Sorcery is bad – become a Christian instead

Such were the words of Pope Benedict in Angola as tens of thousands of Catholics lined the streets in Luanda, capital and largest city of the country. Caution: idiocy inside.

"In today's Angola," he said at Mass in Luanda, "Catholics should offer the message of Christ to the many who live in the fear of spirits, of evil powers by whom they feel threatened."

... What? So he wants to convert those who are said to practice sorcery into Christians, followers of a cult that's governed by their fear of God and Hell? Very clever. Sorta.

Well, not really.

In Africa, some churchgoing Catholics also follow traditional animist religions and consult medicine men and diviners who are denounced by the church. People accused of sorcery or of being possessed by evil powers sometimes are killed by fearful mobs.

From one retarded mindset into another ... Fits, I suppose.

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Vox Day gets creamed (again) by Orac – and it's a beautiful thing

Surely many people have heard of Theodore Beale, the misogynist, arrogant and fundamentally scientifically-ignorant game designer and author who parades around as "Vox Day" and poses as some sort of authority on the economy and such? He's the kind that thinks possessing a high IQ somehow makes him correct in whatever he says as though he were a divinity of sorts or something. Which curiously contradict his rather spotty track record, but let's not go there. (Hint: he denies Evolution. QED.)

Anyway, recently he posted a blog entry attacking science and vaccination (yes, he's one of those bloody antivaccinationist retards) and posted all sorts of hilariously faulty claims, and once again mentioned his high IQ as somehow making his claims arguments from authority. Apparently, genius here fails to realize intelligence is no guarantee of logic, knowledge, or even basic understanding and comprehension, as his post so laudably exposes. Vox demands respect yet apparently doesn't get the notion that one isn't respected because they've got an advantage in the bell curve of IQ test scores. People are respected when they earn it. Being a diehard blowhard and a presumptuous asshole isn't good enough grounds. Sorry, Vox.

Anyway, enough about him (sorta). The point is I spent most of last night reading a fantastic entry from Orac over at Respectful Insolence, a post with arguably one of the best titles of all time, where he dissected Vox Day's post with such relentless and merciless vigor, intellect and reason there really isn't much to be said about it following his writing. It's always fun to see what happens when a pretentious know-nothing know-it-all like Vox Day is truly and wholly decimated and utterly crushed in his claims – this is the sort of stuff that makes blogs worth reading. I'd blockquote the interesting bits, but frankly, the whole thing is a must-read for anyone who has even a marginal interest in science, medicine, or just seeing pompous pricks get skewered by plain ol' facts and reason. Such a lovely thing to come across.

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Revelations of the nasty kind

More and more priests are being uncovered as being no more than child-raping pedophile scumbags, according to this recent report.

A report issued last week by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops showed 803 allegations were filed by 706 victims last year against 518 clergy members. The church also spent more than $436 million in legal settlements, attorneys' fees and counseling costs.

Just 13 of the 803 cases involved alleged abuse of a minor that occurred during 2008. Nearly all of the cases involved accusations of molestation that occurred decades ago. The church said 83 percent of those accused were dead, defrocked or missing.

But these are men that spread the good word and will of God around for all to witness and believe in!

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Pope: "Promoting abortion as a form of 'maternal health care' = ironic"

Pope Sidious – er, Lord Benedict – DAMMIT, Pope Sinedict (okay, I give up) is in Africa, discoursing for the first time to the worryingly ever-growing numbers of Catholics in the continent. Already he's attracted much ire and reprehension for his comments on condoms aggravating AIDS rather than reducing the risk, a contemptible thing to say as it will only end in many more gullible fools dying from the goddamned virus. What a horrible old quack the Pope is. I don't remember the late John Paul II being so outright insane and dangerous.

Anyway, he recently allured to an African Union agreement signed in Angola and 44 other countries that stipulated that abortion should be legalized in certain extreme cases, such as rape, incest or when the mother's life is in imminent danger. His comments were about the 'irony of those who promote abortion as a form of 'maternal' health care'.

Yep, that's Benedict for you – allowing a woman to end a pregnancy, even when it's the result of a traumatic rape or incest sequence, or even if it poses a critical threat to the mother's own life, is bad. And this is the guy strutting around as the 'moral conscience' of the world. Disgusting.

"How disconcerting the claim that the termination of life is a matter of reproductive health," Benedict said.

Unfortunately, he's already amassed many blind followers in the area.

Igor Rivas, a 25-year-old student studying economics, was in the crowd of thousands out to welcome the Catholic leader.

"I want the benediction of the pope. I know I am a sinner. I fight to abstain from sex," Rivas said. "I think condoms are not the good way for us. Though they may be useful, they are not the right choice for Catholics, so I need his blessing."

Hearing this sort of stuff from young people like this Mr. Rivas doesn't make me angry. It saddens me horribly. So young, and already atrociously corrupted into not using a readily-available and extremely effective and reliable (not to mention simple) contraceptive method such as condoms, which both virtually assures the prevention of both AIDS and unwanted pregnancies. He and other blind sheep only parrot the Pope's horrid views without an ounce of personal or critical thought in their miserably twisted minds. It's heartbreaking, really.

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Proposition 8 in hot waters (again)

Yes on Equality, a Gay Rights group that sponsors a second ballot measure intending to get rid of California's infamous Proposition 8, which bans all same-sex marriage throughout the state, have just been cleared by the secretary of state today to try and collect the nearly 700,000 signatures needed to qualify its initiative before August 17.

Gay rights advocates are urging the court to overturn the ban on the grounds it was put before voters improperly, or at least prematurely. Under state law, the Legislature must approve significant constitutional changes before they can go on the ballot.

Proposition 8's sponsors, represented in court by former Pepperdine law school dean and Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr, argue that the ballot initiative was approved correctly. They argued it would be a miscarriage of justice for the court to overturn the results of a fair election.

No, Dean, it would not be a miscarriage of justice. It's actually your creed that's against the law at the moment, as last I heard, the 2008 American Supreme Court had ruled that banning same-sex marriage was a fundamentally unconstitutional civil rights violation. I wasn't aware states had the right to go directly against federal legislation. How that blasted Prop 8 even was allowed into ballot is beyond me. But then, so are most legal shenanigans like these.

Remind me again how allowing some people to marry or not is ANYONE'S fucking business other than their own?

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Seriously, get over yourselves – it was a JOKE

Last night on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, President Obama briefly referred to his dismal bowling skills as slowly but surely improving, saying his average is now at about 129 at the White House. Amidst the laughter and one-liners, he commented, probably without thinking, that it was 'like the Special Olympics or something'. No boos from the audience.

Ever since, he's suddenly been drawing surprisingly large amounts of ire, boos and disapproval from all over the place, as much from supporters as opponents, for his one single little comment. Here's just one of the many news reports about poor little physically or mentally handicapped 'heroes' of the stupid Special Olympics 'giving him pointers' (seriously, I've read like half a dozen such articles today.)

I've only got one thing to say to all those who are pissed at Obama's remark: GROW UP. Get over yourselves. It was a JOKE, a harmless joke, and most of the time, jokes are actually MEANT to be derogatory or demeaning to a person or party. Saying his bowling skills were like "the Special Olympics or something" has absolutely nothing that's so horribly offensive or insulting in it, so really, people need to just shut up and take it with a smirk.

Seriously, when no-one can take a joke anymore, you know the world's getting far to bleeding easy and soft on people. Cater to everyone's desires and wishes! Who cares if it turns them into spineless cowards who can't take a joke, it makes them comfortable! This is one of the reasons for my contempt for inane crap like the Special Olympics; any other time people making jokes about disabled folks is irrelevant and boring, but suddenly when they can run real fast or lift real heavy weights or throw a bowl into some pins, any jokes against them is criminally offensive.

Babies, those whiners are. (Now go ahead, yell at me for being so mean and/or insensitive.)

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How to tell when something ain't quite right

A few hints to help you notice something's going on that's not quite normal:

1 – You're being approached by a 14-year-old recently escaped from a behavioral facility.

2 – He's walking a large white poodle.

3 – He's completely naked.

Don't believe me? Look for yourself.

A 14-year-old Saginaw boy has been charged with strong-arm robbery and assault in juvenile court after he pushed a woman and broke her cell phone while taking a walk naked with a large white poodle in Hart Township Monday, police say.

Lt. Craig Mast of the Oceana County Sheriff’s Office said a 14-year-old youth walked away from a youth behavioral treatment facility Monday morning, stripped down, and was with a “giant” white poodle when he approached a woman working in her yard just after 11:30 a.m. Monday in the area of Oceana Drive and Lake Road.

I don't agree with the 'strong-armed robbery' charge, though – he just took the phone, not like he fought her to blood for it – but other than that ... (you see it coming ...)

That boy ain't right.

(Told you).

Thanks to Melissa for the story.

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Horses are not people, folks ...

But sometimes it can get pretty damn funny. XD

Not everything we hear about from the South is related to stupidity, after all. :P

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Battle it out like gladiators, kids

Here's yet another shining example of stuff that truly only happens in America (particularly down south): a Dallas school is under intense suspicion and surveillance following numerous reports of forcing its students to solve their problems 'like men' – ie. throwing them in a metal cage and forcing them to fight it out bare-knuckled.

The report, first obtained by The Dallas Morning News, describes two instances of fighting in an equipment cage in a boys' locker room between 2003 and 2005. It was not clear from the report whether there were other fights.

Superintendent Michael Hinojosa told the newspaper that there were "some things that happened inside of a cage" and called the fights "unacceptable."

No criminal charges were ever filed, and there was no mention in the report of whether anyone required medical attention or whether any employees were disciplined. A district spokesman would not comment.

I wonder why, whenever accused or barbaric stupidity like this, those being accused of it never seem to be inclined to comment ... hmm.

Certainly a disturbing story like many others that seem to be flooding out from the place, but then, one's gotta remember: it is Dallas, Texas, Retarded Hick American Land, after all.

Thanks to Melissa for sending me this story.

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Friday Canine: Now *that* is cute

A Mexican Wolf cub playing in grass.

Original source: National Geographic

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Clash of the Titans

President Obama just appeared on 'The Tonight Show' with Jay Leno. It was a thrilling and enlightening experience, witnessing the clash of the two titans in their respective fields – Leno at posing all the toughest questions very pointedly, Obama at answering just such questions in his usual honest and intelligent manner. Leno certainly didn't hold back, and overall it was a very enticing spectacle for one and all I sure hope no-one reading this missed.

Naturally, it wasn't as light-hearted and comedic as most of Leno's guest segments usually are, what with it being about Obama's actions and policies regarding the recession and all, but there were still some laugh-out-loud moments amidst the sober remindings of how screwed up the world is until further notice. Obama seemed to have a knack for giving off the sort of answers that ended in massive applause or even standing ovations – I might very well've been one of them, had I been there.

For those who still haven't seen it, keep scouring the Web, namely YouTube – it'll pop on there on only a matter of minutes, I imagine (if it hasn't already). It deserves a viewing at least.

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In case you can't find the video, the White House just released the official transcript of the show. Enjoy!

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Okay, maybe this is going too far ...

I'm all for parenting parents in many cases – face it, parents' jobs are getting to easy these days any moron can do it (and unfortunately, they do) – but I do think this is going a bit too far.

In North Dakota, the legislature has voted to allow a fine of up to $500 against parents when their children skip school. If it happens repeatedly, parents face 30 days in jail and a fine of $1,000.

... Okay, I dunno about any other clauses or 'what ifs' this may have, but if parents pay up to 500 bucks every time their stupid little delinquent decides to skip school ... now that's just stupid. Why don't they fine the stupid kid instead?

In Minnesota, legislation is moving through the state senate that would make it illegal to smoke in your car if a child is present. But it would only be a “secondary offense,” meaning a police officer could pull you over only if you were also breaking another law.

So now you can't smoke in a car if there's a kid there, too. Even if (as any parent on Earth not deserving to be shot for excessive stupidity would do) the windows are lowered and the cabin is ventilated.

I'm all for eliminating cigarettes, but this is again just going too far.

In Colorado, a law under consideration would fine employers who did not allow employees to take time off from work for “parent-teacher conferences, special education services, response to interventions, dropout prevention, attendance, truancy and disciplinary issues.” It would apply only to companies with 50 workers or more, and the worker could not take more than three hours at a time or a total of 18 hours in a year.

... Okay, this is really none of the government's freakin' business.

When does 'protecting and helping the children' stop and 'becoming totalitarian and delirious' begin? This is just a case of the gov't overstepping its bounds yet again.

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