a couple video's from Mediam Matters showing what classy individuals the conservatives in this country are.







absolutely amazing. Stay classy San Diego

So this new green energy bill has caused a firestorm in conservative circles, I've seen the all too common "treason" term thrown around already  (because an energy bill you disagree with amounts to fighting a war against your country....*eyeroll*), and the teaparty crazies have already called for protests of it. The reason all the commotion? Conservatives are angry because of the speed with which the bill passed through congress without conservative debate on the issue. They say "how can we pass a bill when nobody has had a chance to read it?!?!?!?111one" Well I'll tell you whats actually going on.

The reason that congress has passed recent bills with such increadible speed and with minimal debate is that whenever the Dem's open the bill for debate the Republican camp either attaches kill riders (amendments to the bill like "tax all democrats 100%" which no congressperson would vote for effectually killing the bill) or they do what Republican leader in the house Boehner (pronounced Bayner.....or so he says *eyeroll*.....) and offer a 301-page amendment to the 1200-page bill and read every word effectivly shutting down congress for 2 and a half hours. Then when dems shut down debate they call foul play "....and we were JUST getting to our actual proposals...." It's a bunch of political gamesmenship and bullshit from the right who have made up their minds to roadblock any proposal by Obama or Dems without debate. When the republicans want to come to the tabe and propose actual solutions instead of playing childish games in Congress, then the Democrats can start to allow input on the bills, until then I say godbless and go forward to the Dems.

Another gem from the Sean Hannity boards...

Title of the thread: "How does Moses compare to Muhammad?" (oh joy.....)

Opening post:
"In your mind, what makes Moses different to Muhammed?
I'll go first: among the two, only Moses knew how to read and write (probably invented the Alphabet ). "

Second Post:
"As a prince of Egypt, Moses most he likely was educated and since Egypt traded with Phoenicia he also may have been able to read and write in both hieroglyphics and in a phonetic language.
 The idea that Moses may have invented the alphabet shows a total ignorance of history"



 

Ok kids, try and spot the falacies in this argument against gay marriage!

"It seems these days everyone feels as though they are entitled to push their beliefs and lifestyles onto everyone else, no matter how small of a minority they are in. This philosophy is no different when it comes to a guy sticking his lower member into places it should never be stuck. Absurd as it sounds, there are people (source needed) out there who believe we need to change our laws to accept this unethical and immoral behavior (explination needed), ignoring the fact that according to a recent USA Today/Gallup Poll, 57% of Americans believe that same-sex marriages should not be recognized. In fact, according to the same poll, 48% of Americans believe that legalizing gay marriage will change society for the worse, with only 13% believing it would make our world a better place.

Proponents of gay marriage usually throw around the term “open-minded” when referring to why we should change our laws in favor of the gays. They (citation needed) claim that we need to think ‘outside of the box’ and be more accepting of their behavior. They preach ‘acceptance’ and ‘understanding’ of peoples beliefs, no matter what they may be…well right up until you disagree with them (citation needed). If you dare mention the thought of homosexual behavior being wrong, then you are quickly labeled a homophobic bigot.  The truth is, they are only accepting of what they believe in, using the idea of “acceptance” to make people feel as though they have to accept this behavior or else they are close minded.(strawman fallacy) To see thought process in action, you must look no further than the recent Miss USA pageant, in which Miss California was chastised for her belief that gay marriage is wrong. So much for acceptance of other people’s beliefs…

“But 1 in every 10 men in this country is gay! We need to realize how prominent homosexuality is and change our laws!” Argue with any proponent of gay rights and you will almost always have this argument thrown back at you. Citing information from a 50 year old, statistically flawed study, they come to the illogical conclusion that 10% of the population is indeed homosexual, when in fact the real percentages are closer to 3%-- a far cry from 1 in every 10 men. Studies done by the University of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, along with polls from institutions such as Hunter College, show the number to be around 2.5 to 3%. According to GayDemographics.org, the number of same-sex couples in America is only 1.16%! So we’re supposed to change our ideals and beliefs to benefit 1% of the population? I don’t think so. (non sequitur)

The next belief that is thrown at those who disagree with homosexuality is that people are born gay—they can’t help who they are. The only conclusion I can come to is that this silly way of thinking was thought up in an effort to make people feel sorry for gays, thus changing their opinion on the whole concept of homosexuality.(straw man fallacy) I come to this conclusion because the idea that homosexuals are born gay is both factually and medically incorrect. No one is born gay, it is a lifestyle choice. There are many documented cases (citation needed) of homosexuals changing their sexuality and becoming heterosexual, and in fact, homosexuality was removed from the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental disorders by none other than a gay-activist. (distortion of data/blinding with science)

Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, a gay rights activist himself, performed a study to see if homosexuality can indeed be reversed. Published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, his findings show how 200 homosexuals changed their sexual desires and began to live heterosexually, thus proving that they do in fact have a choice—homosexuality is reversible. (non sequitur) But that’s not all—more recently in 2004, hundreds of former homosexuals wrote to two prominent newspapers, the New York Times and USA Today, and explained how they had changed their sexual nature and were now living heterosexual lives. The bottom line is, if someone can change the way they live, or reverse something that they have been doing for years, then it is a choice. (non sequitur)

The last argument spewed from the mouths of those who favor same-sex marriages (posioning the well) is one that is used as a last resort (straw man fallacy), a phrase that is uttered once they realized none of their other arguments make sense (straw man fallacy)— “how does it affect your life if two guys get married?”

Most people who oppose same-sex marriages don’t really know how to answer this question. They feel that if they answer it truthfully, and state that it goes against their moral or religious beliefs, that they will be labeled as a bigot.(straw man fallacy) However, if those who favor gay marriage want to throw around the incorrect number that 1 in every 10 Americans is gay,(straw man fallacy) then why not state that 8 in 10 Americans identify themselves with some form of the Christian religion. (Citation needed) That number jumps to 9 in 10 Americans when you include Muslims and Jews. (Citation needed)  This fact alone should say enough (non sequitur)—you can not support gay marriage and practice what the Bible preaches at the same time.(non sequitur) Leviticus 18:22 makes this point clear when it states:

“Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”

The New Testament also speaks on the subject, where Romans 1:27 states:

“In the same way men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

This nation was founded on Christian principles by Christian men and women. (Citation needed) Whether people want to admit it or not, this is a Christian nation, (Citation needed) and we have been for over 200 years now. Being a nation of Christian fundamentals (Citation needed), we have the right to ban immoral and unethical behavior, (non sequitur) such as homosexuality. We shouldn’t have to give any further explanation other than the fact that this is what we believe in.(false premise) Calling our beliefs ‘closed minded’ and ‘hateful’ is both irrational and dumb. (Ad Hominem)

If you state that marriage is when two people “love and care for each other”, just where do you draw the line? (slippery slope fallacy) Why should it be limited to just two people? What about someone who loves his sister or cousin?(irrelevent) What about bigamy or bestiality?(irrelevent) Isn’t it unfair that John and Allen can get married but Chris and his beloved German Shepard can’t?(irrelevent) What if I love more than one person, why can't I be allowed to be in a union with more than one person? (irrelevent) Isn’t that discrimination?(irrelevent) It may sound ridiculous, but the moral precedent we established on these issues is thrown out the window when you allow an immoral act such as gay marriage to become legal. (slippery slope fallacy)

See, gay marriage may seem harmless in thought, why should we care what two guys do in their private lives? But their lives aren’t private, for their relationship does not exist in a vacuum. Their actions are seen by many, and it will only be a matter of time before the effects trickle down to other issues. (slippery slope fallacy) We as a nation will see no harm in allowing unethical and immoral acts to prosper, thus leading to the downfall of our country and civilized society. (slippery slope fallacy)

So there it is, the case against gay marriage. As long as those in favor of gay marriage complain that opponents of homosexuality are unjustified in their beliefs (straw man fallacy), I will continue to call them what they are: Bigots—closed minded and not understanding of mine and most of the citizens in this country’s beliefs. (Ad Hominem)

Mark my words, gay marriage will lead to the destruction of society.(Appeal to unqualified authority)"

Theres a couple more in there, lets see if anyone can spot them....

People laying their heads in other people's laps in a restaurant- OBSCENE SEXUAL DEVIANCY

At the same restaurant discussing the dog/dragon hybrid dildo you made which is sitting on the table like a center piece - Perfectly fine!


furries make me laugh

Well I turned 23 a couple weeks ago, and since then I can't stop thinking about life, death, and what it all means to me. I'm seriously starting to get really depressed, so I figured maybe if I throw some of my thoughts up here it might help.

I've never really been a religious person, I'm a proud atheist and rationalist. I don't believe in an afterlife, reincarnation or anything. To me death is the extinguishing of concienceness, I've always likened it to going to sleep (not a dreaming sleep but the in between one where time just disappears), and just never waking up. It's something that everything that lives has to do in the end, a rational and inevitable conclusion that all of us eventually have to face. I see all this, completely rational and makes total sense, and yet I'm totally petrified of it. I have this intense irrational terror of ceasing to exist. I dont want to face it, and quite frankly when I do I dont think I could take it mentally. It's just not fair to me, we get such a short period of time to enjoy all of life, and then thats it, end of story. We dont get to remember it, savor it, nothing. just black for the rest of time. I'm tempted at times to just fall to my knees and curse the universe for it's pointlessness, but it's a futile gesture. There are no gods to hear me, no-one to rescue me and it makes me feel alone. I've passed 1/4 of my life already and I have so much more that I want to do, so much more I want to experiance and learn.

I think what kills me the most (excuse the expression) are people that just wander through life waiting for the afterlife. I just want to stop them on the street and scream at them to go live their lives, put aside your petty vendettas and hatreds and go enjoy life. No-one is going to remember you in 400 years let alone your enemies or what they did to you.

I've gained a lot of respect for how fragile and small we are. Our virtual insignificance in the vastness of the universe, but also of how powerful the meaning that we give to things is. In the small fraction of time that we exist, really the only thing we can do is find our own meaning to life, it may be insignificant in the big picture but it's also the most important thing we can have.

I'm having a nihilism day today. -.-

I hate those.

I've come to a conclusion over the past few weeks. I think that the Republican party is on the verge of collapse. I don't come to this conclusion lightly rather, I came to it in light of a sequence of domino events that have been taking place over the past 2-3 years. The problem stems from the fact that the country's zeitgeist is swinging left, which is not too surprising seeing that every few years the zeitgeist starts to swing. However, why it's serious for the republicans is that they have positioned themselves into relying on an extreme base and taking advantage of the right-swinging zeitgeist over the 90's and early 2000's. This has locked extremeists in the party into the top leadership roles within the party and the very party image as a far-right party (in comparison to right wing parties in other countries which are much more centrist). Thus as the country starts to swing left the leadership of the Republicans don't move the party left with it but rather insist that the country has not moved ideologically nor has rejected any of their ideals. As a result, when the country continues its leftward swing the party consolidates and move further to the right alienating the middle ground voters and forcing the midline party members out as a sort of purifying ritual. This is where you see numbers like recent polls suggest, saying that while only 21% of the poopulation identifys themself as republican, 70% of republicans believe that the party is too centrist and needs to move further to the right.

The second issue that they face is that they are becoming increasingly backward as well as irrelevent. Further seperating themselves from mainstream american viewpoints. The party has become Anti-minority, Anti-worker, Anti-middleclass, and Anti-intellectual while at the same time Pro-torture, Pro-religious, Pro-invasion. Which is exactaly the opposite movement of the rest of the country. Their push on social issues that garnered their success in the 90's has been all but completely rejected by the majority of the population. Polls showing the country becoming less religious, and more accepting of rights for minorities as well as more open toward policies like ending the drug war.

The third thing (and in my opinion the biggest threat to the republicans) is that they have become extremely anti-intellectual. There is a general hatred and condemnation of anything that comes out of colleges or mainstream academia these days from the right. They label higher education as "liberal indoctrination" and support pulling their own children out of public schools. They support intelligent design over evolution, reject anything having to do with global climate change, condemn all modern social sciences. This kind of attitude is not going to get you very far politically and we're starting to see numbers that the republicans have lost an entire generation of today's students and youth who increasingly see their policies as old fashioned and outdated.

All in all I think that there will be in the comming years a fundemental shift in the right wing of this country. Either they will pull themselves back to the center or they are going to become increasing irrelevent in larger national politics and eventually die out as a party. I forsee a possible rise in the liberitarian or constitutional party, or some sort of breakaway by the fiscal conservatives from the social ones who are dragging down the entire movement. whatever happens I don't see the republicans, if they continue in their current direction, lasting more than 2 more election cycles. Their recent cession of 80 congressional seats in 2 election is staggering and is dwarfed only by their stubborn refusal to shift party direction. My prediction is that if they dont have a rallying candidate for the 2012 election, stick a fork in them, they're done.

alright, in lieu of the Tea Parties and the conservative onslaught, what are the views of the American public?

Off of Pew Research Center:
Obama's job performance:

Approve		61
Disapprove		26

Optimistic		66
Pessimistic		26

Optimistic		54
Pessimistic		36

Excellent/Good		63
Only fair/Poor		28

ok I'm officially done with this. For the past month I've broken my back bending backwards to the conservatives. I've patiently listened to their viewpoints, I've looked into criticism and I've tried, desperately, to understand and consolidate their side. But yesterdays tax day teabag protests are the last straw. So now I'm going in head first at any and all conservative arguments, because they have proven they are not interested in coming together to make a better country, the only opinion is THEIR opinion, and everyone else is a traitor who deserves to be shot.

YOU PEOPLE ARE LUNATICS. people are talking about secession, not just joe down the street but THE GOVERNOR OF TEXAS. You want to know what happened in the last secession? 618,000 Americans died. DIED. entire states were destroyed. I'm tired of this chicken hawk bullshit conservative platform, always willing to put everyone else on the choppingblock except themselves. Always the first to call for war, always the last in line to serve. You want to know whats unpatriotic? you want to know whats treasonous? Trying to break apart and destroy a country you are part of, in effect declaring war on our government.

FOR GOD SAKES OBAMA HAS BEEN IN THE WHITE HOUSE FOR 3 MONTHS. 3 months and the ideology (nice try at throwing the party name under the bus and declaring yourselves "bipartisan" which you are anything but...) that spent the last 8 years running over every amendment of the bill of rights (except the 2nd), and you dare have the cajones to say that THIS administration is destroying the constitution?
By god you don't even have a coherent message to your protests. What is it? Taxes? you know the ones Obama lowered for 95% of all Americans. Big Government? a principle that a minority of the country subscribes to. "Socialist" economic policies? forget that none of you actually understand the term "socialist", again a large section of the population wants these regulations in place.

You want to know what their coherent message is? It's "HEY! we're not in power anymore and got our collective asses handed to us in the past 2 election cycles over policies that over the course of 20 years have caused mass disparates in wealth distribution and basically the collapse of our economic system (not to mention a foreign policy strategy that has erased all levels of support and moral high ground we've created in the past 60 years). but we don't want to give up our power the democratic way. We want to force our opinions on everyone else whether they vote for it or not."

You want to make some meaningful input? then come to the table and voice your opinions respectfully. This "I'm taking my ball and going home" mentality only shows that you are all a bunch of adolescent children who are more interested in your own ego then making a more perfect union.

So in conclusion, put up or shut up. You think you can secede and win a war then by all means go ahead, and when your tired of the blood, the death, the destruction, and carnage you can come back like you did in the 1860's. But thats not going to happen, nobody is going to secede, so stop using one of the worst catastrophe's in the history of this nation as some cheap political stunt to blackmail the party in power to enforce your policy.

fucking fascists. (and yes I actually know what that means....)