NevadaGayAtheist

SNAIL'S TALES: July 1st: a day to celebrate evolution

The Washington Monthly: Quoth Kevin Drum: "How times change."

Greg Saunders at This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow: "If you burn a flag around me, however, be prepared for a verbal or physical backlash. Unlike the babies in the Republican party, if somebody pisses me off by insulting our country, I'm not gonna go crying to the government for protection."

I'm a Star Trek fan (All of them. I'm not just an original series snob. In fact I think ST:TNG was much better.) and love this story. Pharyngula::I coulda DIED!

Shorter Andrew Sullivan: Contracting HIV is no big deal. In fact it enhances your quality of life and makes you a better person.

What a prick.

Issue Number 942 Still here, so sorry Advocate.com

Update: Naturally, Michelangelo Signorile has something to say to the egregious prick.

Nod to Atrios.

Did I mention that Andrew Sullivan is a smug, narcissistic, sanctimonious, smarmy, religious-fanatic prick? But that's OK because he has great abs and a hard-muscled ass and, in his world, that's all that matters.

Prick!

Pharyngula::Why isn't this cockroach in jail? Because he's clergy.

That sounds pretty ominous. But it's also probably true.
Majikthise : Prof. Tim Shortell busted for online atheism

Anti-Capitalism: Making a Profit...The Root of All Exploitation (edstrong.blog-city.com): "But taxes are the debt we each owe society, a license fee for the privilege of exploiting our fellow citizens for personal gain.
The more we gain, or have gained, the more we owe in direct proportion to the advantage we have taken of our fellow citizens. Anything less is sanctioning larceny by the well-to-do against the less-well-off."

No more Mr. Nice Guy!: "I hate the deranged, mouth-foaming religious stupidity that is so eagerly embraced by huge sections of the population."

There's a lot more and it's good.

Excellent: The Pink Chimpanzee: John Calvert - a dumbfuck for all seasons: "You see, it's not a case of 'sides.' It's a case of 'reality' and 'fantasy' - period. It's not about a difference of opinion - it's about whether or not one chooses to recognize life as it is.

You can either be on the 'side' of reality, or you can be on the 'side' of ignorance and superstition. Those are your choices. Pick one. "

Good stuff:The Pink Chimpanzee: The Gospel According to Majikthise

Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.: "Those women wanting to end a pregnancy, who have already lost a measure of their own autonomy, unfortunately must rely on and turn to others to try to regain control over our own bodies, via abortion. Thus abortion and abortion providers become crucial to the maintenance of women having consent and ability to regain autonomy over our own lives. If that gets labeled 'selfish' it is due to the criticism emanating from those who have no concept of autonomy, who view any genuine control over one's own life (gender not withstanding) as heresy and rebellion against one's maker and master."

Lost to the Only Life They Knew - Yahoo! News: "Gideon is one of the 'Lost Boys,' a group of more than 400 teenagers - some as young as 13 - who authorities in Utah and Arizona say have fled or been driven out of the polygamous enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City over the last four years.

His stated offenses: wearing short-sleeved shirts, listening to CDs and having a girlfriend. Other boys say they were booted out for going to movies, watching television and staying out past curfew.

Some say they were sometimes given as little as two hours' notice before being driven to St. George or nearby Hurricane, Utah, and left like unwanted pets along the road.

Authorities say the teens aren't really being expelled for what they watch or wear, but rather to reduce competition for women in places where men can have dozens of wives.

'It's a mathematical thing. If you are marrying all these girls to one man, what do you do with all the boys?' (emphasis added) said Utah Atty. Gen. Mark Shurtleff, who has had boys in his office crying to see their mothers. 'People have said to me: 'Why don't you prosecute the parents?' But the kids don't want their parents prosecuted; they want us to get the No. 1 bad guy - Warren Jeffs. He is chiefly responsible for kicking out these boys.'"

Whenever anyone asks me what religion I am, I like to say that I am a neo-Darwinian, heliocentrist, non-theist, reformed. I’m not sure why. ;-)

Unscrewing The Inscrutable: Atheism Is Not The Opposite Of Religion

hilzoy at Obsidian Wings sums up just about all of the things that cause me tremendous angst about what the George W. Bush/post-9-11 America has become.
Obsidian Wings: More Things We Throw Away

What Salman Rushdie said.
TheStar.com - Just give me that old-time atheism!

»«TBogg»«:The New Quislings

The Log Cabin Republicans.

Not
Too
Bright.

Good quote. It very much relates to the concept of "tyranny of the majority". Just because a majority votes to do something doesn't make it permissible. That's one of the foundational philosophies of liberal democracy. Tyranny by popular vote is no better than tyranny by a monarch, dictator, oligarchy or one-party rule. Think about that the next time someone says, "The majority in this state want prayer in schools, and that's what democracy is all about." That's no different from saying, "The majority in this state want slavery legalized, and that's what democracy is all about."
Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Response to Patterico on "made-up rights"