Dear Idiots

You attempted to turn a day of remembrance into a day of hate, bigotry and fear. 

You failed.

You took a course of action that might have increased international hate of America. 

You failed.  Your chosen political leaders have already done that years ago.

Perhaps you wanted to bring more people to Jesus.

You failed.  Portraying Jesus as a petty hateful asswipe does not help your cause, unless you want to recruit more petty hateful asswipes.

September 11 is a day to remember what makes us American.  To remember what makes America great. 

It is not hate.  It is not fear.  It is not narrow minded religious fundamentalism.  It is not our overwhelming military might.  It is not the terrible things we do overseas.

It is our freedoms.  The very freedoms that allow me to write things like this blog post without going to Gitmo.

It is our Constitution.  Or what’s left of it.  May it be restored soon.

It is our tolerance.  We began as a nation of immigrants who sought freedom from racial and religious persecution. Unless you’re full Native American, you are descended from immigrants, or are one yourself. 

It is our ability to see America’s faults and to work to change them. 

September 11th is a day to remember that we can be better than we are, and on that day nine years ago we were.

No political posturing today.  No religious hate speech today.  Just remember those who answered the call in our darkest hour, and strive to emulate them, for they are the very best of us.

Dear Dumbass Christian F*ckhead

Yes you, dumbass Koran burning preacher.  I’m talking to you.  Fuck you.  Burn Korans, don’t burn Korans, doesn’t matter now, the damage is done.  The goddamn President of the United States HIMSELF asked you to back down, but apparently God put it on your heart to act like a moron racist fuckhead redneck fuck up.  Interesting God you have there. 

Yes, the damage is already done.  The bad guys have taken your words and are using them to recruit more bad guys.  They’re convincing people a half a world away that America is in a holy war against Islam.  Hm, they sound kindof like you, ya know.

So thanks.  For the increased danger to our troops abroad (including one of my oldest friends), for the deaths that will occur from the elongation of the Afghanistan conflict (already our longest war EVER), for your superior skills in portraying America as a bunch of dumbass racist bigoted religious extremists to the rest of the world, FUCKIN’ THANKS, DICKHEAD. 

If there was ANY doubt in my mind prior to this about the existence of God, you’ve finally convinced me.  There couldn’t possibly be a supreme being out there watching over us all who would allow your kind of bullshit to go on in his name.  If he did, what a piss poor lame ass excuse for a god. 

Or perhaps there is a god and you really do speak for him, which explains why he hasn’t reduced you to a pile of smoldering ash. Worship a narrow minded hateful childish racist bigot of a god?  I’ll pass.

I’ll take my chances with Atheism, thanks.

P.S. FUCK YOU DICKHEAD!

God is on our side

People throughout history have said that.  Usually as a prelude to war. 

  • George Bush said it.
  • Sarah Palin said it.
  • Glenn Beck said it.
  • Adolf Hitler said it.
  • Osama Bin Laden said it.
  • The list goes on…

To those who are sure God is on your side, I quote Abraham Lincoln:

Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.

“God is on our side” is a justification for atrocities.  An easy out for the horrible crimes of war, or worse.  A way to turn wars into holy wars, alleviating the need to justify the pain, suffering, and death you’re about to inflict on your fellow human beings. 

I’m sick of it.

When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag an carrying a cross.

–Sinclair Lewis

For a long time now, I’ve disagreed with Richard Dawkins on the dangers of religion.  Sure, I’ve always known that religious extremism leads to atrocities, but “normal” religion, I’ve always believed, can be a moral compass for those that don’t inherently have one.  A guide for being a better person.  A rulebook for being decent. 

But it never works out that way, does it?  Very few of the religious use their beliefs for the betterment of mankind.  The main uses of religion in modern times seems to be 1) Condemning others, 2) Justification of irrational actions and 3) an easy explanation for anything, framed in an “us vs. them” manner.  From this we get 9/11, the Iraq War, the fight against science (Evolution), the crusades, the inquisition, witch burnings, female mutilation, oppression of women, oppression of minorities, the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy, the burning of a Mosque in Tennessee, Church burnings, lynchings, Fred Phelps, the fight against social justice, child rape, FOR FUCK’S SAKE WHERE DOES IT END?

If this is what religion means then take your God and shove him up your ass, I want no part of it.  I would be just fine if I never heard another religious dickhead in my life. 

It’s crap.  It’s a fairy tale for grown ups, and they believe it.  And they fuck up everything for the rest of us in the name of God/Allah/Jehovah/Whatever the fuck else we want to wank ourselves off over. 

Religion is dangerous.  Richard Dawkins was right all along, and I should’ve listened.  I know a little bit about the Christian Bible, and if anybody who calls themselves a Christian actually bothered to read the fucking thing, we might not be so badly off.  But no such luck. 

Religion is a tool, and it’s being leveraged by scumbags and assholes to fuck up things for the rest of us.  Glenn Beck is just the latest in a long line of assholes to fuck up America in the name of God.  Is he dangerous?  Yes.  But so were the rest. 

Some religious fuckhead is going to read this and say “He’s just angry at God”.  Ya think?  No, dickhead, I’m angry at YOU AND ALL THE OTHER DUMBASS RELIGIOUS FUCKNUTS you fucking moron.  I can only be angry at God if there fucking IS ONE!!!  Tell you what, you pray for God to strike me down.  If he doesn’t do it in one week, go shoot yourself.  Get yourself some afterlife virgins or some stupid bullshit like that.  Leave us heathen bastards alone.

I’m sick of this crap and I’m not putting up with it anymore.

The civil rights movement is so much easier without all the black people

Today Glenn Beck hijacked Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy.  Assisting him were Dr. Alveda King (it’s an honorary doctorate), Dr. King’s right-wing niece whose claim on Dr. King’s legacy more or less begins and ends with shared DNA, and Sarah Palin, right-wing shill, dumbfuck extraordinaire and half-term governor of Alaska who was nearly our vice president. 

I haven’t seen anything from it yet.  I’m sure I will, but I know Glenn Beck.  He’s compared himself to Dr. King, Jesus, and Ghandi.  Anybody who buys that Beck has anything in common with any of those people needs their brain examined.  These people stood for love, understanding and unity.  Beck stands for divisive politics, fear-mongering, and bizarre conspiracy theories (much like modern Christians).

In the hopes of minimizing the right-wing usurping of the anniversary of what may have been the greatest speech of the 20th century, I would like to remind everybody of what exactly Dr. Martin Luther King stood for.  I’ll let him do it himself.  Please, watch this, not Beck, when deciding what Martin Luther King’s legacy is.

Dear Dr. Laura

What the fuck is wrong with you?  I am so sick of you right-wing crybabies.  You spew the n-word 11 times on the air, then you quit over the fact that it pissed people off?  What… the… FUCK!?!?

The reason is, I want to regain my First Amendment rights,” she said. “I want to be able to say what’s on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry, some special interest group deciding this is the time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates, attack sponsors. I’m sort of done with that.”

Your first amendment rights?  The right to free speech?  Have you been arrested?  Has the government somehow suppressed your right to spew idiocy all over American airwaves?  No.  Calling you a dumb-ass racist bitch because you spewed racial profanity over the air IS FREEDOM OF SPEECH!   How stupid are you?  That’s how it works.  You say stupid shit then we call you a racist bitch for doing it and we’re all free to do so! 

Advertisers pulling out?  They have that right.  The First Amendment has nothing to do with that and does not protect you from your own stupidity.

People angry at your racist rant?  How would you silence that without infringing their first amendment rights?  You can’t.

You idiots need to stop crying wolf on the First Amendment.  Personally, I think you’re trying to use the First Amendment to suppress the First Amendment rights of your detractors.  Oooh, the irony.  Too bad!  Our First Amendment rights are safe for at least two more years! Nyah nyah!

Piss off.

How to Rule the World

Fear is possibly the most powerful human emotion.  It causes decent human beings to do things they would not normally do.

I had been thinking about this post all day, and idly this evening I began watching The End of America.  When she began listing off the steps required to “close an open society”, I got chills.  I realized this was exactly what I had been planning as a blog post, a satirical list of things one would need to do to became a dictator of a powerful nation and possibly conquer the world.  Then I would go on to take a few jabs at the Bush administration and probably the Obama administration as well for failing to fix the damage. You should watch this movie.  It’s creepy to review what happened in hindsight and realize how the path we were on from 2001-2008 paralleled Nazi Germany.  I mean eerie.  And it may not be over.  Obama has not walked us back from the brink, and in some cases has consciously decided to continue Bush policies we explicitly elected him to repeal.

  1. Invoke An Internal and External Threat
    The obvious threat here is terrorism.  On September 11, 2001 terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center.  We were shocked, we were hurt, and we were angry.  And most of all, we were afraid.  After an attack in Germany, they passed a law that allowed the government to invade citizens privacy in the name of national security.  In America, we called it the Patriot Act.
  2. Secret Prisons where Torture takes place.
    These places always operate outside the law.  They are unaccountable.  People designated enemies disappear to these places and may or may not be heard from again.  Duration and sentence is discretionary.  There is no appeal.  Torture always occurs.  Germany called them concentration camps.  In America, we called it Guantanamo Bay.  In Germany they used what they called “Versharfte Vernehmung”, which translates to Enhanced Interrogation.
  3. Develop a Paramilitary Force
    Germany: The Brownshirts
    America: Blackwater
  4. Surveil Ordinary Citizens
    Closing societies keep lists of potential enemies for quick round-up.  Germany had a list of Jews.  America has a high-security risk list (the no-fly list).  Take Drew Griffin, CNN journalist, who did an investigative report on the TSA only to find himself on the no-fly list. 
  5. Infiltrate Citizens’ Groups
    Well documented.
  6. Detain and Release Ordinary Citizens
    In America James Yee.  Maher Arar.  Countless Others.
  7. Target Key Individuals
    The Dixie Chicks.  Dan Rather.  Valerie Plame. 
  8. Restrict the Press
    N.Y. Times.  Izvestia.  Wikileaks.  Josh Wolf.
  9. Recast Criticism as Espionage and Dissent as Treason
  10. Subvert the Rule of Law.

Civil Liberties are a special commodity, and once lost, they are difficult to get back.

A patriot must be ready to defend his country against his government.

If this were a dictatorship it would be a heck of a lot easier… just so long as I’m the dictator 
–George W. Bush

Watch this movie, or read the book.  It’s frightening to realize that what happened in Germany in the 1930s could so easily happen here.  It still could.  The laws passed by the Bush administration which enable these abuses have not been repealed.  Perhaps we can trust Obama not to abuse them, perhaps not.  Can we trust the next guy?  Or the next?  It’s time to undo the damage.

I Give Up

I saw this video today about the 9/11 responders bill.  In case you were wondering, it was a bill to cover the health care of people who were ill because they were there on 9/11 and risked their lives to save others.  They ran into the giant building with an airplane stuck in in while everybody else was running out.  Something I doubt ANY single fucking politician in Washington would have the balls to do.  And we just told them, “Nice job, now go fuck off.”  Woohoo!  Go America.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
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I think this sums up quite nicely how I feel.  I’m totally disillusioned.  This—GODDMAN FUCKING THIS—is how we treat our nation’s heroes.  “Thanks for saving our asses, but if it’s between you and our offshore tax shelters, fuck off.”  Our system is totally broken.  I’m no longer sure it can be saved.  I mean seriously, we can’t even PASS A GODDAMN FUCKING BILL TO TAKE CARE OF THOSE WHO SHOWED THE REST OF THE WORLD THE BEST OF AMERICA ON OUR WORST DAY EVER!?!?!? 

This shows the absolute worst of America, and that’s really saying something these days.  This is pathetic.  This is sick.  Fuck you Washington.  Fuck you Republicans.  Fuck you Democrats.  Fuck all of you.  Just…. Fuck You All.