Friday, April 4, 2014

Republicans and Other Wingnuts



The Republican Party used to contain some folks with a smidgen of intelligence, kindness, common sense and patriotism.  Today Republicans so described are far and few between.  The Republican Party is the Wingnut Party, comprised of kooks, nasties, ignoramuses, contrarians, and unpatriotic SOB's.

But on occasion, Republicans make us smile.  Not because they've done anything decent or worthwhile, but because their actions make them look like idiots.


The State of Missouri has always had a reputation.  Not necessarily a good one.  Stubborn, the people of Missouri have been called, and they're proud of it.  Now we can call some of them ignoramuses and stupids.  Especially the ones elected to the state legislature.  These bright and shining numbnuts just passed a law which "nullifies all federal gun laws in their state."  This, at the same time as another shooting at Fort Hood!

The bill is, of course, against the law and the Constitution.  But some folks in Missouri never got the word they lost the Civil War and that federal law trumps state law every time!  Missouri state troopers don't like this law at all as Missouri is home to a number of ultra-crazy militia type groups who have all the smarts of dog poop, and tend to violence like a crazed polar bear.

The bill allows the good folks of Missouri to sue agents of the federal government if the latter attempt to enforce any federal gun laws.  OK, that's kind of funny.  But less funny is the fact it allows people with concealed gun permits to carry their weapons in the open even in cities witch disallow such a thing.  And now a 19-year old can get a concealed carry permit (down from 21). 

The idiot sponsoring the bill in the House is Doug Funderburk, a Republican, naturally.  He does not understand the Second Amendment and claims "This is what our founding fathers intent was ...and this is how we push back on a federal government that is running out of control."

The only group out of control in this case are the kooks in the Missouri Legislature!


Our southern states have always been on the brink of wingnuttery but some of us hoped that might change, you know, after the Civil War and the Civil Rights Act, and the move into the modern age.  But nooooooo.  Mississippi, with the most pregnant teens in the country, just got around to instituting sex education in the schools.  Of course, the definition of sex education in Mississippi leaves something to be desired.

In Oxford, Mississippi, "The new curriculum ... has teachers giving Peppermint Patties to the students, having them unwrap them, and then passing them around.  Once a piece of chocolate makes it around the classroom, students are told that when they have sex, they're like that dirty piece of candy."

Isn't that funny?  I sometimes think it would have been a good thing if the "South" had successfully seceded.  But then, they'd need all kinds of foreign aid from the United States; even more than they get now!  And lots of mental health care.


Indiana Senator Dan Coats may be be suffering from some disease or perhaps he's been a Republican too long.  He went to a hearing on Capitol Hill and sat there for an hour.  "[...] when he took his turn Wednesday afternoon, [he started] flipping papers on his lap, reading from them and commending the witness for his department's prompt response to a letter Coats had sent about a military accounting office in his home state."

But the moron was in the wrong hearing!  And he didn't realize it until one of his staffers handed him a note.  

Ha, ha, ha.


Alan West.  You may remember him.  The crazy former Congressman from Florida.  Well, he's written a book.  Hell, I didn't even know he could read!  The book is called "Guardian of the Republic."  It describes his political thinking and incorporates a bunch of quotes WHICH ARE FALSE! 

For example, he claims Thomas Jefferson said "A government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it away."  Heh, heh.  A phony quote.  And there's more just like it.

But Alan West has never felt bounded by the truth and typical of Republicans, he just makes things up to support his neatherthandalic beliefs and bolster his ignorant stupidness!


Florida again.  If you wish to see wingnuttery in spades, come to Florida.  We've got that insane "Stand your ground" law, which allows people to murder other people (e.g., Zimmerman) without any consequences.

Now, because some media types have started digging into the background of these "Stand your ground" cases, our moronic State Legislature has passed a bill closing those files to all further access. 

Republicans claim to be defenders of freedom, but in almost every instance where freedom is an issue, they vote for the opposite!


Ha, ha, ha.  Again we're in the South.  North Carolina.  A candidate for the 6th Congressional was asked by a 6th-grader how he would defend the rights of LGBT folks.  Mr. Phil Berger, Jr., the candidate in question and the Rockingham County District Attorney, said he supported "traditional marriage," and same-sex marriage was like "a man marrying a dog."

Isn't that funny.  Oh, Mr. Berger is a Republican.  He's also a joke.


Also from North Carolina, a bastion of science education and knowledge.  I'm being sarcastic.  Charles Sutherland is retired.  He used to own a business.  He's pretty much an ignorant fool but proud of it.  Mr. Sutherland said that when it comes to climate change, "we're heading into another Ice Age, not getting warmer.  We need to prepare for that."

My god that's so funny.  Republicans are really comical. 


Paul Rosenberg, writing for Salon, wonders why fundamentalist Christians who claim to take the Bible literally, don't also believe the earth is flat and fixed, for the Bible is quite clear that is the case.  I also wonder how the Creationists deal with the fact that the "firmament" or "expanse," in Genesis is said to provide a divide in the waters where earth could exist.  The expanse above is the sky.  Above the sky is water.  


Even Creationists ought to be able to see this is not a literal description of the way things are!


This from Daily Kos.  Another funny Republican:  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.  Last week he refused to allow a reporter cover one of his press conferences.  The reporter was from Kentucky, Ms. McConnell's home state.

Last June this strong supporter of the First Amendment told how he "spoke at the American Enterprise Institute and warned of a grave and growing threat to the First Amendment.  That threat has not let up."

Yup.  McConnell's so funny.  He's one of the threats! 


Gun Owners of America.  This is a very funny group.  They want to repeal all "gun-free" zones in the United States!  Their rationale is that if everyone is armed and someone starts shooting everybody else can pull out their weapon and kill the first shooter. 

That's why last year a very funny Texas Republican Congressmen, Steve Stockman, introduced a bill to repeal the ban on carrying firearms on military bases.  He thinks that if civilians can be armed, military personnel should be able to carry weapons on their posts.

So, the recent shooting at Fort Hood would have turned out much differently if only there were a bunch of soldiers carrying weapons when the shooter started shooting.  You could have had ten or twenty people shooting.  Maybe a hundred dead instead of three.

God, what a fun time!


Some wingnuts in Georgia want to allow people to carry guns while attending church.  Hmm...if the preacher is saying something you don't like, just plug the bastard.  In the name of Jesus, Amen.


Some good guys.  Well, actually, good girls.  Sort of.  The National Coalition of American Nuns has expressed support of the Affordable Care Act.  As part of that support the nuns have publicly backed the Obamacare mandate that insurance companies provide contraceptive devices, etc.

A wingnut, Michael Hichborn, who represents the American Life League, got all hot and bothered about these "renegade" nuns and claims they are not good Catholics.  "It remains to be seen," said the wingnut Hichborn, "how they can call themselves even Catholic, let alone nuns, considering that they support abortion, birth control, homosexuality, women's ordination.  I mean, they've filled themselves up so much with their own immoral agenda that they've left absolutely no room for Christ."

Now you've got to admit that's hilarious.  Can you find a single reference by Jesus to abortion, birth control, homosexuality or women's ordination? 

Go nuns!


Star Parker.  She'd be funny if she weren't so damn dense and so damn unChristian.  She thinks that the black Congresswoman, Barbara Lee, is so liberal she can't see that Paul Ryan is no racist when he blames black culture and idle black men for failing to be more like Paul Ryan and his Wall Street pals - you know, rich and white.

Star Parker is also black.  A female Uncle Tom.  The problem, says Ms. Parker, is not racism but liberalism.  And Mr. Ryan is not a racist, but a "real reformer."  Ryan, the one with the budget balanced on the backs of the poor! 

I wonder if Ms. Star blames the latest recession on liberals, too:  All those "liberals" on Wall Street who destroyed our economy and the 1% percent "liberals" who are destroying the middle class and the chance of most everybody to achieve the so-called "American Dream"? 

Poverty-stricken blacks, according to Ms. Parker, are in that situation became of liberalism.  Racism had nothing to do with it.  Especially in the south.  I mean those slave owners and the Strom Thurmonds always treated their blacks folks right.  Right?

And what we need right now, says Parker, is Paul Ryan, "who wants to make Americans of all backgrounds better off by giving them more freedom, more choice, more responsibility, and less government."

Just don't give them any money like the damn liberals want to do!

Star Parker really isn't funny.


Here's another really humorous guy.  He's Dr. Alex McFarland, who is connected to the Center for Chritian Worldview and Apologetics at North Greenville Univeristy.  McFarland has the answer:  The recent shooting at Fort Hood happened because we are not longer a "real" Christian nation.

After WWII, says this genius, "Christianity was the core of the community."   [I know that wasn't true because I was living then, and McFarland wasn't.]  And his statement that "the post-World War II generation" had a "Christian mental view," which meant that when people "were at the very end of their tether," they "would turn to God," is pure, unadulterated hogwash.

Pshaw.  The Fort Hood shooting happened, says Mac, because "we've told generations of public school students that there is no creator God, there's purposeless evolution - and now since 1973, we've murdered ten times more human beings than Adoph Hitler through abortion."

Of course, that's why Ivan Lopez bought a gun and began shooting folks at Fort Hood.  It's amazing.  Thank you Dr. McFarland. 

Except, as with many Christianist wingnuts, McFarland doesn't worry about truth.  The fact is, there were a number of shootings in this country in the years following WWII:  Howard Unruh, a WWII vet in Camden, New Jersey, took a German Luger and shot 13 people in 1949.  Charles Whitman, in 1966, at the University of Texas, killed 16, etc. 


Finally, back to Florida.  Remember our "Stand your Ground" law.  Well, for Florida legislators, that's not enough.  They are freaking gun crazy!  The State Legislature has passed a "warning shot bill."  That means that you can fire a warning shot at someone if you fear for your life and not be charged under the current law, which is fairly severe - from 10 years in prison to life in prison.

Can you imagine?  We'll have all kinds of crazies firing "warning" shots and most of the time these folks will shoot themselves in the foot or the head, but every once in a while they're going to shoot someone else dead.

Some large questions arise.  How much in fear for your life do you have to be?  How close does the aggressor need to get before you can fire a warning shot?  How many warning shots can you shoot?  One?  Ten?  Twenty? 

This bill now heads to the governor, Rick Scott.  He's a triple-digit wingnut and not funny at all so it is likely he'll sign the thing.









Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Idiots R Us - #4




At first I thought the story as to which of our States would survive a "Zombie Apocalypse" was an April Fool's joke.  But the dateline of the story was March 28, updated on March 31. 

It's doubtless a prank, but what kind of freaking world do we live in when some folks think a possible Zombie Apocalypse is worth a long article on the Huffington Post? 

The scariest part of this is that there are doubtless idiots among us who really believe in Zombies and that dead people come back to life and eat brains.

For all the stupids out there:  There are no such things as Zombies!  Dead people are called dead for a reason:  they are dead! 

For the stupids who write such articles, even in fun, Get a Life!


This is also from the Huffington Post.  "Texas Workforce Solutions in Dallas received a job application by email ... from a man who also attached a picture of a penis.

The idiot did not get the job.  He got charged "with obscene display or distribution, a misdemeanor.


Being a teenager can be difficult.  The teen years are challenging.  Many teens have not yet left their childhood behind.  They are stupid.  Some of these stupid kids are playing a game called the "Eraser Challenge." 

The "game" involves erasing your "skin while saying the alphabet and coming up with a word for each letter."  Some of the stupids have suffered "pretty severe wounds."

Sheesh!  The next thing will probably be tattoos!  Idiots!


Gun control.  The NRA's position is stupid.  Always has been stupid.  They fight every reasonable attempt to control weapons, to help stop the killing that goes on in our society.

The State of New York has gun control laws which are more strict than most other states.  Lots of people are upset about this.  These folks believe the 2nd Amendment means they have the right to bear arms, that there should be no controls whatsoever and they ought to be able to purchase any type of weapon or ammunition.

My opinion as an American historian is that the 2nd amendment does not guarantee the right to bear arms to individual citizens.  It was never intended to be interpreted in that manner!  And Donald Trump who was railing against gun control at a rally in Albany, New York, is an idiot and full of crap.

The 2nd amendment allowed the states to set up militias for their defense.  Militias, like the National Guard! 

Here's how it reads:  "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Back in the day, men might be called up at any time to form a militia.  They would need weapons at the ready.  That didn't mean that every Tom, Harry and other Dicks should walk around armed to the teeth and shoot those who they perceived to be a threat (as a Florida law allows)!

The right to bear arms had to do with being part of a State militia.

The NRA has successfully sold the American people a bill of goods.  The NRA is not a defender of freedom but an enemy of common sense and the Commonwealth.

One final comment:  Let's say that the 2nd amendment does mean that everyone can have any old weapon he or she desires.  If that were true then it's about time the 2nd amendment is changed to reflect the danger guns pose to our society!


Here we go again.  It's not the shroud this time, it's the Holy Grail, the "cup" that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. 

"Some historians" are claiming this is the historic chalice.

Stop!  The Jesus of the Gospels is a mythical figure, created many years after his supposed life came to an end in order to give some historical bones to the "Christ" figure that Paul had seen in one of his visions! 

There was no Jesus, there was no Last Supper, there was no "cup," and if there were such a thing it wouldn't be an "onyx goblet ... now encased in a gold chalice" and it wouldn't be residing in a church in Spain.

The Roman church in particular has made millions of buckaroos and converts by claiming to possess the bones of a saint, or some other artifact dating back to the early centuries.  There have been enough bones of the crucified Christ and enough nails from his cross to build a cathedral!

If you read Paul's authentic letters in the New Testament, which, by the way, are the earliest of the New Testament books, you will note he never shows the least bit of interest in anything about the so-called "historical" Jesus.  He never mentions Jesus, except in a couple of notations which are challenged by scholars.  He's all about his Christ figure who lives in the heavens.  Even when he goes to Jerusalem, he shows no interest in seeing where Jesus was crucified or any other site of his reported life.  He shows no interest in Jesus' physical appearance or his clothing and for damn sure, he cared nothing about the "cup" used in the Last Supper. 

Isn't it interesting that nowhere in the Gospels nor in Paul's writings nor anywhere else is there a physical description of Jesus?  

At the time Jesus is said to have lived, there were many people writing of the events of the times.  The Romans also kept meticulous records of their entire empire.  Nowhere is there any mention of Jesus or of any incidents of Jesus' life as recorded in the Gospels.

Enough with shrouds and cups.  If you really believe in Jesus and what he said, go out and take care of the sick and the poor and those in prison.  


Hobby Lobby is run by a right-wing fundamentalist Christian who does not want his company's insurance program to pay for emergency contraceptives, or intrauterine devices or abortion-inducing medications for Hobby Lobby employees.  Such a thing would violate his Christian beliefs, he says.

The funny thing here is that if Hobby Lobby is successful in this case now before the U.S. Supremes, it will mean that the corporation is acting out the beliefs of an individual and therefore the corporation can no longer hide behind the artificial nonsense that it is not responsible for its actions.

Furthermore, and this gets even more humorous, today it was revealed that Hobby Lobby's retirement plan has invested millions of dollars in a variety of companies that produce the very things Hobby Lobby is railing against! 

In other words, Hobby Lobby and its owner are huge hypocrites. 

But this is not what it's all about.  It's really about opening the door for Christians to force the government to bow to their wishes and begin the creation of a theocratic system.


His name is Scott Lively.  He's running for governor of Massachusetts.  He's an active anti-gay fundamentalist Christian pastor who has said that Obama supports LBGT rights because he might be gay, who travels around the world preaching hatred of homosexuals, who claims he's at least partly responsible for Russia's anti-gay laws, who authored a book called the "Pink Swastika:  Because Academic Integrity is Overrated" - it's this idiot who said recently he'd think it would be really fine if gay folks either submit to anti-gay therapy (which has been proven time and again to be ineffective) or be put in jail.

Hallejuah.  Praise the Lord.  This son-of-a-bitch is preaching the Gospel of Jesus.  Or not.


Sister Jane Dominic Laurel is another idiot - but she's also a Roman Catholic nun.  This idiot gave a lecture on "masculinity and femininity" at a Catholic high school in North Carolina.  Here's some of what this truth-challenged nuncompoop said:

Masturbation will probably make a boy gay.  Not girls?  And boys living with a single mom will be more likely to be gay because they have no father around to show them how to be masculine.  Heh, heh.  Yes, she really said this.

She also said that gay men are promiscuous and that gay couples abuse their children. 

Once again a spokesperson for the Roman church publicly exhibits ignorance, stupidity and hatred. 

We know from various surveys that 25-50% of priests/seminarians are gay.  I wonder what is the percentage of gay nuns.  Sister Jane didn't speak to those issues.  Could she possibly be gay?


One of the biggest idiots to inhabit our Congress is a character name of Louis Gohmert who is a 
Repugnican from Texas.  Gohmert either can't read or cannot understand what he reads.  He is ignorant of history and exposes his ignorance bolstered by his stupidity over and over again in public.

We've all heard of the "wall of separation between church and state" as stated in our Constitution.  Well, Mr. Gohmert, who has a difficult time mastering the thinking process, says "the constitutional separation between church and state was meant to be a 'one-way' wall where the 'church plays a role in the state.'"

You know the old saw about leading a horse to water but being unable to make him drink.  An updated version is that you lead an old Gohmert to the facts, but you can't make him learn anything.

He's an embarrassment to Texas and to the United States. 


And finally, a sports hero idiot.  He's being hailed as another Tebow and he says that's a good thing because Tebow stands up for his faith and loves Jesus. 

Trevor Knight is a star quarterback for Oklahoma and he loves to share his Christian faith. 

Well, I've got a suggestion:  Shut the f... up!  I don't care what your religious faith is.  I don't care if you've had a personal experience with the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  I don't care if your faith lifts your arm and helps you throw the football or calms the butterflies in your stomach when you go out on a date with a pretty girl.

Because you can throw a football does not mean you're not an idiot.  Your stardom does not give credence to your admiration for mythical figures in the sky or legendary characters from a couple of millenia ago. 

Fortunately, I can turn you off with a push of a button.  But, because you're a star you've got a captive audience made up of fanatics (fans) and it's really tiresome to hear you blather on about how your faith has helped you deal with adversity. 

Just throw the damn football.


Here ends the sermon for this day!


[Thanks to Atheist Cartoons.]







Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Idiots R Us - #3



Money still talks.  Robert H. Richards IV is an heir to the du Pont fortune.  He's not gainfully employed.  He raped his 3-year old daughter.  He said it was an "accident."  Superior Court Judge, Jan Jurden let him off because he "will not fare well" in prison.

How the hell do you "accidentally" rape a 3-year old child?  Since when do we let people go free because the won't "fare well" in prison?  Who the hell fares well in prison?

If you're a poor person, white or black, and caught with marijuana, some states would put you in prison where you would not fare well for 20 years.

Judge Jurden should resign.  Richards should be locked up for a good long time. 

Good luck with that!


Ted Nugent's latest insult directed toward the president of these United States consisted of calling the President a "subhuman mongrel."  It is hard to fathom what goes on in the mini-mind of Mr. Nugent, who because he is a musician, thinks he can speak of the leader of this country in such a disparaging manner.

One article I read said that "everyone" is offended by this insult.  But it mentioned only Rick Perry and Rand Paul.  Perry noted Nugent's blast was not appropriate language.  When asked to comment about the fact that Greg Abbott, a Repugnican running for governor of the oil state, hangs out with Nugent and has been blessed by Nugent, Perry refused to comment. 

These hypocritical Repugnicans should be ashamed of themselves.  Ever since Mr. Obama was elected, they have reviled him in all kinds of ways, questioning his birthplace, claiming that he's destroying the country, publicly calling for his impeachment.  Others have slandered him in ways just as offensive as Nugent.

So, Nugent, bless his filthy little heart, is just following the lead of Repugnican leaders.


Paul Ryan, as the House Budget Committee Chairman, has come up with another "not-so-new" Repugnican budget plan that is tailored to "balance the budget" on the backs of the poor, the elderly and the young.  He calls this a "balanced" plan.

Ryan, a Roman Catholic who has adopted the atheist Ayn Rand as his political mentor/guru, believes that the elderly are feeding in the trough of government largess, that the poor are poor because they don't want to work - it's their culture you know, and kids today just don't have what it takes.

So, Ryan's budget, over the next ten years, would lop $5.1 trillion in federal spending.  It would cut food stamps, and several programs such as pensions for federal workers and Pell Grants for poor college students.  It would cut health care for the poor and working class.  The Huffington Post says it would "steer away from cuts to benefits for senior citizens, at least in the short term, but reprises a voucher-like Medicare program for future retirees."

Here's a suggestion:  Leave the poor, the old, and the working class the hell alone!  Tax the rich.  Make GE and Boeing and other companies pay at least some taxes.  Stop allowing companies to hide profits off-shore.  Stop gifting the oil companies huge subsidies when they're raking in billions of dollars in profit every year. 

And here's another suggestion, Mr. Ryan:  cut your own goddamn health care and your pension and leave the rest of us to live out our days in peace!

Oh, you might also try to pass some bills which would create more jobs. 


Bethlehem Community Church in Laurel, Mississippi, pranked its parishioners by implying former president Georgi Bushki would be giving a "biblical" message.  Church officials didn't mention any names, but rather spoke of a "mystery guest."

They did line the "entrance to the church with American flags," and hired men to look like secret service agents.

The "Bush" that showed up, however, was an impersonator named John Morgan, who looks and acts much like the real Georgi W. Bushki.

Just goes to show, you can't believe anything these churches say and they'll do just about anything to get you in the door and pick your pocket!


Did you hear about the Minnesota couple who scammed the assistance program of that state out of $165,000 while living large, with several million in secret bank accounts and a mansion plus yacht in Florida?

And you thought all welfare scammers were poor black single moms with lots of kids!

The truth is that neither the Minnesota couple, nor poor folks of whatever color, are a threat to our system or our financial situation.  It's the corporations who receive huge amounts of money every year as gifts from the rest of us that are scamming the system and creating our budgetary crisis. 

Some Repugs like to talk as if Social Security is going to be the financial downfall of the United States.  That's total bullshit!  Social Security is solvent and with no adjustments will continue just fine for at least 3 more decades.  And all could be well forever and ever if the rich paid in their fair share to the Social Security system and if Congress would stop "borrowing" Social Security monies to fund their pet projects.


According to an article by Joan McCarter at Daily Kos, Republican states which have failed to implement the Medicaid expansion have kept millions of children from being covered by health insurance.

"[...] in states not implementing the Medicaid expansion, children account for 75% of the uninsured eligible for Medicaid or CHIP."

Even in states which did accept the Medicaid expansion, many children have been left out because people were not informed as to the availability of health care or how to go about getting it. 

There are 14 million uninsured individuals eligible for this insurance.  5.2 million of these are children.

Way to go, GOP!!!


Ted Cruz is not known to be a funny guy.  He isn't a funny guy.  He's an unhappy, cruel and miserable SOB.  But what he did on Facebook was funny.  He asked his "friends" to answer "an informal survey on his verified senatorial Facebook page." 

Obamacare is now four years old.  Cruz wanted to know if his friends were better off now than the were before the ACA.  They were instructed to answer "Yes" or "No".

"It's probably fair to say that he didn't expect the tsunami of "YES" votes that have shown up on the page among the 47,000 that Facebooks says have been posted."

The Yes people liked not being disqualified because of pre-existing conditions; they liked (if they were young) to stay on their parent's insurance up to age 26, and they liked the lower premiums and no lifetime benefit limits.

I'm laughing. 

[The above is from The Jed Report on Daily Kos]


Daniel Lapin is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, and represents the Orthodox Jewish answer to Christianity's prosperity gospel.  Lapin is not an idiot, but something close, clothed in religious garb but spewing nonsense nonstop.

Lapin was on Pat Robertson's 700 Club recently.  He has a new book to promote, which deals with the "ancient Jewish wisdom" of "making money."

Robertson is an idiot.  Which makes me think that Lapin must be, too, just for appearing on Robertson's show.  Robertson raised the old saw about all Jews being rich and wanted to know how they "prosper financially."

It went downhill from there.  Lapin claimed that paying a mechanic to fix his BMW or a kid to mow his lawn was "taking care of God's other children."  Really.  That's what he said!

But here's the kicker:  God doesn't want anyone to be an adolescent or to retire.  Lapin says there are no Jewish words for "adolescent" or "retire" so the obvious conclusion is that to be an adolescent or a retiree is bad.  Robertson said he thought Lapin to be right, that to retire is to violate God's law.

And finally, Lapin charged that the U.S. government has become Marxist and has made its people slaves.

I rescind my earlier statement:  Lapin IS an idiot!  Maybe there is a hell where he and Robertson can tell each other stories for all eternity. 


How to know God is real.  There are seven things.  You'll be convinced.  Or not.  These are from a Christianist by name of J. Lee Grady who writes at the fundy Charisma website. 

1.  Babies.  Yup.  Just look at that wonderful little baby and consider all the stuff in that baby's DNA and you'll be convinced that god is real.   Of course an ape has 98 percent of the same DNA and a mouse is very similar in terms of DNA to humans, but...

2.  Thunderstorms.  Really.  I'm serious.  This is what he wrote.  You'll know God is real by watching thunderstorms from your back porch; especially if you live in Florida.  Like St. Paul said, "creation was the best evidence of God's existence."  Hmmm.  Tell that to the victims of a tsunami, or a tornado, or a snowstorm, or a mudslide, or...well, I don't think thunderstorms are going to convince anyone that there is a God.  Might convince some there is no god!

3.  Flowers.  Most are not edible.  They are just to make the world look better.  It couldn't be they just evolved.  Nope, a "loving God" created "each individual shape and color scheme for our enjoyment."  "Well, except for that damn plant that clamps around you and smothers you to death or that damn Florida vine that destroyed everything around it in my back yard!  Nah, flowers aren't gonna do it.

4.  The Bible.  Oh boy.  I think if anyone reads the Bible with an open mind he or she will quickly become convinced that the god of the Bible is a horrible, mythical creature that best be forgotten.  He's the one who created millions of people in such a way that they "misbehaved," so he decided to kill them off except for one pederast by name of Noah.  Then he re-peopled the earth with the same scum he just killed.  He's the one who tells his favorite tribe to disembowel their enemies, rape their women and smash their children against the rocks.  He's the one who's going to send everyone to an eternal hell where they will be consumed by fire unless they believe that he was killed as a sacrifice to himself for the sins of the world. 

Who can suffer such crap?

5.  The global spread of Christianity.  I think this may be more of a sign of the devil than of god.  Christianity has done more damage to the world in the past 2,000 years than any other group in history! 

6.  Jesus.  You just have to believe that Jesus was the son of god who was killed in order to sate god's bloodlust.  Furthermore, there is no credible evidence of any kind that proves Jesus existed.  The evidence suggests that he also is a mythical figure.  Jesus is not a good argument for a god.  Wait, wasn't Jesus supposed to be god?  Why then would god have to have himself killed as a sacrifice for himself in order to save all the poor sinners whom he created to be poor sinners?  Something's wrong with this picture. 

7.  A personal friendship with God.  Well, that's going to go nowhere.  You might as well believe in god because of your personal friendship with Mickey Mouse.  It means absolutely nothing. 


No wonder people today are leaving religion behind.  They're finally catching on.  It's a scam.

[The cartoon courtesy of Atheist Cartoons.]











 




 





Monday, March 31, 2014

Boycott the Koch Brothers

[The following is from kathybbb at Daily Kos.]


The Koch brothers, dipping into their bottomless well of money, are a serious threat to American democracy.  They can buy and sell anyone and are using their massive funds to spread their ultra-rightwing (dare I say fascist?) political and religious views across the land, usually through front goups with innocuous sounding names.  Their pernicious influence is felt everywhere, from the smallest town council to the White House.

But we can fight back.  We can boycott Koch products.  Do your country and the world a favor by avoiding all the companies on the list and refraining from buying the products mentioned. 

Here is a list of Koch products.

Koch Brothers and Koch Industries from:


Koch Industry Gasoline:

Chevron
Union
Union 76
Conoco


Koch Industry/Invista Products:

COMFOREL® fiberfill
COOLMAX® fabric
CORDURA® fabric
DACRON® fiber
POLYSHIELD® resin
SOLARMAX® fabric
SOMERELLE® bedding products
STAINMASTER® carpet
SUPPLEX® fabric
TACTEL® fiber
TACTESSE® carpet fiber
TERATE® polyols
TERATHANE® polyether glycol
THERMOLITE® fabric
PHENREZ® resin
POLARGUARD® fiber and
LYCRA® fiber

Koch Industry/Georgia-Pacific Products:

Angel Soft toilet paper
Brawny paper towels
Dixie plates, bowls, napkins and cups
Mardi Gras napkins and towels
Quilted Northern toilet paper
Soft ‘n Gentle toilet paper
Sparkle napkins
Vanity fair napkins
Zee napkins

Georgia Pacific Building products:

Dense Armor Drywall and Decking
ToughArmor Gypsum board
Georgia pacific Plytanium Plywood
Flexrock
Densglass sheathing
G/P Industrial plasters (some products used by a lot of crafters)-
Agricultural Plaster
Arts & Crafts Plaster
Dental Plaster
General Purpose Plaster
Glass-reinforced Gypsum (GRG),etc.


There's more on Koch here.

Green Living has much more about the Koch brothers here

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Idiots R Us #2


A show titled "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" made its debut this month on FOX.  It is a scientific documentary which discussed, in part, the theory of evolution.

Creationists are upset.  A representative of Answers in Genesis (the same group that brought America the Creationist Museum) is demanding equal air time to present the Creationist point of view.

This would be hilarious if it weren't so sad and indicative as to how far we have fallen scientifically in this country.  The Creationists should be laughed back to the Stone Age not given equal air time to present their religious views under the pretense they are somehow related to science.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is the one behind "Cosmos" and he had the perfect rebuttal to the whiny, pea-brained creationists:  "...you don't talk about the spherical earth with NASA and then say let's give equal time to the flat-earthers."

Creationism has NOTHING to do with science no matter what Ken Ham and his cohorts believe!  Creationism is a particular religious viewpoint, held by a minority of fundamentalist Christianists who want to believe that the hoary old book of Genesis is some sort of historical document, when it is, in essence, a collection of myths perpetrated by ignorant desert nomads who lived several millennia ago and knew mostly about sheep and cattle and fighting other tribes but nothing of science or the universe or creation!


A new report from the United Nations warns that climate change is real, massive, and is already affecting all life on planet earth.  Seth Borenstein, reporting on the UN report says, "The big risks and overall effects of global warming are far more immediate and local than scientists once thought.  It's not just about melting ice, threatened animals and plants.  It's about the human problems of hunger, disease, drought, flooding, refugees and war, becoming worse."

If we are to save ourselves, we must take action now for we can no longer smooth over the issue by thinking the effects of global warming and climate change are far off in the future and that we have plenty of time to fix things. 

As Borenstein quotes from Michael Mann, a Penn State scientist, "It's not far-off in the future and it's not exotic creatures - it's us and now."


Pat Robertson again.  He cannot stop himself from making moronic and stupid remarks.  On his 700 Club a viewer expressed difficulty converting her atheistic coworker.  Robertson said he thought it possible that the atheist might believe as she does because she's possessed by demons or has been raped.

And there you have it folks:  Demon possession and rape leads to atheism.  Ergo, atheists are possessed by demons or victims of rape.


Alternet has a story about the Catholic Archdiocese in the city of Atlanta.  Joseph Mitchell, a nephew of Margaret Mitchell, author of "Gone With the Wind," gave the diocese $15 million.  The Cathedral of Christ the King chose to spend $2.2 million to renovate a priestly rectory which had been the home of an archbishop who has since moved into new digs which cost $2.2 million.

Some parishioners in the Atlanta diocese believe the money would be more properly spent on helping the poor, kinda like the Gospel Jesus taught. 

Nothing much has changed, it seems, in the thinking of the Roman church. 


A positive sign:  Conservative book sales are on the decline.  Perhaps the reason is that conservatives have enough doorstops.


The State of South Carolina has perpetually been a pain in the ass of this country.  Think Ft. Sumter, Strom Thurmond, the KKK, Nikki Haley.  Now SC is engaged in another minor, but significant debacle.  Crooks & Liars tells the story of a 3rd-grader by name of Olivia McConnell who wanted South Carolina to have a "state fossil."  Only 7 states do not have a state fossil.  Olivia likes fossils so she wrote to her state representative suggesting South Carolina adopt one. 

Seems that in 1725 slaves working on a SC plantation dug up wooly mammoth teeth in a swamp.  Olivia thought the wooly mammoth would make a great state fossil.

Two legislators agreed and filed bills in the SC House & Senate declaring "The Columbian Mammoth is designated as the official State Fossil of South Carolina."  There are some good folks in South Carolina.

But there are also lots of low-grade dimwits.  Two of these, good Christians of course, said this was not a good idea unless South Carolina also acknowledged that God "created on the Sixth Day [the mammoth] with the beasts of the field."

Senator Mark Fair is one of these dimwits.  He's the guy who compared our president with Osama Bin Laden, "helped to block funding for a rape crisis center, called climate change a hoax, and blocked evolution from the state's science standards."

Will someone explain to these two fruitcakes that these United States are not to perpetrate any religion whatsoever and that they need to get educated because their stupidity is stinking up South Carolina and we've had enough shit from "good" Christians who demand the right to impose their pagan religious beliefs on the rest of us!


This is also from Crooks & Liars:  It has to do with the liar, Chris Christie, who has mangled public education in his state and worked hard to decimate the pensions of public servants.  "Facing another year of fiscal problems, Gov. Chris Christie changed the funding formula for the state's pension contribution so that he could cancel $93.7 million in previously budgeted pension payments due in June, cut next year's pension bill by $150 million, and put $900 million less into the underfunded pension system by the end of his term."

Mr. Christie is not a nice person.  He is as lousy and dangerous as most Republicans.


Donald Rumsfeld should, in my opinion, be serving time as a war criminal.  I agree with the opinion of an Alternet writer, Janet Allon, that he is a psychopath.  He was interviewed by Greta Van Susteren recently and implied that Obama has no clue what he's doing in Afghanistan.  Then, Rumsfeld, the psychopathic war criminal, said "This administration, the White House and the State Department, have failed to get a status of forces agreement."

I'll admit I don't even know what that is.  But I think Rumsfeld is betting no one knows what that is but will think it vitally important and that Obama was stupid for not getting one. 

The corker came, though, when this psychopathic war criminal and racist said:  "A trained ape could get a status of forces agreement.  It does not take a genius."

Nope.  It takes a genius to lie us into an unnecessary war with Iraq which killed hundreds of thousands of people for no good reason whatsoever, created a massive increase in anti-American sentiment around the world, and broke our financial back! 


Whale feces is a good thing.  According to Alex Kirby of the Climate News Network, "By enriching the seas with iron expelled from their digestive systems, sperm whales are helping to slow the warming of the Antarctic" say the scientists. 


This from Daily Kos:  Sunnie Kahle is eight years old and has been attending Timberlake Christian 
School, in Forest, Virginia.  Sunnie has short hair and fancies herself as a "Tomboy."  She prefers wearing jeans and a t-shirt instead of dresses. 

Administrators at this so-called "Christian" school decided Sunnie didn't look enough like a girl.  They said "her appearance didn't line up with 'biblical standards.'"  That's when her grandparents (who are raising Sunnie) took out of the "Christian" school and enrolled her in a public school

I wonder if most of these pretend Christian assholes ever read the Bible?


In the past, when I was younger and more naive, I wondered how it was possible that so many "good" people in Germany fell in step with the Nazis.  Recent studies have indicated that support for the Nazi Party was widespread and most citizens were well aware of what was happening under the Nazis.

Most Germans were of the Lutheran (Protestant) or Roman Catholic persuasion.  Hitler was a Roman Catholic as were many of his important henchmen.  Hitler used Martin Luther's book on the Jews as the basis for implementing the "Final Solution," so it is possible that many, if not most, Germans found some rationale for going along with the Nazis. 

Religion, as we know from history, offers no defense from insanity or stupidity or corruption or ignorance.  In fact, religion down through the years has exemplified those things in spades.  Thus when right-wing Christians in this country begin to sound like their brains have been scrambled, when they defend their war on the poor and their war on women as something of which Jesus would approve, when they promote the notion that their god wants them to be rich, when they suggest that the government should be based upon their biblical interpretations, we begin to understand the very scary fact that most of us would have no problem with a dictatorship that murdered or incarcerated people who failed to live up to their standards.

For example (and there are several), there is a person named Tristan Emmanuel, who wrote a bestseller titled, "Christophobia:  The Real Reason Behind Hate Crimes Legislation."  In an article posted on the whacko Matt Barber's website, Emmanuel suggested that people like Bill Maher who mock God should be severely punished by the authorities.  And this because Maher was guilty of "slanderous crimes against God and country."

Yep, Emmanuel believes America is under the authority of his god.  And blasphemy on the part of American citizens will call his wrath down upon us all unless we follow god's law by taking Maher and his cohorts out and whip them in public.


What is really scary about this is that our country is, in places, already under the control of such people.  The sit on our school boards, town councils, county commissions, state legislatures.  The inhabit the office of governor, U.S. representative, U.S. Senator, and not a few are judges on state and federal levels.  Many more are working for the various branches of the government as it is organized around the country.

And what do we do with people who are registering as Democrats in order to enter a political race in a Democratic area but are really Teapot Crackpot Republicans?  This is happening right now.


I used to believe Americans were, in general, immune from the imprecations of the extremists and the fascists.  I realize now that is not true.  We are rather quite susceptible to becoming the antithesis of what our founders envisioned.  And when it happens you can bet your bippy that it will be cloaked in the guise of revelatory religion, mostly the paganism that is Christianity.