Quote o' the Day

Just because I always enjoy bashing Chris Mooney.  I consider it something of a spectator sport with occasional audience participation.  See his hysteria summed up rather wonderfully:

Really – Mooney seems to have this very easily-triggered terror that a critical comment from one person about one other person will cause some terrible, general, societal harm. But is the structure really that fragile? Are cascades that easy to set off? PZ calls Collins a clown and, whammo, children flee biology class, and Congress passes laws making fuel economy a felony, and the glaciers melt and everybody dies.

What people like Chris Mooney don't realize is that you can't change the world without shaking people up.  His freaking out at the slightest non-accommodating remark is just pathetic.

Quote o' the Day

Courtesy of Cujo:

The light we're seeing from this nebula today started out its journey when Babylon was just getting started. Nearly all of our history has happened since. I've said it before, but if you need to believe in some deity to be awed by this universe, you don't know very much about it.

Absofuckinglutely.

Go to the source for a lovely image indeed.

I Think George Became Upset

And why do I think our own dear, sweet, epitome-o'-kindness George became upset?  There's a Clue contained in his most recent post:

It was about then that my predatory, reptilian atheist mind wanted to simply lunge forward and devour the theologian in two or three gulps.

Had I been there, I suspect he'd have only gotten about 1 - 1½ gulps in, because I would've been devouring with him.  So much for "friendly."

I have no idea why atheists even try to have "friendly" debates with believers anymore.  I mean, sure, when you're among friends, you'll probably keep it friendly, but these "friendly" formal debates look like an exercise in frustration, without a little fire to liven things up.  The theologian spouts vapid crap, the atheist politely shares reality, and everybody in the audience probably ends up feeling like poor dear George except those frightening folks who seem to have had the irritation centers burned out of their brains.  You know the type.  They're the ones who'll chirp, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!" when they've become a quadruple amputee in a horrific accident that also killed their family and their dog.

If you're not one of the latter, do go enjoy George's deconstruction of the blessed event.

Quote o' the Day

Aunty Flow is here, and has been pestering me with chronic cramps all day, which means I don't have the energy to wield the Smack-o-Matic on some politician's deserving derriere.  The good news is, within about 24 hours or so, all should be back to as normal as it gets and the lack of social energy that has led me to neglect far too many friends shall come to an end.  I shall also be prepared to resume spanking duties.  I'd like to ask the Cons to wax their butts in preparation for my imminent return.  A hairy ass absorbs sound and is also unsanitary.

In the meantime, I'm catching up with Happy Jihad's House of Pancakes, and have come across one of the few things that has the power to make me laugh today:

It's official, people: the Answers in Genesis people have finally decided to protest air.

I commend the rest of that post to your attention. 

Science Quote o' the Day

"They're the Snickers bar of the desert."

Michael Nachman, U of A, ladies and gentlemen, on the rock pocket mouse and the fact nearly everybody in the desert eats them.

Available in both milk and dark chocolate, no less.

I'm sure these poor little buggers would have a different take on ye old Snickers slogan: "Don’t let hunger happen to you."

And yeah, I'm only just now getting round to watching "What Darwin Never Knew."

Quote o' the Day

Ophelia Bennett says all there really is to say in response to the Catholic Church's ongoing campaign to paint themselves as the real victims in all these rape and abuse scandals they so happily covered up for so long:

It's - it's - it exhausts my capacity to revile it. The self-pity, the world-blotting egocentrism, the blank inability to grasp the misery of people outside their own circle, the moral imbecility - I lack the words to express my disgust.

Luckily, she and all of the others who understand that it's wrong to torment little boys and girls and then protect the tormentors from the law are still searching for those words.  The Catholic Church can't be given a free pass simply because what they've done is so horrifying, what they continue to do is so outrageous, that words can only sketch our disgust and anger.

Comment o' the Day

Chris Rhetts posted a comment that should not remain buried in comments.  No, it needs to be out here in the open, for all to see:

I just wanted to say that just a few minutes ago, in a rare, life altering moment of clarity, I FINALLY GOT IT! Republicans are offering us an amazingly delightful alternative to reality and we, poor fools, don't have the sense God gave a piss ant to accept it. What's the matter with us anyway? Consider for a moment that instead of castigating dickheads like Tony Watts and Jim Inhofe - all we have to do is close our eyes, wish really, really hard that they aren't the two-faced douche bags they seem to be, and *poof!* global warming goes away in a cloud of shit. By the way this Chardonnay I'm sucking down by the quart right now is fantastic. You should try some.

You know what?  Excellent idea.  I just hope it comes in gallons...

Quote o' The Day

Our own George W., ladies and gentlemen:

"If 'Nature' were your mother, she’d be in prison for child abuse and neglect."

Go read the context.  It's short, sharp brilliance is what it is.

It should also be noted that George has located the portal to Hell.  Somebody page Buffy....

A Damned Good Question

I'm finally, gradually, catching up on all the Daily Show and Colbert Report trapped in my DVR, when I can wrestle a half-hour or so from writing.  I'm glad I didn't just delete without watching, because Sir Harold Evans asked a damned good question on the Colbert Report while discussing the need for editors:  "Well, it's simply like Rush Limbaugh is telling you about global warming.  Don't you want somebody to print the truth alongside all the bullshit?"

I'd love nothing better!

If only we had an editor like him at the helm of every paper today, we'd probably not be measuring the newspaper industry for a coffin.  We'd certainly have less unchallenged bullshit floating about.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Harold Evans
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

Quote o' the Day: Judge Alex Edition

Yes, I watch judge shows whilst working on ye olde blogging.  And yes, sometimes it's worth it.

Judge Alex: The court system can't fix stupid.

No, indeed.

Quote o' the Day

Cujo found a real gem:

Frank Schaeffer on why the Republican Party and the Right need to stop pandering to fundamentalist Christians of the sort who think that President Obama is the anti-Christ:

You don't move them off this position. You move past them ... The village cannot reorganize village life to suit the village idiot.

Absofuckinglutely.

Quote o' the Day: ZOMG I Agree With a Wingnut Edition

Armageddon is here. Not only has the Conservative Political Action Conference rejected a proposed Birther panel, they did it without mincing words:

“It would fill a room,” said event director Lisa De Pasquale. “But so would a two-headed monkey.”

That's awesome. Unfortunately, we're probably next going to see CPAC forced to perform the dance of contrition for a bunch of angry Birthers, tenthers, deathers, and other ers in the Con base, lest they be immolated by right-wing hysterical rage.

But the sanity was nice while it lasted.

Quote o' the Day

George at Decrepit Old Fool takes down the Pope's latest nonsense, and throws out the best quote on overpopulation evah:

We’re smart enough to protect ourselves from disease and starvation, but there’s no way to fix “we’ve run out of world”.

You got that right!

Quote o' the Day

Steve Benen, ladies and gentlemen:

There was some talk in Republican circles recently that the GOP is finally "back in the saddle." If that's true, the horse is looking pretty small.

It surely is.

Quote o' the Day

Ladies and gentlemen, Eli at Firedoglake:

9) The Republican tent isn't big enough to host a flea circus.

The other eight points are just as amusing. Enjoy.

Quote of the Day

Thank you, Digby, for bringing this one to my attention:

Watching ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, for instance, is like receiving an engraved invitation to apoplexy.

Engraved, even so. This is a writer who knows how to craft a simile of lasting value. And I couldn't agree with him more.

Quote o' the Day

Ladies and gentlemen, the incomparable Ron Britton:

A cartoon about a boy who breathes underwater with the help of “oxy-gum” and fights crime with an electric boomerang and has a dolphin and psychic mermaid as friends is already starting to push the bounds of believability. Making the mermaid glue seashells to her tits would blow the last of its credibility.

Thank you, Ron. I'd woken up all woebegone from a nostalgic dream. That statement rather took a bazooka to the melancholy.

Ron's also created an alternative to the phrase "There but for the grace of God go I."

Obviously, I could never use this phrase, because I don’t believe that there is a God out there looking after people. Nevertheless, the principle behind that phrase is still quite instructive. Many years ago, I felt it would be a shame to let such a useful lesson go unlearnt just because it’s framed in mythology. I needed to rephrase it in a way that was consistent with a non-theistic view of the universe. When I see some random (or not) tragedy befalling somebody, I sometimes remind myself:

There but for the random distribution of matter and energy go I.

I'm not sure which quote I want to use in public first...

Quote of the Day

Ladies and gentlemen, Brad at Sadly, No!

...I am amazed at the sheer cognitive dissonance involved in simultaneously believing that it’s treasonous to peacefully oppose an unjustified war but that it’s patriotic to lead an armed insurrection against the government because they want to pay you unemployment benefits. If there’s a weirder political movement than American conservatism, I’ve yet to see it.

Precisely.

Tweety Knocks One Out of the Park

Give the man credit where it's due. This was a classic:

Here is the really pertinent quote from Matthews.

Lott: "By the way if you don't have these delays you end up with the stimulus bill, nobody read, nobody knew what was in it. It raises spending, it's gonna raise taxes, it's gonna wind up cuttin' defense. This is good?

Matthews: Well, it's better than what your crowd left us with. We got the DOW dropping down to 6000, based on the economic policies of the last 8 years. I wouldn't brag.

Oh, snap!

Snarky Quote o' the Day

Digby on the McCain-worshipping MSM:

"I can't take another four years of codpiece worship. I just can't."

Neither can I, luv. Neither can I.