Loves Animals, Hates People

It never fails that checking my Facebook page will get my hackles raised. Of course I only have the need to write and complain when I am annoyed. Today was no disappointment. 

It really isn't important who said what, but what is important is the sentiment that is being conveyed is that the lives of animals are more important than the life of people. If you have an aversion to controversy I would recommend that you stop reading now.

Everyone loves animals. Well, most people who aren't monsters do anyway. They are wonderful creatures. You know what they aren't? More important than human beings.

I have seen people comment on criminals who get caught for various offenses such as abusing animals, torturing animals, fighting animals, and killing animals by saying that the criminals themselves should be tortured, abused, murdered, etc. I am still trying to wrap my head around the idea of placing a human life above the life of an animal. I will not qualify this argument by talking about how much I love animals and how I think people should be punished who abuse them. If that is the only defense one can come up with to this argument then I have no time for the likes of your small mind.

I am infinitely tired of hearing people talk about how much they love animals and how anyone who lays a hand on an animal should be beaten to death or electrocuted or tortured, all while stuffing their fat fucking faces with a burger. Extra cheese please! Does no one see that disconnect? These arguments are also coming from supposed liberals, people who are supposed to have some sort of idea of what is right and what is wrong; people who are supposedly against what we are doing to our prisoners; people who are supposedly against how we treat people in other countries. Bullshit.

These are also the same people who would like to see the likes of Michael Vick erased from existence by the most painful means available. If I recall correctly, Mr. Vick spent a few years in prison for his transgressions. Did he not do his time? Did he not pay his debt to society? Of course, that isn't good enough. We have people in prison for rape, murder, cannibalism, acts against humanity, but fuck those guys. Let 'em rot, right Cletus? But that nigger Michael Vick, he fought dogs. Cut off his dick and feed it to the wolves. Get the rope Cletus; let's string him up!

I cannot take seriously anyone who claims to care about animals and still eats meat and dairy products. Feeding your meat habit is way more harmful to animals than Michael Vick ever though about being. Have you ever seen a dairy? Look at footage from a dairy and tell me you care about animals while you swill down your glass of puss-filled milk and eat your plate full of holocaust eggs.

Or you could shut the fuck up and stop acting like you really care.

Allies, Women, And The Oppression Of A People

We have the greatest allies in the world. From staunch dictators to war criminals to theocratic monarchs we have successfully made friends with the world's social and political pariahs. A good example of this comes from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this week King Abdullah granted the female citizens of Saudi Arabia the right to vote in the next election in 2015. This is largely symbolic anyway since the country is ruled by a King and a vote for lower level politicians who seek the approval of the King is a far cry from democracy. Should we, the citizens of the world, take our wins where we can get them and stop complaining? Not in this case.

While giving women the right to vote is a step in the right direction, it is hardly going to make a difference in a country that closes its people off from news of the world. This country should have been overthrown in the "Arab Spring", but the grip on the media would make China proud.

Saudi Arabia is a country ruled by a monarch that uses religion to imprison its citizens in themselves. Giving women the right to vote doesn't really mean anything when a woman can be tried and convicted for the crime of driving. Driving! Let that soak in for a moment. At least the King was merciful enough to commute the sentence of 10 lashes.

There are two overarching problems here: a ruthless monarch is doing what he can to not lose his grip on the country and religion is such an oppressive entity that it can be used by said monarch to suppress the people in his country. Isn't that always the way? Religion as a form of control is something to has been seen throughout our (human) history. The only way to overcome these obstacles and progress as a species is to not only smash oppressive and non-democratic governments but to smash the foundations of religion itself. Religion has, is, and will continue to cause nothing but harm and strife. All in the name of god.

Http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/25/saudi-arabia-women-vote-elections - Women Given Right To Vote Http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/28/saudi-woman-lashed-defying-driving-ban - Woman Lashed For Driving Http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/29/saudi-woman-lashing-king-abdullah - Saudi Woman Spared Lashing

Perspective On 9/11

While we all sit around tomorrow and listen to Lee Greenwood's rendition (sic) of "Proud To Be An American" over the events of 9/11, what we did afterward was a horrendous thing. 5000 dead when the towers collapsed does not give us any right to invade two sovereign nations, send thousands of our troops to their deaths, kill hundreds of thousands of Afghanis and Iraqis, and take away every single freedom that we have enjoyed in this country.

Since 9/11 we have seen the Patriot Act get put in place and supported by Democrats and Republicans alike who are unrecognizable as separate parties. We have seen the military industrial complex rise to a state of power that would make Joseph Stalin squeamish. We have paid with blood and treasure  for nothing more than the rights of corporations to make money in new lands. We have given up the freedoms that we used to care about. We allow "security" agents to molest our children, our elderly, our disabled, and ourselves when we go to airports for no other reason than to feel safe, regardless of how safe we actually are.

Am I in mourning on this upcoming 10th anniversary of 9/11? Absolutely. But I am in mourning for the country that we used to be, not for the people that we lost.

So Long Environment, We Hardly Knew Ye

In a move that is unsurprising to anyone that pays attention to the current administration, President Obama has dropped his support for stronger environmental standards on ozone emissions. Citing the current economic climate, the president doesn't think that it is necessary to try to do something that would make a difference when it comes to pollutants that cause serious health problems.

This move is coupled with the president and the State Department putting their full support behind a new pipeline that will run from Canada to Oklahoma and Texas that will transport tarsands crude for refinement. This pipeline will run through the "heartland" of the United States and, more importantly, a major waterway where millions of people receive drinking water.  According to the State Department the Keystone XL pipeline will safely carry this crude oil because, you know, oil companies have such a stellar record of transporting oil without spills.

I fail to see how anyone serious about the environment can support this president. If this is a bad time to enact regulations that will actually do something to curb our destruction of the environment then when is a good time? It is going to be hard to create jobs in a country that is uninhabitable.

More promises from the Obama administration that have been refined to the point of non-existence.

Music To Enrage You

I have lost all hope that I ever had for this nation. Our only option is to destroy it to save it. So while you think about that happy though, here is some music (with lyrics) to listen to while we watch Rome burn.



NOFX - We Called It America

The leads are weak, the leads are weak, fucking leads are weak?
YOU'RE WEAK

Remember when America had a middle class
And an upper class, that was way before the exodus
That was the America that we thought was number one,
Thought would overcome, thought would never die
That was just our pride and faith, two shitty deadly sins
I know faith isn't one of 'em but it should have been
Cuz when things were crumbling, we had no camaraderie
Just a faith someone would save us from despondence

We called it America (whoaaaaaa)

Number one America was a slogan used to keep morale up
When we knew we were already cooked
Then the richer western states, succeeded in secession
And the eastern ones followed right behind
Mexi-Can-America was the perfect name that
Epitomized the order of significance, authority and affluence
We had turned it all around
Went from number one straight to number two (shit)

We called it America (whoaaaaaa)

National bankruptcy, circumcised society
USA dined and ditched, Fox reports "poor is the new rich"

We called it America (whoaaaaaa)



This next song is epic. It is also 18 minutes long. Enjoy.



NOFX - The Decline

Where are all the stupid people from?
And how'd they get to be so dumb?
Bred on purple mountain range
Feed amber waves of grains
To lesser human beings, zero feelings

Blame it on
Human nature, mans destiny (mans destiny)
Blame it on the greediocracy (greediocracy)
Fear of God
The fear of change
The fear of truth

Add the Bill of Rights, subtract the wrongs
There's no answers
Memorize and sing star spangled songs
When the questions
Aren't ever asked
Is anybody learning from the past?
We're living in united stagnation

Father what have I done?
I took that 22
A gift to me from you
To bed with me each night
Kept it clean
Polished it well
Cherished every cartridge, every shell

Down, by the creek, under brush, under dirt
There's a carcass of my second kill
Down, by the park, under stone, under pine
There's a carcass of my brother William
Brother where, have you gone to?
I swear, I never thought I could
I see so many times
They told me to shoot straight
Don't pull the trigger, squeeze
That will insure a kill
A kill is what you want
A kill is why we breed

The Christians love their guns
The church and NRA
Pray for their salvation
Prey on the lower faiths

The story book's been read
And every line believed
Curriculum's been set
Logic is a threat
Reason searched and seized

Jerry spent some time in Michigan
A twenty year vacation, after all he had a dime
A dime is worth a lot more in Detroit
A dime in California, a twenty dollar fine

Jerry only stayed a couple months
It's hard to enjoy yourself while bleeding out the ass
Asphyxiation is simple and fast
It beats seventeen fun years of being someones bitch

Don't think (Stay)
Drink your wine (Home)
Watch the fire burn (Be)
His problems not mine (Safe)
Just be that model citizen

I wish I had a schilling
(For each senseless killing)
For every senseless killing
I'd buy a government
America's for sale
And you can get a good deal on it
(A good deal on it)
And make a healthy profit
Or maybe, tear it apart
Start with assumption
That a million people are smart
Smarter than one

Serotonin's gone
She gave up, drifted away
Sara fled, thought process gone
She left her answering machine on
The greeting left spoken sincere
Messages no one will ever hear

Ten thousand messages a day
A million more transmissions lay
Victims of the laissez faire
Ten thousand voices, a hundred guns
A hundred decibels turns to one
One bullet, one empty head
Now with Serotonin gone

The man who used to speak
Performs a cute routine
Feel a little patronized
Don't feel bad
They found a way inside your head
And you feel a bit misled
It's not that they don't care, yeah

The television's put a thought inside your head
Like a Barry Manilow, jingle
I'd like, to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
A symphonic blank stare, yeah
It doesn't make you care (make you care)
Not designed to make you care (make you care)
They're betting you won't care (you won't...)

Place a wager on your greed
A wager on your pride
Why try to beat them when, a million others tried?

We are the whore
Intellectually spayed
We are the queer
Dysfunctionally raised

One more pill to kill the pain
One more pill to kill the pain
One more pill to kill the pain
Living through conformity

One more prayer to keep me safe
One more prayer to keep us warm
One more prayer to keep us safe
There's gonna be a better place

Lost the battle, lost the war
Lost the things worth living for
Lost the will to win the fight
One more pill to kill the pain

Na na na na na
La na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na

The going get tough, the tough get debt
Don't pay attention, pay the rent
Next of kins pay for your sins
A little faith should keep us safe

Save us
The human, existence
Is failing, resistance
Essential, the future
Written off, the odds are
Astronomically against us
Only moron and genius
Would fight a losing battle
Against the super ego
When giving in is so damn comforting

And so we go, on with our lives
We know the truth, but prefer lies
Lies are simple, simple is bliss
Why go against tradition when we can
Admit defeat, live in decline
Be the victim of our own design
The status quo, built on suspect
Why would anyone stick out their neck?

Fellow members
Club "We've Got Ours"
I'd like to introduce you to our host
He's got his, and I've got mine
Meet the decline

We are the queer
We are the whore
Ammunition
In the class war
We are worker
We love our queen
We sacrifice
We're soilent green

We are the queer
We are the whore
Ammunition
In the class war

The Police Love To Kill

It will come as no surprise to many of you that I have a severe distaste for the police. There are many reasons for this, mainly that they are trained to treat everyone as a suspect of something regardless of if a person actually committed a crime. Couple that with case after case of abuse by police officers and what we end up with is a thuggish force that is nothing more than your average high school bully with a gun.

One funny (i.e. sick and disgusting) thing about the police force is that they, as a whole, were so famous for just shooting people without cause that cities began to gave them all TAZERs. I guess if they are going to shoot something at someone, lets make it electricity instead of a bullet. At least that way the victim (yes, victim) has a greater chance of surviving a police assault. That is unless you are unlucky enough to receive a beating and TAZERing simultaneously from a group of rabid thugs while also having the misfortune of being mentally disabled.

Recently in Fullerton, CA, a group of six police officers beat a homeless mentally ill man and TAZERed him repeatedly until he was dead. These six police officers murdered a man in the street in view of cameras and the public. I guess they missed the class at the academy about unnecessary force and when is the right time to stop beating the shit out of another human being.

Eye witnesses at the scene claim the six officers tasered him five times and beat him beyond recognition, which the disturbing photo of him in hospital shows.

Mark Turgeon, who was there, said: 'They kept beating him and tasering him. I could hear zapping, and he wasn't even moving.

'He had one arm in front of him like this, he wasn't resisting. And they kept telling him, "He's resisting, quit resisting", and he wasn't resisting.'

Yes, this man obviously got what was coming to him. His crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time and for that crime the punishment is death.

According to Gawker, Thomas - who suffered from schizophrenia - caught the attention of the police after someone reported that a burglar was breaking into cars parked near a Fullerton bus station.

When officers approached Thomas in the depot parking lot and tried to arrest him, he resisted.

Now before anyone loses their head and says "Well obviously he resisted. They had to beat him into submission", I would like to point out the fact that he was mentally ill. There is a way to subdue someone without killing them or even breaking a bone. You might even be able to do it without *gasp* beating someone. I know that is a hard pill for most police to swallow, but I assure you that it is true.

So since he resisted arrest the police must have had crazy injuries, right? Right?

Police will not issue a statement saying the issue is under investigation but they did say that six officers were involved and two 'suffered broken bones in the fight'.

However, they recently retracted that statement saying that it was only 'soft tissue damage'.

So the police lied about having broken bones and it was later revealed that they suffered "soft tissue damage". Do you know what that is also known as? Scrapes and bruises. The police get a boo-boo and a mentally ill man gets murdered in the street. That sounds a little less than fair, but what do I know? I am just a crazy liberal.

I am sure that many will come to the defense of the police and say "oh, if you aren't a police officer then you don't know what it is like on the streets. People are evil and in the heat of the moment bad things happen." You know, I don't need to be a fireman to understand that giving and arsonist a book of matches isn't a good idea. I don't need to be a police officer to understand that it is dangerous on the streets.

What does this say about our standards for hiring police officers in this country? Are we so hard up for badges on the street that we will hire people who are obviously unstable enough to not stop beating someone? It seems to be the police officers in this case that are mentally unstable and lack control. When someones face looks like hamburger it is probably time to stop beating them.

This brings up another issue of the overuse of TAZERs. Electricity is deadly. How can a police officer know if the person that they are about to TAZE has a heart condition, or a pace-maker, or an insulin pump? They can't and if one person dies because of the misuse of a TAZER by a group of bullies then that is one person too many.

The final issue that this story highlights is the need for good citizens of this country to record everything that the police are doing. If you see the police pull someone over, pull over as well and record the show. Do it while it is still legal because there is a movement afoot in this country to make it illegal to film the police. Without footage of this incident there would have been very little notice in the media. The person you film getting accosted by the police very well could owe you their life.
(Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)

The police, like the government, should fear the populace. Not fear of getting killed or some sort of vigilantly justice but the fear of being held accountable. That fear should motivate them to use their brains when arresting someone and perhaps exercise a little bit of restraint.

After this article if anyone is still on the fence about what happened to this man, watch the video and check out the before and after pictures. If that doesn't sway your opinion then you must be a heartless wretch.

Alternate Source: LA Times

One Fish, Two Fish. Red Fish, Dead Fish.

As we all suspected, the signs of the end times start in Texas. Where else would you want them to start? Apparently a man-made lake has turned red after all of the fish died off. Well shit, get me a Bible and a place to pray!

Photos of the OC Fisher Reservoir in San Angelo State Park that began circulating fishing forums last week have conjured up apocalyptic images, with one preacher from Indiana saying the lake is another sign of the end times.

"I'm not saying that this Texas lake is these scriptures in Revelation but what I am saying is the Bible prophecies are slowly fulfilling themselves in the midst of an end time revelation – that we need to be right, we need to be saved, we need to be born again and ready to meet the coming king," said Paul Begley of Community Gospel Baptist Church in Knox.

Slowly fulfilling themselves? So the end times are going to come not like a shot gun blast but like a soccer game? We should really start listening to this previously unknown man from previously unknown Knox, Indiana.

So that is it. End times prophecies coming to pass. There can be no other explanation as to why this lake turned red and all the fish died.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Inland Fisheries officials said the water's color is the result of Chromatiaceae bacteria, according to Live Science.

Oh come now. You expect me to believe that this can be explained away by science? This is one of the signs or seals or whatever the fuck. Science and it's zany explanations.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Christian people of America. Be proud.

Why Our Youth Doesn't Give A Shit

I found this article very interesting. While some of the points are a little simplistic, the overall article rings true and. Sad.

National Debt: FIXED! Crisis: AVERTED! Non-Rich: SCREWED!

Capitulation. Is there anything our president does better? A deal has been reached and passed through both houses of Congress and signed by the president to extend the debt ceiling. Well, problem solved! Crisis averted! All accept the part where the president gave the Republicans nearly everything they wanted and got nothing in return.

The compromise deal to persuade GOP lawmakers to raise the federal debt limit — U.S. borrowing was to collide with it at midnight — will cut federal spending by $2.1 trillion or more over the next decade. But Obama immediately challenged Republicans to accept higher taxes on the wealthy in a second round of deficit cuts this fall. They adamantly refused to accept that idea during the past months' dispute.

What is it with this guy and making demands after a “deal” has already been capitulated to? The president brokered a deal with the Republicans for $2.1 trillion in cuts and the president got was an “I Fucked the American People” t-shirt. Sounds like a good deal.

Challenging the Republicans to accept higher taxes after they have already won is like asking a bank robber to return the money after he has already gotten away with the crime. This guy has to be the absolute worst when it comes to negotiations. Either that or his heart was never in to fighting for the people that put him in office.

"We've got to do everything in our power to grow this economy and put America back to work," the president said, arguing forcefully for including revenue increases as well as spending cuts in the next round of efforts to trim huge government deficits.

You don’t accomplish growing the economy and creating jobs by cutting money out from under the American people. Austerity measures are going to do nothing here but send us back into a recession and possibly into a depression. I am sure that the economy will shrink when the people who were being supported by social programs are all dead.

I had more sources to add to this article and more to say, but honestly I am so tired of being surprised at the level of stupidity/complicity of this administration. Every time the Republicans fight the Democrats (and especially the President) lay down and take the beat like the good little cowards that they are.

What the president has done since day one is worse than anything a Republican president could have done. Obama gave us hope and then rubbed our face in being stupid enough to vote for him. At least with a Republican president we all know what we are getting. There are no surprises when a Republican president fights to attempt to balance the budget with tax cuts and social program cuts.

Take it from me: if you are stupid enough to vote for this dickhole next year then you deserve to lose everything in the coming depression.

Other Sources:

Washington Post

Associated Press - 1

Associated Press - 2

Terrorism, Religion, And Denialism

By now I am sure you have all heard of the tragic occurrence in Norway and the idiotic response to it. It should be very disturbing to the rest of the world of the coverage that this story is receiving. The media has either brushed over the fact that this guy, Anders Behring Breivik (because all crazy killers have three names), is a professed Christian carrying out a mission from God against Muslims or they have used this horrible act of terrorism (real terrorism, not the American label) to quash all debate on the effect of fundamentalist Islam on the world by draping it in the terms of fascism, racism, and religious bigotry.

The first thing that must be understood about Mr. Breivik is that he is a Christian no matter what Bill O'Reilly says (I will write further about the absolutely idiotic statements made by Mr. O'Reilly). He was motivated by the ideals of supremacy and infallibility that is ever present in not only Christianity but all religion. Religion gave him an outlet for his hatred. The second thing that must be understood about Mr. Breivik is that he is, if evidenced solely by his actions, a sociopath. He has shown no remorse for his actions. On the contrary; killing over 70 people seems to have been the highlight of his life. Couple that with his religious affiliation and motivation and we end up with the worst religiously-motivated killing by one person since Jim Jones and the massacre in Jonestown, Guyana.

There is another aspect of Mr. Breivik that seems to be glossed over in the media and that is his right-wing affiliations. It is understandable that the likes of News Corp would want to down play the right-wing connections of Mr. Breivik. After all, that would paint the right-wing in an unflattering light; as a group of gun-crazed Christian bigots. As it has been shown time and time again News Corp will try to shield the world from those truths about the right-wing. It is barely talked about that the camp that Mr. Breivik went on a rampage at was a summer camp for the socialist party. Socialists are always said to be violent lunatics but it always seems to be the socialists getting attacked by the right-wing.

It is this right-wing fascination with guns that aided in Mr. Breivik's rampage. The 30 round clips that he used were purchased from the United States. The lackluster weapon laws of the United States are as much to blame for this tragedy as the hateful rhetoric by the likes of Pamella Gellar at “Atlas Shrugs” (whose page I refuse to link to) who is just as sociopathic as Mr. Breivik. Hatred and weapons, brought to you by the good ol' US of A.

This denialism by the right-wing that Mr. Breivik was not a Christian and not right-wing is laughable. Even more laughable is the discussion going on by the talking heads at Fox News that even if Mr. Breivik is a Christian then that doesn't mean that all Christians should be painted as craven lunatics. Why didn't they apply the same standards when discussing how “Muslims are out to destroy the world”? That answer is pretty simple actually. That wouldn't fall into the ignorant narrative that is cooked up over at News Corp.

So where does the actions of Mr. Breivik leave us when it comes to discussion the role of multiculturalism in our society? As of now the issue of Islamic encroachment on western societies is a dead subject. It can't be discussed without anyone opposing multiculturalism being labeled as a racist (even though Islam is not a race) and a hate-monger that falls on the spectrum somewhere between Hitler and Pol Pot.

Here is the truth according to the Southern Atheist Gentleman:

-Multiculturalism is as bad as forcibly segregating people by race, creed, class, etc. It leads to ghettos and miniature states being established in different countries. Integration is the only way to move forward peaceably.

-Religion is a catalyst for the insane to become more extreme in their hatred for all things that are different or don't fit into a world-view that is outdated and false. Be it Islam, Christianity, or Wicca, religion brainwashes people into thinking they have the ultimated truth and they will make it to the imaginary castle in the sky while the non-believers fry.

-Right-wing believers are as bad as religionists: motivated by fear and ignorance.

-The gun laws in our country are as outdated as the world-view of religionists.

Peter King Is An Asshole

http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/07/keith-olbermann-rep-peter-king-un-american-and-an-ahole/ Shared via Dolphin Browser

Ah, A New Job

I haven't posted on here in a while because I have been getting settled in to a new job and trying to finish up my degree so that I can transfer to UNCC. Good times are ahead of me.

The new job is great even if my boss is a little weird when it comes to atheism. During my breaks I would check the message board of Charlotte Atheists & Agnostics until I was sent an e-mail that had the internet policy of the company attached to it with the section about offensive material highlighted. When I sent an e-mail back asking what was offensive about my internet use I didn't receive a reply. Oh well. That is why I have a smart phone I guess.

Hopefully I will be back to writing soon. Until then, stay godless my friends.

A Thought For The Day

On this 4th of July, just remember that our government of "change" can still spy on us without a warrant, can still kill its citizens without trial, is still waging senseless wars while screaming about not having money, it still attacking the rights of women and minorities, and still treats its workers like indentured servants. Happy day of freedom.

The Religion Of Peace Claims Another Victim

I would hate to see what Islam would be like if it wasn't the religion of peace. As the religion of peace they frequently kill people for being “un-Islamic”. Take the case of Jessica Mokdad who was killed by her stepfather because she didn't want to live in a house that followed Islam so strictly.

Torey said Mokdad had left her mother and stepfather to live with her father near Flint in Grand Blanc because she did not like their rules.

"He's a strict Muslim, she was more Americanized," Torey said.

She was 20 years old, more than old enough to decide where she wanted to live and what rules she wanted to follow. She was a goddamned adult! As with most religions women are not real people. No, they are only property which can be dominated and killed if they don't do as they are told.

The Plight Of The Blood-Thirsty Nation

Oh, the sounds from the streets of a victorious nation. Ladies and gentlemen, we got 'em. Osama bin Laden is dead. Hooray for America! We have been vindicated! 10 years of war, death, suffering, dismemberment, lies, loss of freedoms, and occupation have all been worth this one defining moment: we have killed Osama bin Laden. Congratulations America! We successfully took 10 years to hunt down and kill a powerless, washed-up, 50 year-old nomadic terrorist (of whose location we knew for a long time, but lets not spoil the moment with details).

Am I the only one who has a problem with this entire thing? I must be judging from the celebrations in the streets over someone being killed. Look at the blood-lust on our streets. People dancing and celebrating and singing and thanking God that a man is dead. Vengeance is no longer the Lords, it is the peoples. It should show you that most Christian-Americans don't buy into the God bullshit either. All they want is blood. Bathe in it America, you deserve every drop of it.

What happened to peace? Peace at the end of a barrel I guess. We used this guy as an excuse to invade two countries which did not require our assistance. Does anyone think for one second that we are going to pull our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan now that we have killed Osama bin Laden? If so, point them out to me so that I can either slap them or have them committed to the loony bin.

I think Americans everywhere should have a drink tonight for Osama bin Laden. He gave us an excuse to start two wars that have claimed countless lives. What more could a hate-filled, blood-thirsty nation ask for? This is who we are as a whole, America. We love to kill and we glorify those that do so. After that we celebrate and praise God for giving us the power to smite our enemies.

All this for the low, low cost of our freedom, our morality, our ideals, and our beloved constitution.

I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Weak Obama vs Homophobic Republican Party Over DOMA

I am glad that the Republicans are doing what they do best: attacking social issues that have nothing to do with them. The Obama Administration has decided that DOMA (the Defense Of Marriage Act) is not constitutional (no shit) because it singles out one group of people (gays) and denies them the right of marriage. It sounds great, but the Justice Department is still enforcing the law. Typical Obama weakness bullshit.

The great part of this is that John Boehner has formed a panel to try to defend the ban on gay marriage. Methinks he does protest too much. Anyway, our great congress will now waste time on stamping out the gay marriage disease just like they had to stamp out the abortion disease and the planned parenthood disease.

Am I the only fucker out there who remembers the Republicans campaigning on jobs?

Strange Bedfellows... Really Strange

Being an atheist often puts me in the position of having the strangest people take my side. This time it is the Raelians. What a kooky group these guys are. They think there is no god because they think that life was seeded here on earth by aliens.

Well, they have done a service for us. The have put up a billboard in Las Vegas that is pretty bold:



Jesus Christ that is one ugly ass sign. The saucer in the corner makes this sign one of the most epic signs in history. What can I say, I have to agree. God is a myth. That is where my agreement with the Raelians ends.

Sick Sick Sick!

I have been rather ill this week. Things are starting to get back to normal for me, so I should be pumping out some new material for the 3 or 4 people who read my blog. Thank you all for not dropping me like a hot rock. In the mean time, enjoy this video.

Why Pay For Schools When You Can Have The DNC?

Hooray for Charlotte! The DNC has chosen Charlotte as the host city for the convention in 2012. I am very excited to have an event to protest next year. However, someone pointed something out to me that I hadn't thought of until now: how are we going to pay for it?

Here is a quick rundown of the situation in North Carolina: teachers are being laid off in droves because we can't find money to keep them employed. The state is slated to lay off another 5300 teachers from our already-strained education system that is already ranked at 23rd in the nation. So lets cram more kids into already overburdened classrooms so they can be taught by underpaid and overworked teachers.

Social services are being slashed which will add to the crime rate and homeless rate because we can't find any money. What happens when mental health services are cut to people who are already living on the fringes of society? Homelessness, crime, and a load of people entering an overburdened prison system.

Those are just two very important aspects of our state and its lack of money. So please, someone explain to me how can Charlotte afford to spend $40 million on the DNC.

Even with restrictions the party has placed on corporate fund-raising, Foxx [Charlotte Mayor] said, "we will raise the money," estimated to be $40 million. "I have no doubts about that." He also said that "a lot of security dollars are going to come into our area."

So when your kids can't go to school and half of your family is on the streets because there are no care centers for those in need of mental health, ask the DNC why they needed to bring a party of Republicans-in-drag to our city and spend money that we don't have.

A Message To The Catholic Church

So the Catholic church is starting a dialogue with non-believers across the globe. I would like to know why any non-believer should have anything to say to the Catholic hegemony? Here is what needs to be said to the Catholic church:

You are a group of old creepy men who have done nothing but block every attempt to find justice for the countless children that were raped continuously by a large number of your associates. You are a stalwart against womens rights and children's rights. You deny science at every turn, from the science of disease transmission to the science of sexuality. You foster an environment of hatred and exclusion wherever you go. You ask your associates to go against their human nature and forgo the act of sex and then look on in wonder when they end up raping children. Fix those problems and we can talk.

Islam Indoctrination School In Winston-Salem, NC

When does being well-versed in nonsense become a good education? When the word “religious” is tacked onto it, of course. Winston-Salem has a group of Muslims from a mosque that want to start a private or charter school.

Charter schools are funded by the state with tax-payers money. Funding a strictly religious school with tax money would be a blatant violation of the separation clause, and we all know that federal law trumps any state law. There are some troubling aspects of this school that the mosque wants to set up though, like the fact that there are ways to circumvent the laws of charter schools. Oh, also the whole bit about brainwashing children and indoctrinating them into a religion of hatred and violence. You know, like any other religion.

Hey Christians, this is why there should be a strict separation of church and state. When the lines of separation are blurred, room is made for any particular brand of bullshit to become a state-funded institution.

There should be no religiously-ran schools. Period. Especially from a religion that teaches that all women should be subservient to men, no matter what, and that people that don’t buy into their fantasies are branded as infidels and are subject to death. Oh yeah, Islam is a religion of toleration and love though.

Islam is a lie just like any other religion. It is a made-up story from some illiterate desert nomad who had a propensity for child sex. Sounds like a great dogma to indoctrinate children in to.

Jesus Finds Alternate Route To Your Heart

Now, Jesus can cum into your heart via your anus or vagina. Two Jesus dildo masterpieces are being sold. One of a kind, never to be reproduced again.

Note the warning by the seller: “For display purposes only”. Yeah, that looks like it would be pretty painful to use. Imagine going to the hospital because the Jesus broke off and got stuck in someone’s pussy, or the little "INRI" tag getting stuck up someones ass. Have fun explaining that one.

Jesus Sighting: Starr County, TX

Jesus and Mary are up to their old tricks again. They have been sighted on a tortilla in a Starr County, TX family’s home.

A Starr County family is wondering if a mircale[sic] took place in their kitchen on Tuesday afternoon.

Melinda Solis told Action 4 News that she was warming up flour tortillas for her teenage sons after school around 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Solis said she was spreading out the cooked tortillas when her mother noticed something unusual.

One of the tortillas had a large brown spot that resembled the Virgin Mary holding the Baby Jesus.

It’s a sign! Jesus and Mary want you to eat more tortillas!

Why Does God Hate Dogs?

Many people throughout history have heard the “voice of God” tell them to do various things from reclaiming their homeland (Joan of Arc) to murdering their children (numerous cases). God always seems to talk to the mentally ill, or at least they seem to be the only ones following his orders. Well, God has seen fit to start a war against dogs and has claimed his first victim.

A Spartanburg County woman told animal control officers God advised her to hang and then burn her nephew's pit bull because it was "a devil dog" and because it had chewed her bible.

Spartanburg County animal control officers said Miriam Fowler Smith, 65, of Pacolet Mills, confessed to wrapping an extension cord around the dog's neck, hanging it from a tree, and then setting it on fire.

Here is a tip for everyone out there who doesn’t have a dog or doesn’t know anything about the dog they may have: they chew things. It isn’t out of any malicious intent; they aren’t the tools of Satan; they are not demons that have come to do the bidding of hell. They are animals and they chew on stuff.

God did not tell this woman to kill a dog. There are no gods, so the idea that this woman heard the voice of god is rubbish. She is obviously insane (my professional medical opinion, and no I am not a doctor). However, it is disconcerting that when people latch on to something like religion and the idea of a god, they become capable of horrible things in the name of said religion or god.

Would she have killed the dog is she wasn’t a Christian? There is no way to know. However, when a group of people fetishize something like the Bible to the point of taking another life if it becomes damaged, then religion was not a helping factor.

I would challenge any of the religionists out there to explain how they believe god talks to them but dismiss cases of mothers killing their children because their god told them to. There is more evidence for a malevolent deity in the Bible than one who whispers sweet nothings into people’s ears and tells them to love one another (except for the gays and brown people, of course).

Were the Reagan Years the Good Old Days?

Sarah Palin, stupidity's cheerleader, said recently that the problems in this country were due to America's being out of step with Ronald Reagan's values. I won't go on about Palin here, largely because she's far too easy a target and Will does a fine job without my help. But I've heard so many people talk about Reagan as if he were a modern savior and the last, best hope for the future. I came to adulthood in Reagan's America and I think it's time to set some things straight.

If the United States is out of touch with Ronald Reagan's values, perhaps it's because his values were out of touch with reality. 

Reagan was a great president if you were white, Christian, heterosexual, male and rich. Everyone else was unimportant and only worthy of derision as being lazy, sinful and dishonest. I remember him droning on about a "welfare queen" while failing to mention the billions of dollars in needless subsidies to corporations. It's worth mentioning that his people couldn't produce this welfare queen when asked for proof of Reagan's story.

While on the subject of Reagan's stories, he once regaled a group of Medal of Honor recipients with the heroic tale of a pilot who stayed aboard his plane so the poor man stuck in the ball turret of their failing B-17 wouldn't have to die alone. When he was informed that the event never actually occurred but was from the movie "On a Wing and a Prayer," he simply dismissed it saying, "Well, it made a great story, didn't it?" He was in the presence of real heroes but he found a movie more memorable. But what can we expect from a man who once referred to military uniforms as costumes?

When HIV reached the shores of this country, rather than mobilize the Center for Disease Control to combat it while it might have been contained or research its prevention and cure, Reagan cut the budget for the CDC and ignored the problem. After all, it only effected Haitians, gay men and intravenous drug users. HIV was like a gift to Reagan because it only seemed to be a threat to people he saw as undesirable. When it hit white, middle class, Christian America, then he saw it as a problem.

After gutting budgets for scientific research, he asked, "Why should we fund their intellectual curiosity?" This makes me wonder how far we'd have advanced in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease if adequate funding had been available to researchers in the 1980's.

His economic policies set he stage for today's financial crisis. Rather than rein in the corporate greed that was threatening to corrupt and destroy our financial institutions, Reagan celebrated wealth and excess. He believed that by allowing the rich to get richer with no oversight, the wealth would "trickle down" and benefit everyone. I don't know how others feel but I don't like it when someone pisses on me and tries to tell me it's rain to make my flowers grow.

Probably the most heinous bit of the Reagan legacy was his climbing into bed with fundamentalists like Jerry Falwell and the like. Now the leader of this secular nation had given a single religious group political clout from which this nation might never recover. Domestic and foreign policy were being determined by people who saw those unlike them as sinners and who perceived Armageddon as a desirable goal. For the eight years of Reagan's reign and the four years of his trained lapdog, George H.W. Bush, the world was held hostage by these buffoons who read the Book of Revelation like an instruction manual. Many feared that "the day after" could be the next day.

When I go on about the Reagan legacy, invariably someone will point out that he won the Cold War. Yes, this is true. It's because he was willing to do the one thing that Mikhail Gorbachev refused to do: mortgage the future of this nation for generations to come. The first time the word "trillion" was used in association with the national debt, it was in Reagan's fiscally conservative America.

That's how I remember the Reagan era and maybe this country is out of step with his values. Looking back thirty years and how he damaged this country and its standing on the world stage, I can't see this as a bad thing.

Jesus Sighting: Fort Mill, SC

Yeah, we have a ton of inbred yokels in the Carolinas. What of it?

Jesus Christ, Astronaut

A beautiful moonlit night over India is shattered by the screams of a random group of people. They saw it. It was right there in front of everyone. Mary and the baby Jesus were on the moon! How in the hell did they get up there? They must be astronauts!

Reports of sightings of the image of Mother Mary and infant Jesus on the moon on Thursday and Friday in Mumbai, Goa and Bihar has fuelled fears about an impending apocalypse.

While priests asked people not to take the issue seriously, the news set off stories about the end of the world. Many saw the images as a message to prepare for doomsday.

Well, I am glad no one overreacted and jumped to some crazy conclusions. I guess appearing on the moon is a step up from a tortilla chip and a slice of bread. To appear on the moon MUST mean the end is nigh. It does make me wonder though: why did Jesus appear in his infantile form? Why was Mary there?

Of course, this could all just have been hysteria and pareidolia.

Hawaii Makes Great Decisions

Hawaii: a land of beautiful weather, beautiful landscape, beautiful people, and as of last month, no prayer during state senate meetings. In a move that would seem unfathomable by any other state in the Union, the senate of Hawaii decided to end the daily prayer that was usually given every day before the session began which more than likely referenced Jesus. Of course!

The ACLU wrote a letter to the senate telling them that they were circumventing the separation of church and state. Instead of asking for prayers that didn't reference any deities, the senate decided to do away with the practice all together. To that, we salute you Hawaii!

Franklin Graham: Anti-Christ Alive In The US, Not Enough Jesus In Tuscon

Speech is an important aspect of our existence as human beings. Many have learned the hard way that sometimes it isn't what you say but what you don't say that makes the greatest impact. Sometimes, it is what isn't said that becomes a perceived slight against a person or group of people. During the Tuscon, AZ memorial service, one such perceived slight was felt by Franklin Graham on behalf of all Christians throughout the known Christian universe.

Because the President didn't come out and say “Jesus, God Jesus JESUS!”, Franklin Graham is letting the world know that the anti-Christ is alive and well in the US.

Graham also expressed his dismay at the way the recent memorial service for victims of the Tucson shooting was handled, contrasting the event with other memorial services that he attended. While memorial services for the Oklahoma City bombing and a prayer service after 9/11 called upon the name of God, the Tucson memorial featured an Indian man who was calling upon "father sky and mother earth."

“There was no call for God to put His loving arms around those who were hurting,” he observed. "Why did they leave him out? They scoff at the name of Jesus Christ."

He said the scoffing and persecution against believers of Christ is only going to get worse.

"The spirit of anti-Christ is everywhere," stated Graham, who noted that television networks have pushed out reporters who cover Christian-related topics. "We're being secularized so quickly. Anything that has to do with Christian faith is slowly being taking out of society."

According to Graham, we as a people should mention God or Jesus in every sentence during a being accused of persecuting Christians. It is funny how persecution of Christians went from feeding them to lions (actual persecution) to not mentioning them in every public forum possible (whining).

Would Franklin Graham have found this sentence satisfactory?

“Why would God allow something terrible like this to happen and expect us to sing his praises afterward?”

People like Franklin Graham will not be happy until there is a theocracy in the US. It is exactly this kind of extremism and, to be honest, pathetic cry-baby behavior that will ruin this country if any citizen lets it. To fight against extremism means to fight against the idiocy of people like Franklin Graham.

P.S. The racist undertones of his comments did not go unnoticed.

Exorcize Those Gay Demons!

In a surprise to most sane people, it was revealed that homosexuality is caused by demon possession, not genetics as scientists had studied and told us. The purveyor of this dubious, paradigm-changing knowledge is former Navy chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt. He found the cause of homosexuality while “ministering” to a young lesbian sailor while she was going through a particularly tough time.

Klingenschmitt: As a chaplain I prayed with a young lesbian sailor who came to me and said, “Chaplain, I don’t like the way I’m feeling. Can you help me with this?” We prayed with her and she renounced her sin, she invited Jesus Christ to be the first man in her life that she trusted. We had a wedding ceremony. She wept as Jesus moved into her heart and got the devil out of her…

Pakman: So you’re saying that you believe a gay exorcism is a legitimate and worthwhile thing to do in these cases?

Klingenschmitt: Well, it’s the only spiritual solution to a spiritual disease. I looked into her eyes and said “You foul demon of lesbian homosexuality, come out of this woman in Jesus’ name” she began to weep and she loved Jesus. She began reading her Bible, became the best evangelist in our church. She got baptized and started dating boys.

I am not sure this story is true at all. I find it hard to believe such fantastic tales from a group of people who lie every day (but they are doing it for Jesus, so it’s ok). If this story is true then it is an absolute disaster. How sick is this guy? It’s not bad enough that he makes this young sailor feel horrible and wrong for how she feels, but then he makes her go through a wedding ceremony so that she can get married to Jesus? If she was crying, it was probably because her life was collapsing around her.

Maybe she wasn’t gay. There are too many variables to her situation that are not revealed here and I suspect the good chaplain never tried to find out. I am still not convinced that this ever happened, but stuff like this does happen every day in churches across the nation. Kids who are confused about their sexuality or are actually gay are pushed further into the back of the closet by the crazy and condemning actions of the clergy.

The largest obstacle to people coming to terms with their sexuality has been, is, and will continue to be the abusive nature of the church; that is until the public stops believing in fairy-tales and rejects the actions of imbeciles like Klingenschmitt.

Fletcher, NC Church Has It's Own Fight Club

How do you settle a dispute over leadership? Well, if you are part of the Greater New Zion Baptist Church in Fletcher, NC, you throw down.

About 30 police officers from five agencies were called to break up fights Sunday at Greater New Zion Baptist Church in Fletcher, about 94 miles west of Charlotte.

Henderson County Sheriff's Capt. Jerry Rice says the brawl is under investigation and no one appears to have been seriously hurt.

Rice says there were about 75 people at the church when police arrived, but not all of them were scuffling.

A 75-person brawl? How awesome is that? While other churches “get in the spirit” and flail around like epileptics, this church gets in the spirit of whooping someones ass. Ain't it the Christian way? If you don't get your way, you just start beating the shit out of someone. Remember, Jesus did say “If someone strikes you, turn the other cheek. But, if someone offends you, take them outside and beat them with thy rod and thy staff.”

Sue Myrick Wants To Shoot You In The Face

North Carolina: not quite as insane as South Carolina, but sometimes you would think they want to be. The idea of our politicians carrying guns around like we live in the old west is a little disconcerting, to say the least. Recently, NC Rep Heath Shuler (D) and NC Rep Renee Ellmers (who yo may remember as running on a “say-no-to-the-terrorist-mosque” platform, as if it has anything to do with North Carolina) have decided to start packing heat just in case they are confronted with a Tuscon-like scenario.

A Charlotte Observer review of N.C. county records for the entire delegation shows that Shuler and Ellmers are the only two members with permits. U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Charlotte Republican, doesn't have a permit now, but said she had been thinking even before the shooting in Tucson of obtaining one.

Well isn't that lovely. Now, these two characters have shamed NC Rep Sue Myric (R) into joining the congressional SWAT team. Rep Myric is one person from this state that is unstable enough to carry a gun and “accidentally” shoot an innocent bystander.

Perhaps these Wyatt Earp wannabes should read a little further into what happened in Tuscon. AZ Rep Giffords was shot in the back of the head. She never saw if coming. If she had been carrying a .50 cal, she would have still been shot in the back of the head and would have never seen in coming. Carrying a gun will not stop a crazy person from coming out of the woodworks and attempting assassination and it won't stop them from succeeding.

That is the answer to all of our problems in the US though, isn't it? If we don't understand something or are worried about something, just pick up a gun. Scared and panicked people have never made a mistake while handling a weapon.

CAIR: Appologizing For Obstruction Of Justice

As much as I hate to use Fox News as a reference for anything, I thought this story deserved some attention. It seems that our friends at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) are sponsoring a conference that is meant to inform the Muslim community of their rights when it comes to the FBI. The conference is called “FBI Raids and Grand Jury Subpoenas: Know Your Rights and Defend Our Communities.”

I have no problem with educating a community on their rights. Here is what I do have a problem with.

The poster, which appeared on the website of CAIR’s California chapter, features a sinister-looking FBI agent with the headlines “Build a Wall of Resistance” and “Don’t Talk to the FBI.” The poster was designed in the late 1970s or early 1980s and has been reproduced by various groups and activists since then in response to alleged harassment by the FBI and to protest grand jury subpoenas.

You know how to make everyone think that you are doing something sinister? Put out a call for all of the members of your community to not talk to law enforcement. I have many problems with the law enforcement system in this country, but refusing to talk to them isn't going to help anyones cause. By encouraging a group of people not to talk to a law enforcement agency does nothing more than set them apart from the rest of the country that they supposedly love. We all have to abide by the same rules and laws no matter how stupid or ridiculous they are.

If someone feels they or their community is being singled out, then that is a issue for the courts. File a lawsuit and let the public know what is going on. Silence is not a good option though.

I don't buy for one minute the line from CAIR about not knowing about the content of the event and just being a sponsor. How many politicians and groups have been crucified in this country for sponsoring an event that had content that was less than flattering? It happens every year. I do not believe them for one second.

Come on CAIR, stop trying to bullshit people. You went from being a group that was actually fighting for the liberties of Muslims in America to a group that is apologizing for everything that happens in the Muslim community no matter how stupid it is.

Dr. Oz Is A Quack? Say It Ain’t So!

Ok, so I already knew he was a quack. However, he has taken it to a new level.

Dr. Issam Nemeh, the local doctor who holds faith healing services at Catholic churches, has ardent supporters as well as skeptical detractors.

He can count two well-known doctors as supporters.

Cleveland Clinic Wellness chief Dr. Michael Roizen and TV doc Mehmet Oz say they're amazed at several cases in which patients appear to have been healed after Nemeh treated them. Roizen and Oz collaborate on the "You" self-help books, such as "You on a Diet."

Nemeh and two patients will be featured on an upcoming Dr. Oz television show, currently scheduled for February. The show was taped in December.

So a quack is giving air time to a fraud. Unheard of! Maybe Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen can collaborate on a new book called “You, dead after entrusting yourself to a faith-healer.”

Jailed For Placing Daughters In Better School?

Kelley Williams-Bolar, a single mother who lived in Akron public housing, was convicted of lying about her residency in order to send her two daughters to a highly ranked school. Her sentence, which inflamed emotions in the community, was 10 days in jail, and two years probation according to reports, and is due to end this week.

You’re probably thinking “I would do the same thing.” We all want the best for our children. We want them to have the best of everything in life so they can go on and do well if not better than us. So who wouldn’t fib a little to gain an edge for their children to a substantially better school?

People do this all the time whether its to join a YMCA closer to home, or to get in state tuition rather than an out of state. I have done things like this to gain an edge. Who wouldn’t as long as they felt like the cause was just and the odds of being caught were slim?

So isn’t this mom just like the rest of us? Only unfortunate to have been caught. Yes, she is exactly like the rest of us.

We all have broken the law. Difference is she got caught and now she has had to pay the price. Fact of the matter is she falsified official documents and used taxpayer money of which she contributed nothing. Granted her cause was noble but her actions none the less against the law.

Neither she nor the girls actually lived within the boundaries of Copley-Fairlawn. They lived in Akron public housing. Instead it was Williams-Bolar's dad who lived in Copley-Fairlawn. Which meant she should have paid about $30,500 in tuition. So she and her father faked the kids' residency, using his address.

Copley-Fairlawn Superintendent Brian Poe said the district has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because of children illegally enrolled in its schools. The cases are usually resolved by parents proving they live in the district, taking their kids out of the schools or paying tuition of about $800 a month.

Some are saying she is just being picked on to make an example. You’re absolutely right she is. The school investigated about 100 other families doing the same thing, they either plead guilty, proved residency or stayed and agreed to pay tuition. Williams-Bolar was the only one to challenged the school district in court, had she had decided to not challenge the findings you wouldn’t know her name just like the hundred others involved. She made herself an example.

In the end she placed her current job and future carrier in jeopardy and was sentenced to 10 days in jail and 2 year probation. Not really a bad wrap considering she owes the schools about thirty five thousand dollars. She is an example that if you break the law you should be held accountable for your actions.

Jesus Hates Children

Many of us wonder why, if there is a god, would he let disease and illness be so prevalent in our society. Some, like Pat Robertson and the good people at the Westboro Baptist Church, say that it is because he is punishing us. Of course, the answer is that there is no god and the problems we have are due to our genetic make-up. However, there is a new story as to why children have dysfunctions, particularly in this case Down Syndrome. Prepare to be disgusted.

In the fictional novel The Clowns of God by Morris West, Jesus comes back to earth, and some people think it's Him while some don't. At one point, Jesus is at a school for children with Down syndrome, and He is holding a little girl. Jesus says:

"I know what you are thinking. You need a sign. What better one could I give but to make this little one whole and new? I could do it, but I will not. I am the Lord and not a conjurer. I gave this mite a gift I denied to all of you — eternal innocence. To you she looks imperfect — but to me she is flawless, like the bud that dies unopened or the fledgling that falls from the nest to be devoured by ants. She will never offend me, as all of you have done. She will never pervert or destroy the work of my Father's hands. She is necessary to you. She will evoke the kindness that will keep you human. Her infirmity will prompt you to gratitude for your own good fortune... More! She will remind you every day that I am who I am, that my ways are not yours, and that the smallest dust mite whirled in the darkest spaces does not fall out of my hand... I have chosen you. You have not chosen me. This little one is my sign to you. Treasure her!"

The Jesus that is described her is nothing more than a bully. What kind of person would have the power to heal someone and not use it? A sociopath, that’s what kind. There aren’t many things more disgusting than the idea of someone having the cure for something at not using it, only to say nothing more than “I work in mysterious ways.” Mysterious or not, they are loathsome ways. Why would anyone worship someone who obviously has no regard for the health of the people he claims to love?

It should also be noted that children with Down syndrome are not “eternally innocent”, they are sick. Essentially, Down syndrome is when a person has either part of, or a full extra chromosome. This can cause multiple problems on top of actually having Down syndrome such as congenital heart disease, thyroid disease, leukemia, Hirschsprungs disease, epilepsy, and a host of other disorders. That doesn’t sound like a “flawless child,” that sounds like a child that is suffering terribly.

This entire story was written as an anti-abortion piece. There are parents out there who chose to terminate a pregnancy when they learn that the fetus is deformed, has a disorder, etc. There is nothing wrong with that. It is horribly selfish of someone to know that a fetus is sick and still bring it into this world so that the person that the fetus turns into can suffer for its entire life. The shame does not lie at the feet of the parents who chose to terminate a sick fetus, it lies at the feet of people who bring sick children into the world and then try to shame everyone else who doesn’t want to make that decision.

It is up to the parents if they want to have a child that is ill or to wait until they have a healthy fetus. To write a book on the joys of having a sick child is demented and using an imaginary person (who would shoulder the blame for the sickness if he were real) is absurd. I am sure that the people deciding to terminate a pregnancy are not going into the process willy-nilly. It takes a lot of heart-break, sorrow, tears, and thought.

But if Jesus wants us to all have some sort of disease because it will teach us about the mysteries of God and faith, then we should all smile and be happy at our horrible disposition.