Why Does Everyone Seem To Ignore This?

From WAR: It's Not the President's Decision by David Swanson:

The U.S. Constitution leaves the decision to wage war to Congress, and Congress can enforce its decision not to wage war by refusing to fund it. Blocking a funding bill for wars requires the House of Representatives alone, and both Democrats and Republicans in the House are rapidly joining us in saying No to war funding.

It's time to finally get serious, to lobby, to protest, to sit in, to nonviolently disrupt and resist in local district offices until enough Representatives commit to voting No on any bill to fund more war.

Public Opposes Wars, Will Our Representatives?

Arianna's Soft Porn

Does the Huffington Post want to be taken seriously?

Again, I ask WTF?

Victoria's Secret? 20 Layers Of Butt Makeup

Joanna Krupa's Naked Crucifix PETA Ad Photo (NSFW Picture)

How low can they go? With each passing day the descent continues.

What Would Jesus Do To Celebrate His Birth?

Would Jesus celebrate his birth with a display of hate and destruction? Would some of those who claim to follow his teachings celebrate his birth with a display of hate and destruction? Of course they would!

From Approaching Holidays Prompt Atheist Campaign by Ian Urbina:

An unusual holiday message began appearing this week in the nation’s capital on the sides of buses and trains.

“No god? ... No problem!” reads the advertisement featuring the smiling faces of people wearing Santa Claus hats. “Be good for goodness’ sake.”

Last year, a similar campaign by the association drew strong reactions.

The head of the Catholic League linked secular humanists to figures like Hitler and the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The publisher of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” complained about the signs. In Cincinnati, a billboard that said “Don’t believe in God? You’re Not Alone” had to be moved after the owner of the billboard property said he had received threats. In Moscow, Idaho, a sign that said “Good without God. Millions of humanists are” was vandalized twice in three weeks.

Obviously the First Amendment does not apply during Christmastime.

Over There

From Here We Go Again by Robert Scheer:

It is already a 30-year war begun by one Democratic president, and thanks to the political opportunism of the current commander in chief the Afghanistan war is still without end or logical purpose. President Barack Obama’s own top national security adviser has stated that there are fewer than 100 al-Qaida members in Afghanistan and that they are not capable of launching attacks. What superheroes they must be, then, to require 100,000 U.S. troops to contain them.

“Over there, over there, send the word, send the word, over there,

That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming,

The drums rum-tum-ming everywhere

So prepare, say a prayer, send the word, send the word to beware

We'll be over, we're coming over,
And we won't come back 'til it's over Over There!” George M. Cohan

"We're fighting them there, so we don't have to fight them here.” George W. Bush

Should Obama change his name to George to fit in? Perhaps, King George the Second?

Isn’t there something incredibly immoral about fighting our battles on someone else’s turf? I simply raise the question. I’m not saying that I want the battle to be fought in the United States. I also am not saying that nothing should be done. I simply ask the question. By way of explanation, here is another question. Why should the lives of the civilians of Afghanistan count for less than the lives of the civilians of the United States?

Will it ever be over, over there?

On The Issue Of Hate And The Sky Daddy

As an atheist I do not hate God. I cannot hate something that I do not believe in. Also, I do not hate believers. Even though I believe in their existence, I do not hate them. They sure do scare me sometimes, though. They also frustrate the hell out of me. Sometimes I even get a little angry with them. Jim Downey has helped me understand why I frequently feel this way.

I don’t hate the believers, yet it sure seems that many of them hate me. They also seem to fear me. That confuses me. After all, they have God on their side, and I don’t.

From So, do you "hate God"? by Jim Downey:

…the notion that atheists "hate God" has always struck me as being very insightful. No, no, not into our motivations or beliefs. Into the minds of the believers.

Because I don't give God much thought in my day to day existence. And I certainly don't spend any emotional energy on the Big Guy. Because, you know, I don't believe in Him. Or It. Or Them. In fact, the whole notion is about as silly as hating the Loch Ness Monster. It's just absurd.

Very interesting. Very insightful. Sometimes I think that I am slowly driving myself insane whenever I try to understand people who think and believe things (both political and religious) that are the exact opposite of what I believe. I find it very difficult to do, yet I continue to do it because I feel that I may learn something useful. I also feel that we need to agree on something/anything or we all shall perish into the abyss of total chaos. I wonder if those on the other side of the religious/political fence ever even try to understand the likes of me. It seems that I never have seen any signs of that happening. Even once.

Very often I am overwhelmed at the sheer verbosity of the religious when they try to use logic and evidence to prove the existence of God. They write and talk endlessly and never see that they have missed one little crucial point. You cannot make something out of nothing. Their logic and evidence are nonexistent. Everything that they offer as evidence and logic is actually make believe and pretend. And, as Jim Downey points out, they have some strange beliefs about atheists. They believe these things without evidence. This is why I believe that religion is very dangerous. If you can believe in the existence of God without any evidence, what is to stop you from believing in something else without evidence? (For example, that atheists hate God.) How many other things will you believe in before you truly jump into the deep end of lunacy? “Death panels” anyone?

How can one understand that which is impossible to understand? (I don’t mean God here, I mean the people that Jim Downey so aptly described.) How does one even begin to comprehend that another thinks that I can hate something that does not exist? It is mind boggling.

Thank you Mr. Downey for this little gem. And for Sky Daddy, as well.

A Perfect Summation Of The Republican Party

"They're very confused. In fact the only thing they are clear about is that they are very angry and unhappy with everything."

The Good News And The Bad News

The good news of the day:
"I have no aspirations for further office," Cheney said in an interview with Politico.

The bad news of the day:
Barack Obama seems to be morphing into Dick Cheney: Obama Sending 30,000 More Troops To Afghanistan.

The Huffington Inquirer

How shitty can the Huffington Post become?

WTF???????????????????????

Cyber Theft

Today is Cyber Monday. Just in case you didn’t already know. A rather apt name, don’t you think? (At least in the sense of fictional cyborgs, like the Borg of Star Trek fame.) Millions of American consumers robotically spending their money when they are supposed to be working. A day to forget about that which is ethical, because everyone else is. Wouldn’t want to miss out on that big sale over something as mundane as ethics, would you?

Isn’t all of this basically a form of theft? After all, if you are at work, are you supposed to be shopping and spending your money? I thought work was the place to earn your money. If you are not working, aren’t you stealing from those who employ you?

Yet, all of this seems to be sanctioned somehow. It’s as if one of the most religious nations on earth has decided it is OK to replace “Thou shalt not steal” with “God says it’s OK to steal on Cyber Monday.”

Since the religious are a majority in the United States, and the atheists are a minority, the behavior of many on Cyber Monday seems to disprove the religious claim of moral superiority. (You know, the argument that believing in God is the source of all morality, therefore atheists are incapable of being moral. What happens to that argument when the believers behave immorally?)

Forgive me Father for I have sinned. Now let’s get back to shopping!

Meet The New War President, Same As The Old War President?

From An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore by Michael Moore:

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade Afghanistan!" Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.

When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.

Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.

There is more here.

I used to think that Obama was intelligent and moral. Now I’m not so sure. How smart is it to turn the Left against you when the Right already hates your guts? And, how moral is it to become the new War President?