We All Survived. Again.
Well, we all survived another Xtianist "End of the World." This is obviously a good thing, because I've never known what proper attire is for an Apocalypse.
Quote of the Day
These Christian-slime sociopaths who bray so loudly about nonexistent infringement of their religious freedoms are hair-trigger quick to try to actually abuse other people's religious freedoms. Muslims, for example. If you really believe in the most basic American principles, then you have no choice but to believe in the religious freedom of all believers. You know, kind of the way the IRS does. (The exception being when, on extremely rare occasions, they actually dare to investiate flagrant abusers of the tax code by pastors who are knowingly pushing their abuses as far as they can to see just how much they can get away with. Then the lying-slimebag Christian scum screech about—you guessed it!—abuses of their religious freedoms, despite the reality that they're the ones who deliberately, systematically seek to abuse their own freedoms in the direction of limitless expansion.
Because the real goal of the lying Christian slimebags is precisely that: to impose their sociopathic prejudices and hates on everyone else, including the legitimately God-fearing. And in the process, they're doing what they can to destroy what America stands for.
Whenever I Hear…
Kim Davis or Mat Staver or any of those yahoos flapping their jaws about how "Christians" are being "persecuted" in this country.
Honey, when they start dragging "Christians" from their homes in the dead of night and stringing them up in trees (or tying them to fence posts, beating them and leaving them to freeze to death), come see me. Until such time, SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Word.
For Reference
Solar
The one take-away from last week's extended power failure following the massive storm that rolled through central Phoenix is this: if we ever buy this house (or any house, for that matter) Ben and I will be installing solar panels with a battery backup.
For the life of me, I still cannot understand why every roof in the southwest United States—and especially in Phoenix—is not covered with them.
Oh yeah…it's because the oil and gas industry is not going to relinquish control of energy production on that scale until the last drop of fossil fuel is sucked from the ground; and even then I'm sure they're going to find some way to impede the wide scale implementation of solar wherever they can.
Y'know, kind of like the way the rest of the civilized world has cheap, blazingly-fast internet and most the rural United States is still stuck with DSL and dialup.
'Murica! Exceptionalism!
(Another) Quote of the Day
So when people like Huckabee and Cruz come to Davis's defense, they're not standing for religious liberties. They're advocating for someone's ability to use her role as a government official to impose her religion on others, including people on her own staff, in a way that discriminates against same-sex couples. If that doesn't violate the separation of church and state enshrined in the Constitution, I'm not sure what does." ~ German Lopez
Quote of the Day
No one is being jailed for practicing her religion. Someone's being jailed for using the government to force others to practice her religion." ~ Rachael Held Evans
Trump in a Nutshell
With the emphasis on nut.
Putting Things in Perspective
I weep for our species. Imagine where we'd be if we weren't wasting our resources fighting over ideology and bronze-age fairy tales.
"This isn't 1935"
It's Been a Very Bad Week in Wingnuttia
And I couldn't be more delighted.
First it was upholding "Obamacare."
Then it was the Confederate Flag.
And the icing on their fucking big cake of sadz was Marriage Equality in all 50 States.
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." ~Martin Luther King Jr.
Yup.
Beating Back the Stupid
You go, girl.
An Open Letter to Christians
Dear Christians,
No disrespect, but…
How could you possibly believe in Christianity?
Forget about the woman from a rib, the walking-talking snake, the burning bush, the man trapped in a whale, Noah's Ark, and the tower of Babel. I get that not everyone believes that. After all, that is obviously ridiculous. But what about the virgin birth, water to wine, zombies, resurrections, ancient prophecies, and eternal paradise and/or torture? Are those things any less ridiculous?
I mean, what kind of God needs this kind of elaborate scheme to "save" humanity. Do you really believe God sent his holy sperm – I mean spirit – to impregnate a virgin, wait 33 years and then allow his only "begotten" son (whatever that means) to be tortured and die for three days so that he could resurrect him and then demand through the words of flawed humans over the course of 66 poorly written books that people worship him or be tortured for all eternity? What is God's obsession with blood all about?
Think about it for a minute. If I told you that story you would laugh your ass off and send me to a mental institute. Look, I get that our culture reinforces your belief and that you were taught this stuff all your life from before you could walk and talk, but you were also taught about Santa Claus and now we can all admit that is just a make-believe story. I mean flying reindeer, right? Only a five-year-old would buy that shit — but a virgin woman popping out the son of God? Totally legit.
I'm not talking about belief in a god in general here. I get why someone might find the concept of some vague higher power alluring despite the complete lack of evidence, but when we are talking about the specific beliefs and claims of Christianity, we have to take a moment and really think about just how ridiculous those beliefs are.
Can we all just admit that the Bible is fiction and move on with our lives?
I mean, how is it that we are entertaining a serious debate about whether there was a historical magic man/deity? We might as well be debating the historicity of Hercules or Darth Vader.
I'm not angry at you or your imaginary deity; I'm just confused and maybe even a little frustrated. Just imagine one day waking up in a world where everyone worshiped Voldemort and quoted the Harry Potter books as if they were historical and inerrant. One might point out that they are obviously fictional books written by J.K. Rawling, but believers would be quick to claim that she wrote them while under Harry Potter's spell and that these books were absolutely true. The Ministry of Magic just made her think that she was writing fiction in order to hide the world of magic from Muggles. Whatever criticism, plot hole, argument, or point against the "Truth" of the Harry Potter books one come up with, the believers will have some sort of rationalization for them.
If you met one person who believed that, you could easily dismiss them as crazy but when millions or billions of people believe it, then what? Does it make it any less crazy? I don't think it does.
This is the case with Christianity. It is a crazy belief system that simply does not match up with the evidence we see every day. If the God of the Bible existed, he wouldn't need you to tell everyone about him. He could do his own damn dirty work. There would be no need for threats of eternal Hell or promises of eternal paradise. God wouldn't need to sacrifice his own son or anyone else. If God wanted people "saved" from himself, then poof… done. There would be no need to shed holy blood or for any elaborate schemes.
There would be no hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, or diseases. And if they did exist, they would only affect those God wanted to punish. We certainly wouldn't see believers and non-believers affected at exactly the same rate. Please face reality, your religion isn't true, the Bible is fiction, and God is imaginary. Then we can move past all this ancient superstition and start working toward making a brighter future for everyone. Just think about it. Thanks.
Betty Bowers Explains It All
Bravo!
Hey, Remember That Time…
I work with several anti-vaxxers, and there are days I just want to bitchslap them back to the 19th century…which is obviously where they belong. I cannot believe the stupidity of these people!
Submitted Without Comment
To Be Filed Under…
#thingsiwontmissaboutdenver
This is Why the U.S. Can't Have Nice Things
Someone needs a big karmic bitch-slap.
"Oh I'm sorry, we don't serve your kind."
"What kind is that?"
"Asshole Senators who have their heads shoved so far up their own asses they can french kiss themselves."
THIS.
Exactly.
You Might Be On The Wrong Side Of History…
…when you have the KKK cheering your actions.
Quote of the Day
"We see a connection to the world around us… Ham sees only sin. Turns out you can learn a lot when your library consists of more than just a single book." ~ Hemant Mehta, The Friendly Atheist, in response to Ken Ham of the Creationist Museum blowing a gasket over Carnival Cruise Lines embracing evolution in their Super Bowl ad.
Exactly, Steven. Exactly.
A Legitimate Question
