The Good Doctor

For some reason, this is the good doctor's favorite picture. I don't much like it. She looks too Arabic.

If anyone has an extra $3,000 laying around and 3 weeks of time off, she would like to talk to you about going to Brasil for the Carnivale festival. Yes seriously, you could be John Doe from North Dakota and if you like to travel and have money she'll go with you. Seriously.

I can't afford this woman. She's nearly killed me already.

Conservatives Without Conscience

Just finished this book today. I admire John Dean's straightforward writing. While the book wasn't really anything in-depth at all, it painted an interesting picture of the type of character a man must have to make it to the upper tiers of modern conservative politics. Frankly, it's a scary sort of amoral authoritarian character who believes that the end justifies the means.

I would like to refer to myself as a conservative, because I am conservative. But since I believe that science and reason trump faith in issues of practicality and the development of an accurate worldview, I am not a member of today's form of "conservatism", which has essentially been whored out to the religious right to win elections (without which they wouldn't win jack-shit). Today's conservatism is at odds with not just aspects of science, but mainstream science. It's infiltrated by a lazy minded contingent of the faithful who could not care less about a double blind study unless it had something to do with viagra side-effects. The end of the book is a quote from Bob Altemeyer:

"Probably about 20-25% of the adult American population is so right wing authoritarian, so scared, so self-righteous, so ill-informed, and so dogmatic that nothing you can say or do would change their minds. They would march America into a dictatorship and probably feel that things had improved as a result. The problem is that these authoritarian followers are much more active than the rest of the country. They have the mentality of "Old-time religion" on a crusade, and they generously give money, time and effort to the cause. They proselytize; they lick stamps; they put pressure on loved ones; and they revel in being loyal to a cohesive group of like thinkers. And they are so submissive to their leaders that they will believe and do virtually anything that they are told. They are not going to let up and they are not going to go away."
John Dean Videos

Hello from Vermont

"A plurality of voters in each of 32 states agree that the political system in the U.S. is "badly broken." Percentages range from a high of 63% in Vermont to 47% in Nebraska, but all point in the same direction."

"There was little geographic difference on the question of whether individuals should be required to present photo identification [snip]... Support for this approach ranged from 60% in Vermont to 92% in Florida."

(My favorite Vermont Bumper Sticker: USA OUT OF VERMONT.)

(My favorite all time Bumper Sticker: OUR GOD IS BETTER THAN YOUR GOD.)

Moment of Zen

"Atheist Nightmare"


Believe it or not, this is real. This guy is not joking, and people like this are everywhere.

Afterall, "the whole of Nature testifies to the genius of Jehovah's creation."

War on Science

Bill Maher's new rules tells it like it is. Brilliant.

Jesus is Back!!!!

Jesus has officially reincarnated y se llama José Luis De Jesus Miranda de Puerto Rico.

Meet your maker

Sowing

The International Ministry Growing In Grace, Inc., would like to offer the people, pastors and churches that in one form or another have been edified by this apostleship, The privilege of sowing from anywhere around the world by credit card.

Classic Theater

This is as good an ass-whipping as it gets.

A true classic of political cinema. John Stewart on Crossfire. If you haven't seen this yet, you need to.

Part 1

Part 2

Knocked Out

This is just golden. It is astonishing how such irrational correlations can be made and perpetuated over and over without people catching on to it. It is unbelievable that anyone with good conscious can so voluntarily deceive others with the distortion the republican guy spews. Extraordinary knock out- though in all fairness, anyone defending the Iraq war on it's merit in the "war on terror" is just a low-hanging pinata these days.

Tenacious D

I remember the first time I ever Saw a downloaded video over the internet, it was this song by Jack Black's band- Tenacious D. The friend who showed me the video was also downloading internet music and I thought he was a technological wizard. At the time I thought I'd never figure out how to do all that with my computer. Makes you wonder what another 5 years will bring.

Recently I saw that they are making a Tenacious D "the movie" about how Jack Black and nop named co-star formed the band. This led me to seek out this first internet video. It had me crying.

Conglomeration of Stuff

Unbelievable, they are finally letting me post pictures again, cool. I had several things in line to write about, but I had to email the techs and get this thing straightened out.

To the left is my new dating sight profile, think it'll get me laid?

My girlfriend turned friend is now a member of a dating website, and she wants me to write a referral for her!!! Can you $%^ing believe that??? But she may help to get me another hottie by writing a referral for me. Unfortunately I think I peaked with this gal. It is true we are not suited for each other for a long term thing, but shit, I'm not suited to *anyone* for a long term thing. I think that was the closest I can get. I still find it hard to believe I did so well, but the rejection is doubly frustrating. I will post her pic here as soon as she puts one up on her dating site.


We have a new addition to this whirling ball of cosmic insanity straight from the loins of Mr. K. Congratulations and welcome little Elias, may you not have to spend your entire twenties wondering what good sex must feel like.

Oh, and we still don't know whether he is cut or uncut. No matter, lets let the contraversy rest.



Okay, so today I came up with an idea that could literally get someone rich- someone who knows how to market and patent that is. In the continual arms race between Jesus fish and Darwin fish bumper stickers, I have added the angler fish. Picture him eating the little Jesus fish. And the caption will say "Un-intelligent Design".

I can't think of a better way to display the complete and utter amorality and senselessness of evolution than a swimming jaw that evolved a fucking lure hanging out it's nose.

But you know what, I may have thought of a more clever idea, and that is to merely get an image of the angler fish with IXOYE inscribed into it's side to portray the dark side of Christianity. The lure hanging out the face is metaphoric of the trap of fundamentalism. But how many people will even know that the angler fish has a phosphorescent lure in front of it's face?

testing

my blog will not allow me to post any pictures.

Some Absurd Guitar

Found some insane stuff on YouTube for Flamenco enthusiasts.



This is one of my favorites- the best flamenco guitarist of all time (Paco de Lucia) and the best flamenco singer of all time (Camerona de la Isla) playing the most popular flamenco song form of all time (Bulerias).
Click.




After Paco invented modern Flamenco guitar, some serious gun slingers came along to carry the torch, like Gerardo Nunez. This pace is utterly ridiculous. Click.

Modern Conservatism

Sankara Saranam

[Conservatives are cautious and careful. They look at the data closely, weigh their actions carefully and look before they leap.]

“The word “conservatism” today stands for fear, centralized authoritarianism, dogmatism, an unscientific theological worldview which just means to me a worldview that has nothing actually to do with this world. It is centered in blind belief, faith in the existence of some dark age tribal war god and the irrational denial of the existence of the other thousand gods invented by the various human cultures of the past. Ironically, if conservatism went in the direction it was meant to go, no conservative would be a Christian because the scientific evidence does not support Christianity, the beliefs it espouses or the policies it wants to put in place based upon it’s dogmas.”

Wow, someone says something true on Fox news!

I thought this was really great. Cable news is the McDonalds of entermation (if this conglomeration of etertainment/information hasn't reached Colbert's Dictionary yet, it surely will). It is fascinating to see this guy suggesting that we should have "experts" on issues giving context and not just videos of rockets and opinion mongers with law degrees. Fascinating. O'reilly tried to have this guy fired. But he doesn't fail to add that such fact and context would be at the expense of audience. Ahh, truth, intelligence...doesn't sell. We're in for hard times America.

(Click the pic Above and scroll down. If you read this in the future, search the side bar for "Malkin" in Archives and find Neil Gabler on Malkin)

New Frontiers

(But Can't We Still Have Sex???)
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Dear to us are those who love us. . . but dearer are those who reject us as unworthy, for they add another life; they build a heaven before us whereof we had not dreamed, and thereby supply to us new powers out of the recesses of the spirit."

He must have written this AFTER he came down with Alzheimers. In reality, rejection is only good if you think you are immortal and I don't, and if Alzheimers has anything to say, neither was Emmerson.

Nor Lake and Palmer for that matter.

In the last 2 months nearly everything I have yearned for these past few years came to be and I've safely lived to tell about it. The dangling carrot was gobbled and it was unfulfilling. The story is nothing unique, however from my nihilistic viewpoint it may be worth recalling. For some reason I am attracted to type A women, though I am more like type Z myself. The incompatibility issues finally led to a bloodless pact followed by your standard attempt to continue practicing procreation and the slow withdrawal into a state of powerful touch hunger that can only be ameliorated by lack of visual contact. But peaceful nonetheless, until of course, another man answers the phone.

For me love is a mental thing that takes time and experience. The initial infatuation is fun but patently illusory. The fact that she doesn't realize this is a gross turn-off for me. Many people I know would look at me like a nutcase if I told them that romantic infatuation was developed by natural selection to coax humans into procreating, generally against their better judgement. Sometimes I forget that this is even a point of contention, but then again I may as well be from outer space. A handful of biology classes around the age of 20 are absolutely invaluable for preventing years of side-tracked brainwashing in any of one's endeavors.

The deeper love was never there, but it was coming. In fact it was beginning to blossom just as the romantic love entered it's death throes. At the Oregon caves she sat in the 109 degree heat waiting for the next tour through the 42 degree ice-melt chilled cave. We wore pants and sweaters around our waists in 109 degrees waiting beneath the beating noon sun. I wandered off inside the shade of a shop and she didn't follow. I could see she was disinterested other than friends. We already knew this, but the sex hadn't stopped. To me this is ideal- a best friend and sex partner. What could be better?

I don't believe in romantic love, so I couldn't care less whether it was there or not. But for her it *has* to be there, like in the movies. There has to be tension and drama and bursts of irrational testosterone to make the juices of pointless Darwinian yearning take their natural course on this cosmic hamsterwheel to nowhere. She doesn't understand this yet, though she is older than I am and possibly more intelligent. Maybe to understand this clear fact is to be humanly dead. That is my worst fear. I'd like to think it were any other way, but romantic love gives me the creeps. It's just fraudulent- exhibit A in the evidence against God. She would never accept such an assertion and I mostly keep it to myself. I feel it when it's there, enjoy it, but see it for what it is. Could be I'll run into this problem time and again because for whatever reason I am attracted to these types of women- you know, the ones with fine asses and tits, cute faces.. you know the type. The ones whose self-image is so molded by appearance (completely unknown to themselves) that it takes decades to see there is no real privelige. The angle of a lip during a smile, an elegant posture, a shapely chest, a 3:2 hip ratio- if powerful enough can take even the wisest potential human and make them into the butt of the cosmic joke once gravity has it's say. Ha ha, and here all this time you thought it was some special attribute you cultivated so hard, some spiritual soul quality or some shit gifted by lifetimes of karma. In a rational world I'd complain. In the real world I just lick, suck and squeeze everything as often as possible, then think how much of a damned darwinian robot I am for two minutes a day sitting on a cold ceramic ring. And the moral of this story is, I am more of a nihilist than ever. Human nature has never seemed more transparently absurd to me than now. Most thought these experiences would have the opposite affect for me. I knew they would not. Perhaps I avoided these experiences in part because I was terrified of becoming even more nihilistic. Actually, I know this to be true. The fantasy of what could be is more protective than what is.

Of course, I'm "too nice" for her. The nihilist, the godless atheist- too nice. He always tells the waitress the food was fine even when it sucks. But she just works there, she doesn't give a fuck and has nothing to do with the food so why fuss? "You have to walk like you own the earth" she says. And I can see an image of Charles Darwin forming in the curl of her ear, a hanging lock his beard. We met on a secular/atheist website as this is our criteria for friends/dating. But it's not enough to just know there are no personal deities. Any idiot knows that. You also have to know where your biology comes from so you can at least pretend to have free will.

I'm sure there are plenty of assholes in shining armor left. The cosmos must be teeming with them.

To cut or not to cut

(little Mr. K?)
Mr. K is having a baby. Possibly he's already had it, I don't know. The beginning of the end of his life as a free man may have ended in the middle of the night last night I have no idea. But nobody knows the gender of the baby as of yet (ok, they do if it's out and I just don't know it). Maybe he will look like this kid. Just remember Charles, genetics is at least 50%. Having a kid is like playing Russian Roulette with your life. Uncle Jim Bob's genes might be in there who knows. Like second cousin like son right?


So the debate rages on, if it is a boy do you have him circumsized? I weighed in and said no. Why participate in this Abrahamic cult ritual? There's no point. I still have an area of scarring, likely due to some first year med student, I've no idea.

Dr. Dean Edell agrees wholeheartedly with me.

Excerpts:

"Well, after analysis of almost 40 years of available medical research on circumcision, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued new recommendations saying that they do not recommend circumcision as a routine procedure. This is too little and too late for the millions of infants who have undergone this unnecessary and inhumane assault."

"The complication rate of the circumcision operation itself - from bleeding to amputation of the penis - is at least one in 200 according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. So you can see that there's no benefit at all." (did I mention my scar? No ladies, it doesn't effect my performance)

"The most common reason men give for circumcising their sons is so they will look like them. This is a poor reason to do this to a newborn baby."

"Recent studies have found that sexually, circumcised men are different from intact men. The glans or tip of the intact penis is more sensitive. Circumcision removes the equivalent of 15 square inches of skin in the adult male. One study recently published in the British Journal of Urology found that intact men are more satisfying to their female lovers than circumcised men." (My friend Kathy says that her first uncut man was "a whole new level of sensation")

"Internationally about 80 to 85 percent of the male population is uncircumcised"

Either way, it's okay with me. But I wouldn't do it. I've never known nature to do anything that intentionally decreases my desire to screw. I suspect that the vagina is perfectly made for a foreskinned penis. None of us will ever know. But I remember sitting in on a lecture on this topic once where a man who had an adult circumcision (due to some rare medical complication) said that if cut men know what they were missing they would riot in the streets and invade the hospitals. He said not having a foreskin is like keeping your tongue outside your mouth all day long.

According to the article, men who are cut are more obsessed with anal and oral than those who aren't. This is not scientific, however it seems that there may be more satiation with a foreskin and more sensation. America is the only country in the western world that still routinely circumcizes, and this may explain in part our unique societal sex obsession the Europeans find odd.

Bumper Sticker Mania

I have no bumper stickers on my car, but often I am tempted to get a bit crazy about it. I don't want to be caught in some dark alley somewhere in Dearborn Michigan with some banner of religious mockery screaming at the locals (actually that really happened to me there once, but minus the bumper sticker).

It is one of my hobbies to think up bumper stickers. I have a few I think could become very popular, but I don't know how to go about manufacturing them, or if I'm really brave enough to do so.


Below are a handful I often dream of riding around with. Please add any you come up with to the comments. Another idea I had was to create a sign changing apparatus like they now have at sports stadiums. That way, when you get lost in Dearborn Michigan at night, you can flip a switch and have your bumpersticker alternate to say something like "Allah knows the way". Then of course, stop into a liquor store and declare to everyone that you are perfectly lost.

1.) I have higher moral values than your Middle Eastern deity

2.) Jesus Died.

3.) The white father is angrier than ever and he's coming back to kill your family in cold blood right after he bans stem cell research.