Please Remember That Funding Terrorists is Illegal…mmmk?

Cross-posted at JesusLovesBags.com

When I saw the Salon.com headline NFL under scrutiny for “gay checking” – NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman told the NFL’s Roger Goodell to investigate, I was initially glad to hear that the NFL was getting some real pressure on this.  After all, what the hell does one’s sexual orientation have to do with whether or not you can run fast or catch a ball?  It doesn’t.  But NFL recruiters are concerned with gays because hyper-pseudo/faux-maculinity (of which homophobia is an integral ingredient), is a defining characteristic of football culture.

But as I read on, I felt nagged by something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. 

Vitamin C Megadosing & the Nobel Disease

Cross-posted at JesusLovesBags.com

Anyone that has ever been to one knows that the gym locker room is a curious place as one often over-hears others’ conversations (not to mention the strange predilection for some guys to feel compelled to walk around in nothing but a t-shirt).  

Last week I overheard two strangers talking about the cold season and how its especially bad this year.  Then one of them offered a solution: megadosing on vitamin C.  Oh boy, here we go; some dumbass is going to start offering some dubious medical advice to a stranger (at least I assume they’re strangers to each other as one guy asked the others name when they departed).  His protocol was to basically take about 30,000mg of vitamin C over the course of the workday.  First you start out taking 500mg; an hour later, 1,000; another hour 2,000; and keep doubling until you get up to 16,000mg.

Sounds brilliant, right?

Penn Sate and Steubenville, OH – Not So Different

Cross-posted at JesusLovesBags.com

The fallout from the Sandusky scandal and the ensuing Penn State coverup continues.  Pennsylvania’s Governor, Tom Corbett, has filed suit against the NCAA claiming that the sanctions it levied against Penn State were “arbitrary and capricious” and that the “punishments threaten to have a devastating, long-lasting, and irreparable effect on the commonwealth, its citizens, and the economy.”

This is a very curious lawsuit in my un-professional opinion since as far as I can tell, the economic impact resulting from the sanctions is the primary complaint and basis for the lawsuit.  This is curious because that is precisely what the intended impact was.  Sanctions without any detrimental effects would fail to adequately punish the institution that so blatantly covered up child rape in service of its football team, not to mention that it would fail to serve as a meaningful deterrence to other would-be obfuscatory institutions.

Bill Gates Did Not Say That

Cross-posted at JesusLovesBags.com

Over the past few days I’ve seen the revival of a quote attributed to Bill Gates giving a commencement speech to a high school.  It seems that this trope has been going around the intertubes for over a decade, originally as part of an email chain.  Here’s what’s been making the rounds on Facebook (including the pic):

Bill Gates recently gave a Commencement speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

On Pragmatism and Hope: Wingnuts Losing their Nuts?

Cross-posted at JesusLovesBags.com

With President Obama’s re-election, the hard wall of reality has met the Republican party ideology head on as GOP leaders are rethinking their strategy in alienating huge constituencies (hispanics, women, the middle class) in order to satisfy what essentially amounts to the old white guy voting block.  It is quite striking to see a party, for which the immediate reaction to Obama’s first term election was to make a hard right in order to oppose all items on the White House agenda, even if it had been on the GOP agenda in some form (cap and trade vis a vis global warming or healthcare reform), moderate even a little on core issues.  With the rise of the Tea Party in the mid-term elections, this apparent shift in the wake of Obama’s re-election is not what I had expected.

For example, take Sean Hannity, Fox News arch-conservative pundit, who has done a virtual 180 on the issue of immigration.  

Keep Your Politics to Yourself: A Guide to Facebook

Cross-posted at JesusLovesBags.com

You know what kills me?  When people put up political talk on Facebook.  Seriously, what makes you think I’m interested in your political views?  Here’s a clue.  I’m NOT.  I don’t care if you’re the goddamned President of the Fucking Universe, I don’t want to hear about your politics on Facebook.  Go hold a rally somewhere in he middle of central bumblefuck with all your glossy-eyed acolytes and get your rocks off.

But not on Facebook.  

An Endorsement (if not a vote) for Jill Stein

Cross-posted at JesusLovesBags.com

I know, the title is a bound to annoy people, but I’m still not sure who I will be voting for.  Of course, it won’t be Romney, but I have been swayed over the past week or so to the possibility of voting for Green Party candidate, Jill Stein.

But that slightly mischaracterizes the choice.  A vote for Jill Stein isn’t really a vote for “Jill Stein”.  Its a protest vote.  Its a message to the democratic party that progressives aren’t buying the President’s assault on civil liberties, his passiveness on climate change, his indifference to the growing economic inequalities, or his slightly less bad foreign policy of endless war that may or may not involve attacking Iran (‘may not’ isn’t an option for Romney).  Its a vote for the long haul and a tacit acceptance that the situation may worsen considerably in the interim.  In fact, for some, that may be precisely the strategy: to hope for an epic backlash once the effects of the GOP’s regressive policies begin to be felt.

Debate Reform: iPads [Updated]

Cross Posted at JesusLovesBags.com

[Update: Gawker has a story about debate conspiracy theories of covert communications, including one about Romney pulling out a cheat-sheet.  My only objection to this is that it should be specifically sanctioned and both candidates should be able to communicate with their staffs. Bring it out in the open and level the playing field.]

I didn’t watch the Presidential Debate Wednesday night, but from the accounts I’ve read, Romney lied his ass off, and Obama sat there and took it, failing to challenge or counter Romney’s claims.

We’ve kind of seen this disregard for facts in GOP VP candidate Paul Ryan’s convention speech.  It was so blatantly false that former Bush political strategist, Michael Dowd, was compelled to comment that “At some point, the truth should matter“.

Indeed it should.  And that is a bit of a problem with debates as they are currently conducted: you can lie your ass off making claims that are completely unsupported by facts.  And unless your opponent (if they are actually interested in the facts) happens to have sufficient facts memorized to counter your bullshit, they risk a) lying and, probably worse, b) get caught lying.

Which is a shame.  The debate is a rhetorical cage match.  Its not based on factually true substance, especially if one party is willing to ‘stretch’ the truth.

Free Speech & Blasphemy

Cross posted at JesusLovesBags.com

My last postwas about the appropriate response to terrorist attacks.  Appropriate in the sense that the response would yield the most productive outcome for society.

Non-violent Free Speech, you’re doing it right.

In this post, I’m interested in discussing the free speech facet of the whole story.

Needless to say, when content of mere images and video cause so much angst and agitation that you can only respond with random (or non-random) violence and destruction, you are seriously fucked up.  There’s really no other way to put it, you may need to seek professional help.  Because you are a menace to society.

And yet, people will still lay the blame at the feet of those exercising their free speech (however disgusting and incorrect it may be) by saying ‘you should have known that people would die as a consequence of your words’.  Which is really an admission that those committing the violence are out of control lunatics.  Free speech does not, and society should not, submit to the irrationality of lunatics.

Libyan Attacks – Let’s Fight Violence with Science

Cross posted at JesusLovesBags.com

By now, you’ve probably heard about the terrorist attacks on the US consulate in Libya where four Americans were killed in protest of an anti-Muslim film that was recently released.

There are many facets of this development that merit discussion, but this comment from Obama caught my attention:

As we mourn their loss, we must also send a clear and resolute message to the world: those who attack our people will find no escape from justice. We will not waver in their pursuit. And we will never allow anyone to shake the resolve of the United States of America

The sentiment, that the US will do whatever is needed, where ever it is needed, as long as it is needed to bring those who committed these senseless acts to justice, is understandable. It represents a respect and to the families of those that were murdered and a commitment to Justice.

Yet, I can’t help but feel that this is a misguided approach, if it is truly intended to be implemented as Obama’s remarks make it sound.