Category FFS

It’s Amazing What Passes for Persecution These Days

According to
this story
in the Post, the Virginia police superintendent issued a directive
saying that police chaplains have to conduct non-denominational
services, i.e., not invoke Jesus’ name. This is in response to a
federal court ruling about prayers before city council meetings.

Del. Charles W. Carrico Sr. (R-Grayson), a former state trooper, said he is organizing an online petition to get the State Police to reverse its decision. Carrico said he will submit a bill to overturn the action when the General Assembly returns in January.

“Col. Flaherty needs to abandon this attack on Christianity,” he said.

So as I read this, troopers can practice whichever religion they like
in private. They can pray on the job, if it doesn’t affect their job
performance. Troopers who are also chaplains can also perform
religious services on the taxpayer’s dime. But when a line is drawn,
saying that they have to include non-Christian theists while on the
job, suddenly it’s an attack on Christianity.

Perhaps they’d like to call the EMTs to bring a waahmbulance.

Christian Persecution

This
is fucked up:

GHUMUSAR UDAYAGIRI, India — Babita Nayak was cooking lunch for her pregnant sister when a mob of Hindu extremists wielding swords, hammers and long sticks rampaged through their village, chanting “India is for Hindus! Convert or leave!”

The gist of this depressing article is that Hindu fundies are killing
Christians, burning their homes, destroying their churches, and
driving them into refugee camps.

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“I don’t want to explain”

I’m going to pick on
a random freeper
(via
FSTDT)
because he makes an argument that I’ve seen elsewhere: in response to
a question about how gay marriage might possibly affect him and his
own marriage, he writes

er it’s forcing me to explain to my kids why two men or two women are doing what they are doing.
I have to explain that nature did not intend for two of the same sex to be together and that they like to be together for perverted sexual acts

So people’s freedom to marry whomever they love should be restricted
because you don’t want to explain it to your children? Puh-leeze!

I hate to break it to you, honeycakes, but explaining the world to
children is what parents do. It’s part of the job description. Oh,
and when I say “explaining the world”, I mean the world as it is, not just as you would like it to be.

(Thanks to Fez for letting me borrow his sarcastic endearment set.)

Like Letting Students Grade Their Own Homework

This is retarded:

The Bush administration yesterday proposed a regulatory overhaul of the Endangered Species Act to allow federal agencies to decide whether protected species would be imperiled by agency projects, eliminating the independent scientific reviews that have been required for more than three decades.

[…] Under current law, agencies must subject any plans that potentially affect endangered animals and plants to an independent review by the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service. Under the proposed new rules, dam and highway construction and other federal projects could proceed without delay if the agency in charge decides they would not harm vulnerable species.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks that this is as stupid as
letting the defendant at a trial decide whether he’s guilty or not, so
I won’t belabor that point.

But even with the best intentions on everyone’s part, this is still a
stupid idea.

There’s a joke about an old engineer called out of retirement to help
fix a machine at the factory where he used to work. After poking
around, he puts a chalk mark on the part to be replaced, and submits a
bill for $30,000, itemized as follows: “Chalk mark: $0.50. Knowing
where to put the chalk mark: $29,999.50”.

The EPA is in the best position to tell where environmental chalk marks should
go. It’s what they do. That’s why they have environmental experts. The
department of transportation may be great at planning and building
roads, but they can’t be expected to accurately predict how their work
affects the environment, any more than the EPA can be expected to
design and build an efficient highway system.

I’m the Literal-Minded, Intellectually Cramped, Irrational One

Crackergate (yes, if you’re tired of hearing about it, you can stop
reading now) seems to have exposed an unbelievable amount of
wackaloonery.

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Two-Bit Git Pitches Shit-Fit

BillD has recovered from the vapors, and posted the expected press release about PZ being mean to a piece of bread and a couple of books.

Of course, being a devout follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ, Donohue turned the other cheek and blessed PZ.

Ha! Whom am I kidding? Apparently the worst he could do, since it’s no longer legal to burn people alive for stabbing bits of bread, was to contact the University of Minnesota and demand that they investigate “a bias incident” that he committed on his own time, and not while on university business.

Ecce douchebag.

The Further Canonization of Saint Ronny

The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project wants to
put St. Ronny’s face
on the $10 bill. Either that, or half of all dimes.
I suppose it makes sense to put it on a small denomination, given the
amount that actually trickled down, but I have a better idea: if
people want to put Reagan’s name on money, let’s have the Ronald
Reagan Memorial National Debt. After all, he did more to increase it
than the 39 presidents who came before him, combined. Three times
more, in fact.

CNN has
a poll
(usual disclaimers, yadda yadda) about which denomination should be
consecrated this way. At the moment, “None” is leading, with 54%.

Poe’s Law Strikes Again

I’m going to perform a magic trick for you. Think of a card, any card. Got it? Okay, now click on the awesome magic hat of awesome magic stupendousness:

Top hat

Ta-da! I told you I was going to do a magic trick, but I gave you two for the price of one: not only did the hat turn into your card, I also made your card look just like the hat! Isn’t that amazing?!

“No,” I hear you mutter, “what would be amazing would be if someone with a double-digit age actually fell for that.”

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Hysteria Marks Donohue and His Ilk

Bill (rhymes with “shrill”) Donohue has another
press release,
this one possibly even sillier than the previous ones.

MYERS STILL WANTS TO ABUSE EUCHARIST; SHOWS DEFERENCE TO ISLAM

“The biology professor made it clear that he would never disrespect Islam the way he does Catholicism. When asked about those who abuse the Koran, for example, he said such an act was analogous to desecrating a graveyard. ‘That’s completely different,’ he said. ‘I don’t favor [that idea].’ But when it comes to the Body of Christ, he opines, ‘The cracker is completely different.’

Apparently Bill can’t use teh Googles well enough to find posts like
this one,
in which PZ muses on how best to desecrate a Koran.

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What’s Pissing Me Off Today?

At a time when I, like a lot of the country, was starting to suffer from outrage fatigue, it seems that today brought a higher-than-usual number of news stories in the “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me” department.

One of Erik Prince’s companies (no, not Blackwater; another one) invokes Shari’a law when it’s convenient:

RALEIGH – To defend itself against a lawsuit by the widows of three American soldiers who died on one of its planes in Afghanistan, a sister company of the private military firm Blackwater has asked a federal court to decide the case using Islamic law, known as Shari’a.

Last year, they tried arguing that the airline was a government contractor, and individuals can’t sue the government, but judges didn’t buy that. So now they’re arguing that since the crash was in Afghanistan, the case is subject to Afghan law, which is basically Shari’a.

Remember when questions like “Is it okay to torture people as a matter of government policy?” were no-brainers?

Ah, those were simpler days. Yesterday, John Yoo, the guy who came up with the legal rationalization for Gitmo and torture, in testimony before Congress wouldn’t say whether the president has the right to order that someone be buried alive.

In a blast from the past, Cheney’s chief of staff David Addington regales us with last year’s hit single, “The Vice President Isn’t In the Executive Branch“.