Public News Network

Well guess which Wasillabilly family is nominated for TPM's Golden Dukes ward, under the category "Best Scandal -- Sex and Generalized Carnality." Did you peek?

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 01:30:00 +0000

Here are the categories according to Talking Points Memo:

Best Scandal -- Sex and Generalized Carnality -The Palin clan for the brawl of the century (no, no sex but nominated for just generally gettin' down and dirty when everyone's good and drunk.)

-Gov. Tom Corbett who was Attorney General when members of his staff exchanged pornographic emails.

-Carl Demaio for multiple sexual harassment allegations.

-Investigator David Nieland, who conducted the internal review of the Homeland Security Department's prostitution scandal, and then resigned himself over an incident involving a prostitute in Florida.

Aww, come on! Those other scandals cannot hold a candle to the Throwdown at the Hoedown!

I mean we have both pictures AND audio.

You can actually HEAR the drunken stupidity, and threatening behavior for yourself.

Okay look according to Josh Marshall of TPM the decision will not be rendered until December the 31st, so that gives us quite a few days to let him know that there is NO scandal more deserving of that award than the Palin drunken family brawl.

Don't just stand there, go leave a comment. And make sure to leave links to the police audio too.

No way can we let those scandal wannabes Tom Corbett of Carl Demaio walk away this thing.

Federal judge throws out challenge from Joe Arpaio calling the President's immigration reforms unconstitutional.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:30:00 +0000

Courtesy of Reuters:

A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit brought against Barack Obama by an Arizona police chief who called the U.S. president's sweeping immigration reforms unconstitutional, saying the plaintiff lacked legal standing in the case.

Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the demand by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a preliminary injunction to halt the policies.

Arpaio, who calls himself "America's Toughest Sheriff," filed the case last month, saying Obama had overstepped his powers by bypassing Congress and ordering the changes himself.

No the President did not overstep his powers, but you sure did you pink underwear pimping piece of shit.

Well SOMEBODY sure had a great Christmas.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 21:00:00 +0000

Courtesy of USA Today:

For a movie that wasn't even coming out at the beginning of the week, The Interview is ending it in style.

The Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy at the heart of the controversy involving Sony hackers racked up nearly $1 million on Christmas Day in 300 independent movie theaters around the country, according to Variety. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain, one of the staunchest supporters of screening the film, sold out all of its Christmas screenings in its 17 locations.

It's a decent haul for a movie that, due to threats of terrorism, was pulled by major theater chains such as AMC and Regal.

The Interview has also done well on video-on-demand platforms since its Wednesday release. While none of the sites has disclosed download or streaming numbers, Variety reports The Interview is the best-selling film on Google Play and YouTube Movies. And according to CNN, there were also 750,000 illegal downloads of the film on Thursday.

"The audience reaction was fantastic — the limited release, in under 10% of the amount of theaters originally planned, featured numerous sell-outs and a first-day gross over $1 million," said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony, in a statement to CNN.

You know every once in awhile you recognize that you are in the middle of a pivotal moment in history.

And we have had a lot of them recently. The first black president. The Affordable Care Act. The Climate Change agreement with China. The reopening of diplomatic relations with Cuba. The newly released Senate torture report. I could go on.

And this is another one.

It is the first time that we have seen hackers impact a major studio, or ANY large corporation, in such a dramatic fashion.

Even yesterday there was still disagreement over who exactly hacked Sony, and there was yet another hack on online gaming platforms yesterday as well.

So while The Interview may have ultimately benefited from all of the attention and goodwill that resulted from the Sony hack, it is unlikely that this is the last time this is going to happen.

I have no idea what this ultimately means going forward, but I am willing to bet that it will result in increased security and less internet freedom down the road.

After 18 months Rep. Darrell Issa finally releases his report which finds, hold on for a shocker folks, NO connection between the White House and the IRS "scandal." What?

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 18:00:00 +0000

Courtesy of the LA Times:

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) wasted enormous congressional resources over the last 18 months trying to inflate the IRS "scandal" into a mountain. The release Tuesday of his final, petulant report on the affair marks what may be its final decline into a mouse.

The bottom line: Contrary to his assertions in countless appearances on Fox News, there's no evidence that the Obama White House directed -- or indeed was involved in any way -- in the supposed targeting of conservative nonprofit groups for special scrutiny by the IRS. There's no evidence that "tea party" groups were exclusively targeted, as opposed to tax-exempt "social welfare" organizations from across the political spectrum.

The evidence set forth in the report, which was issued by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's GOP majority without sharing it first with the Democratic minority, instead depicts an IRS struggling to apply complicated rules for nonprofits engaging in political activity, all without guidance from Congress.

Issa launched his investigation last spring with the charge that the IRS had screened c-4 applications for words such as "tea party" in their names in an effort to deprive conservative organizations of a tax exemption.

Of course that turned out to be bullshit as the report reveals that the IRS also applied scrutiny to various liberal groups seeking the c-4 exemption as one of the keywords they were looking for was "progressive."

In fact the ONLY group applying for the exemption, who did not receive it, was a group called Emerge America, which trains Democratic women to run for office.

So in other words there was a wild goose and Darrell Issa spent millions of taxpayer money to chase it around for a year and a half.

And let's not forget that Issa wasted similar amounts of taxpayer money in his "Fast and Furious" and Benghazi investigations.

God what a tool.

President Obama's poll numbers on the rise. Just in time to ruin the new year for Republicans.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 15:15:00 +0000

Courtesy of CNN:

Improving views of the economy have helped hike President Barack Obama's approval rating to a 20-month high, a new CNN/ORC poll showed Tuesday, as markets climbed to record levels at news of an economy in overdrive.

More Americans still disapprove of the job Obama is doing as President. But at 48%, Obama's approval rating is at its highest point in CNN polling since May 2013.

The gains were driven by newfound backing among women, independents and millennials — groups where Obama's approval numbers jumped 10 percentage points from a month ago.

You know the only thing better than good news, is good news that you know will irritate the GOP.

I have a feeling that if the President continues his new "Fuck you I'm going to do it anyway" attitude that his poll numbers will probably keep right on climbing.

And if he manages to get Gitmo closed....well then all bets are off.

You know when it comes to mocking Sarah Palin and other conservatives, I bow to the master. Bill Maher.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 13:00:00 +0000

That may be an oldie, but it is also a goodie.

By the way did any of you notice my gift to you yesterday?

No?

Well it was a whole day without a Sarah Palin post.

You're welcome.

Now for those who have been pestering me about my next post with information from my source, that is in the works right now.

Today I am sending off an e-mail with a list of the questions that you all suggested in a previous post.

When she responds, and after a phone call or two for clarification, I will post more information.

I don't have a timeline right now, but I expect it will be within the next week or so.

Tweeted by NDT yesterday morning. Update!

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 11:00:00 +0000

On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 25, 2014

Well at least he was actually born on December 25th.

Personally I would love to see Christmas changed to celebrate the birth of Sir Isaac Newton rather then the mythological birth of the Christ child.

Update: Apparently Professor Tyson's tweets did not go over well with everybody.

Of course that just makes me like them all the more.

President Obama wears crown. Republican heads heads to explode in 3..2..oh let's face it they're still all 'sploded from the last thing he did.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 01:00:00 +0000

Courtesy of Politico:

Sporting a tiara in a photo posted Wednesday, President Barack Obama seems to have broken his own rule of “you don’t put stuff on your head if you’re president.”

But that’s the power of the Girl Scouts.

White House photographer Pete Souza shared a photo on Instagram on Wednesday of the president donning a tiara with a group of Girl Scouts from the White House Science Fair earlier this year in May. In the caption, Souza wrote the girls from Tulsa “convinced” Obama to join in on the fun.

Yeah let me tell you as the father of a daughter of my own, little girls can talk dads into doing ANYTHING.

I myself have attended more than one tea party where the only other attendees were my daughter and her stuffed animal collection. (Sat in chairs so tiny that my knees were up my nose the entire time.)

Personally I like Michael Cohen's take on this:

There's really no getting around the fact that Obama no longer gives a f**k: pic.twitter.com/NVtjsUD9Uj
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) December 24, 2014

And let's hope he spends the rest of his presidency not giving a f**k. (You know about conservative opinions, not the American people.)

P.S. Don't bother pointing out the difference between tiaras and crowns, like I said I have a daughter.

I just thought the word "crown" made a better headline.

Well it's Christmas, and this IS the Immoral Minority, so let's stick a pin in the virgin birth story shall we?

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Thu, 25 Dec 2014 22:00:00 +0000

Now I am sure that I have already covered this in the past, but I recently stumbled across an interview on Raw Story of Dr. Tony Nugent, scholar of world religions, and a symbologist.

Oh, and he is also an ordained Presbyterian minister.

And I really liked his no BS explanation for why so many ignoramuses stick giant Nativity scenes on their lawns at Christmas.

On why we think Mary was a virgin:

The familiar Christmas story, including the virgin conception and birth of Jesus, is found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Scholars have pointed out that these stories are somewhat disconnected from other parts of these Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. In fact, by the time he is a young boy in the temple, Jesus’s parents seem to have forgotten the virgin birth. They act surprised by his odd behavior. There is never any other mention in the New Testament of these incredible events! These stories seem to be an afterthought, written later than the rest of the gospels that contain them. To make matters more interesting, the stories themselves have inconsistencies and ambiguities – contradictory genealogies, for example. Our Christmas story (singular) is actually a composite.

Or consider the idea that Mary is a virgin. The Greek writer of Matthew quotes Isaiah as saying: “a parthenos shall conceive and bear a child.” The Hebrew word in Isaiah is “almah,” which means simply “young woman.” But the Greek word parthenos can mean either a virgin or a young woman, and it got translated as “virgin.” Modern Bible translations have corrected this, but it is a central part of the Christmas story.

You know for the "inerrant word of God" this book is certainly full of historical inaccuracies, and mistranslations.

So did early Christians believe in the virgin birth?

Jewish Christians, the first Christians, didn’t believe in the virgin birth. They believed that Joseph was the biological father of Jesus. Part of their Christology was “adoptionism”–they thought Jesus was adopted as the unique son of God at some time later in life. There were disagreements about when – Mark suggests the baptism, Paul suggests the resurrection.

Over time, gentile Christianity replaced Jewish Christianity. There were Jewish-Roman Wars. The Jewish Christians were marginalized and oppressed. The Gentile branch became dominant. Eventually we get the gospel of John which pushes the sonship of Jesus back to the beginning of time. This writer is at the other end of the spectrum from the Jewish Christians.

So apparently all of the relatively rational early Christians were told to shut up, and that left the less than rational ones to interpret the story of Jesus. Well that figures.

So just how should we view stories in the Bible?

We need to be able to appreciate these stories as myths, rather than literal histories. When you understand where they come from, then you can understand their spiritual significance for the writers and for us.

Well good then I have been doing it right since I was just a boy.

I apologize if this interferes with your ability to enjoy the holidays. But take heart!

I mean sure the Biblical stories about Jesus are complete horse pucky, but at least we know Santa Claus is real. Right?

Right?

New TLC show about gay Mormon men, refusing to admit they are gay. But you know, they are.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Thu, 25 Dec 2014 19:00:00 +0000

Courtesy of HuffPo:

"My Husband's Not Gay," a TV special about a group of Mormon men living in Salt Lake City who are attracted to other men but have chosen to marry women is headed to TLC.

The special will follow couples Jeff and Tanya, Pret and Megan, Curtis and Tera, and a 35-year-old bachelor named Tom, according to The Wrap.

Quotes from the trailer include "With our faith in God we believe we believe we can overcome anything," "I like to say I've chosen an alternative to an alternative lifestyle" and "I'm interested in men I'm just not interested in men."

This almost cries out for a Jeff Foxworthy like bit called "You might be gay if..."

You might be gay if....you like to nibble the batter off of your corndog before swallowing it whole.

You might be gay if...the first thing you notice when you see your beautiful totally nude wife emerge from the shower is that she's done something different with her hair color.

You might be gay if...you cannot quote any football stats but have memorized every episode of "This Old House."

And you might be gay if....you are the male half of any of these couples.

I swear leave it to religious people to convince themselves that by denying the love they so desperately seek that they are somehow making God love them more.

Just goes to show that denial is not simply a river in Egypt.

The Interview is coming to Alaska!

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Thu, 25 Dec 2014 15:00:00 +0000

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

In the wake of controversy surrounding "The Interview," a comedy about the assassination of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, the Bear Tooth Theatrepub in Anchorage has announced it will begin screening the film Jan. 2.

The independent, second-run theater will not publicize show times for the film until Monday evening, according to Rand Thornsley, film buyer for the Bear Tooth. Tickets will go on sale the following day, he said.

“This was the only opportunity for (Sony Pictures) to have an opening in Anchorage theatrically, so they are allowing the Bear Tooth to run the film within our normal programming,” Thornsley said.

Thornsley said he confirmed Tuesday evening that “The Interview” would play on the Bear Tooth's single screen.

He said theater managers expected to arrange “extra security measures” for its showings, though he did not have specifics.

“Since we don’t have the issue with having a multiplex, we will only be running ‘The Interview’ at one particular time,” Thornsley said. “That makes it a little bit easier. People can make their choice, whether or not they want to see it. It won’t be hurting other films.”

Somehow I doubt that Alaskans will be terribly intimidated by any threats from hackers or North Koreans.

After all we survived Sarah Palin. What could Kim Jong Un do to us that was worse than that?

By the way the movie might also be coming to Netflix a few days after Christmas and that is most likely how I will end up watching it.

Merry Christmas everybody!

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Thu, 25 Dec 2014 12:00:00 +0000

To all my IM friends, here is wishing you the all time best Christmas day imaginable.

And in honor of Bishop Shrewsbury, who hates John Lennon, here is your Christmas song of the day.

Let us hope that we all live to see a day when there is no more war, no more hatred, and no more reason not to love everybody on this planet as if they were your brother or your sister.

Because you know what, they are.

President Obama brought an early Christmas present for the Democrats, and the rest of the country.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Thu, 25 Dec 2014 01:30:00 +0000

Courtesy of The Hill:

Democrats on Tuesday received a gift high on their wish list — an invigorated economy that they believe will give President Obama much-needed clout when he faces off with a Republican Congress next year.

Current and former Obama aides say they expect the White House to get a year-end boost from the 5 percent expansion rate of the economy in the third quarter, and expect the president to aggressively talk up the gains in the months to come.

The growth figures also could give the White House new leverage as it seeks common ground with Republicans on a range of policy areas, such as trade and taxes, and as it prepares for battle in others, like changing the healthcare law.

"The proof is in the pudding," one former senior Obama administration official said. "There's really nothing else to say."

Yeah there really is nothing left to say is there?

It seems the minute that the polls closed on November 4th, and before the Republicans could even uncork their champagne bottles to celebrate what they thought was a victory, the President was already opening the can of whoopass that he was planning to present them with for the next two years.

God I love the holidays, don't you?

Sarah Palin literally calls in her appearance on Todd Starnes big Fox News hyper Christian, military loving, Ronald Reagan corpse masturbating, Christmas special.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 23:15:00 +0000

Okay so the other day I was poking fun at the Pillsbury dough boy here and his upcoming Christmas special, and I described his lineup as follows:

As you can see the program features a who's who from the "I have never heard of these people" list. And of course Sarah Palin, who is only a handful of years away from being added to that list.

So as all of you know I just say stuff. I really don't think that anybody is paying attention most of the time.

Especially the person who is the subject of my posts.

But this time I may have been wrong about that. Because as it turned out Palin herself may not have wanted to be included on a list of "I have never heard of these people."

So instead of flying out to the Fox News studio, Palin simply phoned it in. Literally.

Here is how Wonkette covered it:

Sarah Palin, phoning it in from Wasilla, Up-There-In-Alaska. Because Jesus might be the reason for the season, but he’s not reason enough to hop a plane to show up in person.

The other reason for the season, besides Jesus, is a reminder to buy Sarah Palin’s book about the “War on Christmas,” which apparently was inspired by none other than Todd Starnes and his coverage of those who would “take Christ out of Christmas” — by failing to buy Sarah’s book, we assume. (Wonkette also has the video.)

So to be clear not only did Palin NOT show up in person for the "special," but she also took up valuable airtime hawking last year's ghostwritten Christmas book that nobody bothered to buy in 2013.

Now I have to admit that I don't watch Christmas specials anymore, but my memory of them were that they had actual people who showed in person up to perform, like the Mandrell Sisters, Jose Feliciano, Johnny Mathis, Mariah Carey, and so on. All dressed up in suits and beautiful gowns to entertain the audience.

I simply cannot think of a single incident where a guest simply phoned in their appearance so that they could stay home in their pajamas and drink instead. Can you?

I think that indicates just how little Palin thought of Todd Starnes and his "Christmas special" jam packed with people nobody had every even fucking heard of.

And trust me, if you cannot even get Sarah Palin to show up at your event you have really sunk to a new low. That woman once showed up at a bowling alley trade show for fuck's sake, and yet she would not show up for this.

Damn, that's gotta hurt!

Congressman Michael Grimm does not believe that pleading guilty to a felony is any reason to lose his job.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 21:00:00 +0000

"What do you mean what an I doing here today? I work here."

Courtesy of The Washington Times:

Rep. Michael G. Grimm, New York Republican, said Tuesday he does not plan to resign his seat after pleading guilty to one felony tax charge tied to activities involving a restaurant he co-owned prior to winning election to Congress in 2010.

Grimm pleaded guilty to helping prepare a false tax return, a charge stemming from a 20-count indictment against the congressman handed up in April. The former FBI agent faces up to three years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced June 8.

The indictment accused Grimm of understating gross receipts and employee wages at a health restaurant he had co-owned by more than $1 million.

After his court appearance, Grimm apologized for his actions and said what he did was wrong but said he does not plan to step down.

“I’m going to get back to work and work as hard as I can,” he said.

No you're not. You don't get to do that. Does he?

Well apparently so far nobody is locking him out of his office or dragging him off the floor of Congress in handcuffs, so I guess he can.

I mean sure the Democrats are pitching a fit and calling for Boehner to give this criminal the heave ho, but who listens to them anymore?

And don't forget that this is the same asshole who threatened to break a reporter in half and throw him off a balcony.

If you want to watch a brilliant take on this Rachel Maddow has that very thing for you.

MSNBC presents the 9 most Sarah Palin being Sarah Palin moments.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 18:00:00 +0000

MSNBC's Anna Brand has compiled a list of incidents in 2014 of Sarah Palin essentially being the most Sarah Palin.

And they are as follows:

1. The time she decided Putin wrestles bears and Obama wears mom jeans.

Sound bite: “People are looking at Putin as one who wrestles bears and drills for oil. They look at our president as one who wears mom jeans,” Palin said “Anyone who carries the commonsense gene would know that Putin doesn’t change his stripes,” she said. “He wants to exert huge power and dominance, so he has to get to those border areas and he has to capture them.”

2. The time she sort of quoted Dr. Seuss.

This of course was several months after Ted Cruz read from "Green Eggs and Ham" during his ridiculous and self serving filibuster. In March Palin did the same in front of CPAC:

Sound bite: “I do not like this Uncle Sam. I do not like his health care scam. I do not like these dirty crooks, or how they lie and cook the books. I do not like when Congress steals, I do not like their crony deals,” she continued. “I do not like this spying man. I do not like ‘oh yes we can.’ I do not like this spending spree. We’re smart, we know there’s nothing free. I do not like reporters’ smug replies when I complain about their lies. I do not like this kind of hope, and we won’t take it, nope, nope, nope.”

3. The time she said being a grandma might turn Hillary Clinton conservative.

Sound bite: “I think anyone who is a grandparent really starts looking further down the road. We start thinking about things like $17 trillion dollar debt that our nation is under and what we’re going to hand that to our grandkids for them to pay off,” she said. “That’s not fair to our grandkids. Hopefully, she’ll start thinking along those terms, too.”

4. The time she thought drinking Diet Dr. Pepper was the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Sound bite: “C’mon, at this stage of my life, in my career, aren’t I a little too prim and proper for all that ice bucket water dumping?”

"Prim and proper?" Hardly.

5. The time she said let’s all bless the haters.

Sound bite: “Hey, the more they’re pouring it on, the more I’m going to bug the crap out of them by being out there, with a voice, with the message, Hopefully running for office in the future too … Bless their hearts, those haters out there. They don’t understand that it invigorates me. It wants me to get out there and defend the innocent,” she said. “It makes me want to work so hard for justice in this country!”

6. The time her family got into a bloody, shirtless drunken brawl.

Sound bite: No sound bite. No one reportedly listened to her when she tried to intervene in Bristol’s defense and was sitting safely inside her white stretch limo when police arrived, according to the report.

Okay well clearly this Anna Brand did not do her research. Because as all of us already know, and the link above proves, Palin was not only NOT in the stretch Hummer, she was a full participant in the brawl itself.

The bloody shirtless part is right however.

7. The time she was stopped for speeding, which she called “qualifying.”

Sound bite: “I wasn’t speeding, I was qualifying.”

8. The time she declared that gun-free zones are ‘stupid on steroids.’

Sound bite: “Maybe our kids could be defended against criminals on the spot if more Mama Grizzlies carried [guns]. And [the] Obama administration wants you ID’d for that? Well, then go ahead and carry a sign too. A sign that says ‘Yeah, I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.’”

9. The time she launched a digital channel dedicated to herself.

Sound bite: “Are you tired of the media filters? Well, I am! I always have been. So we’re going to do something about it. Together, we’ll go beyond the sound bites and cut through the media’s politically correct filter.”

Boy can you believe all of that happened in only one year?

Well I still think my favorite moment of Palin being Palin (And her family doing the same.), was the Throwdown at the Hoedown.

I mean if anything defines this lunatic and her inbred Wasillabilly family that was it. Cussing, fighting, attempting to hijack the media, it was all there for everybody to see, and hear, for themselves.

Gee, I can only imagine what next year will bring.

"Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism" is now available online. If you haven't seen it...well there is really no excuse for having never seen it.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 15:15:00 +0000

Courtesy of Raw Story:

The film charts the rise of Fox News, outlining the marketing-based techniques that make the channel such “compelling” viewing — the “Fox News Alert,” the blurring of journalism and commentary, and the deceptive use of the chyron, i.e. the lower third of the viewing area on a typical television screen.

In addition to that, the film also reviews Fox New’s coverage both of the 2000 presidential election and the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, demonstrating how the network successfully established the talking points used by those in the so-called “liberal media.”

Personally I have watched this documentary about three times now.

Typically I have to watch it incrementally because I get so pissed off I want to pick Sean Hannity up by his ankles and beat Roger Ailes to death with him.

Bishop of Shrewsbury calls the John Lennon song Imagine "heart chilling."

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 13:00:00 +0000

Courtesy of the Catholic Herald:

The Bishop of Shrewsbury has described the John Lennon song Imagine as “heart-chilling” in a Christmas homily.

Reflecting on this year’s Christmas adverts which focus on the First World War, Bishop Mark Davies will say in a homily on Christmas Day: “The events of Christmas 1914 give the lie to the lazily repeated assertion that ‘religion is the cause of wars’. John Lennon would give voice to this ill-founded belief in the lyrics of his song Imagine. This becomes a heart-chilling vision in which Lennon imagines a world with no hope of heaven and no fear of hell. And he adds, ‘no religion too’. Only then, he suggests will ‘all the people’ be ‘living life in peace.’”

The bishop will continue: “Yet the fact is, the wars of the century past, bringing with them atrocities and destruction on a scale never seen before, were largely inspired by secularist and, indeed, openly anti-Christian ideologies. In reality, it is human sin which lies at the root cause of war. Conflicts, writes St James, arise within the human heart wherever ‘bitter jealousy and selfish ambition’ are found (James 3: 14). Tonight we declare that Christ came to ‘save us from our sins’, to enable us to give glory to God and to bring peace amongst men. Christ calls all who would follow Him to have, as we have just heard in St Paul’s words: ‘no ambition except to do good’ (Titus 2:14).”

That last part is complete bullshit. In fact most wars were either inspired by religious differences, ideological differences, or strategic power grabs.

And the word "sin" is a bullshit primitive definition to explain complicated human behaviors that too many people lack the intellect or patience to understand completley.

As for the John Lennon, well I will take his beautiful song about hope and peace over the Catholic church's doctrine of shame, oppression, and misogyny any day of the week.

For those on Fox News trying to convince us that the idea of separation of church and state is a recent invention, yeah not so much.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 11:00:00 +0000

As you can see there is no date on the comic to tell us when it was printed, however a quick Google search of the cartoonist Watson Heston tells us that he died in 1905.

So that should provide insight into how long this debate has been raging.

Especially considering the fact that it was not until 1870 that all of the states at that time even had public schools.

If we are to continue to provide our students with a well rounded education job one should be keeping religion as far away from our schools as humanly possible.

Sarah Palin's ghostwriter finally got off her fat ass and wrote her something to say about Cuba.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 01:30:00 +0000

The video starts off with these words:

"President Obama's recent decision to normalize relations with the oppressive communist regime in Cuba, it puts me in mind of how another president handled relations with the communists."

And after that it is just blah, blah, Ronald Reagan, blah blah, cold war, blah blah, evil empire, blah blah.......Obama sucks.

It's almost Christmas and I have no intention of transcribing the entire seven minutes of this thing.

However the sycophants over at Breitbart were forced to transcribe a portion of her holiday babble so I will simply link to them and share some of it here for the mocking. (And don't forget every time you visit Breitbart.com an angel has its wings torn off. So think before you click.)

Let us begin:

“I am so ashamed with what the Obama administration has done to Cuban people. I do not support it,” Palin, speaking in front of a lit candle, says in a video that will be seen on The Sarah Palin Channel. (Aww Sarah Palin is ashamed of the President. Well then you KNOW he must be doing something right.)“This Christmas eve, I intend to light a candle and put it in my window to show my solidarity with every brave Cuban fighting for freedom and every political dissident languishing in Castro’s prisons.

“I encourage you to do the same. Let’s join together in this. Let’s show them that the light of freedom shall never be extinguished.”

Yes lighting candles. Such an effective method for overthrowing a government.

(Actually the idea comes from a Reagan documentary that Palin pimps during this warm over serving of word salad.)

Palin contrasted Reagan’s “moral clarity” (She confused "moral clarity" with "ignorance about diplomacy.") during the Cold War against the Soviet Union with Obama’s recent appeasement on Cuba. She mentioned that Reagan knew that the Soviet Union’s economic model was “a total failure” but did not collapse only because the Soviets were able to manipulate Americans into propping it up with grain deals and technology exchanges. She blamed “naive diplomats” and “Wall Street greed” for combining to “prop up the most repressive regime in human history” that “would have crumbled so much sooner under the weight of its own incompetence if it were not for” the policies of appeasement.

Reagan, Palin notes, had the “moral clarity” to call the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and declare that his strategy for the Cold War was simply, “we win, they lose.” (Yes and if Mikhail Gorbachev had not taken the initiative and reached out to Reagan then nothing would have changed on his watch. Reagan's so-called toughness did nothing except slow down the process by which the cold war ended.)

Palin urged viewers to contrast Reagan’s moral clarity with Obama’s decision to “spit in the face of every human rights activist in Cuba.” (Well according to Palin, the President has stopped shoving things down throats and is now spitting in the face. Is that progress?) She said Obama’s decision to reverse U.S. policy toward Cuba “enriched their oppressors and sanctioned their abuse.” (She does realize that we currently trade with a number of countries which have terrible reputations for oppressing human rights, doesn't she?) She said that “greedy crony capitalists are propping up a failing Communist regime” in Cuba, and Obama just gave the “Castro regime the hard currency and the economic boost to remain in power forever.”

Palin said it is “ludicrous” to think that Cubans will enjoy democracy and human rights because corporations can sell products there.

“Ask human rights activists in China how that’s working for them,” Palin said, noting that the Cuban government will pocket 92% of wages of their workers to empower the apparatus that controls them.

She ultimately accused Obama of giving “away all of our leverage to fight for human rights” (And boy hasn't that leverage been working out well so far.) and betraying “the people who are courageously putting their lives on the line fighting for freedom.” She even said Obama was “spitting in the face of every human rights activist on the globe” before asking Americans to light candles to support the Cuban freedom fighters that the Obama administration betrayed.

Palin also uses the President's middle name during the video which I am assuming she still considers an insult.

You know for fun I would like to ask Palin on video to point to where Cuba is on a map. Fifty bucks says she couldn't find it in ten tries.

Okay so after working on this for a couple of days, the best Palin's ghostwriter could do was to steal some tape from a Reagan documentary, string a bunch of words together that almost make Palin sound like she once read a book, and change the attack against the President from accusing him of "shoving things down our throats" to "spitting in the face" of human rights advocates.

Color me unimpressed.

But even worse than the actual words that the ghostwriter had Palin vomit forth, is the image that Palin presents in the video of a poorly bewigged mental patient, with too much lip gloss, the glow of a teleprompter reflected in her man glasses, and a hideous fur collared suit with shoulder pads left over from the eighties.

I mean is anybody even trying to make her look professional these days?

I think I probably spent more time typing this up just now, and trust me I went through it as quickly as I possibly could, then her team spent putting that whole video together.

I have half a mind to start covering Ted Cruz instead of wasting my time on Palin. I mean at least Cruz comes up with new crazy all the time instead of regurgitating the same old partially digested talking points over and over again.

You know I think it might be about time to have a glass of the Gryphen family's famous eggnog.

It's made from a recipe that my father came up with; Six ounces of rum with three tablespoons of nog added to give it that holiday flavor.

It doesn't really taste that good but typically I pass out part way through my second glass. So who really cares?

Well guess what Kim Jong Un is getting for Christmas. A big middle finger from Sony.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 23:30:00 +0000

Courtesy of Yahoo News:

After a month of leaks, embarrassment, and terrorist threats — not to mention an admonishment from President Obama himself — Sony has reversed course and will release The Interview on Christmas Day in a limited number of theaters.

The Alamo Drafthouse, an independent theater chain based in Austin, confirmed to Yahoo Movies that it will screen the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy about assassinating North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The Plaza theater chain in Georgia also tweeted that it would be showing the film.

According to The Wrap, Sony will also release the film on video on demand systems.

"We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas day,” Sony Entertainment chair and CEO Michael Lynton said in a statement. “At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience. I want to thank our talent on The Interview and our employees, who have worked tirelessly through the many challenges we have all faced over the last month. While we hope this is only the first step of the film’s release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.”

Here is a tweet from Seth Rogen after learning the news.

Of course this has to happen.

I mean it is one thing to be a little bitch and cave in to threats, but it is altogether different to be Kim Jong Un's little bitch.

I mean come on!

Baltimore Fox News affiliate edits video to make it appear that peaceful protesters are encouraging the murder of police officers.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 21:00:00 +0000

Courtesy of Gawker:

Last night, Baltimore's WBFF aired a video of protesters chanting "kill a cop"– evidence, it claimed, of murderously violent rhetoric on the part of anti-brutality protesters in Washington, D.C. The only problem? The protesters weren't chanting "kill a cop" at all, and there's video evidence to prove it.

The current national pastime appears to be constructing elaborate ways of laying responsibility for recent police shootings at the feet of anti-police-brutality protesters. This, of course, is bullshit. Faced with the daunting task of shifting blame for broad and escalating distrust of police away from the murderous bastards themselves and onto mostly non-violent activists, our insanely cynical news media has been forced to dig deep into their bag of tricks.

Here is how WBFF broadcast the footage:

We can't stop!

We won't stop!

So kill a cop!

Sounds bad right?

However THIS is the unedited footage of the same chant:

We can't stop!

We won't stop!

'til killer cops are in cell blocks!

The woman pictured leading the chants is Tawanda Jones, sister of the 12 year old boy that was gunned down by Baltimore police while playing with a toy gun. Who responded with this on Facebook.

Right now there is a very aggressive attempt by conservatives to blame those NYPD deaths on protesters, and this is simply one example.

I think the very least the FCC should do is to heavily fine these people, but if they were really doing their jobs they would take the entire Fox News cable network off the air entirely.

So this just happened.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 18:00:00 +0000

It's perfectly fine of course, as well as a good way to track what I write since I usually tweet all of my posts.

However I certainly hope that Ms. French has all of her anti-anxiety medications filled.

Because she's definitely going to need them.

President Obama wants to keep yet another campaign promise. Shutting down Gitmo.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 15:15:00 +0000

Courtesy of Politicususa:

I am going to be doing everything I can to close it. It is something that inspires jihadists and extremists around the world. It is contrary to our values, and it is wildly expensive. We’re spending millions for each individual there, and we have drawn down the population there significantly. There are a little less than 150 individuals left in this facility. We are continue to place those who have been cleared for release or transfer to host countries who are willing to take them. There’s going to be a certain irreducible number that are going to be really hard cases. We know they’ve done something wrong and they are still dangerous but it’s difficult to mount the evidence in a traditional Article three court so we’re going to have to wrestle with that, but we need to close that facility and I’m going to do everything I can to do that.

Politicususa goes on to affirm that the President is quite correct about the expense, and points out that while it only costs taxpayers about $78,000 a year per inmate in the most expensive supermax prison in the country it costs a whopping 2.8 million per prisoner in Gitmo.

You know if the President is able to find some way to close Guantnamo Bay it will make some of his other accomplishments pale in comparison, and DEFINITELY put a shine on his legacy.

Hmm, I wonder if renewing diplomatic ties with Cuba is part of his plan for putting pressure on the Republicans concerning Gitmo?

Is he really that many moves ahead of the GOP?

Former teacher wins 1.9 million is damages after Catholic Diocese fires her for using in vitro fertilization in an attempt to get pregnant.

noreply@blogger.com (jaringan otak) — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 13:00:00 +0000

Courtesy of The Journal Gazette:

Almost every single thing for which Emily Herx asked the jury, she received.

Nearly $2 million in damages, and vindication, after the jury ruled that the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend discriminated against the former language arts teacher at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School when they fired her for undergoing in vitro fertilization.

The verdict came after about 51/2 hours of deliberation Friday afternoon, capping off a four-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge Robert Miller Jr. in the expansive federal courthouse just a few blocks from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the center of the diocese.

As she waited for the jury to come in, Herx sat ramrod straight in her chair at the table next to her attorney, Kathleen DeLaney, her face anything but calm as she clearly tried to control her breathing and anxiety.

Throughout the trial, she heard herself characterized by the defense as a potential drug abuser, an emotional basket case and as someone who committed a sin so grave and immoral that no circumstances could justify it.

But after the verdict was read, she seemed to uncoil with relief, crying and holding onto DeLaney in a long and tearful embrace.

Whenever I hear people defending the church's anti-abortion stance it makes me shake my head.

The church is not so much interested in protecting unborn babies as they are in controlling women's reproductive organs.

All this woman was trying to do is exactly what the church claims to support. And that is to give birth to a child.

But because the woman, the married woman, could not conceive naturally, and turned to science instead of accepting God's will, she was not only condemned by the church but they took away her livelihood as well.