Politics And Capitalism

"Conservatives" love to carp about "lefties" bringing politics to the marketplace until of course some bonehead like Dan Cathy at Chick-Fil-A steps on his own dick.  But even then, it's still not supposed to be about the stupid politics of being stupidly anti-gay; it's supposed to be about the "freedom" of a very powerful business empire to fuck over anybody it chooses to fuck over.

(God love The Onion)

"The Queer-Hatin' Cordon Bleu is our company's way of showing our firm commitment to strong, Christian family values," said Chick-fil-A spokesman Robert Gary, before adding that the vehemently anti-gay rights sandwich comes served in a combo with waffle fries and a medium soda for just $6.95. "From the very first morsel of this savory meal to the very last bite, customers can envision gays burning in hell with their sodomizing cohorts, and know that our sandwich is on their side.”

If I needed another reason to avoid fast food, this is it.

Today's Pix

Don't be fooled - there's something very wrong with the GOP right now.

May 1, 1947 - 23-year-old Evelyn McHale jumped from the observation deck of the Empire State Bldg.

Brood Parasitism

The Brownheaded Cow Bird is one of those species that uses the nests of other birds to lay its eggs, leaving it to other bird parents to raise its young.  It evolved this strategy because it was so busy following the bison herds on the Great Plains of North America, that it could never make it back to a nest of its own to lay eggs, so it took whatever opportunity that presented itself.

The Cow Bird is an open country bird, so it's Interesting that it's become a problem here in Virginia until you stop and consider the rather extreme deforestation that's gone on for the last 150 years.  Anyway, it's a threat to the songbird species on the east coast now, and I'm bringing this up only because there's a lot of these "little evidentiary things" that really start to add up to a big fuckin' problem after a while.  Kinda important to pay attention to 'em.

So actually, I dunno what to think about having found this egg on the top rail of the pool fence behind the house today - are Cow Birds kinda dumb?  Do they stop wherever they happen to be and lay an egg when they just can't go any farther?  Or...what?

Two From Mr Orwell

“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ”

--and--

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

--George Orwell

No Hell Below Us; Above Us Only Sky

Heaven is almost always a vision of what we value most - and don't possess.

Tell me what you think heaven is and I'll tell you what's lacking in your life right now.

Vaccination Against Idiocy

Top 25 Creationist Fallacies - also, a useful primer for doing combat with the Common Wingnut.

Urinalysis

This one makes the rounds every so often.

I was thinking that if one of you "conservative" geniuses ever once tho't of challenging the Pee Test in the courts on 4th and 5th Amendment grounds (eg), maybe you'd feel a bit less inclined to shit on poor people all the fuckin' time.  Cuz that's really it, right?  You need to be absolutely sure that you never have to admit that the guys you're always voting for are bending you over the table and fucking you with your pants on; you can't stand thinking that everything they've told you over the last 30 years is total bunk; and how they're using you to do their dirty work on everybody else.

So it just can't be that you're allowing yourselves to get fucked over.  It's really all about how you need that shit to roll on down the hill, so you can feel a little better about the whole filthy mess - that you helped create - that you help perpetuate every time you buy into this cynical manipulation.

Would this be a bad time to start talking to you about accepting responsibility for your part in turning this country into the giant FUBAR that you're always pissin' and moanin' about?

Today's Quote

"I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshipped by many who think themselves Christians."

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard Price, Jan. 8, 1789

(Richard Price had written to TJ on Oct. 26. about the harm done by religion and wrote "Would not Society be better without Such religions? Is Atheism less pernicious than Demonism?")

And Now...

...Mr Diety himself - Brian Dalton, at Imagine No Religion in Canada last year.

It cuts early at the end, but it's just Dalton doing some plugs for the Mr Deity series.

God-Given Rights(?)

The First Step

From the premier episode of The Newsroom, Aaron Sorkin's latest attempt to remind us of the true greatness of what (and who) we once were; and to get us to think about how we can be great again.



As usual tho', reading the comments is depressing.

Today's Bumper Sticker

via Democratic Underground

Romney Loves America The Way A Tick Loves A Dog

A Real Comparison(?)

Sometimes I have a kind of Love/Hate relationship with myself.  Especially when I do shit like this.  It feels like I'm goin' along with the crap I absolutely loathe about our current state of "debate".

That said, how am I supposed to resist an opportunity like this?

Let's see if we can spot some tiny hint as to the difference in the work ethic of our major party candidates this time around.

Vacation 2012

Spending some time back home in Colorado.  I'm never not amazed at how spectacular the weather can be here.  Just the fact that it can be a roasty toasty 90˚ during the day, but if you sit in the shade, it's not bad at all (the wonders of low humidity).  But the best part is that when the sun goes down, it cools off.  Practically no such thing as 85˚ and muggy at 11 o'clock at night.

So anyway - I'm being kinda lazy, so the prospects of getting any serious blogging done for the next several days are pretty slim.

Today's Quote

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute -- where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote -- where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference -- and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish -- where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches, or any other ecclesiastical source -- where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials -- and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

    -- John F Kennedy, address to the Ministerial Association of Greater Houston, September 12, 1960, from Albert J Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom