Shit that Pissed me Off – 4/28

San Antonio Mayor Implies Atheism Causes Poverty

Actually, that’s not what she said.  A lot of Atheists are kind of up in arms and the thing is, I think what she said is worse than if she just targeted atheists.

Asked what causes poverty, she responded:

To me, it’s broken people. People not being in a relationship with their Creator, and therefore, not being in good relationship with their families and their communities, and not being productive members of society. I think that’s the ultimate answer.

So yeah, she could be talking about atheists.  But let’s assume, for a moment, that what she meant was broader.  She meant that people are poor because they don’t have a good relationship with god.  God literally looks down from heaven (or up from heaven given that Earth is a sphere and we don’t actually know where heaven is located) and says “those people don’t go to church enough.  I’m going to make them poor.”

I guess that makes sense if the god we are talking about is Loki.

It suggests that the only people who are productive members of society are people who have a good relationship with their creator. That would obviously exclude people like Bill Gates, who is an open atheist.  He’s clearly not being productive.

It would also include people who call themselves Christians but don’t really go to church or do much to support their faith.

Basically, she’s blaming poverty on a lack of belief in god.

It seems silly to me given that Jesus was poor and I thought his relationship with god was supposed to be pretty solid.  Poverty is not caused by god.  It is caused by people.  People who, like San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor, treat poverty as some sort of punishment which people deserve.

They suggest that if we just get poor people to church, god will fix them.  Never mind that the poorest states in our nation are some of the most faithful.  Faith has nothing to do with poverty.  Belief in god doesn’t make you rich or poor any more than atheism makes you rich or poor.

Her answer is insulting to poor people.  And atheists.  And people of faith.  When it comes to hitting a tone-deaf home run, she killed it.

Trump Corner – He Doesn’t Like Being President Very Much

In an interview looking back on his first hundred days as President (GOD DAMN IT), Donald Trump said the job was a lot harder than he thought it was going to be and he misses his old life.

I mean, we all knew that the job was going to be harder than he thought it would.  Even the people who voted for him had to know that.

I mean seriously, they had to, right?

That he is just over three months on the job and admitting it publicly has to be a little concerning, doesn’t it?  I mean, I’m pretty sure every President has thought it at some point.  They may have even written it in their memoirs.  But did they say it to a reporter?

I’m sure that his supporters all say “this is what I like about him – he’s honest and he speaks his mind.”  Thing is, what he honestly just told you is he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing.

Arkansas is Trying to Kill Inmates Before Their Lethal Injection Drugs Expire

Man, I don’t know if this is sad or funny or maybe both.

Because look – the people on death row in Arkansas did horrible things.  I get that.  I’m never going to stand in support of the Death Penalty because while I agree that our world exists in shades of gray, I also believe that if killing someone is wrong, it doesn’t become OK to do it as punishment for something they did.

As an atheist, I also believe this life is all we have.  That means taking it away is literally taking away everything.  And doing that to anyone is a reprehensible act.

Anyway, my own moral objections aside, you have to marvel at the problem created when you sentence a prisoner to death and you may or may not have the means to kill them.

I mean, you could just force them to watch “Iron Fist” until they die of boredom but that would probably be cruel and unusual punishment.

Pharmaceutical companies (which – as any anti-vaxxer will tell you – are evil incarnate) are actually going to court to halt lethal injections because they don’t want their drugs to be used in that way. So that means if Arkansas doesn’t use the drugs they have before they expire, they might not be able to get new drugs.

At least not until the Supreme Court tells them they don’t get to complain about the way their drugs are used.

Which could open the door for all sorts of Euthanasia lawsuits.

I’m just saying, this is all about a lot more than killing inmates in Arkansas.

And I still come back around to the moral concerns I have with anyone saying “we have to kill these guys before it’s too late.”

This is What you Came For

Every now and again, there is a song that just makes me mad.  If you want, you can watch the video of this one. I don’t think you should, though.

So what’s my issue with this song?

The lyrics.  If you read this column, you may or may not be aware that I write songs.  The songs I write are…wordy.

And look, if you have a good tune, lyrics can be secondary.

In the case of this song, the lyrics serve to remind you that it might be the most repetitive pop song in the history of pop songs.  And that is saying a lot.

But for a bridge, every verse/chorus of this song is exactly the same.

And the chorus is basically Rhianna singing the word “you” over and over again.  While she is being auto tuned.  Which makes no sense because Rhianna can hit those fucking notes.

I mean, I know there is worse dance music out there.  I just think this song is lazy.  Whoever wrote it was like “I guess I need some lyrics for this song but all I can think of is one verse so fuck it – let’s just do that verse sixteen times.”