Ah! – Edible Dirt. I can think of worse ways to spend a snowy Sunday. (Follow it with Something*Positive and you should have cynicism enough to last for the rest of the year.)
Yesterday’s Sinfest amused me. It seems a pretty good portrait of the kind of christers that are usually featured here.
“Is sex outside of marriage a sin? Is it a public matter? Is it forgivable?”
No, of course sex outside marriage is not a public matter, and yes, of course it is forgivable. Only a person infected by the sort of sanctimonious self-righteousness that religion uniquely inspires would apply the meaningless word ‘sin’ to private sexual behavior.
It is the mark of the religious mind that it cares more about private than public morality. As the bumper sticker slogan put it, “When Clinton lied, nobody died.” Officially, Bill Clinton was impeached not for sexual misconduct but for lying about it. But he was entitled to lie about his private life: one could even make a case that he had a positive duty to do so. Tony Blair should have been impeached for lying to the House of Commons about alleged evidence for weapons of mass destruction, because his lies persuaded Members to vote for a war when they otherwise would not. Lying to Congress by saying, “I did not have sex with that woman” should not be an impeachable offense, because where a man puts his penis is none of Congress’s damn business. Nor is it any journalist’s damn business whether a politician once took drugs at university. Or whether he is gay.
And please don’t say the right answer to an impertinent question about your private life is “No comment”, because we all know how that would be interpreted. Telling a lie is often the only way to convey an effective “No comment.”
c says
Stop by and say hello….
enigma at mydomain (you all know my domain, right??)dot com
The Sinaloa Cowboy says
Simply the best tap performance ever…
BTW, that’s Cab Calloway
The Sinaloa Cowboy says
Oops!!!
I forgot the URL:
Blake Stacey says
Also the Carnival of Mathematics #21.
Frank (Not the kooky one) says
Hi PZ!
I think everyone here will appreciate this T-Shirt!
http://shirt.woot.com/default.aspx
And it is still available!
NOTE: I am in no way, shape or form affiliated to Woot.com… I just love their irreverent business model!
khan says
http://eddirt.frozenreality.co.uk/index.php?id=408
(comment on scripture – cartoon with written profanity)
Sili says
Ah! – Edible Dirt. I can think of worse ways to spend a snowy Sunday. (Follow it with Something*Positive and you should have cynicism enough to last for the rest of the year.)
Yesterday’s Sinfest amused me. It seems a pretty good portrait of the kind of christers that are usually featured here.
The Sinaloa Cowboy says
Richard Dawkins in the Washington Post
Banishing the Green-Eyed Monster
“Is sex outside of marriage a sin? Is it a public matter? Is it forgivable?”
No, of course sex outside marriage is not a public matter, and yes, of course it is forgivable. Only a person infected by the sort of sanctimonious self-righteousness that religion uniquely inspires would apply the meaningless word ‘sin’ to private sexual behavior.
It is the mark of the religious mind that it cares more about private than public morality. As the bumper sticker slogan put it, “When Clinton lied, nobody died.” Officially, Bill Clinton was impeached not for sexual misconduct but for lying about it. But he was entitled to lie about his private life: one could even make a case that he had a positive duty to do so. Tony Blair should have been impeached for lying to the House of Commons about alleged evidence for weapons of mass destruction, because his lies persuaded Members to vote for a war when they otherwise would not. Lying to Congress by saying, “I did not have sex with that woman” should not be an impeachable offense, because where a man puts his penis is none of Congress’s damn business. Nor is it any journalist’s damn business whether a politician once took drugs at university. Or whether he is gay.
And please don’t say the right answer to an impertinent question about your private life is “No comment”, because we all know how that would be interpreted. Telling a lie is often the only way to convey an effective “No comment.”
Read whole article:
http://tinyurl.com/2rnl7l
Sili says
Hmmm — looks like O’Reilly and Faux are trying to gain some respectability and credence by bringing in a ‘new’ face
(via Shortpacked)