Papers Please

So I have been a bit busy at work, and didn't get to comment on the news I heard the other day about the 10 people the FBI busted for spying for Russia (I still have to fight the urge to call them the Soviet Union).  Now, I haven't seen mugshots of these people, but from the court room artist, they all appear Caucasian.  My, what a pickle!

What do I mean?  Well, these are obviously criminals intent on destroying the US and our way of life.  And they all met and interacted with obviously foreign Caucasians.  I guess the only safe approach if you are at all consistent like the sad excuse of legislature in Arizona, would be to demand to see papers from everyone for whatever reason!  Isn't that a much better world?

And, no, I'm not being serious, and stretching the crap out of an unrelated incident.  But that's how shit like this starts, and fear-mongering douche-bags would jump at it I'm sure.  Just ask a tea party hick, I'm sure they'd agree.

Ironic Coincidence?

So, it's no surprise that the downright dumbest state in the nation would do the most useless and dumb thing in the world, and declare a day of prayer, because they think their imaginary friend can do something about the spill.  Now I understand that they may be getting a sense of hopelessness about the situation because it's heartbreaking.  But really... prayer?  That's less than useful folks.  Instead, declare a statewide day of service, where people can go to the shores and help in whatever manner with the cleanup.

So in a bit of cosmic irony, a strange coincidence happened.  It seems one of the remote control robots they have down there bumped the cap, and it had to come off; THEREBY MAKING THE SPILL WORSE!!!  Now if this wasn't such a giant clusterfuck, I would almost laugh at the Louisiana legislators.  And this is just a coincidence, so it has no bearing on their prayer efforts, but apparently these mental midgets believe that by mumbling to yourself you can change reality...  So how do they reconcile that the exact opposite of what they wanted basically ended up happening?  Or is this the department of all bad stuff is the fault of the other imaginary guy, and all good stuff is of course the responsibility of the imaginary guy they like(fear?).

Really, can't people see how incredibly juvenile and downright silly it is turning to a supernatural solution when in all of (actual) history NOTHING supernatural has ever happened.  Not even once!

What Should President Obama do About Gen McCrystall?

Fuck, what a mess...  I'm sure you have been following the news and the breaking story with gen McCrystall and his comments about the Commander in Chief.  Quite the clusterfuck all around.

My OPINION on this:

• McCrystall is too important to the current effort to fire him outright.
• McCrystal does need to be put in his place in relation to the Constitutional control of the military by a Civilian leader.
• President Obama needs to take clear and decisive action that is in line with military discipline and tradition.
• Both parties have too much important work to focus on instead of this bullshit.

So what needs to happen:

• Gen McCrystal should get at least an Article 15 signed by the President.
• He should be allowed to continue his mission until the normal time of his replacement (goal of July 2011 I think).
• When he retires, he should get a censure and be reduced in grade.
• All this needs to be public and well choreographed for the media fucktwats that think this is important.

What do you think?

Growth of No: Americans Denying Any Religious Identity Continue to Grow

I came across a blog entry about more and more people basically not identifying with any religion.  Now, I honestly consider this a good sign, and it makes me more hopeful for the future.  But I have to be honest.  While I would consider it the best possible world where people are rational and don't adhere to totally unprovable concepts, and wild fantasies, that isn't what I need to see.

The problem with theists is that they are making it everyones business.  Politicians, our laws, what we're allowed to do in our own homes are being directed by these people's deranged fantasies.  THAT'S when I have a problem.  Religion is like masturbation.  As long as they keep it to themselves, they can waste all the time in the world making themselves feel good.  But sadly theitards insist on making it a public issue, and forcing you to masturbate exactly the same way they do.

The trend of more and more people cutting ties with organized religion -- or just admitting to this, even though it happened long ago -- continues. Although not all the people who profess "no religion" also say that they are atheists, it's implausible that this growth in "no religion" responses is completely unrelated to the parallel growth in recent years of the popularity and visibility of unapologetic atheists.
Just what the connection is, is open to debate. Maybe a lot more of these "no religion" people are atheists than are willing to admit it -- and given how much bigotry there is towards atheists, that's not unreasonable. Indeed, we should assume that there are at least a couple of percentage points of "in the closet atheists" out there. Another possibility is that the publicity surrounding atheist critics of religion is making it easier for people to explore doubts about religion.

Gallup began systematically tracking religion using this measure in 1948, asking Americans to name the major religion with which they personally identified. At that point, 2% of Americans volunteered "no religion" and another 3% had an otherwise undesignated religious identity. In 1949 and in the 1950s and 1960s, these percentages stayed low. The number of Americans with no formal religious identity began to increase in the 1970s, reaching 11% by 1990. After some fluctuations over the last two decades, 16% of Americans now say they have no religious identity or have an otherwise undesignated response.

Gallup's 53-year trend on this measure represents nearly a quarter of the history of the United States as an independent country. There is no systematic way of comparing this trend with what may have been the case stretching back to the earliest post-Revolutionary War days. The best conclusion therefore is that Americans are more likely now than at previous times since World War II to say "no religion" when queried in traditional fashion about their religious identity.

Source: Gallup

Wait a minute, aren't atheists constantly being told that they should just hush and not be so noisy in their criticisms of religion? Aren't atheists told that so much public criticism of religion is counter-productive? Well, counter-productive for whom: atheists, or religious apologists? Never blindly trust the "helpful" advice of a person whose political and/or ideological agenda is the opposite of yours.
Another interesting part of the Gallup survey is on Americans' belief about whether religion can solve problems facing us today or if religion is "old-fashioned and out of date." Currently 58% of people think that religion can solve our problems and just 28% reject this. While that first number may be depressingly high, it's better than it was a few year ago -- as with people answering "no religion," the trend is against religion.

The percentage of Americans who believe religion can answer all or most of today's problems has fluctuated since the mid-1970s, as has the number who believe religion is old-fashioned and out of date. When Gallup first asked this question in 1957, 7% of Americans said religion was old-fashioned. That percentage was generally at or around 20% during much of the 1980s and 1990s, but has risen to 29% last year and 28% this year.

Thus, although clearly still a minority, the segment of Americans who believe "religion is largely old-fashioned" is now modestly higher than it was a decade or two ago.

A vigorous, direct, and public critique of religion is what's needed to keep these numbers going in this direction. Atheists will not and cannot make any gains by being meek, quiet, and subservient. Deference towards religion is exactly the opposite of what you should do when criticism of religion is what society needs. If atheists' critiques of religion isn't helping these numbers move in this direction, then atheists surely aren't hurting the trend.

Zombie Apocalypse

Let's look at the dictionary defenition of a Zombie:
zombie, zombi [ˈzɒmbɪ]n pl -bies, -bis

1. a person who is or appears to be lifeless, apathetic, or totally lacking in independent judgment; automaton

Now let's think a little bit about devoutly religious folks.  While I would argue that they aren't lifeless or apathetic, they sure as hell fit the "totally lacking in independent judgment; automaton" part of the definition.  And of course, the "reanimated dead" popular definition applies to the christian sect of religious thought as well.  The cosmic jewish zombie joke that people are on about.

I contend that the Zombie Apocalypse has already happened, and it came in carrying bibles!  So while you all were looking for shambling corpses muttering "brains" you missed the brainless infestation that has taken over the US (and a good part of the world).  You fail at surviving the zombie apocalypse!

DISCLAIMER:  This does not mean that I condone shooting xtians and other theitards in the head.  I mean, all it can really do is annoy them after all since you wouldn't hit any vital organs...