Wednesday, October 31, 2007

This is why I'm an Atheist

MSNBC reports on a lawsuit from the father of a fallen marine against Rev. Fred Phelps and his "God hates fags" Westboro Baptist Church.  Read the whole story, the disturbing part is at the bottom.

Remember folks, if you're Christian, Phelps and his followers are reading from the same Bible as you, whether you're a hippie love child or a conservative Catholic.  They obviously get something much different out of than anyone else does.

Remember, Phelps' church is called Westboro Baptist Church, not Extremist Homophobic Hate Crime Church, or Radically Fundamentalist Violence Breeding Church.  It's a normal Baptist church like any other - the next Fred Phelps could be sitting next to you in your First Baptist Church of Hometown, singing the same hymns you are, reading the same Bible you are, but getting a completely different picture than you.  And there's nothing you can do to stop him within that narrow framework.  And it really doesn't matter if we're talking flavors of Christianity with the Bible, or flavors of Islam with the Koran - the moderate stance taken by the majority of believers forms a breeding ground for the extremists like Phelps and bin Laden (and yes, they're the same breed of sub-human).

And this is a BIG part of why I'm an atheist.

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Funeral war picketers lose verdict - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com

Monday, October 15, 2007

» If kids don’t have electricity, will a laptop change their lives? | Education IT | ZDNet.com

Interesting ZDNet article, which parrots one of the arguments my wife had over OLPC (One Laptop Per Child).  The basic question, as stated in the article title, is whether a laptop will make that big a difference in the hands of a child with no electricity.

Reading the comments, I came across a gem:

Kids in third world countries have already been robbed of their childhood. They face the harsh reality of survival and hunger...

This had to come from someone in the West, probably someone in the U.S.  The notion of someone being "robbed of their childhood" is a completely Western and completely modern notion.  Having a carefree childhood is a completely modern convenience, like a refrigerator and leisure time.  These kids haven't been robbed of anything - they never had a carefree childhood claim to begin with.  Even in the West, up until the early 20th century, children worked, sometimes right alongside their parents.  Some still do in non-Western countries.

Personally, I find the technological aspects of OLPC interesting, but the politics it spawns and the tripe dribbling from the mouth of neo-socialists who back the project is quite irritating.  I'm no advocating doing nothing - doing something to help is always better - but for the love of humanity, stop deluding yourself about it.

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» If kids don’t have electricity, will a laptop change their lives? | Education IT | ZDNet.com

Dispelling Transit Myths

There's a huge push in Seattle to pass Proposition 1 (anti web page here, pro web page here, raw text here).  The link below from the Cato Institute shows why light rail is a bad idea.  Personally, I dislike buses for various reasons, but I have to admit that they're better than trains for commuting distances with lots of people.  Of course, I hate taxes with a vengeance as well...

I'm voting no for the cost and inanity of it all.

Dispelling Transit Myths

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Court nixes suit claiming CIA torture - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

I'd be shocked, but after the Kelo decision, anything the SCUSA says is worth as little as anything coming out of the administration or the legislature.

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Court nixes suit claiming CIA torture - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Secessionists Meeting in Tennessee | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited

Interesting - the Middlebury Institute. a secessionist group in Vermont , is meeting with the League of the South, a secessionist group from the south.  Kinda like the secessionist from the War of 1812 meeting with the secessionists from the War Between the States, one hundred and fifty years later...

The Free State Project comes to mind - too bad they weren't invited.

Farkers have some comments as well, and as usual, prove that an infinite number of monkeys don't know shit.

Secessionists Meeting in Tennessee | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Part of Patriot Act ruled unconstitutional - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

Woo hoo!  One part down, all the other parts to go!

Part of Patriot Act ruled unconstitutional - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

Blind people say hybrid cars pose safety risk - Automotive - MSNBC.com

Since I ride a motorcycle with loud pipes, I like this article - it supports my argument that loud pipes save lives, although the lives being saved in the article aren't the ones I was talking about.

There is one very disturbing passage in this article - when National Federation of the Blind President stated he'd like to see hybrids make a bit more noise so blind pedestrians can hear them, he received an email from an environmentalist.  The email suggested that NFB members should be the first to drown when seas levels rise due to global warming.

OK, here's the scoop - environmentalism isn't a science.  It isn't a philosophy.  It isn't even good sense anymore.  It's a fucking religion worshipped by whack jobs who can't see anything past the past 100 years of human history.  At least with normal religious nuts, we know where to find them every Sunday morning (or Wednesday evening, or Saturday, or five times daily).  If these are the types of people who we're saving the earth for, I'd rather let it die - maybe the next set of sentients on this planet will be better at weeding out the morons than we were.

Blind people say hybrid cars pose safety risk - Automotive - MSNBC.com