Bacon sparks hate crime investigation in NYC & thougtful discussion at FTB

There’s a lot of wacky claims made by religion and the jihad against bacon, sweet salty innocent bacon, is one result. FWIW, I like bacon, I think bacon tastes good on everything including ice cream. But some wayward bacon left in a New York City park before the Muslim holiday Ramadan raised concerns over religious intimidation: [Read more…]

The religious elephant in the rape room

The GOP elephant in the rape room is this: among the socially conservative base of the Republican Party is a core group of faith-based misogynists who believe 1) women lie about being raped, and 2) that it’s the women’s fault when she gets raped. The code words and dog whistles about “forcible rape” and the jihad against birth control that have come to dominate the GOP are all fueled by that very real fundamentalist sexism. 

I have this to say to conservative and independent voters who are as appalled as the rest of us: you can say you are going to vote for whoever you wish, and once in the privacy of the voting booth you can actually vote for whomever you want, and no one will ever know the difference unless you say so. Pass it on.

GOP to Akin: You are screwing up our agenda to screw over women

So Paul forcible-rape Ryan and friends called on Todd legitimate-rape Akin to drop out of the race. Otherwise, their plans to cut further taxes on conservative zillionaires by fucking over women will be endangered by Akin’s untimely quip about one branch of wingnut pseudoscience used to fuck over women. So far Akin has declined to drop out, and if he does the evangelical base will be miffed. Which means, today, we get to enjoy watching this unholy junta once known as the Republican Party teeter on the edge of a long coming and well deserved collapse. [Read more…]

Todd Akin sits on the House Science Committee

It’s amazing, and yet all too predictable. Rep Todd Akin, the same guy who seems to have bought into wingnut pseudoscience that insists women who are raped can somehow selectively prevent or abort any resulting pregnancy, sits on the House freaking Science Committee. And the good news is, he may stay there, because his bid to win a Missouri senate seat is in real peril now: [Read more…]

It’s “God’s shield”

Update: The WH responds  and it’s good to see dems hitting the GOP over the head with their own culture war club.

Akin’s comment in which he accidentally told what he really thinks, known in teaparty circles as misspeaking, didn’t come out of nowhere. Just as teajihadists have their own creationist pseudo-biology and their own evangelical pseudo-history, they also have their own reproductive pseudoscience in which rape victims can’t get pregnant. You know, if it’s a legitimate rape and not some loose ungodly slut lying about getting her rockettes off: [Read more…]

Romney to Founding Fathers: You didn’t build that

Speaking in front of a dazed and confused grassroots conservative crowd today, Mitt Romney waded into the usual rhetorical gumbo so favored by the right, saying that America was the best economy in the world because of our freedom, and he mentioned that good ole chestnut, ‘rights don’t come from government, they come from God-eh’! Now, elementary logic here: [Read more…]

Texas, August, Hell & Reprieve

Texas in August, it’s a bleak, sizzling time of year. There’s really nothing good about it. After 90 days of blistering sun even local lakes and swimming pools are reaching for near body temperature. Short of a few springs and river bottoms stirred up by turnover or dams,  there’s no relief outside of air-conditioned shelters or a nice walk in freezer. And forget anything you’ve heard about a “dry heat.” Once the temp gets uncomfortably above a 100 degrees, it doesn’t matter that much how dry it is, it quickly gets hot enough to kill a person in direct sunlight in as little as an hour or two if they aren’t used to it. [Read more…]