The Rudicus Report

The New Rudicus Report

2006-07-25T14:44:00.000-05:00

Come see The Rudicus Report on our new site:

www.rudicusreport.com

The Rudicus Report Has MOVED!

2006-07-25T13:24:00.000-05:00

After much back and forth, The Rudicus Report has gotten it's own site and we will be continuing the same tradtion.

Please visit at:

www.rudicusreport.com

See you all there!

Rudicus: The Next Generation.

2006-07-14T06:43:00.000-05:00

The two new Rudicus sites are up and running.

I will be focussing on the fight for Gay Rights on my new blog True Persecution.

And taking on my old nemesis, Organized Religion on Disorganize.

Please stop by and visit when you have the time.

Your Tax Dollars at Work.

2006-07-07T08:35:00.000-05:00

Nothing says freedom better than secrecy, so in honor of that founding principle of our country, GW has decided to use your tax dollars to continue to fund his award winning "most secret government in the history of America."

That's right kiddies, we'll be paying a Texas Law school $1 million smackaroos to figure out ways around the Freedom of Information Act. You remember that one, it's the 40 year old law that forces the government to disclose or turn over information about it's practices to interested parties like the press or other groups so that they can make sure that the government is not a hot bed for fascists. Well you can see how this would put this administrations nose out of joint.

Now the argument made by the government is the FOIA allows terrorists and other potentially not helpful folks access to sensitive material that could threaten national security. So if that's true, then have an independent body oversee the release of information. But this administration has consistently and without apology withheld damaging public information in the name of national security, when it was nothing of the sort.

So let's review: Security blueprints for a nuclear plant = national security concern; Minutes and attendees of secret energy meeting with energy industry to craft U.S. energy policy and systematically rape the American People = not a national security concern.

And where is the oversight on this kind of spending? These are the people we left with the keys to the house. They use your own money to screw you and then tell you it's for your own good and you should be thanking them. The worst part is, most people buy it.

Bring it Back?

2006-07-06T14:21:00.000-05:00

Now that we are up and running over at Disorganize, I was thinking about what to do with The Rudicus Report, since Disorganize is now handling the religious commentary.

I was thinking of reviving the site and returning to it's roots as a political blog. Does anyone still stop by to visit? Any thoughts or comments?

Where's Rudicus?

2006-06-22T16:27:00.000-05:00

After a long hiatus, we are back in the south. Please come visit the new site:

Disorganize

It's still in it's infancy so please be patient.

Leave of Absence.

2005-11-04T08:45:00.000-05:00

I spent a lot of time thinking while I was moving and visiting Canada, and I realized that it may be time to take a break from The Rudicus Report and possibly go in a different direction.

I have been greatly enjoying writing The Rudicus Report, but I came to realize that I've been covering the same territory and there is not much more that needs to be said. By this time we all know my feelings about The Bush Administration, Christian Conservatives and other topics - and lately I've been feeling like all I am doing is commenting on the news - since I neither have the time nor resources to create news, it seems like I've already said everything I want to and any further stories on this topic are simply rehashes of old stories. So with that, I have decided to take a break from TRR while I decide what to do next.

Currently my ideas are as follows: (but I would love to get everyone's thoughts for other topics that you would like to see me cover)

Gay Rights - this would be similar to some of the things I've already written about, but it would be focused and more activist.

Interviews with Bloggers - this would be where I ask something like 10 questions of different bloggers about their blogs so people can get a sense of the people behind the blogs.

That's what I have so far - please let me know what you think and also if you have any other topics you think would be either in need of development or unique.

All The Proof You Need.

2005-10-25T10:45:00.000-05:00

You know how we've been talking about the whole Christian Conservative movement and how it is not based on real Christian values, but rather on values of hate and discrimination. We've talked a lot about this topic and showed many many examples of how these folks are very far from being true Christians, but finally we have uncontested proof that this movement is all about hate and discrimination.

You know the movement must be good when the KKK comes out in support of it. That's right, the KKK in Austin, Texas (Texas scores another point) is planning a rally as they put it...

"... to come and encourage people to vote for Christian Family Values and against legalized homosexual marriage in the state of Texas."

Christian Family Values...That says it all right there.

If the group, made world famous for hatemongering and intolerance, is supporting you, then you must be sharing a lot of the same beliefs.

They say you can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep. Christians and the KKK - they make a good team don't they?

If the KKK represents Christian Family Values then I guess we can close the book on this discussion and call it what it is. So does this make Christians a hate group too?

Maybe the KKK is simply jumping on the Gay-hating bandwagon. After all, people used to get upset when they plied their hate against blacks, latinos and jews, but in this day and age, we seem to be perfectly comfortable discriminating against Gays and no one but Gays seems to be upset about it, but who cares what they think anyway, they're Gay.

After spending a week in Massachusetts and then another in Montreal where Gays are protected and allowed to marry, it's nice to know that backwards-ass redneck faux-Christian stupidity is still going strong in Texas.

What's it going to take to get people to realize that hating gays is no different than hating anyone else? How can we continue to live in a country that not only condones this kind of behavior, but openly supports it and advocates for it?

You cannot continue to call yourself a free country or a free society if you are oppressing a segment of your population. Especially if all they want to do is live in peace and love whom they wish (sounds like a great threat to national security to me.)

I continue to love the fact that we are so ok with hate and discrimination, but don't seem to be getting at all outraged by the fact that significant members of our senate, house and executive branch are all under investigation or idictment.

Boy are our Christian Family Values out of whack.

Observations du Montreal.

2005-10-24T04:24:00.000-05:00

OK we're back sort of. As expected the move is not smooth, but I'm back enough to get back to reporting. Thanks for waiting.

In this time before everyone gets indicted and we report on all sorts of government and church hijinks - I thought it would be interesting to take a look at our experiences in Montreal, Quebec.

Priceline Rocks!: Say what you like about it, and I would never use it for plane tickets, but for hotel rooms - it can't be beat. I stayed here for $75 a night - rooms during the peak season can go as high as $300 a night. This was the most comfortable room I've ever been in and was right in the middle of everything.

Canadians hate George Bush as much as I do(hate in a political way, not in a secret service way, fellas): There was anti-bush graffiti everywhere. People were wearing anti-bush buttons, sported anti-bush stickers and were very happy to express their dislike about him the minute I mentioned I was American.

Canadian Burgers are better: Maybe it's the mad cows, maybe it's what they feed them, but every burger I had in Canada, was WAAAAY better than any I had in the states.

Schwartz's - DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE: Everyone I spoke to about Montreal mentioned Schwartz's deli for their apparently world famous smoked meat. Not worth the hassle. It's OK and that's about all I'll give it. Supposedly famous people flock there and if you are Jewish, it's considered a must see. If you happen to be there, you can grab a quick bite for posterity, but if you are not, go get a burger at Boccacinos, you'll be much happier.

You Absolutely Can Get Lost In a City Park: Our trip to Mount Royal Park was awesome - great leaves, a nice hike up to the Chalet for a great view of the City, but on the way back down, the big staircase was closed for construction so we had to go around on the trails - which ultimately put us on the other side of the park - and continuing to go up instead of coming back down. It took almost another hour to find a trail that could get us off the mountain and back onto the street. Damn were my legs sore!

Women in Montreal Seemed to be bigger on the bottom: I will freely admit that this was not scientific, but I've walked around a lot of cities and my observation was that Women in Montreal had much thicker legs and back ends than I've seen before. They weren't fat by any means, they just looked stronger and a but wider - it might be from all the walking uphill in the snow.

If you don't speak fluent French, be careful when you use it: My French is mediocre at best, but I must be able to say Bon Jour without much of an accent because everytime we went into places and I started with this opening, I found myself reading the French menu or engaging in a French conversation that was out of my league. I heard and saw other people with bad French accents, but the people immediately switched to English for them. Damn you Rosetta Stone! However it did come in handy in the Belgian French fry place in the Latin Quarter where they were from Belgium and only spoke French.

Canada is fucking freezing! Especially if you are from Atlanta: I think this is the one thing that keeps Montreal from becoming a world class international metropolis - it's just too damn cold. I'll be honest, I liked this city so much that I would consider moving there despite the cold, so imagine if it was a little more reasonable?

You can be yourself in Montreal: More than any other city I've been in so far, I think you can truly be yourself in Montreal. If you want to be a n uptight business person, a punk skate kid, an annoying brat, a grandmother in a miniskirt and pink hair, a hip-hop Arab - you name it! I saw all sorts of people in this wildly diverse city and never saw anyone with a judgmental look on their face or treating anyone differently because of how they looked.

I'm sure I have skewed image of Montreal and there are probably a lot of things about the city that are not positive - but I have to say that I enjoyed that city far more than any other I've been in in the U.S.. I highly recommend going. In January they are enacting a smoking ban, so it will be even more enjoyable then. I'll be going back this summer when it's warmer!

The Rudicus Report Is Relocating!

2005-10-11T11:30:00.000-05:00

The Rudicus Report is moving. We are leaving Atlanta and moving to Massachusetts.

The move will take about two weeks and during that time we may have an interrupted publishing schedule.

We will be on the road the rest of this week and visiting Canada the week after that. I will try to get some Canadian stories up while I'm there, but in the meantime - it you have a story about the abuse of power or hypocrisy in government or religion and would like to contribute a piece to The Rudicus Report - please email me at rudicusreport@gmail.com and I will be happy to post it with all requisite links and fanfare.

See you all soon.

Another Quag"Miers" for Bush.

2005-10-10T08:30:00.000-05:00

Another day another controversy - nothing new in the Bush Regime. Bush took a break from patting his friends on the back as they went off to be investigated and appointed his personal lawyer to be the next Supreme Court Justice to replace Sandra Day O'Conner.

We all have friends, and if we can do so, we'd love to give them a nice job. Bush has certainly ascribed to this philosophy as he has gleefully appointed unqualified friends to various high level positions throughout the administration - often with disastrous results.

So it really came as no surprise when Bush aka "Captain Cronyism" appointed his own lawyer to the highest court, despite the fact that she had no judicial experience. But the more this appointment is discussed, the stranger it seems.

No one was really surprised with the appointment of John Roberts to the court, although his subsequent appointment as Chief Justice was a bit surprising. And while he could very well be a wolf in sheep's clothing - most people seem to think he'll be reasonable and fair, even if he does lean to the right - but that remains to be seem. However he doesn't appear to be a staunch ultra conservative like the right wing masses were promised, so they were expecting O'Conner's replacement to be the very hardline conservative freak they were hoping for, someone who could get this country back on the road to being a nice, wholesome Christian police state.

So it was with much dismay when Harriet Miers was appointed, since not only did she not have the conservative street cred that were hoping for, but some liberals actually thought the pick was OK, which certainly led to untold levels of bally-hooing by the right.

Did Bush dis his constituency? Did he suddenly grow a brain along with a pair of balls?

It seems very uncharacteristic for Bushy to think inclusively and moderately. As we speak, ultra conservatives are screaming bloody murder and calling for Bush to withdraw his pick. On the surface it looks like Bush has lost his conservative marbles. It could be, or he could be crazy like a fox.

It may not be John Roberts who is the double agent - it might just be Miers. What if she is the perfect pick? Not someone from the system, but Bush's personal friend and attorney - i.e. someone who will give him what he wants and will do what he says.

What if he made a deal with her to put her on the supreme court in exchange for her dismantling and eliminating all those pesky laws and rights that have prevented him from completely destroying the very fabric of our country?

Sound crazy? Maybe not. Apparently Focus on the Family founder James Dobson isn't concerned(and he's ALWAYS concerned). Rumor has it that he has had personal assurances from the White House, assuring him that Miers would oppose abortion.

And then Sen Arlen Specter (The Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman) expressed concern that Miers may have cut a back room deal with President Bush to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

Certainly the GOP and President Bush have a long history of secret deals and ethical violations to their credit, so this would come as no surprise.

Regardless of your position on abortion, do we really want to live in a country where we feel free to "fix" votes and stack a court with lifetime appointees for political and religious reasons? Are we now a nation run by people who will stop at nothing to shove their ideology down everyone's throat no matter how much they have to lie, cheat and steal to do it? Is that what we've become? Is that truth, justice and the American way? No, I'm afraid that something else.

It's called fascism. So bend over, here it comes again.

The Catholic Church Shocks The World!

2005-10-07T09:51:00.000-05:00

It looks like the Catholic Church must have been reading The Rudicus Report because they've finally come out with something that makes sense. Get a load of this whopper:

"The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.

The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that they should not expect total accuracy from the Bible."

Get out!

If you want to know how far to the right we've slipped as a nation - this document was published in response to the rise ofundamentalismsm in the U.S.

They go on to condemn fundamentalism for its "intransigent intolerance" and to warn of "significant dangers" involved in a fundamentalist approach.

"Such an approach is dangerous, for example, when people of one nation or group see in the Bible a mandate for their own superiority, and even consider themselves permitted by the Bible to use violence against others."

Wow.

I'm really shocked and awed by the concept of an organized religion thinking rationally. And while I still disagree with their belief system, at least they are drawing a line in the sand when it comes to science and religion and the inherent conflicts therein.

I think this is a great day for critical thinking.

In this publication the church admits that some parts of the Genesis story and Revelations as well as some other passages are either untrue (in terms of literal or historical accuracy) or need to be re-examined for a modern society.

"Such symbolic language must be respected for what it is, and is not to be interpreted literally. We should not expect to discover in this book[The Bible] details about the end of the world, about how many will be saved and about when the end will come."

"We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters."

Well this is nothing short of remarkable from where I'm sitting and shows that given enough time and rational thought, dogma and rampant idiocy can be replaced by understanding and reality and hopefully someday convert thfundamentalistsdementalists into critical thinkers following a life philosophy instead of robots on their self-created mission from God.

This is exactly the reason why The Rudicus Report exists - it's nice to see some good happening - even if it is in other countries.

I DO wonder what will happen to Pope Eggs Benedict and his homosexual witch hunt in light of this, since it would be hard to rationalize why they are saying thSemiticanti-semetic curse from Matthew 27:25 which has been used to justify mistreatment and persecutions of Jews is no longer appropriate, but the anti-gay language from Leviticus, which has been used the same way, is still valid.

I suspect that this publiinitiallyill intially cause a lot more trouble - but it is a great first step - Bravo Catholic Bishops of England, Scotland and Wales.

You can read the full article here.

American Gestapo.

2005-10-06T09:37:00.000-05:00

The daily parallels between America under the Bush Administration and Nazi Germany should come as no surprise to anyone. With ever increasing regularity the lines between freedom and fascism blur until they are only discernible by a few ignored rights and civil liberties.

Here we go with another story of Nazi America.

In North Carolina a High School civics teacher assigned her students the project "to take photographs to illustrate their rights in the Bill of Rights,"

One student "had taken a photo of George Bush out of a magazine and tacked the picture to a wall with a red thumb tack through his head. Then he made a thumb's down sign with his own hand next to the President's picture, and he had a photo taken of that, and he pasted it on a poster."

Sounds like a statement of disapproval and a great example of free speech and dissent under the bill of rights. That is until the Secret Service (whose initials are also SS, not surprisingly) showed up. The SS came in while the teacher was out and confiscated the poster and sent it to Attorney General Alberto "Tortureman" Gonzales to determine if the student could be indicted.

While I'm not in any way clear how this constitutes a threat to the President, and further more is a clear violation of the students free speech rights. But how did the SS even get involved?

A employee in the photo developing department at Wal-Mart called them.

So not only do we have the SS confiscating and threatening a student who is exercising his constitutionally protected rights, but we even have citizens informing on other citizens. Does that sound familiar to anyone. Just substitute liberal for Jew and you've got it.

What the fuck has happened to this country when we have people calling the secret police on kids, just because they disagree with their opinions. And why was this even an SS investigation? Would it have made a difference if the student had tacked up the photo with Scotch tape?

If an innocuous high school civics project can trigger a Secret Service investigation, you can pretty much kiss whatever semblance of civil rights you used to have goodbye. Seig Heil!

And now it's time for our theme song:

Deutschland, Deutschland uber Alles...

The Daily Discrimination.

2005-10-05T08:53:00.000-05:00

Remember back in the good old days when Republicans were just rich business people who believed in lower taxes and small government?

It seems these days that the government is bigger than ever and is seeking to control every aspect of your life. We have already seen them get involved in how you treat your illnesses, how and when you choose to die if you are terminally ill and even whom you can love and marry. Well if Republican Sen. Patricia Miller has her way, the government will be able to tell you if you are allowed to have children.

You heard that right. In an compelling argument to prove that Republican = Nazi, Sen. Miller has put forth a bill in the Indiana Senate that would prohibit gays, lesbians and single people in Indiana from using medical science to assist them in having a child.

According to this bill the only acceptable parents for a child in Indiana are a married male and female couple. The married male/female couples are free to use assisted reproduction methods, but nobody else is.

Presumably gays, lesbians and single people CAN still be parents as long as they engage in traditional intercourse to do so, but would not be allowed to conceive through any other means.

While this woman is obviously a crazed lunatic, the part that scares me is that this bill is even being put forth. When do you get to in your head where you think this kind of tactic would be appropriate. And I guarantee you there are a vast number of people who also think this is a good idea.

Forget the fact that this is yet another form of government sponsored discrimination against homosexuals and now single parents, when did we become a nation so intolerant that we resort to the most medieval of laws to force our population to live only as one very small segment of the population sees fit.

I am curious as to how they would plan to enforce this. If they catch someone, wouldn't they then have to abort the baby? Or would they take it away? And then would you get a fine or go to jail? I don't see any way this would actually work.

I would sincerely hope that this bill will get shot down with extreme prejudice, but considering the fact that it will even be given a vote, should show how far we have fallen and how far some folks will go to control others. Viva la Revolucion!

Forget Detention, Just Tell Everyone You're Gay.

2005-10-04T09:20:00.000-05:00

It's been a little quiet in the ongoing battle between Texas and Florida for which state has the title of most intolerant and stupid population. Florida, who was already winning the homophobia category, put the final nail in Texas to win the 2005 top honors with this gem:

In an elementary school in Orange Park, FL, two 6th graders we're mouthing words to each other while the teacher was lecturing. Not an uncommon occurrence, about on par with passing notes and whispering, something each of us has done at one time or another. While it is often considered rude by teachers, usually students face admonishment, detention or in rare circumstances, a trip to the Prinicipal's office.

But not in Florida. No, teacher Larry Eager decided to really teach these kids a lesson, by making them get up in front of the class and tell everyone they were gay. That's right, this brilliant genius, who up until a couple of days ago was teaching children, thought it would be a good idea to get these kids up and make them sit closely next to each other with their knees touching and holding hands and announcing to the class that they were gay.

It goes without saying that this kind of humiliation technique is completely inappropriate for a teacher to engage in, as well as it being a little overboard for kids, who were probably not paying close attention, but also not disrupting class in anyway.

But the larger issue is the idea that being gay is some sort of punishment and should be considered a thing that was a threat or humiliation. It just goes to show how deep this kind of bigotry runs in this country.

Remember that guy(from Florida) who beat his 3 year old kid to death because he thought he was gay? Remember those other kids(in Florida) who burned down the home of two gay men? Where do you think that kind of mentality comes from? Right here in this school. This teacher was obviously way out of bounds, but for someone who is obviously educated enough to be a teacher to think that this kind of thing was OK, is wrong on so many levels.

This kind of thing maintains the idea that being gay is so horrible that you should be traumatized for life or killed because of it. It's absolutely outrageous that this teacher did this, but I also think it is even more outrageous and contemptible that the teacher resigned. Good riddance you say? You bet, but that means he wasn't fired immediately. He was put on 97-day probation. To me that says that the teacher was only disciplined because the students and their parents complained.

And that's at the heart of it. When the school, the community and the church do not openly condemn this kind of thing but conversely give it tacit approval by not responding with definite action and also turn around and preach discrimination and hated of gays in the houses of god and seats of government - where are people supposed to learn that this is wrong?

Can we really blame this teacher for taking his hatred of gays, just a step further than the church, government and community are comfortable with? Actually yes, because it's his non-thinking, prejudiced action that is at fault, but equal blame must reside with the society that not only allows it t happen, but clandestinely condones it.

This is not the kind of country I'd be proud to call home.

Public Enemy #1!

2005-10-03T11:57:00.000-05:00

We've all heard that Godless atheists and their friends the agnostics, Wiccans and other non-judeo/christians cannot hope to live a moral and ethical life without God telling them how to think, act, and be. We also have Pope Eggs Benedict telling us that Relativism is the single most dangerous thing threatening the world today.

You are being led to believe that living a Christian life in a Christian society would be heaven on earth with a blissful and morally righteous existence free of the evils caused by the aforementioned Godless relativists.

well speaking for the Godless Relativists, it turns out the Christians are wrong again.

The Journal of Religion and Society a US-based academic journal has recently come out with a study that shows that:

RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide.

According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.

But the delusions run deep in America

"Many Americans agree that their churchgoing nation is an exceptional, God-blessed, shining city on the hill that stands as an impressive example for an increasinglyskepticall world.

"In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies."

I know none of our regular readers will be surprised by this because we've been talking about this for sometime now, but it's always nice to be validated. I especially liked this part:

"The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so."

The study concluded that the US was the worldÂs only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional. [The Study's Author] said that rates of gonorrhoea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less devout democratic countries. The US also suffered from 'uniquely high' adolescent and adult syphilis infection rates, and adolescent abortion rates.

Ouch.

"The study shows that England, despite the social ills it has, is actually performing a good deal better than the USA in most indicators, even though it is now a much less religious nation than America."

We suspected as much, but check this out:

"...the disparity was even greater when the US was compared with other countries, including France, Japan and the Scandinavian countries. These nations had been the most successful in reducing murder rates, early mortality, sexually transmitted diseases and abortion." [They also happen to be among the least religious of the developed nations]

Well now. I realize that the fact that this comes from a scientific study will pretty much invalidate it in the eyes of Christians in this country, because as we all know, this is just another theory based on documented evidence anevangelicallygelically inspired with absolutely no support in reality, thus rendering it invalid.

But let's look a bit deeper at this. If we take in account all the social ills that religion seems to foster rather than hinder - religion is not looking so good. But lets take it a bit further and see if Religion has helped in any other ways to cure societies challenges.

Nope.

In fact religion seems to be at the heart of almost every divisive issue currently facing the planet. Evolution & science, abortion, homosexuality, general sexuality and sex education,
law & society (ten commandments, pledge etc.), art & erotica, entertainment & humor, marriage & family, government, language, drugs, gender roles and a host of other issues.

Not to mention all the hot spots of unrest like Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Bosnia, Sudan, Israel & Palestine, Syria and all the associated war and terrorism - ALL stem from religion and religious dispute. You can even look at the Communists - what was our biggest complaint about them? They were Godless Atheists.

When you look at the facts and the true effect on society and the global community, I would say that Religion was public enemy #1. Unfortunately we can not separate religion from society without a revolution. The study that we were originally talking about also established this fact.

"... most Western nations would become more religious only if the theory of evolution could be overturned and the existence of God scientifically proven. Likewise, the theory of evolution would not enjoy majority support in the US unless there was a marked decline in religious belief."

And as we have already talked about, religious people will never give up their religion - even if it kills them. Thus, we are left with a conundrum. How do you get people to stop doing something that is bad for them? We have already seen that prohibition doesn't work, and laws only have minimal effectiveness - especially if you don't get public support from 85% of the afflicted people. What about education and awareness? Not going to work either - 2000 years of history have not changed any beliefs one iota regardless of how many things are disproven or shown to be harmful, contradictory or just plain wrong. You can't oppress it because we all know that leads right to civil war.

So how do you get people to change - especially when so many programs are designed to indoctrinate children at a very young age (just like advertisers and tobacco companies)? I don't think we can. We may simply have to wait for these folks to either kill each other or their societies collapse and just stay out of the way.

New Look

2005-09-30T08:07:00.000-05:00

It's been pretty quiet around her for the last week - must be vacation time.

So I figured we take a little break and let people catch up.

Anyway, you may have noticed we got a new look here at The Rudicus Report.

This killer design comes partly from an idea from yours truly and put together and made awesome by Cat over at Blogtogs (thanks Cat)

We wanted to give The Rudicus Report a cleaner more professional look, and boy did we get it.

Let me know what you think.

The Bush Mafia.

2005-09-28T10:30:00.000-05:00

When we think of organized crime we think of Gambinos, Gottis or even Sopranos. We don't usually think of the U.S. Government, but when we take a closer look at the Bush Administration we start to get an image of power and corruption gone horribly wrong when we consider how many Bush Administration officials and cronies are currently under some sort of investigation.

If they say you can tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps and the investigations they are under, I think Bush and his friends tell a pretty compelling story - let's take a look:

From the top down:

President George Bush/Bush Administration: Downing Street Memo and other intelligence failures and issues related to Iraq and 9/11, also Medicare for lying and possibly bribery of House Republicans. Voting irregularities and related voter suppression or oppression. Hurricane Katrina

Vice President Dick Cheney: Secret Energy Task Force, Haliburton, Valerie Plame outing

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist: under SEC investigation for possible insider trading.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal, Iraq War Planning

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice: 9/11 scandal, accounting irregularities in HUD

Presidental Advisor Karl Rove: Valerie Plame outing plus many connections to scandals currently under investigation

Attorney General John Ashcroft: Illegal Campaign contributions in excess of $100,000

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: Abu Ghraib torture scandal

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay: Criminal fundraising schemes, Bribery, Intimidation, Abuse of Power - already admonished multiple times by house ethics committee. JUST INDICTED!

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff - currently under criminal investigation for a whole host of violations relating to illegal campaign contributions and other campaign finance issues - closely connected to entire Republican hierarchy.

Pentagon: Currently under multiple investigations ranging from no-bid contracts to Bush cronies to torture scandals to Iraq war and intelligence failure to intentionally slowing investigation of Bush appointees.

That's quite a list. And that doesn't include many other irregularities or investigations that would be opened if Bush hadn't blocked them.

What does this say about the country if most of our leaders are currently under some sort of investigation, often involving criminal acts or ethical violations? Is this the group we think represents good old American family values? Is this the self-righteous moral majority that tells what is right and wrong?

But I guess this is all just par for the course - we have been acting like third world fascist dictatorship for a while now, so I suppose you can't have that without all the corruption, manipulation and intimidation that goes along with it.

The best part is that if we weren't the ones doing the name calling, The U.S. would be part of the axis of evil from most other countries perspective. Go America!

The Great Commission.

2005-09-27T10:39:00.000-05:00

In all this talk about homosexuality and equality and discrimination we have seen no acceptance or tolerance or even willingness to discuss on the part of most Christians. I think I may have figured out why.

The Great Commission.

The Great Commission in a nutshell is this:

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Wow - that's pretty heavy.

But this isn't just some high-minded ideal, hundreds of thousands of people spend millions of dollars each year to bring the gospel to people all over the world, who were perfectly happy with their existing religion. At least they do it more subtly than their predecessors The Conquistadors.

So with this in mind, how can you possibly argue or even have an intelligent debate with someone who believes they have a mandate from God to literally convert every single person on the planet?

Puts a lot of things into perspective doesn't it?

The Great Commission is still in full swing, just last week a conference of missionary church groups was held in North Carolina - the conference title was "Finishing The Task" It was a call that began with Billy Graham, challenging people to step up their efforts to complete the Great Commission.

The conference attendees answered with plans to send even more missionaries and expend even more money to "witness" to people, preach the gospel and plant churches in all the major population areas of the world where the Christian Church doesn't currently have one.

So let's think about this. Your mission, which you have no choice but to accept, means that you have to convert EVERYONE. Not just a couple people here and there, not just your neighbors, but everyone.

What are the larger ramifications of this. Well beyond the staggering audacity needed to believe and actually act on this commission, there is the culture destroying and society changing effects of teaching people that everything they believe is wrong and everything you believe is right. It carries with it a fundamental disrespect and disdain for different cultures and different people if they engage in any behavior or beliefs that differ from the Christian teachings.

But apart from this, lets see how this person would interact with the world. This person would believe that there WAS only one right way to live and that it was their duty to convert everyone who believed anything different. As a result they would NOT be open to any opposing way of thinking or alternate viewpoints. It would be pointless to try and discuss the idea of equality or diversity or acceptance because if it is was not spelled out in the Bible 2000 years ago, it pretty much doesn't exist. So what you end up with is a large group of people filled with evangelical zeal, an unerring sense of self-righteousness, armed with an infallible dogma, a mandate for conquering the world in the name of Jesus and absolute authority to do so - transcending every sovereign nation and belief system.

Now if that doesn't scare you, I don't know what will. Because what I describe above is not a group of people telling other interested people about their philosophy, it's robots on a mission from God.

It's the Borg and you will be assimilated.

U.S. Sponsors Discrimination.

2005-09-26T11:39:00.000-05:00

More of our democracy and formerly "free" country got flushed down the toilet last week when the House of Republicans voted to allow states to freely discriminate against American citizens on the basis of religion.

That's right, we can already freely discriminate against gays in this country, now we can add religion to the list of the discriminated.

The Republican-led House approved a bill that lets churches and other faith-based preschool centers hire only people who share their religion, yet still receive federal tax dollars.

Yay! Free discrimination with no consequences - and the government will even pay you to do it!

That's right, Head Start Programs that are run by Catholics, now would have the right to refuse employment to anyone who is not Catholic. And the same would hold true for any faith. So what we have here is government funded discrimination. I'd love to see what would happen if a traditional company decided not to hire Christians because they disagreed with their religion - how fast would that company be slapped with lawsuits and lose any form of federal assistance or support?

This is just another case of theocratic policy making - letting the Christians have their cake and fuck everyone else. We've already seen the separation of church and state go away when Bush & Co. authorized the federal government to allow funds to go to faith-based organizations. Then we had that very enjoyable law that allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare workers to refuse to participate in treatment or prescribe or dispense medicine to people if they disagree with their lifestyles for religious reasons. Now we have the Equal Opportunity Laws being discarded in favor of hiring along religious lines.

This administration has gone out of it's way to spit and piss on every civil right or human right ever awarded and they have gotten a 100% approval rating on their goal of splitting the country along religious lines. America is now the most polarized nation in history that hasn't started a civil war...yet.

While we focus our attention on wars and hurricanes, our civil liberties are being carted out the back door. The Republicans are acting alarmingly like fascists and the Christians are acting surprisingly like The Taliban - and nobody is saying anything about it.

And while I am deeply troubled that our government has been systematically destroying our country both internationally and domestically, my undiluted ire is reserved for the stupid, lazy, self-centered and non-thinking American sheeple who are being anally raped each day, and who's only response is "thank you sir, may I have another."

So from everyone who has not bothered to say anything because it didn't affect them to those who blindly follow without thinking because someone told them to - I say, the day is fast approaching when no one will speak up for you.

And on that day I will look out upon you from my home in Canada and laugh as Christians are put in camps for not being Christian enough while others are jailed and robbed of their freedom, money and minds by the very people they selected to protect them. Let the games begin.

Australian Blogger Questions Zogby on Poll.

2005-09-23T10:40:00.000-05:00

Lukery, an Australian blogger at Wot Is It Good 4 has been on a campaign to have the issue of impeaching George Bush raised again with the American people in a Zogby poll.

In this post he discusses the entire issue at length – it is a great read and really highlights a side issue of the impeachment debate, which is the question of why MSM is not touching this story.

The Rudicus Report caught up with Lukery for the Impeach Bush Coalition to get his thoughts on this poll, the foreign perception of the U.S. and the power of blogging:

Rudicus: As an Australian, what made you want to take up the charge on the issue of Bush's impeachment?

Lukery: The Bush administration is dangerous to everyone. They are dangerous when they start wars, they are dangerous when they destroy the environment, and they are dangerous because they provide cover for other governments to mimic US policies - for example, stripping civil liberties, ignoring science, or justifying torture.

Rudicus: What do you think the impact of your activities will be? What would you like them to be?

Lukery: It looks as though we've already had an impact with this latest episode. Zogby wasn’t going to ask the question[about impeachment], and it appears that they've caved. Its going to cost us a few thousand dollars to get the impeachment questions asked again - but from the feedback I've received, it seems as though we should be able to raise that in $20 and $50 and $100 increments. If we can get the poll done, the next challenge will be to get the appropriate media coverage of the poll results. With luck, the coverage of the poll results will shift the narrative in the general media away from 'a president with some popularity problems' to 'a failed presidency'

I want the impact of all of our activities to be that America banishes crazy right-wing notions forever and that we see a true progressive movement - and that includes the Democrats. The Bush administration has been such a failure that I hope that I hope we also destroy the so-called 'centrist' notions of the DLC. I want America to be the light on the hill again - life liberty and ‘the pursuit of happiness’ and all that. I used to live in America - but now I wouldn’t travel there for fear of being arrested.

Rudicus: How do you feel Bush and his administration has impacted Australia?

Lukery: The Bush administration had been terrible for Australia (and similarly Britain where I also lived). Our Prime Minister is a Bush wanna-be - he loves the whole war thing and was one of the first to sign up for the “Coalition of the Willing”, and I think Australia has been the only country to keep increasing troop commitments in Bush's wars. Australia has also become a lot more racist, and there is a massive assault on civil liberties (much the same as Britain). We've also become a target - with the bombings in Bali which seem to have been largely directed at Australians, and an attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta, and there was a recent 'Al Qaida' video threatening both Los Angeles and Melbourne. Similarly, we've also seen the rise of the religious crazies - with the associated threats to Women’s rights and the ID movement.

Rudicus: Do you think there is a conspiracy or coordinated effort in MSM to downplay or outright ignore potentially serious negatives regarding the Bush Administration? If so, do you think it is limited to U.S. based media?

Lukery: There is no doubt that there is a media 'conspiracy', although the exact mechanisms aren’t entirely clear - its a combination of both explicit and implicit elements. One of the most egregious examples (which didn’t get any attention) was when CNN printed Hans Blix's 'transcript' in his speech to the UN after Powell's disastrous pre-invasion speech. CNN purported to carry Blix's entire testimony, but they removed all of the paragraphs where Blix criticized Powell's 'evidence'.

[The media conspiracy] is not restricted to the US. [Rupert] Murdoch owns something like 50% of the press in Australia, and a similar amount in the UK - I think he also has significant holdings in China, India and Pakistan. Unfortunately, he seems to be really good at what he does. One of the other main problems, that is rarely mentioned - even in the context of media consolidation - is the concentration of the wire services. I would argue that the AP is more dangerous than Murdoch.

Rudicus: What do you think about the power of blogging and bloggers to force attention to be paid to issues that are ignored or swept under the rug by MSM.

Lukery: Blogging can be important - but mostly to the extent that journalists and politicians read blogs. Blogs are only useful to the extent that they can actually influence the other two - Bogs can exert a terrific influence when they don’t let journalists and politicians get away with fudging reality. Blogging is essentially about the collective mind - which means that anyone can make a difference if they get the correct 'hook'. Many of us blog and chat away in 'comments' to no avail. The thing I did with the impeachment story was to go to the source of the problem (Zogby) and keep asking till I got an answer - and then gave it to RawStory to follow up. They had the clout to get Zogby on the record and also to get the Washington Post to move the story at the same time. In the same day, the story was put out by Stephanie Miller on Air America. So blogging can be important - but its important to try to turn our ideas into actions, and secondly, every little bit helps.

The important thing is to keep trying to break through the noise - if there are sufficient numbers of us trying to break through, then some of us will - and the result is the important thing, [and in this case] and might actually result in Zogby asking the impeachment question again.

Please visit the Impeach Bush Coalition for more information.

Didn't Know I Was Unamerican.

2005-09-22T07:55:00.000-05:00

Today is the 200th post for The Rudicus Report.

Thanks for sticking around and reading the things I have to say.

For today's post I wanted to share a music video for a song by Ian Rhett

It pretty much sums up alot of what is going on with respect to the country as a whole.

Special thanks to our friend Deke for sending it.

Here is the Video.

Also check out http://www.sharedvoice.org/.

Happy 200th everyone!

Bush Declares War On Porn!

2005-09-21T09:24:00.000-05:00

Bush likes to declare war. Any time there is something that he thinks needs fixin', he declares a war on it. Now we can add a new war to the growing list of things we are at war with - The fabled War on Porn.

We're not talking child porn or snuff porn or some other illegal porn, nope this is just good old fashioned smut. The kind that everyone likes, well everyone except Bush apparently.

In a time when the various institutions of the Federal government are idly sitting around with nothing to do apparently, Bush has decided that now would be a good time to divert energy and resources away from less important objectives like protecting the country from terrorists, Iraq, hurricane Katrina, fixing the economy, curbing drug trafficking, decreasing global warming and pollution, addressing public corruption, poverty, healthcare, child abuse, organized crime, serial killers or just about everything else that is devastatingly wrong in this country and has chosen to focus on LEGAL pornography as the place to put the FBI's attention.

That's right, the FBI has decided to form an anti-obscenity squadron and internal communications have described the initiative as "one of the top priorities" of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

The new squadron will divert agents, a supervisor and assorted support staff to gather evidence against "manufacturers and purveyors" of pornography -- not the kind exploiting children, but the kind that depicts, and is marketed to, consenting adults. WTF?

It's nice that the administration has infected every level of the federal government with it's warped and dangerous priorities and agenda. But don't take my word for it - here is some thoughts from real life FBI personnel in the field:

"I guess this means we've won the war on terror," said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. "We must not need any more resources for espionage."

Among friends and trusted colleagues, an experienced national security analyst said, "it's a running joke for us."

That's good. I can't imagine this kind of head-up-the-ass prioritization could have in any way led to similar colossal fuck-ups by this administration and it's buddies. No, thankfully they kept their collective eyes on the prize and stayed focused and successfully captured Osama Bin Laden, found a host of WMD's in Iraq, smoothed transition from the U.S. led occupation to a self sustaining government supported by the people, took care of the U.S. economy and the American people and was right on top of one of the most devastating national disasters in our history with well coordinated rescue and relief plans drawn up from the many reports warning of the disaster ahead of time. Oh wait, that happened on this week's re-run of Fantasy Island.

While the anti-obscenity squadron has the primary task of catching these super criminals who are engaged in, let me repeat this, COMPLETELY LEGAL activities - according the Attorney General Gonzales's mandate"All other field offices may investigate obscenity cases pursuant to this initiative if resources are available."

That's just fabulous. What's next? The highway department investigating to see if people are conspiring to drive the speed limit? Or perhaps we need to start an IRS investigation into people who pay their taxes in full and on time every year.

While this looks like one of the worst applications of public funds on record and smacks of a stupidity so stupid that stupid people are offended, there may be an ulterior motive at work. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is being considered as a candidate for the open Supreme Court position. Since Gonzales has been looked up with skepticism by the Christian Conservatives whose support he would need, some see this initiative as the exact kind of fascist, but ultimately insane and dangerous tactic that get Christian Conservatives toes all a-twitter.

But apparently it worked. Those previously skeptical CC's over at the Family Research Council have come out with a statement expressing "a growing sense of confidence in our new attorney general."

Isn't that special - I love the smell of political pandering in the morning...it smells like bullshit.

So while we are off on an ongoing crusade to waste taxpayer dollars and resources that we don't have on a witch hunt for people doing legal things, Rome continues to burn. Well with any luck the CC's can get a Supreme Court nominee who is willing to overturn the most important laws like Rowe v. Wade, The Establishment Clause and the First Amendment. Hopefully they'll put the rest of us in a nice gulag in San Diego. Welcome to the New America - Fascism or Bust!

Anti-Gay Re-education Camp Shut Down!

2005-09-20T08:29:00.000-05:00

(This is a photo Love In Action Director Rev. John J. Smid)

Score one for the good guys.

Remember this story about the high school student that was sent to a Christian re-education camp in Tennessee for admitting on his blog that he was gay?

Well, thanks to his story an investigation was opened by the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. And they are closing the camp down.

The department ruled that Love In Action International was violating state codes regarding the care and treatment of patients and was dispensing medication without a license. Unfortunately the state couldn't close down the camp for being brainwashing fuckheads, but we have to take what we can get.

This may or may not be the end of this camp since the group can apply for licensure with the state and re-open. But at least for now they won't be able to do any more damage.

Also it turns out that Director Rev. John J. Smid is not a reverend at all. He just pretended to be to help further dupe confused and scared gay kids and their stupid homophobic parents.

Lies, deception, manipulation and intolerance - those are the Christian values I remember from Sunday school. I think it was Jesus who said "Whatever you do to the least of my people, you do to me, unless that person is a dang queer and you should kick his ass because you think he's kind of hot and want get with him in the biblical sense, but you can't because you're scared, so by all means use my father's holy book to justify oppressing an entire culture of people and then play on the fears of others to make money for yourself and your friends, all because you were too much of a chicken-ass to admit that you found him attractive."

I may not have translated all of this correctly from Aramaic, but you get the idea.

Bush Will Be Taking Full Responsibility Until He Finds Someone Else To Blame.

2005-09-19T09:10:00.000-05:00

Just as Bush shocked the world by taking responsibility for Katrina, it may have just been another political parlor trick.

In an internal email obtained by the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger it turns out the Justice Department has been busy trying to find some link...any link to environmentalists, so they can shift the blame to them for the levee failure and subsequent catastrophic flooding in New Orleans.

Apparently the ignored warnings from models suggesting a category 4 or 5 hurricane would topple the levee and flood the city, were not responsible. Nor were the ignored warnings or weather specialists. Nor was the horrificly slow and inept recovery effort or the countless stories of bureaucracy hurdles, turf battles, pissing contests and possibly even racism or classism. No the blame apparently is hopefully to be laid at the feed of environmentalists.

"Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation."

Well. That sure sounds like a fishing expedition to me. I guess no one should be surprised by double talk, fake assurances, secret internal memos and character assassination. I thought Bush didn't want to play the blame game - I guess just like laws, treaties, contracts and other legal issues the rules apply to everyone else and can be ignored if they are inconvenient.

People were up in arms as soon as news of this memo hit the streets causing a caustic response from Barbara Boxer of California, which she sent to our friends over at Raw Story:

"If the President is sincere when he says he accepts responsibility for the abysmal federal response to Hurricane Katrina, he should instruct his Justice Department to stop trying to smear environmentalists by blaming them for the government's failure to shore up the levee system in Louisiana," the California Democrat said.

"This smacks of a political witch hunt," Boxer added. "Instead of pathetic attempts to pass the buck by blaming groups who are looking out for the health and well-being of Americans, the Bush Administration should marshal the Justice Department to stand up for the victims against the con artists and U.S. taxpayers from unscrupulous contractors." (that would be Haliburton for you kids following along at home)

Now that this has hit the streets - be on the lookout for the cover-up that will surely ensue. Be on the lookout for someone to take the fall and have all the blame for this assigned to them and watch the Administration and all related officials absolve themselves of responsibilty and/or knowledge of this maneuver.

The worst part is that it is so much the M.O. of this administration to pull this kind of crap and I'm positive they will never ever get called on the carpet for it. I don't know what's worse, the fact that the justice department would be pursuing this action or that we'll never see anybody actually answer for the myriad of corrupt, dirty, manipulative and underhanded political nonsense that this administration engages in every day of the week.

We can only hope that someone will find the strength andfortitudee needed to take the country back from the brink and restore some semblance of honor, integrity and real responsibility by impeaching EmperorBush and sending him back to Crawford where he can't do anymore damage. Please visit the Impeach Bush Coalition for more info on saving the country.

Gay Marriage is OK in Massachusetts.

2005-09-16T09:17:00.000-05:00

Well gay marriages have been legal in Massachusetts for a year now and for some reason society has not collapsed.

This hot button issue which many credit as leading the Republicans to victory in 2004 elections, has lost some steam since it was used to whip Christian Conservatives into a holy frenzy of frothy rabid goodness that led 11 different states to pass anti-gay legislation.

Well it looks like it may be turning around, at least in one state. The Massachusetts Legislature just voted 157-39 against the proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage and overturn the court ruling in the state.

How could this happen - wasn't gay marriage a threat to the very fabric of our society? Wasn't it the slap in the face of traditional marriage that would make all heterosexual marriages null and void? I guess none of that happened.

So how do you account for this seemingly 180 degree turn in the attitude toward gay marriage in Massachusetts? Let's hear from one of the co-sponsors of the proposed amendment.

"Gay marriage has begun, and life has not changed for the citizens of the commonwealth, with the exception of those who can now marry," said state Sen. Brian Lees, a Republican who had been a co-sponsor of the amendment. "This amendment which was an appropriate measure or compromise a year ago, is no longer, I feel, a compromise today."

Well what do you know about that? Adam and Steve got married and nothing bad happened to anyone.

I guess I would like it if this event somehow opened people's eyes to the fact that all the gay marriage doomsayers were manipulating people and not actually threatened. Or that two people getting married regardless of their orientation is a fine thing and not in any way dangerous or confusing for society. But I suspect it will just be business as usual, combined with looks of disgust at the Massachusetts liberals and their hell-bound married gay pals.

But then it is the belief of CC's always to err on the side of dogma and stupidity, which is why Ahhnold will probably be the mook that he is and veto the same-sex marriage bill that passed the legislature in his state. Way to be progressive buddy.

However I do think the defeat of the amendment in Massachusetts WILL have an effect. Hopefully Massachussets' example, combined with the much more forward thinking Canadians support of gay marriage, will show that society is not in danger because two people love each other and might just loosen some of the fire and brimstone rhetoric being spewed by the people of very little brain.

Kudos to Massachusetts - I'm proud of all of you, now hopefully for your next trick you can chuck that poo-head governor of yours and send him on his way.

"Under God" is Unconstitutional.

2005-09-15T08:38:00.000-05:00

The Pledge of Allegiance with the 1954 addition of "under God" was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge yesterday.

The decision clears the way for the pledge to be barred in the schools affected by the suit, however, it also puts the case on the fast track back to the Supreme Court.

The Pledge was already ruled unconstitutional by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals when it ruled in 2002. This is the same body that the appeal is going to so it seems likely that they will stand by their precedent and reaffirm their decision.

When the case came before the Supreme Court previously, they dodged the case by saying that it could not proceed because the claimant was not an authorized representative in the suit. This time that's not the case, so it looks like the Supremes will either have to tackle the case or let the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling stand.

What's the big deal you say. Isn't this harmless, is it worth all this fuss? Complainant Michael Newdow sums it up as follows:

"All it has to do is put the pledge as it was before, and say that we are one nation, indivisible, instead of dividing us on religious basis," Newdow told The Associated Press.

"Imagine every morning if the teachers had the children stand up, place their hands over their hearts, and say, 'We are one nation that denies God exists,'" Newdow said.

"I think that everybody would not be sitting here saying, 'Oh, what harm is that.' They'd be furious. And that's exactly what goes on against atheists. And it shouldn't."

To me this case highlights the very reason that politics and religion do not mix. Religion is divisive and does not represent all people. This is the purpose of separation of church and state as it was devised by the founders. Because religion and belief are so polarizing, leaving it completely out of government allows the state to govern based on the needs of society, not on the agenda of a particular faith or representatives of that faith.

As a priest, a Republican, a former senator and former UN ambassador, John Danforth is in a great position to speak on this issue and he says:

"The problem is not with people or churches that are politically active. It is with a party that has gone so far in adopting a sectarian agenda that it has become the political extension of a religious movement."

If he and others in the Republican party are starting to feel a little skittish about being so bound to Christian Conservatives and their agenda, imagine how the rest of us feel?

You need no further proof of this that to watch the nightly news. The vast majority of issues dividing this nation are along religious lines. Every story you read about the Ten Commandments, activist judges, prayer in school, homosexuality, gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research, the right to die, censorship in T.V. and movies, sex, art, you name it - those are ALL about religion. And if you go back over that list, see if you can name all the different politicians and government agencies that have some sort of association with those topics. In a place where politics and religion are supposed to be divided, it sure seems like we are up to our eyeballs in unity.

The problem is that this creates division, it creates marginalization and it creates exclusivity and corruption. Perhaps not corruption in monetary terms but in terms of fairness. How do you think a person who is staunchly religious is going to interact with someone who is not? What if your life choices go against the religious choices fed to you by a united church and state? Do you really think people are going to be operating impartially? We already have pharmacists, nurses and doctors who can choose not to treat you if they disagree with you on religious grounds. That's staggering. And you know who allowed that to happen legally? The federal government.

This is why it's so critical that we maintain a separation - laws and government must be free to make decisions based on the best thing for the society, not the best thing to promote an agenda based on beliefs. The sooner we realize that this lack of separation is tearing us apart as a country, the sooner we can get back on the road to fixing it.

It is unconstitutional to promote religion, and that's why the Pledge is unconstitutional. Freedom of religion allows us all to practice or not practice as we see fit. Religion is a private choice and a private relationship. Let's keep it private where it belongs, I promise you we will all get along much better.

The Blog Armada

2005-09-14T09:35:00.000-05:00

I was reading about Bulldog's recent adventures with the Orlando Sentinal reporter who was picking on bloggers. In addition there has been some activity on the Impeach Bush Coalition site responding to other bloggers asking why we bother blogging about something we probably won't be able to bring about.

So it got me thinking, what is the point of blogging? Why do we all do it? If we don't do it, why do we read it?

Blogs probably started as a way for some angsty system admin or web designer to get their feelings out because they felt more comfortable with an online journal than a pen and paper one. I've seen alot of blogs about life, love & relationships. I've seen some travel journals, creative writing and niche information blogs. The big blog movement really got started during the election. The same time online fund-raising began to catch people's attention, weblogs were covering the political scene.

To this day, politics are the #1 focus of blogs that have one. The Rudicus Report went online the day after Bush got re-elected because I was flabergasted that he somehow hoodwinked the country again, and I vowed to expose the hypocrisy that was quickly taking over this country.

Today we still have all the old blogs, but more and more creative ones are entering the scene daily. The mommy, daddy, puppy, kitty, baby blogs are all the rage of the suburban set, and there are many more that tap into different ideas and different topics in the world. You all know Martian Anthropologist's site, and if you don't you should. But some others are consistently putting out high quality material like Ken Grandlund's Common Sense site.

Other's are doing highly creative work like QOB's Endings blog (a personal favorite), Phoenix's Bumpersticker Rant and blogs by Dushan and TLR.

Yet still more connect us to different countries and different worlds like Ava's Little Things of Venom(Mexico), Gilbert Koh's Commentary Singapore(now Mr. Wang Says So) from Singapore, Glod, Android and Co. from Puffer Fish in My Soup (U.K.) and our Canadian mates Zaphod and Thordora. Each of these folks provides a unique perspective on life and culture.

But what does all this mean and how does it relate to the initial question?

What are blogs? Are they the ramblings and meanderings of a million voices at random? Sometimes, but that doesn't scratch the surface of their potential. Blogs are information and information is power. And a lot of blogs means a lot of power. Power that can be harnessed and channelled for the good of people, countries and the world.

When bloggers get active, things start to happen, slowly at first, but it builds into a groundswell. We are beholden to no one and nothing but our own ideas and our own morals. We are not part of billion dollar companies, we are not in the pocket of special interests and we do not have to get re-elected. We do not have to pander to our base and we do not have to worry about advertisers or sales.

Imagine each blog is a ship. Ships vary in size and status. Some are cargo ships, some are warships, some are cruise ships. Each one on their own journey, sailing toward whatever destination they had in mind. But what if they could come together? What if all the little ships could gather to form an Armada? Imagine the power that that group could have. An army of bloggers beholden to no one, united for change and the common good. One vote may do nothing. One protest may do nothing. But with a blog you get to speak your piece - make your case - tell it like it is. You can change someone's mind or make them see another way or consider a different perspective. If each blog could get one other person to think, imagine what 100 blogs could do or a 1000 or even a million.

That could change the world.

That's what bloggers could accomplish. And that's why we speak our minds and take up the fight or simply say what we want to say even if we think we can do nothing or no one is listenting. That's why we do it, and that's why we must keep on doing it.

A chorus of united voices can change things - they can stop the machine.

Your thoughts, your stories, your poems, your rants, your ideas - they ALL make a difference.

Blog the revolution.

Open Mouth Insert Elephant.

2005-09-12T11:46:00.000-05:00

You've got to hand it to these guys. Nothing brings out the dissassociated quips of the privileged class like a natural disaster.

It's been a great week for stupid crap from the mouths of the landed gentry. I thought it would be nice to see how the out-to-lunch crowd viewed the disaster as a group:

Congressman Richard Baker (R-LA) - "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." - courtesy of The Wall Street Journal

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) - speaking to three boys living in the Astrodome "The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" - courtesy of The Houston Chronicle.

Vice President Dick Cheney - speaking about any reaction amongst evacuees to Michael Brown's demotion or the FEMA handling of Katrina relief - "Not one of them mentioned any of it. They're all very thankful where they find themselves right now." - courtesy of Reuters.

Department of Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff - defending the Bush Administrations handling of the disaster relief effort - "The critical thing was to get people out of [New Orleans] before the disaster. Some people chose not to obey that order. That was a mistake on their part."

And your winner:

Presidential Mother Barbara Bush - regarding Katrina Evacuees staying at the Houston Astrodome: "What IÂm hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality." "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Holy crap. Can we get any further off base here. So our response to this colossal screw-up is a collection of "it's their own fault" and "They're better off"

This all sounds eerily similar to "Let Them Eat Cake" - and we all know how well that worked out for the people in charge there.

The good news is that Bush has assured us all that race and class played no role in the disaster response. So if that's true then I guess we can rack it up to good old fashioned incompetence. Sadly all these quips, like everything else that is going horribly wrong inthis country all lead back to the white house and the Bush Administration.

It's all about the Benjamins George - and we all know it, now go tell Brownie what a great job he's doing again.

Abstaining from Reality.

2005-09-09T08:52:00.000-05:00

Abstinence Education. Like intelligent design, teaching abstinence in place of sex education is the Christian Right's way of injecting religion into our education system. They promote abstinence as the only true way to avoid pregnancy and STD's and the ultimate evil, abortion. And you know what, they're right.

But just like communism and all the other ideas that sound good on paper, reality has a funny way of proving how wrong you really are. And of course abstinence-only education is no exception.

Anyone who has ever been a teenager or currently is one, knows full well that the idea of abstinence is about as realistic as jumping from here to the moon in a single bound. Bodies are primed and ready, hormones are going crazy and the urge to merge is flying right in the face of societies man-made age of consent and social mores. We want to protect our children, so what's the best way to do that? Is it to tell them simply, just say no and that's final? I suppose this is the sexual equivalent of "because I'm your mother and I say so"

Is that simple prohibition enough to override the forces of nature, peer pressure, human curiosity and the first feelings of love and attraction? Let's take a look.

As expected, the answer is no. A study by the American Journal of Health Behavior was conducted to analyze the sexual behavior of over 2000 students in the Cleveland area.

Researchers led by Elaine A. Borawski, Ph.D., in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, found that after going through the program, teens reported significant increases in their HIV/STD knowledge, their personal beliefs about the importance of abstinence and their intentions to remain abstinent in the near future.

That sounds nice.

But the program did not affect students' confidence to avoid risky sexual situations, and sexually inexperienced and female students actually reported a decrease in their intent to use condoms in the future.

Whoa.

In the end, the study showed that abstinence-only education had NO effect in preventing teens from becoming sexually active.

This evaluation reveals that abstinence-only intervention can influence knowledge, beliefs and intentions..." Borawski said, adding that the intent of teens to reduce their condom use merits further study to determine long-term implications.

Well lets see what those implications may be.

Just south of Cleveland, in Canton, OH there is another school that preaches and teaches an abstinence-only sex education program. I wonder how that turned out.

Thirteen percent of the female students at Timken Senior High School in Ohio are pregnant.

Wow. I guess they could have used those condoms over there.

The statistic at the school in the heart of this old steel city contrasts with a decade of declining teen pregnancy rates nationwide.

I wonder what could have happened.

"Joanne Hinton, whose 16-year-old daughter, Raechel Hinton, is eight months pregnant, said she believes the school's abstinence-based sex education program isn't enough."

"It's time to take the blinders off and realize that these kids are having sex," she said. "Obviously, abstinence is not working. If we have to, just give them condoms."

Last school year, both high schools in the city's district reported 55 pregnancies. Ninety-nine pregnancies are expected in the district this year, most of them at Timken, where expecting students get six weeks of maternity leave.

WOW! What the heck could be going on over there? Hmmm. Maybe this has something to do with it:

Abstinence-based programs have been growing nationwide at schools over the past few years. In Ohio, the Bush's administration and the state's health department have awarded $32 million in grants to Ohio agencies for abstinence education since 2001.

Well, nice work George, I guess that settles it.

Let's tell our kids not to have sex, even though we know they are going to. Then lets compound our mistake by not giving them the knowledge, tools or support for making smart healthy choices about the sex we already know they are going to have. Then lets add funding for already cash strapped schools thanks to no child left behind so that we keep promoting the non-reality based ignorance of abstinence-only education.

What's the result? A total and complete mess. More kids born to single teenage mothers who can now add to the growing roles of people on public assistance programs that are being cut by the same stupid government that helped put those kids there in the first place.

As you may have guessed, I think George Bush is a moron. But I'm starting to reconsider this opinion. All this time I've been thinking about things from the perspective of someone who wants to help make this country great. But what if you take a different viewpoint? How would things change if President Bush woke up one morning in 1999 and said, "What can I do to fuck up this country, not just for 4 or 8 years, but for an entire generation?" If you look at his and his administration's actions from that perspective, suddenly he looks like a genius. There is no way he could be this successful in that plan through sheer luck and incompetence. It had to be part of a grand scheme. No, I think that George W. Bush is one of the most brilliant tacticians of our age. Bravo!

additional reporting courtesy of CONNIE MABIN, Associated Press Writer

Highway Robbery.

2005-09-08T08:20:00.000-05:00

This post has nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina.

You pal Rudicus spent the day in traffic court yesterday getting butt raped by the mafia that is parading as our municipal government here in Atlanta.

I was in a fender bender a couple months ago, nothing serious. But according to the new rules - EVERYONE involved in a traffic accident of any kind is REQUIRED to go to traffic court. That seemed odd to me at the time since it was a no brainer, I got cited for failure to yield and it was totally my fault. BTW, the accident occured because some cockmonkey waved me through the intersection and I was stupid enough to believe him.

So I along with the other driver involved had to take a day off to sit in court all day. We were the first ones to register upon arrival and were iterally the last ones called, so we had to sit through the entire case load of the day along with a recess.

Finally we got our turn and it was over in literally less than 30 seconds. Again I asked what could possibly be the point of both of us having to take a day off and come all the way down here, get mugged for 10 dollars for parking for 30 seconds in an uncontested fender bender.

Then I went to the cashier to pay my ticket and then I found out - this wasn't traffic court, it was a shakedown. They now REQUIRE you to got to traffic court so they can charge you $100 in court fees. On top of all that the ticket for failure to yield, which should be $50 or $75 dollars tops, was $150 dollars.

And all this is on top of the insurance costs.

I have no problem with taking responsibility, but when they force you to give them money for no reason other than to line thier pockets, I have to call bullshit on that. But I guess this is what happens when Republicans run your state. I'm not surprised though, this is the same that passed a smoking ban that the Republicans had shoved so many loopholes into that it is basically useless and changed nothing.

The good news is that The Rudicus Report is moving! We're heading up to liberal land in Massachussetts where we will bask in the effervescent glow of intelligence and liberalism. Beforehand we will be taking a scouting tour of Montreal to get the lay of the land in case we need to leave the country in 2008.

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses...And I'll Sell Them God.

2005-09-06T09:34:00.000-05:00

Never a day goes by when a person facing the most emotionally vulnerable time in their life; drug addiction, depression, divorce, death of themselves or a loved one, financial hardship, illness, trauma or disaster when the church comes out and takes advantage.

Nothing brings out the Used Car Salesmen of the Church like a disaster or life challenge. They come out in the streets looking for converts like a white looter "finding" some groceries in a flood.

One of the first groups to hit the shore in Ache Province right after the tsunami was a pack of missionaries and their box of bibles. The same goes for the streets of refugee camps in Palestine, inner city streets in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. Now we have the same folks coming out in the New Orleans flood tragedy.

I find it particularly interesting that they come out to preach God to people who were maimed, killed or left homeless and destitute by the same God that they are selling if you listen to the Soddom and Gammohra speeches.

Regardless of your opinion about God or Jesus or Allah, I can't believe the continual preying on the weak, downtrodden and vulnerable. It's like selling drugs to grade school kids.

And that's the thing that kills me - the sell.

It's not any different than sales of any other product, yet people somehow elevate it to some great heights. The church is a business.

Well here we have a doozy:

Price of Gas Got You Down?

Then how about FREE GAS!

Clearview Community Church is giving away vouchers good for $10 of free gas to every family that visits for the first time during the month of September.

We are so confident that our worship service will be the best hour of your week that we are willing to pay for your gas to get here and back.

Rising gas prices in Siouxland and around the country are causing many people to drive less and pay more for goods and services.

During hard times church is the first place we need to be Clearview wants people to know that the economy may rise and fall, but Gods love remains the same.

The 10:30am service at Clearview is casual (no ties allowed) and is a blend between an Eagles concert and the freedom speech in Braveheart.

No matter what type of week youÂve had, youÂre going to leave here inspired and ready to face another week!

Vouchers, redeemable for $10 of gas only at the Select Mart on 14th street, along with a free bible and music CD are given to first time visitors (one per family) after the service.

Now, take out the word church and substitute the name of any used car dealership, appliance store or furniture warehouse. This ad is no different. A blend between an Eagles concert and the freedom speech from Braveheart? Damn!

Is this the guy were supposed to pray to? Is this the way that God would market his philosophy? It seems innocuous, but it's one of the mosunbelievablele things I've ever seen. Pure unadulterated sales for God, just like any other business. If God is so great, why do you have to resort to hard sales and baiting tactics.

In the business world, you don't really resort to these kinds of tactics unless sales are down or traffic is low. It's a sign of trouble, not prosperity. Seems like a tough sell to me if they can't even get people in the door without giving them free gifts.

Snake oil is still snake oil, no matter what kind of packaging its in. But we all know the truth - the money you give to church goes to the church, not to help the downtrodden or the helpless, it goes to make rich churches richer. Why do you think the Catholic Church was one of the biggest landholders on earth? Why do all these preachers seem to be wealthy? God is good business and there's a sucker born every minute. Somebody needs to be smited big time.

Great Moments in Brainwashing.

2005-09-02T11:05:00.000-05:00

Wow.

This is 10 year old Joshua Heldreth (nice Star Wars Jesus shirt Joshy). Joshua was arrested and convicted for trespassing on hospice property when he attempted to bring Terri Schaivo a glass of water earlier this year.

As a condition of his sentence he had to perform 25 hours of community service and apologize. Here's the apology:

"I was arrested on Good Friday for trespassing on the hospice center's property. I am not a lawbreaker, I keep God's law. In the Bible it says thou shalt not murder...It says love your neighbor as yourself. In Matthew 25 it says "when I was hungry and thirsty you gave me food and water." Doing it for others was like doing it for God and he called the people that did that righteous and let them into heaven. So I wanted to do the same thing. Not giving Mrs. Shiavo food or water was wrong. The reason I had to go on your property was because Jesus would do the same thing. It made me sad that she was so thirsty and it made Jesus sad too. I knew she would die without water and I am called by Jesus to be a defender of the defenseless. So I had to go on your property to try to bring her a drink."

"I am sorry that you didn't like that and wouldn't allow me to help her. I am also sorry you didn't help save her life and one day you will have to tell God why. I won't be able to help you then like I tried to help her. I will pray for you every day that you will someday have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and serve him wholeheartedly no matter what.

As Phil Rizzuto would say "Holy Cow!"

Not only is this exercise in pedantic dogma not an apology at all, but it shows a scary person in the making. If this is where this kid is at 10 years old, imagine who he'll be at 30. Pat Robertson?

What kind of bullshit apology is this anyway - if I were the judge I'd kick this one right back and say try again propaganda boy. "I'm sorry that you are cruel heartless bastards" and "I'm sorry that you are not emotionally intimate enough with Jesus to know when he's sad" and "I'm sorry that you will burn in hell like the slimy demons that you are" are not really apologies.

THIS is a perfect example of why David Bowie and I are afraid of Americans. If we have ten year old kids running around thinking and talking like this - what hope do we have at rational thought as a nation?

I don't have much more to say other than WTF?!! But I also realize that I may be being a little harsh on the kid, so I'd like to apologize too:

Joshua, I'm sorry that you are a brainwashed, self righteous, evangelical freak. I'm also sorry that you have given up your childhood and probably your adult life to be an insufferable, condescending prick. I'm also sorry that you will probably get married and have 12 kids of your own and ruin all their lives too. And finally I'm sorry that you and your 12 kids will donate 10% of what little money you have to make some preacher even richer than he already is and then spend the rest of your money going to a museum that will tell you that dinosaurs were on Noah's ark and that you'll all be too stupid to not believe them.

How was that?

Trying Something Different

2005-09-01T09:02:00.000-05:00

I've been exploring different ideas lately.

I've already told you about The Community Book Project.

Now i'm going to try my hand at some satire.

If you have time, please visit my new satire site Baloney Sauce.

It's brand new, but please let me know what you think.

The Minister of Cool is on hiatus for now.

That is all.

Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute!

2005-08-31T10:08:00.000-05:00

Wise words from a wise owl. Too bad our President was AWOL during that lesson.

That's right kids, your pal F.T.W. Bush is having his Environmental Pollution Agency buddies getting ready to spew even more toxins into our already choked atmosphere.

Remember how we like to talk about the other side of the Bush administration? You know the one that likes to take care of it's big business buddies at the expense of the American People? Well he's outdone himself this time. Forget drilling in the wildlife refuge, forget greenhouse gasses - no, let's cut straight to coal burning toxins.

Apparently there aren't enough allowed by the clean air act, so in typical Bush fashion - what do we do when we are inconvenienced by laws that we can't just ignore? That's right we just go ahead and change them.

Well thanks to some intrepid folks over at Natural Resources Defense Council who were leaked a draft of the EPA's new briliant plan, we now know what the super polluters are up to.

Under the proposed "new rules" polluters would be measured by the hour instead of by the year, this seemingly insignificant change has far reaching rammifications.

"The language could undercut dozens of pending state and federal lawsuits aimed at forcing coal-fired plants to cut back emissions of harmful pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide"

Under the new rule plants could potentially "generate legally as much as 100,000 tons a year of pollutants that would be illegal under the existing...rules"

The good news is that this increase might help with employment, social security and population since studies already show that sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide already account for 20,000 premature deaths each year. With these new rules - the sky (what's left of it anyway) is the limit!

In addition to even more dead Americans, these new rules also take care of a series of pesky state lawsuits that are currently pending against all of Bush's polluter pals. The new rules would pretty much eliminate the states ability to prosecute these plants under the clean air act.

There's no point in worrying about the environement if there is money to be made apparently.

I'm looking forward to the day when I have to smoke a cigarette to get some fresh air.

In related news, The FBI arrested The Lorax and shipped him off to Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of environmental terrorism.

So enjoy the world while you can folks, by the end of this term no only will we be unwelcome in pretty much every country in the world, but pretty soon we won't even be able to stay in our own.

Additional reporting courtesy of this article in The Washington Post.

Calling all Writers!

2005-08-30T16:22:00.000-05:00

Are you a writer or aspiring to be one? How would you like the chance to collaborate on a book?

I've started a new site called The Community Book Project.

The purpose of this site and the challenge is for everyone to pitch in to help write a book - together. The parameters of the project are simple - I have written the first part of the story and we all write it until it is done. It is all explained in the first post on the site and you can read the first part of the story there.

If you are feeling creative and have a great idea, just sign up to be the next author and get to work.

I hope alot of you will participate - see you all there.

The U.S. is Going To War Again - This Week's Target....Canada

2005-08-30T08:50:00.000-05:00

That's right, the U.S. in it's infinite wisdom has decided to start a war with Canada - a trade war.

Canada and the U.S. have a nifty trade agreement called NAFTA. This treaty was supposed to usher in a new era of free trade and economic cooperation between American and her much cooler neighbors to the north. That is until President "F.T.W." Bush got a hold of it. At issue is Canadian lumber. For a few years now, Bushy has been charging obscene tariffs on imported Canadian lumber - a direct violation of the NAFTA agreement.

As expected Canada complained and an independent NAFTA ruling confirmed that the U.S. violated the NAFTA agreement and must immediately cease charging the tariff and return the tariff money it had already collected - about 4 billion dollars.

And in typical Bush fashion, the U.S. took the loss exceedingly well. How is that? They just ignored it. That's right folks - a great lesson for our kids, if you lose, just ignore it and keep doing what you are doing.

I'd like to see a convicted criminal pull this one. I'm sorry Mr. Jones, you have been found guilty of murder. "Forget it, I'm going home, this court is stupid - if anyone needs me, I'll be out murdering more people."

So not only does this mean that the U.S. has taken the enviable position of ignoring a treaty that it signed, but they added insult to injury by taking their complaint to the WTO, a body it controls and got them to rule in their favor, which they are now using to keep imposing their tariffs. Forget about the fact that the WTO does not have jurisdiction and that the NAFTA treaty clearly says that the NAFTA board has the final say on NAFTA disputes. But why spoil the beauty of a thing with legality.

You have to go a long way in this world to piss of Canada, but leave it to Bush to do it. I think this may be the only thing that he is gifted at - making people mad and making the U.S. the most reviled nation on the planet. Well done Mr. President, very well done.

What message does this send our citizens "when in doubt cheat?" What about the world - would you trust a nation that routinely ignores it's own laws and treaties if they decide they are inconvenient?

We should be ashamed of ourselves for letting this kind of thing happen. Canada is threatening to impose sanctions on us - which is what happened when we did the exact same thing to the EU last year. Isn't it interesting that the only other nations that routinely have sanctions enacted against them are all people that we've called evil dictatorships - hmmm very interesting.

And finally, a note to President Bush, from your pal Rudicus:

You've already won the award of worst President in history by a wide enough margin to be unchallenged - there is no need to keep running the score up.

I'll have my Hate well done, with a side of Hypocrisy.

2005-08-29T11:09:00.000-05:00

Anyone who has spent anytime on The Rudicus Report, has certainly come across the work of this man. That's Fred Phelps founder and pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka Kansas - better known as the God Hates Fags church.

Once again these bozos have done something hurtful, hateful and stupid - well two somethings actually, but that's not the heart of what I want to talk about today.

The Westboro Baptist Church has been around since 1955, but they shot to fame when they protested outside Matthew Shepard's funeral with their God Hates Fags rhetoric and their claims that Matthew was burning in hell. That alone marks these guys as crazies, but they've been preaching their anti-gay hate messages since then and getting tons of publicity thanks to their constant inflammatory speech.

Recently, the WBC decided to hunt down Swedish king Carl Gustaf for his apparent pro-gay leanings when a Swedish anti-gay preacher was jailed for inciting violence against homosexuals.

"We'll hunt down your king," Phelps told Expressen "It doesn't make any difference where he tries to hide."

That may have been the epitome of moronic a couple of weeks ago, but then we got Pat Robertson advocating the assassination of Hugo Chavez. Looks like old Pat is in good company.

Well Phelps and the WBC, may have gone a bit too far over the weekend when they turned up in Tennessee to protest at a couple more funerals, but this time it wasn't gays, it was U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.

They didn't turn up to protest the war or support the president, they came to protest the soldiers - contending that "American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays."* you can read the full story here.

So what do you think happened next? You guessed right, the locals chased them out of town screaming and yelling.

"My husband is over there, so I'm here to show my support," 41-year-old Connie Ditmore said as she waved and American flag and as tears came to her eyes. "To do this at a funeral is disrespectful of a family, no matter what your beliefs are."*

"If they were protesting the government, I might even join them," Danny Cotton, 56, said amid cries of "get out of our town" and "get out of our country." "But for them to come during the worst time for this family Â it's just wrong."*

And here's where we get to the hypocrisy - which of course we always do.

This church has been around since 1955 and been really active in this way since 1998 when they started getting publicity. They have brought their message of hate to communities around the country and protested at many funerals of many gay people as well as other places. But did people get up in arms then? No. Did people chase them out of town? Nope. How is it that for 7 years they were tolerated and allowed to spread their message of hate without good ole' townsfolk getting up in arms about it.

I'll tell you why. Because before they only targeted gays, but this time they went after U.S. soldiers. Well, apparently we have no problem whatsoever with homosexuals being persecuted or their family being the target of thier funeral tactics, but the minute they turn their guns on "good people" then it's fightin' time.

How typical. This is no different than the plight of blacks in this country. It wasn't that long ago that a dozen black people could get murdered and no one would care - especially not the whitesherifff, but one white person got hurt...out comes the national guard.

By getting selectively upset and not standing up for people who are being persecuted, all you do is allow it to continue and tacitly condone it. The biggest problem here is that the "good people" can't come out and defend gays because not only would they get the gun turned on them as well, but it would mean going against their church (notice I did not say faith or God, since I believe that the prohibition against homosexuality is dubious and disgustingly hypocritical at best).

It is the peak of hypocrisy to go around crying about how the WBC is acting at this funeral but not say boo to how they acted at anyoneelse'ss. In fact I think it was even more inappropriate for them to protest at a funeral for a kid who was killed just for existing rather than someone who volunteered for combat. But in reality, this is about what we've come to expect from a certain breed of Christians - selective reading, selective hearing, selective application and 100% hypocrisy.

So if you have chosen to believe in God, be an actual "good Christian" and tell these folks they don't speak for you and that this is absolutely NOT what Jesus would do. If you do not stand up for your faith then it is meaningless and if you do not stand up for those being persecuted than you are little better than those doing the persecuting.

Where's the gay Martin Luther King when you need him?

*additional reporting By BETH RUCKER, Associated Press Writer

On The 8th Day, God Created Morons.

2005-08-26T09:45:00.000-05:00

If you ever want to find a place where Evolutionists and Creationists can get along in pure non-sensical peace, take a trip to the Museum of Earth History in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Here you can see wonderful exhibits of Dinosaurs right alongside exhibits for The Garden of Eden and The Tower of Babel.

The museum offers "high-quality, scientific exhibits displayed in a totally biblical setting."

Where "viewers will journey through three epic periods of ancient history often overlooked by modern historians: life before the fall, the post-fall world, and life after the devastating effects of the great Genesis Flood."

Take a reality bending jaunt over to their website where you can see all about these fine historical and scientific exhibits:

The Curse: a vivid pictorial rendition of the effects of the Fall of man upon the earth. (presumably taken from the fossil records and National Geographic story written at the time)

The Flood: An 8ft X 28ft foot mural depicting the Noahic Flood event from the breaking open of the Great Deep to the landing of the Ark on Mt. Ararat. (since no archaeological evidence exists)

The Garden of Eden: A large, panoramic still life display featuring a representation of how Eden might have looked. This exhibit includes a 20 foot waterfall and lush vegetation, with a full size skeleton of a Thescelosaurus and a skeletal skull replica of Stan, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. (Stan as you all know was the fouth member of the biblical Fab Four, who's identity, like Ringo and George, was lost in the shuffle along with the serpent to the bigger stars Adam and Eve. A piece of word history: "Stan" is actually a translation of the bibilical aramaeic term for "big fucking monster")

The Tower of Babel: This exhibit represents the very important time of the dividing of the nations, not too long after the Flood. Because of the sin of the people, God confounded their languages, which resulted in the dispersal of the different tribes and peoples across the world. (The exhibit doesn't contain any actual archaeological material, but it look really cool and is next to dinosaurs so it must be real.)

The Fish Aquarium: This exhibit has as its center-piece a 400 gallon salt water aquarium, featuring some of the oceans most beautiful specimens. Mounted above the aquarium is a 15 foot skeletal replica of a Platecarpus Tympaniticus. (The Fish Aquarium has nothing whatsoever to do with either creationsim or evolution per se, but fish are cool, and the thing wouldn't fit in the living room so it had to go somewhere. Oh wait, Jesus was a fisherman - there you go!)

You can also read such gems of true knowledge as:

"...dinosaurs are mentioned 25 times in the Old Testament."

"Dinosaurs were on Noah's Ark."

"The dinosaurs on Noah's ark were probably juveniles." (why? Because full size dinosaurs would have been too big to fit the dimensions of the Ark, so this must be the answer)

"There are some indications that dinosaurs lived after the flood. For example, in the Book of Job, the author discusses the behemoth in chapter 40. The animal described clearly matches the description of a Sauropod (commonly known as a Brontosaurus)."

"Evidence from fossilized footprints, ancient artwork, literature and fossils all strongly support the fact that dinosaurs and humans did co-exist."

I can see this one happening myself:

"I have found the tracks Kemosabe."

"What do they say Tonto."

"It looks like a Mexican, a White Man and a Velociraptor."

"Dammit! First those damn Stegasaurus gangs attacked Fort Sam Houston and now these Velociraptors. I think we're in big trouble Tanto."

"What do you mean "we" white man?"

Yessirreeeee. Look at all the amazing things you can accomplish when your brain has left the building. What amazes me is the idea that people not only invested thousands of dollars to put this museum together, but that they will most likely get people to pay thousands of dollars to come see it.

What kind of substantial loss in cabin pressure do you have to have to think that the Tower of Babel story was real? Or that there were Brontosaurus' roaming around the middle east 2500 years ago. They must have wreaked havoc on all the flocks of sheep, since I don't think a kid with a wooden stick is going to do much damage to a triceratops.

If you think that anyone who could believeive this kind of nonsense is functionally retarded, just remember that these same people are building your house, performing surgery on you and running your country. Have a nice weekend.

When Truth Becomes Irrelevant.

2005-08-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

I really don't like a lot of things going on in the world, but one of my biggest pet peeves besides bad customer service, is people who refuse to take responsibility for anything in life and go out of their way to blame others for their own problems.

We have another story on the same subject today.

In New Hampshire, a doctor is under fire and threatened with sanctions ranging from a reprimand to the revoking of his state medical license. What did this doctor do you incur this? He told a patient the truth.

He had the audacity to tell one of his patients, an obese woman, that she needed to lose weight because her health and quality of life were at risk.

"I told a fat woman she was obese," said [The Doctor]. "I tried to get her attention. I told her, 'You need to get on a program, join a group of like-minded people and peel off the weight that is going to kill you.' "

So rather than take her doctor's advice, she instead complained to the State Medical Board that the Doctor had offended her. The worst part to me? The Board took action and opened an investigation.

What the hell has gone wrong in our world when a medical professional can't even tell someone the truth about their health without being called into a hearing? And what kind of world have we created where we even allow this kind of abject stupidity to go on?

Every fat person knows they are fat. But a lot of people don't fully realize the danger that their weight and lifestyle have on their lives. Doctors are there to help people be healthy. And in a world where doctors are becoming more and more like salesmen for Big Pharma - I find it particularly offensive that one doctor who actually seems to care about his patients is now looking down the barrel of disciplinary action because some lady can't face the truth.

Anyone who has ever been overweight (and even some who only think they are) knows how emotionally challenging it is. That said, if people don't take responsibility for their own health, they have noone else to blame. And in a world where people only blame others and never themselves - that's a pretty bitter pill to swallow.

Right now in my office 85% of the employees are overweight - more than 50% are obese and several are morbidly obese. On top of that at least 25% are on diabetes medication.

This is not a small problem - this is a HUGE problem. If these folks would rather have their cake and eat it too and then keel over dead long before their time, I suppose that's their right. As we already discussed regarding the life vest issue last week, it's becoming a large problem for everyone. But with very few (and I mean very few) exceptions - weight is an individual problem. I will be the first to say that it is our culture that is making us so fat, and those who buck the trend and choose health are facing a difficult struggle, but it is still their responsibility.

But I'm sorry, when you are faced with a doctor's commentary and advice about your health and your first inclination is to complain about the doctor, then you need look no further for why this woman is the way that she is. It's a level of abdication of responsibility that is staggering, but all too common these days.

The fact that she was offended and decided to file a complaint rather than take responsibility for her own condition is deplorable. And the fact that the State board did not back the doctor and actually went ahead with the investigation is sickening. THIS is where our morals are eroded and this is why our culture is bankrupt.

When our citizens act like 1st graders and we allow them to get away with it, is it any wonder that children are in charge of our schools and we get all our marching orders from lawyers and politicians rather than ourselves.

Fix Your Gay Children Now, Before It's Too Late.

2005-08-24T11:21:00.000-05:00

All I can say to this is Holy Fucking Shit!

If you want any further proof that certain insane Christians are taking their anti-gay rhetoric waaaay too far - check this out from Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family.

Make sure you read all of the links on the right hand side - unfreakinbeleivable.

Here are some choice bits:

“My son couldn’t care less about sports and the great outdoors. He’s painfully shy and easily gets hurt. Other kids call him a sissy. I’ve tried everything. My boy even wimped out of Cub Scouts. What am I supposed to do?”

How about support him Dad? This does not mean your son is gay - it means he doesn't like sports, the great outdoors or the cub scouts - or maybe he just doesn't like you, you homophobic redneck..

So what are you supposed to do when you think your kid is gay?

Don’t wait until your daughter’s masculinized behavior or your son’s effeminate preferences get any worse. Remember that for many prehomosexual boys and girls, some of the characteristics may be more subtle:

inability to bond with same-sex peers
feeling different from and inferior to other same-sex peers
discomfort with his or her gender

Call to make an appointment with a professional therapist who believes change is possible. Work patiently with that therapist in redirecting your child’s prehomosexual behaviors. To find a qualified therapist, contact one of these organizations:

I'd like to see who these quailified therapists are my self - lets go take a look.

What a shock! The organizations you can contact are religious based organizations specializing in "cures" for homosexuality.

Here's a great quote from one of the only actual medical practitioners they quote:

“The most important message I can offer to you is that there is no such thing as a ‘gay child’ or a ‘gay teen.’ [But] left untreated, studies show these boys have a 75 percent chance of becoming homosexual or bisexual.”

They also go on to say that Homosexuality is a psychological disorder.

Well I guess we can't argue with that. Then again this is science from the same source that brought you Intelligent Design.

And then here are Dr. Dobson's 5 ways to help prevent sexual abuse of your children:

1. Guard your children night and day when they are young.

2. Don’t send them into a public bathroom alone.

3. Be very careful whom you trust in the neighborhood, in local children’s programs, at church and at summer camp. Ask about their child safety policies. Check to see if they are consistently enforced.

4. Don’t leave your children of either sex in the care of teenage boys. Furthermore, don’t allow your teenage boy to baby-sit.

5. Know if your school is talking about homosexuality with students — and if so, what are they saying and at what age. Protect your child from any discussions or role-playing that threatens to cause gender-identity confusion.

I especially like #1, 4 & 5. Nothing like a little insane paranoia to get you through the day. I can see here that teenage boys are child molesters waiting to happen. I also like the idea of protecting children from discussing homosexuality.

For all those that constantly ask me - how people could beleive such crazy things - here's you proof - the attitude of "protecting" people from discussions basically means isolation and mind-control.(curiously both dangers listed for most cults - along with being asked for unquestioning beleif and money - hmmmm). If you are never allowed to hear anything but propaganda, then you can't question it or think for yourself - a practice curiously similar to communist reeducation camps.

And we wonder how people can end up beating their 3 year old kids to death for potentially being gay.

I encourage you to read through this site so you can see first hand how crazy these people are and what they are feeding to their flock of faithful.

I'd like to close with this little tidbit, that also clearly shows why the Canadian legislature is considering rating the Bible as hate literature:

"Homosexual activity spreads disease. Oral and anal sex are exceptionally popular in homosexual practice. This kind of physical interplay fosters all sorts of sickness, especially AIDS."

The article which appeared on a conservative news site goes to say that churches that welcome gay members or worse allow homosexuals in the clergy are openly sinning against God, but also helping to spread AIDS around the world. So I guess all the monkeys that gave humans HIV were all queer monkeys. And I guess all the heterosexual men and women who have AIDS or HIV or other STD's are all secretly gay.

WOW.

The article then goes on to list about 6 passages in the bible that condemn homosexuality - but only one actually discusses it, which is the same passage from Leviticus that says that men who lie with men as with women should be put to death.

It's nice to see we have those hard fought Christian values at work here; hatred, mind-control, avoidance, misinformation, descrimination and paranoia.

And for all you parents out there, enjoying musicals, wearing clothes that match, cooking with atypical spices, playing with dolls or insightful interior decorating do not make boys gay - being attracted to and having sex with other boys does. The same goes for girls and all the lesbian stereotypes.

I'm not going to bother askign when these people wil learn, because they won't. It's our job to stand up to them and call them on their stupid crap and tell them that they don't represent anyone other than other insane fascist hatmongering bigots. These are not Christians, nor are they rational, but they keep convincing people that they are both. Your Apathy Is Their Weapon - Don't Get Fooled Again.

Who Would Jesus Assassinate?

2005-08-23T12:45:00.000-05:00

My friend Deke says that the worst advertisement for Christianity is Christians.

Well nowhere is that so eloquently proven than by our pal Pat Robertson.

That's right, the leader of the Christian Coalition and the 700 Club has decided to take a stand against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Robertson's Christian Message? Take him out.

"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United ... This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

What the crap?!!

Is this the Christian thing to do? Is that how Jesus handled his problems? I love the fact that this guy is supposed to represent the moral majority and he's out there advocating the assassination of a world leader. Also, and this may not matter, but Chavez is not a strong-arm dictator, he's the legal democratically elected President of Venezuela. What's his crime? He's got a lot of oil, he's friends with Castro and he doesn't like America or George Bush. If that's all it takes there should be a lot more people on the hit list.

I guess the love thy neighbor as thyself and thou shalt not kill are pretty much optional in Christianity then.

He's an interesting connection - Robertson's comments appeared on his 700 Club show, broadcast on ABC. Just yesterday, the ABC affiliate in Salt Lake City, refused to air an anti-war ad featuring Cindy Sheehan, while the rest of the major networks did not. Hmmm... ABC the pro-war, anti-freedom, pro-assassination network - sounds good to me. I can't imagine why anyone would dislike America.

So is Robertson a nutcase or is he simply willing to say what other CC's are thinking? Is this the kind of foreign policy we can look forward to? Well I guess illegal wars to oust regime's we don't like, who also have a lot of oil, certainly falls in line with our existing tactics.

This of course is beyond stupid and idiotic, but it speaks to the larger issue of bad Christian marketing. So here we have a religious/political leader advocating assassination as foreign policy, add that to national leaders trying to pass of religious versions of life on earth as science as well as open discrimination toward homosexuals, bombing of abortion clinics, character assassination of anyone who disagrees with the church or the government and intentionally polarizing the nation along religious lines(terri schaivo, ten commandments etc.). This doesn't even include things like priest sex abuse.

So all told, these guys have not done a very good job of promoting the principles of life that Jesus advocated. In fact, they sound more and more like a hate group. So I guess it should surprise no one that there is a bill being presented in Canada that would list the Bible as hate literature and those who use it to discriminate or threaten homosexuals would be open to criminal prosecution. Read about it here. Frankly if you've read the Koran, you could probably throw that one in here right along with the Bible.

In Leviticus, it DOES say that men who lie with mankind as with womankind are an abomination and should be put to death - sounds pretty hateful to me. Which brings us to another point - if this is something the Christians feel they need to embrace as a policy why are they not doing as God commands and killing these people outright? Doesn't that show a supreme lack of faith and conviction? Shouldn't all Christians be willing to suffer death or life imprisonment for following the teachings of their scriptures? No? Then we're right back where we started with cherry picking your beliefs and rampant hypocrisy.

Riddle me this? If Christians are at liberty to interpret or adhere to what scriptures they choose based on the convenience of it, then where the hell do they get off claiming ANYTHING must be done because God or the Bible commands it. ?

I've got three words for you HYPOCRITE, HYPOCRITE, HYPOCRITE.

In all fairness, Christianity as a philosophy has many wonderful elements that would make the world a wonderful place if any of them were actually followed. But as it stands the only thing followed is intolerance and hate. When you have religious leaders calling for assassination we can pretty much assume the baby got thrown out with the bathwater. So the teachings of Jesus seem to be further and further away from the role that many Christians actually practice.

So it looks to me like Deke was right. Christians are their own worst advertisement. I think I'll stick with my current beliefs. Freethinkers only hate stupidity, but certainly not enough to kill anyone over.

Intelligent Design Evolves!

2005-08-22T09:51:00.000-05:00

For awhile now we've been seeing a on-going war between scientific thinkers who view natural selection and evolution as the accepted theory of life on earth and the people who favor the ridiculous, yet strongly held belief in creationism - which is basically the literal events of the book of Genesis.

Well since the creationism idea wasn't taking hold, despite years of politicking and sneaking like putting disclaimer stickers on textbooks and such, the creationist minded folks came up with a new cause de celebre - intelligent design.

In a nutshell, Intelligent Design postulates that aspects of life are too complex to have come about by natural selection or evolutionary science or biology and thus must have an intelligent design source. ID supporter are quick to say (in an effort to deflect creationism in sheeps clothing attacks) that ID does not specify what the intelligence is. (Let's come back to that)

So basically, these folks cannot believe that life evolved from a complex interaction between natural forces, but have no problem believing that some guy went "abracadabra" and made everything.

The concept of ID requires some form of "higher" intelligence to have designed life on earth. So who or what is the intelligence? By their own assertions, it could be God, Zeus, Hera, Klingons, pink unicorns or blue monkeys. But somewhere along the line some form of intelligence must have designed everything because we can't currently answer every minute question. Well part of that is true, but part of it isn't.

Natural Selection is a theory that has massive support and mountains of observable data that support it. ID does not - all it has is some unanswered questions that some folks have decided requires an intelligent designer vs. just questions we have as yet been unable to answer.

Remember, it wasn't all that long ago that people widely believed that illness was based on an imbalance of humors and that bleeding was the way to fix it. Of course this was before bacteria and germs were discovered so it seemed like a good idea at the time. Today of course we know differently, but only after time and science caught up enough to answer the question.

So back to the concept of ID. Do we really believe that ID supporters would be just as happy to have aliens be the intelligent designers as God? If the idea of being descended from a monkey is such a huge affront, how are they going to feel about being cooked up in a Petri dish in some alien lab on Helion Prime?

If ID we're merely proposing an intelligent designer and not leaning toward anyone in particular, why do you suppose that the vast majority of ID supporters are all Christian Conservatives that would gleefully support creationism being taught in schools if they hadn't ruled against it?

ID recently got a boost when a pillar of the science community George W. Bush came out in support of it. This is of course the same guy who doesn't believe we have a global warming problem or any environmental issues that need addressing.

What kind of message does this send to kids who look at the president who tells them to ignore science and rationality in favor of a cockamamie scheme?

Now we've got our pal Bill Frist jumping into the mix with his own support for teaching ID in schools. This is a Harvard educated medical doctor we're talking about now. Of course this same renowned physician also testified that Terri Schaivo (a blind woman with severe brain damage) interacted with people in a meaningful way and responded to visual stimuli.

Now didn't Frist just buck the president by supporting stem cell research because it was a "matter of science" guess what bro, so is this! You can't support science one day and then scoff at it the next - this is a perfect example of the hypocrisy of this entire debate. All of the these ID supporters have absolutely no trouble taking medicine, listening to weather reports, getting surgery or launching missiles all based on the exact same science that yielded evolution.

So what's the problem? The problem is that ID is simply bad science used to counter evolution, a theory which explains life without giving credit to God. So we're going to happily call the ID supporters on their claim that their idea is even worthy of the title of theory, much less be a competitive theory for natural selection worthy of being taught in schools. ID supporters themselves concede that "You can't prove intelligent design by experiment". How convenient. But here again, that very idea means that ID is not science at all, so holding it up against a real scientific theory is like comparing the bible to actual archaeological evidence...hmmm.

It's complete crap people. I'll be the first one to go on record and admit I was wrong if they ever succeed in offering a shred of proof for this hogwash. As for Frist, I'm sure this was simply a political tactic to make up for the stem cell thing - at best he's pandering to the Christian Right in the hopes of saving his 2008 presidential bid or at worst to keep Bush from sending Karl Rove after him.

So to sum up, ID is complete malarky, but I assume they will succeed in getting it into classrooms as an alternative theory, which will only succeeding making children in those states even dumber that they already are and increase our status as most hated nation as well as educational laughingstock of the first world. Nice work.

Friends of The Rudicus Report

2005-08-19T12:31:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be a nice thing to do going into the weekend to highlight some Blogs by TRR readers so you guys can go visit them and give them some traffic and comments.

If you have the time and interest, please visit these guys and give them some love - and make sure to let them know where you came from.

21st Century Gonzo
An ongoing story written by TLR starring ME(well a pumped up even cooler version of me - if that's possible)! It's a good story and is just starting to pick up steam, so now's a good time to get in on it.

Blogtemps.com
A political site written by different political bloggers around the blogosphere. Always something interesting.

Endings
This is QOB's site - it's very cool and fun and easy to participate.

The Bulldog Manifesto
Bulldog raises some major political points and has some very compelling arguments about what's really going on in this country. Start with this post.

The Master Smiled
This is a great site - Dushan is the next Lao Tzu.

The Martian Anthropologist
This is also a great political site made even greater by the comments of a wild cast of characters ranging across the political spectrum.

Tragically Deep Thoughts
This is a cool site that is a personal blog but it's about a guy who has a great perspective(and interesting life) and represents a viewpoint that is different from many other blogs - go check him out, you'll probably learn something.

And finally, buy Phoenix's book so she can get some gas money.

That's all - please take some time if you have it and visit these folks.

Overruled!

2005-08-19T09:02:00.000-05:00

It seems like the activist judges who adjudicate within the law (terri schaivo and the like) are reviled, while activist judges who adjudicate within their own belief system are A-OK. Well it comes as no surprise to me that the judges who ACTUALLY judge within the law never seem to get overturned, but the ones who attempt to impose their own religious or moral beliefs on others from the bench seem to get consistently overruled.

When we hear about the so-called "activist judges" we now know what that means - anyone who doesn't support the President, Republican controlled Government or the Moral Right.

Well now we can score another one for truth, justice and the "real" American way (which is freedom btw).

Remember this crazy story?

For those who don't recall or don't have time to re-read - this is the couple who was getting divorced and the judge told them they couldn't expose their 10 year old son to their religion of Wicca - even though both parents were in agreement on that point.

Well tough luck buddy, the law saved another person from being subject to one person's views about religion - which is why we have freedom of religion and separation of church and state in the first place - this is how it is supposed to work folks.

"In its unanimous ruling, the court declared that a Marion County judge was out of bounds in approving a divorce decree that also directed the parents to shelter their 10 year old son from non mainstream religious beliefs and rituals."*

Thanks for playing.

Not much else to say, but it's nice to see the law actually working for a change.

The only odd thing is the article ends with this line:

"Wiccan beliefs center around the balance of nature and a reverence for the earth. They do not worship Satan."*

What's that about. I agree its important to define Wicca, but do people actually think that Wiccans worship Satan? Or perhaps it's that people think anyone not Christian is a pagan and all pagans worship the Devil. Of course I'm reminded that I have people in my office who think Judaism is a pagan religion, but have no problem associating decorating Christmas trees(a pagan ceremony from a pagan religion) with Christianity.

Take the time to find out about other people, places and belief systems - it might open your eyes...oh I forgot, asking questions and being exposed to other faiths may make you question yours - never mind, stay ignorant, its safer that way.

*quotes courtesy of The Indianapolis Star by Michele McNeil

American Obesity is Large and In Charge.

2005-08-18T09:30:00.000-05:00

We all know by now that Americans are too fat. For whatever reason we are tipping the scales at an alarming rate. In addition to all the health problems and health care costs associated with American Obesity, we now have to deal with a new wrinkle.

Americans are so fat that airlines are having to remove lifevests from planes to accomodate. That's a good sign. So I guess if we crash, I'll have to use the guy next to me for buoyancy since I won't have a vest. Already Southwest Airlines is requiring extra large flyers to purchase two seats to compensate.

The problem is not just in the room needed to fit XXL folks onto the plane, but the added weight is causing all sorts of havoc with the plane physics by throwing off the weight differential and several other weight based calculations.

Passenger weight is most important on small planes where the weight can produce a much bigger strain on engines. A 2003 small plane crash in North Carolina that killed all 21 people aboard was blamed on excess passenger weight.

I realize that this is just another in a long string of stories and complications based on American weight. Everybody and their brother is coming out with explanations and ideas for slimming folks down - but I honestly don't think anything will make a difference.

Yesterday some soda producers group announced a plan to limit or remove the selling of sodas to schools (well actually it's only to grammer schools and middle schools - high schools can have all the soda they like). Most consider this little more than a token gesture, but it highlights what I believe is the true issue; our culture is killing us.

The culture operates in a way that is completely counterproductive to health. We spend most of our lives at our desks, the rest of the time we spend eating or watching television or sitting at our deska on the internet. We drive everywhere (even from one store to the next in the same parking lot). We get very little exercise, very little sleep and everything is rushed and hurried - we don't even have time to sit back and enjoy a meal, let alone prepare one. So as a result, most of our food is fast too AND it's all pre-packaged so it's loaded with sugar and salt. Want to have some fun? Next time you are in the grocery store (a regular one, not a health food store) try and find a loaf of bread that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup as one of the ingredients.

But what's the alternative - you can't walk anywhere unless you live in a few select cities, you can't work less hours, you don't have the time to prepare healthful and nutritious meals - either because you don't have time to shop, prep, cook and clean OR you don't really want to have to go through all that everyday because you have so little free time and such high stress as it is.

Half the time you can't even get anything healthy for lunch even if you wanted to. Where I work, I'd have to drive more than 30 minutes to find a restaurant that offered any variety of healthy choices - and then by the time I got there I wouldn't have time to eat anyway.

Nothing in our current culture makes it easy to be healthy and it's only getting worse. Everyday people have less and less time and fewer and fewer options. The only way we are ever going to change is if we completly change our approach to culture, work and food. And as radical an upheaval as that may be, it is not unlike the lifestyle in many parts of the world. Unfortunately our culture is corrupting other cultures and turning them into ours. Now all the people in these other countries are starting to get as fat as we are.

Since I don't think we are going to change as a culture the only thing you can really do is change yourself and your life, which unfortunately is not easy. Until then you might want to pack your own lifevest along with your own lunch next time you are on a plane somewhere.

My Friend Wicca.

2005-08-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

In a small town in South Carolina, the Town Council decided it would be a good idea to pray to Jesus before each meeting. Unfortunately that's a very clear violation of separation of church and state, so Darla Wynne, a self proclaimed Wiccan Priestess sued the town and won.

The town was ordered to cease and desist. They decided to appeal the decision (why I have no idea) and took it all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court however, decided not to hear the case - thus the ruling would stand.

Now in addition to incurring the costs of their own battle, the town is also on the hook for Darla Wynne's legal fees which amount to about $65,000. Unfortunately the town, who's population is only about 2,200 doesn't have that kind of money.

The kicker is that if they hadn't taken the appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, their fees would have been a fraction of what they currently are.

Now why would this town go to all that trouble when they had no case? It wasn't like this wasn't a crystal clear case of violation - invoking Jesus before official town meetings absolutely presents one religion over others. So to me the town gets what it deserves and they'll have to have an awful lot of church bake sales to pay for this.

But a larger point is the idea that this would be an ok thing to do in the first place. It leaves me a little skeptical when I hear certain groups of Christians crying persecution (which I'm sure they will do over this as well) and then turning around and crying about the media and the homosexual agenda.

I don't know about you, but I don't recall any stories about the Provincetown Town Council making everyone engage in gay sex before town meetings. Also, and I hate to break this to you, but gays are not trying to turn everyone else gay. There is a big fat whopping difference between people trying to get equal treatment and people trying to get people to join a club.

The problem here is twofold - To certain groups of Christians, separation of church and state is a joke - since they don't recognize any other religion as valid. Secondly, they feel it is their responsibility to convert everyone to their way of thinking. This is exactly what separation of church and state AND freedom of religion is all about.

It means that everyone in this country is free to practice or not practice any religion that they see fit. It also means that they are free from discomfort, persecution, discrimination, or forced indoctrination and propaganda in public (especially government) places and activities. When you have a captive audience and they don't have the option of not participating without consequences - then that is a violation.

I guarantee you that if someone suggested praying toward Mecca or worshipping Satan at this Town Council meeting - all hell would have broken loose.

So practice what you want to practice and believe what you want to believe, but keep it to yourself and your associates in private and nobody will get hurt. Civilization survived and thrived for thousands of years before Jesus and will be just fine from here on out for the people who don't believe in him - so by all means keep praying, but leave everyone else out of it unless they ask.

On a side note. Why is it do you think that these folks keep losing these separation of church and state battles? Wouldn't it be in God or Jesus' best interest to pull some strings and get this stuff through? Why do you think they don't? Don't you think Moses doing the stick to snakes trick would get some votes in the senate or influence the courts? It would seem strange to me if my deity couldn't be bothered to get out of bed long enough to give me a hand in spreading his gospel and protect me from heathens and activist judges. Food for thought.

The Gaza Pullout Leaves Hypocrisy In It's Wake.

2005-08-16T08:50:00.000-05:00

I'll probably get a lot of flak for this post.

As you may be aware the Gaza pullout began yesterday and ends tonight at midnight. The Israeli government has decided to leave all 21 settlements in the Gaza strip and 4 in the West Bank territory.

As expected, many folks are not happy with this move - some for political reasons and some because they live in the soon to be removed settlements.

I can completely empathize and sympathize with these folks. Being evicted from your home - a home you may have lived in for 25 years has got to be awful. To be forced out of your home and off your land through no fault of your own must be heart breaking.

As I listened to NPR this morning, I got to hear first hand the anguish of the Jewish settlers who were being forced to leave. As I listened to this one woman sobbing on the air, she reiterated the unfairness of being evicted from her home and being forced off her land.

Here's where the hypocrisy comes in.

Let's flashback to 1948 when another group of people were experiencing the same kind of anguish and heartbreak; The Palestinians. That's right, in very much the same way, thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their homes and off their lands to create the Jewish state of Israel.

So while I feel for these folks, it kind of falls a little flat when you consider the history of the region.

Now I understand the desire to create a Jewish state - especially after the holocaust, so somebody would have to move to accommodate that, but fair is fair, The Palestinians deserve to have a country of their own as well. And given their own history, the Israelis should be the first ones in line to help them get it - that's fair.

The positive thing here is that it's the Israeli government themselves that are doing the pullout - and whatever their reasons are - good for them. If some kind of peace can be achieved over there where everyone can get along at least superficially, then everyone wins. If the Israelis want to build a wall - who cares, let them. Let the Israelis have their wall and the Palestinians have their country. Reasonable people can live in peace, unreasonable people only deal in absolutes and cannot live in peace. The Palestinians are going to have to crack down on Hamas just like the Israelis have to crack down on militant settlers, but by taking action and working together - who knows you might actually get along if everyone could put their dogma down for 5 seconds.

If these guys can actually work it out, we might actually get some semblance of peace and harmony in the middle east despite what Emperor Bush is doing to cock it up.

So to all the settlers that are bellyaching and fighting against this - I feel your pain, but knock it off. It sucks, but please leave peacefully and remember that you are helping the Palestinians get a country, the same way the world helped you get one in 1948. Even if the Palestinians aren't acting in the best way either - be the bigger country.

Remember, nobody wins a pissing contest because you both end up covered in piss.

Even If You Are Uneducated and Illiterate, You Can Still Find Jesus With The Evangecube!

2005-08-15T09:30:00.000-05:00

I stopped saying "now I've seen everything" a long time ago, since I'm painfully aware that I will NEVER see everything. But this one is something else.

A Dallas company has been hawking a fancy gadget to help God's Marketers easily explain the story of Christ - it's called The Evangecube.

This nifty device is based on the concept for the Rubik's Cube and allows the intended victim (I mean future parishioner) the ability to learn about Jesus without having to be able to read or think.

Here's how it works.

Say what you want. It's a clever idea or a neat marketing gimmick, but to me this is just another unscrupulous tactic no different than using a cute and cool camel to sell cigarettes to kids.

Where else but with Christianity could a company go out and market a product that has not been proven to be effective or even exist, and not only are they free to misrepresent or outright lie about their product, but are free to use the most underhanded and unscrupulous marketing tactics available. Think I'm being too harsh - let's have a look.

I'm going to create a new product called Salvation - it is an herbal supplement that gives you a feeling of euphoria. Now, I'm trying to sell you this product, but I don't even have a sample to show you, I just have literature about it. In fact I can't even prove that my product exists and it is generally not supported by the scientific community. If this was an actual product, I would be barred from making any claims about the product and if I tried to sell a product that could not even be established as existing, I'd be arrested and charged with fraud and running a confidence scheme.

But that's not all - let's say I got past all of the above, but now I go out and market my product to people who are in the most emotionally vulnerable times in their lives(adolescence, divorce, illness, grief, depression) and sell them on my supplement making all sorts of wild claims that it will relieve them of all their current pain. Again, if this had been a real product I'd be off to jail. In addition, I make it my practice to travel around the world hawking my product to groups of people who are uneducated and illiterate and again make all sorts of wild claims and then tell them they must accept it and buy my product even though they can't even make a rational decision because they can't even read the literature or investigate the claims AND there is nothing to regulate or authenticate my product. Under these same conditions a person would not even be able to make a legally binding contract.

On top of all this, I'm telling people that they will spend eternity in a gruesome torture filled horror show if they don't buy my product. I'm off to jail again, since that, folks, is called extortion.

That's right our old pal Hypocrisy has come to visit. Where else could you have a product that's very existence is unproven, with a sales force that routinely and happily uses manipulation, coercion, misrepresentation, fraud and extortion, but you can't even claim a vitamin (which is food) has any therapeutic effect or health benefit without going through years and years of product tests, review panels and government approvals.

This Evangecube is just another in a long line of tools used to dupe the unwashed stupid masses.

I'm sorry, but when you hold your cough syrup to a higher standard than your deity, something really really wrong is going on.

A Marketing Conspiracy or Business As Usual?

2005-08-12T08:47:00.000-05:00

Living in Downtown Atlanta, you get to see a lot of disparity between neighborhoods and people as the city has been undergoing a facelift and more and more people return to the city from the suburbs. On the one hand this has added a very nice feel to downtown and produced a lot of colorful neighborhoods each with their own particular character.

Obviously it wasn't always like that - in my neighborhood, it used to be a pretty "bad" area and there are still pockets of questionability, but on the whole, it is developing into another fun diverse place.

Before I moved downtown, I too lived in a suburb where everything was cookie cutter, but in the year since I moved downtown, I've seen a fairly startling disparity in the businesses and advertising between neighborhoods.

Nowhere is this more stark than in the areas we can generally term "black" neighborhoods.

I know a lot of times politically motivated people like to talk about oppression and "the man" keeping people down, and I also know this is old news, but I never really saw it so clearly as I do now.

Where I live, I traditionally travel through two different "black" areas when I'm going from place to place, and just like the suburbs I noticed that they too had some cookie cutter things of their own - unfortunately they weren't very positive.

These neighborhoods both have an extremely high concentration of fast food places, but very few actual restaurants. In this one area there were 7 different fast food options, but only one sit down restaurant. There also weren't any grocery stores, only convenience stores. The rest of the stores weren't much better; a dollar store, several check cashing places, a few garages, gas stations, convenience stores, several liquor stores and hair places. On top of this, the liquor stores seemed to be in the best locations. Then there was the advertising. All of the posted ads and billboard ads (of which there were many more than any downtown neighborhood) were all for cigarettes or booze. The gas prices were all higher and when I took money out of the ATM the fees were also higher than in other areas of the city.

Now if you go just a few miles up the road, it's the exact opposite. There is only one place you could even possibly call fast food and the area is covered with independent shops, theatres, independent restaurants as well as lots of pedestrian friendly walking and "hanging out" areas. The homes are nicer and they just opened up a new shopping plaza with a big grocery store. Also there are no billboards in the area, and even the ones that are in other places are mostly for cars and new homes.

So what does this say? Is it simply a money issue? Do some neighborhoods have a wealthier population who demand that ads not be placed every 5 feet and don't zone for all these fast food and liquor store places? Or is it something else? Can we look at the businesses and advertising and say they are simply serving their market? But what does it say when across the board the market is only for things that are supremely unhealthy? What message does that send to a population when your strategy is to bombard them with advertising and then only sell the things you advertise? If you are a kid and you are hanging around in the street(because there is no park, and even if there was one it probably wouldn't be safe) and you look around you and the streets look dirtier and more cruddy than the ones just a few miles up the road that they just installed nice terra cotta bricks for accent color and also installed designer street lights and loads of trees. And then you look around at the 4 billboards and one is for menthol cigarettes(the worst ones of all), the other for cognac(that you can't afford), another for malt liquor beer(with the highest alcohol content of all beers) and the last with a huge image of a bacon double cheseburger(the most unhealthy of all the fast foods) - and those are in all the stores around you - where do you think you are going to go and what do you think you are going to get?

And why would the gas and the banking fees be more than in other places? Especially if the area is more economically depressed? If the prices are flexible, wouldn't it be more socially responsible to lower the prices so people could live reasonably and save some money? If not, if the strategy seems to be to charge more to the people who can least afford it - what might the purpose of that be?

If I told you I wanted to oppress a population, but do it without being overt and I said I was going to keep the people living in unattractive areas that looked dirty and hopeless and then get them hooked on cigarettes and booze so not only do they stay addicted, but they spend any money the have feeding their booze and cigarette habit. Then we surround them with only the worst food choices (which anyone who has seen Super-Size Me, will know how super healthy that is) and on top of that we jack up the prices for basic services so we catch any extra income they may have - and there you go - a population that is fat, strung out and depressed - and most importantly, out of the way.

This kind of approach has been going on since the civil rights movement. And if you look at urban dynamics, those areas only improve (or get gentrified) once the rich white people move in and the poor blacks and Hispanics get moved out. Suddenly you have nice houses, new developments, clean well paved streets and new grocery stores.

So is it just about business or is it "the man"?

The Dead Scouts.

2005-08-10T19:17:00.000-05:00

Updating an ongoing saga.

God hit the Boy Scouts again today when he threw a tree down killing an 8 year old girl and wounding three others during a first aid class at the boy scout camp.

You can read the full article here.

We already talked about this phenomenon, but what the hell man? Maybe it's trees for girls and lightining for boys.

Since the Boy Scouts were already having serious recruitment challenges, I wonder if this will further impact it.

I guess the old saying "Be Prepared" should be replaced with something more reflective like "The Boy Scouts: We'll Make You A Man If You Live That Long"

We'll update this story as it happens - but for now, if you see any boy scouts or boy scout realted places or activities - stay away!

Top Ten Ways To Know You Are a Christian.

2005-08-10T06:57:00.000-05:00

This comes courtesy of our friend Deke - thanks Deke!

This would not apply to our enlightened Christian friends, only the hypocritical ones - plus it's damn funny.

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (a few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering, and yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 - You define 0.001% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.999% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.

Stop Being an Engorged Phallus.

2005-08-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone for making our religion discussion so great. I thought we could take a little break today and talk about another of my favorite topics - American Sex Phobia (this is where American people go completely mental when confronted with anything sexual).

In Los Angeles, a city not known for subtlety, a strip club owner decided to changes his promotional marquee sign from Live Nude Nude Nudes to "Vaginas R' Us"

Ahh those clever strip club owners.

As expected, people went nuts - I presume because there were no vaginas involved at this all-nude strip club prior to that sign going up.

The business association got all twitterpated and complained to the city, but alas the city could not do anything since "vagina" is not an obscene word. The club owner didn't believe there would be a problem since as he said "'The Vagina Monologues' had been on Broadway forever."

That's a damn good point isn't it? Why is "vagina" ok for a stage show, but not ok when it is promoting actual vaginas? This is simply another episode of American Sex Phobia.

Is it any wonder why Americans have so many hang ups about sex when we vilify it so much?

Well the business association decided to bring in the big guns and reported the strip club to Toys R' Us to see if there was trademark infringement that they could get involved in.

Jesus Christ people, are we so afraid of a word that it has to come to this? What do they think is going to happen. I for one wouldn't want my kid or any visiting dignitaries to be exposed to the word "vagina." They might ask questions and we'd have to explain to them what vaginas are and how we allow such filthy language. And while we are at it, we should probably get rid of all references to breasts - like chicken breast or turkey breast - since that makes me think of boobies. We will probably need to get all the beef tongue out of the Jewish Deli's since we all know what happens when tongues and breasts get together - and if the vaginas got involved...Pandemonium!

What kills me is that nothing has changed at this company. There are the same nude dancers inside that were advertised on the original marquee sign. Also the business association is not trying to close down the club, so the only objection is the use of the word "vagina". Would they prefer something more vulgar, but also equally non-obscene like The Snatch Shack or Pussy Palace(with pictures of cats) or Bush & Dick's(with the prez and VP)? Remember, it can always be worse.

This reminds me so much of the Jello Biafra disclaimer from The Offspring's Ixnay on the Hombre, so we'll close with that:

The Disclaimer

Welcome to the Disclaimer!
This American apple pie institution known as parental discretion
will cleanse any sense of innuendo or sarcasm from the lyrics that
might actually make you think and will also insult your intelligence at the same time.

So protect your family! This album contains explicit depictions of things which are real.
These real things are commonly known as life. So if it sounds sarcastic, don't take it seriously.
If it sounds dangerous, do not try this at home or at all.
And if it offends you, just don't listen to it.

*Original reporting by The Associated Press.*

No vaginas were harmed during the writing of this post.

The Almighty Goes Back To His Roots.

2005-08-08T07:06:00.000-05:00

Since the burning bush thing worked out so well, I guess Jesus and Co. have decided to go back to what works by appearing in a tree last week.

That's right, a lumberjack in Bosnia cut the limb off a tree and lo and behold, an image of Jesus turned up in the cut section of the branch.

Ever since the branch had revealed Jesus hiding in the tree, pilgrims have been flocking to the tree to kneel and pray before it, leaving money and cutting off pieces of bark to take home.

I guess this brings new meaning to the idea that God is everywhere.

But what does this say about people? I know you know that I am once again going to call bullshit on this, but to me the higher issue is what is going on with people that they not only take this kind of thing seriously, but actually participate in growing it?

Do we really think that God and Jesus and Mary and Satan are all a part of some quasi "Where's Waldo" vaudvillian act?

And isn't it amusing that the so-called "images" are representative of artworks created by renaissance artists vs. what would have actually been reality. Jesus is not a white guy from California - if anything, he probably looked a lot more like Osama bin Laden than the guys from ZZ Top. This is why the whole "image" thing is so ridiculous.

But apart from that, is the holy family so obtuse that they need to turn up on tree branches, statues and grilled cheese sandwiches rather than just coming out an appearing. And do we really think that the presence of an "image" somehow imparts some special properties. And furthermore, wouldn't this violate the whole "graven images" commandment? Yes, Iniquity for everyone!

Lets think about this for a second. Is someone implying that a guy who says that God lit a bush on fire and then spoke to him is any different from another guy in New York, 2000 years later, saying that an Italian angel brought him golden plates written in Angel language and then took them back to heaven(that's Joseph Smith from the Mormons in case you didn't get it)? So with that in mind, is it really so far fetched that some guy in Sarajevo could say that God appeared to him on a piece of toast and gave him the new 21st century gospel. Would we really have any right to say no? (but of course we would)

All this nonsense aside, what does this say about people? Are we really this desperate for faith and inspiration that we are looking to images in trees and food for it? How can we see the benefits of basking in the comforting glow of the lord if his followers will seemingly take any occurrence no matter how ridiculous and run off half cocked to sanctify it?

Do you really think that Jesus would want you to run around praying to inanimate objects and acting ridiculous rather than using the brains God gave you? Doesn't it give more glory to God if his subjects are off thinking critically and making the world a better place? It would seem to me that blind faith is not the preferable state for a faithful person who is an inspiration to others.

So if I am going to invent a holy porpoise for myself, I'm going to say that mine is to ask the questions and get people to think. My lack of faith and incessant disbelief is all part of the plan - I'll be Doubting Rudicus. Everyone else should go out and think critically and find their purpose too.

And for those of you who would rather be told what to do rather than think for yourself, I took a whiz this morning and the pattern of pee bubbles formed the image of John The Baptist, so please come pray at my loo and leave money. If you stay there long enough you may get the privilege of being baptized again by some stray "holy water."

4th Quarter Prophets are Down.

2005-08-05T22:01:00.000-05:00

This whole thing with the Boy Scouts got me thinking about God and the World.

I've been thinking. God and Jesus were pretty active a couple thousand years ago - but what have they been doing since then? It doesn't seem like they've been very active lately. They didn't intervene during the tsunami or the many hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanos that have killed tens of thousands over the years.

They also didn't intervene during the 9/11 attacks, nor the Stalinist purges, nor Hiroshima, they didn't even get involved during the holocaust when the chosen people were being systematically exterminated. God hasn't gotten involved in mid-east peace or the war on terror. And even going further back, did nothing about the plague, the crusades or any of the other wars on earth.

So what happened? Where did God and Jesus go? And what the hell have they been up to. What's it going to take to get them back involved in the world like they used to be?

How do you square the idea that an omnipotent or omniscient being has been AWOL for 2000 years? God used to be so involved that he would take notice of individual shepherds and local magistrates and Jesus would go to small villages and worry that they had enough to eat and drink. If they can traffic in that kind of minutiae, why on God's green earth couldn't they divert a Tsunami or make a few planes fly the wrong way?

And what about the prophets? There was all the pre-Jesus prophets and then Jesus. Do you mean to tell me that there hasn't been any need for prophets in 2000 years? How can that be? And nowhere in the Bible does it mention England or The Americas or China, so what are the rules applying to them? Is there nothing to tell us what to do there? Muhammad came along a few hundred years later and did a lot of work, but Christians don't recognize him as a prophet of God. So is everyone after Jesus a false Prophet? Wouldn't that be a bit strange? But then again, even if that weren't true, would we even listen long enough to hear a new prophet?

It certainly didn't help Joseph Smith who is widely considered a con-man to those outside of the Mormon church. What about David Koresh - we were so threatened by him that we fragged his ass back to kingdom come. Pretty much anyone who has ever claimed to have had congress with God since Jesus has been viewed as a charlatan.

How do you know who speaks for God?

I often thought it would be a funny story to follow Jesus as he tried to do the second coming and see what would happen to him. I guarantee you everyone would think he was crazy or a fake - not only that, but I bet they would hold him to the very same burden of proof that the atheists and agnostics have been screaming about for years - talk about poetic justice.

So what do we think of all this? Where is God? If he can come around to knock off some Boy Scouts for who knows why - where was he when faithful people really needed him? I know we can't seek to understand the wisdom of God, but what's he been doing. All he had to do was wave a hand to make things change, he wouldn't even have to stop playing Xbox for more than a second to do it - so in 2000 years, you'd think he would find the time to do some work.

C'mon God, if you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean.

Seems to me like God's doing a pretty crap job of taking care of things, and if he retired and left it all to the kid, then he's not doing a very good job either. Maybe we need a change. Maybe we need to hold our deity to a higher set of standards. We have "no child left behind" which comes with more benchmarks for little kids than we would ever hold our God to. I think we need to give God a performance review. What do you think Donald?

Donald: "You're Fired!"

Exactly.

Zeus will be appointed as interim managing deity. The Rudicus Report has agreed to interview candidates for the position of Almighty - please forward your resume or CV to rudicusreport@gmail.com.

A Bull's Eye For The Boy Scouts.

2005-08-04T08:40:00.000-05:00

It's not really nice to make light of tragic events to make a philosophical point, but when has that ever stopped us?

Everyone knows the Boy Scouts - merit badges, salutes, slogans, homophobia.

This is the same group that stresses good old Christian values and hatred toward gays by their landmark stand of not allowing gays to be part of the scouts. A rule which was originally ruled against by the New Jersey Supreme Court only to be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court(damn activist judges).

So you'd think the members of an organization this far in God's back pocket should feel pretty safe in the world. So why are these guys going down like Iraqi Military Recruits?

This week a 15 year-old boy was killed and three others injured when their sleeping quarters were hit by lightning. Last week a 13 year old boy and his scoutmaster were killed when they were hit by lightning. And 4 boy scouts were killed at the Jamboree when their tent pole hit some powerlines and electrocuted all of them.

WOW!

That's an aweful lot of dead boy scouts.

So what do we think is going on here? I find it particularly interesting that the method of death here just happens to be God's threatened form of retribution - the lightining strike. Doesn't it seem a bit strange that all of these boy scouts weren't being protected by the very person they went to court to defend? What does that say about doing God's work? Or perhaps persecuting gays wasn't God's work at all. Is this some kind of heavenly payback? Or is it simply random occurrences that just happened to happen to boy scouts because they were outside all the time in the rain?

Maybe all the queer scouts knew what they were doing and now that they are gone, the straight scouts aren't as talented - kind of like when Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers and then we had a big rise in plane crashes.

I don't know what's happeneing, but it seems mighty strange to me. So what do we think? Is God incapable of protecting his flock? Are the boy scouts getting what's coming to them for their ungodly stance against gays? Or is this just a shit happens phenomenon with no God involved at all?

You make the call?

Leave It To Bush

2005-08-03T17:00:00.000-05:00

I don't usually post this kind of thing, but it's been a little intense around here, so I thought a good laugh would loosen everyone up.

Watch all three they are friggin hilarious!

Leave it To Bush.

Taking One For The Team.

2005-08-03T10:20:00.000-05:00

We go from intolerant umpires to teammate assassination - Baseball truly is America's sport.

In the Pittsburgh suburb of Uniontown, a coach bribed one of his players to repeatedly throw balls at his autistic teammate in an effort to take him out of the game.

You can read the story here.

Apparently the coach didn't like the rule that required him to play every one of his players for 3 innings and the autistic kid wasn't as good as the other players so he offered to pay another kid $25 to throw balls at him. The autistic boy was hit in the head and the groin.

Apparently this wasn't the first time the coach had played "hardball" with the autistic boy. On other occasions he intentionally didn't tell the boys mother when or where the team was having games, so the boy couldn't play.

What the hell low form of life have we sunk to where we have to attack 9 year-old autistic kids so they can't play in a little league game. What message does that send to the other kids on the team - if one of your fellows isn't up to snuff, take him out? This is the exact same mentality that has teachers and school administrators cheating on test scores and expelling mediocre test takers in order to get scores up and make the school look better.

But does this really make us better? If we can't even include the littlest of us in what is supposed to be a fun activity with nothing at stake, what lengths will we go to when something real is on the line? Would we lie and fabricate evidence to get into a war? Would we maliciously leak the names of undercover agents, just to get back at their husbands? Would we use threatening, coercion, bribery and manipulation to pass a trade agreement that nobody likes or to redistrict a state in our own favor? Where does it stop?

This is not about one psycho coach and a lesser teammate - it's about a culture so ingrained with a "win at all costs" mentality that it can't even play a simple game of baseball with a bunch of kids without corrupting in a profoundly tragic and morally bankrupt way. This is a loss of integrity that is infecting everyone everywhere.

Look beyond the government and politics where people expect dirty tricks and foul behavior and go back to sports where the entire idea that this is a sport for entertainment has gone so far out the window that we have high school and junior high school kids on steroids - following in the footsteps of their heroes, who are also on steroids and other performance enhancing drugs.

It's a sad day and a testament to hypocrisy where we elevate sports stars (even as early as 8 years old) to the position of demi-gods and then act surprised when they do whatever they have to do to stay there. And because this idea of athlete as God is so strong, it infects everyone around the athletes - coaches, parents, friends, teammates etc. We even have grown adults suing each other over who gets to wear what number.

Something is seriously wrong here and it is beyond horrific to me that a 9 year-old autistic kid, who just wants to play baseball like every other kid, is subjected to this kind of sadistic and amoral crap in the name of winning.

The only good news is that the coach has been charged with two counts of criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault, corruption of minors, conspiracy to commit simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.

The down side is that it probably won't make a damn bit of difference if we don't take a long hard look at our warped values and realize that everytime we buy a ticket to an event, wear a team cap, or do anything else that puts money in the pockets of these people - it reinforces the concept that the ends justify the means and as long as they are successful and they all get rich, then it's perfectly fine to keep going the same way, as long as you don't get caught.

Shame on all of you.

Great Moments in Intolerance.

2005-08-02T10:10:00.000-05:00

Nothing screams multiculturalism better than this.

An umpire at a little league game in Massachussetts, ordered one of the teams to speak only in English and banned Spanish from being spoken on the field after the coach shouted orders in Spanish to his 14 year old Dominican pitcher who doesn't speak English.

That's nice.

I'm sure there was a precedent for this in the International Olympic Committee rules where all the participants are required to speak the same language. "Speak English you damn Ruski's!"

The umpire was barred from officiating any more little league games this year. That's a shame becuase he was such a good role model for the kids. I suppose he hasn't looked around in a while and realzed that everyone wasn't a WASP.

Since you now have the year off, I thought I could help you learn some Spanish for next season.

Here are some key phrases you can practice for different situations:

If you make a bad call, say - Soy un idiota.
If someone asks you why you made a call, say - Soy estúpido.
If someone asks you how you got to be an umpire, say - La gente de los otros países es más elegante que mí.
If someone asks you why you are an umpire, say - Huelo como un perro mojado.
If somone asks you the one great truth in life, say - Rudicus es el rey del mundo, él es hermoso y brillante.

Also Sesame Street has some good introductory Spanish lessons too, assuming the new Republican masters at PBS haven't cancelled it yet.

The Minister of Cool

2005-08-01T13:53:00.000-05:00

The new site has gone up. For those of you who have been jones for Ask Rudicus or looking to read about something that didn't make you furious, the new site is now live.

It's still being worked on, but it's ready to go. Please come by and visit.

The Minister of Cool.

See you there. Until then, Be Cool.

Don't Be Gay or We'll Burn Your House Down.

2005-08-01T08:11:00.000-05:00

This would seem almost poetic in light of Friday's story, if it wasn't so completely abhorrent.

Today we have another story of hate, intolerance and violence against gays - so without further adieu, we're off to...you guessed it, Florida!

That's right folks, from the state that brought you that masterpiece "I killed my 3 year old cuz I thought he was a homo" comes this little gem:

Paul Day and Christopher Robertson a gay couple from Polk County Florida, returned home from running errands to find their house in flames and "Die Fag" spray painted on their front steps.

Isn't that nice. You can read the full story here.

Let's see if we can do the math on this.

1. Preach a doctrine of hate and oppression toward gays.
2. Tie hate and oppression of gays to God
3. Spread doctrine to non-critical thinking populace.
4. Act surprised when people go out and hate and oppress gays.

Let's take a look at that a little:

"The state attorney general's latest annual report on hate crimes for 2003 shows a clear increase in reported incidents motivated by the victim's sexual orientation, Attorney General Charlie Crist has said. The number of such incidents statewide accounted for 20 percent of all hate crimes in 2003, the highest proportion for this category ever recorded in Florida."

That looks pretty convincing to me.

I'm not going to rehash everything we talked about last week. but I want you all to see the direct effect that kind of thing has on the weak minded and disaffected. Do you think it is an aberration that religious leaders can talk young Muslim men into blowing themselves up for God? How far do you think that kind of practice is from this? The only difference is that the church is not advocating or directing this activity overtly. But if you say "gays are evil and against God" everyday to anyone who will listen, and have that crap spewing from the mouths of people that weak-willed, non-thinking people will pay attention to, what do you expect will be the result.

If you preach hate and people act on that - they you are responsible. And if you hear someone preaching hate and don't do anything about it, then you are equally responsible. And if you don't do anything to those who do this kind of thing whether it is simple hate rhetoric or burning down people's houses because they are Gay, then you are not only responsible, but creating an environment for hate.

I'd like to close with this, to remind you what's at stake here:(paraphrased from the German saying)

"when they came for the Gays I didn't speak out because I wasn't Gay, when they came for the Liberals I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Liberal, when they came for my neighbor I didn't speak out because I wasn't my neighbor, and when they came for me there was none left to speak out."

Stop Hating. Speak Out. Think Freely.

Christians Win Vote to Repeal Maine's Gay Rights Law

2005-07-29T09:40:00.000-05:00

I haven't been this disgusted in a long time.

The State of Maine passed a gay rights law earlier this year that would protect people from discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations and credit based on their sexual orientation.

Well thanks to the Christians who rallied together, they have won the right to vote to repeal the law.

"Praise the Lord," said Tim Russell of the Christian Civic League of Maine. "Clearly, 56,650 signatures in 80 days is a big hill to climb, and we climbed it."*

Now whatever your feelings about homosexuals and homosexuality may be, I want to make sure everyone clearly understands this whole thing.

These people went to battle to fight for the right to discriminate against gays. That's right, they said a law that protects homosexuals from being discriminated against and treated as equals allowing them the same rights to education, homes, apartments, bank loans and jobs that everyone else receives, had to go.

Now I ask you. Is that what Jesus teaches? Does Jesus say to fight for your right to hate? Because that's exactly what this is. This is not against Christians, it doesn't impede them in any way, but it does prevent them from openly hating and discriminating against gays. So, is that what we learn from the Bible? To hate?

I don't seem to recall any episodes in the new testament where Jesus and Paul and John went gay bashing in Jordan or went trolling through the streets looking for fags out behind the temple. If this is so bad, how come there aren't any passages where Jesus heals the queers from being queer? That's because it's nothing but pure unadulterated hatemongering.

The alleged prohibition against homosexuality comes in the same section where followers are told not to eat any shrimp. It didn't say anything about the gay prohibition being more severe than the shrimp thing - they were given the same weight, they were ALL considered abominations. Why isn't there a massive outcry over that. How come there isn't any legislation being passed to protect people from Satan's favorite restaurant, Red Lobster, and their 30 shrimp special? Here's a real kicker, eating lobster would also be included in the acts that were considered an abomination, just like homosexuality. Are you telling me that none of these 56,650 Christians FROM MAINE haven't eaten any lobster?! And since their state is the lobster capital of the world, how come they haven't risen up and overthrown the state government? Hell with that many lobsters and all that lobster industry, it's a regular Sodom and Gammorah up there!

How about this? I assume many of these folks are married, so let me ask you, have you or anyone you know sat on the same couch or chair within three days of your wife while she is having her period? If so you are unclean and also an abomination. What? You're not following that prohibition either? How about the Sabbath? Have any of you worked or driven or done anything else that is forbidden? No, not bothering with that prohibition either, oh wait that wasn't a prohibition, that was a COMMANDMENT! Ooops, looks like you just broke your covenant with God, I guess your be looking at being visited with iniquity for 3 or 4 generations.

I only have one thing to say to these people - fuck you and the hypocritical high horse you rode in on.

All these people are doing is selectively quoting scriptures to justify their doctrine of hate. They are no different than the Nazi's or the KKK, and if you think they are doing the right thing by discriminating against gays, then you are in league with them. Because if you think oppressing people and discriminating against them to prevent them from being considered your equals is the Christian thing to do, then you better think again.

So remember the next time you have a nice bowl of New England Clam Chowder, or savor the succulent surf and turf or have mussels in Brussels or stuff one of those delicious jumbo shrimp covered in cocktail sauce into your hypocritical hatemongering mouth, you better start packing because your selective reading ass is off the eternal hot spot - right next your pal Maurice and his fabulous shoes and perfect, glistening, hairless body.

And to those 56,650 hypocritical Christians in Maine, you people make me sick - and you can take your Poland Spring Water and you Pepperidge Farm Cookies and shove them straight up your ass.

*reporting courtesy of GLENN ADAMS, Associated Press Writer

When License Plates Come Out.

2005-07-28T09:10:00.000-05:00

The decline of the western civilization continues as the Gay Army and their secret police force, the ACLU scored another victory against "right" thinking citizen's everywhere, when Judge Jane Phan(who we can only assume is a dreaded activist judge) ruled that Utah resident Elizabeth Solomon could display her vanity license plate: GAYSROK, in addition to the one pictured* above. The full story can be read here.

You would think this wouldn't be a problem, but as we all know, when it comes to GAY we're far from OK.

As dumb as this may sound, the plate request was originally denied by the state on the grounds that the plates were "offensive to good taste and decency" as well as this doozie that the plates "relate to sexual functions and express superiority of gender."

WOW.

That's quite a stretch. How does this argument not sound ridiculous? How do people hear this and go "damn right." Of course these guys are already planning their appeal.

I know this was a victory for the "immoral and intrinsicly evil" gays and their reviled ACLU attack dogs. It's a tragedy when you can't openly discriminate and oppress a population that you don't like or agree with - what's the country coming to. It must be that dang queer Sponge Bob and his little fairy cartoon pals.

So what's the big threat here? Is some kid going to read "GAYSROK" and be irrevocably damaged? OR is it more because some parent would have to explain why they hate gay people and why they are not OK and be confronted by their own nonsense. This reminds me of a conversation I overheard between two mothers who were discussing the American Idol T.V. program a few years back when Clay Aiken and Reuben Studdard were competing for the finals. One mother really really liked Clay the best, but she hoped that Reuben would win and would probably vote for him. When asked why she would do that, she explained that since Clay was gay(according to her), she didn't want to have to explain to her daughter why she couldn't cheer for him as the winner because he was gay - because that might make her daughter think that being gay was ok. And of course the other mother said "I know what you mean." but added, "it's too bad though, because he really is the better singer, but I know what you mean."

That must have been a tough day - having to choose between a black guy and a gay guy.

Meanwhile back in Utah, I can appreciate the fact that a state that has constituents who have 12 wives needs to be morally upstanding and defend their children from gay license plates. Also considering that Utah also offers a Boy Scouts of America specialty plate - a group that openly discriminates against homosexuals - as well as plates supporting several private religious universities - we can see how they might be offended by anything against their beliefs.

When will people learn that a license plate is only a forum to promote what the state supports, not what anyone else supports.

Hopefully the appeal will fail and the U.S. Congress won't feel the need to get involved. But we want to wish the best of luck to Elizabeth Solomon in her fight and add a special thank you for fighting in the first place. And while she is fully aware that if she ever does get the plate onto her car, it will most likely get vandalized, she's willing to do it anyway. You go girl!

*image courtesy of KUTV, Salt Lake City.

Living In The Drinking Age.

2005-07-26T23:06:00.000-05:00

I just got done reading this article by Jennifer Smith of The Sunday Paper.

It was a nice story about the Atlanta PD cracking down on underage drinking by sending undercover underage buyers in to try and purchase alcohol. In the sting, 48 citations were issued, meaning alcohol was pretty easy to get for underage drinkers.

While alcohol and drunk driving are major issues in this country, I wonder if the pervasiveness of underage drinking and drinking to excess is not a product of culture that could be curbed more effectively in another way.

In this country we like to stop things by prohibiting them. It's a very black and white approach. But like everything else it only works to a certain extent. Terrorism is another good example - we can round up or kill thousands of terrorists, but yet more and more keep lining up. It comes from not addressing the systemic causes of behavior be it terrorism or drinking. It even crops up in western medicine where we often treat the symptoms but spend far less time or none at all looking at the root cause of the affliction - especially in the case of mental health challenges.

So here we have 48 citations issued. Are kids going to stop drinking? No. Are bars and stores and restaurants going to stop serving underage drinkers? No. This is a temporary band-aid only. Places will crack down and it'll be a little harder for a bit, but within a short period it will go right back to where it was.

So what is the root of the issue? Well there are several. The first of which is why we are so prohibitionary about things. You get kids who encounter a substance; alcohol. Typically they have no exposure to it, have no idea how to use it responsibly or what they can safely drink without becoming impaired or ill. If you add to that a mystique of coolness as well as parental and societal prohibition and you just made a recipe that it pretty much going to result in use and abuse of that substance. It is not any different than the whole sex education issue. Teaching(preaching abstinence) does not only keep children from learning about sex and understanding it, but adds the whole "you better not" concept to it, pretty much guaranteeing that kids will want to try it. Add those hormones and viola! you have kids having sex without any preparation, education or experience - just like drinking.

What do you think would happen if instead we tried to educate and expose our kids to life instead of sheltering them from it. If kids have the opportunity to experiment with alcohol and or sex or anything else for that matter in a controlled way, armed with education - don't you think they would turn out with a different attitude and approach to those things? Certainly there will always be those who abuse and misuse, but that would be present no matter what.

Think about your life as a 21 year old when you could finally drink legally - it was great, but it wore off pretty quickly because the mystique was gone and you also were growing up. If you had been exposed to alcohol from a younger age and it was part of your family life and you understood what it was and what it could do, I suspect a great many of those binge drinkers would no go that route. Not only that, but if folks could get a drink here and there (which science has already told us is healthy), there wouldn't be an underage drinking problem. Again, there will always be abusers and alcoholism, but that will be present even if you outlawed it completely.

Part 2 of this discussion is why we get all this abuse. We already discussed the mystique and the rebellion and cool factor, but the other, and this applies to booze, sex, drugs etc. is the state of our society and how people feel.

There are plenty of people who are not addicts, alcoholics etc. who go out and binge or abuse to excess - often with disastrous consequences. When someone has a bad day, you'll often hear "I'm going to go out and get shitfaced." Half the time people will just do this to blow off steam and de-stress - this goes for drugs and sex too. But you take someone in a highly emotional state, with lessened self-control and a substance or activity that makes them feel good and you once again will get abuse. The result of living in a society filled with despair and hopelessness along with stress and pain (both emotional and physical) combined with a staggering lack of coping tools, education and support and you are assured to get the exact situation we are looking at today with stop gap measures, band-aids and less than effective strategies for dealing with it.

While taking care of our youth is always a good thing and drunk driving is a serious social issue (which coincidentally we could make a much bigger dent in if only we would spend the money on education, technology, support and infrastructure), unless we take a long hard look at the society and culture that produces those kids armed with that worldview and how we respond to them and educate them, we will never be close to solving that problem or any of our other social ills.

The Hard Sell.

2005-07-26T11:39:00.000-05:00

This post was inspired by Matt and his comments on the last article.

In reading Matt's comment, it occurred to me that religion, like any other product or service, has a sales force, and a marketing department and customer testimonials.

Each of the major religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) come with a hefty dogmatical price tag, with lots of rules and prohibitions for living, along with lots of consequences for non adherence. The ultimate sale seems to be that you buy eternal life with your soul, but only if you follow the myriad of rules and regulations in order to "qualify." The "sell" consists of payment of time and money during life in the form of Meetings (church), community participation(church related activities), network marketing(mission work or proselytizing) and tithing - along with the verbal contract of a soul in exchange for an eternal life of bliss on the side of the creator. In addition there is a staunch level of product loyalty to the point of murder in some of the more extreme cases.

All of the products and their customers believe that their product is the best and frequently downgrade their competitors in an attempt to get more marketshare. They also engage in active discrimination against members of specific populations as well as customers of their competitors.

Let's imagine the "Big Three" are car companies, which is a good analogy, since they are like big companies with several different "models" or sects in their portfolio.

Let's say Christianity is GM and Islam is Toyota, and we'll call Judaism Saab, since they don't do a lot of advertising and nobody really knows a whole lot about them, but their customers love them and there is a certain mystique.

What do you think would happen if you went to the dealership and they gave you a huge book of rules and told you couldn't get the car until you die, but you have to follow all these rules and if you mess up, you don't get the car. But, you also have to pay for the car before you die, and you aren't allowed to even look at any other kind of car. Also if you start asking about the engine or the mileage or the safety of the vehicle, you are looked at with disdain and are given a copy of the company literature, but are not allowed to see any independent reports from other consumers or buyers or other companies or groups. How long do you think that company would stay in business?

What if you turned on the T.V. and the ads came on and said, "if you don't buy this car from this company, you will be tortured for all eternity" - would that make you want that car? What if the company said that if you bought their car, you would get a new job, a hot spouse, and everyday would be like a vacation - and then in the fine print it had all sorts of stipulations? What if they made that promise and the hope of those results kept you paying for the car, but you really had no testimonials from customers who had gotten any of those benefits, the dealer just told you you would and it was in the company literature.

It wouldn't exactly inspire confidence if you got to the dealership and they said "listen, we have no idea if this car will even work, and I have no idea if you will really get any benefits whatsoever, and heck you might get to the lot and there never were any cars in the first place, but we'll still keep all your payments, so why don't you plunk that money down right now?" How many cars are they going to sell with that pitch?

My point is that each of these religions is selling a product that most of the people in the world have purchased and continue to pay for. These religions are part of the life, society and government of the people and they get free advertising all over the place from radio and t.v. to politicians, even our money and the pledge of allegiance! That's an awful lot of free advertising. What do you think would happen if there was a Nike logo on the money or a politician came out and said Coca-Cola is the only soda I'll ever drink and if you elect me, I'll make sure that Coke is the only drink drunk by the people of this country and we have to make sure we only elect Coke drinkers, because the Pepsi drinkers are destroying our way of life and want to kill us?

Want to have some fun? Take a look at this FAQ about advertising for small business and see how many violations of the Fair Trade Commission Act a world religion would be guilty of. Let's take a look:

advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive;
advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims; and
advertisements cannot be unfair.
is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances; and
is "material" - that is, important to a consumer's decision to buy or use the product.
it causes or is likely to cause substantial consumer injury which a consumer could not reasonably avoid; and
it is not outweighed by the benefit to consumers.

Of course this would all be subjective, but I think a strong case could be made that each of the major religions, especially the big ones are in violation of each of these.

Do you find it strange that we hold our sinus medicine to a higher standard than our deity? Doesn't is strike you as odd that we know more about the effects of insect repellent than we do about the afterlife? And isn't it funny that we have more evidence about athlete's foot cream than we do about any of the claims of religion.

It just seems odd and seriously hypocritical that we have all these standards for the most mundane of daily items, yet none of them are applied to companies who deal with our eternal souls. AND we give all this free advertising, free product placement(like bibles in the drawer), and free endorsement and sponsorship by celebrities, civic leaders and government employees that is never examined for ethical violations, anti-trust violations or any violations of the other acts, laws and regulations that we hold the most minute and innocuous products and services to.

Let the buyer beware!

The Xtreme! War on Terror Part 1.

2005-07-25T06:15:00.000-05:00

I hope you all liked the Smurf Rant, I know it's not our usual fare, but I thought it would be a fun way to go into the weekend.

Unfortunately there were a lot of places that didn't have much fun this weekend. Bombs, bombs and more bombs. London, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq - the world tour of terror continues.

Has it occurred to anyone else that if you look at the timeline of terror attacks have gotten more frequent and more deadly than ever. More and more innocent civilians are killed everyday - that's not a war folks. I'm sure the idea that we aren't winning the war on terror or anything else is not lost here, nor the fact that instead of finding WMD's, "liberating" an oppressed people or anything else of that nature, we have instead, NOT gotten the precious oil at the heart of it and have only succeeded in getting Americans killed as well as creating a University of Terror where extremists from all over the globe can get inspired, learn and actually practice their craft in a live theatre in Iraq.

So it was with great interest that I read this article about the Pope's prayer to God to end terror.

"Pope Benedict on Sunday condemned violence in Egypt, Iraq, Turkey and Britain and asked God to stay the hand of terrorists.

'While we entrust to God's goodness ... the victims of these acts that offend God and man, we call on the Omnipotent to stay the hands of assassins who, driven on by fanaticism and hate, have committed these things,' the Pope said in his Sunday address to pilgrims at his summer holiday retreat in the Alps."

I thought this was interesting, not for the content, since of course he's going to come out with something. I personally never understood this whole "condemnation" thing. Everytime terrorists strike, we can a rally of condemnation from the people who struck and all their friends. I know it's basically a autonomic response and an easy way to get into the press, but what's the purpose? It's not like anyone is going to stop as a result.

"Walid, I don't think we should place these roadside bombs, The Pope, President Bush and Tony Blair all condemned the attacks from yesterday."

"You're right, I never thought blowing people up was wrong, but thanks to them, I now realize the error of my ways. Let's go back and tell our brothers to stop, and then I'll buy you an ice cold Infidel Coca-Cola from the new McDonald's in Sadr City."

"I'm Lovin' It!"

But the other part I liked was asking God the Omnipotent to stay the hands of the assassins.

That brings up a lot of interesting stuff.

Clearly they think God is on their side, since they are asking him to intervene. But unfortunately since it's the same God on the terrorists side(not sure if God is a double agent), that puts God in an unfortunate position, since I imagine they are asking him to continue giving them success.

So what do we think here. So far it would seem that God has been pretty wishy washy in his support for America's Team and it looks like the scrappy Islamic fundamentalist underdogs are actually doing some damage to the greatest show on earth. It's the Rocky story all over again, except this time, we're Drago from Rocky 4.

So, what's up with God the Omnipotent? Since he could clearly wave his hand and all this would go away, why hasn't he? Maybe he's being political and wants to come in on the side of the team that is going to win. Perhaps he's just having fun watching the game and doesn't really care who wins. Or maybe he simply doesn't care who wins because he wins no matter what. Like Don King watching a match where he owns both fighters, it doesn't really matter who wins because he wins either way and he can manipulate the contest in whatever way brings him more money and power.

Yeah that Omnipotence is a motherfucker isn't it? If your guy has it, then why isn't he using it? That's got to be demoralizing. Personally I would rather say there isn't anybody home, rather than think of the idea that he was there and just not doing anything, even though he could.

Imagine that you're in the street in front of your house and you're fighting your some guy and getting your ass kicked. And your Dad is watching from an open door and doing nothing - even though you are screaming for help. That's gotta suck, especially when your dad is Superman.

That doesn't sound very good to me, but let's spin it a bit and see what happens.

Same situation, but the guy you are fighting isn't just some guy, it's your brother and he's calling to dad for help too. How does that change the situation?

Yeah it gets a tad bit confusing. Clearly all this warring and jihad is not offending God or he would have done something to stop it.

It seems pretty simple to me - we're on our own and so are they. But that means we are responsible for our own fate and noone else. So what can we do? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Weekend Smurf Rant!

2005-07-22T15:23:00.000-05:00

[In honor of the Smurfs return, I decided to launch the weekend a bit early with a Smurf Rant - the best part is, couldn't you say this on T.V. for kids and it would be totally G-rated and appropriate for children. Smurfing excellent, right the smurf on!]

Smurf You! You smurfing smurf smurfer! If you ever smurfing smurf my smurf, I'll smurf you so smurfing hard you'll be smurfing smurfs for a week. Only a smurfalized, surf-face, smurf smurfer would ever smurfing smurf something so smurfy and then smurf the ever-smurfing smurf out of it and leave it smurfed and smurfed, smurfing in it's own smurf. You're not smurfing worth the smurf who smurfed you, smurfhole!

I hope you smurfing smurf up and smurfing smurf, you miserable smurfing excuse for a smurf.

Go smurf yourself!

Have a smurfy weekend everyone!

Smurficus.

Those Gay Games are Just Too...well, Gay!

2005-07-22T09:11:00.000-05:00

Five Republicans (all of them in this case) pulled their names from a routine proclamation welcoming the 2006 Gay Games to Chicago. Apparently there is a big difference between "tolerating and celebrating homosexuality" and under pressure, the Republicans wussed out and withdrew their support from the proclamation that they unanimously signed last month.

According to orgnaizers, the Gay Games are expected to bring in between 50 and 80 million dollars to the Chicago economy. So I guarantee these Republican guys won't have a problem with all that queer money.

Tony Paraica one of the "chicken-shit 5" claimed that he must have been out of the room when the vote came up last month. C'mon Tony, who's going to believe that one? That would be like leaking the name of an undercover CIA agent and then claiming you actually heard about the agent from the reporter you leaked it to.

I continue to be amazed and startled at how openly descriminatory these guys are and no one seems to be bothered. This is exactly why I was trying to point out yesterday that the neo-nazis and these guys are one and the same. Want proof, what do you think would happen if the republicans decided to withdraw support for Black History Month or MLK's birthday because he was black? What if they decided to boycott Hannukah because it was Jewish? What if they chose to boycott the actual Olymics that were just awarded to London because Arab countires were going to be there. It's the same thing folks, just dressed up in a nicer way. At least the neo-nazis hate people to their face.

The other thing that kills me is how many gays they have working for them over in the Republican party. So gays are fine as long as no one complains or you get benefit, but otherwise they're the worst kind of evil - ain't that just like a Republican. But the worst ones are the gays themselves that are working for these hypocritical pricks - you guys are a disgrace.

So happy Gay Games everybody, and if you live in Chicago or are going there for the games, get out your pink pages and try not give anyone who is a Republican any of your money.

The Land of The Free.

2005-07-21T08:50:00.000-05:00

Why people think relativism is a bad thing is beyond me. Based on the society and culture we live in and the people that make up that society and culture - certain things are right and certain things are wrong. And while that may and probably should change as the society changes, holding absolutist and all encompassing laws, practices and policies gives us an all or nothing approach vs. a case by case basis. Frankly this is the underlying problem with many aspects of our society.

I went into that to provide some perspective for this story.

Resistance Records, who distributes neo-nazi hate music, has just released a video game entitled "Ethnic Cleansing." The game is a first-person shooter game like DOOM, in which the "hero," either a skinhead or a KKK member must make their way through the game killing blacks and latinos and their "Jewish Masters" before the final confrontation with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

You can pick your jaw up off the floor now.

Someone explain to me how this kind of thing flies under the radar. Do we have such warped values that we are more concerned about teenagers seeing cartoons screwing in a video game - even if it is porn flick level explicitness, than we are about something like this?

I realize that this game would have no market outside the white supremacist movement, but it certainly could be an indoctrination tool or ideological reinforcement tool for kids. Certainly if our civil freedoms were not strong enough to warrant our being able to hear the content and roster of Cheney's energy commission where they planned the collective butt-rape of the country, we can do a little selective crackdown on this kind of thing.

But even if we can't, what does this say about the state of our "free" country where obviously there is enough neo-nazi sentiment to support an industry that produces hate music and hate games like this. I'm not a protectionist by an means, but if we spent a quarter of the time and money taking care of the problems and people inside our borders that we do on people outside them, America would be a much different place.

And think about this. It's easy to revile and scoff at games like this, but take out all the polarizing elements and substitute gays for the blacks and latinos and it's not really that far off from what the CC's (who are the ideology department) and the redneck gay bashers (literally and politically) are doing in real life. If you want to understand how people can be so wrong-headed to condone murdering blacks and latinos and jews in a violent video game, look no further than the policy and activism against gays because it is based on the same exact ideology.

The neo-nazi's call the blacks and latinos "predatory sub-humans." Is this any different gays being called morally decrepit or as the pope calls them "intrinsicly, morally evil" or spreaders of disease and moral corruption as some church leaders would have you believe. It uses the same kind of inflammatory labeling and projection of evil to set up an us vs. them mentality, while branding the opposition as inherently less-than in some way.

The next time you hear some neo-nazi kook or KKK member spout off about race wars and race traitors and the great day of the rope, start thinking about militant homosexuals and their gay agenda spreading corruption and disease to our children and nation and the degradation of the institution of marriage and realize that it's the exact same thing.

And let's not forget - the latte drinking, treehugging hippie liberals that the CC's love to hate almost as much as gays are the extreme left wing of the liberal movement, but the neo-nazis and the KKK and Timothy McVeigh are all on the extreme right side of the conservative movement(which of course the CC's refuse to admit). But here's a interesting thought to consider. When ultra-left wing liberals act up, people get laid, get high and protest things. When the ultra-right wing conservatives act up, people die. Who would you rather hang out with?

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, You Smell Like a %$#@!!

2005-07-20T09:45:00.000-05:00

Those darn kids and their real lives ran afoul of morally affronted parents again, when a student who had the audacity to talk about real life using a single real word used by real kids every day, ended up having her poem censored and the student literary magazine shredded and reprinted.

You can read the full story here.

If you read her poem doesn't it strike you as odd that the issue is about the fact that she used a bad word in the title rather than the fact that she had underage sex (apparently parental outrage is only limited to swear words and Janet Jackson's boob.) and had a very unsatisfying and detrimental first sexual experience which will probably have longer lasting affects than any hectare of swear words could ever do.

How in the nine hells did we become so afraid of swear words and real life that we have to censor and protect everyone from ever being exposed to vulgarity to any challenging or sexually themed material, but we have no problem whatsoever with death, destruction and maiming every single day on T.V. But 10 seconds of tit or a kid hearing the word "fuck" is a national crisis.

It makes me think of the shit curdling hypocrisy of all this fallout because of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and the porn patch. I'm glad Hillary got so worked up about the idea that kids could download a patch that would allow them to see people having sex in the game that she started a congressional investigation about it. I don't seem to recall her outrage over the fact that the game itself is full of explicit murder, assassination, gore and cruelty.

That's right folks, you can cut as many people in half with a chainsaw as you like as long as we don't see anybody's dick in the process.

Where did we go wrong as a society that we are perfectly fine with blood, guts and gore, but a mere flash of pubic hair sends us into a militant moral froth?

I don't know about any of you, but I would much rather get laid than shoot somebody or cut their arms off - call me crazy. I would also much prefer images of naked people to faces of death any day.

So to the parents who complained about this poem, why not take that same energy and talk to your kids about sex and relationships, so maybe they don't have to have the same experience as Zoya Raskina and stop worrying about whether they read the word "fuck" one time in an entire magazine, because I promise you, they were using that word five minutes before you walked in and they'll be using it five minutes after you leave.

2005-07-19T15:31:00.000-05:00

This is the funniest damn thing I've seen in a while - thanks I needed that!

The Ten Commandments and the Burning Bush.

2005-07-18T23:14:00.000-05:00

Since the Bush Administration represents the moral majority and all things good, decent and wholesome. I thought it would be interesting to see how the keeper of our moral rightness and return to traditional conservative values fared on the supposed bedrock of our society - The Ten Commandments.

This is a 10 question test. Each correct answer is worth 10 points for a total of 100.

Good luck Georgie Boy, you're gonna need it!

1. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me."

I don't think GW was from Egypt, but I don't believe he has any other gods before this one - so CORRECT!

2. "Thou Shalt not make thyself any graven images."

Well, I think everyone who has ever taken a picture, drawn a picture or done any kind of artwork whatsoever is in violation of this one, but we'll go with violation in spirit, but not intent - HALF-CREDIT!

3. "Thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain."

Well if this is a prohibition against swearing, I think we can write this one off, but it has also been interpreted to mean not to use the name of god to justify your own actions - but either way we can mark this one INCORRECT!

4. "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy."

Well this one is a no-brainer since I guarantee he's done work on both Saturday and Sunday - INCORRECT!

5. "Honor thy father and thy mother."

While it is debatable if he is bringing any honor to the family, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one - CORRECT!

6. "Thou shalt not kill."

Governor of the state with the highest number of executions, plus the thousands of Americans and Iraqi's killed in Iraq, then there's Afganistan...I think we can mark this one as a whopping - INCORRECT!

7. "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

Since we have no evidence of any misconduct in this area, we'll give him the thumbs up - CORRECT!

8. "Thou shalt not steal."

One election in November, 2000, and one in November, 2004. - INCORRECT!

9. "Thou shalt not bear false witness."

Let's see "Iraq has WMD's," "Iraq and Al Qaida are linked," "Karl Rove has nothing to do with leaking info to the press," "I'll fire anyone involved in the Valerie Plame leak." and the list goes on and on - INCORRECT

10. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife...nor anything that is thy neighbor's"

Let's just change this to "thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's oil" - INCORRECT!

OK, let's add up the score:

Congratulations George W. Bush, on the Ten Commandments test, you scored a 35.

35? Wow. I know he doesn't hold with no book learnin, but this is god's law, the law of the land, the very foundation for our legal system, if not our nation. Would you want a doctor operating on you who only got a 35 on his exams? Would you want to be represented by a lawyer who only got a 35? How about a teacher? Would you want a teacher teaching your kids if they only got a 35?

Hell, I did better than 35 and I'm a goddamned godless heathen liberal moral relativist who sleeps with other men's wives. But then again, I'm not president of anything, nor am I suggesting that I am in any way morally superior or on the side of righteousness.

So what does God say about this?

"I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." (wow that's pretty vindictive and prick-like if you ask me)

But alas, a 35 doesn't exactly pass the keeping the commandments test, I guess the kids are in trouble now too.

Well George, you'll have to deal with your jealous and vindictive deity on your own, but as for the rest of us, we'll have to give you a big fat F.

Where's the "No President Left Behind Act" when you need it?

All For One and More For Me!

2005-07-18T12:44:00.000-05:00

I usually don't go on personal rants, but after this weekend, I couldn't resist. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but in a mere two days of typical weekend stuff, I realized how self-absorbed, inconsiderate, selfish and prick-like my fellow Americans have become. Our non-American readers will have to let me know if this is typical behavior in their countries, but I frankly couldn't believe the rash of assholishness I encountered in so many mundane places.

We start the adventure with construction - you know the street construction thing that makes everyone merge down to one lane and back people up for miles. This is not about that since they have to fix the road sometime. No this is about the prick - yes you, the one in the Mercedes CLK who doesn't feel like they should have to wait in line like the rest of us, who drives up the breakdown lane and then forces their way into the line just before the break.

Next we move onto the 4-way stop where everyone waits their turn. The guy on the left goes, then the woman across, goes, then the man on the right, now it's my turn...but wait, here comes the woman who just pulls up behind the guy on the right who just went and then goes right after him, almost ramming into my car. I extend her a quizzical, but incredulous look, and she stops the car and yells "What?!!"

Rudicus: "It was my turn to go"

Rude Lady: "Shut Up!"

So I finally get to where I'm going, when I see what off in the distance looks like a parking space, I realize I'm wrong when I get closer and realize the prick with the Dodge Magnum has decided to park his car right in the middle of two spaces. It wasn't a space way in the back where the guy in the Porshe takes up two spaces, no this one was right up in front. There has to be some kind of legal tire slashing law on the books in Texas somwhere that covers this kind of thing.

Finally I get into the store, and do some shopping. Everything actually goes well with this until I get back out to the car and realize I have the wrong item in my bag. So back I go to the return counter where I have to take a number - number 60, now serving...47. So the long arduous wait ensues. 57, 58, 59... here comes Blondie Richbitch to the front of the line that is now about 20 people long and goes to the counter where I would be walking to and says, "I'd like to return this." Thankfully the counter person says "Maam, there is a line right behind you, you'll have to get in line" She looks surprised to see all those people standing there and then turns back to the counter person and says "Yes, but I just have to return this one thing." Obviously seeing me getting my pocket machete out to handle the situation, the counter person tells her she has to get in line, period. Blondie storms off in a huff, probably muttering something about "daddy" and "suing".

The return goes well and back out to the car I go only to be confronted with everyone's favorite friend the close parker. you know the person who parks about one nanometer from your car so that you couldn't even get in there if you were a sub-atomic particle. Now I was only in the store for a short while, and I feel pretty confident that there wasn't a double-wide hummer on the otherside of him when he got there. No he just chose to back in to the space, and couldn't be bothered to straighten his car out.

Onto to another quick stop, where a man is putting his baby in the car and just let's his shopping cart roll off without a care in the world. Acting quickly I run and grab the cart before it hits someone's car and then walk it back to him. He is still playing with his kid and hadn't even noticed his cart had gotten away, nor my heroics in saving it and all of it's contents. Realizing he isn't even going to look up to see what happened, I fix the cart so it won't roll and walk into the store. I get my goods and come out and see that the guy left the shopping cart in the space and of course let it roll so it was now preventing anyone else from parking there. I looked around to see where the cart return was, and as I suspected it was directly across the row from his parking space. Less than 10 feet.

I finally pull onto my street to go home only to be backed up for a half mile because someone left their car in the one lane road and was waving cars around him so he could talk to a friend that happened to walk by.

What do all these situations and people have in common? A complete and utter disregard for other people, a complete obliviousness to the world around them, and a total me-first/fuck you approach to life.

All this happened involving all different people of different ages, races and social status so it would seem that it is a pervasive phenomenon. Have we descended so far from grace that we can't even take notice of the people around us? Are we so unthinking that we are only concerned if we either benefit or are inconvenienced in some way?

How do you walk past an entire line without seeing it? How do you intentionally park like an asshole and not even take the trouble to correct it or even care that you did it? How are you so out-to-lunch that you don't even notice your shopping cart rolling away with all your stuff in it OR notice it being returned and then have the gall not to even walk 10 fucking feet to put it back where it belongs and then add insult to injury by now leaving a parking space unusable as a result.

Now imagine taking this same kind of attitude overseas on vacation or broadcasting it on T.V. or having it be an everyday part of our culture, society and government and maybe you'll get to see why everyone hates Americans.

I want to get some low adhesive stickers or something to put on peoples cars that say something like "stop being a prick" or "get your head out of your ass" I also wanted to get a little third of a sheet flyer called "Parking Directions" - kind of like a ticket where you could check off the violation for people who park too close or take up two spaces or other things like that.

You Can't Be Gay If You're Dead.

2005-07-15T08:56:00.000-05:00

QOB, get ready to hurl.

If you ever wanted to see the deadly results of mixing dangerous hatemongering rhetoric, stupidity and religion, here you go.

In Tampa, Florida(Of course), 21 year old Ronnie Paris Jr. is on trial for killing his 3 year old son. How did the child die? He was beaten to death. Why? Because Ronnie thought his 3 year old son was gay and was trying to beat it out of him by teaching him to box.

So let me ask you. In this day in this country, why would a parent think being gay was so bad that he beat his son to death in an effort to make that not happen? I'll give you three guesses.

Let's see, if all we do is tell people day after day after day that being gay is so wrong that we need to pass laws keeping them from being together and barrin gthem from our churches and other places as well as equating homosexuality with pedophilia, incest and bestiality (thanks Rick Santorum). And we have Pontiffs pontificating on the evils of homosexuality and mobilizing everyone to fight any kind of gay friendly or non descrimination law (thanks Eggs Benedict) - what the hell would you expect. Now I guarantee that noone in the establishment will take any sort of responsibility for this because as we all know it's united we stand as long as everything goes our way and as soon as it doesn't...too bad, so sad - you're on your own.

Obviously this guy has problems, but I have to ask - how did he come to suspect his son was gay at age 3? Did he catch him having too much fun with the boy from across the street? Was he playing with dolls? Did he like the Teletubbies - WAAAY too much, especially that pink one? Did he start re-decorating the living room? Sing tunes from Cabaret? What was it that tipped him off?

And would this go a long way to substantiate the idea that homosexuality is genetic? After all, it's not like a 3 year old can be influenced by the liberal media and their gay agenda. It wasn't like the kid was exposed to all the gay-promoting cartoons in school.

But as disgusting as this story is, I guarantee that not a single person will question their fire and brimstone rhetoric and gay hating dogma for a milisecond.

If you read this story a bit deeper here. One section of the article really stood out.

Nysheerah Paris told the court that Paris would make the boy fight with him, slapping the child in the head until he cried or wet himself. She said that on one occasion Paris slammed the child against a wall because he was vomiting.

Wall slamming is a notoriously successful way to stop vomitting - good thinking.

The court was told there had been a history of abuse by Paris. Prosecutor Jalal Harb said that in 2002, the Florida Department of Children & Families placed the child in protective custody after he had been admitted to the hospital several times for vomiting.
He was returned to his parents Dec. 14. A month later he went into a coma and was rushed to hospital. Six days later he was removed from life support and died. An autopsy showed there was swelling on both sides of his brain.

You'll notice the highlighted parts - this is the same Department of Children and Families that was so hot to save Terri Schaivo from being "murdered" by the evil Darth Michael Schaivo. Bang up job they did here - they gave the kid back! Way to go DCF, glad we have you looking out for people. And take a long hard look at this bit in Red. "Removed from life support and died." Doesn't that mean the child was still alive on life support and when they removed it he died? How does that happen without a court fight, Jeb Bush and the U.S. Congress getting involved? What happened to the culture of life there? We villified an innocent man, trampled on the constitution and sent jurisprudence back to the dark ages so we could keep a blind, brain-dead woman alive for no good reason, but we can't go to bat for a little kid?

Sounds like...what's that word we like? HYPOCRISY!!!

Boys, let's put down the dogma before anyone else gets hurt.

It's Not An Anti-Islamic Crusade. No Really. Seriously, It Isn't!

2005-07-14T08:58:00.000-05:00

I can't imagine how anyone could ever get the idea that Bush & Co. are on an anti-Islamic crusade when we have stories of cultural sensitivity and caring like this.

A flyer posted at the California National Guard Headquarters suggested that the U.S. execute Islamic terrorists with bullets dipped in pigs blood to deny them entry into heaven.

Great.

This was only one of several anti-Islamic flyers found at the guard HQ.

The fact that this was posted and was completely condoned and supported by the administration (considering that the base commander defended the display of the flyers) shows pretty clearly how folks are seeing this "war."

Taken in context with things like the Abu Gahraib prison abuse scandal and flushing Koran's at Gitmo, it would seem very clear to me that our forces and our leaders are not in a conflict of nations, but are on an ideological campaign. That's not war kids, that's a crusade.

The thing that kills me is the idea of us somehow being the morally upright citizen's brigade of the world. Where do we get off telling anybody anything about right and wrong when what we have been doing in this war alone violates every treaty, convention and law in the known world. We are guilty of violating the Geneva convention, committing war crimes and a whole host of other things. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we go to war with Iraq in 1991 because they initiated an unprovoked attack on Kuwait? And didn't Saddam offer some lame justification for this attack. Sound familiar?

If the shoe was on the other foot and it was the Iraqi government holding our people in another country without trial, torturing them, and flushing their bibles down the toilet - there would be an international outcry. Hell if we heard about that going on anywhere in the world to someone else's people, we'd be on the first unarmored personnel carrier over there to fight.

News flash kids, WE are the evil empire. And if the NGO's, UN, and other countries weren't impotent and scared, they would call us on it. And if our people weren't brainwashed sheep, WE might call them on it.

So let's have a new line of rhetoric shall we? Say it with me: "We are on a crusade to rid the world of anyone we disagree with or can't control or manipulate and we don't care how we do it. We use patriotism, religion, intimidation and bald-faced lying to get our way and anyone who says otherwise is a traitor(remember a traitor is not someone who lies to their country to take them to war or betrays their fellow Americans for political gain or flushes our international credibility down the toilet by committing war crimes and violating treaties - a traitor is anyone who doesn't agree with the Bush Administration).

I hear the plans for the Death Star are coming along well.

These Are The People Running Your Country.

2005-07-12T23:10:00.000-05:00

I think of politicians more like actors than lawmakers, since their primary focus tends to be on themselves and they are consistently out of touch with the real world. So it was akin to listening to Tom Cruise expound his infinite wisdom in warning the world of the dangers of Psychiatry vs. his extremely mainstream belief system of Scientology, that I read this little tidbit.

Our old pal Rick Santorum is equating pedophilia, rape and the priest sex abuse scandal with Boston's "liberalism."

''If you have a world view that I'm describing [about Boston] . . . that affirms alternative views of sexuality, that can lead to a lot of people taking it the wrong way," Santorum said.*

So liberals who are natural born sinners who consistently engage in "wrong" behaviors like treating their neighbor as themselves, or loving their fellow person regardless of race, creed, gender or orientation and trying to help those less fortunate are fostering rape and pedophilia.

Isn't this a church we're talking about? Is God on the side of the Republicans?

I guess only if they are convenient, so if you are God-related and they can't ignore the scandal, then you are abandoned and called a liberal. Nice.

Even if the priest sex abuse scandal was limited to the Boston archdiocese alone, this would be among the more idiotic claims a person could make, but the fact that this is a worldwide problem, makes it even more ridiculous.

What about the kiddie porn ring that got busted in Italy a few months back that nabbed several priests? We're people from Boston visiting that week and their liberal cooties turned everyone to the dark side?

How a sane and rational person could even make this assertion, let alone say it in the press and then defend, it is beyond me.

Saying "liberalism" leads to child rape is about as stupid and irresponsible as saying you had eye contact and meaningful interaction with a brain-dead blind woman, let's call her Terri.

Oh wait, he did that too.

What about equating men having sex with children and/or dogs as equivalent to homosexuality in a group of "deviant" behaviors that threatened the institution of marriage.

Hmmm, he actually said that one too.

OK then maybe it would be like linking Democrats blocking Bush's nominees with Adolf Hitler. Because clearly "liberalism" also causes Nazism in addition to the other stuff.

I hate to break this to you Ricky, the liberals aren't Nazis, that's you.

So what do you do if you are a backward-thinking, Christian conservative moron with a warped sense of reality and penchant for making polarizing and completely asinine statements?

Run for President.

Hey, it's worked twice so far. See you in 2008! (that is if you don't lose to Casey next year).

*additional reporting by Susan Milligan, Boston Globe

Full article can be read here.

A Culture of Life?

2005-07-08T08:36:00.000-05:00

We have been hearing an awful lot about the "culture of life" that is being promoted by the CC's, The Republicans and W. It has become a rallying call for everything from abortion to stem cell research to Terri Schaivo. In a nutshell, it is the belief that all life is sacred and that choices about life and death as it applies to you or your family should not involve you, but be left up to the people who know what they are doing, like politicians.

The Prez is a big fan of the "culture of life" he uses the phrase all the time to decry the godless heathen liberals and their bloodthirsty love of baby killing and senior killing. But thankfully we have him and his friends to protect us from people making decisions about their own futures or protecting mothers who's lives are threatened by pregnancy or from having children after being raped, even by their own father. I'm glad that they are also protecting us from having to deal with all the potential cures for diseases and other quality of life measures that may be gleaned from stem-cell research. Furthermore it is reassuring to know that people who are in constant torment with terminal illnesses won't have to miss out on a single day of that torture from those who would want them to die with dignity on their own terms by their own choice. Clearly your life is far too important to be left up to you.

So it is with great confusion that I try to understand this whole "culture of life" business with respect to Capital Punishment. Is it as the Pope says?

"The culture of life means respect for nature and protection of God's work of creation. In a special way, it means respect for human life from the first moment of conception until its natural end."

or as W. says?

"Surely this nation can come together to promote the value of life. Surely we can fight off these laws that will encourage doctors or allow doctors to take the lives of our seniors. Surely, we can work together to create a culture of life so some of these youngsters who feel like they can take a neighbor's life with a gun will understand that that's not the way America is meant to be."

Maybe someone can explain to me why it is then that "Death Row George" was the Governor of killinest state in the country? What about this little gem from the Terri Schaivo situation?

"...our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life. Those who live at the mercy of others deserve our special care and concern. It should be our goal as a nation to build a culture of life, where all Americans are valued, welcomed, and protected..."

Doesn't that seem hypocritical or contradictory?

So it is with great interest that I read this story. It's about how the Republicans in the house want to pass a law called the Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005. It sounds very business like doesn't it. But in a nutshell it is a limitation on appeals so the government can kill people faster.

What kind of culture of life is that exactly?

So not only are we one of the few nations in the civilized world that still have the death penalty, but we are actually trying to make sure we do away with all these annoying appeals so we can kill people faster.

I'm not trying to make a statement about capital punishment here. All I'm saying is that some people have a lot of balls trying to dictate the moral rightness of their "culture of life" on one hand, while they are killing people with the other.

But then again how can you have a topic involving Christians or Republicans that doesn't involve hypocrisy. So once again we're going to have to call bullshit.

Open your eyes sheeple! ItÂs all just rhetoric and pandering, the minute it's not politically advantageous, it'll be gone. These guys do not care about you. The only reason they can get away with this kind of blatant two-facedness is because nobody from their own camp will call them on it. I must have been born with a low crap tolerance because that's all I ever seem to see. If your going to preach, then walk it like you talk it - otherwise keep your damn yap shut!

Bombs Away!

2005-07-07T12:30:00.000-05:00

By now you know that terrorists have hit some mass transit targets around London and there are dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded.

We hope all of our friends in the U.K. are alive and well.

As expected, everyone is outraged and all the world leaders have decided to go on with the G8 summit - as they should.

Of course our Prez used this as another pulpit to preach the war on terror. What happened to Al Quida being in tatters? I thought we broke the back of the resistance. I thought we were winning the war on terror.

Sorry folks, you can't win an ideological conflict with bullets.

So should we add these to W's body count for the "war on terror." Personally I'm waiting for the total to hit that magic number where more Americans are killed in the war on terror than in the entire 9/11 attack.

Of all the folks to chime in with their displeasure at the London attacks, my favorite is our old pal Pope Eggs Benedict. He called the attacks:

"inhuman and anti-Christian,"

Well, they ARE Islamic Extremists after all. But can you really say this? It's not like they attacked a church or singled out Christians. Also they were all humans, I haven't heard anything about Martian Muslims or Romulan Islamists. So what kind of rhetoric is this?

How can he say it's anti-Christian, but when Muslims claim Bush is on an anti-Muslim crusade everyone gets twitterpated?

The fact is that this is a ideological conflict that started with U.S./Israli policy and went into full gear 5 minutes after the first bomb hit Baghdad. Afghanistan was a legitimate target and remains an internal struggle between two interior factions. Conversely, Iraq is not only a quagmire, but the best Muslim extremist recruiting tool since Richard the Lion Heart.

We need to figure out why we're pissing everyone off and then figure out a way to stop it. Just look at history; at no point do you destroy an ideology by killing people. It hasn't worked for anyone ever unless you are willing to wipe out every person who thinks that way - which is the only way to win a "War" on terror. Imagine what would have happened if the U.S. Govt had bombed South Central L.A. during the Rodney King riots - how do you think that would have worked out? If someone doesn't like you swearing, and the next 5 words out of your mouth are fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck - do you think they will then calm down about it?

You can't put out a fire by throwing gasoline on it and every building adjacent to it.

If you want everyone to stop attacking you for being a terrorist, stop acting like a terrorist. If you want people to stop terrorizing you for being an imperialist conqueror, stop acting like an imperialist conqueror.

If we want to be the moral democratic poster children for the world to admire, we have to stop swinging our big American dick around and slapping people with it.

I'm sorry for everyone that was hurt or killed in London or Madrid last year or Baghdad or New York. Hopefully this pissing contest will be over before the 2012 Olympics - which should have gone to Paris (booooooo IOC!)

When Heaven is Hell.

2005-07-06T15:29:00.000-05:00

We’re going to start today's post off with a fun game called “Who’s Going To Hell.”

Besides me I mean.

Here are four different people – only one of these people is going to heaven – guess who it is.

A woman who lives in India, next to Mother Theresa who does exactly the same work and has saved thousands of lives as well as providing comfort for the dying and is widely revered by all. She is also an atheist.
A man who lives in Scotland and is a devout Wiccan. He is wealthy and gives half of his money to build homes for orphaned children throughout the U.K. and the other half he uses to cure cancer.
A woman who lives in America who develops a program for living and learning that completely reverses the obesity epidemic and transforms 97% of children into straight A students. She is a new age spiritualist who regularly consults her Tarot Cards and astrological charts for guidance.
A man who is a Government Official in Africa. He has made millions by rerouting medicine from AIDS organizations to the black market, in turn causing thousands of deaths. He is also a pedophile who has raped 4 children. He gives 10% of his income to the church and attends regularly. He has accepted Jesus Christ as his personal lord and savior and has asked forgiveness for his many sins.

As you may have already guessed, the correct answer is #4. #’s 1, 2 & 3 – breakout the sunscreen baby, you know where you’re going.

So what does this tell you about heaven? Heaven is for people who follow the rules, everyone else is going to Dante’s.

But let’s think about heaven for a second, apart from being a resort for baby-raping murderers what does heaven have to offer. Getting of the illogic of it all, how does an eternity in heaven sound to you?

Well the idea of being surrounded by fundamentalist pinheads forever is enough for me, but let’s say it’s whatever you make it – like your own personal heaven.

How good could that possibly be? Especially if you have to follow all those rules.

You can forget that three-way and disease-free orgy you’ve been fantasizing about. You LUSTful sinner.

You can forget about an eternity of drinking beer and playing Xbox – SLOTH!

All the pizza and ice cream you can eat is right out – Filthy GLUTTON!

So what’s the draw?

I assume you would still have to go to church every week and listen to some sanctimonious jack-off drone on for a couple hours while you miss the Angels vs. Demons game on ESPN HELL.

If you are married, do you have to wait until your spouse dies before you can get any? What if you didn’t like them? Since divorce is not allowed, are you stuck with them forever? If not, how do you get any, since unmarried sex and spanking the monkey are a no-no.

I suppose you could cruise over to Muslim heaven and get in on some of those virgins that they get, but then you forgot to kill a few Christians before you kicked off didn’t you?

You could go over to the smaller heavens of Elysium, Valhalla, Mt. Olympus or Tir na nOg, but those places are loaded with people who can kick your ass in every log throwing competition they have, plus you’ll get sick of venison and mead after awhile. Actually you won’t be eating that stuff at all, you’ll be eating ambrosia, the food of the Gods. But that stuff sucks too, I had it over my grandmother’s house once. Mini-marshmallows, coconut, mandarin oranges, and sour cream – you’d think a God could come up with something better.

So far this isn’t sounding like very much fun. But you DO get to bask in the glow of the almighty, and that’s good enough for all eternity isn’t it? Isn't it?

You’re the one that fell for that free trip to Cozumel to look at the time share aren’t you?

Well this all sounds very depressing, of course there’s also the alternative.

The Truth – heaven is just another made up place to make you feel better about dying.

So why don’t you buck the trend and start living instead of worrying about dying – who knows how long you have left, and if this is your only shot at it, you’re going to feel pretty stupid if you waste it.

Where's Satan When You Need Him?

2005-07-05T14:24:00.000-05:00

Adversarial dogmas need two things to succeed: followers and an adversary.

But what happens when you win? What do you do when you have defeated your adversary and the field is yours? The Theocons are facing this very dilemma.

As I read through the myriad of conservative blogs which we all know are little more than propaganda tools churned out by robots for the empire, one of the many things that struck me was the overwhelming sense of oppression. Initially I blew it off as more rhetoric, but then I started thinking, who exactly is oppressing them?

To listen to them, they are under the heel of liberals wherever they may turn. But exactly how is that possible? The Conservatives control all three branches of government, the supreme court, most major corporations, the church, the military and the hearts and minds of the majority of the population. So how they hell could anyone be preventing them from doing anything? Who has more power than they do?

Is it the activist judges? Can't be, first of all most of them are on their own team. The majority of those appeals courts and "activist" judges are actually card carrying conservatives and Christians to boot! Secondly if the decisions were being made by rogue judges, wouldn't there be an ethics challenge that could be made or at the very least another court would overturn it?

It must be the ACLU then. I agree that the ACLU is a thorn in the side of CC's everywhere, but are you CC's now willing to admit that a bunch of lawyers are more powerful than the whole of the U.S. Government? Also shouldn't the conservative judges be denying the ACLU their rights? Unless they are ALL activist judges, I would think so.

Well then it has to be the Liberal Controlled Media. Exactly which aspect of the media do the liberals control? Not most of the newspapers, certainly not Fox or the network that lost Dan Rather. Even Public Broadcasting the so-called liberal haven, has now been taken over by Conservatives. And let's look a little closer. Remember Bill Clinton? This guy put his cigar in his girlfriend's "cigar box" and then said he didn't and the media went crazy - it was all over the "liberal" controlled media for months, and then the impeachment took everything in a whole other direction. Conversely, When Bush lied about WMD's and took us to war, and then when the downing street memo came out and now the Time magazine notes naming Karl Rove as the traitor who "outed" one of our intelligence agents in the field out of political revenge - you would think the Liberal Controlled Media would be having a field day, but instead...[cue crickets]

Nothing.

So who is it exactly that is oppressing the Conservatives and Christians? Who is stopping them? Who is behind this grand conspiracy? They are.

That's right it's just one more fabrication to churn up their base and get more of their agenda pushed through while retaining the appearance of fighting the good fight and keeping the sheep afraid of the wolves and under their control. Sheep who aren't scared don't do what they are told.

The only thing keeping these guys from world domination are some pesky gnats like ethics, law, freedom, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

So the next time you hear about how the poor CC's are being oppressed by the jackbooted liberals who somehow control everything, don't forget to call bullshit. The only real freedom fighters and underdogs are those fragile blogger voices who are fighting for truth, justice and the American way.

The End of Philosophy?

2005-07-05T10:10:00.000-05:00

I love Philosophy, but I wonder if it is still a viable field of endeavor anymore. Just like Alchemy, it may have served it's purpose.

I used to participate in the Philosophy Forums and had a great time for a few months - then the questions started to repeat themselves. I then ventured over to EPhilosopher and they had the very same questions and very same answers over there.

Then I started to see patterns. The believers could never be convinced to abandon their beliefs no matter how much evidence was stacked up in front of them and non-believers likewise wouldn't abandon their position without some evidence to the contrary, which of course there is none. But this phenomenon didn't change between liberals and conservatives or any other group on any other level. So the conclusion I drew was that you cannot change someone else's beliefs about anything if they already believe in it, no matter what you say, show them or persuade them to think differently.

The other thing I've noticed is that there is nothing new. The same thoughts and ideas that were milling around ancient Greece are the same ones we talk about today, just with different packaging. I also noticed that the vast majority of discussion was less like an actual debate and more like a presidential debate where each side simply waited for their turn and spewed out their agenda of belief.

So, what is the point of philosophy?

What are we hoping to accomplish? How does it better anyone's life or the world? Has society progressed to the point where everything is so dogmatically polarized that the questions of philosophy no longer have relevance?

If there is nothing new under the sun and minds cannot really be changed in any real capacity, has philosophy simply become an intellectual circle jerk? It seems to me that philosophers are little more than lawyers who are arguing a case that can't be won.

Years ago before we had any form of mass communication, it was possible for people not to have thought about things philosophically. There was still much that we didn't know about the world, ourselves and each other. Time, technology and philosophy changed all that. These days - all of the great philosophical questions have been asked and answered. Since we can't know the answers with any certainty, there really isn't anything further left to do.

Right now, the only people thinking about these things is students - people who are newly asking these questions. Everyone else has either decided not to ask them or has already asked them and developed their opinions. Even today, most discussions of philosophy involve people "debating" a topic by quoting other philosophers. No understanding is gained, it is simply a soapbox for competing dogmas to battle - and the only real victor is in which philosopher made a better argument (just like in court where the case is not decided based on right and wrong or justice, it all rules and who makes a better argument and/or exploits the rules to their advantage).

So where does that leave us? Is philosophy dead? I think it may be. What was originally a very broad field, has now been factionlized and specialized to the point where the great thinkers are no longer asking new questions.

So what do we do? If you have a limited number of questions and a library full of answers to those same questions already in existence, where do you go for there. If you can't change what people think, then the only way you can progress is in changing how they think. You can only move forward by getting people outside of their dogmatic camps and thinking differently.

We have to change the way we think about life and the world. We have to re-examine our processes and make decisions for ourselves and not falling into the trap of having others make our decisions for us.

Let's all start today. Declare independence for yourself and your thoughts.

What do YOU think?

You Reap What You Sow.

2005-07-01T13:24:00.000-05:00

If you preach intolerance and hate, how long do you think it will be before people start acting on it?

For sometime now, since the Theocons became emboldened because people didn't have the good sense to say anything or stand up to them when it was happening, gays have been their target. There has been an ongoing campaign to marginalize, demonize and brutalize anyone or anything that even has the connotation of being gay. They've gotten their entire base of robots all up in arms about and have even gotten Pope Nazi all frothed up about it and now that kind of crap is spreading.

The more you put a religious or ideological wall in between people, the more violence, intolerance and hatred will result.

So yesterday at what should have been a cause for celebration at the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem, another positive event was mired by religious fanaticism. Not the usual "God Hates Fags" or "Homos Burn in Hell" crap that you see over here. No, this time a fundamentalist ran into the crowd in the middle of the parade and stabbed three people. NICE!

This is exactly why hate-speech and rhetoric are so dangerous. This is why people get arrested for yelling "fire" if there isn't one - because people lose their minds and do crazy things. Beatings, stabbings, shootings, bombings all perpetrated because religious fanaticism churned them up.

A moral person does not bomb abortion clinics. If a person were raised without religion, the likelihood of them committing crimes in the name of religion is minimal at best. But when you take a person who is probably already of questionable stability, fill them full of rhetoric and then preach hatred to them - what do you think they are going to do?

Can anyone find an article talking about how religious fundamentalists did something positive for humanity? Any pieces about them committing selfless acts or being especially compassionate or tolerant? If you can, please let me know.

Fundamentalism is infecting this planet like a virus and it only leads to death and destruction both figuratively and literally. So when you hear people crying about moderates being liberals in sheeps clothing or how relativism is destroying the church - hear it for what it really is.

Americans For Regime Change.

2005-06-30T15:30:00.000-05:00

As I read the Christian and Conservative blogs I get the sense that to be a patriot, I have to love jesus and support the President, no matter what. So if we take them at their word, then what do we do about the following:

Apart from the Axis of Evil, there is a new Rogue state threatening The U.S. that no one seems to be worried about. This nation is led by fanatics, possesses weapons of mass destruction, has seen fit to use them on a number of occasions, controls the media so that only positive information gets into the mainstream press, is guilty of human rights violations, civil rights violations, war crimes and makes it a policy to attack other countries without provocation, represses opposition to their totalitarian rule, has a corrupt propaganda machine for discrediting dissidents, is rife with corruption and has singled out a group of people for direct overt persecution.

If I told you the year was 1939, what would your answer be?

But it's not 1939, it's 2005, so guess who your new enemy is...That right, The USA. We are our new enemy.

I started thinking about this as I saw Spain pass their gay marriage law and Canada about to do the same, joining The Netherlands and Belgium as the growing list of progressive states who recognize that they can't continue to call themselves a free democracy while they oppress an entire segment of their population.

So if Iraq and Iran and North Korea are such dangerous rogue states, why is it that we have a lot more in common with them than we do with the "old Europe" nations that were not supportive and lacked the resolve to go to war i.e. our allies.

Spain is one of the most religious countries on earth, but they now have nationally recognized gay marriage laws - including adoptions by gay couples. We don't, but not only that, we're actively trying to pass laws against it and are openly discriminating, hating and marginalizing gays every chance we get. That sounds an awful lot like oppression to me.

WE are not acting like a superpower, we are acting exactly like the same Communists in the U.S.S.R that we were so dead set against. What's the difference between Pravda and Fox News? If our government is paying to plant news stories, keeping all government workings secret, repressing news and calling anyone who disagrees or brings up opposing viewpoint a traitor or an obstructionist - is that a free democracy? We just voted to seize the property of our own citizens for no reason so we can build more malls.

We have just as many incidents of election violations and fraud as the most corrupt African dictatorship.

We have admitted to torturing our captives as well as violating their rights as captives.

We have most of our top politicians being investigated or connect to investigations of corruption, ethics violations and outright crime.

I promise you if there was another country out there acting like we do, they'd be on G.W.'s hit list as well.

We have become the Russians from the Cold War, The Nazis and The Taliban all rolled into one.

A true American would be trying to stop it, not encouraging more of it.

I remember watching a T.V. movie called The Wave, which was based on a high school teacher who conducted a live experiment to teach his students how a rational, compassionate nation could turn into a nation of globally despised monsters (The Nazis). I think they should be sending this DVD out to every person in America, not the Jesus DVD.

Tragedy or Comedy?

2005-06-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

If you want to see how far we've sunk as a nation and to add further reasons for the entire world to either hate us or laugh at us take a look at this little gem.

The Discovery Channel and AOl conducted a survey to determine "The Greatest American of All Time" and guess who won?

No it wasn't George W. Bush - he came in at number 6, but that right there ought to tell you where this is going.

In the course of our great nation, there have been many people who have had a profound influence on our nation from George Washington and the founding fathers like Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine to great reformers like Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Franklin Roosevelt and Martin Luther King. Each of these folks made a remarkable contribution to America and each would deserve the distinction in their own right.

But none of them won either.

No the winner of the "Greatest American - OF ALL TIME" was none other than Ronald Reagan.

That's right all of the other folks couldn't measure up to a man best known for bad acting, jelly beans and getting shot. Not to take anything away from Reagan, I really liked some his movies and he did a couple of interesting things as president, but not really anything significant.

At first I was furious - how could the morons in this country even put this guy on the list. Then I saw the list. In addition to W. and Reagan, the top ten also included Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Elvis. I thought, if you're going to include them, why not put Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, George Washington Carver or Lewis and Clark - and then it hit me. Most Americans don't even know who those people are, let alone anything about what they did. They probably didn't know half the people from my previous list either - and these are just people I thought of off the top of my head.

And there it is. I forgot Americans are the stupidest people on the planet. Of course they can't remember anything from more than 10 years ago - they would have to read a book or actually pay attention in class to do that. And if they had done those things, they wouldn't be as stupid as they are, and thus would not have voted that way.

There's nothing like getting bitch slapped by the stupidity of your own country. I don't know whether to laugh and the sheer idiocy of a nation whose brains have gone down the drain or cry because it is inconceivable that a country of this many idiots is currently the dominant nation on the globe. But come to think of it, given the direction that this country has gone in I suppose Reagan is a pretty good choice since I don' t think an atheist, a woman, a black guy, a democrat or a queer would be fit to represent our nation's true Americans (rich white men and the Christian Conservatives they tricked into voting for them)

Fortunately I'm no longer American, I'm French-Mexican thanks to my adoptive nations.

Bon Jour, me llamo es Rudicus. Donde esta le toilette? Aqui? Merci!

So let's all have some Jelly beans and celebrate the greatest American of ALL TIME.

Vitamin D Terrorists.

2005-06-29T08:28:00.000-05:00

Well apparently the terrorists have a new catch phrase - Got Milk?

Yes our old friends the agri-terrorists are back, but this time they're going after the white stuff, no not coke or heroin. That's right, their going after our milk.

From the folks that bring you far more actual terror than terrorists, scientists at Stamford University have published a paper about how terrorists could go after our milk and use it for bio-terror.

apparently the threat was credible enough that the government initially withheld the article for fear it would give the terrorists ideas.

You remember a few months ago we were following another agri-terrorist movement - you know the one where they were threatening our wheat and corn? I guess that didn't turn into the next 9/11 after all.

I'm not trying to downplay terrorism by any stretch, but do we honestly think these guys are sitting in some training camp in Iraq (where they all are now since the U.S. cleared out the area to stop terrorists - wait...hmmm I guess that didn't work then) saying to themselves "Samir, first you get the milk, then you get the power, then you get the women."?

Poisoning milk doesn't really send a very strong political message and it certainly isn't going to hurt the infrastructure of the country, just like attacking the wheat isn't going to do anything much either. What both of these things WILL DO is drive up the price of these goods as people get freaked out about the supply, just like it did for oil. Contrary to popular belief, the goal of these organizations is not to simply to up the body count - terrorism, no matter how misguided, crazy or fundamentalist is not about killing people for the hell of it, it's a political statement and a combat tactic that is now the hot method for small forces and movements who are fighting against large world powers. It's just really popular right now, just like the Phalanx was a few centuries ago.

Protect yourselves at all times and make sure we are a secure nation, but trust me, Osama bin Laden is not after your milk or your corn flakes.

Why Things Will Never Change.

2005-06-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

I've been spending some time over at Blog Explosion trying to drum up some traffic for The Rudicus Report. It's a great place to surf and there are some very cool sites there, so I highly recomend it.

One thing I noticed is that there are a suprisingly large number of blogs run by Christians - not just regular Christians, but my favorite type - rabid Christians. There are also a fair share of liberal blogs, but it was amazing to me how similar the blogs were to real life between Liberals and Conservatives. The liberal blogs were meandering and random - commenting about just about anything, offering up the writer's thoughts about everything. In contrast the Conservative/Christian blogs were all attack & propaganda sites - and they all used the same language and had the same comments and were loaded with organizational links to webrings, networks and all sorts of electronic machinery.

So in the interest of knowing how the other 51% percent lives, I ventured over to these sites to see what they had to say. And of course it was all dogmatic spew, but something else was interesting to me. The blogosphere is loaded with bloggers from around the globe - on this site alone we have visitors from the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Singapore, while others in our universe are from Italy, Brazil, India and several other countries. However ALL of these CC sites were all American. Interesting isn't it.

So I decided to participate. I went over to a site called Crosses aCross America and left a comment on their post about the religiousness of our founding fathers and how christianity was facing continual persecution etc.. So I felt compelled to post this:

What about Jefferson, Adams, Madison Paine and other "founders" who were all freethinkers and atheists?

What about the fact that "Under God" and "In God We Trust" were not added to the pledge or the currency until many decades later?

This country was "founded" to be a secular government free from the influence of religion of any kind.

Freedom of Religion means that you are free to practice whatever religion you choose - including the freedom to not practice any and not to be subjected to other peoples beliefs and dogma.

Unfortunately we are VERY far from that ideal today and the "founders" would not be in any way pleased with what "religion" has done to this country over the years and especially in the last few.

And of course the response was a typical party-line, non-answer brush-off:

There is a reason that so many now are becoming so desperately screeching about the separation of church and state. It is because they would have us believe untruths about the history of religion in our country and those untruths are now being proved to be fallacies.

So of course I called them on it and asked for some support for their position and the alleged "fallacies"

What was the response? They erased my question and banned me from the site.

Typical - any conflicting discusson must be eliminated. People are entitled to their opinions and if they ever bothered to come over to my site, they would find that any thoughtful question or comment would get a thoughtful answer or response. But this is why they fear the questions, which is why the CC always have to spin everything and "cast" the opposition in a bad light. It's not that the prez is refusing to release documents on John Bolton, it's the democrats who are being obstructionist by asking for them.

Visiting these sites filled me with fear, but since I'm a good Christian, I will forgive them for they know not what they do. But the thing that really bothered me is, that I bet you anything, I could go on any other site and do the exact same thing and the exact same result would occur. Furthermore, the very nature of being liberal is not conducive to standing up to this kind of machine becuase liberals by their nature tend to be independent minded and can't summon the collective mentality or the cash to compete. I posted this in a comment on Jay's site, and the more I think about it the more true it is (yay me!).

Liberals are Ewoks
Conservatives are The Borg

Ewoks can muster up enough "togetherness" to deal with individual threats, but can't stand up to the whole empire.

100% Demon Free...and Dead.

2005-06-27T08:57:00.000-05:00

Another chapter in why fundamentalism, religion and stupidity are a deadly combination.

Today's adventure takes us to Romania where a 23 year old nun just died.

"Maricica Irina Cornici(The Nun) believed she heard the devil talking to her, telling her she was sinful."

Those darn sinful Nuns, why can't they be wholesome and holy like the priests.

The solution, not the psychiatric care she was getting for schizophrenia, but this...

"Cornici was bound to a cross, gagged with a towel and left in a dank room at the convent for three days without food - where she died of suffocation and dehydration."

You think?

You can read the entire story here.

The good news is the murdering priests won't do any time, because they were only trying to rid the girl of demons, not kill her.

My question is how come I never read any stories about how anyone at any church ever just helped people without any thought to themselves or advancing their dogma, but because it was theright thing to do. Everytime I hear about the "good" done by the church, it is always followed by dogma and pontificating to the point where it looks alot more like a publicity stunt than a genuine decent act. I live for the day when the church makes an anonymous donation to help anyone.

In this case they ought to sell the church arrest all those responsible and give the profits and the land to the family and town.

This just goes to show you that belief in a book full of stories can actually kill you.

I'm sure witch burning will be making a comeback, better dust off your dunking chairs.

Shrouded in B.S.

2005-06-24T14:00:00.000-05:00

The French Magazine Science et Vie has proved the Shroud of Turin is a fake.

Using a medieval technique, scientists exactly duplicated the purported shroud. In contrast attempts to duplicate the shroud using methodology similar to what would have occurred had it been an actually "holy relic" failed to produce anything whatsoever. You can read the complete story here.

Try as they might to fake relics over the centuries, the actual physical evidence and/or archaeological-historical evidence for Jesus is still a big fat zero. This is just another one like the James Ossuary and other items which all turned out to be malarky.

Not that this will have any impact on anything whatsoever, it's nice to see that everything we encounter speaks to reason and nothing speaks to supernaturalism. You would think that the more science we have, the closer we would be to substantiating alot of historical/religious claims. So I find it especially interesting that we only seem to be getting more and more clear that our religious teachings are not actual. Parables and metaphors but not literal events.

So these guys can keep looking for Noah's Ark, The Garden of Eden and all of the other things from the Bible that never existed. And judging by the amount of money that people are willing to spend for these kinds of things there will be a never ending supply of "scientists" who claim to have found "something". But guess what, they didn't.

All throughout the middle ages, charlatans (including many priests and friars) pawned off fake religious relics for cash so I guess there's no reason for them to stop now.

Remember kids, whenever you are considering "historical evidence" or "proofs" about religious things and people, don't be a sucka, always bring your brain and your BS detector with you.

Houston We Have A Problem.

2005-06-23T09:45:00.000-05:00

It was another deadly day in Houston, Texas. Another roadside bomb exploded killing a half dozen commuters. Meanwhile a suicide bomber killed 27 shoppers at the Highland Village Mall when he detonated a bomb just outside Banana Republic. This makes a total of 79 dead this week after monday's Splashtown massacre where 42 children were gunned down by insurgents, and zoning commissioner Brandon Montague was kidnapped and beheaded live on Channel 11.

Wait, did any of this actually happen?

If you listen to Tom DeLay it did.

Apparently Tommy D. thinks Iraq and Houston are about the same in terms of crime and it's "The Media" that is distorting the truth and over reporting crime in Iraq.

"You know, if Houston, Texas, was held to the same standard as Iraq is held to, nobody'd go to Houston, because all this reporting coming out of the local press in Houston is violence, murders, robberies, deaths on the highways," DeLay said. "Go to Iraq. And see what's actually happening there."

Um...no thanks Tom.

Today alone 38 people were killed and 28 wounded in car bombs around Baghdad.

Well maybe we can't go to Iraq, but we can go to Houston - let's see what going on there.

Today's top story in the Houston Chronicle is:

Gov. Perry's Tax Relief Plan Helps The Rich at Renter's Expense.

Well that's about what I would expect coming out of Texas. Rich people raping poor people with the government helping the rich people - sounds like everyday news to me. Let's keep looking:

We've got a story about Bike Couriers, The NBA Finals and Baseball.

Well maybe it was a slow day in Houston, let's see what's goin on around the state:

We've got big stories about the Mega Millions Jackpot, Tiger cubs going to an animal sanctuary and a warning about Texans buying affordable prescription drugs from Canada.

Yep, another day of horror in Houston.

What's the body count in Iraq? 1700+? Let's see the murder capital of the U.S. is Chicago which logged just under 600 murders. Houston didn't even make the top 5.

I think this is just another case of a representative of the government wearing "bullshit" colored sunglasses. Unfortunately lying to the American people is also everyday news.

Well, Tom, I've heard some doozies in my day, but this one ranks right up there. Thanks for sharing your outlook on the war and life in Texas, now please sit quietly in the corner until someone grows enough balls to kick your sorry ass out of congress.

What The &%$#@!!!!!!!!!

2005-06-22T09:15:00.000-05:00

***This post contains mad profanity - yeah boi!!!!***

Why can't we swear in front of kids?

What is the harm that comes from it? I am not aware of any children who have been institutionalized, committed crimes or voted democrat because they heard the word "shit"

Judge: "Mr. Jurgensen, you are charged with 12 counts of rape, assault, murder and general unfriendliness, how do you plead?"

Mr. J. "Well your honor, everything was fine, I was an honor student, on the track team and went to church 5 days a week, but then I heard a man say "fuck" while I was in line at the movies and something inside me just snapped."

Whats with all the substitute swears - like that makes it ok. Is there a psychological difference between "Goddamnit and Goldurnit?" or "Fuck and Fudge?" or "Shit and Shoot?" you mean the same thing so how is it different?

What possible rammifications can there be from a child hearing "bad language" to the point that we have to get all incensed about it, as well as regulate it on TV and movies. I can see violence and sex givign kids ideas, but what can language do? I'm not talking racial crap, just good old fashioned cursing. Who hasn't gouged their leg on a table and let loose with "Jesus Motherfucking Christ!" Now, didn' t that feel good? We already know our best and brightest have potty mouths like Dick "Go Fuck Yourself" Cheney and even the Gov. of Texas who just got caught on tape here.

If anything, swearing leads to increased creativity in children. The kids who came up with gems like "Fuck Chop" "Ass Weasel" "Cock Monkey" "Dickasaurus" "Fart Mocassin" "Jism Chew" and "Queef Taster" have gone on to positions at NASA, IBM and The World Bank.

Instead of spelling bees we should have swearing bees - think of all the great swears kids could come up with. Frankly I think it would unite everyone toward a common purpose.

Let's start today. Let's hear your best swear(please refrain from anything racial, homorphobic or otherwise negative toward something that someone can't do anything about). Please use your swear in a sentence and creativity counts. Foreign language swears are also appreciated as long as they come with a description and usage. - the winner will get an award of some sort.

The Parent of The Year Award...

2005-06-20T11:57:00.000-05:00

Ain't going to this kid's parents!

It's hard enough to come to terms with the fact that you are gay, let alone share it with your friends and family. So when this 16 year-old from Tennessee "came out" to his parents, you'd expect some challenges. But how would you like to go through all that trauma only to be sent to Christian Re-education Camp?

So this poor kid is stuck at this 8-week "refuge" where he will be brainwashed into thinking he's not gay anymore. Sound like communist China or a concentration camp to you? Yes thanks to Jesus and your $6,500 they can "cure" your kid of being a "dang queer"

This amazing "cure" is brought to you by Love in Action International and their site is filled with lots of fun information that we like to call "crap."

Look no further than their fabulous Homosexual Myth discussion to see how insane, hateful and completely fascist this whole idea is.

Here's their mission statement.

We already know that our lovely government has turned Guantanamo Bay into a gulag, now we have kids going to brainwashing camps. Yessirree, this country is sounding more and more like the very enemies we claim need to be removed from the earth. Where we get the balls to say Libya can't be on the United Nations human rights panel, but we can, is beyond me. I hate to break this to you people, but these Christian Conservative nutjobs are following the Main Kampf playbook step by step.

If you still don't think religion is Public Enemy #1 - stay tuned, I'm sure there will be more tomorrow.

Now all we need is the Pink Berets to bust this kid out of there.

Beyond Pathetic

2005-06-15T23:05:00.000-05:00

By now you've heard that Terri Schaivo's autopsy revealed that she was not abused and that her brain was shriveled to half the size of a normal human brain which made her brain damage both severe and irreversible. And to top it all off, she was blind.

We'll now take a break to hear all of the apologies directed at Michael Shaivo who had to endure months of accusations ranging from abuse to plotting to kill her along with an entire legislature getting involved in his personal business only to be proven right.

That's right, not one. Nothing from the government saying "Hey, Mike, I guess you and all the doctors were right - sorry about that. Nothing from all of the Christian groups and right-to-lifers who called him every name in the book and branded him as an evil monster. And nothing from the parents who carried him through years of lawsuits.

No, the only one who said anything different after the autopsy was Bill Frist, who said that the case was now closed. I'm sure he didn't want to say it, but he had to, he's a doctor(then again, here's and interesting bit on Frist from Think Progress). And then the rest of the opposition did exactly what they did when they got caught lying about WMD's, they spun it. Now it wasn't about a woman who could be helped through therapy and was trying to stay alive while her evil husband wanted her dead, now it was about "protecting life"(Prez W) or "due process"(Mel Martinez) or questions of credibility(Dave Weldon).

Not one of them has said or will ever say "we made a mistake"

And special kudos goes out to Dr. William Cheshire the "doctor" who Jeb Bush sent in to "confirm" that Terri Schaivo was not in a persistive vegetative state.

He wrote: "As I looked at Terri and she looked back at me, I asked myself whether I could in good conscience withdraw her feeding and hydration."

Nice try Doc, she was blind.

and this gem: "seems at some level to be aware of some things around her."

Wrong again.

So how did this highly trained neurologist make such a seemingly glaring error? Easy, he's a Christian Conservative, which means God first and everything else second including science and reality - which is the same affliction that has put nonsense like creationism and intelligent design theories into our classrooms.

And what of the parents? Are they finally going to say goodbye to their daughter and move on? HELL NO!

They have decided in their infinite lack of wisdom to disbelieve the autopsy and are considering "legal action."

On what, I have no idea.

So in the end, science, reason and reality wins again, but as usual it is a pyrrhic victory because Christian Conservatives can never admit they are wrong, mistaken or just plain dumb.

So everything pretty much goes on the same as it was and the only person who ended up getting hurt in this who debacle is the guy who was actually telling the truth.

So on behalf of the 2% (that percentage of America that actually believes in truth and reason), I'd like to apologize to Michael Schaivo. Specifically we apologize that you live in a country where reason comes from Satan and truth is at best an annoyance and at most irrelevant. You did the right thing and your were proved right, even if nobody cares.

Warning: May Cause Idiocy.

2005-06-14T11:05:00.000-05:00

Well, thankfully, the Christians never seem to run out of stupid things to say and do - and today is no exception.

Not willing to simply openly discriminate against gays, now the Christians seem to want to have them wear warning labels:

"We put warning labels on cigarette packs because we know that smoking takes one to two years off the average life span, yet we 'celebrate' a lifestyle that we know spreads every kind of sexually transmitted disease and takes at least 20 years off the average life span according to the 2005 issue of the revered scientific journal Psychological Reports," Rev. Bill Banuchi, executive director of the New York Christian Coalition told the Mid Hudson News.

That "revered" scientific journal is not revered by scientists, who have described its' articles as "misleading and faulty." And of course, the study that they are quoting was conducted by a conservative anti-gay group. (hide your shock and awe)

Banuchi claims he didn't intend to say that gays should be labeled.

I love how these guys always get caught saying something openly racist, homophobic, hateful or otherwise and then talk about how they were misunderstood. The fact is that the first words out of people's mouths is usually how the ACTUALLY feel and the rest is political spin control depending on how much negative reaction they get. Whether it's kicking democrats out of church, advocating flushing the Koran, saying "I miss segregation" or any other dumb-ass comment routinely attributed to these types - that's what they actually mean.

So in the interest of fairness, let's make our own warning label to put on Conservative Christians:

Warning: This individual contains faulty logic, overzealous evangelism and inflexible beliefs. Mixing with others of different races, creeds, sexual orientation or political beliefs may cause a violent reaction. In case of accidental overdose immediately administer reason and critical thinking. DO NOT induce dogmatic vomiting! Do not use if you have a low IQ or low self-esteem as this individual is a known intellectual carcinogen. If you are pregnant or accidentally become pregnant and wish to make your own choices about you life and body - DO NOT USE THIS INDIVIDUAL! Side effects reported from exposure to this individual include upset stomach, eye rolling, anger, frustration and exasperation.

Sounds good to me.

You WILL be Assimilated.

2005-06-13T11:45:00.000-05:00

The religious community of Cabarrus County North Carolina is apparently tired of traditional brainwashing and hard sales for their product (Jesus) and have banded together as part of the Jesus Video Project America to distribute the "Jesus DVD" to every home in the county.

The project which has already distributed over 20,000,000 DVD's(I still haven't gotten one) is part of a nationwide interdenominational bid for global domination is on a crusade to bring everyone over to Christ.

Think of the money needed to produce and send out 20 million DVD's. This is a mass propaganda campaign of epic proportions. Now assuming this is probably not going to do much good, you'd probably wonder if this was going to add even more challenges to our landfill problems, but then I wonder if people would hold on to them out of fear of throwing away something about Jesus.

It would be worth it to go to www.jesusdvd.com and check out some of their highlights like the "How you can be sure you're a Christian" video. I also enjoyed the quote from Morpheus (of the Matrix) talking about the Matrix. I find this especially amusing because these guys obviously didn't get that the Matrix was a humanist manifesto.

I also enjoyed the part where all of the "historical" and "factual" information about Jesus was all taken from the bible.

Well if this doesn't outline the belief that they and ONLY they can be right about anything and you will conform one way or another, I don't know what does.

EVERYONE MUST BE CHRISTIAN, EVERYONE MUST BE AMERICAN, EVERYONE MUST BE REPUBLICAN.

Resistance is futile.

Away In A Manger.

2005-06-09T15:13:00.000-05:00

In a story that sounds more like a Nick Park film than real life, I bring you Tales of The Marauding Christians part 1 million and 2.*

*Thanks to a news tip from our buddy Ack.

Apparently the folks in Tulsa, OK didn't want to limit the teaching of fake science and history to the classroom, they took it to the Zoo.

That's right the poor oppressed Christians cried descrimination at the presence of a Hindu elephant statue representing Ganesh (the display showed the elephants use in art and culture and also includes the Republican Party elephant as well) and a marble globe with a Native American inscription. So as a result, the town voted (against the wishes of the Zoo itself) to add a display to the Zoo picturing God's creation of the world in 6 days and resting on the 7th as told in the book of Genesis - since this would balance everything out. I'm also quite sure that the Christian display will be the biggest and most expensive to show how holy they are.

I have so many problems with this that I don't even know where to begin, but I guess you have to start somewhere so here goes.

1. The Zoo is an living exhibit of science - creationism isn't science.
2. The Zoo is taxpayer-funded therefore, paying for the new exhibit violates separation of church and state.
3. If the Christian's are ever REALLY oppressed or descriminated against for REAL - I promise to actually go and help them, but since I have a better chance of being elected governor of Texas, I'm not sweating that one too much.
4. This now opens the door for every sect of every faith to complain and will they get THEIR own displays? I bet you a Gazillion dollars they won't. And what about the freethinking non-believers? Can we complain and have all of this shit removed? (see previous comment about becoming governor of Texas).

I have nothing but seething disdain for the no-balls bastards at the Zoo who put up exactly no fight in this case.

This is exactly the kind of thing that makes we want to become an activist, but since I would probably get fired from my job and given the fact that less than 2% of the entire country thinks for themselves and would agree with me, I not only would have an incredibly hard time raising any money, but I wouldn't really get much help. Plus I'd probably be immediately picked up by Bush's Praetorian Guard and shipped off to Gitmo.

I am now officially boycotting the entire state of Oklahoma.

We're #1 AGAIN!!

2005-06-08T16:26:00.000-05:00

Well we already knew that the U.S. was the dumbest country in the world, and we just found out that we are also the most religious, and now we find out that we're the craziest!

That's right folks in a comprehensive 28 Nation study of mental illness conducted by the University of Michigan, the United States ranks #1.

One-quarter of all Americans met the criteria for having a mental illness within the past year, and fully a quarter of those had a "serious" disorder that significantly disrupted their ability to function day to day, according to the largest and most detailed survey of the nation's mental health.

25% - it sure makes those religious numbers and Bush voters make a bit more sense now doesn't it?

It turns out that a good number of the folks who are in need of treatment for mental health disorders are mostly going to their priests and other spiritual advisors instead of mental health professionals.

Wow, I guess "pray about it" isn't quite as effective as cognitive-behavioral therapy - who'd have thunk it?

So we're a nation of monolingual, fascist, stupid, warmongering, mentally challenged, inflexible, evangelical religious zealots. Sounds like a great resume for a global superpower to me.

And you thought it couldn't get any worse... HA!

From a nuthouse deep inside the occupied territory, this has been The Rudicus Report.

What's It Going To Take?

2005-06-08T11:25:00.000-05:00

Remember back when all those energy industry people secretly met with Cheney in an "advisory capacity" Remember how folks were concerned that these companies might have an undue influence on U.S. energy policy? Remember how the Bush Administration is a corrupt patsy of corporate America?

Well along with the Downing Street Memo, we have yet another smoking gun for Bush and his pals. It turns out that Exxon/Mobil basically got the U.S. to pull out of the Kyoto Treaty on global warming. not only that, but White house officials were editing out and changing information regarding greenhouse gases and climate change AFTER the report was approved by scientists.

That's the Bush Administration for you. If you don't like the facts, make up your own. I guess intelligence was being "fixed around" the energy policy as well.

So what's it going to take? What's it going to take before people realize that these people are one of the most dangerous cabals ever to darken a governments doorstep. Already they are covered in the blood of every soldier they sent to die for a lie (that's all of them by the way) and now they are covered in oil in addition to being completely full of shit.

Now that the charges and evidence of corruption, manipulation and bald-faced lying are coming up just about everywhere - I think I know what's going to happen next. They'll repeal the amendment limiting a president to two terms and will re-elect Bush for life. That makes the most sense to me. Americans are like submissive masochists - the more they get hit, pissed on and abused, the more they like it.

Well at least his press conferences will be alot easier:

"President Bush, what do you think of ______________?"

"I don't know, let me go ask __________________(fill in name of corporation) what I think."

Hey Ava, do you have the number for the editorial department at La Monde?

Education = Indoctrination.

2005-06-07T15:04:00.000-05:00

There's nothing like good old wholsomeness to bring you closer to God. And apparently it can be taught - or at least mandated.

Here is an excerpt on student dress/conduct from Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC - you should definitely check out their site at www.bju.edu:

Student Expectations

Dress Code for Men

General Dress

Hair must be cut in a traditional, conservative style–not shaved, spiked, tangled, or shelved. It may not be colored or highlighted.
Sideburns should not extend past the middle of the ear. Men are expected to remain clean-shaven.
Necklaces, earrings, and bracelets are not permitted.
Hats may not be worn indoors except in the gym.
Men are not permitted to get tattoos or wear body piercings.

Abercrombie & Fitch and its subsidiary Hollister have shown an unusual degree of antagonism to the name of Christ and an unusual display of wickedness in their promotions. In protest, we will not allow articles displaying their logos to be worn, carried, or displayed (even if covered or masked in some way).

Morning Dress–dress shirt (no denim/chambray) with tie, dress or neat casual pants (no jeans, cargo, carpenter, or sloppy pants), dress or leather casual shoes; sweaters should show shirt collar and tie knot (no sweatshirts).

Afternoon Dress–collared shirt (no crew necks), neat casual pants, dress or casual shoes (no slides or sandals), socks above the ankle, sweatshirts or sweaters.

Sunday Dress–coat, tie, and dress shirt; dress shoes; dress or dressier casual pants.

Recreation and Work Dress–jeans, t-shirts, shorts at athletic facilities (not as spectators at sports events), sleeveless athletic shirts (indoor activities only), socks required (including at work).

Dress Code for Women

Classroom/general dress consists of a dress or top and skirt; however, pants may be worn for some recreational activities. Shorts may never be worn outside the residence halls and fitness center.

Tops

Tops must be long enough that the midriff is never exposed.
Sleeves are required. (Sleeveless tops and dresses may be worn with a blouse, jacket, or sweater.)
Necklines may come no lower than four fingers below the collarbone.

Skirts

Hemlines and slits or other openings should never come higher than the bottom of the knee.
Denim skirts may be worn for casual dress (not to class or other professional-type events).

Pants

Loose-fitting pants may be worn between women's residence halls, for athletic events, and to homes in the area.
Loose-fitting jeans may be worn between women's residence halls and when participating in activities where the durability of the fabric is important, such as skiing and ice-skating.

Ease

All dresses, skirts, pants, and shirts must be loose-fitting, having a minimum of three inches of ease at bust and hips.
An informal way to measure ease is to stand up straight and pinch the loose fabric on both sides of the hips or at the bust line. Without stretching the fabric, there should be at least a 3/4-inch fold of fabric on both sides.

Other

Sheer clothing may be worn only when the garment underneath conforms to normal dress regulations.
Hose must be worn for all professional-type activities including class, church, and recitals.
Combat boots, hiking boots, or shoes that give this appearance are not permitted.
Hairstyles should be neat, orderly, and feminine. Avoid cutting-edge fads and cuts so short that they take on a masculine look.
Students are not permitted to get tattoos. Excessive makeup is not permitted. Earrings may be worn only in the lobe of the ear (maximum of two matched sets). All other types of body piercings are prohibited.

I hope everyone realizes that if you went over and got the Taliban dress-code it woulnd't be too far off from this. It's nice to know we haven't lost our sense of oppression and fundementalist hysteria in this country. I hope none of these kids smoke reefer or listed to rock and roll.

I guess it warms my heart to know that I could never attend this university even if I tried - seeing as how I have tatoos, piercings, messy hair, use bad language, committ many sins and have a brain.

I find it especially ironic that a school is known as BJU is probably a haven for glossed over abstinent blond preppies - who am I kidding, these kids are probably boffing each other silly in between lines of coke - as long as they are cleaned and pressed in time for church. I wonder if the school folks and abstinence nazis realize that their policy of virginity has caused their little cupcake daughters to take up anal sex sex so they can stay virgins.

Onward Christian Robots!

Tell Us Somethig We Don't Know.

2005-06-06T14:34:00.000-05:00

I've been saying it for months, but now we finally have some hard proof. American is a nation of religious crazies.

A recent poll taken on religion and life in the following countries United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, South Korea and Spain ranked the U.S. as the #1 nation for religion (of the countries polled).

Here's the big highlight: 40% of Americans thinks that religious leaders should try to influence government decisions.

WOW! Now a word from a member of that 40%

"Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian policies and religious leaders have an obligation to speak out on public policy, otherwise they're wimps," said David Black, a retiree from Osborne, Pa.

I hate to break this one to you Dave, but this country was founded by athiests and agnostics who specifically kept religion and judeo-christian policies out of the mix until your freak friends started putting back in. Try a history book pardner - reading is fundemental.

Other fun tidbits include the percentage of people who believe relgion is an integral part of their life - 85%

And as expected the percentage of people who don't beleive in God - less than 2%

So as usual I'm in the 98th percentile again!

Well at least we're in good company:

"The United States is a much more religious country than other similar countries, looks a lot like what you call developing countries, like Mexico, Iran and Indonesia," said John Green, an expert on religion and politics at the University of Akron.

Of course we must give a shout out to Ava and Wicked, their country came in #2 (represent!). But basically we are on par with the same religious nuts that run the very countries we claim need to have regime change (I couln't agree more).

So when I said that this country was turning into the Taliban - guess I was right - AGAIN!

It's a shame when the mirror of hypocrisy is shined upon you, but I doubt they will notice since it is clearly overpowered by the blinding gaze of the allmighty.

All was not lost, some countries actually looked like they were rational-friendly. So where can a rationally minded freethinker like myself find a home free from religious intrusion?

You guessed it - my France!

Bon Jour Mis Amis!

*reporting courtesy of WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer

Did I Miss Something?

2005-06-06T10:22:00.000-05:00

Aren't the Republicans supposed to be the party of fiscal conservancy and small government? I guess that only applies to Corporations and not people.

It seems to me that the Republicans are actually turning into the Democrats these days. Instead of Tax and Spend Liberals, they've become Spend and Spend Conservatives. The only difference is that the money is not going to help citizens now, instead it's going to help businesses. And didn;t we just leave a time where we had a surplus (run by a Democrat) vs. the greatest defecit in history (run by a Republican). The World's Topsy Turvy!

So today, the Supreme Court ruled that people who smoke medically prescribed marijuana in their own state where it is legal to do so, can still be prosecuted for drug possession by the federal goverment. Not only is this about the dumbest thing ever, but it caps an unprecedented invasion into the lives of people by the government.

So in addition to this, we have the goverment deciding personal family decisions about life and death ranging from birth control to rights to die. In addition we are also seeing them getting involved in the private lives from obscenity to laws to trying to say who we can love and get married to.

Did I miss that somewhere? I liked the Republicans alot better when they stayed out of everything and just made money.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is a complete joke. I have no sympathy for any of these losers. While I agree with many of the ideals they claim to support, their party has become a drunken circle jerk. Not only can these morons not string together a cohesive policy statement no matter how hard they try, but they've got their own people criticizing their own leader, while the other half pretend to be Conservatives so they can get elected - maybe! On top of all that, they can't raise any money - and with good reason, they suck! I wouldn't give my money to them either because they can't get their shit together for long enough to do anything useful with it.

If the day comes that someone with money(George Soros this means you) gets enough balls to say enough is enough and forms a party that actually works, then I'll be the first one there to pin buttons on people. But that's not going to happen until people are more concerned about their country and planet than they are about getting elected and spewwing dogma. We'll call it the Common Sense Party. We need good domestic people (like some of the democrats) along with good foreign policy people (like some republicans - the ones who are not frothed over with crusading religous zeal). The party's motto is "We're here to run the country." If you want dogma go to church or school.

The purpose of the government is to make sure your country is doing well - that means people have jobs, quality of life, you have good trading partners, noone is oppressing you and your citizens can walk freely around their country without getting invaded, terrorized, robbed, irradiated, poisoned or otherwise f'd with. Now if your citizens routinely don't have any of those things and the primary cause of them not having them is their own government - then that's about as big a red flag as you can get.

What do you think?