Shit that Pissed me Off This Week – 2/22
Alaska Republicans respond to a question about Gay Marriage with Laughter
While the Alaskan public is beginning to warm up to the idea of legalizing gay unions (or at least giving homosexuals protection from discrimination in the workplace), the Republican caucus in the state legislature thinks idea is pretty funny.
You know, the Republican party is still full of openly anti-gay members. However, most of them are smart enough to avoid laughing at the idea of marriage equality on camera. Not this crew. They just laughed out loud because, I guess, fuck the gays.
Oh dear! I’ve laughed at the gays so much, I smeared my make-up!
I suppose when you know that you aren’t going to get the gay vote anyway, you have no reason to treat them with respect or compassion. Better if they all just commit suicide while they are still in high school, right?
You can laugh at gay people if you want, assholes. They aren’t going to disappear. You managed to make them hide for a while but most of them have finally realized they are right and you are wrong. Pretty soon they will be laughing at you. The difference will be that you deserve it.
Shit that Pissed me off this Week – 2/15
Georgia Lawmaker Wants to Make it Illegal to make Fun of People (Specifically Him) on the Internet
Whether or not making mean-spirited jokes about people is wrong, it isn’t illegal. And it shouldn’t be.
Because honestly, who’s to judge which statements are worth fining and which are not?
Right. A Judge. OK. I knew that.
Like this guy.
You know, the thing that bugs me about people who choose to engage in public service is how surprised some of them are when people make fun of them. Sometimes they deserve it. Sometimes they don’t.
In a country as ideologically divided as we are, however, it is going to happen. Constantly.
You have two choices. You can grow thicker skin or you can introduce laws designed to ensure people will make even more fun of you.
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why so many people do the latter.
Shit that Pissed me off This Week – 1/4
Woman Accused of Scamming People in the Wake of the Newton Massacre
There’s no better way to show compassion for your fellow human beings than by trying to make money off of their misfortune. In this case, a woman allegedly convinced people to donate money for the funeral of one of the Newton victims but kept the money for herself.
She, of course, denies that she had anything to do with the scam – even though it was run from her own personal gmail account.
Now, let’s be fair. Her account might have been hacked.
Maybe she got this message on her computer!
That still means some asshole was using her account to profit off of the murder of a bunch of kids. Who did it isn’t really the point, is it? Someone decided that they needed money and figured that they’d make it the easy way.
Let’s hope they never find themselves in need of real charity.
Shit that Pissed me Off this Week – 12/28
The Pope Communicates his Growing Irrelevance to the World
After the Catholic church’s spectacular failure to stem the tide of tolerance, The Pope has decided to make opposition to gay marriage the major thrust of Catholic activism in the coming year. In fact, he said that it is (I shit you now) a “threat to world peace.”
WHAT?????
I really want to understand what kind of thinking would suggest that allowing two people who love each other the right to marry would ever threaten world peace. I would think that stable, loving homes would be a benefit to world peace. I don’t have any data to prove this but goodness knows that the pope has no data to prove his point either.
He doesn’t need data, though. Because he’s infallible.
Infallibly wrong.
He’s also a very affordable line of cosmetics!
And, as usual, he is wasting the vast resources of his church on Gay Marriage. At what point is he going to start focusing on issues that are actually important to his church?
Like the fact so many people think the guy leading his church is a dick?
Shit that Pissed me Off This Week, 12/7
Bill O’Reilly says Anyone who Thinks Christianity is a Religion is “Stone-Cold Dumb”
In his latest tirade against the “war on Christmas” he insists that the biggest problem is all of us idiots who think that Christianity is a religion instead of a philosophy. We are, in fact, “so stupid, it’s painful.”
Well I’m sorry to cause Mr. O’Reilly so much pain but I’m going to have to ask him in what way Christianity does not meet the following definition:
The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods.
Now perhaps Mr. O’Reilly thinks that Christianity is also a philosophy. That is a different conversation but it isn’t what he said.
The problem, in fact, is not what he said but the fact that when he says it, thousands of people adopt his position as truth. Instead of saying to themselves “holy shit – that is the most fucked up description of Christianity I’ve ever heard,” which they should because most of them are Christians, they are instead saying “he’s right! I don’t accept the divinity of Jesus Christ as part of a religion! It’s my philosophy!!!!”
However, let them believe that because if they want to argue that Christianity is a philosophy, then their churches need to start paying taxes because they are no longer exempt. And they can’t get all pissed off about people saying “Happy Holidays” either because we aren’t attacking their religion any longer. Since they don’t have one. They also can’t demand freedom of religion either. The first amendment doesn’t provide freedom of philosophy.
Let’s all celebrate Rene Descartes day! We’ll all spend the whole day thinking and therefore being! Thanks for opening the door to making it a Federal holiday, Bill!
You keep going with this one Bill. I hope you convince everyone who is watching your show that you are right.
Note: He backed off that claim a little bit when a Catholic Priest corrected him. Damn! I really wanted him to re-define Christianity as a philosophy.
New Geeks Without God – now With More Liquor
This weeks Geeks Without God was recorded live at Omegacon and we were pretty drunk. Actually, Nick and Molly were pretty drunk. So drunk, in fact, that I think it is fair to qualify that we were all drunk even though I technically wasn’t drunk at all. We recorded in front of a live audience and shared booze with them. I even tried some. Boy was that a mistake.
We talk about games and movies and a little bit about the gay marriage amendment. Also annoying mega churches. There’s a little bit for everyone! Please listen!
Shit that Pissed me off This Week – 11/9
Pakistani Couple Killed Their Daughter Because She Looked at a Boy
A 15-year-old girl looked at a boy on a motorcycle twice. Her parents feared she was going to turn out like her older sister who had already “disgraced” the family. She promised she wouldn’t do it again but it was too late because her mother had already thrown acid on her.
The good news is that her parents figure it was her destiny to die like that. It wasn’t really their fault, you see. They were just tools of destiny.
It was also apparently her destiny to die because her parents waited almost 12 hours to take her to the hospital after they threw acid on her face. They would have taken her right away, you see, but it was her destiny to wait.
Let’s be clear: religious fanaticism didn’t kill that girl.
But it sure didn’t help keep her alive, either.
July 4th, 1863 and November 6th, 2012
July 4th, 1863 was a big day for the North. On the 3rd, Lee had been defeated at Gettysburg and on the 4th he began his retreat. On the 4th, Vicksburg fell to the Union.
While historians will argue whether or not these two events were the turning point of the war, they heralded the end of a long war and ended a long string of Union failures.
I bring up the date because there is a difference between winning a battle and winning a war. If you study the civil war enough, you will realize that the Union always had better resources. They had more industry. They had more men. They had better technology. I don’t want to say a Union victory was inevitable but it was certainly the most likely outcome.
One Vote is all that Matters
My friend Carr Hagerman has a thoughtful blog today that provides, I think, an important perspective on our choice to vote. He’s right, of course, you don’t have to vote. Voting is not an obligation, it is a right.
You do not need to take advantage of that right.
And yet, if I could ask all those who are disenfranchised enough to skip voting this year to do one thing, it would be this: vote anyway. Vote on one thing and then go home.
If you don’t like any of the presidential candidates, then don’t vote for any of them. If you have no idea who your senator is (or should be), don’t vote for them.
But take the time to go to the polling booth and vote no on the marriage amendment. Even if you are sick to death of the political process you need to understand that this one issue will have a major impact on a great many people and they need your help.
If you want government out of your life, you need to vote no. Otherwise you set the dangerous precedent that our constitution can be used to deny the rights of those who are not like ourselves.
This fight will play out in the courts if the amendment passes. It will not be over.
So please, don’t go to the polls because it is your duty. Go because on this one issue, you can make a difference. Carr is right, the choice to stay home is completely valid.
But this year, that choice will have consequences.
Check one box and go home. Nothing could be easier.
Geeks Without God Editorial
Molly, Nick and I have posted an editorial over at Geeks Without God about marriage equality.
While our opinions on the topic have been quite clear, we wanted to take one more opportunity to voice our support for marriage equality and to offer some logical arguments against constitutional discrimination.
Please read, share and help us stem the tide of discrimination in the United States.
Grail Diary 