Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn will seek to offset federal aid to victims of a massive tornado that blasted through Oklahoma City suburbs on Monday with cuts elsewhere in the budget.> more ... (0 comments)
Watch this bit from the Delaware Senate candidate debate and the priceless, unbridled laughter after the gaffe.
- Watch more Politics Videos at Vodpod.
In all seriousness, this batshit crazy, ignorant buffoon is the candidate of a major political party to serve in the United States Congress. George Washington wept.
Update: To head any clever snipers off at the pass, yes, I realize that there are nuanced arguments about the phrase “separation of church and state” that someone who knew what the fuck they were talking about could have made. Daniel Larison has a great summary if you’re interested.
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Hors D’oeuvres
Watching a Jerk Seize Main Chance
I so called this (pinkey swear) but I didn’t want to be the jerk who forecast somebody else f*ckin’ this particular chicken so soon:Judge Posner for the Win: Drastic Action Necessary To Un-F*ck U.S. Patent Regime
Sometimes you really have to hand it to Judge Posner.The sheer number of patents in the U.S. is fueling frivolous litigation and drastic action is needed to make patents more difficult to obtain and easier to invalidate, U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit said Tuesday. > more ... (0 comments)
I continue to think that there’s no deeper scandal on Benghazi and that the IRS issue is not really something I’m inclined to worry about as it wasn’t national policy, the AP scandal is something that is very worrisome as it clearly was national policy and exposes one of the more disgraceful areas of the > more ... (1 comments)Rep. Michele Bachmann Threatens To Leave Minnesota Over Gay Marriage
So much awesome:Congresswoman Michele Bachmann threatened to leave Minnesota today if the state goes ahead with its plans to legalize gay marriage. In an interview with a local television station, the conservative firebrand said she believes God will destroy Minneapolis once the legislation is enacted, and wants to be far away when the reckoning happens. > more ... (4 comments)
Polled GOP Respondents Say Obama Hangnail Worse Than Holocaust
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Bioshock Infinite Causes Christian Gamer To Cry And Make Piddles
Some excitable christian fundamentalist nerd got all worked up into a lather because the game Bioshock Infinite required the main character to undergo a baptism.
“As baptism of the Holy spirit is at the center of Christianity – of which I am a devout believer – I am basically being forced to make a choice between committing extreme blasphemy by my actions > more ... (1 comments)
Just read this: This afternoon Senator Reid asked unanimous consent to go to conference on the concurrent resolution on the Budget. Senator Cruz was unavailable to be on the floor at this time to object. Out of respect for the long tradition of comity in the Senate, Senator Reid withdrew his request. Your eyes might drift to > more ... (1 comments)
As some of you have noticed, the site has been experiencing intermittent availability issues over the past many months. I’ve been working with our hosting company to try to find and fix the problem(s) – but they’ve proven themselves to be feckless, yet earnest. > more ... (0 comments)Why It's Important For Atheists To Stop Worrying About Religionists' Fee-Fees
Sean Carroll rightly calling on atheists to speak out and stop being polite about it:We have a responsibility to get the word out—to not be wishy-washy on the question of religion as a way of knowing, but to be clear and direct and loud about how reality really works. > more ... (1 comments)
We Paid For the Shadow Demon, We're Gonna Use the Shadow Demon
I realize that of all things featured in life’s rich tapestry this hardly rates a mention, but apparently another Dungeons and Dragons movie is making noise in the ‘Wood: The studio is actually quite far along in the development of the project, as it will use a script by Wrath Of The Titans and Red Riding > more ... (1 comments)The Loudly Ignorant Become Less So Once Shown They're Ignorant
I’m surprised that any of the fervently ignorant people surveyed in this study ever ended up moderating their positions. I wonder if the researchers included teabaggers in the sample population…
Four researchers at three different institutions joined forces to ask a simple question: why is it that people have such extreme positions on subjects that are rather complicated and nuanced? > more ... (0 comments)
I’m a sucker for arty books and paper inventions. (Not necessarily books about art, although those can be interesting too, if unaccountably heavy and given to making my floors creak.) The Museum of Lost Wonder, various items in the Wondermark Goodsery (no relation), the Edward Gorey Dracula Playset (of course), and pop-up books of > more ... (0 comments)Today's Trivia: Presidential IQs
Just found this Wikipedia list that has IQ scores for all U.S. Presidents (excluding Obama). The biggest surprise is how low Wilson comes considering his background and education, though it kinda makes sense considering how much stock he put in his own intellect, only to make the same mistakes again and again and never learn > more ... (1 comments)Says Library Right There in the Title, That's Why
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THE GRAPEVINE
"I have a graduate fellowship from the Claremont Institute in Constitutional Government and that is a deep analysis of the constitution that has helped me to analyze and have an opinion on what`s going on today and be able to determine that, our leaders in Washington have lost their way."
LOL, nice!
wow
Also note that "deep analysis" "graduate fellowship" lasted all of one week. :)
amazing how they sneer at fancy book learnin yet try to lie themselves into the ranks of the fancily educated. methinks a serious envy complex is afoot.
Education only if it suits them I guess
We can relax now, right? She can't possible win. Though if she does, I'm rearranging my backwards states in the U.S. that I don't want to visit list.
You would like to think that everyone will see this for what it is. The ones that cheer on Palin will also cheer her on. We just need to make sure all the level headed ones vote.
maddow made a great point on this. in all probability, o'donnell isn't mainly interested in winning -- she's interested in becoming a darling of the wingnut welfare circuit. the more she gets ridiculed (like palin), the more the teatards will rally around her. being mocked for being an idiot is a badge of honor among their set. and she will cash in bigtime with lots of speaking fees, a paid slot on fox news, etc.
The big payout is the book deals, promotions and highly paid speaking engagements that follow the election loss.
I don't know if there are enough level headed voters to balance the scales. I became even more aware of this fact after participating in a recent political focus group that left me a little frustrated. But, a strong showing is needed, so any left to moderate vote will do.
Here in Illinois we have some good, to fairly good choices for voters on the right and the left running under the Libertarian and Green party banners.
And… I liked the spirits display. http://dandalionsworld.blogspot.com/2010/10/had-t… Nice play on the event.
Thanks! I enjoyed making it especially when it drove one of my coworkers crazy because she is the ultimate right winged extreme Christian and I had some 'spirits' my self and wrote the poem (all in haiku too)
wingnut coworkers are the worst, especially when they won't shut up about it. on the one hand you want to keep your job, but on the other hand screaming at them and making them cry would feel sooooooo good.
That's the thing, I ran it by my GM first and she was all for it and my coworker couldn't say or do anything about it. Aaannndd because it got her hopping I threw some tarot cards on the table! It was awesome!
Anyway, as funny as O'Donnell's naive-sounding question was, I think it's pretty clear she's aware of the constitutional issue of separation and church and state. She's been taught the conservative point of view on this (which btw I agree with) but sounded ridiculous trying to convey the nuanced point.
true to a point, although she kept at him about it many times and even sneered at him over the notion that the precise language that he quoted ("make no law respecting the establishment of religion…") is in the first amendment. o'donnell and palin are what you get when you program in a mountain of stale conservative tropes into a robot brain with limited storage capacity and no critical thinking capability.
p.s., it's a good thing that the entire federal judiciary and the vast bulk of legal academia has disagreed with you and o'donnell for the past 200 years. as the supreme court has said over and over again, a myopic and narrow reading of the establishment clause (i.e., it's only effect is to prevent the federal government from declaring a state religion) would be to eviscerate the meaning, purpose and intent of the clause and render it worthless.
Eh? I thought we were talking about unidirectionality here, not a 'no establishment of national religion' interpretation.
(and no it's not limited to the federal government, the 14th incorporated it)
oh no my darling, o'donnell appears to be (especially since she's a hardcore christianist) of the school that believes that the establishment clause does absolutely nothing more than prevent the federal government from declaring a state religion. that is what you see indicated in her insistence that the "separation of church and state" is "not in the constitution". if she were to make a unidirectionality or 14th amendment argument, that line of attack wouldn't be necessary.
and yes, to your second point, although the teabaggers and tenthers need to be told that :)
> that is what you see indicated in her insistence that the "separation of church and state" is "not in the constitution"
I don't think so. O'Donnell may well believe other stuff, but I take "separation doesn't appear" as a point that too many people overinterpret it to mean e.g. religious groups can't participate in politics and government.
i just realized that have spent a goodly amount of time on trying to parse the madness in christine o'donnell's brain. no more! :) it burns!
I enjoyed it. I feel like reading this back and forth may be worth some class credit at the Claremont Institute Graduate Fellowship. I'm looking into it for my resume …
hahahahahaha. we should print up official-looking certificates for each other! Library Grape University!
yeah… that would look great on my resume!
I just wanted to add that I don't see the argument being that "religious groups can't participate in politics and government," rather than stating that religious groups can't dictate politics and government.
Participation becomes a problem when it progresses to domination leading to dictation, diminishing our freedom and creating religious interference.
I would like to know where the Claremont Institute is located, just in case I run for the Senate myself. It will really look good on my resume.