I…
I don’t know why…
But, it’s Glenn Beck as a chloroplast, and if that doesn’t meet the inclusion factors for a biodork blog (sarcastic liberal humor + plant biology = NERD WIN), I don’t know what else would.
Seen on Comments from Left Field
And just for fun, and comparison, a real chloroplast:
Pick out the image that depicts the more beneficial of the two things on this great green Earth. And…GO!
Darn alarm clock – how dare it go off and let me sleep through it this morning! Darn work – how dare you be so…here? (J/K – I love you job, and I hope we have a long and meaningful relationship).
So, in light of my slackerness let’s talk about someone else’s blogpost today!
Jen McCreight from Blag Hag has a couple of interesting posts up about her visit to New York City’s “Ground Zero Mosque”. The first post is about her rather uneventful visit; there were no wild protests going on while she was there. The second post is called Defending the rights of theists does not equal agreeing with their beliefs, which was in response to some blog commenters’ criticisms of Jen’s original post, the building of the “mosque” and of Islam in general. Jen’s response is kind of a beautiful thing.
I’ll bet you’re aware of the “non-troversy” surrounding the building of the GZM. Ground Zero Mosque isn’t actually a mosque, but an Islamic community center being built two blocks away from Ground Zero. From the NYTimes:
The proposed center, called the Cordoba House, would rise as many as 15 stories two blocks north of where the twin towers stood. It would include a prayer space, as well as a 500-seat performing arts center, a culinary school, a swimming pool, a restaurant and other amenities.
I think this is factually important, but irrelevant to the controversy – mosque, Islamic community center, it doesn’t matter.
Some people (Glenn, you twit) on both sides of the political spectrum are saying that building the Islamic community center so close to the site of the 9/11 Twin Towers attacks (“Ground Zero) is an affront to the families of those who lost their lives at the hands of Islamic extremists. Even my old favorite, Howard Dean, sided with the anti-GZM gang (sob!). But there are also people who are calling this dispute out for the fluffy, junk story and fake controversy that it is.
I think that living, working and building buildings in a country with a constitution that guarantees religious freedom means that you get to build your Islamic community center or a mosque or a temple to pink unicorns. People died in the 9/11 attacks because Islamic extremists chose to committ violence against Americans. Islamic extremists are not your typical Muslim, just as David Koresh is not your typical Protestant. Why should we discriminate against Muslims for crimes committed by Islamic extremists? Do we not allow Muslims to even visit Ground Zero because a victim’s visiting family member might see a man or woman with a covered head and be offended that a Muslim is walking on the hallowed ground where their loved one died at the hands of an extemist Muslim?
The Islamic community center shouldn’t even be seen as a moment to tolerance, as some proponents are calling it. Tolerance implies that we’re graciously allowing this building to go up. There’s nothing to tolerate. It’s just another building in Manhattan.
The Daily Beast via Skepchick:
Terrorists Kidnapp a Hero: Militants are holding the Mother Teresa of Somalia hostage, and as a result, dozens of children have already died. Eliza Griswold talks to Dr. Hawa Abdi from the home where she is being held captive.
This story has it all – subjugation of women, religious extremism, needless deaths of innocents, and one bad-ass female doctor. For pete’s sake! If you need your daily dose of indignation, I highly recommend this article.
Dr. Abdi is awesome: She’s a 60 year-old Somali gynecologist who built up a one-room clinic into a 400-bed hospital, she shelters refugees on the hospital grounds, and she gives everything she has to feeding the hungry and to obtain staff and medicine from international aid groups. And now she’s back-sassing the militant extremists who are holding her and her staff under house arrest.
photo source
Somalia Online has more information on Dr. Hawa Abdi and her accomplishments in Somalia.
Dang it, and my sister’s state of Arizona was soooo in the lead for embarrassing the nation.
This piece is from last week, and it doesn’t appear to be getting a lot of press, so I guess that’s good. I mean who wants to be remembered for saying this:
“And father, we repent that we have not used godly wisdom when we have elected officials into elected positions in our state and nation, father, and that it has opened the door, that Minnesota holds the responsibility for placing the first Muslim in Congress, and, for that God, we repent.”
For those of you not familiar, the female Dinkus from Minnesota is refering to Keith Ellison, the DFL-MN congressman from my district.
MinnesotaIndependent.com seems to be the primary reporting source for this story. Again, good, I guess. But maybe a little more publicity would be nice…just enough so that the female Dinkus who said this can be identified and embarrassed so she is never taken seriously in the future. According to the article the woman has not been identified to date. The Muslim Public Affairs Council rebuked the speech, calling it appalling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To balance out the Dinkusness coming from MN, I found out (via Minnesota Independent, again) about a group called Marry Me Minnesota, which is helping three couples from MN challenge the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. From the Marry Me Minnesota website:
Today, May 11, 2010, three Minnesota same-sex couples are filing suit in Hennepin County District Court, charging the State of Minnesota with violating the couples’ constitutional right to marry. The five charges brought by the group include violations of the plaintiffs’ right to due process, equal protection of the laws, freedom of conscience, freedom of association and a charge that the State’s 1997 DOMA law, which prohibits the state from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, was passed in violation of the “single subject” rule of the Minnesota Constitution and should be thrown out. A child of one of the couples is also a named plaintiff in the case.
Good luck, all!
pic source
Dang it, and my sister’s state of Arizona was soooo in the lead for embarrassing the nation.
This piece is from last week, and it doesn’t appear to be getting a lot of press, so I guess that’s good. I mean who wants to be remembered for saying this:
“And father, we repent that we have not used godly wisdom when we have elected officials into elected positions in our state and nation, father, and that it has opened the door, that Minnesota holds the responsibility for placing the first Muslim in Congress, and, for that God, we repent.”
For those of you not familiar, the female Dinkus from Minnesota is refering to Keith Ellison, the DFL-MN congressman from my district.
MinnesotaIndependent.com seems to be the primary reporting source for this story. Again, good, I guess. But maybe a little more publicity would be nice…just enough so that the female Dinkus who said this can be identified and embarrassed so she is never taken seriously in the future. According to the article the woman has not been identified to date. The Muslim Public Affairs Council rebuked the speech, calling it appalling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To balance out the Dinkusness coming from MN, I found out (via Minnesota Independent, again) about a group called Marry Me Minnesota, which is helping three couples from MN challenge the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. From the Marry Me Minnesota website:
Today, May 11, 2010, three Minnesota same-sex couples are filing suit in Hennepin County District Court, charging the State of Minnesota with violating the couples’ constitutional right to marry. The five charges brought by the group include violations of the plaintiffs’ right to due process, equal protection of the laws, freedom of conscience, freedom of association and a charge that the State’s 1997 DOMA law, which prohibits the state from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, was passed in violation of the “single subject” rule of the Minnesota Constitution and should be thrown out. A child of one of the couples is also a named plaintiff in the case.
Good luck, all!
pic source
Things that make me sad:
Oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Barrier Reef. I’m just getting my SCUBA certification this spring – quite screwing up the pretty diving areas!
The Party of Hell No! – Republicans who like to look tough when they’re grilling Goldman Sachs executives, but who vote no to discussing Wall Street Reform.
The new Papers Please law. Thank you, Arizona, for your cultural sensitivity and legal logic. From Jon Stewart: “”It’s not unprecedented, having to carry around your papers. It’s the same thing free black people had to do in 1863!”
Oklahoma’s new limiting-your-choice abortion laws.
Things that make me happy:
Pay It Forward Day (here’s the facebook group). As Anne Frank wrote: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
Zooey Deschenel’s She and Him.
My favorite books. Not too long ago I had to submit a Top 10 list to the bookstore for a “Our Employees Suggest” display. This was the original list – before I had to chop it down – who only gets to pick TEN favoriate books?
|
Stranger in a Strange Land |
Robert A. Heinlein |
| I Never Promised You a Rose Garden | Joanne Greenberg |
| Tales of a Female Nomad | Rita Golden Gelman |
| Flowers For Algernon | Daniel Keyes |
| Good Omens | Neil Gaiman |
| Neverwhere | Neil Gaiman |
| Lamb | Christopher Moore |
| The Shack | William Paul Young |
| Voyage of the Dawn Treader | CS Lewis |
| The Cat Who Went to Heaven | Elizabeth Coatsworth |
| Ecoptopia | Ernest Callenbach |
| Brave New World | Aldous Huxley |
| Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury |
| Beggars in Spain | Nancy Kress |
| Darkfever | Karen Marie Moning |
| Vertical Run | Joseph Garber |
| Replay | Ken Grimwood |
| Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams |
| Toxin | Robin Cook |
| And Eternity | Piers Anthony |
This picture that Liz from the bookstore drew during break, and then gave to me! It’s a book superhero robert:
Things that make me giggle:
A church sign seen in Hutchinson, MN: Be a fisher of men – You catch ’em, He’ll clean ’em. Aieee! I don’t want to be filleted!
This Family Guy video:
The results of Boobquake 2010 are in! Jen from blaghag.com did a statistical analysis of the number and severity of earthquakes that occured across the globe yesterday. Sadly, ladies, it looks like we don’t have boob/butt/leg/ankle/hair magic that can control plate tectonics. From blaghag.com (click here for larger image):
Each data point represents the total number of earthquakes per day going back to February 5th (the extent of the online database). Days are measured in Coordinated Universal Time. That red square is boobquake. As you can see qualitatively, our provocative dress didn’t really seem to effect the frequency of earthquakes. There were 47 earthquakes on the 26th, which falls well within the 95% confidence interval for number of earthquakes (about 0 to 148).
Ah well, that’s just one more superpower I can cross of the list, I guess 🙂
Now from Boobquake 2010, to boobs on the boob tube:
Have you heard about the banned Lane Bryant lingerie commercial?
Apparently ABC refused to show the “racy” commercial during Dancing with the Stars, and FOX network demanded excessive re-edits before they offered to run the commercial at the end of American Idol.
Hmmm…between the Victoria’s Secret “The Nakeds” commercial that aired during American Idol (FOX) and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars:
Yeah…wouldn’t want to show any girl skin or cleavage when families might be watching…
For more in-depth writing on the Lane Bryant Lingerie Commericial Controversy, I recommend checking out The Stylelist
I’m off to the gym (mmm…hot tub…), then brunch with some friends at the Independent in Uptown, followed by a shift at the bookstore.
Two outta three ain’t bad.
Today, I bring you the satirical stylings of Edward Currant. WARNING: This video is mean, a little rude, and dare I say vicious and relentless? But, gently readers, know that none of these things are done idly! The attitude of the video helps drive home it’s underlying message: Evangelical religious right wing politics are very, very scary…and funny in their ridiculousness…funny in a make-you-want-to-cry kind of way.
Edward Currant is well known for his no-holds-barred videos lambasting religious silliness and right-wing extremism. However, if you like that kind of stuff, enjoy! Oh, and make sure to watch for the hand-reading glance ala Sarah Palin!
I’m off to the gym (mmm…hot tub…), then brunch with some friends at the Independent in Uptown, followed by a shift at the bookstore.
Two outta three ain’t bad.
Today, I bring you the satirical stylings of Edward Currant. WARNING: This video is mean, a little rude, and dare I say vicious and relentless? But, gently readers, know that none of these things are done idly! The attitude of the video helps drive home it’s underlying message: Evangelical religious right wing politics are very, very scary…and funny in their ridiculousness…funny in a make-you-want-to-cry kind of way.
Edward Currant is well known for his no-holds-barred videos lambasting religious silliness and right-wing extremism. However, if you like that kind of stuff, enjoy! Oh, and make sure to watch for the hand-reading glance ala Sarah Palin!
Cindy Jacobs wins hands down the Dinkus of the Day award. And I don’t even have a Dinkus of the Day award.
For a very good, extensive and vitrole-free account of what Cindy Jacobs has been up to, please visit this blog. The writer does a very good job of stating facts without using descriptors such as “yippy chihuahau”.
The good Rev. Jacobs is a frenetic faith healer. She kind of reminds me of a yippy chihuahua that really, really needs to pee. She believes she can exorcise “gay demons”, pornography, addiction, lust, bisexuality, and perversion. She also tells (screams at) her followers that they (through God and In The Name of Gee-eee-zus) can cure their cancer, AIDS, Hepatitis C, feet and backs. She is a proponent of “Spiritual Mapping” – which includes making maps of your ideological enemies and then waging spiritual warfare against them.
She’s also a fan of mixing her politics and her religion: She is appearing alongside Virginia GOP Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli at a rally that started yesterday at Liberty University (Lynchberg, VA) called “The Awakening”, which is put on by the Freedom Foundation, a consortium of faith-based and policy organizations.
She is a scary, scary woman.
