Oh My Disappointment With The American People

Are the Christians so Christian that they'll let a cancerous ancient man pick a nobody to be his VP, and then give him a huge post convention bounce? The Christians who got re-energized by her selection can be described as nothing but fucking imbeciles. It is so unbelievably crystal clear that she is the wrong candidate at the wrong time. I just don't understand these people. But then, a lot of them want the world to end so they get raptured up into heaven and bask in "Left Behind" schadenfreude while us infidels suffer whatever the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse have in store for us. And I don't get that either.

There are signs that the affair might be short lived. She is lying about the Bridge to Nowhere and she is uses reckless corruption to settle family scores. If McCain wins, I hope she is quickly able to become President so the Christian fucks who supported McCain because of her can see what fucking morons they were.

This does not apply, of course, to normal Christians whose faith is not blinded by lack of reason and intelligence.

Decline in Southern Baptist Membership

Membership in the Southern Baptist church is declining. Why?

The number of people baptized in Southern Baptist churches fell for the third straight year in 2007 to the denomination's lowest level since 1987, and membership dipped as well.

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention blamed the decline in part on a perception that its followers are "mean-spirited, hurtful and angry."

Perception? It's not perception. It's the truth. He goes on to say:

"All Southern Baptists should recommit to a life of loving people and ministering to people without strings attached so people will be more open to hearing the Gospel message."

That would be wonderful. If people want to live their lives according to the teachings of Jesus--and if they get joy from it, yay for them. It's nice. I myself don't believe, but I am never bothered when people talk about Jesus to me. Prosletyze to me all you want! I'll listen. But talk to me about love, strength, acceptance. Show me that you believe in the fullness of life and humanity. I'll listen. I doubt I'll be converted, but I'll listen. But you bring up Leviticus reasons why gay people are condemned--even if they are faithful Christians, or you try to tell me that liberals are the reason for 9/11, I'll put you back into the category of followers of the "Christianity of Hatefulness". Those who join other Christians of Hatefulness so they can wallow in the hatred against gays, liberals, Democrats, Mexicans, unions, welfare recipients, bums, the mentally ill, etc.

Until the Southern Baptists decide that the salvation of souls is not a political activity, fuck them. They, of course, have every right to spread their message by mixing it with a political vitriol that appeals to the embittered Southern white population--says so in the First Amendment. But it's a choice which demeans their own faith, demeans all religion, demeans humanity. It's good that the leadership recognizes their failing.

Still, I have to admit, I have no idea what goes on the mind of an highly religious person. How? How can someone believe in the Rapture? How can Americans who went to school and understand the world think that one day, all of a sudden, the faithful will all disappear all at once leaving only the atheists, mormons, muslims, jews, catholics, orthodox, hindus, etc? I mean, I literally don't have even the slightest clue how a mentally healthy human being in an industrialized and educated society can believe in the Rapture. I can understand how they believe life begins at conception. But the Rapture? So I'll never understand the religious people. Maybe that's why they don't (or can't) see that they are using hatred rather than love to spread the Gospel.

Why I Hate iTunes & iPod Touch

Well I don't actually hate the iPod Touch. I'm just so god damned fucking frustrated that it uses like no more than 1% of its potential. Fuck Apple!

Anyway, iTunes...I do hate. I despise iTunes. I hate it so much I can taste it. I hate the fact that a company that promotes its superiority in usability creates such a piece of shit product.

So first let me explain the major problem with the iPod Touch. I am 39 years old and I don't listen to the new music so much. What I do listen to is This American Life from NPR. So, when I put it on the goddamned iPod Touch, what do I see? This:


Can you tell what the fuck that is? Yep it's This American Life, but which episode? YOU CAN'T FUCK TELL. The more primitive iPods scrolled the goddamned name across the screen so you can see the rest of the name.

You'd think you can just turn the fucker on its side to get more information. But here's what happens when you do that:



It tells me one of them but not all of them. It's awful. Fuck Apple!

So what do I do? Transfer to the iPod, listen, then delete. It's the only way to keep them straight.

But my real ire is for iTunes. I hate iTunes with an unbridled passion. Let me list some of the things about iTunes that I hate:

1) iTunes lets you buy content you already own--maybe. At least it does not hide teh "buy song" button on songs (actually This American Life episodes) I already own.
2) When I try to buy a song, sometimes it can't access the store. OK, c'est la vie. But iTunes should fucking remember that I wanted to buy the content and help me later when it can connect.
3) When I search for This American Life, I need to expand the size of the pane with all the songs. Everytime I leave the store and come back, I need to resize the fucking thing. Fuck Apple!
4) IN my library, I can't organize my content by purchase time order. It makes it tough to find which episodes to transfer over.

I'll add more as I encounter them. iTunes drives me crazy.

Dobson Won't Support McCain

James Dobson, FOF asswipe, says he wouldn't support McCain for President if he got the nomination. Why? Well one reason is that McCain believes that the Constitution is a document that shouldn't have amendments that create a second class citizenship. Dobson wants the definition of marriage to be put into the Constitution. What a fucking moron! I've said it before and I'll say it again--to amend the Constitution to do that is far worse than wiping your ass with an original copy of the Constitution. Even entertaining the idea of removing individual rights in our Constitution--a document that should only guarantee rights and limit government powers--is too spit in the face of our Founding Fathers.

There is a chance--if McCain gets the nomination and tells the Social Conservative wing of the party to fuck off--that he could be the next Theodore Roosevelt. I don't think he will be the next Theodore Roosevelt, but if he wins in November, it is within his power. The Social Conservatives, after all, are the corrupt tumor of a party that otherwise, though often wrong, is at least based on reasonable values and actions. Fortunately, that tumor has been recognized and will soon be combated.

"I'm Not A Doctor, But I Play One On TV"

Since I haven't watched a movie other than Borat in the last 3 years, I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain, or any of the other movies starring Heath Ledger. So I don't really know anything about him.

The current right wing Christian crowds likes to claim that they love the sinner, but hate the sin. So what if the person isn't a sinner, but plays one in the movie? Well, apparently that invites such press conferences from Christian churches like the one put out by the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka. They are proud to announce that Heath Ledger has begun his eternal sentence in hell.

And if some idiotic fringe group isn't enough, Fox News personality John Gibson decides that the death of a human being is excellent fodder for showing off his comic ability. Thankfully people like Joe Scarborough don't let their conservative agenda trump their ability to feel shame. He called it as he saw it: callous, harsh and unspeakable rude.

I saw Hanna Rosin a couple of times on her book tour for God's Harvard. She said that the students at Patrick Henry College (a Christian school designed to turn the US into a de facto theocracy) would never want to be viewed as homophobic. Of course, if there were a gay student, he'd have to leave, but they aren't homophobic, apparently, because, it's as bad to homophobic as to be homosexual. I guess I don't understand why a homophobe would be afraid of being perceived as such in a homophobic community. But if the New Guard will keep their hatred deep in their hearts (where it will fester into a sickening toxic ideological distortion), it's nice to know that the Old Guard at least are so excited by the death of anyone who helps remove the negative spin from being gay that they are willing to reveal themselves in such a despicable manner.

Huckabee Wants To Amend The Constitution

"What we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than trying to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family."

That's what Mike Huckabee thinks. If he wins and manages to pass the types of amendments he wants to pass, I will renounce my American citizenship. His contempt for religious freedom and his lack of respect for beliefs other than his own are downright scary. Fortunately, most G7 nations these days are still inspired by the Enlightenment. It's only the United States and some Middle Eastern nations where theocratic ideologies have significant power.