Wish this animal abuser a long, painful jail sentence

Jason Allen Williams from Allegan, Michigan, is in court for beating and trying to kill his dog.

Williams was charged with torturing an animal after a neighbor in Dorr Township, where Williams lived in November, witnessed a man beating a dog strung up over a tree branch by his leash.

Prosecutors initially charged Williams with misdemeanor animal abuse, but later sought a felony warrant after learning he allegedly fed the dog antifreeze. Williams has told prosecutors he was trying to euthanize the animal.

The dog, renamed Chance, has since been adopted into a family through a Saugatuck pet rescue program.

He's been found mentally fit to stand trial.

I wish I was there. The vindictive joy I would've had by beating the man halfway to death.

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Online praying service for the modern Christian

Introducing Information Age Prayer: praying for the busy modern Christian!

I can't possibly put it better than PZ Myers did over at his blog, so I'll just quote it here.

Do you feel like you don't pray enough? Are you too busy working, or playing golf, or fornicating to actually take the time out to get down on your knees and praise the invisible man in the sky? Well, there is a service for you: Information Age Prayer. For the low, low price of $3.95 a month, they will run your prayer of choice through a voice synthesizer every day, and allow the computer to speak to god for you. Is a loved one sick? For only $9.95 per month, the computer will beg god to help them 5 times a day! Throw enough money at this service, and you can just skip church altogether, not waste any time with the holy muttering, and get all the benefits of piety, every single one. Sign up today!

You gotta admit, the bastard's got some salesmanship talents right there.

And no, sadly, this is not a joke – they accept actual payments via Paypal. Either it's for real, or it's a prank, which would be shamelessly and disgustingly cruel to the many gullible fools who would gladly sign up for this sort of stuff. (But then, if they're dumb enough to want to subscribe to this stuff ...)

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Young Iranian blogger dies in jail for insulting an Islamic nutjob

A bit of sad news from the Iranian side: Omid Mir Sayafi, a young blogger who had insulted Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on his blog and was subsequently thrown in a notoriously horrible Iranian jail, has died, apparently from suicide. Poor kid.

Dadkhah said another prisoner in Evin, a Dr. Hessam Firouzi, "had warned officials in the jail of the state the young blogger was in.

"Dr Firouzi called me from the jail to say Omid had a slowed heartbeat and he had taken him to the infirmary, but that doctors there did not take this seriously and said he was faking it," Dadkhah said.

Yes, some truly adept and morally-pleasant doctors right there. One cannot fake a slowed heartbeat, known as 'bradycardia' if I remember my House, MD terms correctly (and I always do). Either they're incompetent doctors (why expect anything else?), or they knew young Sayafi was in medical trouble but let him rot anyway. Which is what I do believe happened. Not like you would put it past them, the retarded fucks.

So another young innocent man has died because he expressed free speech in a land that specifically forbids free speech (along with homosexuality, feminity, free thought, casual sexual relations, list goes on ad infinitum ...). He died because he was in jail for having insulted this Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an insane nutjob like all other Islamic fundamentalists and militants.

Well, perhaps it was easy for them to go after poor young Sayafi here, but I happen to live quite a while away. So, to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: FUCK YOU, you animal.

(Not gonna come after me, are they? I'll have to stockpile provisions and shotgun shells again. Ran out after I'd blasted the last nutcases I insulted.)

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Current American news programming du jour: debating the existence of ... Satan

It's a very sad day when this is what American news shows have sunk to in order to attract ratings. News shows are not talk shows, they are not meant to give the public what they want and pander to them like 99% other shows on the air. They are supposed to be beacons of credibility, accuracy and reason/rationality (except for the omnipresent rightist or leftist bias here and there).

This was the case for Nightline, an ABC show that actually used to be quite credible – until this announcement that it will air a debate on whether or not Satan actually exists.

I seriously wish I were kidding.

The debate over whether Satan exists is hardly going to be settled in a 30-minute television show.

But that's not stopping a rather curious lineup from debating that question for ABC's "Nightline."

The reasons for such a nonsensical debate? The obvious: ratings and getting reactions.

For one, the topic can be particularly relevant in troubled times such as these, when people are looking for explanations for economic chaos.

For another: "There's always an interest in these topics," said James Goldston, the show's executive producer.

Not to mention potentially great ratings.

"Every time we've done one, the response has been pretty dramatic," he said.

Okay, if people are really looking for 'explanations for economic chaos' and are too stupid or ignorant to figure out it's, um, the government's failure to put a leash on reckless and greedy corporations and firms – not to mention Bush and his war that has plunged America headfirst into a bottomless sea of debt – and are turning to Satan for explanations ... that pretty much says all one needs to know about religion and stupid faiths in America.

Now, what about the lineup of debaters for the debate? Surely they've got people actually qualified to talk about this sort of metaphysical or philosophical stuff? Perhaps an atheist or scientist (or likely both) in the four? Not even that.

Those arguing 'Satan Walks Amongst Us!' are Pastor Mark Driscoll, head of a megachurch in Seattle, and Annie Lobert, a former prostitute who then created the 'Hookers for Jesus' group (...). (Must ... omit ... obligatory ... hooker ... joke ...) One might say that doesn't bode well for their side of lunacy, but then you realize over 70% of Americans actually believe in this sort of rubbish ... (And 100% of viewers will be in that 70%, naturally.)

Unfortunately, those on the supposedly rational side of 'He's Imaginary!' aren't all that better: instead of people with actual proof Satan doesn't exist – such as any scientist or historian who used his brain to figure out the stupid icon only appeared to launch the famous Witch Hunts (hey, those darned witches had to be somebody's brides, eh?) – we've got Bishop Carlton Pearson, a former Pentecostal preacher who was denounced as a heretic for his assertion that Heaven is for everyone instead of just for Christians, and Deepak Chopra, the author of works on alternative medicine (such credibility already!). Hell, I do believe we may be faring even worse than the Pro-Lucifer side.

I won't be watching this debate – not only am I really not interested in witnessing part of the decline in news shows' respectability and credibility, but I simply don't receive American channels here – but I expect at least some who know of this blog will, so if you could post your comments on your abhorrence, I'd be pleased. (Or on how I'm just being close-minded and/or intolerant of others' beliefs for not believing in a half-goat man with an ugly goatee and a wicked trident who grills sinners for all eternity. Either way.)

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Fim Review: 'The Time Machine' – 7.0/10

Film Review: Sci-Fi • Adventure (2002)
'The Time Machine'
Written by Joé McKen on Thursday, March 19, 2009

Even in a ravaged and primitive future, humanity still somehow makes some really cute chicks in Simon Well’s 2002 The Time Machine.

Simon Wells’ 2002 adaptation of the eponymous HG Wells classic (which I have yet to read), The Time Machine, is a curious movie in the sense that it’s an eclectic mixture of both good and negative elements. The result is a movie that, while interesting and entertaining, feels rather disjointed in its tale. (But then, it’s not like real life has any real coherence, either.)

HG Wells’ original nameless Time Traveler now has a name, in the form of Professor Alexander Hartdegen (Guy Pearce), an 1899 New York City-based mathematician and inventor who’s obsessed with time travel (foreshadowing enough?). Though fairly shy and religiously dedicated to his work, he also finds the time to court the pretty Emma (Sienna Guillory) and even asks her hand in marriage. Unfortunately, a freak robbery ends with Emma fatally shot, and a guilty and fervent Alexander subsequently exiles himself in his study, working day and night on his calculations until finally, four years later, he completes his time machine (which I must say, certainly looks up to the job).

Intent on preventing Emma’s seemingly premature death, he turns back the clock four years and makes sure he brings her far away from the location of the robbery, yet once again she dies in a freak accident. Realizing that she’s destined to die and there’s nothing he can do about it, as shown from his thoughtful quote, ‘I could go back a thousand times … and watch her die a thousand ways’, he decides to screw it with the unhappy past (his present) and instead heads to the future, in search of the answer to his one question: ‘Why can’t I save her?’ (the answer to which, given much later, actually makes a surprising amount of sense, in a paradoxal sort of way). He lands in the future, circa 2030, where vehicles fly and the Empire State Building is dwarfed by the shiny futuristic skyscrapers. However, his time-travels, and troubles, are still far from over – you might say they’ve only just begun, as he soon somehow lands himself 800 millennia in the future and discovers a world quite unlike our own. And not in the good way.

One of the key points of any time-travel film – or any Sci-Fi film, really – are the special effects used to tie reality with fiction. The Time Machine’s effects are a motley mix of decent effects – seeing the shattered Moon swerving nauseatingly close to Earth in a future scene is particularly intriguing and frightening – while others, such as some of the CGI and animatronics work for some of the less-than-friendly creatures of tomorrow, are less than spectacular. Actually, they quite frankly stink. No creature is gonna be fear-inspiring, to an audience anyway, when their faces look like they’re made of wooden masks with rubber eyes and a lack of dental care.

One strong point to discern of the movie is its score. Brought to us by the relatively unknown Klaus Badelt, it’s wonderfully beautiful and fits the various themes and feels of the movie very well, from bright-eyed wonder at a new world to the dark and dangerous underworlds of the future, and includes the type of African chant-like theme for a future people that I do have a weakness for, despite it being nothing original. Badelt definitely deserves the award he got for this film’s soundtrack, being crowned Discovery of the Year from the 2003 World Soundtrack Awards. This is a soundtrack I might just get for myself (if I find it).

There are several questions the film raises, willingly or not, that are not answered at the end – how do humans still know English 800,000 years into the future? How have humans remained physically (and mentally) unchanged in such a formidable timespan, when current humans, 800,000 ago, were just a few steps away from Australopithecus? How did sensitive glass and electronic equipment from a library survive the apocalypse, not to mention how is it still functioning without electricity, in a darkened cave? Those are questions perhaps we just shouldn’t ask, though it definitely hurts the movie in that it didn’t at least try to answer them.

Overall, The Time Machine likely won’t bring viewers anything worth remembering for years later, or perhaps even past a few hours after the viewing, but it certainly fulfils the nonetheless crucial purpose of effectively killing time when there’s nothing better to watch or do. Not a masterpiece, but better than the ratings it received from harsher critics, I think.

Giving us a decent Sci-Fi experience with intriguing developments yet underwhelming effects and details, merits DreamWorks’ The Time Machine 7.0 falling lunar chunks out of 10.

Cast
Alexander Hartdegen: Guy Pearce • Mara: Samantha Mumba • Emma: Sienna Guillory • Kalen: Omero Mumba
Crew & Credits
Director(s): Simon Wells • Writer(s): David Duncan, John Logan. Based on novel by HG Wells. • Original Score: Klaus Badelt
General Information
Distributed by: DreamWorks (USA) • Released: March 08, 2002 • Running Time: 96 mins • Budget: US$80 million • Rated: PG-13

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One helping hand you probably don't wanna hold ...

Normally, only the proud or the foolish (I make no distinction between them here) refuse a helping hand when one is offered to them. However, some hands would likely end with you crashing to the ground, whether it was intentional or accidental. During his so-called 'maiden voyage' to Canada, his first trip since being booted, ex-President Bush (love that title) gave a speech during which he casually offered to help President Obama should he ever need it.

"If he wants my help he can pick up the phone," the former president noted helpfully this week, during an affable speech to the business community of Calgary in Canada, his first paid speaking engagement since leaving the White House in January.

Note to Bush: don't count on it.

Curiously, Bush seems quite gracious towards Obama and his administration since he/they took over from Bush's wretched group. Quite unlike his puppet-master Dick Cheney (whose given name fits him better than anyone else I've ever heard of) who went on a shrill rant against Obama in a recent interview (further establishing himself as a war-mongering crackpot), Bush is actually quite nice towards Obama. One might wonder why he's kissing ass all of sudden? Perhaps he's just sore from having his own kicked so royally during the last eight years, as the Calgary, CA crowd's reaction demonstrates quite appropriately:

While up to 400 demonstrators chanted and threw shoes outside the venue – though police disabled a makeshift cannon rigged to fire shoes into the street – Bush steered clear of any criticism of his successor.

A shoe-throwing cannon? Wow, even that Iraqi journalist must be roaring with laughter at the delectable irony from his dark and desolate Islamic prison cell.

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If the dictionary says it, it's true

It's curious and amusing how the slightest, tiniest little change in a dictionary, even an important and renown one, can stir people like the predictable sheep they are. Merriam-Webster, one of the most popular dictionaries in the English world, caused a minor controversy when they included the same-sex variant as a definition for "marriage" in their print and online versions of the reference book.

In its online and print editions, Merriam-Webster still defines marriage as "the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law."

But in a nod to evolving ideas of love and English usage, the Springfield, Mass.-based company in 2003 added a secondary meaning for "marriage" as "the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage."

It goes without saying the "stirrup" was itself caused by self-righteous conservatives who just won't-won't-WON'T! accept Gay Marriage to enter their overbaked little minds. In particular, it was an article from World Nut Net Daily:

"One of the nation's most prominent dictionary companies has resolved the argument over whether the term 'marriage' should apply to same-sex duos or be reserved for the institution that has held families together for millennia: by simply writing a new definition," the online publication said late Tuesday.

[My emphasis]

Notice the underlined descriptions of Gay ("same-sex duos") and "Normal" ("institution that has held families together for millennia") Marriage ... Yeah, no bias there.

As the dictionary's spokesman Arthur Bicknell pointed out, slightly confused and surprised, they certainly aren't the first major dictionaries to be adding the same-sex variant to "Marriage", but that's probably because Merriam-Webster is likely the biggest and most reputable of them all, I suppose. Sure, you often hear of Random House and American Heritage dictionaries, but I do think you'll agree Merriam-Webster tends to be the most prominent in any case.

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Christian cultist mother whines about judge bias in public schooling

Here's just yet another example of how religion – in particular religious cults — can screw things up for pretty much everyone. A Christian cultist mother, Venessa Mills of Wake County in North Carolina, is accusing the judge that oversaw her messy and bitter divorce of ending her kids' homeschooling due to bias regarding her religious beliefs.

Wake County Judge Ned Mangum granted Thomas and Venessa Mills joint custody of their children — ages 10, 11 and 12 — and ruled that the children's "best interest" would be served by sending them to public school this fall, according to a temporary custody order.

But Venessa Mills insists her association with the Sound Doctrine Church played a "big factor" in Mangum's ruling, in which he also ordered her to undergo a mental health assessment within 30 days.

"He disregarded the facts and said that even though the children are thriving in home school, they'd do better in public school," Venessa Mills told FOXNews.com. "It's a clear cover-up by the judge. He made a bad ruling about home schooling and he is clearly covering his tracks."

Yes, of course that's what it is, dear nutcase. It couldn't possibly be the fact that a) public schooling actually is better than homeschooling for most kids who ever want a normal social life, and b) you actually are a religious nutcase, now, can it?

The cult in question of which she's a member, the Sound Doctrine Church (jeez, even the name evokes the feeling of 'cult!'), has often been accused, particularly be ex-members, of being run by 'fear and manipulation' and that the leaders, Tim and Carla Williams, regularly ruin tear families apart and ruin relationships between spouses and their children. It also has a troubling penchant towards sexuality in little girls (who'd a thunk it?), as several ex-members state the 'church''s leaders often made deviant and disturbing sexual comments to and of young children.

"After I joined Sound Doctrine, Tim Williams told me that my oldest daughter (then age 12) was the kind of girl men would take advantage of, that my middle daughter (then age 7) was the kind of girl that would sleep with any guy, and that my youngest daughter (age 4) was the kind of girl that would use her looks to seduce men," [Jessica Gambill, former member] testified.

What is with religion and sexual perversions? You've got priests screwing little boys left right and center in the media, cults with obsessions over little girls' sexualities, and countless other examples I'm too woozy from my damn flu to think of just yet. Sounds like someone screaming 'Freudian complexes!' to me ...

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Pat Condell lashes out against Religion

And he's good at it. :P

Very brutal, and very true. His Holy Trinity is painted on my walls.

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"Cheese-eating surrender monkeys" blasts "Thou who is not holy" on condoms remark

Damn, this freakin' cold/flu/monster I've been stuck with for the past two friggin' weeks (and counting) just won't go away. Coughing fit to die of asphyxiation every day, the taste alone makes me want to cut out my tongue, and now, I'm spewing blood whenever I cough. Juuust great. Now waiting for my father to get back so we can hightail it to a doctor for once. (You know, those guys in white labcoats, as mysterious and difficult to find as leprechauns ...?)

Meanwhile, a little update. You'll remember Lord Sidious – uuuh, I mean Pope Benedict's – remarks on how using condoms doesn't stop the spread of AIDS but actually makes it worse, right? Now France (or 'cheese-eatin' surrender monkeys' as you Yanks will have heard of them) publicly blasted these assertions, saying they put millions of lives at risk of the disease if the ignorant sheep stop using condoms.

"It (AIDS) cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem," [Pope Benedict] said.

You will, of course, remember the Pope and Church's much better ideas on how to curb the progress of AIDS and HIV infections.

The Church teaches that fidelity within heterosexual marriage, chastity and abstinence are the best ways to stop AIDS.

Anyway, France's response to the Pope's comments:

"While it is not up to us to pass a judgement on the doctrines of the Church, we consider that such remarks put in danger public health policy and imperative needs regarding the protection of human life."

More than 25 million people have died from AIDS since the early 1980's, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, and some 22.5 million Africans are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Uh, yes, it is your role to criticize and judge the doctrines of the Church. Everyone can say whatever they want about anything, as long as it's right. Example, I can accuse them of brainwashing populations into ignorance and intolerance. See? Not so hard.

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Church out for control again

The Spanish Socialist Party have been on a roll in recent years, pushing through more and more social freedoms and civil rights as reforms on Gay Marriage and fast-track divorces. One of such social minefields remains abortion and the perpetually annoying Pro-Life movement, and now, to try and influence people back into good ol' Conservative Catholic values (*twitch*), the Roman Catholic Church has launched a widescale anti-abortion campaign throughout Spain. (Why don't we ever hear about Pro-Choice campaigns ...?)

"We want to speak for those that have no voice as yet," Spanish Bishops Conference spokesman Jose Antonio Martinez Camino told Spanish National Radio on Tuesday, a day after launching the drive.

The campaign features billboards showing a toddler beside an Iberian lynx, one of the most highly protected species in Spain. A slogan says, "What about me? Protect My Life!"

The usual inaccurate and manipulative tactics, I see. Equating a toddler to an unborn zygote, a ball of cells with less worth than a ball of earwax ... yeah.

Oddly, this has also drawn ire from many scientists and researchers across Spain. You'd think these would be precisely the ones who would be for the stupid thing rather than against it.

Coinciding with the church protest, hundreds of scientists and researchers issued a statement Tuesday rejecting the government's plans and supporting for the right to life.

"Abortion, being an attack on life in the first weeks of development, is nobody's right," said Dr. Monica Lopez Barahona, one of the signatories and director of Vidacord, a biomedical company that stores stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

No, it is one person's right: the mother's. She has every right in the fucking world to do whatever the hell she wants to a zygote or embryo, and flushing the stupid thing down a toilet is actually recommended and encouraged if she doesn't want to see it develop into a human fetus. But then, can't expect you hardcore Conservatives to know that.

It's not exactly like the Socialists' plans on reforming the anti-abortion law(s) are overly liberal or asinine, either.

It comes two weeks after the Socialist government revealed plans to reform the 1985 abortion law, including allowing the practice on demand up to 14 weeks.

The government plans to approve the reform by year's end. Its also includes allowing abortion up to 22 weeks if a doctor certifies a serious threat to the health of the mother or fetal malformation.

Beyond 22 weeks, it would be allowed only when doctors detect fetal malformation they deem incompatible with life.

The current law allows abortion up to 12 weeks in cases of rape and 22 weeks in cases of fetal malformation. It also allows abortion at any stage if a doctor certifies a woman's physical or mental health would be at risk if the pregnancy proceeded.

That all sounds perfectly reasonable, even normal, to me. But then I'm one of those annoyingly liberal Pro-Choice types ...

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A symbol of hope, even in the dark bestial Islamic world

It's no secret how I feel about Islam – about how it's a misogynist death-cult bent on brainwashing its followers into treating women like cattle and dealing with dissenters by either torture, death, or usually both, for example – but even the darkest corners of the world and its numerous faiths can have a ray of light shine through now and then. Right now, its source is Mrs. Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman who recently married in a brave and stunning move that defeated numerous stigmas and prejudices.

In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Ms. Mukhtar, 37, said her new husband is a police constable who was assigned to guard her in the wake of the attack and who has been asking for her hand for several years. She is his second wife.

She said the constable, Nasir Abbas Gabol, 30, and she married Sunday in a simple ceremony in her dusty farming village, Meerwala, in the southern part of Punjab Province.

“He says he madly fell in love with me,” Ms. Mukhtar said with a big laugh when asked what finally persuaded her to say yes.

I personally don't have much of an issue with polygamy in itself. The problem is that usually, men who form a "harem" of wives tend to treat them like disposable objects of pleasures, or even burdens, but if it's all in an atmosphere of love, I'm all for it.

But, how exactly is marrying for this woman "defeating stigmas"? The story behind it is shocking, disgusting, and very sadly, not unique. Mrs. Amai was gang-raped on a village's orders in 2002, as retribution to the charges laid on her brother claiming he had "illicit relations" with a woman from a rival clan. This was actually a cover-up; it's the brother himself who had been molested by three of the rival clan's tribesmen.

There is so much that is horrifyingly, disgustingly wrong with the above paragraph I wouldn't even know where to start. A village council sentencing an innocent woman to be gang-raped, as punishment for crimes her brother didn't even commit?

How can we call them "humans"? Why not "demented, retarded beasts"?

All I can say is it doesn't really surprise me these 'people' live in rival clans like the retarded fucking gang-raping child-molesting animals they are. Seriously, this is so incredible I can't even begin to describe it, so in my current state of disbelief, I'll just move on.

Anyway ... So what exactly has Mrs. Amai's marriage got to do with defeating a stigma? It turns out that in her retarded culture, it's quite common, even expected, of women who underwent rape, thereby being "impure" in the eyes of Islam, to take their own lives. Mrs. Amai instead expressed her love and married – the equivalent of a gutter-living drug addict becoming a CEO for a pharmaceutical company or something here in North America in terms of social stigmas and expectations of a person's role(s).

Anyway, I suppose what's in the past is in the past. As of now, Mrs. Amai is very happily wed, even forcing her husband, Mr. Gabol, to lease his ancestral home to his first wife and such. Not many Western-culture husbands would have agreed to that, so if this Mr. Gabol did, all the better for all of them. :) Even the worst of stories can have a happy ending, after all. "Just keep living".

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