Two Brilliant, Abstract-Thinking Fetuses Question Life And God's Existence.

This idiotic picture is being circulated around the internet as we speak.  It's all over my Facebook.  I decided I'm going to nip this in the ass right now and write about it before it gets any larger.

I don't often write about my personal religious views because I don't want to offend the few religious  friends and relatives I have that read my posts.  Don't pat yourselves on the back though, guys.  I am more than capable of offending you.  Case in point: what I'm about to write.  Do not read this post if you think that the above picture is clever and/or true.  Now I know what you're thinking.  You want to hit the "back" button on your browser, but some sick urge is just begging for your eyes to read on.  It's like a car accident.  You just have to look.  Well, I'm advising that you don't.

Okay.  Let's number this shit.  I love lists.

American Intolerance Is Getting Worse.

Photo courtesy of ThinkProgress

Social issues are coming and going like the ocean's tide these days.  In comes contraception, out goes contraception.  In comes violence and racism, out goes violence and racism.  What's next?  My money's on the gay marriage debate - I'm sure that isn't over.

But for now, we're still in the tide of racism.  Trayvon Martin's death at the hands of George Zimmerman is widely publicized because of three big issues: 1) How important race seems to be in the eyes of biased police, 2) Florida's "Stand Your Ground" Law, and 3) The fact that Zimmerman was allowed to walk away that night, murder weapon in hand.

What about the death of Shaima Alawadi of San Diego, California?  A mother of five, Alawadi fled Iraq and Saddam Hussein's brutality back in 1993.  See that?  She fled Hussein only to be murdered by an ignorant American with a tire iron.

Gingrich And Santorum Attack Obama For His Comments About Trayvon Martin's Death.

On the 23rd of March, President Obama spoke out on the murder of seventeen year old Trayvon Martin after a journalist asked him about the case.  He had this to say:

“I’ve got to be careful about my statements to make sure we’re not impairing any investigation that’s taking place right now. But obviously this is a tragedy. I can only imagine what these parents are going through and when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. I think that every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this, and that everybody pulls together, federal, state and local to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened…But my main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he would look like Trayvon. And I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and we’re going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.”

Kirk Cameron Should Be Ignored.

Kirk Cameron.  Had it not been for my brief exposure to the show "Growing Pains" when I was very little, I would have absolutely no clue who this guy is.  As it should be.

Cameron, as you may remember, came under fire recently after telling Piers Morgan his view towards homosexuality: "I think that it's - it's - it's unnatural. I think that it's - it's detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization."

He then turned around and acted like Piers Morgan ambushed him, claiming that the interview was supposed to be about his movie.  Controversial celebrity, meet journalist.  Journalist, meet controversial celebrity.  What the fuck did you think was going to happen, Cameron? 

Ten Logic Fallacies Used By Politicians (Part Two).

Before I finish this list off, I again want to thank E. Magill over at The Unapologetic Geek for compiling this list.  While the logical fallacy selections are his, the commentary is my own.

We're all aware of how most elected officials have their own way of speaking, much like lawyers do.  The best of them can turn an argument on its head or have you believing something that is completely fictitious.  Here are the five remaining tactics to look out for the next time you hear any politician talk.

And yes, I saved the cool Latin ones for last.

1.) Ignoratio Elenchi.

Ten Logic Fallacies Used By Politicians (Part One).

Before I begin this particular post (and the one to follow), I want to thank E. Magill over at The Unapologetic Geek for compiling this list.  While the logical fallacy selections are his, the commentary is my own.

We're all aware of how most elected officials have their own way of speaking, much like lawyers do.  The best of them can turn an argument on its head or have you believing something that is completely fictitious.  Here are the first five of ten specific tactics to look out for the next time you hear any politician talk.

1.) The Straw Man Argument.

Paula Smith Ignorantly Defends Her Derogatory Bumper Sticker.

The above bumper sticker (which might as well say "Please fuck up my expensive automobile") is being sold by Paula Smith at Stickatude.com.  Smith defended the language that the sticker uses in a recent interview with Forbes, going so far as to say that the vile, racial epithet "nigger" isn't offensive.  Her reasoning is two-fold.

1.) "According to the dictionary, 'nigger' does not mean black.  It means low down, lazy, sorry, low down person.  That's what the N word means."

2.) It's not a bad word, "Because I don't use it.  I have kids here around me that are black kids.  I call them my own kids.  I've helped black families... to guide them in the right direction.  Paintball is one of these things.  We like to laugh and have a good time.  That's our way of life."

The #ToMyUnbornChild Twitter Trend.

I've said it in multiple posts and I'll say it again: there is nothing wrong with being gay.  As my loyal readers know, I am pro gay marriage and pro gay rights.  Sexual orientation is like skin color - unimportant when it comes to the law.  If a law is passed, is should either apply to all humans or no humans.  That seems like basic common sense to me.

Every single day, I am on the brink of either having hope for our species or wishing we would all do planet Earth a favor and suddenly die out.  I would have thought that, as we creep ever so cautiously towards the future, the hope inside of me would begin to outweigh the utter despair.  2012 is proving that little hypothesis of mine to be wrong.

Floridian Man Kills High Schooler And Gets Away With It.

From AddictingInfo.org:

On February 26, a kid named Trayvon Martin was visiting his dad in Sanford, FL, just outside Orlando. So he and his dad are watching the NBA All-Star game and at halftime, his little brother wants some candy. Trayvon heads out to the convenience store and picks up some Skittles and an iced tea. He’s a junior in high school in Miami who wants to be an aviation mechanic.

As he’s walking home, a car starts following him. The man driving the car is watching him. Trayvon finally turns and says, “What’s your problem?” The problem is he “walks in a suspicious way” – and the guy in the car is a [28] year old neighborhood watch captain who has been stalking him from the convenience store. When Trayvon confronts him, the man gets out of his vehicle and they get into some kind of shoving match. The shoving match ends with the unarmed teenager dead on the ground within sight of his dad’s front yard.

This being 2012, one should know just how this story ends: the police show up and arrest the neighborhood watch captain for gunning down an unarmed seventeen-year old young man.  But this is 2012 in America, and that is most certainly not how this story ends. 

U.S. Soldier Murders 16 Civilians In Afganistan.

The text below is from an article over at CNN.  The journalist who wrote it plays around a bit too much with prose for my taste (as it is a news article), but it saves me from having to recap.  Please read it.  I'll see you in just a bit.

----------

Long before the sun even hinted at lighting the sky Sunday, an American soldier left the remote combat outpost of Camp Belambay, allegedly headed for two villages in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan's Kandahar Province... An Afghan soldier at Belambay spotted a soldier going out around 3 a.m., past the blast barriers, and notified U.S. commanders.

The commanders immediately ordered a head count, as the military always does. They confirmed a soldier was missing and assembled a search party right away, according to Gen. John Allen, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

"It was as that search party was forming that we began to have indications of the outcome of his departure," Allen said.

Political Spitfire - Two Week Round Up.

So I've been absent for a little while, as I'm sure my regular readers have noticed.  My fan page and special blog email have flooded with questions like, "Where are you?" and "Where the hell are you?" (Not really).  Well, I've been sick.  With the flu. 

And what a horrible time to be sick it was.  I missed so much and, because of that, you missed so much.  Because I'm your only source for news.  Right?

...Right?

Anyway, rather than make empty promises about how I'm going to catch up on all that stuff, I'm just going to quickly recap the things I would've written about had I not been sleeping away my illness.  Buckle your seat belts, people.

1.) Rush Limbaugh

Not 48 hours after my last post in which I criticized him for his remarks towards Danica Patrick, Rush Limbaugh dug himself a deeper grave when he called Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute."  The day after that, he insisted that if women want the taxpayer's to pay for their contraception, then we (I assume he means himself there and not the taxpayers as a whole) "should get something out of it."  That something being internet videos of said women having sex.  As numerous groups, sites, and individuals have pointed out, Rush Limbaugh has absolutely no idea what he is talking about at any level.  I won't get into that myself, but I urge you to cross reference what he said with actual facts.  The results will surprise you.  Also, Limbaugh has since lost more than one hundred sponsors from his show.  I sincerely hope that this marks the end of Limbaugh's hold on shitty talk radio as well.

2.) James Inhofe

An actual living, breathing senator of the United States of America declared that global warming is a hoax, so sayeth the Lord.  "Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that 'as long as the earth remains there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.' My point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous."  You know what's outrageous, senator?  The fact that you represent this country.  You're basically saying that science, as well as basic ideas like "cause and effect," are nonsense.  Seriously.  Who voted these fucking idiots in?

3.) Missouri House of Representatives Advances Anti-Discrimination Bill

...For gun owners.  Oh, good.  Because when I woke up this morning, I was thinking that people with guns have been discriminated against for far too long.

4.) Andrew Breitbart

To me, his death was irrelevant.  That's not to say that I feel sorry for his family's loss, as well as for a death that came far too soon.  But apparently Breitbart had in his possession video taped evidence that would connect President Obama to *insert scary group here*.  When he died, several right-wing groups immediately suspected foul play and accused the Obama Administration of having Breitbart killed.  Despite the fact that Breitbart's own family shared the cause of his death without too much hesitation.  Oh, and the video taped evidence that Breitbart assured us would bring down the Obama Administration?  It was released, despite his death.  It was of Obama hugging the first black tenured professor at Harvard.  Scary stuff.  As ThinkProgress reports, PBS's Frontline program aired the same "damning" footage days before the 2008 election.  Whoops.

5.) Sarah Palin

My favorite Alaskan girl.  We go way back, her and I.  She was one of the first posts I ever wrote on this blog.  I put forth the hypothesis that she is really Predator from the alien action movies.  I think it was to prove a point.  I'm not really sure.  What I am sure of is that Palin accused President Obama of wanting to "go back to before [the days of the Civil War] when we were in different classes based on income, based on color of skin."  First of all, we are in different classes based on income.  Two, really.  Poor and wealthy.  The middle class is pretty much gone at this point.  Second of all (and more importantly), if President Obama wanted to return us to the days where classes were based on the color of our skin, wouldn't that be a bit of a step back for him?  How does this rhetoric even make sense?  For the love of all that is right in this world, please shut the fuck up.

6.) Mitt Romney

He's still trying to get everyone to like him, and he's still showing that he can't relate to anybody but his wealthy friends.  I'd be more excited talking to a saltine and a gallon of off-white paint than I would be voting for Romney.  I'm sure it would be a stimulating conversation.  If he wins the delegates, Republicans will back him, but not enthusiastically.  It's obvious to a lot of people that Obama will be in the White House for four more years.

7.) Wisconsin GOP

After the wave of anti-governor sentiment washed through the capital, the state GOP made sure to let their constituents know that they were listening - by boarding up all the doors and windows.  The GOP in the state assembly voted to amend the state constitution in order to make it harder for officials to be booted out of their office.  This really pisses me off.  Instead of listening to what the voters were saying (i.e. "You aren't doing your fucking job and we don't want you making laws for us anymore"), the politicians in the capital changed the rules to keep their jobs and to continue doing their dirty business.  Hey.  Guess what?  You're there because people voted you in.  If they want you out, one way or another, you're coming out.

8.) Rick Santorum

Someone dug up an interview back from 1994 in which Santorum claimed that, "Moms raising children in single-parent households simply [breed] more criminals." He also, according to ThinkProgress, introduced legislation during his second term as congressman that would have denied welfare benefits to mothers who could not name their child's father.  Asshole.