Amen, Brother

Roger Ebert on the Separation of Church and State:

I do not propose to discuss the issues of abortion, birth control and in vitro fertilization. I'm more concerned with those who would pass laws enforcing their religious beliefs. They apparently see no conflict between the laws they propose and the separation of Church and State.

What the First Amendment provides is that each and every American is entitled to follow the teachings of the church of their choice, or for that matter no church at all. What if your beliefs, or your church, permit abortion or in vitro fertilization? Are you now to become a criminal? The problem with such laws is that they would legislate the personal religious beliefs of the candidates.

It's interesting to note that Ryan/Romney (and their wingnut supporters) are pushing the issues of Women's Reproductive Health (eg) as "issues of morality", glossing over the simple fact that they'd surely tell us they get their morality from their religious beliefs - if the Press Poodles ever bothered to ask them.

The bible may be a fair place to start - and it's quite possibly the repository of the very best thinking of its time - but the probability has to be extremely high that people have come up with some stuff that's a tad more up-to-date; and at least as likely to make better sense for me than something written 8000 years ago.

Wait - What?

So if it shows up in USA Today (with a feeder from the front page, no less), then it's like official? Like it's obvious and everybody's known about it all along?  Like McPaper hasn't ever helped the "conservative" dipwads peddle bullshit about how "the jury's still out on AGW", and how "smart people can disagree about the causes"?

Humans have already changed Earth's atmosphere by releasing vast amounts of carbon dioxide and similar heat-trapping gases from power plants, vehicles and other sources, scientists say. The resulting rise in air and sea-surface temperatures, along with melting glaciers and land ice, will push up sea levels globally by more than one-and-a-half feet by 2100.

The Self

Your homework assignment for this weekend:

Starting at about 25:00, try not to think about Leo Strauss or Freddie Hayek (an elite group controlling the herd's animal instincts).

Part 1


Part 2
(at about 23:15 - getting the consumer to substitute your product for what she really wants - "nearly 4 inches longer...", and the lady goes "ooooooh!")
Nuthin' but brilliant.


Part 3


Part 4

Today's Pix

Watermelon Deluxe

(You're prob'ly gonna want your 10 minutes back)



Sorry.

Bad Lip Reading

I've missed these guys a lot lately.

Paulie Boy, We Hardly Know Ye

From The Atlantic:

...Ryan is both a product of and poster boy for the political city. And it is symptom of the corruption and divisiveness of contemporary Washington that a man who has not passed a single piece of substantive legislation, ever, can be hailed as a substantive and deep thinker and the voice of budgetary sanity while racking up an actual record consisting overwhelmingly of renaming post offices, honoring Ronald Reagan and Wisconsin, providing for the issuance of commemorative coins, and increasing the deficit through massive tax cuts.

And guess, what - it won't matter that Ryan is a phony; that his record is a phony.  He's the empty suit that the RNC puppet masters are looking for - a guy with just enough function in his being to sign his name to laws that get written by lobbyists, negotiated by industry shills planted on congressional staffs, and sold to us by advertising paid for by the anonymous campaign donors who will benefit most from the law itself, while "elections" are little more than the kind of corporate meeting where management says they're inviting our valuable input but are really just opportunities for us to agree with decisions that have already been made.

Welcome back to the 18th century.

My Friend, Ed

Ed Freeman is a professor at The Darden School of Business, UVa in Charlottesville.  He teaches Business Ethics (insert oxymoron joke here), and his expertise is quite probably needed more right now than at any other time in my memory.

I missed this when it came out, which I wonder about less than I wonder about why this is the kind of thing that shows up fairly prominently in the foreign press, but never makes the cut here in the US.  I do in deed wonder.

Forbes India:

Business has to be a good citizen in the community and society. The old way of business presupposes the purpose of business is to make profits. This is akin to believing that making red blood cells or breathing is the purpose of life. Yes, we must have red blood cells, just as businesses must make profits. But the purpose of business is usually determined by a passionate entrepreneur chasing a dream to change the world.

Today's Quote

Connections(?)

From The Raw Story:

Michael L. Leisner, the man who became world famous for an anti-LGBT protest gone wrong, has died suddenly at the age of 65. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the father of four abruptly passed away while sitting in his car, waiting for his two sons to finish their Saturday afternoon tennis practice.

I can feel sympathy for the guy's family and friends of course - but, here's a picture of all the fucks I give about this booger-eatin', bug-fuckin' jag-off: