"Where else would you go when you have an ax to grind?"

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Was Gomer Pyle USMC a documentary?
The latest Zogby Poll has some very disturbing numbers in it. Apparently 90% of U.S. troops serving in Iraq think the invasion was in retaliation for Saddam Hussien's role in the 9/11 attacks. Given that even the White House has admitted there was no link between Saddam and 9/11, one must ask what the hell is going on in the U.S. armed forces? Are they hitting people in the head with ball peen hammers as part of basic training now? Are all recruits forced to watch FOX News for extended periods ala Clockwork Orange? If this were some half-assed blogosphere based poll of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders over at Free Rethuglic or Little Green Noballs, I would understand the results, but this is a poll by a reputable major polling firm.

But can they get me sharks with frickin' laser beams?

Man Descending (see the links) shows us the way to an engineering company that specializes in hidden passages, trap doors, concealed compartments et al. I know who is gonna get a chunk of money when I win the lottery.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Tweedum and Tweedumber
First we had ill-informed right wing dingbats in the the United States running around renaming chips "Freedom Fries" and pouring perfectly good wine down the gutter in retaliation for France not blinding following them to war (and who seems to have made the right call there?). Now Iran is getting in on the action - no more Danish pastries, they are now "Roses of the Prophet."
Two countries - one is a borderline fascist police state obsessed with threats from the outside world and run by a bunch of ignorant, fundementalist theocrats who think they have been chosen by God to run roughshod over international law and world opinion - the other one is Iran.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Jebus, we hardly knew ye
For the most religious nation in the western world and the proud home of muscular evangelical protestentism, the United States and its people apparently know diddlysquat about Christianity, at least according to Harper's Bill McKibbon. Go read what he has to say at:
The Christian Paradox (Harpers.org)

here's the lede:

"Only 40 percent of Americans can name more than four of the Ten
Commandments, and a scant half can cite any of the four authors of the Gospels.
Twelve percent believe Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. This failure to recall the
specifics of our Christian heritage may be further evidence of our nation’s
educational decline, but it probably doesn’t matter all that much in spiritual
or political terms.

Here is a statistic that does matter: Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves.” That is, three out of four Americans believe that this uber-American idea, a notion at the core of our current individualist politics and culture, which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scripture.

The thing is, not only is Franklin’s wisdom not biblical; it’s counter-biblical. Few ideas could be further from the gospel message, with its radical summons to love of neighbor. On this essential matter, most Americans—most American Christians—are simply wrong, as if 75 percent of American scientists believed that Newton proved gravity causes apples to fly up. "


And a shout out to the Canadian Cynic (see blogroll) for pointing me to this.

Not to get all tin-foil hatted on you, but...
Bartholomew's notes on religion has an interesting tale of covert Christians In Action at work in Uganda. Apparently someone made a booboo and a former GOP operative and Christian activist who claims to be a former spook has landed in jail for running guns.