War on Easter? Nope But Fox Makes It Up

Anyone familiar with Fox News has heard the silly "War of Christmas" claims Sean Hanity and other Foxites have made.  Their proof?  The fact that there are other holidays that fall around Christmas and some advertisers and communities have started calling it the "Holiday Season" instead of "Christmas Season".  Additionally they cite the use of "Happy Holidays" as a greeting instead of Merry Christmas as being proof that Christmas is under attack. 

I guess we will have to stop watching one of my favorite Christmas movies made in the early 1940's "Holiday Inn" with the title song "Happy Holidays" imprinted on my brain since I was a tot.  Wow who knew the War on Christmas started so long ago?

Now they see a "War on Easter".  What proof do they have?  None!  They are making this stiff up.  There was a single story about a township considering changing the Easter Egg Hunt to a "Egg Hunt" and that constituted a war.  The fact is, the town, Munson Township, Ohio, did not change the name of the event and the Easter Egg Hint is still on. So does that stop Hanity and the other liars at Fox?  Oh hell no!

Just a note to Sean Hanity, the Easter Bunny has about as much to do with Easter as Frosty the Snowman has to do with Christmas.  Both are primarily commercial aberrations and designed to grab as many dollars as possible for retailers. Damned war profiteers!

New Tattoo Rule - Never Tattoo Crime Evidence On Yourself!

File this under the "way too stupid" file.

Gang member Anthony Garcia wanted to commemorate a crime he participated in and got the scene tattooed on his chest.  The scene was so detailed that L.A. County Sheriff's investigators recognized details of the crime scene from a line-up mug shot. 

According to a story in the LA Times:

Each key detail was right there: the Christmas lights that lined the roof of the liquor store where 23-year-old John Juarez was gunned down, the direction his body fell, the bowed street lamp across the way and the street sign — all under the chilling banner of RIVERA KILLS, a reference to the gang Rivera-13.

As if to seal the deal, below the collarbone of the gang member known by the alias "Chopper" was a miniature helicopter raining down bullets on the scene.

 This week they got a confession and the idiot is charged with first degree murder.  Nice work!

So add this to my rules for tattoos:

1. Never get a name other than yours or your mother.
2. Never get a cartoon character - they look really silly when you are 70.
3. NEVER GET A TATTOO DOCUMENTING CRIME EVIDENCE!

Marines Do Britney! "Hold It Against Me"

The Marines of 266 Rein, stationed in Afghanistan, are lip-synching to Britney Spears's "Hold It Against Me." I love seeing these guys having so much fun!

J. Crew Nail Painting - "Right=Dangerous Trans Agenda" - "Left=Potentially Toxic Chemicals"

File this in the "Oh for God's Sake" file!  

Of course everyone heard about the rucus started by the Right-Wingnuts about a cute print ad from J. Crew.  in the ad a mom is painting her son's toenails with pink polish.  It's the kind of silly stuff families do all the time.  It was a bonding moment for Mom and son and had absolutely no significance beyond being funny and something to do. 

Not so for the conservatives who saw this a part of some kind of dangerous "transgender agenda"!  OMG, another agenda to keep up with?  Well at least they are not complaining about the gay one! (that is a joke)

Well the liberals are not to be outdone.  To them they see an environmental nightmare in the nail polish and have gone so far as to enumerate the hazards of it.

The three major toxins of concern are toluene, dibutyl phthalate and formaldehyde, which are found in many nail polish formulas.

"We call them the toxic trio," said Nneka Leiba, a research analyst with the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit and advocacy organization that deals with environmental issues.

Eeek!  Be afraid!   Not only are those insidious transgender activists trying to change our sons into daughters they are trying to poison us as well!

Come folks, let this thing go.  It's just a cute picture of a mother and son, get the heck over it!

Texas Governor Proclaims "Pray For Rain Days"

It's been awfully dry in Texas and the wildfires are spreading big-time.  What we need is help to fight the fires and more importantly, RAIN.  Now I am a religious guy, even though some of my readers might not believe it, however I am not a big believer in intercessory prayer.

Not so our Governor, he as issued an official state proclamation stating in part, "it seems right and fitting that the people of Texas should join together in prayer to humbly seek an end to this devastating drought and these dangerous wildfires."

Though I applaud his sentiment, the idea of a state proclamation urging prayer really treads heavily on the line between separation of church and state. More importantly, instead of asking people to just pray, why not ask them to volunteer to fight the fires?  Actions speak louder than words Gov. Perry.

Oklahoma Takes Another Step - Backwards

First let me give you a little fact.  77% of anti-abortion leaders are men.  I would add that most likely  100% of them will never get pregnant.  That said, the lawmakers in Oklahoma have boldly marched backwards again, this time making it a felony for doctors to perform abortions after a woman reaches 20 weeks of pregnancy.

They base this on a propaganda film that anti-abortion foes have long trumped as "proof" that the 20-week old fetus can "feel pain".  Medical studies say this is false. But never let reality get in the way of the Oklahoma lawmakers.  The other step backwards was another law prohibits health insurance plans in Oklahoma offered under the new federal health care law from offering coverage for elective abortions.

Funny how these zealots claim to be pro-life, but I would wager most of them support capital punishment and are against just about every gun law ever written.  Please someone prove me wrong! 

Kentucky Church Stops Signing Marriage Licenses Until Same-Sex Couples Can Marry

Who would have thought that a church in Louisville, Kentucky would take a bold stand for marriage equality?  The Douglass Boulevard Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) voted unanimously to stop signing marriage licenses which legally grant rights to heterosexual couple that are not available to same-sex couples.

From a report by WHAS news:

"As an Open and Affirming Community of Faith (a designation signifying DBCC's commitment to full acceptance of all people, regardless of race, gender, age, or sexual orientation), our membership is committed to treating homosexuals and heterosexuals equally. Our congregation believes it is unfair to provide different services and benefits to heterosexual couples than we can provide to gay and lesbian couples," said associate minister Rev. Ryan Kemp-Pappan.

Senior minister Rev. Derek Penwell added, "Heterosexual couples enjoy a number of benefits that result from having state-sanctioned union. They may inherit property, adopt children together, visit one another in the hospital, and save thousands each year in taxes by filing as a couple. Ministers, as agents of the state, have the power to confer these benefits-and the imprimatur of normalcy-on heterosexual couples, but we do not have the honor to bestow these benefits on gay and lesbian couples."

"In our attempt to live out God's call to pursue justice for all, the Elders of the congregation joined the Pastors in witnessing to the right for gay and lesbian persons to God's blessing on their union and witnessing to the Commonwealth toward ending the refusal to recognize these unions," said Rev. Chuck Lewis, Chair of Elders with the church.

 Bravo!

Transgender Tax Collectors in Pakistan

Not sure how to take this, but in Pakistan, the government is employing a group of transgender folks to act as tax collectors.  Culturally, transwomen are an embarrassment in the Muslim country, and so having one show up at your door apparently has the desired effect of motivating the errant taxpayer to cough up the money.

It speaks volumes about the attitude toward transgender people in that country, however it also shows at least enough tolerance to hire them to work for the government.  Unfortunately, their role is that of humiliation.  I would love to get some of my transgendered readers take on this.

Indiana Considers De-funding Planned Parenthood

This is a classic case of cutting off your nose to spite your face.  In their ideological zeal, the Indiana State Senate has voted to cut off using any Medicaid money for Planned Parenthood.  The reason?  Well, the organization offers abortion services, (albeit only about 3% of their total work) and God forbid any state funds go to that, so all the contraceptive distribution, family planning assistance, women's health clinics and other services to low-income families will just have to suffer.

The Indiana Senate, as well as most of the right-wing fails to see the good being done by Planned Parenthood.  They don't understand that without those services their will likely be an increase in unwanted pregnancies and that means an explosion in population among low income groups.  In other words, bills like this one will have the unintended consequences of growing poverty.  Just what we need, more poor people with large families and no income to feed them or give them proper medical care. 

Most likely this measure will increase the number of abortions rather than slow them, but who cares if it makes an ideological point?

I have to wonder what the Indiana Senate is thinking, or if they are thinking at all?

Misquoting Einstein, TN State Rep. Shows Own Ignorance

OK, people often misquote folks.  It's natural, but if you are standing up in the state house giving a speech into the official record, you damned well better check your facts.  Apparently not in Tennessee.

Remember Tennessee is the state that is trying to get Creation Science (sic) taught in public school.  In support of that bill, State Rep. Frank Nicely (R-Strawberry Plains) makes a common sense argument and quotes Albert Einstein on the subject of religion.  The only problem is Einstein never said it, Francis Bacon did and not in the words he uses.

Einstein was an agnostic Jewish Humanist. One of his quoptes is quite appropriate to this silliness.

“To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms — this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness.”

Einstein would roll in his grave, watch it.




In the interest of full disclosure, my mothers family was from Tennessee, the hills near Pulaski, and once when I visited the family there as a child I remember scenes right out of every hillbilly movie you can imagine. Even being simple folk, my grandmother got an education and taught tutored students in calculus to supplement my grandfather's blacksmith business. They were poor, but far from as stupid as the yokels who are running the state now!

Malaysia Sends Gay Teens To "Cure" Camp

In a scenario sounding more like Germany in the 1930's than Southeast Asia, the government of Malaysia has extracted 66 teenagers from schools and sent them to a camp where they will be put through a "self-development course".  The boys were selected because their teaches had identified them as "effeminate".  Officials denied the boys were compelled to attend the camp, saying they were simply "invited" to do so. 

Yeah right!  These kids were cut from the herd in order to "reeducate them".  This whole thing smacks of the same kind of Ex-Gay crap being pedaled in this country, except I wager in Malaysia thee are few safeguards for these kids well being.  Malaysia is a predominately Muslim country and their laws regarding LGBT rights are nonexistant.  Sodomy is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.  Nice place to visit?  I think not.

One More Passover Video - Who Let The Jews Out?

Couldn't resist posting this one.  Why didn't I think of this?

Google Exodus - The Passover Story On The Internets!

I am laughing so hard I think I hurt myself!  Enjoy!

Easy Budget Fix - Kill Bush Era Tax Cuts

I don't much like simplistic solutions to complex problems.  In most cases they are just plain silly, but here is one that actually holds up.

All the problems with budget cuts in DC right now could be solved with a simple solution.  Let the Bush Era tax cuts for the rich expire!

The government loses $42 billion in revenue this fiscal year because of the tax cuts for the rich.  The budget cuts being squabbled over by Congress amount to $38 billion.  This is simple arithmetic people.  The tax breaks for the wealthy, those earning between $500,000 and $1 million amount to $25,000 and for those earning over $1 million its around $130,000. That is serious cash and it's time we stopped subsidizing millionaires.

Of course the GOP will scream that these are struggling small businesses and we will be killing the economic growth.  Bulls*#t!  The truth is these are contributors to the GOP and they want all the money they can get for their benefactors.

Facebook is Officially Homophobic - Two Men Kissing = Obscene

I have seen a lot of silly, racy and downright suggestive pictures on Facebook, but the absolutely innocent picture of two men kissing apparently is "obscene" to the Facebook folks.

Niall O'Conghaile, a blogger on DangerousMinds.net, posted an article about a Facebook-driven protest against a British pub that had kicked out two men who were kissing.  Along with the story he added a picture of two men kissing.  The next day, the picture was gone and he got the following terse email from Facebook:

Hello,

Content that you shared on Facebook has been removed because it violated Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Shares that contain nudity, or any kind of graphic or sexually suggestive content, are not permitted on Facebook.

This message serves as a warning. Additional violations may result in the termination of your account. Please read the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities carefully and refrain from posting abusive material in the future. Thanks in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

The Facebook Team

Now, I don't know about you, but I have seen profile pictures worse than this, but of course those were of straight folks.  So Facebook, it's the 21st Century and two men kissing is just kissing.  If that is "suggestive" then me and my friends are going to systematically search every page we can to find heterosexual couples kissing and send email notices to you of offensive content until your email boxes are stuffed.  Grow up!

T-Mobile Royal Wedding Video

Wedding entrances have become a big deal ever since the You Tube of the dancers that appeared a year ago.  Now come the Royal version just in time for the Royal Wedding.