Name It And Claim It

Here's a great article updating the progress of Sen. Grassley's investigation of several televangelists. I would add that even the ones who are cooperating, like Joyce Meyers, still operate under some very reprehensible practices and still rake in mountains of money (legally) from trusting, struggling believers.

Critics acknowledge the idea that God wants to bless his followers has a Biblical basis, but say prosperity preachers take verses out of context. The prosperity crowd also fails to acknowledge Biblical accounts that show God doesn't always reward faithful believers...

Uh, what about this critic, who says it's obviously all a load of swindler horseshit and that these mountebanks are preaching credulity and then reaping its rewards as they smugly grin asscheek to asscheek?

On the assassination of Benazir Bhutto

Counterterrorism Blog:
Analysis of the Bhutto Assassination

Benazir Bhutto’s assassination is a tragedy, and likely a strategic setback as well. It is tragic because, despite the notorious corruption of Bhutto’s administration, in many ways she represented the best that Pakistan has to offer. Bhutto boldly opposed the fundamentalists’ dark vision for Pakistan and was openly pro-West. After the unsuccessful attempt on Bhutto’s life in October, she called out by name the figures whom she believed were complicit.

Jihad Watch:
Bhutto "champion of moderate face of Islam"?

Calling Benazir Bhutto a moderate Muslim is one manifestation of what's wrong with the term, and how confusing and misleading it can be. Benazir Bhutto was indeed a Muslim, at least nominally, but when she was in power in Pakistan what she championed was a Western secularist, socialist vision, not an Islamic one by any stretch of the imagination. She did not, in other words, offer an alternative vision of Islam itself, shorn of its draconian and supremacist elements. She didn't offer or stand for an alternative understanding of the Qur'an and Sunnah that taught that Muslims should not wage war for Islam, subjugate unbelievers, or institute stoning and amputation and the rest. Rather, she essentially advocated that in some areas Islamic law should be set aside. That, along with her gender, is what aroused the ire of the Islamic leaders in Pakistan against her, as it has against Musharraf.

Andrew McCarthy @ NRO:
Benazir Bhutto: Killed by the real Pakistan.

There is the Pakistan of our fantasy. The burgeoning democracy in whose vanguard are judges and lawyers and human rights activists using the “rule of law” as a cudgel to bring down a military junta. In the fantasy, Bhutto, an attractive, American-educated socialist whose prominent family made common cause with Soviets and whose tenures were rife with corruption, was somehow the second coming of James Madison.

Then there is the real Pakistan: an enemy of the United States and the West.

Star Trek Holidays

This Festivus we've been enjoying the remastered first season of Star Trek. Reminds me of a recent boingboing post about the Women of Star Trek, which led me to a find a more informative site - Star Trek Women. Many more than I'd realized. We watched Court Martial this morning with prosecutor Lt. Areel Shaw.

It Better Not Hit Our Droids!

An asteroid has a 1 in 75 chance of hitting Mars on January 30.

Happy Festivus

Archbishop says nativity 'a legend'

The Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday that the Christmas story of the Three Wise Men was nothing but a 'legend'.

Dr Rowan Williams has claimed there was little evidence that the Magi even existed and there was certainly nothing to prove there were three of them or that they were kings.

He said the only reference to the wise men from the East was in Matthew's gospel and the details were very vague.

Dr Williams said: "Matthew's gospel says they are astrologers, wise men, priests from somewhere outside the Roman Empire, that's all we're really told. It works quite well as legend."

The True Meaning of Festivus

From WeTheRobots:

Engaging Discussion

The Richard Dawkins Foundation has posted two hours of discussion between Richard Dawkins, Dan Dennet, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris. It's like what we all do when we're together, just without bringing up horror movies, American history, pet eccentricities, scifi, hoi polloi sagas, political ennui, and Mallet anecdotes.

The DVD will be out January 7.

Oh, That's Why We Like Ron Paul (Kinda)

When asked about Huckabee's nauseating Christmas campaign ad, Ron Paul replied:

Well, I haven't thought about it completely, but you know, it reminds me of what Sinclair Lewis once said. He says, 'When fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag carrying a cross.'

Then he goes on about he's a Christian too, and that the whole ad was kinda tacky. At least he partly gets it.

Let's Put A Smile On That Face!

The new trailer for The Dark Knight is up here. I can't wait.

Battle of the Bulge

Atheism And Prejudice

Check out this post from PZ Meyers concerning a recent article reviewing a recent prejudice and religion study. The studies findings are probably what we would all expect, but the article's writer seems to think that the results are tragic in some way.

I guess it must be sad to some that non-religious people are less prejudice than the faithful among us.

Synthetic Biology makes me all tingly.

I love it when a scientists says, "The cat's out of the bag." It could be really cool or end in a fiery zombie holocaust - Synthetic DNA on the Brink of Yielding New Life Forms. I can't wait.

The Fruits of Procrastination

Cloverfield Trailer
(that cinema verite' Godzilla-type movie)


and

A geeky site we should probably be checking out regularly:
Great White Snark with posts like Reader Poll - What say you about the director of the Clash of the Titans remake?

I've always been a proponent, and now only moreso.

Pure nostalgia

VH1 video classics

Which Of These Is Not Like The Other?

1. nuclear weaponry
2. environmental destruction
3. gay marriage

According to Pope PanzerKraut I, they are ALL equal threats to world peace. The Vatican may be cleaner, but it's just as fucking sick, debase, superstitious, and dangerous as Sudan or Iran.

What an asshole.

Sad News

Terry Prachet has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's.

James Woods Space Telescope

The Hubble replacement is in the design phase. Looks like the mirrors for it ar ebeing made in Cullman. I'm not sure to be proud or to worry that it'll mess up. Oh well, anything that look for extra solar planets is OK in my book, just so long as they don't search for heaven.

The Manger Was Lit By Rudolph's Nose, You Know

From here.

Two of My Favorites

John Stossel interviews Ron Paul on Personal Freedoms - it will be interesting to see how many votes Ron Paul can actually get. He just sounds so reasonable. Even if he does have some personal views I disagree with, I can't imagaine he'd use the govt. to impose them. He has absolutely no chance...

Transparently Absurd

The Pope says that if you visit some dopey shrine your stint in purgatory will be shortened.

Catholic pilgrims who visit Lourdes from now through next year, which will mark the 150th anniversary of the miracle claim, will receive an "indulgence" from the Pope, which he says will speed the trip to heaven.

Who buys this bullshit? How about instead telling the third world that if you follow the Catholic church's policy against condoms, you're stint in purgatory will be sooner than you planned?

Best Cursing I've Read All Week

A document distributed to National League players in 1898.
(Link).

PRINCIPAL HIGH BUILDINGS OF THE OLD WORLD (via FARK)

World's Tallest Buildings Circa 1884

Double Good News?

Chavez goes down and we say Iran stopped its nuke program four years ago. Have we had news this good in a while? Now if only the dollar could rebound and we could find someone who would make a good president, we'd be in business.

Dino for Dinner

"Dinosaur Mummy" found with much of its tissues and bones still encased in an uncollapsed envelope of skin. Very cool.

Suffer The Little Children Pt 3

More disgusting news from the aggressively moral Christian right, one in our own state, whose clergy seem to like 15-year-old girls:

1. Mobile-area Pastor raped and sodomized a 15-year-old girl.
2. A Florida minister impregnated a 15-year-old girl.

I got both of these from PZ, and he states that he is listing these, and other, news stories to show that Christianity does not make you moral.

Religion doesn't make you bad, necessarily, but it sure doesn't make you good, either.

I don't completely agree. I think it's safe to assume that had these pastors and all those Catholic priests had a healthy view of sex and sexuality, as opposed to the Christian one, many of them would not be diddling children and teenagers. They wouldn't be operating churches, they would be operating sex clubs and sex shops for similar adults. In that case, I say some blame does lie with Christianity.

Even if you disagree, it's the added bonus of hypocrisy that gets me all giddy. I actually watch quite a bit of televangelist programming, and I frequently hear what they say is evil and amoral and what Jesus can do in your life if you follow his way. When I read these things, I feel nauseous as I chuckle.

Duncan Hunter Is An Asshole

From the Republican debate last night, when asked why the candidates think that American armed service members are not "professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians?"

And the reason for that, even though people point to the Israelis and point to the Brits and point to other people as having homosexuals serve, is that most Americans, most kids who leave that breakfast table and go out and serve in the military, make that corporate decision with their family, most of them are conservatives, and they have conservative values, and they have Judeo-Christian values. And to force those people to work in a small, tight unit with somebody who is openly homosexual, who goes against what they believe to be their principles -- and it is their principles -- is I think a disservice to them. And I agree with Colin Powell that it would be bad for unit cohesion.

What Hunter doesn't realize is that he might as well have said this:

Liberals, libertarians, moderates, and non-Jew/Christians are not patriots and don't serve in the military. Most of the people in the military are unprofessional, bigoted ignoramuses raised by insular, superstitious families; and these brave young men and women--who can handle guns and tanks and aircraft carriers--can't handle the gays. Having Judeo-Christian values or conservative values means that you can't work with or even be around open homosexuals on principle, and our primitive religion trumps any rational argument. Even having the filthy fags and dykes around is against Judeo-Christian principles and is a disservice to General Jesus. I'll drop Colin Powell's name, but don't reach down to pick it up: a homo might be behind you.

What's the difference, really?

Suffer The Little Children Pt 2

A Washington pastor raped little girls. Looks like 12, keeping with bible numerology.

Meanwhile, the followers of Cathol in PA are coughing up $3 million (that's pocket change to the papal cultists) for covering up molestations.

Jesus is Lord!

Suffer The Little Children

Crucifixes sold in US Christian book stores (gag) are made in a Dickensian Chinese sweatshop.

Truly, the poor are blessed:

Crucifixes are being made at the Junxingye Factory in Dongguan, China, by mostly young women — several just 15 and 16 years old — forced to work routine 14- to 15½-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 or 11:30 p.m., seven days a week. There are also frequent 17- to 18-hour shifts ending at 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. and even monthly all-night 22½- to 25-hour shifts before shipments must leave for the U.S. All overtime is mandatory, and anyone missing even a single overtime shift will be docked a full day’s wages. It is common for the workers to be at the factory at least 100 hours a week.

"Workers are paid just 26½ cents an hour, which is half of China’s legal minimum wage (already set at a below-subsistence level) of 55 cents an hour. After fees deducted for room and board, the workers take-home wage can drop to just nine cents an hour.

Hooray Magic Jesus!

Cowardice

Looks like CNN can write a whole piece on the current French riots without saying anything of value. Nowhere in the article are the two most obvious questions addressed in a journalistic manner:

1. Who's rioting?
2. Why?

However, if you're clever enough to notice a certain phrase repeated twice, like the clumsy obfuscations of a bad liar, you can figure it out.

"sons of African immigrants," "two men of North African descent"

Just say it CNN, for fucks sake! It's Muslim immigrants, and they are rioting against the police because they don't recognize French authoritah, especially the police.

I smell the piss-soaked pants of infotainers. Can someone find me a journalist?

Lotion Makes You Slippery

Funniest cutewithchris yet.

Halo 3: Homophobia Evolved

Funny or tragic? Hmmm...

Libertarians Among Us

Matt Welch & Nick Gillespie of Reason magazine make hopeful noises about the libertarian movement that is coalescing around Ron Paul, despite his faults, and what they (and we) hope it means - in the Washington Post, of all places.

One of our Pantheon

Teller's magical Vegas retreat
and
pictures.

One Of The Better Ones

This afternoon, I was bored of packing, working, and sitting around mostly full boxes. So, I went to the movie theater. I hate going to the movies, but boredom forced my hand. I set out to see Beowulf, but instead ended up in The Mist.

It wasn't great, but just pretty good. The acting and directing was great (especially Marcia Gay Harden's spot-on performance as the religious freak). The plot was nothing you haven't seen before: people trapped in chaos--NOTLD, The Thing, etc. It was scary enough and compelling enough to keep me on edge and interested. The CGI was brilliant and totally seamless, in the end providing some surrealist, almost wonder-inspiring moments of Lovecraftian terror. And Darabont just barely pulled off the ending.

The best part: Darabont cranked up the anti-religious aspect of the story to 11. And then some. Even in a mostly empty theater in Alabama, people cheered, really cheered, against Harden's unhinged, vainglorious Christer character who wanted human sacrifices over solutions. The idea that a religious fanatic can eventually control a majority of a given population under stress rang true, and it became the focal point of the plot.

The movie was depressing, as almost all films of this sort are, so don't go in expecting to walk out feeling better. And there were some cliched characters and moments, not to mention several rather obvious plot holes. However, it was certainly one of the better Stephen King movies and would be worth a DVD rental in a few months.

Sarkozy Wins Strike

Are the French getting it?

Weird and Strangely Compelling

The Federation of Damanhur is an 'artistic' community in the Piedmont of Italy that secretly built underground temples, established their own currency and has gone global.
In the Daily Mail, at damanhur.info, & thetemples.org.

People are strange.

Coming soon to GateTree House...

... a voracious, sedentary frog that has teeth, can weigh up to 8 pounds, and can scream. I give you Ceratophrys cranwelli, Cranwell's Horned Frog.

I shall name him Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin for short), & acquire him December 4th. I think you'll like him, Clyde.

If You Can Do It, Do It Seriusly

I used part of my relocation budget to buy a Serius satelite radio thing. I LOVE it. Punk, alternative rock, Martha Stewart, Howard Stern, an entire gay channel, NPR, raunchy comedy, and the BBC...will I ever be bored in my car anymore?

I doubt it. Today I had to choose between Frank DeCapo, Sublime, and The Bouncing Souls. All hail our space-based entertainers!

Hitchens On Romney

Neil tried to sneak in the "you're an atheist, so..." argument. He failed.

I [Heart] Neil deGrasse Tyson

While I may disagree with him about some aspects of atheism/science and how to promote both, Neil deGrasse Tyson is simply the greatest spokesperson for space science and our greatest NASA advocate. This podcast is touching, cogent, controversial, and inspiring. Hear it out.

He is often compared to the late Carl Sagan, his mentor. He should be.

This is the New Stuff

Six products that sound like science fiction that I'll be keeping an eye on - including Machines that Fix Themselves: Six Ideas That Will Change the World (in Esquire, of all places). (More scientists).

Tainted Degrees, Tainted Jets, and Mysterious Debt

Here's another article about Oral Roberts University's troubles. What did I learn?

1. Before the scandal, young adults were tricked into thinking that an ORU degree would not be "tainted," but NOW they're worried.
2. The chairman of the ORU board of regents is the son-in-law of the absurd faith-healing con chump Kenneth Copeland. Mr. Copeland is famous for having a palatial estate/megachurch that includes its own airstrip for both his and his wife's private jets (they have one each, naturally) and the ministry's other planes. The family has a history of financial shadiness. From Wikipedia: The Copeland's financial records are not publicly available and a list of the Board of Directors is not available...
3. ORU is more than $50 million in the hole. That's like almost 3 Cessna Citation Xs, right Kenneth?
   

Adama Thinks The Gays Are Cool

Jamie Bamber will be in a GLAAD PSA during BSG: Razor. The gays are thrilled.

Keep 'Em Coming, Zombie Worshipers

More Christian hypocrisy, this time the "moral" preacher's third(?) sex scandal. And add some Clintonian perjury to it.

I'll take dissimulation for $1,000 Alex!

It seems, perhaps, that no news is good news.

The distinct lack of news from Iraq and an apparently improving situation: 'Good News from Iraq' by our man Hitchens in Slate, It's true: Iraq is a quagmire (for Al-Qaida) is a really good piece. And it must be true that things are getting better because Newsweek and the NYT have chimed in.

NOVA's "Judgement Day" Online

You can watch it here. I thought it was excellently done. However, I was horrified that the WORST thing anybody in Dover could be called or be considered is an atheist. Haven't these people heard of Mormons?

And Bill Buckingham comes off as everything you would expect him to: a belligerently superstitious, ignorant, obdurate ex-junkie reprobate. He is a credit to his religion...

Where IS My Squid?

Clyde, this one's for you...

John Scalzi - writer, blogger, Hugo nominee for Old Man's War - went to one of you favorite places on Earth, and ripped it a new one : Your Creation Museum Report.

less government, lower taxes, and more freedom

Anymore, "That's just crazy talk."
I miss Dick Armey - Why I Think Hillary Will Win.
His leaving Congress may be the biggest reason spending has gone hog wild.

May Hit Too Close To Home

From Hitchens' introduction:

...owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are a god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are god. (Cats may sometimes share the cold entrails of a kill with you, but this is just what a god might do if he was [sic] in a good mood.)

We love you despite your solipsistic tendencies Mrs. Doyle! And no Horace, we are not gods.

And we respect and enjoy Mr. Hitchens' work despite his inability to get the subjunctive tense right in this case. Note to writer: fire your editor.

You're Not The Boss Of Tigerbot Hesh, Bitch

I had the great pleasure of going to an MC Chris concert tonight at the Zydeco. Unlike the first time I saw him, this time the crowd was all geeks who totally got it. The show was a lot of fun; go see him live if you can.

I haven't witnessed that much geek solidarity (and geek talent) since my first TMBG show back in the early 90s. It must be beheld to be believed.

Buy his CDs if you want to stay cool.

And give it up for the Tussin!

Arguing with a Latin Flair

A useful reference for all us argumentative troublemakers:
The Skeptics Guide to the Universe Presents our Top 20 Logical Fallacies
Site headed by a great Carl Sagan quote: "For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."

Chances of Living Forever: Just Went Up

and not in some goofy spiritual way:
Scientists Make Monkey Cloning Breakthrough.

It's Out!

The Portable Atheist is on the shelves. The introduction by Hitchens is here. I especially liked the end, regarding the replacement of the study of religious texts with a study of literature:

And who, really, will turn away from George Eliot and James Joyce and Joseph Conrad in order to rescrutinize the bare and narrow and constipated and fearful world of Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and Osama bin Laden?

Brilliant!

Ed. note: I just acquired my copy, and what is printed in USA Today is, as I suspected, just a part of Mr. Hitchens' introduction. In addition, it does contain--to my delight--a letter from H.P. Lovecraft, our patron saint of horror/scifi geekdom.

When Will Republicans Learn That The Religious Right Is Not That Powerful?

It can be a good thing when your state, in this case Kentucky, elects a Democratic governor. Especially when the Republican incumbent:

1. is a huge supporter of creationism, and of the laughable "Creationist Museum" built in his own state.
2. tried to get support by displaying Yahweh's top ten no-no's in the state capitol.
3. tried to get votes by "smearing the queer," namely doing robo-calls stating that his opponent would turn Kentucky into San Francisco (the horrors) by supporting gay causes.

Good riddance, asshole.

Could Horace have gout?

Gout-aware.com:

Canine Gout can appear as lesions and ulcerations and can also be linked to animal diabetes and kidney disease.

This is also similar to Human Gout in the fact that it can be genetically passed down in the breed.

This form of Gout appears in mainly large breeds of dogs such as : ... Labrador retrievers

Canine Gout appears mainly in the paws and toes, but can also appear in the elbows, the neck area and even on the tongue. It is most common on the hind feet.

Calcinosis Cutis, Calcium Circumscripta, or Canine Gout
by Fred Lanting

The subject ailment is an imbalance in mineral assimilation resulting in abnormal deposits, sometimes between bones, often in layers of the skin or integument. Calcium deposits in the skin can be the result of injury, of metabolic changes, or of unknown factors. Since mineralization (calcium deposits) in skin can occur in a wide variety of unrelated diseases, a common thread among them is not easy to establish. One form of the condition is related to, or could be an early indication of, a canine version of the disorder which in humans is called Cushing's Disease, although many dogs will never develop the distended abdomen, susceptibility to hematomas and bruising, or over-pigmented, sparsely-coated skin. Indeed, that may be a sufficiently different disorder that it should be classified as a separate variety of hyperadrenocorticism or hyperglucocorticoidism.

Journal of Veterinary Medicine Calcinosis Circumscripta in the Dog: A Retrospective Pathological Study

Summary

Calcinosis circumscripta is an uncommon syndrome of ectopic idiopathic, dystrophic, metastatic or iatrogenic mineralization characterized by deposition of calcium salts in soft tissues. This paper is a retrospective study of 77 canine cases. The age of dogs in the study varied from 4 months to 15 .... Several pure and mixed, typically large breed dogs were affected so that 28.6, 13 and 9% were German Shepherd, Rottweiler and Labrador Retriever respectively. The size of lesions varied from 2 mm to 13 cm in diameter but most lesions were between 0.5 cm and 3 cm in diameter. Lesions were solitary in 82% of the affected dogs, and occurred most commonly on the hind feet (50%) and tongue (23%). With multiple lesions there was no apparent body symmetry.

Bill O'Reilly Is An Odious Bigot

You got it, Keith.

Planet of the Apes Toy Commercials

#3 may be the best toy commercial evar.

See What Tax Exempt Gets You

It's About Time

The Senate, led by Republican Charles Grassley, is investigating several televangelists.

Because they have tax status as churches, the ministries do not have to file IRS 990 forms like other non-profit organizations - leaving much financial information largely behind closed doors.

You mean like how they all have private jets, palatial estates, and expensive cars: and those are all paid for by the "ministry," and do not come out of salary? I'm sure that most of these organizations do follow the letter of the law, but the government should demand that ANYONE who is tax exempt be totally transparent with their finances. These hucksters are fattening up in a loop-hole.

Joel and the Bots are back!

http://www.cinematictitanic.com/

They made me watch this

Review at Brains on Film
at IMDb
More

We Weren't Supposed To Even Show Up

My Alabama got beat by LSU. They won, we lost. But not easily, and not next time.

If we're this good with what we have now, fear us next season. And may all your gods help you in 2011: superstitious supplications may be your only hope.

I didn't even expect us to be ranked this year, let alone beat Arkansas and Tennessee. The Iron Bowl will be a Pepto-chugger, but it's ours to lose.

At least we didn't play sloppy punk football like our adversaries. How does a team with that many penalties win? Note to LSU: you won't win the national championship. All your dreams are dead...

Real "Horrorshow" as Little Alex would say.

Since we're listing: RottenTomatoes's 50 Best-Reviewed Horror Movies

Just in Time for Halloween

Something Really Scary:
University of Delaware Requires Students to Undergo Ideological Reeducation

Since We All Love A List

QUEERS FOR FEARS AT AFTERELTON.COM
Video sent by sarahwarn

The CampBlood crew goes over some of their favorite campy horror movies.

My Church Sign Contribution

I didn't start it.

Another treasured childhood memory (not to mention actual American hero) ruined by idiots

G.I. Joe was just a toy, wasn't he?

Hollywood now proposes that in a new live-action movie based on the G.I. Joe toy line, Joe's -- well, "G.I." -- identity needs to be replaced by membership in an "international force based in Brussels." The IGN Entertainment news site reports Paramount is considering replacing our "real American hero" with "Action Man," member of an "international operations team."

Paramount will simply turn Joe's name into an acronym.

The show biz newspaper Variety reports: "G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer."

Well, thank goodness the villain -- no need to offend anyone by making our villains Arabs, Muslims, or foreign dictators of any stripe these days, though apparently Presbyterians who talk like Scottie on "Star Trek" are still OK -- is a double-crossing arms dealer. Otherwise one might be tempted to conclude the geniuses at Paramount believe arms dealing itself is evil.

....

Well, who cares. G.I. Joe is just a toy, right? He was never real. Right?

On Nov. 15, 2003, an 85-year-old retired Marine Corps colonel died of congestive heart failure at his home in La Quinta, Calif., southeast of Palm Springs. He was a combat veteran of World War II. His name was Mitchell Paige.

Read it all @ the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

IMDb: G.I. Joe (2009)

Three More Days 'Till Halloween!

I couldn't help myself.

I'm Like Hosea And Shit

Ok, maybe I'm not really a prophet, even a minor one. And Yahweh didn't command me to marry a hooker named Gomer as a lesson to Israel to stop whoring about with other gods. But my prophesy did come true: Oral Roberts is blaming Mr. Oogie Boogie for his University's problems.

A noted U.S. televangelist returned to his namesake university Monday and denied accusations of lavish spending by school officials and illegal involvement in a political campaign, telling students and employees in a chapel service that "the devil is not going to steal ORU."

Why Beelzebub wants his dumpy "university," with it's aggressively tacky prayer tower and "big hands making a vagina" monument, is beyond me. But I don't question Our Dark Master, I only do his unholy bidding...

Buzz Is Back

After a disturbingly long break(down?), Buzz is posting again at my favorite horror blog, CampBlood. And since it's getting close to Halloween, it's time again to watch the gayest horror movie ever: A Nightmare On Elm Street 2.

Gotta Light?

All the Tobacco in China - a paean to Chinese smoke in the Wall Street Journal. Oddly compelling.

Naughty, naughty Syria

Photos show cleansing of suspect Syrian site

New commercial satellite photos show that a Syrian site believed to have been attacked by Israel last month no longer bears any obvious traces of what some analysts said appeared to have been a partly built nuclear reactor.

Two photos, taken Wednesday from space by rival companies, show the site near the Euphrates River to have been wiped clean since August, when imagery showed a tall square building there measuring about 150 feet on a side.

The Syrians reported an attack by Israel in early September; the Israelis have not confirmed that. Senior Syrian officials continue to deny that a nuclear reactor was under construction, insisting that Israel hit a largely empty military warehouse.

Read it all @ the International Herald Tribune.

Alabama Stomped Tennessee!

And we were able to relax during the fourth quarter. That hasn't happened since Thor was a toddler, thumpin' his plastic hammer on a Hasbro "Nordic Play-Deity Smiter" toy.

The SEC is a shitstorm of insanity. It's turned into a fuck-all, bitch-slapping maelstrom of fun and pain. The Iron Bowl will be so white-hot nuclear you could vaporize a Jap with it!

The way it should be...

P.S. Go Vande!

Everywhere Kiss Me!

In case you wondered what the best band recording now was, check out the Yeah Yeah Yeah's new EP. It's like a bunch of shit you liked way back when, only different and better.

Let the troublemaking commence.

Church sign generator.

I am the Lawgiver!

Funny, lame, silly, geek pandering. I think I like geek pandering.

More Oral Roberts University Fun

A new court petition was filed pertaining to the case I posted about earlier. In it is the claim that:

Mrs. Roberts spent the night in the university's guest house with an underage male on 9 separate occasions.

It states there are 29 photos of Mrs. Roberts and the underage male alone in her sports car after city-wide curfew

Looks like Mrs. Roberts got her groove back. But of course the University is taking this whole thing in stride, counting on their faith and high moral values to get them through this adversity.

It also says three days after the original lawsuit was filed, ORU and Roberts terminated ORU's financial comptroller.

Then it states witnesses have reported that voluminous materials and documents were shredded and destroyed.

Or not. At least they don't have any sexual deviants on staff to worry about.

It claims Roberts and the board gave a convicted sexual deviant unrestricted access to the students of the university as a "mentor."

Where's that 900-foot Jesus when you need him?

Doug Stanhope On God

Haul Of The Kraken

You can find the strangest things walking around Southside. More info here, oddly.

Preview Of Nova's ID Program

This should be good.

Shaun Of The Engine Room

Simon Pegg is to play Scotty in the new Star Trek movie.

Stand Up For Ayaan!

From the LA Times, by Sam Harris and Salman Rushdie.

You know Hitchens wouldn't keep his scotch-hole closed about it.

And even the Canadians get involved: from The National Post, by David Frum.

A petition to the US government to offer her protection is here. I signed.

Truly Creepy American History You May Not Know

St. Eugenius has got me reading The Devil in the White City, which chronicles the 1893 Chicago World's Fair through the stories of the architect who oversaw its creation, and the serial killer who built the World's Fair Hotel (and its gas chamber and crematorium). Incredible stuff. And it's true.

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

H. H. Holmes: A Documentary Film by John Borowski

THE MURDER CASTLE OF H.H. HOLMES

The Castle

I Wouldn't Take A Dip In That Baptismal Pool If I Were You

A minister in Montgomery, AL was recently found dead of "accidental mechanical asphyxia."

The Smoking Gun dug a little deeper. You ready for what he was found wearing?

• a diving wet suit
• a face mask
• rubberized head mask
• a second (!) rubberized suit, with suspenders (naturally)
  
• rubberized male underwear (at least he wasn't a transvestite, I guess)
• diving gloves and diving slippers
• numerous restraining straps and cords
• a leather belt
• hands bound in back, tied to the feet with nylon tied to leather straps
• plastic cords around the hands and feet, extending to and surrounding the neck
• a dildo covered with a condom (at least he played safe?)
  

He's a graduate of Liberty University. I wonder if he took a diving class there?

Apparently there's a place boxing still matters.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is observing an "undeclared" nationwide ceasefire with all rebel groups - link and results.

It's Official: I'm Eames

The new season of Law and Order: Criminal Intent started Thursday. I'm not happy with the new cheesy soundtrack or the new cheesy editing, but the story was pretty good. We'll see how Logan's next new partner holds up: I'm still holding out for a Wheeler return (Julianne Nicholson went on maternity leave). But her replacement, who will make her debut this Thursday on USA, is played by none other than "For he is the Kwisatz Haderach!" Alicia Witt.


The USA website has a quiz you can take that determines who your best partner would be. Since Goren was mine, that makes me Eames. Given that I just saw an episode where she ordered a vodka martini double, light on the vermouth (plus given her strict methodology and acerbic humor), I'm not surprised. I would also add: that bitch shoots people!

Vincent D'Onofrio was hired for 7 seasons, so this is it. Depending on the ratings, the show will go on with Logan and [insert partner here] plus a new detective team (possibly with Eames).

The question is, will Goren go down with a final appearance of arch-nemesis Nicole Wallace, total Sherlock Holmes style?

Thomas Jefferson On The Declaration

I found this recently, written by Jefferson 50 years after the Declaration of Independence. I particularly like this part:

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.

Monkish ignorance and superstition? God gracing spurred and booted tyrants? Science as a light? No politician would dare say such things today.

How About A Shave?

My other blog informs me that there is a Sweeney Todd trailer up. It looks brilliant.

Moral Oral?

Another Christian fundie scandal? Controversy surrounding Oral Roberts Ministry? How could that be: one can only be truly moral through Christ right? Right?

Right....

Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay.

She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as "underage males."

I'm sure the trip to the Bahamas was for missionary work, ahem, and that Mrs. Roberts was texting bible verses and prayers to a devoutly celibate teenage male youth group. These accusations are clearly satanically inspired, and their activities are just being "taken out of context" by the "liberal secular media." One doesn't need to be an Old Testament prophet to see that coming!

This article fails to raise a more serious question though: should we really consider a man named Oral who named his son Dick as a decent, moral, sane, and competent human being? I mean, fuck me Jesus with a chainsaw, if that doesn't clue you in, what would? Is the granddaughter named Clitty? I wouldn't trust someone like that to find his own asshole, much less wipe it. And when he claims to be a man who has discussions with an invisible deity...

And we really should be questioning the judgment of any parent who would send their child to a"university" founded by an uneducated huckster who claims to have seen a 900-foot tall Jesus, to have raised the dead, and to have been directly threatened by "godfather" Yahweh to come up with $8 million "or else."

Colleagues fear for the reputation of the university and the future of the Roberts' ministry

The school's reputation, as it were, should stand firm: it's a petty scam run by superstitious fools and Machiavellian theocrats. As for his ministry, what future did it have? He's almost 90 years old, the ministry has been embroiled in scandal before, his claims are "Joseph Smith" ridiculous, most Americans think he is a complete joke (if they know he is alive at all), and yet he still has monetary supporters and "colleagues."

Credulity truly works wonders.

International Cephalopod Awareness Day

For obvious reasons, Monday, October 8, is International Cephalopod Awareness Day. So feed your inner squid and have a nice plate of calamari. Don't feel bad: squid and octopi are cannibals.

The Outsiders

A new Barna study finds:

• young non-Christian Americans do not view Christianity favorably
• the number of young non-Christian Americans is growing significantly
• young Christian Americans have noticed and are concerned about the perception of Christianity as decidedly un-Christian.
  

I don't know what they expected, but I'm not surprised. The rise of governmental influence by the childish theocratic Christian right; the ridiculous eschatology hoaxes brought on by Y2k (and then egged on by 9/11); vicious, hysterical campaigns such as Terry Schiavo, "smear the queer" anti-gay marriage initiatives, and the "war on Christmas;" and the embarrassing rich hypocrisy of so many evangelical leaders...hell, most of the Christians I know have a negative opinion of Christianity.

Half of young churchgoers said they perceive Christianity to be judgmental, hypocritical, and too political. One-third said it was old-fashioned and out of touch with reality.

Dur-hey! Let's hope they grow up to be vociferous Christian secularists, unlike their wishy-washy moderate Christian elders who sit silently in their pews and let contemptible fundie trash act as their spokesholes.

A Death in the Family

Having volunteered for Iraq, Mark Daily was killed in January by an I.E.D. Dismayed to learn that his pro-war articles helped persuade Daily to enlist, the author measures his words against a family's grief and a young man's sacrifice. by Christopher Hitchens.

Imagine the arguments over everything else.

Update: Okay, it's clearly right up our alley when two of us post the dang thing. - mr

It's bad when the socialists and The League of the South agree - Secessionists meet in Tennessee - plus a Dr. Hill sighting.

Hartfordites, Nullies, and dirty Secesh (see bottom for my take)

Secessionists meeting in Tennessee
By BILL POOVEY, Associated Press WriterWed Oct 3, 3:15 AM ET
In an unlikely marriage of desire to secede from the United States, two advocacy groups from opposite political traditions — New England and the South — are sitting down to talk.
Tired of foreign wars and what they consider right-wing courts, the Middlebury Institute wants liberal states like Vermont to be able to secede peacefully.
That sounds just fine to the League of the South, a conservative group that refuses to give up on Southern independence.
"We believe that an independent South, or Hawaii, Alaska, or Vermont would be better able to serve the interest of everybody, regardless of race or ethnicity," said Michael Hill of Killen, Ala., president of the League of the South.
Separated by hundreds of miles and divergent political philosophies, the Middlebury Institute and the League of the South are hosting a two-day Secessionist Convention starting Wednesday in Chattanooga.
They expect to attract supporters from California, Alaska and Hawaii, inviting anyone who wants to dissolve the Union so states can save themselves from an overbearing federal government.
If allowed to go their own way, New Englanders "probably would allow abortion and have gun control," Hill said, while Southerners "would probably crack down on illegal immigration harder than it is being now."
The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly prohibit secession, but few people think it is politically viable.
Vermont, one of the nation's most liberal states, has become a hotbed for liberal secessionists, a fringe movement that gained new traction because of the Iraq war, rising oil prices and the formation of several pro-secession groups.
Thomas Naylor, the founder of one of those groups, the Second Vermont Republic, said the friendly relationship with the League of the South doesn't mean everyone shares all the same beliefs.
But Naylor, a retired Duke University professor, said the League of the South shares his group's opposition to the federal government and the need to pursue secession.
"It doesn't matter if our next president is Condoleeza (Rice) or Hillary (Clinton), it is going to be grim," said Naylor, adding that there are secessionist movements in more than 25 states, including Hawaii, Alaska, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Texas.
The Middlebury Institute, based in Cold Spring, N.Y., was started in 2005. Its followers, disillusioned by the Iraq war and federal imperialism, share the idea of states becoming independent republics. They contend their movement is growing.
The first North American Separatist Convention was held last fall in Vermont, which, unlike most Southern states, supports civil unions. Voters there elected a socialist to the U.S. Senate.
Middlebury director Kirpatrick Sale said Hill offered to sponsor the second secessionist convention, but the co-sponsor arrangement was intended to show that "the folks up north regard you as legitimate colleagues."
"It bothers me that people have wrongly declared them to be racists," Sale said.
The League of the South says it is not racist, but proudly displays a Confederate Battle Flag on its banner.
Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, which monitors hate groups, said the League of the South "has been on our list close to a decade."
"What is remarkable and really astounding about this situation is we see people and institutions who are supposedly on the progressive left rubbing shoulders with bona fide white supremacists," Potok said.
Sale said the League of the South "has not done or said anything racist in its 14 years of existence," and that the Southern Poverty Law Center is not credible.
"They call everybody racists," Sale said. "There are, no doubt, racists in the League of the South, and there are, no doubt, racists everywhere."
Harry Watson, director of the Center For the Study of the American South and a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said it was a surprise to see The Middlebury Institute conferring with the League of the South, "an organization that's associated with a cause that many of us associate with the preservation of slavery."
He said the unlikely partnering "represents the far left and far right of American politics coming together."


To quote the Hero of New Orleans; "Our Federal Union. It must be preserved." This is what happens when crazies from both ends of the spectrum get together: bad ideas. Also, the article mentions neither the Proclamation on the Ordinance of Nullification nor Texas v. White. In short, screw all of these people. If I had the time I would go up there and protest.
A good number of Americans (John & John Qunicy Adams being the most vociferous, not to mention some rail-splitter) drove against this kind of thing becasue they didn't want America to be like Europe: a bunch a petty states that had a very long track record of almost constant war. I really don't want to have to learn the lessons of factionalism all over again here. How long would it be before Vermont liberals and Alabama conservatives would "declare war" on each other with their new states? I know it sounds alarmist but I would bet my life it would happen at some point, and right soon. We already have something to ameliorte the prefrences of people spread out over a million square miles: THE CONSTITUTION

Sam Clemens' Corpse Cracks A Smile...

...at this, which made me hurt so hard with laughter that I thought of the old coot. The Daily Show may be liberal, but it is so very, very, very rich.

I [Heart] Hubble

From Bad Astronomy, before and after the Hubble telescope's fixes. What will we do when it's gone?

The Truth Hurts

That Christian Charity Just Keeps On Giving

More on the military atheist lawsuit here, although you will not be pleased. Take this excerpt, which has so many things wrong with it I don't know just how sick to be.

Some postings on military-related blogs have been critical of Hall, with some people wondering how atheists can claim religious freedom if they practice no sanctioned faith.

What in the hell is a "sanctioned faith?" Who gets to "sanction" them? Do I get to vote for this office?

Who Would Jesus Frag?

I'm a little less ticked at Bowden

The Tide that Binds

New Nukes

Wow.
NRG Energy Submits Application for New 2,700 Megawatt Nuclear Plant in South Texas

Made aware of this story at Counterterrorism Blog*

How Alexis Debat managed to cheat everyone in Washington
Par Rue89 15H40 15/09/2007

For years, this "expert" managed to fool think tanks and media despite flashing warning signals.

How could someone, in the age of the Internet, manage to fake interviews with world leaders without being caught, while working for the famous investigative unit of one of the biggest American television networks?

Broken by Rue89, the affair of the mythomaniac analyst is causing a stir in the United States. How did Alexis Debat, a self-proclaimed expert on terrorism, manage to build such a career for himself --as a regular contributor to the foreign affairs reviews Politique Internationale and National Interest, as a consultant for ABC News and an analyst of the prestigious Nixon Center attending conferences with the cream of the crop of American foreign policy circles?

M. Debat

Read it all at Rue89.

*Removal of Content
In light of the ongoing investigations into allegations that Alexis Debat has fabricated news stories, the Counterterrorism Blog has removed his contributions on the site, pending the outcome of the current controversies.
--The Counterterrorism Blog Editors

We're Not The Crazy Ones!

Bill Maher nails why "rationalists" should have a personal (vs. constitutional) religious test.

It's funny because it's true.

Cool lettering book online

A series of links about a 1923 edition of P's and Q's - A Book on the Art of Letter Arrangement, by Sallie B. Tannahill.:
boingboing article, graphicology blog article, the book for sale online, flickrstream of book pages.

Spit Up And Slap My Ass Raw

A revelation from a member of my other blog: The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan. The grossest food I've seen since I got this.