Shit that Pissed me off – 3/20
Prosperity Gospel Preacher Needs Money To Buy a Private Jet
Creflo Dollar – which I confess is the best name for a pastor ever – needs a new private jet so he can fly around the world bringing the good word to people who can’t afford proper nutrition.
He just needs 200,000 people to reach into their pockets and give 300 dollars apiece. When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound like quite so much money. I mean, you’re really just giving it to god. Through an intermediary, sure, but Dollar will make sure every cent gets to god.
He might use a few thousand dollars to pay his gardener but other than that, all the money goes to god.
Well, I mean, he’ll put in a good word for you with god. Not personally, of course, because 200,000 is a lot of names. But god will know.
What Dollar is doing is using god to justify his lavish lifestyle and getting the faithful to foot the bill.
Do we all think Dollar will use that new airplane exclusively for spreading the gospel or do we think it might get used for a family vacation or two?
Shit that Pissed me off – 9/19
Almost Everything About the Adrian Peterson Story
First, I’m upset that this entire story is turning into a question of what parents are “allowed” to do to discipline their child.
Look, it doesn’t matter. Peterson hit a four year old with a switch until the kid bled. That is beyond discipline.
Also, the kid is four. Cognitively he doesn’t have the ability to fully connect the beating with the behavior that caused it. He may understand that he is being punished for something but he doesn’t know what caused the punishment. So he wasn’t “disciplined,” he was just “punished.” And in his mind the punishment was basically for the simple act of existing.
Then you have people like this guy writing articles about how spanking their kid is A-OK and, in fact, common sense (it isn’t). This is not a case of simple spanking. I don’t agree with him in any case (and my friend Levi Weinhagen makes good arguments as to why) but it isn’t the same thing so why even write the article?
Peterson’s mom says that the discipline used on Peterson must have been OK because look how he turned out.
Look! He’s smiling! If being beaten by a switch as a child had any harmful effect, he wouldn’t be able to smile! Ever!
Yeah, he turned out to be a great running back. Who has fathered several children by several different mothers and allegedly beat the crap out of (at least) one of those kids. If you think your discipline choices didn’t have a negative impact on your son, lady, you might need a better idea of what “negative impact” means.
And of course you have the NFL and the Vikings, who only suspended Peterson when he became more of a PR liability than he had previously been a benefit.
They shouldn’t be waiting to see how the public will react. They should be anticipating that reaction. In the wake of the Ray Rice video, it shouldn’t have been too difficult to figure out what was going to happen.
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.
Shit that Pissed me off this Week – 10/4
New Ulm Creationists Torpedo a Production of “Inherit the Wind”
New Ulm is home to Martin Luther college, which is run by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. They believe in a literal interpretation of the bible no matter what observable evidence might suggest and “Inherit the Wind” has the nerve to suggest that maybe god whispered to Darwin.
Yeah, that line is in there. The play doesn’t deny the existence of god. It only suggests that maybe god works in allegories every now and again. And why not? He created them, didn’t he?
The bullying tactics engaged are what really get me riled up. The play is was being put on by a community theatre off campus. Unfortunately, the director and some of the actors attended the college. They, apparently, were placed under considerable pressure by their professors and chose to withdraw from the play.
Look! The play includes a big banner that says “Read your Bible!” How bad can it be?????
Is this play so threatening to their faith that they can’t just leave the kids alone? Are they afraid that one play will turn these budding conservative Christians into raving liberals who have the audacity to think that god whispers to them?
College should be where kids go to learn how to think. It would appear that Martin Luther college would like them to do just the opposite.
Shit that Pissed me off this week – 9/13
Arizona Exorcists Go to England Because of Harry Potter
Take a look at the faces of these girls. They are filled with the same kind of crazy that you find on the face of Michele Bachmann. They are still teenagers.
They didn’t come up with this insanity on their own. It was taught. Someone mucked about with their brains in completely unacceptable ways.
Don’t touch it! It’s eeeevil!!!!
But you know why they are getting attention? Because they are photogenic. They are well dressed and their hair is done right and they are young and so the news will spend a lot more time on them than their particular brand of crazy should warrant.
As a result, they will take themselves a lot more seriously than they should.
And the cycle continues.
Shit that Pissed me Off – 9/6
DC Comics Won’t let Batwoman get Married
It seems odd that DC would object to the marriage of Batwoman on the grounds that she is getting married to a girl. Honestly, it is probably more likely that they don’t want Batwoman to get married because it limits the story line and we’d rather have superheroes be miserable. They can’t be miserable if they are happily married.
Still, when you have a high-profile openly lesbian character who can get married (seeing as she proposed to her girlfriend and everything), why wouldn’t you go ahead with it? Especially given popular opinion on such matters?
Is it likely that there is a large contingent of homophobes currently reading Batwoman? I mean, she’s also Jewish so Neo-Nazis clearly would want nothing to do with her.
DC is pretty quiet about the whole thing but it appears their decision to stop the wedding was part of the reason the current writing team has decided to leave the comic.
Apparently, lesbian kisses are fine. Just so long as they don’t lead to lesbian weddings.
Reading the article, I’m actually more concerned at the level of creative control DC has been exercising over the title. They don’t seem to trust their writers all that much.
I think they should have trusted their writers about letting Batwoman get married, though. Something tells me that issue would have sold a lot of copies.
Why are you Atheists so Smug?
I’ll start with the short answer: we aren’t.
Now for the longer answer.
Why is it presumed that if someone chooses to explain what they believe and why that they are smug? I say that I’m an atheist because I think it is tremendously important for other atheists to know that they aren’t the only one and that it is OK to conclude that there is no god. Is that smug?
Is the simple choice to stand up and be counted smug?
No, of course it isn’t.
Now if I go further and say that I believe all religions are equally wrong, have I crossed over into smug territory? Do I sound like I’m saying I’m better than all those religions because I’m so sure I know everything about god (or the non-existence of god)?
Well, no. But I expect I need to go into more detail.
Grail Diary 