Enough. Everyone is describing this new species of deep sea worm as squidlike. IT IS NOT. It’s segmented, it swims with undulations of bristles, it’s got appendages on its head, not its foot, that it uses to trawl for food.
It’s a lovely beastie, but how can anyone mistake it for a squid? What’s next, is the Guardian going to cover a sheep-shearing in Scotland and talk about all the four-legged squid gamboling about?
Tonight, Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens will debate on whether religion is a force for good. I’d love to hear Hitchens on that subject, but Blair? That’s almost as comical as having Hitchens debate Bush on the subject. The newspapers are relying on two tools to promote the event. Hype:
Together, Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens are two of the great British thinkers on religion.
Wait, Blair…isn’t he the simpering me-too former prime minister who was our American lackey in the UK? The one who converted to Catholicism, an act that clearly marks him as mentally deficient? Hmmm.
Oh, well. The second tool is the online poll:
Is religion a force for good in the world?
Yes 17%
No 83%
They haven’t even had the debate yet and Hitchens is already winning!
Are you a science journalist? Do you work with science journalists? Print this cartoon out and hang it all over your workplace.
Oh, and if you’re a science editor, please get it tattooed on the back of your hand.
What is wrong with people? It’s just a frackin’ book!
A 15-year-old girl has been arrested on suspicion of inciting religious hatred after allegedly burning an English-language version of the Qur’an — and then posting video footage of the act on Facebook.
No. It is obscene to start jailing people for destroying their own books, simply because some oversensitive wackos think it is magical. Apparently, this girl burned it on school property, though — call her on creating a fire hazard. But not for contradicting someone’s delusions.
And the kooks defending the arrest aren’t helping their own cause.
Catherine Heseltine, chief executive officer of the Muslim public affairs committee, said burning the Qur’an was one of the most offensive acts to Muslims she could imagine.
Oh, really? Ms Heseltine’s imagination is not very impressive.
How about digging up their grandfather’s body, sawing off the top of the skull, and using it for a dog food bowl? Or how about walking up to their mother and pissing on their burqua?
Or hey, how about cruising over a Muslim country with a Predator drone and opening up on suspicious-looking crowds with Hellfire missiles? Would it be more offensive if the missiles had Bible verses painted on them?
It really diminishes the quality of their outrage when they have tantrums over such trivial and harmless offenses. Man, if I hadn’t already buried my only copy of the Qur’an, I’d be taking it out back right now and setting it on fire.
So North Korea is rattling the sabre again, and I’m hoping some serious, mature people on our side will step up and act responsibly…but I’m pretty sure we won’t find those people on the Republican side. So far, their responses range from the stupid to the evil.
Here’s Sarah Palin babbling away on the Glenn Beck show (Can you guess that this is the stupid part of the range?)
CO-HOST: How would you handle a situation like the one that just developed in North Korea? […]
PALIN: But obviously, we’ve got to stand with our North Korean allies. We’re bound to by treaty –
CO-HOST: South Korean.
PALIN: Eh, Yeah. And we’re also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes.
I really think calling North Korea was nothing but an accidental slip of the tongue, but even without that, the totality of her comments are vacuous, simple-minded chit-chat. And this insipid person wants to be president?
At least she’s better than the odious Glenn Reynolds.
JUST WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW: North Korea fires artillery barrage on South. If they start anything, I say nuke ’em. And not with just a few bombs. They’ve caused enough trouble — and it would be a useful lesson for Iran, too. We can’t afford another Korean war, but hey, we’re already dismantling warheads. . . .
Yeah, because the oppressed people of North Korea deserve to have the flesh seared from their bones in a nuclear hell. You might be able to easily convince me that the ruling dynasty of that sad country deserve it, but civilized people don’t commit such barbarities, and especially don’t commit them indiscriminately against entire populations.
It’s Thanksgiving. Only two weeks left in the semester here. And I feel Nicholas Cage’s pain. Go ahead and chatter away, all you participants in the chattery thread, but I have to howl at the moon and pound at a keyboard for the next four days.
(Video not safe for work. May upset Grandma, too. If you have an appreciation for the craft of acting, it may make you weep, as well. Also, blame Drunken Science for exposing this.)
(Current totals: 11,398 entries with 1,194,220 comments.)
There’s a campaign of sorts that’s beginning in the UK, in which Christians are urged to stand up and announce that they are not ashamed to believe in a zombie redeemer who will protect them from his flaming torture pit deep beneath the earth. In a way, I’m sure it’s very nice for them personally to sustain that kind of self esteem, but really…they should be embarrassed to believe in such absurd nonsense.
At least they’re mostly doing no harm. The action they’re calling for is for everyone to pray harder.
Please pray for the Not Ashamed campaign and especially that the official launch next week will increase the profile of the initiative and give rise to good opportunities to speak to leading figures in public life about Jesus Christ, the only true hope for our nation. Perhaps you could include such prayers at church this Sunday? For prayer suggestions, please click here.
So, various factions at the United Nations have been pushing for anti-blasphemy motions — after all, we can’t go around picking on weak ideas. But do you know who the UN thinks are fair game? Non-heterosexual people.
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people were once again subject to the whims of homophobia and religious and cultural extremism this week, thanks to a United Nations vote that removed “sexual orientation” from a resolution that protects people from arbitrary executions. In other words, the UN General Assembly this week voted to allow LGBT people to be executed without cause.
Jesus and Mohammed get a little cranky at the idea of someone being rude to their books of magic spells, but setting a gay man on fire? That’s just an excuse to party.
The United Nations is a wonderful idea in principle, except for the little problem of giving barbarians a vote.
