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.

Christian Charity, Religious Freedom, And Atheists In Foxholes

Atheists in the military sue the Pentagon over several disturbing incidents. I guess they're fighting for other people's religious freedom, so long as other people aren't godless heathens.

Right-wing Christians love to say they are the persecuted ones, and they love to say they're just trying to publicly testify their beliefs and show their faith. But in action, fundie Christians are just insecure tribal bullies with extremely fragile faith, so fragile they need their mysticism institutionalized to feel secure.

Let's hope a fair judge strikes down this form of socialized evangelism.

Clyde, you'd better find someone who can crochet, and fast....

Pattern 4-pack - Cephalopods and Corals

Description
4 undersea crochet patterns in pdf format, all designed for a G hook and worsted weight yarn, written out in plain English, and emailed to you within 24 hours of your payment!

Separately, the patterns would cost $14 - but by purchasing together, you can save $3. As always, I will be happy to answer all your questions you might have while making the patterns over email or Etsy conversation.

Please note, the patterns are all designed to be worked in one set of loops only (the "back" ones, or the ones toward the outside of the work as it progresses in the spiral). See descriptions for the separate items below.

You'll Dance To Anything...

I know what will be featured on VH1's "I Love The Aughts" in 3 years. France's new dance craze: Tecktonik. It's like older kinds of dancing, only stupider.

So how long before late-night television is filled with "lose over 80 pounds in 3 days with a new weight loss revolution: tecktonik!" It looks so fun, it's hardly like exercise at all! And it comes with a diet book!

France should stick to food and booze. And aircraft carriers. Dancing should not look like an anime kung fu battle with your inner demons. That's what psychopharmaceuticals and Pernod are for.

Just stay with it.

glumbert - The Atheist Delusion

Pandas' Thumbs Evolved...

...and so does Panda's Thumb the blog. Check out their new shiny website, where intelligent designers admonish the hoax of intelligent design.

Get It Right Or Else

The Only Thing To Watch In The Morning:

Joe Scarborough on MSNBC. Today he wore a tie (he usually doesn't): it was crimson and white. He chastised his co-hosts for their lack of Bama pride (they were confused). He was at the game Saturday and declared it one of the greatest events in history. When his cohosts voiced skepticism, he showed footage of the game.

You won't get that on Fox and F[r]iends.

Almost more than I could bear.

Saban let the defense know what he expected
after they'd let Arkansas back in it.

The stadium was a loud as any Alabama game I've ever seen (except maybe the last National Championship). I sat with Billy R. (and traveled with Mendez & Mandy) and we were like children of the Depression, even up by 21, and we waited for hard times to come. Four years of disappointment made us uneasy, and seemingly with good reason after they took the lead late. On the last drive we just kept waiting for the disaster. When we pulled it off and won, the hole the last coach made in my stomach was finally gone for good. We won't be perfect, but we won't be the sort of team we've been for most of the last 10 years; We'll be a team that knows what it takes to win.
AL.com, T-News, Polls

The Bolivarian Revolution Has Won Me Over

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan officials claimed a world record Saturday for the world's largest pot of soup, a giant cauldron of stew prepared by President Hugo Chavez's government.

The hulking stainless steel cooking pot, set up outdoors in downtown Caracas, contained about 15,000 litres of "sancocho" stew, Food Minister Rafael Oropeza said. That would dwarf the current record-holder listed on the Guinness World Records website, a pot of 5,350 litres of spicy soup prepared in Durango, Mexico, in July.

Oropeza called it "Bolivarian stew" - a play on the name of Chavez's socialist movement, named in honour of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar. He said it was enough to feed 60,000 to 70,000 people.

Workers stood on raised platforms stirring the soup with poles, and then dished out servings to a crowd at a state-run market.

It contained 3,000 kilograms of chicken, 2,000 kilograms of beef, plus tonnes of legumes and vegetables.

Addressing reporters next to the pot, Oropeza said the government is solving supply problems that have made it difficult for Venezuelans to find staples like milk and eggs in recent months. He said the state-run market had ample reserves of all products.

With price controls in place, rising demand has outstripped domestic production of some foods, prompting an increase in imports. Oropeza said the only product that remains in short supply is milk, a situation he blamed on a "world problem" of unusual cold snaps and dry spells hurting milk production.

As for the soup, he introduced a representative of Guinness World Records who he said was on hand to certify the record.

The 20,490-litre pot was about three-quarters full.

"We didn't add more for security reasons," Oropeza said. "There's plenty for second helpings."

Official Hitchens

buildupthatwall.com points to this, rumored on this blog earlier.

Call Up The Bunde! We Need A Bonfire!

Republics are meant to not please everybody, but to accommodate everybody peacefully. Apparently, Birmingham's public school systems aren't teaching that. And the offended are not amused by reason. What is the reasonable justification for this book's being present on a public library's shelves?

"It's a cautionary tale for teenagers that oral sex is sex," Smith told The Tuscaloosa News. "You serve a wide range of people in a library, and you have to have something for all of them."

You want a place where your particular beliefs are not offended publicly, try a religious dictatorship. Last time I checked, the world has them in spades. Otherwise, live with it. All of us atheists live with constant threats of eternal, immortal, unfathomable torture; and we endure multiple fallacious and erroneous charges that our position is not scientific, offers no hope, has been completely rebutted by Christianity's apologetics, and results in evil. You think that's less offensive than your kid learning that blow jobs are a sexual act? Up yours! You don't see atheists asking that the bible be taken off the shelves of libraries for condoning slavery, misogyny, and genocide.

When will these people grow up? Haven't they become the same tyrannical absurdities of the 90's left who wanted Huckleberry Finn banned because it used the word "nigger?" Jesus take the wheel if the kid checks out this book.

There Go The Dinosaurs

Ankara On High Alert As Mega-Terror Attack is Foiled

A citizen’s report to security authorities of a suspicious Mercedes Vito van parked in a multi-story car parking in the heart of the capital helped foil a mega terror attack in Turkey, on the anniversary of 9/11.

The car park, that is located in a busy district near school grounds, hospitals and many businesses was isolated, and all surrounding buildings were evacuated before the 700 lb. explosive was destroyed by security forces that employed every precaution.

The first evaluation by bomb experts was that this was a “mini atomic bomb”, of the same kind used in 2003 bombings of two synagogues, the British Consulate and a British Bank in Istanbul by Islamist Turks affiliated with Al Qaeda, that had killed over 60 people.

There is a massive search going on in Ankara to hunt down the three suspects that were recorded by the parking cameras as they were leaving the vehicle.

It is reported that authorities had been receiving warnings for a major terror attack in Turkey. High ranking military officials had in their recent speeches also warned about the possibility for such attacks in major Turkish cities.

Source: Hurriyet, Turkey, September 11, 2007

News about our dear, dear friend, Mr. Putin....

Russia stunned by Vladimir Putin's choice

President Vladimir Putin has plunged the political future of Russia into confusion by sacking his government and appointing a virtually unknown bureaucrat as prime minister.
...
The unexpected appointment raises the prospect that a bureaucrat whose name and face are almost totally unknown to the Russian public could emerge as president of the world’s largest country when Mr Putin steps down next year.

Read it all at The Telegraph.

Vladimir Putin keeps his friends in high places

The appointment of Viktor Zubkov as Russia's new prime minister has intensified speculation that Vladimir Putin harbours ambitions of remaining in office beyond next year's presidential election.

Although Mr Zubkov, 65, an economist, is a member of the so-called St Petersburg set, the cabal of former KGB officers and Putin loyalists that has seized control of key levers of power at the Kremlin, no one in Russia - not even those who have heard of him - regards him as a serious contender for the presidency.

Read it all at The Telegraph.

Via ¡No Pasarán!:

Politicus: America's misplaced hopes on Russia

WASHINGTON: Suppose the Russians, as Iran's monopoly supplier of nuclear wherewithal, decided they could live with a few atomic weapons in the hands of the mullahs.

Suppose the Russians, flush with money and superpower fantasies, believed that weakening and humiliating the United States was well worth the instability that might come with Moscow's refusal to help block Iran's drive toward nuclear arms.

Where's the downside? From Vladimir Putin's point of view, it's win-win.

With Russia's obstructive tactics encouraging Iran to plunge ahead, he may figure the Americans will eventually strike Iranian nuclear installations. The Yanks would harvest opprobrium in much of the world.

Still, if their strike does eradicate the Iranian nuclear program, that's fine, too. Russia's oil and gas prices are sure to shoot up. Russia becomes Iran's key reconstruction contractor, and sets out a rare claim to international righteousness.

Read it all at the International Herald Tribune.

They Will Probably Need Donations Of Body Armor

A new group to get behind: The Committee of Ex-Muslims. Islam is not known for its tolerance of apostasy, and I see the death threats against people who merely CHANGE THEIR MIND continue from "the religion of peace."

Check out the Iron Man trailer

Here

This movie just might totally rule.

The "ShlEmmy's" Earn Their Name

Kathy Griffin's last season of "My Life on the D-List" won an Emmy. But the powers that be will not be airing all of her acceptance speech. Why?

In her speech, Griffin said that "a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus."

She went on to hold up her Emmy, make an off-color remark about Christ and proclaim, "This award is my god now!"

The comedian's remarks were condemned Monday by Catholic League President Bill Donohue, who called them a "vulgar, in-your-face brand of hate speech."

Fuck these people, seriously. I am slowly becoming the "militant atheist" that these ignoramuses want me to be. All she said was, "Suck it, Jesus." How is that more offensive than condemning non-believers to wrath or oblivion? My mind is blown...

How dare an award-winner mock religion and state that her award was due to her own talents! How dare her!

Atheists On September 11, 2001

From Hitchens:

...from Afghanistan the holy order was given to annex two famous achievements of modernism – the high-rise building and the jet aircraft – and use them for immolation and human sacrifice. The succeeding stage, very plainly announced in hysterical sermons, was to be the moment when apocalyptic nihilists coincided with Armageddon weaponry. Faith-based fanatics could not design anything as useful or beautiful as a skyscraper or a passenger aircraft. But, continuing their long history of plagiarism, they could borrow and steal these things and use them as a negation.

From Harris:

In our dealings with the Muslim world, we must acknowledge that Muslims have not found anything of substance to say against the actions of the September 11 hijackers, apart from the ubiquitous canard that they were really Jews. Muslim discourse is currently a tissue of myths, conspiracy theories, and exhortations to recapture the glories of the seventh century. There is no reason to believe that economic or political improvements in the Muslim world, in and of themselves, would remedy this.

And from Dawkins:

"9/11 and the Inconvenient Truths about Jihad and Islamism"

Six years after the 9/11 attacks, the key strategic issue regarding the global war has not yet been addressed by American leadership and the American people: a clear definition of the global enemy we are fighting and a clear definition of the ideology of the enemy. Extensive discussion has been held on terrorism, the nature of terrorism, tactical approaches to homeland security, tactics of terrorism and counterterrorism, and specific military campaign tactics. Significant progress has been made on such issues, but it is important to recognize that the progress has been in tactical operational areas, and that overarching strategy issues still need to be addressed.

But by ignoring the major strategic issues of fighting Jihad and addressing political Islamism, there are numerous convenient fictions contrary to our national security interests (e.g., denying Jihadist threats, misunderstanding Jihadist's ideological basis, monofocus on tactical and military debates) -- all of which ignore the uncomfortable, inconvenient truths and complexities about global Jihad and political Islamism. In effect, American policy and debate remains focused on tactical issues, without a clear agreement on the enemy, or the strategy to fight the enemy, in the world war.

Read it all at Counterterrorism Blog.

Bible Disclaimer

Which Of My Two Alma Maters Hosts A Creationist Website Sponsored By A Professor In The Computer Science Department?

Wrong. How embarrassing.

Board Game Saturday

I had a good time Saturday playing two board games, GMTs Carthage (above) and Eagle Games Conquest of the Empire. Carthage has some totaly cool rules on attrition and the Roman political system! Conquest is like Axis & Allies meets the board game that was in "I, Claudius," I was totally outmatched but mannaged to win because I had seven quinqueremes in the Agean.

All I can ask for.

It doesn't matter how many games we win at Alabama this year. We've already won in the most important way. We have a coach who can communicate what this is about to the players and they have internalized it.
Hardwork: “I think we have more confidence,” (the QB) Wilson said. “I think the way we worked in the offseason is just carrying over to the first few games. We didn’t play as well as we’d like to, but we played pretty well.”
Relentless effort: “When my feet first hit the floor this morning, I wanted to hit him (Vandy's QB),” senior end Wallace Gilberry said. “I wanted to hit him and continue to hit him, and that’s what I tried to do.”
High Expectations: “We aren’t satisfied, one bit,” senior receiver DJ Hall said. “We’re already looking to play Arkansas.”
Just makes me feel better - (article).

Chuck Norris Is Gonna Learn Us Some History!

The internets' most laughable heap of trash, WorldNetDaily, is all in a fluster because of us pesky, evil atheists. Like a pernicious hate-souffle, we're rising. Some people would actually even vote for us! Mary, Joseph, and Jesus! How can you even sleep at night knowing that ignorance-fighting rationalists may be lurking about outside, convincing your neighbors that thinking is ok?!

I'm sure TV Texas Ranger's well-reasoned, objective, and thoroughly researched article would turn me into a Jesus-loving, God-fearing, hetero wedlock sex-lusting, patriotic American man-stud were I to temporarily abate my quaffing of infant blood and read it.

Ed Brayton refutes their ridiculous "the Pilgrims founded America" nonsense here. He forgets to add that the Pilgrims didn't even found America's first English colony. Stupid Yankee revisionists.

I'm still trying to find out where the Bill of Rights and the terms "democratic" and "republic" are in the bible. I must have the wrong translation; I'm sure it's in Romans somewhere. And my copy of the Federalist Papers left out the bits where Hamilton, Madison, and Jay explained that the Constitution should be ratified because it is scripturally based and biblically sound. God-hating commie fudge-packing atheists musta took out all the Jesus parts.

Not bad - you know I can't resist a list.

The 100 Best TV Shows of All TIME

Squid, Squid, Burning Bright

All hail a new generation of our tasty squid overlords!

I Didn't Just Like It Because Ethan Embry Is Cute

I review Vacancy at my other blog.

Fleur De Ennui

In the first game of NFL's regular season, was it too much to ask that my team at least score an offensive touchdown? Apparently so.

Fuck voodoo! It's enough to make me try to revert to hating Payton again.

Another fucking commercial with him in it might just send me over that edge.

Hitchens

in Vanity Fair.

Summer's End

Had a great Labor Day weekend. Called a ballgame Thursday. More this week. Clyde Squid visited us and we had a great time. Priceville Bookstore, Booklegger, Beauregard's, Cheeburger Cheeburger at the Village (I ate the pounder & signed the picture "Be Seeing You"), Alabama dismantled poor WCU, Auburn was bad & UT & ND were beaten. Plenty of J-Horror, Tony Bourdain, and Alton Brown as well as some Sam Adams & Guinness. A fine time, I must say.

And America's Collective Ignorance And Homophobia Statistically Decreases...

D. James Kennedy is dead. Good riddance to that gay-hating, superstitious, revisionist theocrat.

Looks like 8 months of his sheep's prayers for his recovery worked like a charm. EXACTLY like a charm.

Now we just have to see who takes control of his "flock" and his Center for Reclaiming America for Christ clan. Having no heir apparent to his grotesque church and anti-rationalist organizations, we can all just hope that prayer continues to work for them as well as it has previously.

Where superstition reigns....

Airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday.

Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks due the problem.

The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft Sunday at Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said.

"The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," said Raju K.C., a senior airline official, without explaining what the problem had been.

Local media last week blamed the company's woes on an electrical fault. The carrier runs international flights to five cities in Asia.

It is common in Nepal to sacrifice animals like goats and buffaloes to appease different Hindu deities.

I laughed uncontrollably

A little football humor:

Battlestar: Razor

They knew they had to kill Admiral "Roe" because she would just take over. But she was so bad-ass that they had to bring her back in a interim story and release it on DVD. You can vote on the DVD cover, but most importantly - see outstanding clips.
There's a trailer as well.

The Foo Fiighters Are Dead To Us

While I loathe linking to Mother Jones, here is a great reason never to buy any Foo Fighters music: they are HIV deniers.

Instead, buy Brian Grillo's CDs (old-school CD here). Grillo was recently featured in Newsweek (click on "The Faces of HIV" on the right and go to picture 3).

No one has ever "seen" any microbe or virus kill or sicken anyone. Then again, no one has ever "seen" the earth go around the sun. This despicable brand of anti-science ranks with creationism.