Shit that Pissed Me Off – 8/22

Canadian School Board Candidate Wants Creationism Taught in Schools

Her picture looks adorable.  I’m sure she’s twenty.  Maybe.

She is firmly of the opinion that they should teach the controversy (that doesn’t exist).  She also says that schools should focus on the “basics” of education.

Like evolution, right?

No no no no no no no no!

Well, she thinks it should be taught in science classrooms alongside creationism.  She also thinks sex education should be abstinence only because that is also “basic.”

As basic as Abstinence-Bible-Contraceptives are tools of the Devil!

Is this barely not-teenager going to be elected? I doubt it.

And yet I’m tired of living in a world where people continue to believe that creationism should be given the same amount of time in the classroom.  And I’m tired of living in a world where we continue to argue about abstinence-only sex education when the evidence clearly shows it is inadequate.

NFL Wants Super Bowl Halftime Artists to Pay

Given their top choices are Rhianna, Katy Perry and Coldplay, the issue is not what the artists can afford.  The issue is why an artist (or their label) should be asked to pay the NFL to perform.

Halftime performers have never been paid.  They have travel, lodging, and tech covered but receive no other compensation.

Screw that, says the NFL, we may be the most profitable sports league on the planet but we can make more!

Let’s squeeze a few hundred thousand out of our halftime performer! Now I understand that playing the halftime show gives an artist exposure to over a billion people.  It is also what these people do for a living and if you are asking someone to do their job, they shouldn’t have to pay you for the privilege.

I would hope that Rhianna, Perry, and Coldplay refuse the NFL’s generous offer to pay for the privilege of providing their services.  I would hope that the NFL has to back away from their cash grab because their desire to squeeze even more money out of  everyone is tiresome.

What is more likely is their record companies will cave to the demands of the NFL and the richest sport in the world will get just a little richer.

I like the game of football.  I really do.

The business of football is ugly. And it is getting uglier.

Dude Who Nearly Beat His Girlfriend to Death Thinks Men are Oppressed

War Machine was in the news last week when he almost beat his ex-girlfriend to death.

You probably heard about it because she’s a (retired) porn actress and people cared more about her chosen vocation than the fact her boyfriend mauled her.  He says it is all a big misunderstanding.

When you read some of his attitudes about being a man in this country, I would hope you might forget about the fact his girlfriend makes pornography just long enough to realize that no matter what you think of porn, this dude is far worse.

From his Twitter profile. With a T-shirt like that, you have to think there is no way he would engage in domestic violence.

He’s a woman-hating loser who is allowed to be the horrible person he is because he happens to be good at a spectator sport.

But all most people care about is the woman he almost killed was a porn star. Stay classy, internet!

Richard Dawkins Says We Should Abort All Babies With Downs Syndrome

Oh Richard.  You are entitled to your opinion, yes.  But wow – could you find better ways to say things?

As a supporter of unrestricted access to abortion, I would never suggest that every baby with Down’s syndrome should be aborted.  Who are you (or I) to judge the quality of life for those children?  Should we abort children who will be deaf? Blind? Crippled?

While I admire Dawkins’ writing on evolution, I think it is important that nobody should ever think he is a spokesperson for atheists.  He is a spokesperson for himself and his opinions.  Just as I am a spokesperson for myself and my opinions.

He represents himself.  Badly.

Michelle Duggar Conflates Transsexuals With Sexual Predators

As the star of a reality show about the number of kids she’s managed to produce, Michelle Duggar is obviously an authority on everything.

For instance, she knows that if we allow transsexuals a little bit of dignity, we are creating an opportunity for sexual predators to use that opportunity to prey on the children.  Why can’t we think of the children?

But not illegal immigrant children. Fuck them.

I mean, she clearly thinks about children all the time so what is wrong with the rest of us?

Hey everyone, let’s get this straight: sexual predators exist.  They will always be looking for ways to get access to victims.  What seems strange to me is how concerned Duggar is about sending her kids into a dressing room with someone who is transgender when she doesn’t have the slightest concern about sending her kids into church, where the documented risk is far higher.

A Bunch of Beachcombers Kill a Baby Shark for a Photo Op

This piece fills me with a special kind of rage because we humans really do think that we are the best thing on the planet and yet we constantly do shit that proves we aren’t.

Look, I’m a meat eater.  I have no problem with other animals dying so I can eat.  I do, however, have a problem with killing a baby shark so you can get a picture with it.

And let’s face it, our desire to eat everything is depleting fish populations, creating severe pollution, and causing all sorts of other problems.

Yet even with all that awfulness (and it is awful), killing an animal for a photo-op is even worse.  We people are so convinced that we are the most important thing on Earth that we’ll destroy other animals just for the hell of it.  Not for food.  Not for safety.

For a picture.

The US Regularly Deports Children Back to Countries Where They are Killed

I get that illegal immigration is a problem because…um…some bad people come across the border along with all of the people who are just looking for work/food/an escape from the drug trade?

OK, I understand it is a problem in that it is illegal.  Not that it has to be. Personally, I think we should have a system to give kids like this asylum.

These Honduran kids who don’t want to be murdered are just as bad as those English kids who want a second helping!

When kids are trying to escape deadly conditions and our response is little more than “too bad you weren’t born in the United States kid, fuck off,” we come off as selfish assholes, don’t we?  Fuck you kids and your problems staying alive!  We have problems too!

Just last week, Target was sold out of taco flavored Doritos and I had to go to a different store to get some!

So you go back to Honduras and get killed, kid!  We Americans don’t have time for your petty problems.

Design Student Makes No Money Off of a Design Barnes and Noble is Selling

The trick her is she designed a bag as an assignment and Barnes  & Noble liked it so much, they sold it.  In fact, they sold it a lot.

Rather than paying her a cut for her work, they have shut her out.  This in spite of the fact she refused to sign a release allowing them to use the design.

Now how hard would it be for Barnes & Noble to compensate her at this point?  Pretty easy, I should think.  The income from this product has far exceeded projections and a little financial gratitude doesn’t seem too much to ask.  Without a lawsuit.

If someone had just made the decision to pay her something, there wouldn’t need to be a lawsuit.  There wouldn’t need to be publicity.

Why do people make such dumb decisions?

Oh Look! Kevin Sorbo is Also Racist!

Sorbo decided that calling the Ferguson rioters losers and animals was a great way to present his thoughts.

Now let’s be clear, while Sorbo doesn’t actually believe it, we are all animals.  I don’t think that’s the way he meant it, though.  I think he meant it in the “humans are better than everything else and you protesters are worse than humans” kind of way.

When called out for his racist remarks, Sorbo said he was really sorry and deleted the post.  He also said he wasn’t at all racist.

I’m not racist but black people! Amiright?

Look Kevin, it isn’t that hard to understand.  When you write a post that is clearly directed at black people and you call those people losers, animals, and say they have spent years “not trying,” you are making a blatantly racist statement.

You know what kind of people make blatantly racist statements? Racists!

P.S: Sorry for the biased source.  I double checked the information but this source has Sorbo’s original FB post.

P.P.S: I’m not supporting rioting, by the way.  It’s a bad way to solve a problem.  Doesn’t make the problem better when you make racist statements about the people doing the rioting.

No Green Apple Icee at the State Fair!

I know.  First world problem.  I shouldn’t even whine about this given kids from Honduras being deported and murdered is ever so slightly worse.

It looks like an ice cream treat from Fukashima.

But damn it all!  The State Fair was the only place I could get a green apple Icee and I looked forward to it all year!

My sour tooth is not the least bit sated, Icee.  Not even a little.  I’m positive you could have spared one of your dozen spigots of cherry flavor.  But you didn’t.