The Mad Patriot

R.I.P. Heath Ledger

2008-01-23T08:46:00.001-05:00

Heath Ledger, better known as Ennis from the movie Brokeback Mountain, has passed away.

Now, the question is - how long until we hear the inevitable announcement that Fred Phelps and the rest of the nutters at the Westboro Baptist Church are going to protest at the funeral?

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Apparently not long. The announcement has been made:

How appropriate it is that the zip code for Topeka, Kansas starts with 666, meaning that everything Phelps mails out has the "Number of the Beast" on it.

Faith-Based Amendments

2008-01-16T09:55:00.000-05:00

Unbelievable idiocy spews from the mouth of Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee:

I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And thats what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than trying to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.

OK, It's pretty clear that the Huckster has no fucking clue what the Constitution is. It has nothing to do with how we treat each other and how we treat the family, it's about how we run the country. It's an instruction manual for our form of representative democracy. Does Huck also think that the manufacturer of his television set should update its owner's manual so it's in God's standards?

But let's humor Huck for a moment. Let's see if we can predict his desired amendments. Judging from his prior statements, it's pretty clear that number 28 would state that an unborn fetus is to be considered a person in all interpretation of the law and that any medical procedure destroying an embryo or fetus is to be treated as a homicide. Number 29 would define marriage as the holy union of one man and one woman. There might even be a number 30 stating that the First Amendment must not be construed in such a way as to prohibit a government office from acknowledging God and Jebus. These amendments are just the tip of the iceberg, however. Let's look at other Biblical principles we could add to the constitution.

For starters, we could make the Ten Commandments into Amendments 31 - 40. Citizens would be required to only worship the Judeo-Christian God. We would also be forbidden to make any "idols" in the shape of anything in the skies, on the earth, or in the water (this would presumably include crucifixes, statues of Jesus, Mary, and the Saints, and those tacky fish on car trunk lids - good riddance to all of them, I say) and forbidden to misuse the name of God. We would be required to keep holy the Sabbath (that's Saturday, by the way) and do no work on that day.

Then it would get more interesting. Here are a few more Biblical principles we could add to the Constitution.

41. No citizen shall boil a baby goat in its mother's milk. (Exodus 34:26 - from the other Ten Commandments)
42. All seafood which does not have fins and scales is abomination. (Leviticus 11:10-12 - so much for the seafood industry)
43. Any citizen who has a judgement against him in a court of law must pay at least twice the amount of the judgement (Matthew 5:40)

Feel free to suggest some others!

Jeff Sessions: Traitor

2007-12-17T16:01:00.001-05:00

Today, on the Senate floor, our village idiot Jeff Sessions let loose this unfuckingbelievable comment:

Some people in this chamber love the Constitution more than they love the safety of this nation. We should all send President Bush a letter thanking him for protecting us.

Jeff, you dipshit, without the Constitution there is no safety. Don't you realize that if you let Bush gut the Constitution, then when he leaves in 2009, President Hillary (or whoever) will be able to wiretap your phones without a warrant and/or throw your ass in Guantanamo forever with no chance to defend yourself in court, or even to know the charges against you?

Also, didn't you take an oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies foregin and domestic? Your willingness to let the Number One enemy of that Constitution shit all over it while you fawn over his toughness and thank him for "protecting" us is probably the most revolting act of your Senate career, and it's got some doozys with which to compete. You do realize that his landing on the aircraft carrier to proclaim Mission Accomplished was a fucking ACT, don't you?

As for me, I didn't cower in fear and sacrifice my rights when the Soviets had ten thousand nuclear warheads pointed at us, and I'm sure as hell not going to cower over your dire warnings of my imminent death at the hands of few Muslim fanatics hiding in caves. A true patriot once said, "Give me liberty or give me death." Jeff Sessions, you are willing to sacrifice our liberty in return for promises of safety from an incompetent buffoon who couldn't protect us on 9/11 and can't protect us now - clearly you are no patriot. In the immortal words of your buddy Dick Cheney, go fuck yourself.

New Digs

2007-12-14T09:12:00.000-05:00

Ok, I've moved my blog (including all the old posts) over here to Blogger. This ought to make it easier for other Blogger users to leave comments. I'm still working on getting the template as close as I can to the theme on the old Drupal blog. I'm also making a New Year's resolution to post more often. If you count this post (which you probably shouldn't), I've got three posts in three days, so it's a start.

Hope y'all enjoy.

H.R. 847

2007-12-13T15:59:00.001-05:00

This is the meat of House Resolution 847:

Now, therefore be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;

(2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;

(3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;

(4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;

(5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and

(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world.

This is the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Any questions?

I know it would be too much to ask for the Congress to actually do something useful instead of wasting time and taxpayer money in idiotic posturing, but could they at least refrain from blatantly violating their Oaths of Office to uphold and defend the Constitution?

EDIT: Thanks to Dispatches from the Culture Wars, I just discovered that John McKay has a bit more commentary on this ridiculous resolution.

Silly Mormon, the Presidency is for Evangelicals

2007-12-12T18:52:00.000-05:00

Wow, has it really been that long since I posted? Yipes.

Ok, so I'm hearing today all about how Huckabee "innocently" asked whether Mormons believe that Jesus and the Devil are brothers. Obviously, he's trying to cast aspersions on Mitt's faith, blah blah blah. Yes, the Constitution says there should be no religious test for public office - but it's clear that American voters administer their own individual tests.

Anyway, what I want to know is, who cares whether one of the candidates believe Jesus and the Devil were brothers? This is the second presidential election of the 21st century. Surely by now, the only people we should consider capable of running the country are those who understand that Jesus and the Devil are fictional characters. No one with any sense or any grasp of reality should be considering voting for either of these pious nitwits.

Supreme Court rules against FFRF suit over faith-based initiatives

2007-06-25T14:56:00.000-04:00

The Supremes decided 5-4 that taxpayers have no standing to sue over the faith-based initiatives program which takes their money and gives it to religious organizations, in clear violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution. You can read the details in the Washington Post.

What is especially galling about this decision in favor of the Bush Administration's ongoing War Against the Constitution is that Bush himself has, on many occasions, used 'the taxpayers' as an excuse for his obstruction of embryonic stem-cell research. His reasoning is that many Americans are opposed to the destruction of embryos, so using their money to do research on these embryos is unfair. Apparently in Bush's vision of America, taxpayers' opinions only count if they agree with his own.

The savvy reader might also note that the opposition of many taxpayers to the war in Iraq doesn't seem to be slowing the rate at which billions of dollars, not to mention thousands of American men and women in uniform, are being poured onto that fire.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any crazier...

2007-05-23T06:26:00.000-04:00

... a Liberty University student was arrested at Jerry Falwell's funeral for having bombs in the trunk of his car. He said they were to prevent protesters from disrupting the funeral. I suppose the bombs themselves wouldn't have been a disruption at all.

It's unclear whether the protesters with whom he was concerned were Fred Phelps and his minions of hate, or sane people who just didn't like Jerry's politics.

Interestingly, none of the Republican Presidential candidates attended Jerry's funeral. They were all too busy. Another sign of the impending doom of the knee-jerk evangelical Republican voting bloc - something for which we can all be thankful.

Jerry Falwell Dead at 73

2007-05-16T15:50:00.000-04:00

Meh.

I'm glad he didn't suffer. I'm sorry for his family. But the world is better off without him.

I'm really surprised that I don't have more to say about it. But luckily, some other folks do:

Tinky Winky, the Teletubby, prepared a touching eulogy for Rev. Falwell.

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church plan to picket Falwell's funeral. Because Falwell helped create the “Satanic Sodomite Zeitgeist”, of course.

I Don't Like Mondays

2007-04-16T17:01:00.000-04:00

... and apparently, neither did the guy who shot up Virginia Tech. Hey, Brenda Spencer's classic answer to the question that's on everyone's mind ("Why?") is just as good as any other. After all, "What reason do you need?"

All the victims of this tragedy are in my thoughts.

Peace, out.

Saying It Without Saying It

2007-03-05T17:05:00.000-05:00

I was going to blog about Ann Coulter, but apparently if you use the words "fucking psycopathic cunt" on your homepage it negatively affects your search engine rankings.

The Big Ten

2007-03-01T17:08:00.000-05:00

No, this isn't a post about collegiate sports. It's about the other Big Ten - the Ten Commandments.

Quite often, we hear conservative politicians and pundits whining that they want the Ten Commandments displayed in government buildings, courthouses, and the like. They claim that this ancient text is not just a religious display, but it is also the basis for all our laws, and as such should not be viewed as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

So, in the interest of fairness, let's examine this claim. First, we need to find the Ten Commandments in the Bible, to make sure we're getting this right.

And God spoke all these words:
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

"You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

"You shall not murder.

"You shall not commit adultery.

"You shall not steal.

"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

(Exodus 30:1-17)

God goes on to give a bunch more laws and instructions, including how to build a temple. Then, in Exodus 31:18, we are told that "When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God." Unfortunately, the Israelites were being very naughty, idolizing a golden calf. Exodus 32:19 states that "When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain." Oh, well.

God isn't one to leave his people without guidance, though. Here's what happens next:

The LORD said to Moses, "Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

Then the LORD said: "I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

"Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.

"Do not make cast idols.

"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt.

"The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.

"No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

"Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

"Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God.

"Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.

"Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.

"Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk."

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant — the Ten Commandments.

(Exodus 34:1,10-28)

The astute observer will notice some differences in this set of Ten Commandments and the first. But the Lord said he would write "the words that were on the first". So either God lied to Moses, or the writer of Exodus made a mistake. Later on in Deuteronomy Moses recites the first list to the people again, calling it the Ten Commandments. This is a bit of a conundrum. But, most if not all Jews and Christians assume that the first list is the correct Ten Commandments. I suppose we will have to do the same, though it might be more fun to discuss how the commandment not to cook a goat it its mother's milk is reflected in current American law.

So let's start looking at each of these Ten Commandments and see how they form the basis for our legal system. One at a time, straight through the list.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

Well, most Americans were never brought out of slavery in Egypt, so let's just concentrate on the "you shall" part. Here's our first problem - the First Commandment violates the First Amendment to the Constitution by establishing a religion.

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them....

Not only is this commandment also an establishment of religion, it also apparently outlaws the creation of any kind of sculpture other than abstract art. This would go against the freedom of expression also guaranteed by the First Amendment. Also note that Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore's giant Ten Commandments monument which caused so much controversy was in the form of something on the earth (the two stone tablets), and his followers spent a lot of time around it bowed down in prayer. Ironic, isn't it?

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

The Third Commandment also violates the First Amendment by restricting the freedom of speech, and one could argue that it also violates the Establishment Clause.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.

Again, this violates the First Amendment. A good thing, because it would be really hard to enjoy the weekend if every place of business was closed on Saturday.

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Requiring a person to honor someone would be a bizarre attempt at thought policing. While not clearly unconstitutional, it's very doubtful that this would be enforceable.

You shall not murder.

Finally, on the sixth commandment, we come to one that actually is part of our legal system. Of course, pretty much every code of conduct that has exer existed in human society has prohibited murder, so to say that this commandment is the basis of our laws against murder is assuming a lot.

You shall not commit adultery.

Some states actually do have criminal codes prohibiting adultery, but some do not. They are rarely enforced, and Supreme Court decisions regarding privacy probably make them unenforceable. Interestingly, this commandment only applies to married women - a married man getting it on with an unmarried woman was not considered adultery in the patriarchal Hebrew society. Minnesota's adultery law reads that way; other states' laws apply to men as well. I'll give this one a half-point, because some states apparently do base their laws on it.

You shall not steal.

Another hit - but like murder, theft is universally condemned, so the idea that this commandment is the basis for our law is dubious at best.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

Yep, perjury is illegal. However, perjury was also illegal in ancient Greece, so once again the commandment cannot be the sole basis of our perjury laws.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Coveting, or desiring, your neighbor's stuff is not illegal, and would be another unenforceable thought crime. In fact, one could argue that coveting is a necessary part of our capitalist economy. Notice, also, that his wife and his servants (slaves) are considered to be mere possessions. This viewpoint is, to say the least, frowned upon in modern America.

So, I count three (and one-half, for adultery) commandments which are reflected in our legal system, but since all four of these prohibitions are universal or nearly so, it cannot be said that the commandments themselves form the basis of our laws. The fifth and tenth commandments are not the basis of any laws, and in fact our society encourages disobedience to the tenth. The first four are in direct conflict with the Constitution, which is what any rational person would call the true basis of our laws and government.

Now, would all of you who support putting the Ten Commandments on display in our courtrooms please stop lying about your motives and just admit that you want to convert the United States into a Christian theocracy?

Beware the Mooninites!

2007-02-01T09:26:00.000-05:00

Apparently a marketing ploy for Aqua Teen Hunger Force has been mistaken for a terrorist plot. Panic ensued, bridges were closed, and two men were arrested. Over this...

I love the way the overreacting retards in Boston's city hall are trying to picture Turner Broadcasting as the bad guys. How dare them make advertisements that look like, um, a really bad Hollywood depiction of a bomb, I guess. Don't you think a REAL terrorist bomb would be hidden somewhere so it wouldn't be found, instead of being prominently displayed on the side of an interstate highway?

The Real Reason for the Season

2006-12-22T18:15:00.000-05:00

... is the 23.5° tilt of Earth's axis in relation to its orbital plane.

At 6:22pm CST this evening (December 22, 0:22 GST) the North Pole will be inclined directly away from the Sun, indicating the beginning of Winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern hemisphere.

For as long as mankind has been aware of the cycle of seasons, we have tried to explain it. Some of our earliest efforts were less than entirely rational or logical, but we can cut our ancestors a little slack. Those of us alive today, when men have LANDED on the freaking MOON, have no excuse to proclaim that some dude who got nailed to a tree twenty centuries ago is the reason for the season.

Happy Solstice, everyone!

Happy Feet

2006-11-30T10:41:00.001-05:00

Okay, this is a bit of an oddball post. But I've been too long without writing something, nothing has sparked my interest in the past week or so, and someone gave me a nudge.

Anyway, here's the deal. I carried the wife and the little one to the movies a couple weeks ago to see Happy Feet on opening night. I loved it, but today, I overheard a co-worker talking about it, and saying he was ready to walk out because it was "anti-religious". Oh, those evil Hollywood types trying to shove their liberal agenda into a kids' movie, and so forth.

Well, I didn't see it that way at all. What I saw was a group with a problem, one individual who happened to be a bit of an oddball, but had a logical plan to solve the problem, and the group leadership who just blamed the problem on the oddball and thought if they got rid of him "God" would fix the problem for them.

See, it's not the religion itself that's being decried here, it's intolerance, ostracism, and (dare I say it) the laziness of relying solely on prayer and not getting up off your ass and doing something. It's anti-fanaticism, perhaps - I can see a Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell type getting offended by it, because it paints them as the detriment to society that they truly are.

But that's not even the main jist of the writer's agenda. There's a positive aspect too, and it's far more important. It's about celebrating our differences, finding harmony between us, and about never giving up on achieving goals. I'm darn glad my little girl saw it, because those are messages that she should hear, and can understand in some way even at her age. And I'm pretty sure that if when she gets older, she turns out to be as apathetic about organized religion as I am, it won't be because she saw Happy Feet.

Fred Phelps to picket student funerals after bus crash in Huntsville, AL

2006-11-22T15:21:00.000-05:00

Because, you know, the schools in Huntsville are such a hotbed of gay sex. The kids were just asking to be killed horribly in a bus crash.

Rumsfeld cuts and runs

2006-11-08T14:14:00.000-05:00

One of the primary men responsible for the nearly half million lives lost in Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will not be "staying the course". This should be a bonus on top of an already glorious morning after Election Day… but look who the Retard in Chief has nominated as a replacement:

Robert Gates.

Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M (possibly the most ironic thing ever named for an ex-President, despite tough competition from Reagan National Airport). A guy who helped sell weapons to Iran and passed classified intelligence to Saddam Hussein. That makes him bosom buddies with 2/3 of the Axis of Evil.

In a sane world, this asshole have been convicted of treason and hanged long ago. What kind of fucking moron would put this douchebag in charge of the United States Department of Defense? Okay, that's a rhetorical question - obviously, the same kind of moron who invades the wrong damn country to retaliate for an attack on America. Expect more of the same for the next two years.

Sweet Victory!

2006-11-08T11:04:00.000-05:00

Well, this about sums up my feelings this morning…

The nightmare of complete Republican control of our government is finally over… but we must be vigilant, and insure that it never happens again. There are still plenty of battles left to fight, but for a few moments we can savor this victory. Here's hoping the remaining progressives on the SCOTUS can last the next two years, and that the Reich loses the Senate and White House in 2008.

Get your ass out there and Vote!

2006-11-07T13:18:00.000-05:00

I'm back to work after a surprisingly easy trip to the polls. I highly recommend lunchtime voting to those who can do it.

My vote for Governor of the fine state of Alabama went to Libertarian write-in candidate Loretta Nall - the only candidate who didn't interrupt any television programs to tell me why not to vote for her opponents!

Beyond that, it gets difficult. The bums who most deserve to be thrown out, Spencer Bachus and Hank Erwin, have no opponents. I'm certainly not voting for them, and there's not much point writing in my own name, so I abstained from their races. Next, I eliminated all the Roy Moore disciples, Religious Reich crusaders, and people whose ads said their opponent was "too liberal", and there was pretty much nothing left on the ballot but blank spots and Democrats (the cynical among us might ask if there is a difference). So, I voted probably the most partisan ballot I've ever cast.

"Maverick" McCain shows his inner partisan Republican

2006-10-19T11:24:00.000-04:00

McCain jokes about suicide if Democrats win Senate

McCain has claimed in the past that he considered suicide while he was a POW in Hanoi. But it's plain to see that he found the will to live then.

So, we must assume from McCain's statements that he would find Democratic control of the Senate more unbearable than 5 1/2 years of torture at the hands of the Viet Cong. OK, he was "joking", so the report says. But anyone who has known a troubled teen knows that suicide isn't something you joke about. Neither is torture.

I think this statement indicates that McCain has finally let the Republican Kool-Aid get to his head. He's off the deep end, and no longer living in the reality-based world. But more importantly, he probably just blew his chance to use his bi-partisan credentials in a potential 2008 Presidential bid. What self-respecting Democrat would support him after this?

Progressive Values and Investing Success

2006-10-13T10:10:00.000-04:00

There's a myth in America that conservatives are superior business leaders to progressives. Supposedly conservative fiscal policies are better for the US economy, but this is not borne out by the evidence. In fact, our nation's best economic performance in history occurred under President Clinton and during a time of historically high income tax rates. When a Republican acts shocked that I would support the Democrats, who will "raise my taxes", I tell them I'd be happy to have Clinton-era tax rates if I could have my Clinton-era salary back!

Now moving away from the big picture of the entire US economy and into the world of investing... recent research indicates that companies with progressive values outperform the general market. Yep, the conservatives - who love to tout their fiscal responsibility and their business acumen - get trounced in the real world by the bleeding-heart Democrats.

How can you use this information to your advantage? Well, hopefully you're already limiting your patronage of "red" companies like Wal-Mart, who give massive amounts of money to the Republican party and enable the abuses we've seen in the Republican controlled federal government. If not, I'd like to point you to BuyBlue, a website that tracks corporate political contributions and social responsibility, so that the informed consumer can vote with their wallet, and support companies that share their values.

But now you can also "invest blue" with the Blue Fund, a pair of mutual funds that invest in "blue" companies. And thanks to the above research, you can invest knowing that you're not sacrificing returns to make a political statement. In fact, it's likely that the Blue Large Cap Fund will outperform the S&P 500 - its investment mix has done so for at least the last five years.

Of course, all the standard disclaimers apply - past performance does not guarantee future results, I am not a financial advisor, and so forth.

Religious fanatics with nuclear weapons?

2006-10-03T11:59:00.000-04:00

I just happened to see a reprint of an Washington Post editorial piece called The Tehran Calculus by Charles Krauthammer in Birmingham's Black & White paper. For the most part, it seems a fairly rational examination of the alternatives of war or no war against Iran. Until we get to this:

Then there is the larger danger of permitting nuclear weapons to be acquired by religious fanatics seized with an eschatological belief in the imminent apocalypse and in their own divine duty to hasten the End of Days.

Well, I agree that is a danger. Unfortunately, it's already happened. The fanatic of whom I speak is known as George W. Bush.

Then there's this:

The mullahs are infinitely more likely to use these weapons than anyone in the history of the nuclear age.

Krauthammer must have skipped his high school Probability and Statistics class. It's impossible to be "infinitely more likely" to use nuclear weapons than someone who already has. Either that, or he skipped the U.S. History class where he would have learned why it was that the Japanese surrendered in World War II.

It's the United States Congress, not the Super Adventure Club

2006-09-30T12:51:00.000-04:00

Ahh, nothing like a sex scandal during election season. Especially one involving a Republican congressman and teenage boys. If you feel a little voyeuristic, ABC News has transcripts of some of the instant messages that Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) sent to congressional pages. Disturbing stuff - don't follow that link if you're going to come back and complain that it made you sick.

Not wanting to dwell on the sordid details, I'll dwell on the sweet, sweet irony. Foley was the chairman of the House caucus on missing and exploited children. Hey, it's a rare example of the Republicans giving a position to someone who actually has some experience! Foley was credited with writing the sexual-predator provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which Bush signed in July.

Some folks on Daily Kos dug up an interesting quote from the Clinton-Lewinsky witch hunt:

"It's vile," said Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach. "It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction."

Quick, what's the difference between Clinton and Mark Foley? Clinton's activities involved another consenting adult.

Not only is Mark Foley a pederast, he's also a fucking hypocrite. Despite his own feelings toward adolescent boys, Foley voted YES on the Homophobia Gets Us Reelected Act (also known as the Defense of Marriage Act).

And for the coup de grace, it's becoming increasingly clear that Republican reps all the way up to Majority Leader Boehner (heh heh) and Speaker Hastert knew about Foley and engaged in a cover-up. I'm not sure how they thought they could get away with it when an organization as powerful as the Catholic Church couldn't.

UPDATE: How ironic (in the Alanis Morissette way) that I would make a comment about the Catholic Church, and then Foley would claim to have been molested by a clergyman. If it's true, he has my sympathy, but it doesn't excuse his actions.

Most importantly... the following Congressmen knew about Foley's activities and did or said nothing. If you live in their districts, please go to the polls in November and make sure they are no longer stinking up the hallowed halls of our Capitol next year.

House Majority Leader Boehner, John (R-OH-8th)

Speaker of the House Hastert, J. Dennis (R-IL-14th)

Rep. Shimkus, John (R-IL-19th)

Rep. Alexander, Rodney (R-LA-5th)

Rep. Reynolds, Thomas (R-NY-26th)

The Axis of Evil would like to welcome its newest member...

2006-09-29T15:10:00.000-04:00

Well, Congress has passed and very soon George W Bush will sign the absolute worst piece of legislation this decade (if not ever) - and after six years of Republican control of the nation, that's quite an accomplishment.

Now, in the name of national security, the government can round up suspected "terrorists", put them in secret prisons indefinitely without trial, without access to legal representation, and without the right to challenge their detention. Furthermore, these detainees can be "interrogated" (that's fancy talk for TORTURE) by any means that the President authorizes, since this bill gives the President the sole authority to interpret and apply the Geneva Conventions.

Now, it looks like the really awful stuff might be off-limits... rape, murder, amputation, and the like. But minor mutilation, waterboarding, bamboo slats under the fingernails, sexual abuse... those are OK if Mr Bush says so. And it's hard to imagine that Christian Warrior having a problem with a few A-rabs getting abused. Never mind that torture has never been shown to provide useful information, and never mind that it is dehumanizing - not just to the detainee, but to the captors as well. In fact, just a few years ago, some of us might have scratched our heads about this bill. Surely the Presiden't can't really authorize torture, because our soldiers wouldn't go along. They'd refuse to participate in any really heinous acts against detainees. Of course, that was before we heard of a little place called Abu Ghraib.

And speaking of Iraq - pretty much everyone in America agreed that Saddam was a bad guy. Sure, some of us opposed invading Iraq on the grounds that it was a sovereign nation which posed no imminent threat to the United States. But we could agree that we'd rather see Iraq under the rule of law instead of under a tyrant. You know, the kind of guy who puts his enemies in SECRET PRISONS and TORTURES them. Then when the majority of Americans were misled into thinking that Iraq was still seeking weapons of mass destruction, it seemed that everyone was ready to march off to war to get rid of Saddam.

Well, let's look at some facts here. The U.S. has the world's largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. We are the only nation to have ever used a nuclear weapon in combat - killing an almost unimaginable number of civilians instantly. Twice. And Bush has never made any bones about the fact that they're still "on the table" for use in The War Against Terror. And now, we also officially have secret prisons and torture available to the President at his discretion. What's left that distinguishes us from Iraq, or Dubya from Saddam?

We have become our enemy. The terrorists hate us for our freedoms, but they must be liking us more each day, as we throw those freedoms away and sink slowly into tyranny.

RIP America - land of the free, home of the brave.

Reality Check

2006-09-26T15:04:00.000-04:00

George Bush, Sept. 11, 2006:

The world is safer because because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power.

REALITY CHECK for Mr. Bush:

Worldwide terrorist incidents by year. Source: MIPT Database.