It has been with us all along. In movies, on TV, documentaries. We wuz lookin’ ’em right in the face and never done nowd it.
Continue reading Inside the real tea party movement
Monthly Archives: November 2010
Ray Comfort Caves to Islamic Terrorists (but the joke’s on him)
In a recent blog post, Krazy Kristian Guy Ray Comfort (the “Banana man”) notes that atheists are planning a billboard campaign that will point out the barbaric nature of passages from the Christian and Muslim texts. He goes on to note that anyone who offends Islam is likely to get their heads cut off, and he tastelessly uses a photograph of a living, smiling Daniel Pearl (who was beheaded by his terrorist captives in 2002) to make his point.
Comfort goes on to say that Atheists may be captured by people of Islamic faith and beheaded, and that would be bad for the Atheists. Therefore, he pleads, the Atheists should only mock Christians, because Christians “genuinely love (Atheists) and … can take it with grace.”
Comfort is of course out of line making these claims, and more importantly, making fun of these activities. Using terrorist activities as the basis of a joke is obnoxious and hurtful to their victims, and making absurd and senseless, offensive claims about what organized Atheists will do with their first amendment rights is offensive. Claiming that he and all others of his ilk love Atheists is either a cynical and hypocritical lie or an unnecessary over the top joke.
All of which, however, pales in relationship to the racist comment he hid clumsily within his blog, which, if his own description of people of the Islamic faith is half correct, will lead to his, Ray Comfort’s, horrible death through beheading or possibly stoning.
Comfort uses the spelling “Moslem” instead of Muslim.
In Arabic, Muslim means “one who give himself to God.” In Arabic, Moslem means “one who is evil and unjust.” For this reason, the Society of Editors recommends using “Muslim” instead of “Moslem.” Muslims will want to engage in a fatwa against Ray Comfort, assuming his own logic is correct. He is doomed.
I wonder if they film it. The beheading. And what will they do with his head? Maybe it can go here. Or, better yet, here!
Muslim vs. Moslem
The question recently came up as to whether the term “Moslem” (as opposed to “Muslim”) is considered insulting or somehow anti-Moslem*. More specifically, I made the claim (though I did not put it this way exactly at the time) that “Moslem” was a dogwhistle signifying teabagging anti-Obama racist scumpuppies.
I have since been told by various teabagging anti-Obama racist scumpuppies that I was wrong, but I was told this in such a way as to convince me that I must be right, even though I was going on gut feeling at the time.
Subsequently, I decided to do some research.
Continue reading Muslim vs. Moslem
Death vs. Taxes During a Storm
Yesterday in Minnesota, 546 vehicles drove off the road and 461 vehicles crashed into something (often, another vehicle) due to storm conditions. In one of those incidents, a person died. In neighboring Wisconsin, there were over 400 crashes and two dead.
Continue reading Death vs. Taxes During a Storm
Harry Potter Guy Does “The Elements”
Republican takeover of the House is much worse than you may have thought, no matter how bad you thought it was
I am speaking of Representative John Shimkus, R-Ill, and the truly astonishing words he uttered before Congress demonstrated in a video that is constnatly being trolled off Google and YouTube by those who don’t want you to see it:
Source and more information here.
If God’s Word is infallible, unchanging, and perfect, then dinosaurs did not live in a different era than humans, and not in great antiquity, and what geologists and paleontologists say about the “age of dinosaurs” must be the word of Satan designed by the dark lord of the underworld to confuse us.
If God’s Word is infallible, unchanging, and perfect, then there can be no destructive climate change. There can only have been one “mass extinction” … the noachain flood.
The person who is reasonably likely to be the next US House of Representative Chair of the Energy Committee has stated that we live on a “Carbon Starved Planet” because the paleontological evidence suggests more carbon in the atmosphere hundreds of millions of years ago, yet he also claims that since God said in Genesis that there will be no more climate disasters after the Flood.
Unbelievable. This madness has got to stop.
John Shimkus has surpassed Michele Bachmann as the worlds most dangerous moron.
You can email me at gregladen@facebook.com
Maybe.
Just the other day I was thinking that I’d love pop mail access to my facebook “email” account. Facebook “email” is annoying and broken as an email service, but then again, it is not supposed to be an email service, is it?
Untill it is. Facebook will probably, according to rumors on the intertubes, roll out a revamp of its “inbox” which will make facebook email work with something like yourusername@facebook.com and generally behave like a mail server. Then, I will be able to access my facebook mail with alpine! Monday. It’s all going to happen on Monday.
It’s snowing dogs and dogs outside
It is funny to see this headline on our local news (CBS) web site:
“Some Prep for Snow, Other Think Flakes Won’t Fly Yet”
Then I look outside the window and see accumulations nearing a half foot of snow, then I look at the weather maps and realize that the local CBS affiliate is probably buried, so no one could update the story about how it might not snow and stuff.
Speaking of WCCO, the local CBS affiliate, yesterday Tim Pawlenty, our lame Governor (insert the word “duck” in there if you want, though I’m not sure why you would), did his last weekly radio address. I never did listen to one of those, but the news faithfully reported the stupid-ass things he said every week.
Last night an 11 year old girl was shot in the neck about four blocks from my old house in South and two blocks from the where Taiesha Edwards was killed by a stray bullet a few years back while sitting at a table in her home doing her homework. This time, the girl was on her front porch, and she will be OK. No arrests, no suspects, but we do know a gun was involved. And yes, there are people in this world who think, every time an innocent grade schooler is shot or killed, how nice it would be to produce and distribute MORE guns (those are the gun nuts) there are those of us who think the opposite.
But no one was on the local television news this morning being indignant about this. It was reported,causally, as though it was normal, and the news casters moved on.
Regarding another story, however, the news casters and the police being interviewed were apoplectic. Police were indignant, some were crying, vengeance was clearly on their minds, because someone stabbed their doggie during a police operation.
Don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for the dog (which was injured but not killed), but not only should the 11 year old girl who was shot while standing on her porch get more press than the dog that was stabbed in the line of duty, but her story should be in the list of headlines, above the story about the police dog that was stabbed. Instead, the police dog that was stabbed was in the CBS/WCCO featured headline section, and the story about the girl (and these events occurred about the same time) not in the headlines, placed well down the web page below the story about the hockey team losing (which is not news) and the basketball team winning (which I admit, is astonishing and unlikely news, probably a reporting error).
Possible human remains were found in a park Amanda and Julia sometimes bike in over across the river (oh, that’s where Julia snowboards). Probably a dog.
Speaking of dogs, how about a reality check: An Akita in Burnsville took out two kids (3 and 5 years old) yesterday (both will be OK) and according to the news:
The dogs’ owner, Chuck Svare, only knows Koda and Pepper as good companions and has had them for years.
“He should have never bitten a little girl. That’s my opinion, but she had to, something was done to provoke it,” said Svare.
Never listen to the shit that comes out of people’s mouths, One of the two dogs involved in the attack attacked a neighbor’s dog a while back, and neither dog is up to date on vaccines.
Am I down on dogs today? No, not really. In fact, I’m going to be nice to dogs all day because we are expecting a foot of snow here, and I may need to be rescued by one.
Louisiana Does The Right Thing, But Will Still Probably Screw It Up
Louisiana is one of those states where really stupid stuff tends to happen, especially when it comes to evolution in the school curriculum. Recently, a state panel was in a position to chose either creationist textbooks with which to abuse the children for whom they are responsible, or good biology textbooks to educate the children for whom they are responsible. Under considerable pressure to not become the next national laughing stock, the advisory council voted 8-4 to use the correct books.
That’s good news, but it ain’t not over yet. This was only a preliminary vote, and the final vote will be carried out next moth by the state board of education.
Barbara Forrest writes on the LA Science Coalition blog:
We now have a Texas-style attack on the selection of biology textbooks, courtesy of the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF), which brought us the creationist Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA) of 2008…. This attack began with a volley of letters written by LFF operative Darrell White to various Louisiana newspapers in July…
Barbara then goes on to explain the recent history of this particular attack. This is a very worthwhile read, as an exemplar of this sort of shenanigans.
In the end, there may be creationist textbooks used in Louisiana. Or, there may be stickers inserted in actual biology books. And then there will be law suits. And Louisiana will be forced, at great expense, to do the right thing. What a waste.
See also Erik Robelen’s blog post covering recent events in Louisiana. I’ll keep you posted, and the NCSE will probably have an update soon (their current press release is here).
Update: This jsut came out from Barbara Forrest’s blog at LCS: Hell just froze over in Louisiana.
Will we have a hurricane named Moe, Larry and Curly?
Observe the current Atlantic Wide satellite image from the National Weather Service:*
Look in the lower third, left side of this image, north of the South American continent, south of Haiti. You can see a blob of clouds that, especially when you look at this animation, is building in strength and organizing, and has a reasonable chance of some day becoming a tropical cyclone (this is discussed briefly here) .
But while everybody is looking at that, what about this? Specifically, that giant rotating low pressure system off the Carolinas. Isn’t that impressive? It is, of course, acting like a large extra-tropical low, and is doing nothing like one expects in the formation of a tropical cyclone. But sometimes … things happen.
I’m reminded of the old Three Stooges routine. One stooge holds up his hand and says “See this?” The other stooge looks at it and says “Yeah, so what?” And the first stooge whacks the second stooge on the side of the head with his other hand, saying “Look out for THIS!”
Haiti Cholera Toll: Stricken – 11,000, Dead – 750+
Over eleven thousand Haitians have been infected with cholera, and over 700 have died. The epidemic is worsening very quickly. Over 80 of the dead have died within the last 24 hours as of this writing. The resources needed to deal with this are not available, apparently because cholera in Haiti is not as interesting or sympathy garnering as an earthquake in Haiti.
Continue reading Haiti Cholera Toll: Stricken – 11,000, Dead – 750+
OMFG. Words fail me.
As I watched this, I decided to post it on my blog, and then my mind went through a series of possible titles for the post, but there were so many yet so few that would be appropriate.
This lady is obviously crazy. Frankly, perhaps the mail carrier is crazy for not driving off with her arm in the door, but I wasn’t there so it’s hard to say.
I should say, for context, that Hingham Massachusetts is a relatively affluent but typically fairly mighty white somewhat liberal region along the “South Shore” of Massachusetts, south of Boston and adjoining Boston Harbor. It dates back to 1635, and sports one of the more interesting really old New England restaurants renamed a couple of hundred years ago to “Ye Olde Mille Grille” (pronounce, presumably, Yee Oldy Milly Grilly).
You can see this woman’s training (Brandeis? no, her accent suggests a Western Mass education, maybe one of the Amherst area sister colleges? Anyway, she wasn’t born in Hingham, but elsewhere in the northeast) rubbing up against her hard-earned opinion of reality, buttressed by the concept that since Martin Luther King was active several decades ago, and black people (i.e., “nigger thieves” in her words) are still, you know, all niggery and stuff, that it must be due to internal strife and back biting amongst them.
And she’s saying and thinking all this talking to a man from some other country, which does make us chuckle a little just because her understanding of context is so provincial.
But is she racist? Not as racist as the system that allowed this event to happen without consequence, in a world in which a black man striking a white mail carrier would probably spend days, possibly years, in prison for violating the Patriot Act.
The mail carrier was, of course, fired. Uppity nigger mail carrier.
The mail carrier may or may not have been fired, and if he was, he may or may not have been fired for reasons that may or may not have been related to this incident, and it is possible that he was a temp. See the link kindly supplied by JustMe in the comments section below for a LOT more information on crazy lady.
Have Atlantic Hurricane Seasons Gotten Longer?
Probably. Or, to be more exact, the seasons seem to end later these days than they did in those days, if “those days” is defined as the first decade or so during which reasonably good (though not perfect) data were collected compared to now. A more immediate question may be: When will this year’s hurricane season end?
Continue reading Have Atlantic Hurricane Seasons Gotten Longer?
More Michele Bachmann Wisdumb
“I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out under another, then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.” (The swine-flu outbreak of 1976 occured when Gerald Ford — a Republican — was president.)
“That George Bush … He’s a great leader.”
… OK, exhale …