Feeling: Happy

In God We Trust is an amazing documentary about the first amendment, the US Constitution, the history of religion in this country, and the horrifying lengths people will go to. You do yourself a disservice if you don't watch it.

Lots of good news! New Jersey is making progress with a new same-sex marriage bill, and the Washington state Senate passed a same-sex marriage bill, and the House is also expected to pass it. Also, Oklahoma is getting close to preventing insider trading by politicians.

Sh*tuff Christian girls say.

Republican Alabama Sen. Shadrick McGill says that his 62% pay increase is necessary to prevent them from accepting bribes. But teachers should keep their measly pay rate otherwise teacher that weren't called by God to become teachers might apply for the jobs, and the quality of education would go down. According to McGill, it's a Biblical principle that only the best teachers will accept the measley pay they offer.

God hates when you believe in gods that don't exist in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

Here's a summary up of the Susan G Komen / Planned Parenthood controversy.

Mitt Romney isn't concerned with the poor, because they already have a safety net. That's right folks, the poor never have any problems.

This mold is actually kind of pretty.

One of the rather bizarre effects from the Islamification of Europe is the call to eliminate pet dogs.

Those people who shout that the US is the best country in the world must not be using science education as their metric.

Horace Turner's alter-ego is Bible Man, a superhero who teaches kids about the bible and how Jesus died for their sins. The problem is that he is being promoted by the public schools in Jackson County Alabama and he's preaching Christianity to elementary-level children. The Freedom From Religion Foundation made a complaint to the school board, and they recently voted to keep allowing Bible Man to preach to the children.

A court of appeals in France has upheld the fraud charge against the Church of Scientology for bullying its members to pay large prices for snake oil. The church must cough up €600,000, or $790,260.

Get money, turn gay. And don't forget to hire children into your sweatshops.

No sex with animals in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

Women for Santorum.

The breast cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, has decided to sever all ties with Planned Parenthood, probably because Christians have threatened to boycott them because they give money to a group that provides abortions. However, Komen says it's because the new policy they just put in place forbids them from dealing with groups that are under governmental investigation. Of course, the only reason Planned Parenthood is under investigation, is because of Republican Cliff Stearns, a man who wants to ban abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia, and cloning. Why not leave Komen a message on their forum and express your disapproval.

After Fox News ran a story about how The Muppets are brainwashing children, The Muppets shot back.

There was plenty of legal precedence demonstrating the illegality of the Christian prayer banner at Cranston High School, but the school board refused to take it down, and decided to fight the numerous judges who have ruled on the interpretation of the US Constitution. Well, as expected, they lost their lawsuit, and the prayer banner cam down. As losers of the case, they are expected to pay the legal fees of Jessica Alquist and the ACLU. The final price tag: $173,000. This money won't come from the just the parents who voted to stand on religious principle, it will come from all of the tax-payers of Cranston. I guess they've learned an expensive lesson.

Indiana, on the other hand, doesn't seem to learn. Their state Senate passed the bill that allows Creationism to be taught in public schools. If this passes in the House, they can expect to lose a nice expensive lawsuit which their taxpayers will have to pay for. Dover Pennsylvania lost a million dollars of the taxpayer's money trying to inject Intelligent Design into their schools, but this is even more obviously religion in school, which means it's going to fail even bigger.

How to avoid the copyright on the song Happy Birthday.

Aperture science set to a possibly recognizable tune.

Witches must be executed in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

Dentist this morning... one more cavity.

Thanks to Republican Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel, the state of Virginia now requires vaginal ultrasounds, which doctors call expensive and unnecessary, before women can get abortions. Unshockingly, the amendment to the bill by Democratic Senator Janet Howell, which would require men to get rectal and cardiac exams before getting erectile dysfunction medication, was not passed. Senator Janet Howell is my hero.

Tennessee Republican Senator Stacey Campfield, the guy who doesn't think straight men can get AIDS, was kicked out of a bistro for his homophobic rhetoric. When asked about it, Campfield said that it was awful how the restaurant thinks they have the right not to serve him just because of his views. And no, he doesn't see the irony of his statement and his fight to prevent same-sex marriage.

Yes, the Earth is getting warmer. Yes, humans are probably the cause. Yes, people continue to lie about it.

The ten things we all miss about Christian Fundamentalism.

Here's a pretty cool reading of Richard Dawkins' work.

Virgins can be purchased in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Injured

Weekend was pretty fancy. Friday was Skeptics In the Pub, Saturday was rehearsal for RHPS and the viewing of the original Anne of Green Gables miniseries, Sunday was sledding with the misses and a viewing of The Big Chill.

Canadian Muslim, Mohammad Shafia murdered his wife and three daughters because they betrayed Islam.

Turns out, women are better than men at parking after all.

Another person is killed by New Age craziness.

Pennsylvania is no different than the other states of the Union. Unemployment is too high, education is under-funded, the roads need fixing, and the slums need shrinking. Luckily, Republican Rep. Rick Saccone knows precisely how to solve all of those problems! Use tax-payer money to make 2012 the Year of the Bible! Though, I guess that's not nearly as bad as North Carolina Republican Rep. Larry Pittman who wants to publicly hang criminals, and especially those evil doctors. But at least he's not as utterly ignorant as the Republicans of Tennessee. Rep. John Ragan says that a homosexual is someone who is born with both male and female genitalia, and anyone born with only one set of genitalia must be heterosexual. But I think Senator Stacey Campfield is dangerously stupid, because he thinks it's practically impossible for a heterosexual man to contract HIV.

Okay, after losing brain cells to those ignoramuses, here's some things that will make you smarter. Here's a lecture by PZ Myers called "Design vs Chance" and the Q&A at the Skeptic's Science Symposium hosted by Michael Shermer, and featuring Bill Nye, James Randi, Donald Prothero, Brian Dalton.

Homeland Security doesn't understand British slang, and certainly doesn't have a sense of humor.

Yes, Ron Paul published racist literature.

God talks more about goats in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Excited

Are you a photographer? Did you take a nice picture that you want to sell? Be careful, you might be in violation of copyright law! The UK has ruled that composition aspects of a photograph can be copyrighted!

The USA was successful in blocking out SOPA and PIPA, but European countries weren't as successful at stopping their version of the bill, ACTA.

Probably the best church song I've heard in a long time.

New Hampshire Republicans are trying to offer more protection to men accused of beating their wives. Currently, when cops respond to a domestic abuse call, and they see evidence of abuse, they are allowed to arrest the man, even if they don't actually see the man striking his wife. However, this new Republican bill will take away that authority, and only allow police to arrest abusers if they actually see the men attack women.

Ohio State University football kicker, Jake Russell, recently showed just how much Christians are persecuted with the following post on Twitter: "my roommate max rouse (look him up on Facebook) is an atheist, please show him some hate." Lord love that Christian compassion.

Republican Indiana senator Dennis Kruse is wasting a serious amount of tax-payer money by trying to get Creationism taught in public schools, yes, the same thing that the US Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional on a number of occasions. Sadly, the bill actually made it past the Senate Education Committee vote (which is mostly Republican), which means that it actually has a real chance at being voted on by state law makers. Even if it passes, it'll just get ruled unconstitutional, and millions of dollars will be taken away from Indiana students. And Indiana needs all of the education money it can get, it routinely ranks as one of the most uneducated states.

Mario is just too mainstream!

Parents in Minnesota are trying to change their schools so that AIDS is taught as the gay virus and they stop any of that awful inclusiveness like teaching that homosexuals are people too.

God's laws are easily corrupted in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

It only took 30 years, but Alaska Airlines has finally removed their lame prayer cards with their meals.

It only took multiple death-threats, but moderate Christians are finally speaking out against the crazies who are calling for Jessica Alquist's blood.

A quick rundown of 10 common misconceptions.

Rick Bartlett, pastor of the Bastrop, Texas Christian Church is being charged with animal cruelty after he threw his neighbor's cat off a bridge.

Here's an interesting interview with Richard Dawkins and athiest Jewish Rabbi Tamara Kolton.

Jerry Coyne explains why evolution is indeed true.

Updated my music collection.

More stupid animal laws in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

New Jersey Republican governor Chris Christie says he will veto a same-sex marriage bill, and wants people to vote for whether his state will allow it. Why? Did his state vote on whether or not to allow different-sex couples the right to vote?

Mitt Romney makes 900 times more money than you, but only pays half the taxes.

What happens when lawmakers believe everything they find in their in-box? They create laws banning human fetuses in food. Apparently, it's easier to make a law than it is to check snopes.com.

Dubya Bush blocked stem cell research in the US, but thankfully, Obama reopened it. And what did we gain from this? The blind are able to see. It's not a total fix, but it's on it's way.

What does Bill O'Reilly do when he's busted on his lies? He lies to cover up his lies! Remember when O'Reilly said that nobody on Fox News said you would go to jail for not having health insurance, and Fox News even verified that nobody said it? Of course, it was pointed out that Fox News said this at least four times, from three different pundits. Rather than admit that they made a mistake, O'Reilly not only continues to say they never said it, but then makes up a story about receiving an apology about it!

Christopher Hitchens was certainly on form when her debated the topic of freedom of speech with Shashi Tharoor.

Jesus heals a man from the gay.

Thieves, slaves, and animals in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

SOPA and PIPA may be shelved in the USA, but now lawmakers in Canada are trying to pass something similar.

Another plus to Obama, he's forcing religious employers still have to cover birth control.

The US Supreme Court has wisely ruled that unwarranted GPS tracking is indeed illegal, and that police officers must have a warrant before planting a tracking device on your vehicle. My only question is, "Why did they ever think this wasn't an invasion of privacy that needed a warrant?"

Sometimes politics gets nasty, but is there ever a reason for killing a politician's pet and painting the word "liberal" on it's corpse?

Did you know you can trick wine experts into thinking a white wine is a red wine by simply adding food coloring?

Chinese astrologers believe in a completely different form of mysticism as Western astrologers, but they both share one common attribute, they're both stupidly gullible.

Republican Rick Santorum says that rape is a gift, albeit, a broken one.

Jessica Alquist gives a talk at the University of Alabama.

How the ten commandments fit into modern society.

I would have sex with Purity Bear.

Yosemite National Park in HD.

Thirty renowned writers speaking about god.

At night, it's freedom fighting, at day it's murder in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

If the theocrats of America get their way, this sort of thing will happen here.

Democratic governor of Kentucky, Steve Beshear has cut $50 million from the state's K-12 education budget so that he can give a $43 million tax break to the builders of the Young-Earth Creationist Ark Park, as well as another $11 million in highway improvements for them. Not only is he slashing his state's education, but he's replacing that education with the anti-education of a 6,000-year-old Earth where Noah had dinosaurs in his giant wooden box.

Kids these days... they just don't understand records.

Christian parents proceed to boo this poor girl for having the audacity to speak her mind.

What happens with you leave your camera on a plate at a Japanese sushi restaurant?

Kent Hovind can't seem to give an answer about the scientific applications of Creationism.

Fawns are cute.

Newt Gingrich, who says that gays can't get married because it would threaten the institution of marriage, asked his wife to let him have sex with other women, and when she said no, started cheating on her, while he was trying to impeach Bill Clinton for cheating on his wife.

Seriously, nobody at Fox News ever said that! We even checked! Well, they must not have checked very hard.

Yes, I'm charging people 6 months salary to cure the witchcraft from their evil children. Hilarious, isn't it?

Ridiculous rules in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

The US Government took down MegaUpload last night. If you're not familiar with the site, it's a simple file hosting web site. For example, let's say you have a family video that you want to share with your friends. It's too big to email, so you upload it to MegaUpload. Then, all you have to do is email your friends the link and they can all download it. But unlike YouTube, MegaUpload works for more than just video, you can upload pictures, music, programs, and anything else, and people can actually download those files so they have a copy for themselves. However, the entertainment industry complained that a lot people were using MegaUpload to pirate copyrighted movies and music. Just like with YouTube, the people who run MegaUpload can't prevent you from uploading something that has a copyright. However, also like YouTube, MegaUpload polices its site and takes down any copyrighted material the entertainment industry that points out to them. However, that wasn't enough for the US government, they've since arrested the owners of the site, and took down their website without any due process. To put this in perspective, imagine a huge car manufacturing plant. The purpose of the plant is to make cars, but it's been pointed out that some of the people working there have been sharing mixed tapes. Whenever the car company finds someone with a mixed tape, they destroy the tape and fire the worker, but it's obviously not possible to stop them all. So, the US government shuts down the entire plant and lays off all of the workers so that it can investigate the mixed tape sharing. This will probably take several years, in the meantime the car company will most likely go out of business.

In retaliation to this, activist hacker group Anonymous took down several websites including the RIAA and MPAA. Their response to being hacked was the typical bullshit you would expect, "Unfortunately, some groups believe that speech or ideas that they disagree with should be silenced. This could not be more wrong. No matter the point of view, everyone has a right to be heard." That's right, the same people who tried to remove a YouTube video of a baby because a song was playing on the radio in the background is trying to talk to us about free speech.

By the way, if you want to understand why SOPA and PIPA are so bad, here's a plain English explanation.

Bloopers from yester-year.

The American Museum of Natural History shows us the scale of the known universe, and don't miss the International Space Station viewing some stormy skies over Africa with the Milky Way in the background.

Ever since 1995, the worldwide rate of abortions has been decreasing, it reached a low in 2008 with only 28 per 1000 women. However, this rate of decline has stopped, and now we're looking at a new surge. So what's changed? More conservatives are cutting access to birth control. We've known for quite awhile now that when people have access to contraceptives, we have fewer abortions. But that still doesn't stop conservative prudes from trying to make the world abstainate.

Christopher Hitchens gives concrete examples of the wrongs of religion while Chris Hedges just spouts off affirmations.

Atheists secretly believe in gods like Christians secretly believe in Allah.

Hmm, the Canadian Party isn't looking so bad for 2012.

If only her friend didn't put sparkles on her nails, the Packers would have won.

600 comics in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

SOPA supporters are notorious for violating copyrights on the Internet.

Sure the European Union has banned airport body scanners because they're a cancer risk, but here in America people prefer cancer along with the illusion of safety. Our law enforcement agencies are trying to put full-body scanners in every police car.

Forsyth County, North Carolina has spent a great deal of money trying to appeal their desire to continue saying Christian prayers before their board meetings, but they finally failed as the US Supreme Court refused to hear their case. So, there will no longer be government-sanctioned prayers coming out of Forsyth.

Jerry Coyne lays the smack down at the Bale Boone Symposium where he debates that religion and science are incompatible. It's worth suffering through the first guy, so you can see just how effectively Coyne responds to his claims.

Here's a couple other longer ones: David Silverman talks about the commonality of skeptics and atheists and how the movement is growing. Also, Joe Nickell talks about his paranormal investigations, and how he continually exposes frauds.

This is quality music that every child should be subjected to.

In 2009, Nick Christie was strapped naked to a chair at Lee County jail, gagged, and pepper-sprayed to death. The medical examiner even ruled his death was a homicide, but now the officers who killed him will face no disciplinary action at all.

Rocky Horror Picture Show auditions tonight!

Blinding slaves for fun in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

In case you haven't noticed it, half of the Internet has been blocked out today in order to protest SOPA and PIPA which would give the entertainment industry the right to kill any web site they choose. The supporters of the bill say this is just a gimmick.

Hatemongers have a lot to say about homosexuals, and it's all ignorant, degrading, and violent. But despite this, those who fight for reason and equality have made a lot of progress.

Due to pressure from his rivals, Mitt Romney releases his tax returns. The average American pays up to 35% in taxes because they make their money by working. However, people extremely wealthy people like Mitt Romney, make most of their money through stocks, bonds, and real estate, which only carries a 15% tax--less than half of what the working class pays. Of course Romney, knowing that Republicans are going to vote for his rich cheating ass anyway, just shrugged it off.

Wisconsin has learned from their mistake of electing Republican Governor Scott Walker, and have collected over a million recall signatures, over double what they needed! It's a shame that the state allowed him to be elected to begin with, but at least their making amends.

Could you pass a US Citizenship test? You need at least 58 correct answers to pass. I got 87 out of 96.

Even when dying from esophageal cancer, Christopher Hitchens was still able to demonstrate how harmful religion has been for the world.

Here's an awesome Queen remix involving a Christian pastor talking about how Satanic rock music is.

That's a lot of jellybeans.

The National Center For Science Education has decided to also start tackling climate change denial.

New Age girls say a lot of stupid shit.

Possible pro-abortion verse in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

The amount of snow in a single winter doesn't really mean anything in the realm of climate change, but when we keep seeing an average increase in temperature over decades, it's a bad sign.

In general, football fans aren't that bright. In general, religious people have poor critical thinking skills. When you combine the two, you get Tebow fans. These are people who truly believe that a god is actively helping a person play football better. If these people were a minority, it wouldn't bother me much, but there are a wholelottadem!

Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2 looks amazing.

Jessica Alquist responds to questions about her life and the school prayer banner debacle.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles make your children worship SATAN!

Polish singer Dorota Rabczewska, AKA Dota, was fined the equivalent of $1,450 for breaking the country's blasphemy law by saying in regards to the bible, "because it's hard to believe in something that was written by someone drunk on wine and smoking some herbs." Poland has really stupid laws.

What if you had a live band playing the soundtrack to your videogames? It might go a little something like this!

A woman explains why it's so important that the US government redefined the crime of rape to be more encompassing.

Despite their naïve cohort, these news anchors don't let the failure of "psychic" Char Margolis go unnoticed.

Maybe we shouldn't be electing politicians who fight for the rights of bullies to keep bullying.

Even more crazy laws in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

Mitt Romney can ignore the fact that you're slowly dieing a painful death, he can even ignore your wheelchair, but if somebody is smoking marijuana in the privacy and safety of their own home to treat a degenerative disease, that's the one thing Mitt Romney can't ignore.

No, they won't stop just because I'm posting this, but here are 10 myths about the human body that people continue to believe.

Two more victories for equality. No longer are the city council meetings of Greensboro, North Carolina allowed to start with a Christian prayer. A more inclusive moment of silence now precedes their meetings. I would prefer that they actually work instead of waste tax-payer money doing nothing, but at least they're no longer violating the US Constitution. Awhile back, New Heights Middle School in South Carolina invited a Christian rapper to perform at their school and preach about Christianity. Knowing that they would lose once a lawsuit was brought against them, the school district didn't even try to defend the school, and mandated that they change their policy to ensure that they will no longer try and preach religion to their students.

Democratic Representative of Rhode Island, Peter Palumbo call Jessica Alquist, "An evil little thing," who is, "being coerced by evil people." It doesn't matter that she was in the right when she demanded that her school take down an illegal Christian prayer banner, it doesn't matter that the courts sided with her, all that matters is that Peter Palumbo is an ass-hat who would rather cozy up to his Christian voters than follow the law.

Evolution has to be false, because new life doesn't sprout from my peanut butter.

This is incredibly heart-warming.

Bishop Bambera would like the University of Scranton to withdraw their invitation to a women's rights speaker who plans on encouraging women to be more politically involved. If you want more evidence that the priesthood doesn't deserve respect, how about this German priest who repeatedly raped and photographed two boys, ages 9 and 13, and defended himself by saying, "It was never my impression that the children did not consent."

Anything but atheist, a look at what some people say about atheism: Part 1, Part 2.

More crazy laws in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

Part of standing up for minorities and demanding equality for all means having to deal with privileged majorities threating to murder you. Jessica Alquist stood up for the minority rights of non-Christians at her school, however, the majority of the school is Christians. And if it's one thing Christians love to do, it's threaten non-Christians with murder. It's especially ironic when you consider the fact that the judge who ruled that the prayer must be taken down, judge Ronald Lagueux, was appointed by conservative Christian, Ronald Reagan.

Here's how the tides work, and why there are two of them in a day.

Republican Rick Brattin is trying to make the state of Missouri a little bit stupider by injecting Creationism in the science classroom. The failures of Louisiana, Kansas, and Pennsylvania didn't teach him a lesson, so all of the tax-payer money that he wastes in the fruitless endeavor may as well be burned.

Up until recently, IBM scientists needed about 1 million atoms to store a single bit of data on a hard drive. With their latest technology breakthrough they were able to store a bit with a slightly smaller number. Twelve.

Does the Quran have a magical scientific knowledge of fetuses? It sure doesn't.

I'm Comic Sans, asshole!

Republican congressman Lamar Smith, author of the Internet-killing SOPA bill, is a copyright violator. His web site features a photograph that violates the copyright of DJ Schulte. Ironically, if Smith's bill were to pass, his web site should be taken down. Not that it would. I'm going out on a limb here, but I think only large corporations will be able to take advantage of SOPA, leaving us common folk to continue to be ripped off.

How women alienate their gay friends.

Here's one of the very first animations of The Hobbit.

Everything ends in death in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

Just used the screwdriver set my mother got me for Christmas to fix my vacuum cleaner. I feel so manly now, I think I should become a lumberjack.

Jessica Alquist, as expected, has won her lawsuit to remove a Christian prayer from her public school. The judge agreed that a Christian prayer on the wall is not secular and was a violation of the first amendment, and therefore illegal. Specifically, the court made references to the school-board meeting where numerous citizens and school administrators infused their religious sentiments into the school prayer and told Jessica that she can burn in Hell. The banner will be taken down, and another victory for equality has been won. I'm curious to see how much of the taxpayer's money the school pissed away in their defense.

So, once again, the US courts tell us, that while every child is free to pray in church on their own, school-led prayer is still a no-no. Just don't tell the three moronic Republican Senators in Indiana (Jim Tomes, Dennis Kruse, and Travis Holdman) who want to force every student to recite the Lord's Prayer every morning.

Here's an interesting documentary from 1987 that investigates paranormal claims.

By using the distorted space around stars as a lens, astronomers have been discovering new extrasolar planets. In fact, it's highly probable that nearly every star in our galaxy has planets orbiting it.

Mississippi governor Republican Haley Barbour seems to be going for the record of pardoning the most convicted murders. Barbour pardoned an unprecedented 193 criminals during his administration, many of them worked at the governor's mansion.

Tiny frog is tiny.

How not to be racist to your black girlfriends.

This woman's mental disability is no match for this cop's anger management problems.

Kill killers to show killing is wrong in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

I woke up to an odd dream this morning where, due to the unseasonably warm winter, I walked around nude all day. The next morning I realized that I was quite sunburned all over, including my bathing region, but I still had to go to school, so I stopped at Meijer to get lotion to try an cover up the redness and pain. Isn't 14 years out of high school enough time to stop dreaming about it?

Former preacher Dan Barker explains Christianity in a nutshell. If you want to watch the full lecture, it's here.

Women in Egypt fought back against some Islam extremists by beating the men with their own canes when they tried to tried to shut down their beauty salon. But not all women are claiming a victory over sexist religions. A gynecology conference in Jerusalem is allowing women to attend, but they must be segregated from the men and not allowed to speak during the conference. Quiet dear, the men are talking about your vagina.

Despite having a government sanctioned church, the United Kingdom has taken a bold step toward secularism by banning the teaching of Creationism from their public schools. I think I speak for all reasonable people when I say, it's about time!

Robin Ince gave a wonderful talk about Science Versus Wonder at TED.

Occasionally, the Obama administration does something that I agree with. This is one of them. They have expanded the definition of rape to include all forms of non-consented penetration. A huge step up from the highly limited previous definition.

A Christian Church in Texas is brining a real live witch executioner to speak at their church.

Noah Hathaway (Atreyu from The NeverEnding Story) from a 2010 interview.

God lets you sell your daughter into slavery in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith dismisses the 83 Internet pioneers and 850 companies who oppose the Internet-crushing bill, SOPA. He says they can't point to a single area of the bill that would harm the Internet, even though they have gone to great lengths to do just that. The US government is already the bitch of any major corporation. Remember when Homeland Security took down dajaz1.com because the RIAA claimed the web site posted copyrighted music? Even after the host demonstrated that the posted music was given to him by the artists themselves, and therefore perfectly legal, the US government still took an -entire year- to reinstate the web site causing untold damages. SOPA will streamline this process by allowing corporations to shut down web sites without even having to prove any foul play.

Mitt Romney... also a hypocrite.

Amazing rapid-fire high-quality finger painting.

A school in Gwinnett County, Georgia gave math homework to it's 3rd grade students which included questions about how much cotton a slave could pick, and how many beatings he received in a week. It turns out that all nine of the 3rd grade teachers saw the questions and approved of them. Stay classy Georgia!

And you guys didn't believe me about the barbed cat penises.

Republican Arizona governor Jan Brewer is begin sued by the FFRF because of her state-sponsored Day of Prayer citing that the Arizona Constitution clearly says "No public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise, or instruction, or to the support of any religious establishment."

Well, years of misusing antibiotics have led to a strain of tuberculosis that is completely resistant to all knowns antibiotics.

Açaí berries don't do crap, and now a company is learning just how much false advertising costs.

Poor Sara Ackerman. Her anthropology teacher assigned her class to interview the Occupy Wall Street protesters in order to study cultural movements. She protested saying she didn't want to be around the "criminals, drug addicts, and mentally ill people". After making a huge ordeal for the school, she eventually did the assignment without incident. Then, she threatened to expose the school to the press and her 1,000 loyal Facebook friends if her professor didn't resign. She eventually posted the whole thing online which only served to show what a huge self-absorbed spoiled bigot she is, and also how poor of a writer she is (you don't need to use bold, italic, and underlining to get your point across!).

God begins his crazy laws in The Blasphemer's Bible.

If I owned a cat, I would name him "Stevens".

Feeling: Happy

A gym in Dubai called the Circuit Factory learns that it's still a little too soon for Halocaust humor in polite society.

Moore's Law has been given a later deadline now that researches have shown that nano-scale wires conduct electricity without being affected by quantum fluctuations.

Does sniffing lemons speed up the healing process? No. $374,000 of taxpayer money down the drain. Does putting brewed coffee in people's intestines treat pancreatic cancer? No. $406,000 of taxpayer money down the drain. Does praying for people dealing with AIDS help them? No. $666,000 of taxpayer money down the drain. This is the result of NCCAM, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. They use taxpayer money to test ridiculous treatments with practically no efficacy at all. Often times it's politicians who give get to delegate this tax money, and because they don't know anything about science, they squander billions on bullshit rather than putting that money toward testing medicine that could actually help people.

God is definitely talking to Moses, because Moses says so in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Cheery

Back on track after my solid state hard drive died. This is the third one out of four computers at work. They're lightning fast, but they're also incredibly unreliable!

SOPA is big news on the Internet because if it passes, the content of the Internet will be controlled by the entertainment industry. But why is it so few Americans know about about SOPA? Because most Americans get their news from television, which is primarily controlled by the entertainment industry, and they're not reporting on it. Speaking of SOPA, Spain recently passed a similar bill not because they wanted to, but because the US government threatened to commercially black-list the country if they didn't. The US government tried to keep their involvement a secret, but that's why we have Wikileaks.

A woman finds out The Brick Testament, which illustrates the bible with Legos, isn't a very good tool for teaching Christianity, and certainly isn't appropriate for children. Why? Because it actually illustrates the bible!

This fish actually changes the color of its skin to mimic the arm the octopus that would otherwise eat it.

New Hampshire Republicans are trying to pass a bill that would require all new laws based on individual rights to include a passage from the Magna Carta. Yes, the actually 1215 CE document from England that barons used to limit the power of the king. While some of the document contains important restrictions to power (carried over to the US Constitution), a lot of the document is very topical to 13th century life in feudal England dealing with banishing foreign mercenaries or returning Welsh hostages. The document also contains racist passages including a limit to the interest rates paid to Jews. Democrat Ray Buckley jokes this kind of extremism Republican crap saves him the trouble of making Republicans look crazy. I'm not entirely sure why the Republicans want to include quotes from the Magna Carta, but it may because there are numerous articles that talk about God and the church. With this bill, they would be able to put all sorts of God references. They can't use the US Constitution because it doesn't have any references to God.

New Hampshire Republicans are also trying to limit the teaching of evolution in schools, and even science itself!

Some wonderfully vile quotes from Rick Santorum.

Despite being one of the most dangerous cities in the country, Detroit is laying off 100 police officers, and shutting down the departments at 4 PM. Thus, if there is a crime at 5 PM, you'll have to wait until 8 AM the next morning to speak to an officer.

The Christian Science Monitor has a surprisingly decent basic science quiz. I got 36 out of 50, how well will you do?

A public school in Buncombe County, North Carolina had no problem handing out bibles to their students because they weren't bought by the school, they were donated by Christians. So, a Pagan showed up and asked if the school would hand out books on witchcraft. Shockingly, the school refused.

Quick followup in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Cheery

Last night I figured out how to rip SPC sound effects from SNES games so that I could help an artist who is making a Flammie (from Secret of Mana) plush toy with a sound chip that plays Flammie's cry. I took a few hours, but it was pretty awesome to do.

You're doing it wrong, and again!

Naturalistic arguments are fallacies. For example, David Barton tells us that you don't need the bible to know that abortion and homosexuality are wrong, because nature proves it's wrong since animals don't have abortions or engage in homosexual sex. He is wrong on two accounts. The first is that both abortion and homosexuality occur all the time in nature. Many animals have specialized genitals that cause the pregnant females they mate with to have abortions, and homosexual behavior occurs in nearly all species. But the second reason, the crux of Barton's argument, is the main fallacious aspect. If we assume that whatever animals do is moral, then we can murder children like lions do, murder people for getting too close to our property like wolves do, beat each other up to gain sexual access to a female like bighorn sheep do, cannibalize foreigners like chimpanzees do, eat our sexual partners like praying mantises do, and so on. Obviously, such an argument is ridiculous, but to David Barton, it's solid.

Republican hopeful, Rick Santorum is against abortion—even if a woman is raped, even if her father impregnates her, even if the fetus will certainly kill her—he is against all forms of abortion, except the one he encouraged his wife to have.

Tim Minchin's new song is Woody Allen Jesus.

The last of the ten commandments in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Happy

This is why it's important to stop Internet censorship early. The country of Belarus has just banned all Internet traffic involving foreign web sites! If you're from Belarus, you have until Friday to visit my site, and then you're looking at a $125 fine for each visit. Because, you know, my web site is just sooooo dangerous you need to be protected from it.

A recent report shows that thousands of children were sexually abused by about 800 different Catholic authorities in The Netherlands. Why are people still Catholic?

Luckily, we have Muslim Imams to tell us why and how to beat our wives. Yes, you can use a stick, but not a big one. Yes, you can leave marks, but they should be gone in a day or two. Yes, you can hit her in the abdomen, but not in the face because she might get ugly. Yes, you can beat her if she won't have sex with you, but not if she screws up dinner. Glad that's finally settled.

What if old Atari box art had more interesting titles? Speaking of Atari, what if you could make a synthesizer out of the Atari sound chip?/p>

Almost done with ten commandments in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Off to the gym today to injure myself.

Feeling: Okay

Why vote for a crazy Conservative president when we already have one? Obama recently signed into law a bill that gives the US government the right to detain indefinitely anyone who they claim is linked to al-Qaeda. While Obama says that this will not be used on US citizens, Congress shot down the caveat which would exclude US citizens. So, now, at any time, for no reason at all, the US government can arrest you. They will not read you your rights, because you no longer have any. Your family and friends will merely hear is that you've been linked to terrorism. They will not be able to visit you because you won't go to jail, you'll go to a military stockade. Rather than receive a trial by your peers, you will be sent to Cuba, thrown in a holding cell, and tortured every day for the rest of your life.

If that isn't enough, the US is also backing another push from the UN to try and limit free speech when it comes to religion. It comes down to this, if you say something that makes people angry enough to become violent, than whether it's true or not, you've committed a crime. I wonder if we'll allow our government to censor public Internet posts like the Indian government is doing to major social networking sites, or censor the scientific fact of evolution like Turkey.

John Lennon's song Imagine gets butchered from "and no religion too" to "and all religions true." I've never even heard of Cee Lo Green, but I already dislike him. His change doesn't even make sense. Many religions require that they be the only true religion, which makes them mutually exclusive, so they can't all be true.

The Crown College, a Christian college in Powell, Tennessee, demands that any interracial couple get approval in writing from the administration, and approval from both parents before being allowed to date. What a bunch of racist fuck-wits.

Around 100 Orthodox and Armenian priests tried to sweep each other off the face of the Earth in an unintentionally hilarious broom fight.

After Verizon received tons if negative feedback, and possible problems with the FCC, Verizon has decided not to charge its customers $2 for paying their phone bills online. Even still, if you're a Verizon customer, it's probably a good idea to switch carriers and let them know what you think of their ideas.

God can't decide which Republican candidate to back, so he wants all of them to win!

Google's cached web pages saves me again from overwriting a blog entry!

Feeling: Happy

Here's a retrospective of the ridiculous anti-science claims made by celebrities over 2011. It shouldn't matter how dumb they are, but people always listen to them and repeat the stupid things they say.

When a person tries to destroy evidence, it's a good indication that they know what they did was wrong. Here is a teacher who bragged about how she has been praying openly with her students for the past 30 years in order to lead children to Christ, and then deleted her comments when lots of people started seeing it. This is a common practice among Christians. They know proselytizing in public school is illegal, but they do it anyway because they believe they're being righteous. I wonder how all the non-Christian students felt in her class? Mary Mattheiss knows she was breaking the law, and now that she has outed herself, she's trying to cover up her crime.

But then, believers are notorious for sticking their foots in their mouths. They say what they really think, and we see them for the bigots they are. Take Cardinal Francis George, who likened the LGBT community to the KKK! Yes, a group of people that want to expand the rights for a minority are just like a group of white people who want to murder all non-whites.

I'm off until Tuesday folks. Have a nice New Years.

Feeling: Happy

Emily has officially moved in with me. Bachelor life is on its way out, so I guess I'm going to have to start getting used to pictures of kittens and lace doilies.

Verizon users will soon see a $2 charge for paying a bill online. It's interesting that buying envelopes, printing out bills, mailing them across the country, and paying people to collect, sort, open, and file said bills is somehow cheaper than a single online transaction. Either credit card companies have really increased their transaction fees, or Verizon is screwing over its customers.

Speaking of screwing over customers... Apple.

GoDaddy continues to feel the sting of website owners pissed off for their support of SOPA. Even though they have distanced themselves from SOPA, they've lost Wikipedia, Reddit, and now Imgur. Don't mess with Internet freedom. The real hypocritical thing, is that SOPA is being decided upon by the House of Representatives, while at the same time pirating porn.

This pretty much sums up modern pop music.

You may think that only Muslims want to segregate and chastise women, but these Jews haven't forgotten what the bible says.

Feeling: Happy

Nature has put together a nice time line of science for 2011.

The world is becoming a more humane place to live, not because of religion, but in spite of religion.

Nativities are being erected on governmental land in Texas by Christians who are demanding preferential treatment, all the while complaining that they "are tired of the persecution and suppression." Sorry, but when you're the largest majority in the US, you are hardly being persecuted or suppressed. Also, when you refuse to put non-Christian displays up, it is the non-Christians who are being suppressed by you.

Oh Comic Sans, you're such a funny font.

Worf isn't the bad-ass Klingon everyone thinks he is.

I miss the 80s when you could make an AIDS joke in daytime television.

Aron Ra helps explain how we catergorize humans.

Christopher Hitchens sings Monty Python's Philosopher's Drinking Song.

Always trust the military to keep you safe. Just watch this 1950s video about nuclear radiation, and how it's almost harmless.

Feeling: Happy

When GoDaddy's customers found out it supported the Internet freedom killing bill SOPA, they threatened a boycott. This forced them to quickly change their stance and now they claim to be against SOPA, but the damage was done. Over 70,000 customers have jumped ship to competing domain hosts. However, GoDaddy isn't taking the loss so well. Rather than allow their customers to leave, NameCheap says they've been purposely screwing up the transferring process making it that much harder for their customers to leave! I guess they want to ensure that the leaving customers will never -ever- return.

It is essential that these anti-Internet-freedom bills do not pass, otherwise we'll start seeing lawsuits like in Germany where a woman who didn't even own a computer, router, or Internet connection, was found guilty of Internet pirating.

$1.4 billion has been pissed away thanks to idiotic Senator Tom Harkin of Indiana. He dumped all this money into testing alternative medicines only to find what science has known for decades, they don't work.

Finally got my new SATA DVD burner working, but not in my TV computer. I had to swap out the IDE DVD player from my bedroom computer because, even after a BIOS upgrade and IDE driver upgrade, my TV computer just can't seem to support SATA (despite having 2 SATA ports on the board). Oh well, my TV computer has a working DVD player again, and my bedroom computer now sports dual burners!

Minnesota Senate Republican Amy Koch, who unsuccessfully tried to define same-sex marriage out of existence in Minnesota has resigned her position as majority leader after it came to light that she had an extra-marital affair with one of her subordinates. I guess her message is that gays can't get married, but cheaters sure can. John Medeiros wrote a highly sarcastic letter apologizing on behalf of the LGBTQ community for causing her to have an affair, as it's obviously their fault.

I beat the awesome C64-esque game VVVVVV over the holiday weekend... like a boss.

Atheists donate more money to Second Harvest Food Bank than Christians and Muslims combined.

Yes North Carolina, handing out bibles to kids in a public school violates the first amendment.

The Blasphemer's Bible is on hold until next week.

Feeling: Okay

Lucifer isn't such a bad guy.

Well this is quite funny. The RIAA, the organization that sues people for pirating music, movies, and television shows was recently caught themselves pirating television shows. When the RIAA commented on the fact that the IP addresses they own were being used to pirate TV shows, they made the same argument that pirates use, "Someone must have used my IP address, because it surely wasn't me!" This is the exact same argument that they tried to make illegal to use.

Republicans pull some shady wheeling and dealing when they cut the cameras to C-Span in order to prevent Democratic talk from being shown on TV.

It's not just the straight couples who have someone they love to come home to now that the Iraqi war is over.

The Creationists are still trying to form a wedge to prevent the teaching of evolution and convert it to Christian indoctrination. New Hampshire is the latest state to see these anti-science bills, both setup by Republicans (big shock). The first would force teachers must also teach the political affiliation of those who support evolution (because, apparently, a fact is only a fact if you're a Republican). It would also force biology teachers to talk about atheism (what does that have to do with evolution?). The second bill would require teachers to tell students that good scientists never believe a single approach, no matter how much evidence there is for it (so don't take the theory of gravity and germ theory too seriously kids!).

Had a McRib today. My first one in about 10 years. Still not impressed.

And let's not forget Superintendent Jerry Nobel of Green County, Arkansas who put up a nativity in a public school and says he has no problem offending non-believers by celebrating Jesus' birthday, which, according to him, is totally not promoting religion. Here's how I expect this to go down: the ACLU and FFRF are going to make a lawsuit and point out to the local judge how this is a clear violation of the separation between church and state. They will show numerous cases as precedence which show nearly identical circumstances, where the judges ultimately rule that this is indeed a breech of church/state. However, the local judicial system, being highly indoctrinated in Christianity, will rule in favor of the school to try and push their religious agenda. The ACLU/FFRF will appeal to a higher court. The higher court, understanding that the first amendment isn't something that can be disregarded when it's not convenient, will agree with the hundreds of judges before them, and rule in favor of the ACLU/FFRF. The school will be forced to remove the nativity and pay the ACLU/FFRF court fees, which by this time will be in the hundreds of thousands to low millions. This money will come from the tax-payers who will be extremely pissed at the Superintendent and he will have to resign, but not after all of the students have lost years worth of school books due to poor leadership.

Such a problem like that could be avoided if the Superintendent wanted to put up a display for every religion, but when you do that, it tends to backfire like it did in Santa Monica, California. The city allowed 21 displays, on a first-come, first-serve basis, and the atheists took 18 of those display spots!

Today is the winter solstice. From here on out, the days just keep getting longer!

Guest comics will be up in The Blasphemer's Bible all this week thanks to Codie Kitty for picking up my slack.

Feeling: Blah

Left work a little early last night after some awful stomach issues. I spent most of the night moving between bed and the toilet. My body kept wanting me to throw up, but I successfully prevented it. Today I still have some cramping and pain, but I feel a lot better. Hopefully, I can fix the dehydration and finally eat something.

House Republicans fail to pass the Payroll Tax Cut that even the Senate Republicans were in favor of. These guys are such dead weight, they're like a gangrenous limb that needs to be amputated!

Sony is getting sued over its EULA that prevents people from suing.

Two Earth-sized exo-planets have been found!

2011, in pictures. Although, I prefer these pictures of nature more.

Proselytizing may be illegal in China, but that doesn't stop Americans from converting exchange students.

Google agrees that Universal overstepped their rights when they took down a video uploaded by Megaupload. The video is back online, and Megaupload is seeking damages from Universal. I sure hope they get them too, otherwise, Universal will continue to screw over people like this.

Even a Tea Party member should be smart enough to not try to carry a loaded gun on an airplane.

Enjoy the best fails of 2011.

A bible publisher almost succeeded in doing something nice. They published pink bibles in an effort to raise money to combat breast cancer. However, when they learned that some of that money was going to Planned Parenthood to screen for breast cancer, they recalled all their pink bibles.

Do you guys remember the hoopla around the communion wafer that turned red after it fell on the floor and was placed in water? Religious folk were saying that it was a miracle, and that it proved that a consecrated cracker becomes the body of Christ, complete with red blood. Skeptics said it was probably just red mold growing on the wafer. Well, as it turns out, it -was- red mold growing on the wafer. Big shock, right?

Guest comics will be up in The Blasphemer's Bible all this week thanks to Codie Kitty for picking up my slack.

Feeling: Sick

Newt Gingrich says that if a judge makes a ruling that go against the popular vote, they shouldn't be tolerated and should be forced to explain themselves before congress. Specifically, he was talking about a judge who ruled that a public school couldn't indoctrinate their students with religious banners. I guess he doesn't understand that one of the major reasons we appoint judges is to enforce fairness and protect minorities from the mob mentality of majority-rules.

Travis Air Force base put up a Nativity Scene to honor its Christians. This, of course, made everyone else feel left out, so they quickly threw up a cheap Menorah in order to seem more inclusive to the Jews. Of course, they were still failing to represent a few thousand other religions. Atheist Dan Rawlings asked if he could put a sign up to honor atheists in the Air Force. It was going to be perfectly benign, saying only "Have a safe holiday season! – Travis AFB atheist community". But, of course, the Air Force wouldn't allow it.

The Catholic Action Group of Auckland, New Zealand have no problem destroying private property, and vow to do it again if anyone ever dares to put up a billboard that makes light of their crazy beliefs.

Polk County, Florida must have broken some sort of record by arresting four youth pastors in a single week on charges of raping children.

Lowe's pulls ads from All American Muslim after being scared by a Christian lobby, but Home Depot, in support of same-sex marriage, tells a different Christian lobby to piss off.

Stay classy Walmart.

Guest comics will be up in The Blasphemer's Bible all this week thanks to Codie Kitty for picking up my slack.

Feeling: Happy

Emily and I had a wonderful time in Missouri. Illinois is still the most boring state I've ever driven through. The Nelson-Atkins museum is wonderful and worth visiting. Piropos is an expensive, but delicious Argentine restaurant. And I would be happy if TLC changed their name to "The Brain Cell Murdering Channel".

I'm playing catch up on all the amazing things that happened in the past week, so some of the stuff I'm posting about is old news by now.

One of my personal heroes, Christopher Hitchens died on the 15th. He was an amazing writer and speaker, and I'm saddened to see him go. I was really thinking from his recent appearances that he was going to beat his cancer, but alas, he did not. If you want to see him in perfect form, enjoy the Intelligence Squared debate he and Stephen Fry had with a couple of Catholics. Damn he was good!

Newt Gingrich has taken a No Adultery Pledge in order to assure his third wife that he won't cheat on her like he cheated on his first two wives. That's all the assurance I need!

An anti-vax group out of Australia has published a book called Melanie's Marvellous Measles where a little girl cheerfully contracts measles in order to gain a natural immunity, rather than getting a dangerous vaccination from an evil doctor. The book ends with Melanie happily enjoying her natural immunity and not with her dying an extremely painful and avoidable death, which can be the case with measles.

Fox News once again practices deceptive reporting by not showing the latest numbers on unemployment which shows the Obama administration getting the numbers down to their lowest in 2 years.

A high-speed camera that is fast enough to capture the movement of light? Yes please!

If only the iBle were real.

Guest comics will be up in The Blasphemer's Bible all this week thanks to Codie Kitty for picking up my slack.

Feeling: Excited

I'm taking the next week off for vacation. Emily and I are driving down to Missouri to visit my friend Kimberly and her family. Don't expect posts until then, but there will be Blasphemer's Bible comics to tide you over. It's in the Ten Commandments now, so enjoy!

Rick Perry's hate speech has officially received more dislikes on YouTube than Rebecca Black's Friday video!

Catholics in Ontario, Canada say they are against bullying in principle, but they still want to be allowed to bully homosexuals.

I had no idea my local hospital was such a Christian organization. I suspect this is how they handle their medicine.

Feeling: Cold

Want to play games on XBox, PlayStation, or EA Games? The first thing you have to do is give up your right to sue them if they screw you over. Why is this even legal?

Corrupt ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich gets 14 years for trying to sell his Senate seat and accepting bribes. Progress.

Palm trees in Russia? Only on yet another fraudulent Fox News report.

Newt Gingrich doesn't care what religion the president is, just as long as he's religious, and he bases his decisions on whatever his ancient book says.

51 euphemisms for anal sex.

One day I hope to travel into space to visit Carl Sagan's fabled Meat Planet.

Some interviews with the actors of Star Wars before it sucked.

The Ten Commandments begin in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Cold

One of the best interviews I've ever seen, Stephen Colbert interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Photo retouching models probably isn't very good for our health. I know, big shock, right?

I heart the Skepticon 4 hula hoop chick.

Want to have a meaningful discussion with an atheist about religion? Check out Top 10 Tips For Reaching Out to Atheists. Want to talk to a religious person about atheism? Check out Top 10 Tips For Reaching Out to Religious Believers.

Here's some awesome commentary on Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Things are heating up in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Cold

Astronomers discover new supermassive black holes and a new extrasolar planet that's in the habitable zone.

By displaying a Nativity Scene in government property, Anthony Court, mayor of Ellwood City, PA, opened the floodgates for all religions to put displays on the same property. This year, the Municipal Building features Kwanzaa posters, a Hanukkah menorah, and the Nativity. However, when it came to a banner for non-believers, mayor Court wouldn't allow them to display it. Why? Because he claimed the secular banner was an endorsement of religion!

The Rationalizer explains the whole debate between PZ Myers and the Muslim apologists, and how embryology in the Quran is a Greek ripoff. He also interviewed William Hay, a man who is often quote mined, about what he said on the embryology found in the Quran.

Math education in the US, what's wrong with it, and how we can improve it.

What women think about during sex.

People raised by same-sex couples are just as normal as everyone else.

God speaks in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Cold

I took Emily to see The Nutcracker on Saturday, we had front row seats which made it all the more amazing. Watching the full orchestra was unbelievable, and whole stage was perfectly in view!

PZ Myers gave a wonderful talk on junk DNA at Skepticon 4.

The Cain Train has derailed. Who would have thought that running for president would bring up your long past of infidelity and sexual harassment? With Cain out of the running we still have philanderer Gingrich, psychopath Bachmann, God-possessed Perry, and I-hire-illegals Romney. All fine candidates.

Saudi Arabia has an odd problem. It turns out, that if women are allowed to drive, they will cease to be virgins!

In other civil rights violations, Nigeria has halfway to making homosexuality illegal. With 98% of the population either Christian or Muslim, I'm surprised they held out this long. If the bill passes the House, being gay will land you 14 years in prison, and you'll get 10 years if you abet someone who's gay.

On the flip side, California recently passed a bill that would include the achievements of gay and transgendered people in public school education, while at the same time preventing teachers from making disparaging comments about the LGBT community. One Christian radio program said that this bill will turn children into lying, cheating, drug-addicted, violent sex fiends.

And, let's not forget about the rise in family members murdering their female relatives in the UK because they have the audacity to do such horrible things as divorcing their abusive husbands, dating men, or allowing themselves to be raped.

In order to see if they should change their copyright policy, the Swiss government conducted a test to see if online piracy affected media sales. Their conclusion, like others before them, was that pirating music and games does not take money away from the copyright holders. On average, people spend a percentage of their income on media, and those who pirate stuff online still spend the same as those who don't.

God's a volcano in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Cold

The Guardian offers a very informative report on Occupy Wall Street and how the US department of homeland security has been helping local police beat the shit out of protesters and lock up reporters so that nobody know just how much Congress is profiting on our misery.

If you're using a smart phone, (any recent iPhone and some Android or Blackberries) all of your personal data is probably being logged, probably illegally. The software in question comes from a rootkit by company, Carrier IQ. Carrier IQ denied that their program recorded your personal information, but shortly after a hacker posted a video that showed the program doing exactly what they denied. Carrier IQ sent the hacker a cease and desist letter, but later withdrew it and apologized. I guess they realized how deep they dug their hole.

In a couple cases of "You just don't get it, do you?", the Republican candidates made a mess of themselves. Michelle Bachmann told high school students that gay people are, and have always been, able to get married... they can marry straight people! Her argument is that we all have the same civil rights, and those civil rights allow a man to marry a woman, and vice-versa. Is she so dense that she doesn't realize that the argument is not about marrying who you are -allowed-, but marrying people you -love-? I doubt that--I think she's just avoiding the issue. However, she raises a good point: currently, our civil rights do not allow same-sex couples to get married, and she is trying to enforce the status quo. The problem, is that our civil rights are flawed. She can't see this because the flaw doesn't affect her. Next, Newt Cheat-On-My-Three-Wives Gingrich also doesn't get it. He cleared up his earlier child-labor gaff with another by saying that poor people have no work ethic.

The Afghani woman who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the crime of being raped by an inlaw, has just been pardoned by the Afghan president. No, he didn't pardon her because he realized how incredibly stupid his laws are, he pardoned her because she agreed to marry the man who raped her. Again, I must point out that this bullshit is also in the bible.

Mike Beaudet, the asshole reporter who outed a grade school teacher's past of pornography, has received an awful lot of deserved hatemail for his "news" story. This doesn't stop him from trying to act all sweet and innocent. What a douchebag!

The Freedom From Religion Foundation exercises its right to put up a sign in the Wisconsin Capitol.

More strange orders in The Blasphemer's Bible.

Feeling: Cold

In a rather scary lawsuit, a Federal judge in Nevada has made a sweeping ruling that seriously affects the entire Internet. The company Chanel requested that 228 web sites be taken off the Internet and give to them because they were selling counterfeit Chanel products. The judge agreed with Chanel and made an order to shutdown all of the web sites. That by itself isn't too unsettling, but when you look into the case further you realize how much this judge abused his authority. First of all, Chanel never actually checked to see if all these web sites were selling counterfeit products, in fact, they only checked three. From that they assumed the rest were also counterfeiters. Second, no legal group ever backed up Chanel's findings. The judge just took their word for it. Third, none of these web site owners were ever given a chance to defend themselves in court. As far as I know, they weren't even contacted about the seizure of their web sites. Fourth, some of these web sites aren't even based in the USA, and therefore can't be so simply shut down. It seems like the judge just assumed he has control over the foreign market as well. Fifth, the judge demanded that major web searching sites remove all of these sites from their indexes. This is a horrific display of abuse. I can only imagine how much of a bribe the judge received. Imagine if you worked hard to create an awesome web site and a corporation decided they didn't like you. All they'd have to do claim that you're a counterfeiter, and boom, you're gone. Nobody tells you, nobody gives you a chance to prove your innocence, all your hard work just disappears from the Internet. This is exactly the kind of thing that the entertainment industry is trying to do with their new legislation, they will have more power over the Internet than the people who actually make it.

Just in time for Christmas, a Kentucky church bans interracial marriage among its congregation.

Fox News outs an exceptional grade school educator because he had a past in the adult film industry. He's now been suspended, and will probably be fired because Americans are pathetic hypocrites.

I find this to be really cool, but apparently there are fully formed insects that are even smaller than amoebas!

Obama singed a bill that gives more funding to the NSF, NOAA, NIST, and the FDA. Well done sir!

It turns out God is all about the 1%. If you don't believe a person who makes billions each year by exploiting their workers and the government, then you're guilty of coveting! I wonder if God has been talking to this guy who believes that only the people in the 1% ever amount to anything.

US law states that government can't favor a particular religion. As a result, a government institution can either have no religious displays, or display all religions equally. This has led most governmental institutions to simply forgo religion altogether and remain unbiased. However, some cities just can't do without a Nativity display, so they allow other religions as well. This severely backfired for the people of Loudoun County, Virginia. After allowing religious displays, it turns out that seven of their ten displays are secular and blasphemous. Right next to baby Jesus will be a display for the church of the Spaghetti Monster, and a tree of knowledge, and a religion/state separation banner, and a banner promoting reason.

Moses gets some serious exercise in The Blasphemer's Bible.