Geeks Without God gets Artsy Fartsy
I gotta be honest. I could have talked about this week’s topic for a lot longer than we did. Our jumping off point was a discussion of a jackass that Molly had as a professor in college. From there, we talked about the idea of aesthetic beauty and what art we all found attractive or interesting.
Of course, given the theme of the podcast, we also talked about whether or not religion could be afforded any intrinsic value because of the art and architecture that has been created in the name of religion.
It is all very philosophical and involves discussions of trips to Europe, artistic styles and even comic books. Have a listen if that is your thing!
Shit that Pissed me Off – May 17th
Minnesotans for Marriage Are Worried that People think They are Bigots
Same-sex marriage is about to be a reality in Minnesota but the folks over at Minnesota for marriage tried their best to lie their way into a victory.
They warned folks that if the marriage law passed, people who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman would be labelled as “bigots” (because they are) and “prosecuted under the law” (which is complete bullshit).
See, the law says that same sex couples can get married. You don’t have to like it. There are lots of laws different groups of people don’t like. Not liking a law is completely legal and nobody is going to prosecute you for it.
I don’t like the fact that churches are tax exempt and yet, nobody has arrested me for thinking that way. I’M BEING PERSECUTED!!!!
Now if your job is to issue marriage licenses and you refuse to issue them to a same sex couple, you might lose your job because they are legally allowed a marriage license. You don’t get to re-write the law to suit your “deeply held religious beliefs.”
However, suggesting that people will be prosecuted for believing that same-sex marriage is wrong is a great example of inciting homophobia. All they are doing is trying to make people afraid of homosexuals. They seem to imply that once homosexuals have rights, they are going to trample all over everyone else’s.
That’s what bigots do.
Alphabetical Movie – Looney Toons: Back in Action
Look, I know that this movie isn’t all that good. It spends a good portion of it’s incredibly short running time recalling funny moments from old Looney Tunes cartoons in ways that make them nowhere near as funny.
When Marvin the Martian said “where’s the Kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth shattering Kaboom” in “Hare-way to the Stars,” it was funny. When he says the same thing in this film, it feels kind of desperate.
Back in my youth, I fell in love with the Looney Toons on Saturday morning. For 60 or 90 minutes, they would play the best of the classic cartoons. A lot of them were shortened or they would splice together a couple of road runner cartoons to make a really long road runner cartoon in which Wile E. Coyote really got the shit kicked out of him.
Geeks Without God Talks Politics
What a week it has been. When we sat down to record our podcast last week, same-sex marriage was not legal in Minnesota. Today, Governor Dayton signs that bill into law.
Eric Jacobson bid a tidy sum of money at the Fearless launch party for the right to join us this week. He wanted to talk about atheists in politics so that’s exactly what we discussed. Of course we talked about the upcoming votes in the Minnesota House and Senate and perhaps you will enjoy reaching back into history to hear our thoughts about the legislation and the chances for success.
The central question for anyone who is living a godless life is how do we have more impact on the political process as atheists? We didn’t answer that question in the podcast but we hope that by talking about politics, we can convince other godless folk to get involved in politics.
Eric also provides a stunning level of detail about his sandwich. Click here and enjoy!!
Shit that Pissed Me Off This Week – 5/10
Chris Kluwe Released by the Vikings
I don’t know for certain why he was let go. I could speculate and a lot of other people have but the fact is the dude is a great voice for change and now he’s on his way out of town.
He’s bigger than the game he plays. I know that sounds ridiculous given Football is the most profitable professional sport in the world but it is just a sport. Kluwe tried to use his celebrity to help achieve a higher goal.
What goal could be higher than balancing a football on your middle finger? Get your priorities straight, Chris! Get it? Straight???? Get it?????????
And I’m pretty sure he got fired for it. I guess you should have waited to speak your mind until you weren’t a professional football player, Chris.
Not a problem now though! Boo-yah!
Geeks Without God Plays a Lame-ass Game!
So we had this great idea for a podcast. We figured we’d get Brianne Bilyeu, Stephanie Zvan and Jason Thiebault, all former guests of our show (and bloggers on FreeThought Blogs), on the podcast again. We’d have all of them play “Left Behind: The Board Game” with us while consuming Moonshine soaked cherries and it would be a hoot!
We didn’t count on one of the worst designed games ever devised. The board game is not merely a horrible fundamentalist screed. It is a horrible board game. We tried mightily to make the podcast interesting and I don’t know if we succeeded or not.
Just in case we didn’t, though, we came up with a solution. A drinking game!
So go to the website, play the podcast and follow the rules written there. It won’t make the game any better but it will probably seem a lot better.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 5/3
Iowa Legislators want to Punish the Iowa Supreme Court by Cutting Their Pay
Let me start by saying that this particular law doesn’t stand a chance of passing. I’m not annoyed that it could actually become law.
I’m annoyed that it is being discussed. At issue is the fact that the Iowa supreme court, in a unanimous decision, declared that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. That’s why same-sex marriage is legal in Iowa right now.
Well a few Legislators feel the court overstepped their bounds by interpreting the state constitution (or – to re-state – “doing their job”) in a way that these particular Legislators felt was wrong. So they have proposed to cut the pay of the “activist” justices until such a time as same-sex marriage becomes unconstitutional.
It’s like a bribe in reverse!
Just those justices, by the way. Any new justices would come in at the regular, pro-homophobic pay rate.
I’ve got a better idea, how about the Legislators cut their own pay until they understand you don’t cut the pay of another branch of government just because you don’t like their conclusions?
