Post Cyber Monday

New Mascot!

War on Wal-Mart

Who's afraid of Wal-Mart, and why? You're against cheaper groceries? There might be a little more under the cheap veneer of the protests.

I give you Reason magazine's Nick Gillespie peeling off that surface, and figuring out who doesn't want to allow their neighbors to have a choice.

Oh Jesus!

Cincinnati Right to Life has posted five billboards showing an ultrasound image of a fetus representing Jesus with the slogan, "He Came As a Baby ... Christmas Starts with Christ."

The fetus in the billboard has a halo.

"This simple illustration emphasizes that Jesus Christ came to the world both human and divine, and in so doing, sanctified the birth process for every person.

Christmas is the message of Christ’s Love for all, no matter our age, race, ability, poverty or wealth, or place or residence," the group said in a news release.

The signs are produced by ChurchAds.net, a coalition of Christian churches, including Church of England, Baptist Union, United Reformed Church, Anglican and Methodist churches. The group and a private donor paid for the Cincinnati billboards.

So, question - who paid for the ultrasound? That's like 3K a pop and since the Carpenter Union hasn't approved the ObamaCare waivers - was it paid for by public money? Would that be a violation of Church and State?

I also didn't know that Roman HealthCare was that sophisticated.

WTC Mosque Debate

In 2000, the Republicans passed a law that gave special protection to religious land uses. This is the law that now makes it illegal to block the 'ground zero' mosque. (propublica.org)

Golly. You didn't think that one through, did you, dumbasses?

Relevant [funny] section:

DISCRIMINATION AND EXCLUSION-

(1) EQUAL TERMS- No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that treats a religious assembly or institution on less than equal terms with a nonreligious assembly or institution.

(2) NONDISCRIMINATION- No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation that discriminates against any assembly or institution on the basis of religion or religious denomination.

(3) EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITS- No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation that--

(A) totally excludes religious assemblies from a jurisdiction; or

(B) unreasonably limits religious assemblies, institutions, or structures within a jurisdiction. (citation)

Of course, there's another document that settles this - and that's the First Amendment to the Constitution.

However, there is still a question of good taste - and it's obvious that the folks building this 'prayer center' are obvious trolls, obviously trolling... and men crying about their right to be trolls isn't exactly winning hearts and minds in the Muslim world.

Meanwhile, maybe if anyone gave this much energy to the 1,500 people dying in Pakistan and another 2 million people displaced with no food, water and in danger of getting waterborne diseases - Right now - we'd all be able to stop and listen to one another and care about helping and leaving each other alone, respectfully? Ah, but there's religion involved. All logic and common decency are now thrown out, which is one of the big reasons there's a crater in lower Manhattan and the Cordoba people building the center is estimated to cost about $100 million... (my citation)

Here's a thought, maybe even a solution: How about the Americans try to care more about building something in that crater instead of what's going in a couple blocks away, and the folks picking a fight with a $100 million to toss around instead spend their money on helping their fellow Muslims - 'scuse me - HUMANS - on food, medicine and clean water in Pakistan?

Nah, that'd be just nuts!

Proof of the End of Hollywood

First official poster for Yogi Bear — Eric Brevig’s live-action/CGI adaptation of the classic children’s cartoon series.

The film, which stars Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Christine Taylor, Anna Faris, T.J. Miller, Andrew Daly, Nate Corddry, and Tom Cavanagh as Ranger Smith, is due in theaters December 17.

Wikipedia shares this Fun Fact:

It will be the first movie development of a Hanna-Barbera property produced with the assistance of neither Bill Hanna nor Joe Barbera (the original creators), who died in 2001 and 2006 respectively.

via the dailywhat.

Hitler's Just 'Out of Context'

Bringing round a friend; non smoker, veggie, bit of a painter... it's f*ckin' Hitler!

Director Oliver Stone belittled the Holocaust during a shocking interview with the Sunday Times, claiming that America's focus on the Jewish massacre was a product of the "Jewish domination of the media."

The director also defended Hitler and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and railed against the "powerful lobby" of Jews in America.

Stone said that his upcoming Showtime documentary series "Secret History of America," seeks to put Hitler and Communist dictator Joseph Stalin "in context."

Stone said that, "Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30 [million killed]."

The Sunday Times interviewer then asked why there was such a focus on the Holocaust.

"The Jewish domination of the media," responded Stone. "There's a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years."

The director, who recently met with Iranian President Ahmadinejad, also slammed the U.S. policy toward Iran as "horrible."

"Iran isn't necessarily the good guy," said Stone. "[B]ut we don't know the full story!"

The Scarface screenwriter had even more encouraging words for socialist Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who Stone called "a brave, blunt, earthy" man. The director has recently been promoting his Chavez-praising documentary called "South of the Border."

When the interviewer pointed out that Chavez has had a less-than-stellar record on human rights, Stone immediately dismissed the criticism.

"The internet's fully free [in Venezuela]," said Stone. "You can say what the hell you like. Compare it with all the other countries: Mexico, Guatemala, above all Colombia, which is a joke."

While Stone has not been as blunt about his views on Jews and the Holocaust in the past, he has been outspoken in his fondness for Chavez and his disagreements with the U.S.'s policy on Iran.

On ABC's Good Morning America on July 28, the director told anchor George Stephanopoulos that he "absolutely" believes Chavez is a good person, and claimed that there was "there's no pattern of censorship in this country [Venezuela]."

Stone also said that if the U.S. pursued sanctions against Iran, "it's going to be like North Vietnam again."

"Hitler was a Frankenstein but there was also a Dr Frankenstein. German industrialists, the Americans and the British. He had a lot of support," Stone told reporter Camilla Long during the interview, which can be found behind the paywall on the Sunday Times' website.

Yeah, I mean, what about all the good things Hitler did, man? Volkswagens, Autobahn? Yu know?

Banned Ground Zero Mosque Ad

NBC and CBS are refusing to air this anti-Ground Zero mosque ad from the National Republican Trust PAC. For some reason folks find it vulgar, racist, fearmongering garbage; "a nauseating embarrassment." It's like they want the terrorists to win?

But you know, I'd prefer to make that choice myself, as banning things never seems to sit well. Seems like something the Taliban would do? Meanwhile, I think that both sides of this argument are dicks. You can't be for the mosque without looking like a wimpy vegan Birkenstock douche. You can't be against the mosque without being a vulgar, racist, Republican. So, it's a no win.

Enjoy!

Blasphemy Law

I'm a little nervous. Ireland’s new blasphemy law went into effect on January 1st, as an amendment to the Defamation Bill. As Blasphemy.ie explains:

Blasphemy is now a crime punishable by a €25,000 fine. The new law defines blasphemy as publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, with some defences permitted.

And:

Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section, the court may issue a warrant authorising the Garda Síochána to enter, if necessary using reasonable force, a premises where the member of the force has reasonable grounds for believing there are copies of the blasphemous statements in order to seize them.

One wouldn't expect that kind of ridiculousness in a constitutional democracy... in the year 2010.

To say the law is an absurd anachronism is a tad bit of an understatement. This is a law that protects and prioritizes ideas and ideologies over people. Worse, it protects only one particular type of idea/belief, furthering the unfortunately widespread and rarely questioned assumption that religious beliefs, unlike other kinds of ideas and opinions, deserve automatic respect and the “right” to immunity from criticism.

This law also sets a dangerous precedent by prioritizing a religious believer’s “right” to not feel offended over the right to free speech. Remember, in this particular case, we’re talking about hurt feelings, not physical abuse or assault.

Atheist Ireland’s site explains this well:

…it is wrong in principle for a modern democratic republic to have any type of blasphemy law. Theological thought-crimes belong in the past. Religious and nonreligious people alike should be protected from harm and incitement to harm, but religious and nonreligious ideas alike should be open to any criticism. That is how human knowledge progresses. Blasphemy laws discriminate against nonreligious citizens, by protecting the fundamental beliefs of religious citizens only.

I’d wager that few cases will actually be prosecuted under this law, and that it will function more as a political statement than as a practical legal resource. But the political statement made by the law is dangerous enough on its own and will almost certainly have a chilling effect on Irish political and public discourse.

As an act of defiance and as the first step in their campaign to have the law repealed, Atheist Ireland has published 25 blasphemous quotations on its website, a gesture that has attracted a great deal of media coverage, some of which will hopefully help to raise the public’s awareness of this issue.

Here’s Atheist Ireland’s statement regarding their campaign to repeal the law:

We ask Fianna Fail and the Green Party to repeal their anachronistic blasphemy law, as part of the revision of the Defamation Act that is included within the Act. We ask them to hold a referendum to remove the reference to blasphemy from the Irish Constitution.

We also ask all TDs and Senators to support a referendum to remove references to God from the Irish Constitution, including the clauses that prevent atheists from being appointed as President of Ireland or as a Judge without swearing a religious oath asking God to direct them in their work.

Oh, if you're an Irish brother or sister reading this in Ireland, thanks for reading and not reporting us to the Nanny State.

You know, I'd expect this sort of thing in Utah... not Ireland.

Goodbye, Hello

In Kingsville, Texas, "hello" has been replaced. Leonso Canales Jr. is happy as heck about it.

Leonso somehow convinced the Kleberg County commissioners to unanimously designate "heaven-o" as the county's official greeting. The reason: "hello" contains the word "hell."

"When you go to school and church, they tell you 'hell' is negative and 'heaven' is positive,'" said the 56-year-old Canales, who owns the Kingsville Flea Market. "I think it's time that we set a new precedent, to tell our kids that we are positive adults."

The new salutation, according to the county resolution, is a "symbol of peace, friendship and welcome" in this "age of anxiety." And, in my opinion, opening them up to mocking and ridicule. I wonder out loud how dangerous this [potentially] is, and what sort of theocracy precedent the folks in Kleberg have unwittingly set up.

Courthouse employees are already answering the phones, "heaven-o." And the chamber of commerce was working on a campaign promoting Kingsville, a Rio Grande Valley town of 25,000, as a "heavenly" place to visit. You have to ask, what kind of people they're really going to attract, and the type of people who will be repelled.

"People seem to think that it might catch on," said county Judge Pete De La Garza. Sure, Pete. Aren't you a Judge?

Madolyn Musick, who runs the town bookstore - and therefore the voice of all the opposition and atheism representative, insisted, and linguists would agree, that "hello" has nothing to do with "hell." Besides, she added, "What's wrong with, 'Howdy, y'all?'" Well, maybe they can get Janeane Garofalo to play her in the Lifetime TV Movie of the week?

But back to the main character, Canales, a Catholic but not a regular churchgoer, has been as serious as heck about "hello" since 1988, when he told his brother he might start greeting people with "God-o." His brother suggested "heaven-o" instead. Wow.

David Sabrio, a professor of English at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, noted that the Oxford English Dictionary says "hello" stems from an old German greeting for hailing a boat.

"Linguistically and historically, the word 'hello' has no connection at all with what we associate with the underworld," he said. "People may make that connection in their own mind. I certainly don't."

Me? I feel sorry for Hello Kitty - who's going to have to be killed to become an angel, and will forever be known as Heaven-o Kitty.

Sigh.

What's really got me upset is that no one seems to think, or even bother to notice, that there is an obvious violation of the separation of church and state that was voted on by the County Board. If the Canales Brothers want to speak to everyone in tongues, God Bless - pass the ammo, boys. But to force the County to do so as well, heck, that's downright un-American, right there.

Sounds like the kind of thing they're trying to do in... the Swat region of Pakistan?

Not at War With Islam?

"Let me say this as clearly as I can," Obama said. "The United States is not at war with Islam. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical in rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject."

I'm not going to apologize... Islam IS at war with the United States.

Let me remind our Commander In Chief, they attacked US - they continue to attack the West, and anyone who disagrees with them.

It is about wishing the world to return to 1066, vs Our Modern World.

Islam is, in fact, the only civilization which ever put the survival of the West in doubt. The Battle of Tours halted their advance into Europe in 732 AD.

An interesting aspect of the modern conflict flows not simply from the differences between the two civilizations, but from their similarities.

You know the saying that two folks too much alike cannot easily live together? Islam and Christianity (which for the sake of argument and discussion serves as culturally uniting factor for the West) are absolutist, monotheistic religions. Both are universal, in the sense of making claims to apply to all of humanity rather than one location or tribe. Both are missionary - or expansionist - in nature, having long made it a theological duty to seek out and convert nonbelievers. The Jihad and the Crusades are manifestations of the religious duty to convert... which parallel one another.

But this doesn't entirely explain why Islam has had so many problems with all of its neighbors, and not just the West.

In all these places, the relations between Muslims and peoples of other civilizations - Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Hindu, Chinese, Buddhist, Jewish - have been generally antagonistic; most of these relations have been violent at some point in the past; many have been violent in the 1990s. Wherever one looks along the perimeter of Islam, Muslims have problems living peaceably with their neighbors. ...Muslims make up about one-fifth of the world's population but in the 1990s they have been far more involved in intergroup violence than the people of any other civilizations. (Huntington p. 256)

Why is there so much violence associated with Islamic nations? One suggestion is that the violence is a result of Western imperialism. Current political divisions among the countries are artificial European creations. Simply put, there is a lingering resentment among Muslims for what their religion and their lands had to endure under colonial rule. However, this seems to be a cop out since this does not explain the bad neighbor problems in the Sudan, India, or China.

As a religion, Islam started out violently - not only with Muhammad himself, but as Islam spread by force throughout the Middle East.

A second issue is the so-called "indigestibility" of Islam and Muslims. According to Huntington, this describes the observation that Muslims do not easily assimilate to host cultures when new rulers arrive (for example, with colonization), nor do non-Muslims easily assimilate to a culture under Islamic control.
I guess Huntington did not notice the rioting in France last year with the Muslims not-assimilating in the West? How about all the fun the Danish are having with Muslim guests? Whichever group is in the minority, they always remain distinct. Christians however easily absorb custom and culture to their own, for example, Easter bunnies and Santa Claus.

Another thought is simply demographics. Muslim countries have experienced a population boom which has lead to an increase in unemployed males between the ages of fifteen and thirty. Ask any Sociologists in the United States, and they'll explain that this demographic can create the most social disruption and causes the most crime - and even in a relatively wealthy and stable society.

And in Muslim countries, wealth and stability is really only to the political elites. Thus, the disruption potential of that group of males is much greater, and their search for a cause and an identity can create even more difficulties.

It would be a good idea for our President to understand that while he may feel that we're not at war with our Islamic neighbors, they absolutely are with us.

Perhaps someone who has seen the hole at 1 World Trade Center at West and Liberty would like to explain it to us? Or rather, to our leader?