Dear Obama: Listen!

Please listen to Jamelle!  (US of Jamerica):
Obama’s little riff here basically sums up his foreign policy approach.  I actually wish he would use this language to challenge John McCain’s national security “credentials,” since it’s a pretty effective characterization.

Barack’s language is right on, and applies neatly to foreign policy.  From the difference [...]

Clintons Behind Wright’s Speech?

Oh, this is shitty. White Noise Insanity:
Uh oh. There appears to be a connection to Rev. Wright’s speech to the National Press Corps. recently and the Hillary camp. The person who coordinated the speech is also a huge supporter of Hillary Clinton.
From the LA Times:
It was the Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds, a former editorial [...]

Privilege: Seeing the Invisible

A comment by PortlyDyke responding to the Marcotte Book Imagery issue got me thinking (emphasis mine):
I honestly cannot believe the number of people here who have claimed that the use of racist imagery was some form of intentional irony, and who have chided others for not getting “the joke”, or to “lighten up”.
In order for [...]

The Psychological Victims of Fundamentalist Christianity

This is incredibly fucked, but it is a topic of some interest for me, and one I plan on revisiting.  As Amanda notes, this stuff is “fucking frightening”.  Matt Taibi writes in Rolling Stone about his experiences at a three day intensive convert-a-thon.  He starts things off by discussing the contrast between the soon-to-be-converted and [...]

McCain: Women 77% as Intelligent as Men

In a move sure to endear himself to voters, John McCain has spoken up in opposition to equal pay, saying simply “women don’t have enough experience”. DNC’s Karen Finney just about sums it up:
Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Karen Finney said: “At a time when American families are struggling to keep their homes and jobs [...]

Atheism and Violence

LeftBack92 links approvingly to a faulty video attacking atheists for violence:

Transcribed from the video:
Quick Note:
Not all atheists are like this; just as not all self proclaimed “Christians” are evil or bad as others may want you to think.
It is the godless structures of man that are dangerous.
One might, easily, make the [...]

Keep it Complex

cabalamat makes some excellent points:
Any dogma that gets any followers is likely to be (a) simple and (b) emotionality satisfying, at least to some people. In fact any belief system must be simpler than reality, since reality is vast and probably not fully comprehensible to the human mind anyway.
Of course, that statement doesn’t apply universally [...]

Hilarious Anti Liberal Atheist Rambling

This is just too much awesome to pass up. Probably a parody site, but well worth tackling seriously.  Frank (Ignorant Christian) writes:
I’ve been thinking for a long time why liberals don’t beleve in God. Here’s what I learnt:
This is going to be extra special, so I’m going to go through point by point.
They [...]

Reframing Global Warming: Is the Environment Invincible?

The whole “global warming debate” is really a debate over the results of pollution on a planetary scale.  If we reframe the debate in terms of pollution itself, we bring the discussion back the basics.  Is the Earth invincible?  Do the massive amounts of noxious gases released into the atmosphere and toxic chemicals dumped into [...]

China Imprisons 30 Protesters

In an effort to win more goodwill for the 2008 Summer Olympics, China has imprisoned 30 protesters:
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced 30 people, including six monks, to jail terms ranging from three years to life in prison for their alleged roles in deadly riots in the Tibetan capital last month, state [...]

Insanity on Obama, Fox, Clinton and Markos

River Daughter’s take on Markos’s response to the Obama Fox Debacle is very confusing:
I mean, just because Obama went on Fox and didn’t slay the dragon:
3.) It exposed his campaign as a bunch of liars. The Obama campaign’s press show promised people that Obama would “take on” Fox News. Of course, none of that happened. [...]

Oklahoma Anti Choicers OK Unlawful Sexual Assault

Via Jill, Feministe:
Anti-choicers in Oklahoma again demonstrate how much they care about women: So much that if women want to terminate a pregnancy, they’ll be forced to undergo an ultrasound, whether they consent or not. Making women undergo an unnecessary medical procedure against their will is bad enough — especially when medical professionals do not [...]

Hillary Can Still Win!

Via Nezua, exciting news for Hillarycrats!:

See?  Mathematically impossible my foot!

Hamas Sacrifices Children, Israel Firing Anyway

This is just awesome for anyone fortunate enough to live in the “land of milk and honey”.  (New York Times, emphasis mine):
JERUSALEM — A Palestinian mother and her four young children were killed in northern Gaza on Monday during an Israeli operation against militants there, and a dispute quickly arose over exactly how they had [...]

Marcotte’s Jungle: People Make Mistakes

We have such a deeply ingrained “gotcha” culture that the natural response to an asshole move, whether intentional or not on the part of the guilty, is to condemn that person as a whole and eschew their contributions entirely. This is a grave mistake to make, as it sacrifices what that person might have [...]