Houston wins! Pollutes more air than LA!
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.
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We the people are pissed off
Apparently there was a “debate” last night on ABC involving Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I wasn’t aware of it myself and had I been I would’ve probably still went out and had a few beers. Judging from the response this morning, I missed what was the most asinine thing the mass media has done in quite some time.
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’:
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That didn’t take long did it?
Yesterday I wrote about various Christian groups that don’t seem to understand that anti-discrimination laws protect them not just from non-Christians, but from each other due in part to their constant battles over who’s a True Christian and the like.
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.
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Imagine being told "no" because you’re a Christian
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.
Popularity: 16% [?]
Obama: abortion is never a good thing
Barack Obama is getting on my nerves. First he gave that asinine interview in The Advocate where he pretty much told the gay community that explicitly fighting for equal rights via marriage was a bad political move that could upset the bigots on this side of the sexual identity fence. Now he’s went and decided that those of us who have the weird idea that women are entitled to make their own reproductive decisions have made a “mistake”.
“It may be that those who have opposed abortion get a sense that I’m listening to them and respect their position even though where we finally come down may be different,” he told reporters at a news conference.
“The mistake that pro-choice forces have sometimes made in the past, and this is a generalization so it has not always been the case, has been to not acknowledge the wrenching moral issues involved in it,” he said.
“Most Americans recognize that what we want to do is avoid, or help people avoid, having to make this difficult choice. That nobody is pro-abortion, abortion is never a good thing.”
This is total bullshit. We do acknowledge that individual women have their own opinions on abortion and that there are women who consider abortion to be a serious moral issue. We have never made the mistake of not acknowledging that.
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Where are the atheist leaders?
If it weren’t for a blogger over on the Chicago Tribune it’s highly likely that many of us would have never heard of Monique Davis’ anti-atheist tirade. Since that time only one non-theist organization appears to have said anything and that was the Council for Secular Humanism which issued a press release calling for Davis to resign.
Everyone else has been conspicuously silent in the aftermath.
There’s not a word about it on the American Atheists site and the Secular Coalition who says it’s mission is to handle this kind of shit has also kept it’s mouth shut. The Atheist Alliance doesn’t appear to have anything to say either. The Freedom from Religion Foundation has nothing either. Even the Out Campaign whose purpose is to get scared atheists to come out of their closets has remained silent.
I’d at least have expected to find a rant over on AA about it and the Secular Coalition? It’s frigging mission statement says it’s purpose is “to increase the visibility and respectability of nontheistic viewpoints in the United States”.
One would think that a sitting representative telling someone with a “nontheistic viewpoint” that they have no right to participate in government affairs would be an opportunity for them to increase “the respectability of” said viewpoint.
This is quite disappointing. So, where are the leaders and why have they kept their mouth’s shut about this?
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“Bad Day” the cause of anti-atheist rant
Monique Davis has apologized citing that she was upset and was, according to another Illinois representative, having a “bad day”.
Well, I’m having a bad day myself.
I’m catching a cold or something and I’m pretty sure I’ve managed to break one of my toes. My five year old is home sick and is doing her best to mimic Velcro. One of the cats decided to use a pair of jeans for a litter box and the other puked on sick kid’s discarded but now “favourite” piece of schoolwork.
Did I mention the mountain of laundry that needs doing? It’s huge and I swear on the life of both cats that’s it’s growing as I type this. I’m also having a really bad period that hurts almost as bad as my toe. What I’d like to do is pop a Midol or two and lock myself in the bathroom for the rest of the day.
So, I’m not quite sure how I managed to do it, but I went outside for a smoke and did not scream at the nun visiting next door.
In fact, I simply smiled at her and said “hi” just like I always do, bad day or not.
Maybe it has something to do with me not actually believing that Christianity is such an abhorrent belief system that it is imperative that the children not know of it existence to the point where Christians should be kicked out of public meetings thus sparing myself the embarrassment of being caught saying what I actually don’t believe.
But, what do I know? I’m having a bad day. I’ll apologize next week after Keith Olbermann says I’m a bad person for not using my bad day to say exactly what I don’t think about Christianity and Christians.
Now, where’d I put that Midol?
UPDATE:
Just wanted to point out an excellent post by Alonzo Fyfe of Atheist Ethicist about how Representative Davis’ apology was not an apology:
This was actually nothing more than Davis admitting her bigotry, and slapping Sherman and all atheists again with the accusation that atheism was responsible for this student’s death.
This bigotry . . . this common rant that atheists and evolutionists are responsible for all school violence . . . this is morally no different than Gibson’s claim that Jews are responsible for all the wars of the world.
There is no evidence behind it. People do not get this idea because they are driven to it by any sort of valid argument. Why do they believe it?
People believe that atheists are responsible for all school violence for the same reason that anti-Semites believe that Jews are responsible for all of the wars of the world. It is because their hatred has driven them to seek a reason to hate, and these types of beliefs fill the bigot’s need.
Do read the whole post over at Alonzo’s.
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