Richard Tillman On Real Time

My Adopted Senator

Religious Abuse Is Nothing New

Given the new accusations regarding televangelist Bishop Eddie Long, I'm reminded that this meme is not new. Take my favorite 50's era subversive singer/song-writer, Tom Lehrer:

"That Was My Vietnam. And I Was In Vietnam."

Modern Family makes me laugh until I hurt. In spite of the Emmy nominations and wins, Ed O'Neil is a fucking genius. And the second season is just as, if not more, brilliant than the first.

What Darwin Never Knew

NOVA's What Darwin Never Knew should be shown in every elementary classroom across this country. I put it on to casually view what I already knew; instead, I got sucked in and watched it from middle to end.

Sean B. Carroll is, in my opinion, one of the greatest science educators of our time. His books, and his explanations in this documentary, are simple and sublime.

I think I'm going to have to buy this one.



The religious always get evolution wrong: evolutionary theory explains the changes in biodiversity we observe in the past through the present. Every new post-Darwinian scientific discovery--from the rediscovery of Mendelian genetics, to the discovery of DNA as the molecule of inheritance, to the modern understanding of developmental biology--had every chance of overturning Darwin's theory. Instead, each of those monumental scientific breakthroughs modified his theory to make it more accurate.

Evolution is a fact; the theory of evolution is, to date, incontrovertible. Gods are, to date, controvertible.

Ruling From The Living Tomb

Republicans stopped the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Outdated mores and bigotry are, once again, upheld and preserved by dated, ossified politicians. My generation is being ruled from the living tomb, just like Jefferson warned...

Pesky Archives Beat Infallible Pope

For someone with a direct psychic line to a being who knows everything, the pope sure does miss a lot. For instance, Captain Beard In The Sky didn't tell him that historians have archives with things like this:


Here's the translation:

Why is a Catholic obliged to vote for the parliamentary list of Adolf Hitler? Because in the National Socialist state intrinsically and through the Reichskonkordat

1. the Faith is protected,

2. peace with the Church is assured,

3. public morality is preserved,

4. Sunday is hallowed,

5. Catholic schools are maintained,

6. the Catholic conscience is no longer burdened,

7. a Catholic has equal rights before the law and in the life of the nation,

8. Catholic organisations and associations, insofar as they exclusively serve religious, charitable and cultural purposes, can operate freely.

Therefore a Catholic is obliged on 12 November [1933] to vote thus:

Referendum: yes

Parliamentary election: Adolf Hitler

I'll expect my apology in a century, when there are 5 Catholics left.

Being Mean To Children Is Funny

"Joseph Ratzinger Is An Enemy Of Humanity."

The horrid, reprobate little cur who heads the world's sickest international crime syndicate visited the UK last week. And the first thing he did was to blame atheists for all of the horrible things Nazi Catholics and Lutherans did.

No one need take such insolent, deceitful, vacuous bullshit from the likes of that wheezing octogenarian in his blood-soaked Versace mu-mu. Least of all Richard Dawkins, who gave a firebrand speech so electrifying and damning that it will make you cheer.

Crazy Obsession

Andrew Shirvell is an assistant attorney general in Michigan. And he is CRAZY obsessed with the University of Michigan's student assembly president, who is gay. Watch this video; it's pretty clear what's going on here.

My New Favorite New Artist Ever For Right Now

Winter Plant Composition I

Jennifer Scott McLaughlin

I gasp at every work.

The Funniest Will & Grace Moment Ever

I've been recording Will & Grace to watch when I get bored. I forgot how much I hated Will and Grace (who were truly awful characters), but loved Jack and Karen. And here is the funniest Karen ever:

Great Old Spice

Swamp People

Love this show. Cajuns hunting alligators during the one-month season. Troy is simply awesome. Swamp People at History.com Videos



And the story of Bruce and his dog Tyler is great:

Just When You Thought She Hit Stupid Bottom...

...the dope shows us her stupid underground garage.

This Statue of Liberty was gifted to us by foreign leaders, really as a warning to us, it was a warning to us to stay unique and to stay exceptional from other countries. Certainly not to go down the path of other countries that adopted socialist policies.

Sarah Palin

________________________________________________

Did I mention it's a multilevel stupid underground garage?

I tell my parents all the time there is no better gift that they could have given me than besides such an appreciation for family and for faith and patriotism, it's been an upbringing in America in this most perfect state in America - Alaska, where we are independent and we have the pioneering spirit that more of America should hopefully get to look into the state and understand and really try to emulate because it's that pioneering spirit that America needs more of.

I get more coherent sentences out of the illegal immigrants around here.

My New Favorite Picture Ever

The Wicker Tree

From the makers of the original (real) Wicker Man, and starring Christopher Lee:

Hey Tobermory, We Gotta Get In A Fight

Nancy Grace's new show: Swift Justice.

We need these books

At Reason: Heeding the Sage of Baltimore

A new edition of H.L. Mencken’s Prejudices captures the legendary journalist at his corrosive best

On William Jennings Bryan:
“Imagine a gentleman, and you have imagined everything that he was not.”

Still In My Top 5

Jets To Brazil's Orange Rhyming Dictionary is still one of my top 5 albums ever. I just listened to it all the way through, twice. I forgot how crazy fun it is.

RIP Glen Shadix

Alabama native Glen Shadix died.

Glen was put through "gay reparative therapy." It failed. And his story is horrifying:



But Glen survived, and we will miss him. Here's 2 musical tributes for Glen!

From Beetle Juice, for being the great Otho:



And from The Nightmare Before Christmas, for being Halloween Town's Mayor:



And, less famously, he was the preacher in the, "I love my dead gay son," scene in Heathers.



I love my dead gay Glen!

The Dignity Of Reason

"Well, I'm dying, since you asked," Hitchens replied. "So are you, but I'm doing it faster and in more rich and fecund detail."

Christopher Hitchens, on his battle with cancer. I recommend the whole article: Hitchens--even in his poisoned, withered state--is as sharp as always.

A dignified death is hard to come by, but we must all strive for it. My sci-fi hero did:

Courtesy of Neal Boortz

Adult language: NSFW

DON'T MESS WITH EPIC BEARD MAN

PZ Makes My Argument Better

"I don't like the Manhattan mosque, but they've got the right — as long as I've got the right to point and laugh"

Naturally, I dislike the idea of constructing religious buildings anywhere, since they are a colossal waste of community resources, typically represent unproductive holes in the tax base, and promote stupid thinking — but guess what? Those aren't legal cause to interfere with people's right to waste their time and money. Also, if we accept the privilege of individual autonomy and personal freedom, we don't have moral cause to interfere.

I get spooked out by any religion claiming "insensitivity." It's a building, nothing more, nothing less. Let's not add to what it is until those who occupy it do so. Then, we can point and laugh, or rally and protest, or let the government raid it for terrorism.

The first amendment is hard, and insensitivities are not its standard.

Still Too Hilarious

Kids in the Hall's "Death Comes To Town" is everything you missed about them.