Shit That Pissed me Off – 10/10

Judge Forces Mom Change Her Son’s Name Because She Was Incapable of Making a Rational Decision

An appeals court had to overturn this idiotic ruling so I guess sometimes the judicial system works.  Eventually.

If we are to believe this “irrational” mother’s story, she chose to give her child her own last name after the father abused her during the pregnancy.  The judge in the case felt that she just wasn’t in the right mind to make that sort of decision and, I guess, thought it would case harm to the child if the child didn’t have his father’s last name.

I’ll bet the judge would have ruled differently if the father’s last name was HITLER!!!

An appeals court saw it differently and apparently felt the judge in the case was far more irrational than the mother.

This last name thing is problematic to begin with.  I like my last name so when I got married, I kept it.  That’s totally fine because I’m a dude and nobody questions when a man wants to keep his name.

Nobody questions when parents given their child the father’s last name.

But if a woman wants to keep her last name or give her last name to a child, well then it is time to take the case to court, I guess.

It’s a double standard.  And a  stupid one.

This Article About How Judges Humiliate Teens Looking for Abortions

Parental notification laws are one way young women are essentially denied abortion rights.  On the face of it, they “permit” parents to have a say in the health decisions of their children.

In a far more subversive way, they create a fear barrier between a young girl who may have made a questionable decision and her right to not be a teen mom.

The way around being humiliated by your family is to be humiliated by a judge.  While the judge is supposed to make rulings based on law, they are given wide latitude in cases such as these to treat young women like criminals.  Never mind that these girls are petitioning the court for permission to do something that is (at least right now) still legal.

Imagine a young man in the same situation.  Well, you can’t because there is no equivalent situation for a young man.

Young women constantly face discrimination because they can produce children.  We consider that function so vital that we forget we are talking about a person and not a baby factory.

The Caption on the Picture In This Article

The article is a thoughtful (but I think incorrect) piece about atheism and liberalism.  It points out that being an atheist is not the same thing as being a liberal.  It then goes on to ignore that the primary reason a lot of atheists are talking about social justice issues like women’s rights is because a lot of women don’t feel welcome in the atheist/skeptic movement.

Many people would like to see that change.  Others aren’t particularly interested in being told how their behavior might work counter to that aim.

But I digress.  My big problem with the article is this picture:

So if Penn Gillette says something I disagree with, I should just shut up and think “well, Penn is right and I’m wrong?”

What a bunch of bullshit.  One of the main ideas behind the skeptic movement is the fact that we need to question everything.  If Gillette says something I deem incorrect, I get to call him on it.  If it is a matter of opinion, we can both be right and wrong.

The point of view suggested here is that the only topic for discussion in the atheist community is atheism.  A topic on which we all agree.

If we try to discuss anything else, however, we are no longer talking about atheism and are no longer permitted to engage in a debate on the topic?

How boring would that be?

Instead, let us engage in a rowdy and spirited debate on all things that have an impact on the atheist/skeptic community.  To me, the only “wrong” is the refusal to participate.

Mike Huckabee Doesn’t Like the Latest Supreme Court Non Decision on Same-Sex Marriage So He Gives Some Illegal Advice

Huckabee is vocally anti-homosexual so of course he’s upset the court just legalized same-sex marriage in several states by refusing to hear appeals of lower court rulings.

Now rather than acknowledge that he’s lost, he says that governors in these states should do what all law-abiding citizens do when they don’t like the law.  He says they should just choose not to enforce the ruling of the lower court.

Because fuck law when you don’t like what it has to say.

Same-sex marriage will probably be legal in all fifty states in the next five years.  At that point, the Republican party might find they get a lot of votes back when they simply say “yeah, we aren’t going to talk about this one any longer.”

See, Mr. Huckabee, I don’t like Citizen’s United.  But I’m stuck with it.  You are stuck with same-sex marriage.  All in all, the ruling I hate has done a lot more damage than the ruling you hate.  I’m guessing you’d never advocate governors ignore Citizen’s United, would you?

David Horowitz is Grateful for Those ISIS Beheadings Because They Will Wake Up America!

Thank goodness there are Islamic terrorists out there to remind us about the Islamic terrorists!  While the President and Ben Affleck are falling all over themselves to point out that most Muslims aren’t terrorists, we need to remember that the terrorists are horrible!

Or so says David Horiwitz.  He somehow believes that we’ve all forgotten about 9/11 and hard-line Islamist governments.  He thinks we can’t tell the difference between your run-of-the-mill Muslim and the kind that chop off journalist’s heads.  The same way we can’t tell the difference between the average Christian and a member of the KKK.

All Christians burn crosses, right?

He also seems to think that Obama saying nice things about “most” Muslims is somehow different from that time when George W. Bush said nice things about “most” Muslims.

Look, I think there are problems inherent in all religions, including Islam.  Just as Christianity contains the seeds of extremism like the KKK, so too  does Islam contain the seeds of extremism like ISIS.  That isn’t Islamophobia.  That’s world news.

But Horowitz isn’t talking about that.  He’s bashing liberals for being “nice” to Muslims and failing to understand that extremism is a problem that bridges every religion.

Louisiana Atheists Receives Threats From Loving Christians

So just as we accept ISIS is not the same as “all Muslims,” we must also accept that the scuzzbags who threatened an atheist’s family are not the same as “all Christians.”

In fact, they are a tiny sliver of a gigantic mass of people who are connected only by their belief in Jesus.

I’m not angry at Christians for the acts of a deranged individual.  I’m simply angry that someone has decided to create fear where there didn’t need to be any.

If god is, indeed, the final judge, they could have just waited for god to do his job.

Or is god too busy trying to create a stone he can’t move?