitt Romney, from the Church of Jesus Christ: Indian Fighter, spoke on Saturday at a school founded by Jerry Falwell, a preacher who once said that AIDS was God’s wrath for fingering the Teletubbies. A guy in magic gym shorts talking to virgin Baptists. Clown, meet college.

But again, not really a college. Because Liberty teaches Creation Science. In fact, they have an actual center for Creation study, complete with some bones and a guy with a lab coat. Suck on that, Smithsonian Institute! And they teach that the Earth is five thousand years old and dinosaur fossils washed up on Noah’s Flood. This is a school you flunk out of when you get the answers right.

Now, I would say we should take away their accreditation, but it’s a private college and they can teach whatever they want. But at the very least, diplomas from Liberty should come with a huge asterisk next to your name, and at the bottom, it should say, “This institution teaches superstitious nonsense. Hire at your own risk.” Conservatives often say that gay marriage cheapens their marriage. Well, I think a diploma from Liberty cheapens my degree from a real school. I worked really hard for four years and sold a lot of drugs to get that thing.

So, if you wanna go to some place that teaches the Bible is literally true and the Earth was created last Tuesday when God got into gardening, that’s fine, but you can’t call it a university. Target serves pizza; doesn’t make it a restaurant. It’s just wrong for Liberty to hand out diplomas that look just like real diplomas from actual schools that teach facts. Look, this is the Liberty diploma, see? There’s no gold stars or smiley faces or Care Bears; it looks real!

But here’s the problem with confusing a church with a school: It mixes up the things you believe, religion, with the things we know, education. Then you start thinking that Creationism is science, and gay aversion therapy is psychology, and praying away hurricanes is meteorology. It’d be like teaching American history by saying the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written by God, and even the world’s most ridiculous imbecile wouldn’t say that.

GLENN BECK (at commencement speech): It is God’s finger that wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

MAHER: Mitt Romney recently told the crowd, “I happen to believe that the Constitution was not just brilliant, but probably inspired.” And everyone applauded, because they’d all seen this painting, James McNaughton’s One Nation Under God, which reinforces the now-mandatory Republican that the Constitution isn’t the work of brilliant-but-imperfect statesmen, but a divinely inspired blueprint, conceived by God himself and hand-delivered by his only begotten son, Kenny Loggins.

Sorry, but our Constitution wasn’t divinely inspired. It’s just that the guys who wrote it were smart ’cause they went to real colleges. Thomas Jefferson went to William & Mary. Madison went to Princeton. Alexander Hamilton went to Columbia. And those schools should not be put in the same category as Oral Roberts, or Bob Jones, or the Dueling Banjos College of Praying and Preaching – or Liberty, which not only shouldn’t be called a university, it shouldn’t be called “Liberty”, since it strictly forbids kissing or drinking. And if you’re in college and you can’t kiss or drink, good luck fucking.

“This is a school you flunk out of when you get the answers right.” Love it. “Liberty University” – as many words as there are errors.

In addition, in case you missed it, Right Wing Watch recently pointed out how “liberty” really has absolutely nothing to do with that creepy, puritanically fascistic place.

(via Friendly Atheist)

Tags: Bill Maher • Liberty University • Mitt Romney • universities • colleges