Substitute teacher Jim Piculas does a 30-second magic trick where a toothpick disappears then reappears.

But after performing it in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land ‘O Lakes, Piculas said his job did a disappearing act of its own.

“I get a call the middle of the day from the supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, ‘Jim, we have a huge issue. You can’t take any more assignments. You need to come in right away,’” he said.

When Piculas went in, he learned his little magic trick cast a spell that went much farther than he’d hoped.

“I said, ‘Well Pat, can you explain this to me?’ ‘You’ve been accused of wizardry,’ [he said]. Wizardry?” he asked.

Tampa Bay’s 10 talked to the assistant superintendent with the Pasco County School District who said it wasn’t just the wizardry and that Picular had other performance issues, including “not following lesson plans” and allowing students to play on unapproved computers.

Florida’s been a source of amusement for quite some time now as it seems to always be doing something that’s a bit on the nutty side of things, but this does take the cake doesn’t it?

If you’re going to demand that people speak English, you should make it a priority to learn how to spell English.

via: Immigration Chronicles: Perhaps spell check is in order …

We should have known that something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. The teacher has made it extremely obvious she’s one of those Christians who assumes everyone else is also.

For example, we recently watched in shock as she led the students in two god soaked pledges and a god soaked song which she followed up by telling the children to bow their heads and say their prayers.

I’ve been hoping that we wouldn’t have to deal with this until our daughter was older and more capable of understanding what’s going on, but it appears that’s not going to be possible.

What’s gets me though is that I feel like the bad guy for even considering making a complaint about this.

I’m also quite worried about what will happen to our daughter if we do. A lot of Christians simply can’t handle not being allowed to use their official positions to promote their personal beliefs. They tend to turn into vicious bullies who make life hell for the only party can reasonably get to - the kid(s).

Our daughter is just coming out her shell and I’m afraid that if there is a backlash, she’ll retreat back into it - permanently.

What’s a parent to do?

Under the guise of obtaining informed patient consent, this new law requires doctors to withhold pregnancy termination until an ultrasound is performed. The law states that either an abdominal or vaginal ultrasound, whichever gives the best image of the fetus, must be done. Neither the patient nor the doctor can decide which type of ultrasound to use, and the patient cannot opt out of the ultrasound and still have the procedure. In effect, then, the legislature has mandated that a woman have an instrument placed in her vagina for no medical benefit. The law makes no exception for victims of rape and incest.

Can it be any clearer that abortion access is not about the precious babies, but about undermining the rights of women? What else do these jackasses have to do before people wake the fuck up?

Honestly, I swear sometimes we women should start rioting in the streets. What’s there to lose?

So, after Olbmermann reads parts of a whiny, anti-democratic editorial from the NYT, Fineman started talking about how the adults were going to have to step in and “stop this thing”. In response to this Keith Olbermann casually suggested that this alleged adult would be “somebody who can take her into a room and only he comes out.”

Watch it for yourself:

This is some seriously fucked up shit.

If you fail to see the problem, consider for a moment what your response would be if these two white men were discussing how somebody needed to stop Barack Obama who is read as being a black man here in America. Suppose they suggested that that somebody would be “somebody who can take him out back and come back alone”.

The message would be clear, right? Everyone would realize that they were not only physically threatening Barack Obama, but by extension all black men. Know why? Because that’s how white men speak to one another when they decide that a black man isn’t following the rules they think he needs to be following.

And no, they are not talking about merely speaking to the man in question and convincing him to see things their way. They are talking about physically assaulting that man to such a degree that he won’t be walking away from the “discussion”. That’s why that “somebody” always comes back alone.

And for women - we get taken into a room where the man tasked with policing us reminds us - with his fists - about our proper place in the world. And when he’s done “discussing” things with us, he walks back out alone.

Both of these phrases are about white men asserting with violence their self-declared right to dominate everything and one. They do not “discuss” anything. They beat, maim and kill. And since that “somebody” is always faceless, we women of all colours and men of colour learn to fear saying/doing something that may cause “somebody” to take us out back or into a room for a “discussion”.

So I think it’s quite clear that Olbermann needs to declare himself to be “the worst person in the world” as he quite literally threatened every woman in America with physical violence.

Since moving to Houston from El Paso about six or seven years ago I swear a month hasn’t went by without me spending a few days with some moderate to severe congestion.  It’s so bad that I like to say I’m allergic to Houston.

So it’s with great displeasure that I announce that Houston, Texas has taken first place for releasing 18.625 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere barely beating out Los Angeles (another place I’m allergic to) which took 2nd place with 18.595 million tons.

As you may be aware both of these cities are obsessed with pubic “morality” in that they’ve declared war on smokers and other domestic sources of air pollutants (aka: things that we can pretend are worse than the actually worse things the government is involved in).

Both earned their medals by allowing their moneymakers to run wild with Los Angeles paving the entire area and Houston saying “what industrial pollution?!?” while really cranking up the “leave no ground unpaved” industry.

There are nearly 14,000 responses on ABC’s site and here’s a sample of what the people who may wish they’d went out and had a beer or two instead have to say:

This so-called debate was ABSURD! Why do talking politico newspeople think the show is about THEM! This goes for everyone from Tweety, Russert and now obviously to Glib-son and Staphocoluous. I don’t give a hoot who wears a pin that’s made in China but shaped like a Flag, or what Reverend W. said or didn’t say, and who the hell is Ayers anyway? Bosnia - J.C. boyz, move on. Talk about GASOLINE, COST OF FOOD that I can’t afford any longer, or CRIME or our CRUMBLING BRIDGES. Stop with the gotcha moments. That doesn’t fill up my tank or pay my bills, you IDIOTS.This was just as Tom Shales said - shoddy and despicable performances - put on by ABC. I didn’t get a damn thing out of it.

Stephapoulus was a disgrace. He should resign. Edward R Murrow must be rolling over in his grave. The National Enquirer would not hire him. 45 minutes of nonsense when we are near a depression with the worst military blunder in US history. Gibson should apologize for his role.

Was Charles Gibson wearing a flag pin during the “debate”?Was George Stephanopoluos wearing a flag pin during the “debate”?Was Hillary Clinton wearing a flag pin during the “debate”?No, no and no.Why then, was it an issue as to whether Barak Obama wearing one?Since when did ABC become a subsidiary of FOX?

I take this “debate” charade as an insult to my intelligence and a terrible disservice to the American viewing audience that is trying to understand the positions of candidates on the real issues. I know that I can turn it off if it is offensive, but this is too damn important to be left to the major networks any more. ABC abdicated its responsibilitie. Time to return to the League of Women Voters doing the moderating with exclusive broadcast rights to PBS. This needs to happen for the general elections, in what is likely the most important presidential election of our generation.

I think it’s fair to say that the people are pissed off, eh? If you missed it also take a look at this video for the allegedly “important” questions put to both of them during the first hour of the ‘debate’:

Today I find a post over at A Whore in the Temple of Reason about an editorial in her home state that starts with this line:

They can’t be real Christians. They must be part of an atheist cabal.

Though this “they” is the Westboro Baptist Church which is virulently anti-gay, this is how a lot of individual Christians and sects act. No one but them and their own are the real deal. Everything else is either fake or a plot by the most hated group around which in this case happens to be atheists.

And this is exactly why all Christians should be thankful for anti-discrimination laws. Christians seem to hate each other more than any other group as their favorite sport is seriously attacking each other.

As someone who grew up in fundamentalism, let me put it this way. I was taught that there is more than one hell. I’ve forgotten how many, but I do remember that one of the worst of the hells is specially reserved for fake Christians. The Christian god is supposed to hate them with such a passion that he set up a special hell just for them.

A photographer was recently found guilty of discrimination in New Mexico for refusing to photograph the wedding of a lesbian couple because of the “message” it sent. It should come as no surprise that the photographer in question is a Christian who thinks homosexuality is a “sin”.

The professional Christian Martyr set is a bit upset about this smack in the face to their first amendment right to practice their religion in public. And it never ceases to amaze me how dumb these groups and individual supporters are. It’s like they’ve been blinded by their hate of the “other” to such a degree that they don’t realize that what they’re bitching about protects them also.

What’s more, it protects them from each other because if there’s one thing Christians really excel at it’s treating each other like crap. Just think about all the times you’ve heard of one Christian saying another Christian wasn’t one of the very elusive, perhaps extinct, “Real Christians” or the constant bickering between the entire lot about what constitutes that little thing they like to call “Real Religion”.

Hell, if everyone could “practice their religion” without any restriction at all - we “others” would probably end up sitting on the sidelines making bets on which group of Christians has the best chance of kicking the asses of the other Christian groups.