Republican Douchebags “Protecting” Marriage Again

Remind me again why it is that marriage only needs protecting from the gays around election season?  Oh that’s right, it’s because Republicans have no positive accomplishments to point to so they once again drag out the old dead horse that is the gay marriage ban to get the conservative bigot vote out to the polls.  Like clockwork, but much more cynical…and more gay.

Most of the ten sponsors are pretty predictable but there are two Senators that ooze especially pungent hypocrisy for sponsoring such an amendment: Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho).

Jesus’ General made some fantastic ads to help the Republicans promote the effort.

Evangelically yours (in a completely heterosexual way),

Super J.

Call Congress: Vote NO To Telecom Immunity

AT&T whistle blower Mark Klein succinctly pins down the basics of the snooping allegations the EFF’s pursuing against AT&T in two minutes.

The New York Times has an editorial that nails the issue with more detail but I have paraphrased that article here for your condensed reading pleasure.

The White House and Democratic and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill announced a “compromise” on a domestic spying bill that is decidedly NOT a compromise. The White House and Republicans lap dogs want to keep courts from reviewing the legality of domestic spying programs and to give legal immunity to the telecommunications companies that broke the law by helping Mr. Bush carry out his warrantless wiretapping operation.

The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, requires the government to get a warrant to intercept communications between anyone in this country and anyone outside it. The FISA court has approved all but a small handful of the thousands of warrants requested by the government so anybody claimg the government’s hands are tied is ignorant or lying.  (President Bush, I’m looking at you)

Still, after Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Bush bypassed the FISA court and authorized the interception of international calls and e-mail messages without a warrant.  Once news about this got out in 2005 Bush falsely claimed that FISA did not allow the United States to act quickly enough to stop terrorists. Not surprisingly that was complete crap because FISA always gave the government the power to listen first and then get a warrant later (up to 48 hours later).

FISA did require a technology update since it required a warrant to eavesdrop on foreign communications that go through American computers, but it was an easy fix.  Unfortunately when Congress made the fix last year, they once again curled into a pathetic fetal position and let the White House add amendments that seriously diluted the courts’ ability to restrain the government from spying on its own citizens.  Typical really.

That law expires on Aug. 3, and Bush is trying to not only get it renewed but to weasel in more spy powers and the telcom immunity.  Obviously given this administration’s refusal to submit to any oversight from courts or congress, lawsuits against the telcoms are the single best hope of finding out the extent of Mr. Bush’s lawless spying.

Alas Democratic leaders in Congress are still craven spineless cowards and have agreed to a phony compromise drafted by the Republican vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee Senator Christopher Bond.  Under this “compromise” the government could tap all communications in the United States without individual warrants or even a showing of probable cause…and it would do so with greatly reduced judicial review.

If Congress cannot pass a clean bill that fixes the one real problem with FISA, it should simply extend the temporary authorization. At a minimum, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, should oppose FISA expansion and pledge to revisit it next year. If any significant changes are going to be made, they should be made under the next president, Barack Obama.

Please call your Congressional Representative and tell them you want this appalling legislation blocked.  Also encourage the funding of stem cell research so that someday Democratic leaders can get the spinal and testical transplants they so clearly need.

McCain Family Planning Policy: Babies Taste Good!

Well it’s almost that bad.

Hillary’s Honor Worth Less Than A Stained Blue Dress

In the beginning of the race I would have voted for Hillary. She is arguably highly qualified, determined, and dedicated to becoming the first woman president…but for me she has gone way too far to be redeemed.

She and the other Democratic candidates originally agreed that Florida and Michigan should have their delegates taken away when they moved their primary dates up. Obama and other candidates went so far as to remove their names from the Michigan ballot and avoided campaigning in either state. Hillary, on the other hand did campaign in those states and she left her name on the Michigan ballot. At the time I thought it might be shrewd move since it would provide some additional face time in the event she would secure the nomination.

Alas, when she lobbied to have the delegates from those states restored I lost all respect for her seeing her instead as cowardly, craven, deceptive, self serving, dishonest and lacking any integrity. Everyone else was following the rules but she decides to seize these delegates under the false pretense and utterly transparent call for fairness to the citizens of Michigan and Florida.

Then, when the Democratic rules committee allowed some of the delegates to be counted and split the Michigan delegates 50/50 between her and Obama she and her campaign have the nerve to whine that they were being treated unfairly.

She might be intelligent and tenacious but given her recent performance I wouldn’t trust her any more than I’d trust her husband at a fat drunken college cheerleader convention. She has shown herself lacking honor and integrity, and frankly given the past seven years that’s the precise thing we need most in the white house.

Hillary give up this pathetic flailing abortion you call a campaign and do something good for this country. You’re only making a fool of yourself now and you’re embarrassing everyone who would have been sympathetic to your situation. It’s time to sit down.

Today’s Irreconcilable Religious Factoid: Evil

This might turn into a new series of questions and maybe the faithful out there will bring some answers to the table. To begin this series then I didn’t want to throw out some recent or obscure scientific question that nobody has researched. No, to be fair I thought I’d give them an easy question that’s been around for a while. Something they should have had time to work out by now.

Today I ask the faithful the question, why is there evil in the world? Of course the Greek philosopher Epicurus asked this question over two thousand years ago:

“If God is willing to prevent evil, but not able…then He is impotent.

If He is able, but not willing…then He is malevolent.

If He is both able and willing…then whence cometh evil?”

Two thousand years is a long time and yet I have yet to hear a good answer to such a basic question. I do hope someone out there can clear this up for me once and for all.

Evangelically yours (in a completely heterosexual way),

Super J.

John McPaid…Now With Only 54 Lobbyists On Staff!

The Food We Eat, Health, And The Environment

New York Times food writer Mark Bittman weighs in on what’s wrong with the way we eat now (too much meat, too few plants; too much fast food, too little home cooking), and why it’s putting the entire planet at risk.

He makes a compelling case worth considering.

Link to TED

Einstein Considered Religion “Childish Superstition”

There has been a long standing debate about Einstein’s views on Religion. The devout will rightly point to quotes from Einstein saying “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind” or even his dismissal of the randomness of Quantum theory stating “He [God] does not throw dice”. To the less theistic these quotes always seemed to be flamboyantly hollow rhetorical devices used by the great thinker.

Now there is proof that our suspicions were correct.

The philosopher Eric Gutkind sent Einstein a copy of his new book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. Einstein sat down and on January 3 1954 penned a reply stating:

“The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”

…

“For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.”

Perhaps science isn’t so lame without religion after all.

The handwritten letter will go on sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in London later this week and is expected to fetch up to $16,000.

(source: The Guardian)

US Torture And What You Can Do To Help End It

Certain key figures in Bush’s torture team, including John Yoo and former Attorney General John Ashcroft, have finally agreed to testify about their role in authorizing torture. But, we’ll only get at the truth if tough questions are asked and enough of us demand that these questions be answered.

I just sent the House Judiciary Committee my questions to ask Bush’s torture team. Please click the link below to send your own questions and help show this administration that we will no longer stand by and let them disgrace our country by torturing prisoners and committing war crimes. Help restore some honor to this nation.

Click HERE and make your voice heard.

Bad Apples Not News Worthy