Libertine’s Neighborhood

As seen on Jimmy Kimmel -- Awful Library Books!  I think my favorite title thus far would be Dissection Guide for the Cat (and Selected Sheep Organs).  Oddly enough it's never come up in my Amazon recommendations.  Also tempting is Anyone Can Be Cool... But Awesome Takes Practice.  Oh and Looking Forward to Being Attacked.  How cheery!  Some of those books don't look that awful, just awfully outdated.

I just made the mistake of watching the Carrie Prejean / Larry King interview.  I think my IQ just dropped.  Wow she's dumb.  And a brat to boot.  And she's a media darling on the right?  She's pretty much being held up as a role model for girls.  Yes, because she's for "opposite marriage".  She's dumb as a brick.  Personally, I thought the quote from Donald Trump was more insulting than what Larry King asked her himself.  She just tee hee hee'd about the Donald Trump quote like it was the cutest thing in the world.   The question Larry asked was easy -- Why did you settle?  Not WHAT was the settlement. He basically said, yeah I know you can't talk about that.  But WHY did you go into the mediation for a settlement.  Your motivation isn't blocked in an agreement.  Just the terms are.  Still she didn't want to answer that, so he joked about how rude he was and moved on.  She had a temper tantrum anyway.  Ripped off her mic.  Acted like she'd leave because Larry is like Oh, my, God, soooooo rude.  But she really wanted the attention so she stayed.  But then she didn't seem to get why she couldn't reeeeallly hear him or be heard.  Larry is telling her well if you put the mic on you could hear and we could hear you.  DUH.  If she is who the daughters of the far right are supposed to look up to, good luck to them.  When you raise a generation of girls too stupid to be anything but covergirls, have fun with that.  I mean I guess maybe they can always speak up for opposite marriage and tell us that they think that you know that um God he like um totally like umm thinks that umm like umm gays they umm teee hee uhh should totally like be friends and stuff but um you know they should not have sex because in his Bible God says that you should only have sex if you're married and tee hee that's only if you're a boy and a girl.  But it's okay if you're gonna go to hell, we'll all be friends until that happens.  Or -- you know they can make sex tapes of their own.  Whatever.   By the way why isn't God against boob jobs?  Except in the cases of cancer.  Just wondering.  What's wrong with what he gave you?  Why are you going against God's will? 

In 2003 Rep. Stephen Buyer (Rep., Indiana) founded the Frontier Foundation that reportedly existed to attract donor dollars for education scholarships that were never offered to any student. Congressman Buyer also claimed that he doesn't recall where he got the original capital of $25.000 that he used to establish this group, according to Sharyl Attkisson of CBS news (Can A Donation Buy Legislation?).  The supposed non-profit organization shared office space with Buyer's political campaign office.  Apparently, his campaign manager handled operation of the Frontier Foundation.  The dirt discovered about Buyer, the Frontier Foundation, and top donors got a lot more interesting. The televised report is more detailed about the controversial favors that Buyer was doing as a lawmaker to the lobbyists that donated to the Frontier Foundation.

Apparently, the Frontier Foundation was created to attract lobbyists and donor dollars to Stephen Buyer in exchange for political favors on Capital Hill.

This reminds me of a report that I read years ago in a late 1990's issue of Mother Jones Magazine, titled Co-op Congress.  Members of both political parties were exposed for introducing, endorsing and voting on bills from which they profited in various ways.

Some things never change...

Rome's patron senators used to sit outside with giant pots to encourage the public to drop coins in them. The object was for people to rent a Roman senator's ears where they could tell the patron senator what they needed, or wanted.  If they paid enough money then they had a better chance of their cause being introduced to the senate.

Plutocracy lives on in modern-day governments.  Today, we Americans stand a much better chance of our issues being introduced to the House and Senate and supported by either, or both parties if we pay the politicians and each party enough money to buy their support.

0612083-r01

I'm spending the rest of the day in my pajamas, don't tell anyone I'm home! We overdid it yesterday, painting the house and raking leaves. 20 bags worth from our meager acreage.

Then I jogged at the Lake this morning. Cold but lovely anyway. I ran into 7 teenagers trying to harass an animal and I had to talk with them. I'll elaborate tomorrow. Sigh.

People never guess that I'm a huge supporter of free will. Wiccans say do whatever you like, as long as it causes no harm. Yet animals are so often used as entertainment for bored children I guess tormenting them is now seen as perfectly acceptable.

Oh well, have some snacks! (Not sure what that is in the picture but it looks yummy).

I actually managed to sit through this entire thing, but I would not recommend it unless you are a glutton for torture.  Just watch as much as you can handle if you want a to witness what may be the worst evangelical approach to atheism I have ever seen from a "professional" proselytizer.
 

@ 4:44 — "If you ever hear my opinion coming out of my mouth, you can just throw it out the window. . ."  Following her advice, I guess we could just stop the video there and do something more productive.  Evidently, she does not realize what she thinks her god's opinion is is, in fact, her opinion.

@ 5:11 — She is not interested in debating us because we do not know what we are talking about.  This is typical cult mentality.  She believes (it is her opinion) that because we are outsiders of the Christian faith, we are incapable of making valid commentary on it or the philosophy of god.  I suppose we should all avoid commenting on other countries and other political parties, too.  Actually, since she is not an atheist and I am, I suppose I can simply disregard her commentary out of hand with no justification.

@ 6:05 — "A person with an experience is never at the mercy with a person with an argument, and you need to understand, that is the position that you and I are in right now."  Following this premise to its logical conclusion, the experiences of all schizophrenics must be legitimate.  I suppose we can also deem all religions, even the mutually exclusive ones, valid and true since they all boast their own experiences (minus the deists).

@ 6:33 — She asserts we freethinkers do not argue against god in an effort to promote or discover truth.  She then says she knows this because, if we were seeking truth, we would find it, and wouldn't you know it, she just so happens to know what that truth is.  Allow me to appeal to one of Emmi's favorite quotes, spoken by André Gide: "Believe those who are seeking truth, doubt those who find it."

@ 8:21 — She claims we only seek to justify a lifestyle wherein we serve ourselves.  I am curious how she possesses such insights on people she does engage in dialogue, but this is typical religious projection, identical to the Scientologists' tactic of claiming that all who oppose their church are criminals.

Deep Down You Know Odin Exists

@ 9:19 — We all know god exists deep down inside.  Do I really need to address this?  We all actually believe in god, but we are so dedicated to living these seventy or eighty years in rebellion that we are willing to be tortured in perpetuity?  How can anyone make such an asinine claim in earnest?

@ 10:05 — "What are you fighting so hard against if he's not real?"  How about a dangerous ideology which informs the largest special interest group in the United States?  Contrary to what she thinks, many atheists, agnostics, and Satanists care about truth and will often promote criticism of even the most holy beliefs and ideas in search of it.

@ 10:33 — "You'll forgive me if I don't believe you."  Considering, Ms. Dennington, that you have spent the last ten minutes setting yourself up on a moral high-ground from which to look down on the rest of us, I don't think I will.

@ 11:06 — "And have you ever asked yourself why it is that you specifically hate Jesus Christ so much?"  No, I haven't.  This is classic persecution complex from Dennington.  Were we in countries that were not hard up on Jesus but were rapped up in some other superstition which heavily influenced domestic and foreign policy, we would attack that belief, not yours.  Your belief is not special to us outside of its cultural and political significance.

@ 11:35 — "You atheists. . .you're not mad about people servin' Satan."  Theistic Satanism is no more valid to me than your beliefs, but the Satanists are a misunderstood fringe group of people who are doing little to no harm to society, though those who engage in abominable acts I will openly denounce.  Additionally, many Satanists are atheists who merely prescribe to the more hedonistic philosophies of Satanism, so should it be any surprise that we find common ground in our criticism of your theology?

@ 11:39 — "What about Allah?  If I were preaching Allah would that bother you?"  If the most dangerous radicals cannot be found in Christianity, I dare say they can be found in Islam.  Christianity, Islam, and Scientology are the three religions I am most likely to criticize, so stop spouting this self-assured nonsense.

Buddhist Symbol

@ 11:59  "What about Buddhism?"  Buddhism?!  The philosophy that people should be kind to one another and restrain themselves from indulgences and desire as a way of ending suffering?  The philosophy which posits no god and no dogma and encourages people to be introspective and follow truth wherever it may lead?  The philosophy whose leader of its most spiritual sect has said where science and reason conflict with traditional Buddhist thought, science and reason should be preferred?  Yeah, that is some dangerous thinking right there.  These poor, misguided souls really need to be brought your Biblical truth that true happiness is achieved by dashing the little ones against the stones.

@ 13:20 — Atheists worship Satan and have the same philosophy as Satanists.  There is really no way to respond to this other than, "No, we don't."

@ 13:36 — "Agnostics. . .you think that God has something to prove to you. . .You've got breath in your lungs right now.  He's proven it to you."  I actually facepalmed the first time I heard this.

So let's sum up her method so far:

1. Open with scripture you know your audience does not accept.
2. Condescend your audience.
3. Explain why you do not want to address your audience.
4. Explain why you should not even be talking at your audience.
5. Pretend you are being persecuted by your audience.
6. Spout false equivocations and logical fallacies.

That is about as much as I can stand right now.  If I can summon the will to move forward, I will later tackle the second half of this condescending diatribe from Monica Dennington of Tic Toc Ministries.

http://chandramoon.efx3.com/2009/11/11/open-mic/