Shit That Pissed me off This Week – 10/5
I don’t care how you feel about it – voter fraud is a red herring in the Voter ID debate. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud and further, no evidence that voter ID laws will prevent fraud.
Also, we’ll need to draw some blood.
What Voter ID laws will do is make it more difficult for college students to vote without getting a new drivers’ license in the state where they attend college. It will make it harder for seniors who no longer drive to vote. It will make it harder for a lot of people to vote and that pisses me off because voting is one of the most basic rights we all have in this country.
We shouldn’t make it harder to vote. We should make it fucking easy to vote. That way more people will vote.
All that aside, isn’t it a bit suspicious that the party who is most strongly pushing for voter fraud is responsible for voter fraud? I know it’s just one guy but that proves my argument. This sort of thing is not widespread.
What are they really trying to do with these amendments? Because it would seem what they aren’t trying to do is stop voter fraud.
The core of this guy’s argument seems to be that he wants his kids to respect traditional marriage and how can they respect traditional marriage if same-sex couples can also get married?
What he doesn’t explain is how that affects his actual marriage. It seems like his concern is that it might force open-mindedness on his children but that doesn’t suggest to me that his marriage is likely to fail as a result.
This quote is a peach:
Our “traditional” marriages and the children they produce are our greatest source of happiness, and we desire that our children will live in a world that will promote their ability to make the same choices that brought us happiness.
Hang on…he is suggesting that if same-sex marriage is legal, your kids will no longer be able to enter into a traditional marriage?
Or maybe if gay couples get married, this guys’ kid’s marriages won’t be as awesome?
Definitely his statement implies that same-sex couples are not entitled to the “greatest source of happiness” that the rest of us enjoy by virtue of being straight.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – there is no argument against same-sex marriage that is valid.
Don’t believe me? Ask Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. His response is far better than mine.
Kids Play Homecoming Prank and the Plan Backfires
Having a child who is dealing with bullies at school, this story really gets to me.
Yes, this young lady found the strength and support to get past an unbelievably cruel and public prank. Yes, she will be far stronger for the experience than the kids who pranked her will ever be.
Was it worth the risk, kids? Was it worth the risk?
On the other hand, she spend a night contemplating suicide. We know that lots of kids go further than that. If she’d taken that next step, would these bullies have understood that they shared responsibility for that act?
She’s getting through it, and good for her. I’m especially pleased that when she was asked where she found the strength, she pointed to herself instead of to God. Finding strength in oneself is going to pay far greater dividends than attributing your strength to someone (or something) else.
Matt Birk Doesn’t like Name Calling
I wrote a blog about Birk’s commentary earlier this week. It’s been kind of popular so you’ve probably already seen it.
I’m not going to say that Football Players shouldn’t be talking about this issue because I have no problem with everyone talking about this issue. The more we talk, the more those who oppose gay marriage might realize they are wrong. Besides, Vikings Punter Chris Kluwe keeps saying such intelligent things.
I just wish Birk wasn’t aping the current argument of “think about the children!” The argument lacks any factual support. By throwing words out there to scare parents without any supporting evidence, Birk revealed that he is willing to use the basest of tactics to sway people to his point of view.
And yeah, that does bother me just a little.
Ken Ham Tries to Brainwash Children and Then Accuses Bill Nye of Brainwashing Children
Ham, founder of the Creation Museum, writes about how much he adores telling children to ask probing questions of those who don’t accept the biblical story of the creation as literal truth. The probing question he wants to ask is “were you there?”
BAM! I wasn’t. Q.E.D!
How do you know I was assassinated? Were you there?
Except Ham wasn’t there either. Worse, the only evidence he has to support his story of events is a book written, translated and re-translated long before he was born. To Ham, the Bible is the revealed word of god while scientific evidence is…what exactly?
Hey Ken – if you want to believe in god, that’s cool. But if you honestly believe god created the universe, then you have to accept that everything around you is part of that creation. That includes all the scientific evidence that says you are wrong.
You can’t just ignore that stuff because you prefer to think that god pulled a Penn & Teller by yanking a rabbit out of a hat. And then a dinosaur. And then a man.
I know you don’t think he pulled a woman out of a hat because he did a transformation routine with the guy’s rib to make her appear.
You are the one who is brainwashing children, Ken. You are the one teaching them that they should ignore rationality and replace it with an obstinate question most of us stopped asking when we were old enough to realize we already knew the answer.
In the Ukraine, they are Contemplating a Gay Gag Rule
No, not this kind of gag.
So yeah, maybe homosexuals in America should be grateful they are actually allowed to talk about being gay. Most of the people who are voting against the gay amendment probably wouldn’t support a law that basically prevented anyone from talking about homosexuality. This law will probably not go anywhere in the Ukraine but it should bother you that the conversation is even happening.
Everyone who works against marriage equality is helping fuel this kind of action in other countries. Tolerance is contagious. That is why the number of people who support marriage equality grows with each passing year.
Bigotry, unfortunately, is also contagious. And it has become one of our top exports.
Essentially, we learn from this case that if you are getting raped, you’d better bite, kick, claw, and scream. Even if your attacker starts becoming more physically violent if you do so.
Otherwise, you gave the guy consent.
In this case, the woman in question was also mentally and physically handicapped so she may have been incapable of fighting back or voicing her opposition but who cares? She didn’t hit the guy so she was obviously just sitting in her wheelchair asking for it.
Just like this guy
Maine Republicans Attack Democratic Candidate for Playing World of Warcraft
So basically they are saying that playing World of Warcraft makes you unfit for public office. I’m sure that every WoW player in Maine is a Democrat so there’s no chance that sort of ploy would backfire, is there?
What does someone’s hobby have to do with their ability to fairly govern, anyway? Which hobbies are acceptable and which are not?
If one person is into model trains and another is into knitting, which one am I supposed to vote for? I’m personally planning on voting for the person who knits because if I do, I have better odds they’ll make me a scarf.
Make me one of these and I will totally vote for you!
Hobbies are things people do with their personal time and it has nothing to do with how they will govern. I don’t know if George W. Bush played “Call of Duty: Black Ops” but if he did, it sure didn’t help him find Bin Laden.
Florida Sheriff is Going to Pray Crime Away
When it comes to religious solutions to real world problems, there is no evidence that there is any benefit. I suppose spending the next forty days praying might make some folks feel better but it is unlikely to have any effect on the crime rate.
The crime rate will go up or down over the next forty days. That we know. If it goes down, they will argue that their prayers were the cause. If it goes up, those who are praying will probably find a way to say their prayers worked anyway.
“Hey,” they’ll say,”crime was up overall but violent crime was down! Thank you Jesus!”
Meanwhile, all those folks at the prayer rally won’t be home. Boo-yah!
I just hope that while they are praying, they do other stuff too. Like actual real world stuff that has been proven to reduce the crime rate. If they do that, they can pray all they want.
Grail Diary 