Not quite what I learned in Sunday School

What Will Happen After Your Death? Choose Your Own Adventure from Quiz Galaxy!… “The devil screams ‘owwww, dude.’ You take the opportunity to run up the stairs indicated by the sign, ‘Fire Exit.’ You rush your way through the door at the top of the stairs. Instantly, you are floating in space 2001-a-space-odyssey style… which you continue to do forever.”

‘What Will Happen After Your Death?’ Choose Your Own Adventure at QuizGalaxy.com

Hat tip: Bogus Gold

Bachmann not alone in the madness

Surprising what you find out reading “foreign” blogs.  Pam Spaulding is in North Carolina, and she had an interesting piece on Twin Cities local radio host Jason Lewis’ utter meltdown over Dump Michelle Bachmann’s blog.

It’s hardly a surprise that Lewis can be an ass, and he seems to have grown increasingly unhinged with the recent GOP losses.

Bachmann and Lewis – two pieces of work that deserve each other.  Neither is ready for prime time.

Outta be illegal

That is to say, it ought to be illegal to have stomach flu and a chest cold at the same time.  Who can I sue?  OMFH this sucks.

Still out of it

Been visiting Wisconsin Dells with the family…and fighting flu besides.

I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth…but still not firing on all cylinders.  See you soon, I hope…

Man bites dog

I wondered how long it would be until someone in the press figured out that presidential wannabe Mitt Romney has polygamist ancestors.  Big freaking deal.  So do I.  So does almost anyone with Mormon ancestors from the pioneer period.

While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church, the Republican presidential candidate’s great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12.

Polygamy was not just a historical footnote, but a prominent element in the family tree of the former Massachusetts governor now seeking to become the first Mormon president.

Romney’s great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife in 1897. That was more than six years after Mormon leaders banned polygamy and more than three decades after a federal law barred the practice.

As I said before, not only did Mitt’s ancestors live the principle, they were among the group that fled to Mexico to continue its practice after the US Church first gave appearances of abandoning it in 1890.

It’s all the more reason I find hypocritical his remarks to the US Congress in defense of the FMA, in which he spoke favorably of government persecution of the pioneer Mormons over “family values”.  How he does that without the sense of pissing on his ancestors’ graves I’m not sure.

But is this of any concern in terms of the 2008 campaign?  Of course not.  There are plenty of reasons to oppose Multi Choice Mitt.  His ancestors’ polygamy is not among them.

Other voices:

Captain’s Quarters:

I guess we have the layers of editors and checks at the Asinine Press to thank for this story, as well as chief political busybodies Jennifer Dobner and Glen Johnson. Unless Mitt’s running on the “legalize polygamy” platform, what in the hell does this have to do with anything?

Iowa Voice:

Does this mean we can start going through Hillary’s family tree? Or Edwards? Or Obama? It’s one thing to know who a candidate’s parents were and what they did, because that is an influence on them as they grow up, and it shapes the person they become as an adult. But great-great grandparents? That’s really stretching.

The American Street:

Did Kennedy get pinned with the Catholic Church’s bloody Crusades? Obviously not. If Mormonism in Romney’s adult life has any black marks against it, it’s fair to look for evidence of Romney’s support of that.

Otherwise, stick to his record in public service. I view him as a probable top tier candidate. And I believe there’s plenty in his record and in his opinion changes that deserve serious scrutiny. Pandering to rightwing religious bigots should simply be beneath the ethics of serious journalists with such critical issues needing address in the national interest.

Wingnuts on parade

Thank heavens I’m not in the sixth district.  But  what WERE these people thinking when they voted for this kook and wingnut?

From The Carpetbagger Report:

Freshman Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), one of the more embarrassing members of Congress, became a bit of a punchline a month ago when, after the State of the Union, she put her hand on the president’s shoulder as he was exiting the chamber — but wouldn’t let go. This came after bizarre ideas from Bachmann about Iraq and 9/11, and removing science from public school science classes.

Yesterday, however, Bachmann solidified her reputation as a laughing stock. Apparently, Bachmann claimed to know about a secret plan to partition Iraq, in which Iran will control half of the country and set it up as a “terrorist safe haven zone.” Bachmann was quite matter-of-fact about the whole thing.

She is a menace and should be gotten rid of in 2008.  What a whack job.

Hope for the future

This speech would be significant when given by ANY legislator in America. That it was given by a young, straight Republican from Wyoming is amazing. There is cause for hope, once the current crowd of theocrats loses power within the party apparatus.

Under a democracy the civil rights struggle continues today, where we have one segment of our society trying to restrict rights and privelges from another segment of our society. My parents raised me to know that this is wrong.

 

 

It is wrong for one segment of society to restrict rights and freedoms from another segment of society. I believe many of you have had this conversation with your children.

Read it in full.

An American Hero

Also see:

Pam Spaulding:

What makes Zwonitzer inspiring and so deserving of praise is that the risk he took, in Red State America, as a straight ally. He was willing to put his neck and political career on the line to do what is right — he is a Republican doing so at a time when Democrats in much more favorable political environs are spineless, calculating and treating us like ATMs and pariahs as it suits them.

Scott’s Take

Rep. Dan Zwonizter, made an impassioned speech against it, knowing full well his pro-gay rights position may lose him his seat.

Think about that. How often I’ve heard my dyed-in-the-wool Demcrat gay friends make excuses for lacluster pro-gay rights action from major Democratic leaders because it would cost them votes.

A wasted sport

I like pro basketball.  That’s what makes nonsense like this so painful to behold:

An event planned to showcase what is right about professional basketball has been turned into a 72-hour display of why commissioner David Stern can’t sleep at night and spends his days thinking of rules to mask what the NBA has come to represent.

Good luck fixing All-Star Weekend.

The game is a sloppy, boring, half-hearted mess. The dunk contest is contrived and pointless. The celebrity contest is unintended comedy. And, worst of all, All-Star Weekend revelers have transformed the league’s midseason exhibition into the new millennium Freaknik, an out-of-control street party that features gunplay, violence, non-stop weed smoke and general mayhem.

Other people’s lives

Great rant by Capt. Fogg at The Reaction.

Amidst all the horrible things going on in the world there are still those who see the fate of societies as determined by God’s blessing or God’s wrath and God’s wrath usually stems from people engaging in what they were designed to do, or people looking at people clothed as God clothed them and doing what they have been doing since before they were really people: that’s sex, of course, and sex which is not approved of by a group of people who exist for the purpose controlling other people’s sex lives and warning them of God’s wrath will lead to terrible things.

Going for broke

from a friend:

The 2008 Presidential election will make history in one way or another.

We may have our

• 1st Black President
• or 1st Women President
• or 1st Mormon President

I’m thinking, “Hey, why not kill 3 birds with one stone?”    elect Gladys Knight.

And it’s overpriced at that

From humorist Andy Borowitz:

In perhaps the most troubling sign yet for his presidency, a poll released today shows that a majority of Americans wish that George W. Bush was a fictitious character rather than a real person.

Mr. Bush’s popularity has taken some serious hits in recent months, but the new survey marks the first time that over fifty percent of respondents indicated that they wished the president was a figment of their imagination.

When asked the question, “If you could choose whether George W. Bush was a real person or a fictitious character,” 51% said “fictitious character” while only 42% said “real person,” with the remaining 7% responding, “George W. Bush is a fictitious character.”

Even more troubling for the president is the survey’s conclusion that in theoretical match-ups with other fictitious characters, Mr. Bush would be trounced.

According to the poll, which has a margin of error of 5 percentage points, if an election were held today between Mr. Bush and the superhero Aquaman, Mr. Bush would lose to Aquaman by a margin of two-to-one.

And Mr. Bush would suffer a similar fate in hypothetical face-offs with such other fictitious characters as the Little Mermaid, the Easter Bunny, and SpongeBob SquarePants.

At the White House, spokesman Tony Snow said the poll results were, in their own way, “good news” for the president.

“The American people want the president to be fictitious,” Mr. Snow said. “Well, his reasons for invading Iraq were fictitious, so he’s really meeting them halfway.”

Elsewhere, experts say that Britney Spears’ hair could fetch as much as $1 million, while her brain could go for $300.

The poor persecuted majority

Great piece at Pandagon:

So there are still people yelping and bleating over the supposed anti-Christian bigotry espoused by liberals-and by anti-Christian bigotry, I mean the promotion of civil and human rights for LBGT people, women, the poor, religious minorities, atheists and agnostics, and people of color. One cannot object to ignorant rhetoric and laws that would codify and further institutionalize bigotry and discrimination, you see, as that is anti-Christian.

Well, sorry. You don’t get to whine about how you’re oppressed when you make up the majority of people in this country. You don’t get to bleat about your special snowflake status when the freaking President is a born-again, evangelical Christian. You don’t get to cry and whine about anti-Christian bigotry when you push for legislation that discriminates against gays, that subjugates women, that marginalizes other religions (and those without religion), that interferes with our educational system, and that promotes human rights violations in the name of anti-terrorist paranoia.

HT: Pam Spaulding, who observes:

They simply don’t speak for all Christians; I know too many sincere people of faith who want nothing to do with this self-righteous, bigoted crowd. The “professional Christian victim” retrograde, homophobic, womb-controlling, porn-fixated, golden peepee obsessions are tiresome and, in the end, will be futile. They are losing the culture war, and they know it. They simply wish to destroy the objects of their fixations (in particularly un-Christian ways) to pump up their frail egos as they circle the bowl. It’s truly sad.

I’m who?

No, I’m not nearly that clever…

You are Oscar Wilde Charming and Witty. You are incredibly popular because of your wry and satirical sense of humor. You are also incredibly talented at writing, and pushing the conventional boundaries of your society. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Loving terrorists

Check it out:

Your ‘Do You Want the Terrorists to Win’ Score: 94%

 

 

You are a terrorist-loving, Bush-bashing, “blame America first”-crowd traitor. You are in league with evil-doers who hate our freedoms. By all counts you are a liberal, and as such cleary desire the terrorists to succeed and impose their harsh theocratic restrictions on us all. You are fit to be hung for treason! Luckily George Bush is tapping your internet connection and is now aware of your thought-crime. Have a nice day…. in Guantanamo!

Do You Want the Terrorists to Win?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Summing up the weekend

Americablog does it very well:

Let’s do a quick review of news from the weekend: Republicans in the Senate won’t even allow a debate on the Iraq war; under George Bush’s command, wounded soldiers are living in squalor without the necessary care at the Army’s premiere medical facility, which is just a couple miles from the White House and Capitol; and, under George Bush’s watchful eye, Al Qaeda is reconstituting with Bin Laden reasserting his leadership role.

Is it 2009 yet?