Shit That Pissed Me Off – 5/9

The Supreme Court Blurred the Lines Between Church and State

So apparently, you can have sectarian invocations at city council meetings as long as they aren’t too sectarian.

Basically, the Supreme Court told atheists, Jews, Muslims, Wiccans, and all other religions that they shouldn’t be butthurt if the majority of invocations are Christian.  That’s the way it is, I guess.

Get over it non-Christians! I don’t get all butthurt when you show up in my court and get your non-Christian arguments all over me!

So long as the Christians don’t talk about other people being wrong or awful people, it’s all OK.  Pray away!

Now, this doesn’t sound so terrible and it probably won’t be.  The lines that separate church and state, however, just got a little more blurry.  That should be a cause for concern to everyone.  Even the right-wing Christians that are celebrating their victory this week.

The doors just got opened to anyone who wants to do a sectarian prayer.  When the Satanists show up and insist they have the right to offer a prayer, I don’t think there will be as many cheers of joy from the Fundamentalists.

The real loser here is god.  With all these town council meetings invoking him, he’s going to have to listen to way more politicians than usual.  That’s gonna suck.

Uncle Demonstrates a Laser Sight on His Nephew Then Accidentally Kills Him

I’m not going to go all anti-gun on this one.  What happened here is not a gun rights issue.  It is an irresponsible adult issue.

When you are showing anyone a laser sighted gun, even a gun you think is unloaded, where should you point the gun? At their head?

Of course you shouldn’t point a gun at their head because if there is a bullet in the chamber and you squeeze the trigger, you are going to kill them!  If that person is your nephew, you are going to feel pretty terrible.  And you should because you were a complete moron.

Again, I’m not questioning whether or not this guy had the right to have a gun.  I completely understand that he had a right to have a gun.  I’m just saying that I’d rather he had a gun safe with some throwing stars in it because those things are far less likely to kill a kid.

People Are Poaching Trees? What The Fuck?

California Redwoods are the tallest trees on Earth.  If you’ve ever stood at the base of one and looked up, you know what it is like to feel tiny.  They are good to give some perspective.

They grow quite slowly but live for over 2000 years.  Their wood is highly prized, which explains why they are endangered.

Apparently Redwood burls are highly valuable to make furniture because Ikea just doesn’t cut it when you want to impress your friends at dinner parties.  Makes for great cocktail conversation. “I paid $10,000 for this table that killed a tree almost ten times older than our nation!”

Just count the rings on this bad boy! How old is your coffee table?

I’m not a Redwood hugger, you understand.  Mostly because they are so big, there is no way I could give one a proper hug.

But look, killing something that is endangered because you want an expensive table is, to my mind, far worse than being caught in possession of a bag of weed.  Guess what’ll get you more jail time?

Post Office in Oakland Doesn’t Like Heron Poop so They Accidentally Kill Some Birds

Unlike the Redwood story, which is involves people willingly destroying protected living things, this story is about stupid carelessness.

To keep nesting Herons from pooping on Post Office trucks, a tree trimmer was employed to cut off branches from a few trees.  Apparently, nobody told the tree trimmer to remove the nests first.

The result was an undetermined number of heron chicks fed through a wood chipper.

This wasn’t the act of bird haters but rather the act of people who didn’t give a shit, which is almost worse.

Indonesian Woman has Consensual Sex, Gets Gang Raped and Will Probably be Beaten by the State

I do not like Sharia law, Sam I am.  Don’t like it one little bit.

The idea that a court can punish people for having sex outside of marriage is bad enough.  The fact that the laws elicits a response of gang rape because what this woman did is so horrible makes me question the sanity of the human race.

Then again, there are a lot of reasons to question the sanity of the human race.

How the hell do we allow this to happen?  How do we believe in a just and kind god and then deduce that god thinks an act like this is right and proper?  Why can this sort of thing exist in any corner of the world without the majority of the people witnessing it rising up and crying out for it to stop?

And how do we look at someone who has endured this kind of treatment and determine that what we need to do is condemn them to a legal beating?

Oh Thank Goodness, Michele Bachmann Said Something Outrageous Again

With all the fake Bachmann quotes floating around these days, It is so refreshing to discover something she actually said.  There’s even video evidence!

She has a problem with a National Museum for women because it has a bias toward “radical feminists” and includes Margaret Sanger, who founded Planned Parenthood.  Bachmann then goes on to put forward the myth that Sanger supported Eugenics and the elimination of certain ethnic groups.  That claim is complete bullshit.

See this probably really bugs Bachmann a lot but there are a lot of women who are supportive of abortion rights and if you make a museum featuring women doing important things in the history of our country, you are bound to include a few of those folks.

Bill Nye Is Accused of Bullying People With Science

Nye is willing to enter into a debate with science denying yahoos at just about any time and I applaud him for that.

I’m tired of the idea that scientists insisting the evidence supports something unpopular is the same thing as bullying.

I’m gonna punch you with my science fist if you don’t listen to my science, punk!

Scientists who choose to be public facing are almost always met with severe criticism when they say something “controversial” like “global climate change is real and humans are the cause.”  The people attacking these folks who understand this shit because that is their fucking job are the bullies in this situation.

In the current political climate (and make no mistake – this is all about politics), saying climate change is a real thing publicly is considered brave.

Why should a scientist be considered brave when they are supported by the evidence?  Why should they be considered a bully?

We don’t consider a doctor brave when they tell us we have cancer.  We don’t consider them a bully.  They know better than us.  We thank them for sharing their expertise while we still have time to do something about the problem.

We don’t thank scientists for doing such things.  We tell them they clearly suck at their job because we trust a blogger more than we trust people doing actual research.