Fearing the ‘Other’

I strongly suspect that (((Wife))) and I scare the shit out of many extremely religious people.  I bet dollars to donuts that my best friend does, too.  Why?  We’re boringly normal.  

American Jihadists? Yee-Fucking-Ha!!

I have been asked, through email and through comments, why I, as an atheist, give a flying fuck about theists — about what believers do, or think, or believe.  Why do I blog about religion and belief in god(s) if I am an unbeliever? 

There are many reasons I blog.  I blog to help me understand who I am.  I blog to poke fun at political and religious absurdity.  And I blog because I am scared abso-fucking-lutely shitless about the radical right.

Criminalizing Miscarriages?

On of the things I admire* about the radical religious right wackos is their ability to get you coming or going.  First, they fight tooth and nail against any possibility of teaching our children actual facts about reproduction, sex, and all of the various ways to prevent pregnancy (abstinence, condoms, birth control pills, sponges, aspirin, IUDs).  Then, if a girl and boy do what teenagers do and (because they have been lied to about the effectiveness of birth control) she gets a little bit preggers, they make it as difficult as possible to get a legal abortion (by intimidation (of doctors, nurses and patients at women’s health clinics) or violence (up to (and including) murder).

Out in Utah (a bastion of progressive thought), a new law has just passed out of committee.  The “bill tightens the definition of what an abortion is and removes a legal immunity for women if they intentionally try to have an illegal abortion.” (this (and all others (except where noted)) is from KCPW‘s website). 

The Right is not Right Enough for the Right!

Off the top of my pointy little head, I can think of many, many truly uncomfortable things that I could be doing.  Getting a root canal while listening to rap music is up there near the top.  As is listening to the 1812 Overture played entirely by cats on blackboards.  Nothing that I can think of, however, could be as bad as running for office as a member of the Grand Old Party, forced to please both the religious and political radical right. 

The party has moved so far to the right that a right-winger like McCain or Snow are considered too liberal.  The teabaggers and thumpers are controlling who can, and cannot, be elected as a Republican, and it is based on faith, not fact.  Today, Saint Ronald Himself would not be an acceptable conservative.

 Two cases in point:

Breaking the Back of America

Conservatives are the backbone of America.  Their respect for the Constitution of the United States, their respect for the laws of America, their respect for the President of the United States of America (whether they agree with his political views or not), their battles for equal rights for all humans, and their Christian ethics, including a sense of love and respect for all life are the epitome of exemplars of good old fashioned Americanism to which we should all aspire.

Heterodoxy, Orthodoxy, Heresy and the GOP

Orthodoxy, heresy and heterodoxy, the idea that belief in certain things (as opposed to performing the correct ceremonies), pervades the ten thousand or so Christianities of the world.  For the most part, each sect teaches (and is taught) that they, and only they, have the one correct answer to life, the universe and everything.  Whether the unity of the trinity (or the trinity of the unity), the omnipresence of the holy spirit, whatever.  It sometimes seems that the smaller the disagreement, the bigger the verbal battle.

Healthcare: Profits and Prophets

I have some weird friends.  They’re good people, but some of them are severely disconnected from reality.  I find myself trying to explain things calmly and rationally.  And with no effect.

I’ve told her that yes, Obama really is an American.  His mother is a citizen, therefore, no matter where he was born (that would be Hawai’i (an actual state of the United States)) he would still be a US citizen and no, he does not kill babies.  I’ve told him (yeah, more than one) that high tax rates on the rich, massive public investment in infrastructure, and strong labour unions have, historically, lead to much more rapid economic expansion than supply side economics.  And I have, patiently, explained to both of them that ‘death panels’ already exist — they are run by for-profit insurance companies.

And here is a case in point: 

The Shark Jumping GOP

There was a time, long ago, last century, to be exact, that the Republican Party, the GOP, was a party of ideas.  The ideas were bullshit, but they had ideas.  Cut taxes for the rich, raise taxes on everyone else, and the economy will improve.  Cut taxes and the tax revenue will increase.  Punish people for being poor and the poor will bootstrap themselves right up.  Deregulate industry and industry will  regulate itself.  These policies have given us huge deficits, a wider gap between rich and the rest of us, businesses bankrupting themselves for lack of regulation, and a government which does not have the money to provide the basic services Americans expect.  This is all the direct result of the GOP’s ideas.

Now, the GOP has become the party of no.  No ideas.  Just say no to everything.  Loudly. 

Ohio Law Would Take A Woman’s Decision Out of her Hands (and Put it in the Hands of a Rapist)

There seems to be a great deal of ammunition showing up on the internet this week regarding the FoFers*.  A law introduced in Ohio would take a women’s reproductive decision completely and totally out of her hands.

Skewering Palin with Truth!

This Modern World, by Tom Tomorrow, has a fantastic Sarah Palin comic out right now: