Shit that Pissed me off – 6/26
Writers note: What with landmark Supreme Court rulings in favor of Obamacare and same-sex marriage this week, I contemplated taking a week off. I mean, why be pissed when two things I strongly support are taking their victory lap?
Sadly, there are still things that piss me off. Please accept, though, that I am writing this week’s column with a satisfied smile on my face.
What the Fuck is Wrong with Clarence Thomas?
While Antonin Scalia can be counted on for red faced dissenting opinions in which he bemoans the fact that social liberals exist, much less occasionally win, Thomas’ dissent in the same-sex marriage case is positively draconian.
In it, he suggests that slaves in America and the Japanese Americans who were interred during WWII did not lose their dignity. He reasons (wrongly) that nobody can take away your dignity.
It seems odd that anyone would need to tell a black man how the system of slavery in the south was specifically designed to strip people of their dignity. It is certainly odd that I, a white guy, seem to be more aware of this fact than him. Calling a person “property” doesn’t feel particularly dignified.
While Scalia is bemoaning the death of our democracy, Thomas seems to be questioning the definition of our humanity. He wants to believe that we all have a limitless capacity for handling bullshit and the Government has no responsibility to make it stop.
If anyone here felt they lost their dignity, it was their own fucking fault!
Government can and has taken away human dignity. Today, it handed a little bit of dignity back.
What really bugs me about Scalia and Thomas is their dissent doesn’t feel like it is about law. They are personally pissed that they lost and because they are justices on the Supreme Court, they get to write a long dissertation on just how pissed off they are.
Guess what guys? So do I. And a nearly unmeasurable fraction of the people who read yours also read mine!
SUCK ON THAT!!!!
Supporters of the Charleston Church Shooter Have Raised $4 Million for his Defense
This is America. And in America you have a right to national health care, same-sex marriage, and a lawyer.
Dylan Roof certainly has a right to a legal defense. That seems to be the argument put forward by the white supremacists who have been tossing cash into a bucket. He has a right to a defense.
What does it say, though, when human garbage can raise 4 million dollars in less than a week? What does it say when they have raised enough money to pay the bond so this asshole could end up on the streets until he sees trial?
Before we spent too much time celebrating the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state capitol, let us remember that it is not the only symbol of racism left in America.
Removal of the flag is a big deal. We aren’t done yet.
Men’s Rights Asshole Defends Sexism in Science
If you follow this link, you will see a debate between Emily Grossman, who is a scientist, and Milo Yiannopoulos, who is a man. He is also not a scientist.
Grossman, the scientist, argues that statements from men in the scientific field like Tim Hunt do harm when they make a sexist statement indicating that women are a distraction because they cry.
I lost my train of thought because I was distracted by the leader of the free world crying. What a pansy.
Yiannopoulos, the man who is not a scientist, says “you ladies in the sciences have it pretty good so stop whining and try to understand how bad guys in science have it. But not me. I’m not a scientist.”
I guess they had a hard time finding a male scientist to debate Grossman on the topic because none of the scientists they asked were assholes.
Oh, Ralph Nader, why did you Have to be a Sexist Jackass?
Nader doesn’t like Hilary Clinton. That should not come as a surprise because the only thing he hates worse than the Democratic party is the Republican party. Maybe.
Anyway, he decided to explain his distaste for Hillary by saying she is trying to “compensate for her gender by being more aggressive and macho.”
He also said women have a unique responsibility to be peaceable.
That sound you heard was my jaw attempting to unhinge itself because I can’t manage to open my mouth wide enough.
I didn’t vote for Ralph Nader and part of the reason I didn’t vote for him is because even when I agreed with him, he seemed like a gigantic asshole. His recent statements about Clinton have done nothing to dispel that impression.
Etsy has Banned Magical Items – Unless they are Christian Magical Items
Etsy has made the reasonable step of banning the sale of items that claim to have magical powers. While I would love to have a wand like Harry Potter, it is bad form to sell someone a wand and claim it works just like Harry Potter’s.
If you are selling them something that will provide healing power through prayer, though, you aren’t doing anything wrong. Because injecting prayer into something and shipping it via UPS totally works!
I’m just going to put a little prayer in there. It won’t vaccinate you against measles but at least it doesn’t cause autism!
My position on the supernatural is well documented. I think that when you sell someone this kind of thing and claim it will have some sort of magical impact on their lives, you are ripping them off.
The free market allows for people to rip you off, of course. Wal-Mart is full of cheap stuff that is, somehow, even crappier than the price would make you think it would be.
So maybe Etsy shouldn’t care. Maybe everybody should be able to buy their decks of many things and +1 daggers of sharpness any time they want.
If they can’t buy it, though, they shouldn’t be able to buy a magical St. Christopher medal either.
I want to be clear – I have absolutely no issue with Bristol Palin being pregnant. She is an adult and she wanted to have sex with her fiancé. I would hope she accepted that pregnancy was a possible outcome of that behavior. Even if she didn’t – it is her body and her choice. She can have sex with all the boys she wants. She can get pregnant as often as she wants.
The problem I have with Palin is where she continues to advocate for something she can’t actually do.
If she could come out and say “you know what? I like sex. Most adults like sex. Abstinence is completely unrealistic and I have been wrong to advocate for it,” I would put a Bristol Palin bumper sticker on my car (I wouldn’t actually do that).
But she bangs the drum of abstinence by holding herself up as an example when she has continually shown she is a very bad one.
I want her to keep advocating for abstinence, though. Because there has never been a better example that her cause is completely wrong.
Grail Diary 