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.
10.12.2007
10.10.2007
Truly Creepy American History You May Not Know
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?
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?)
10.08.2007
Apparently there's a place boxing still matters.
10.07.2007
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.
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....
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."
Credulity truly works wonders.
Right....
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!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."
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' ministryThe 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.
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.
10.06.2007
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.
10.03.2007
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.
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
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.
10.02.2007
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