Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Goodness, college midterms have really gotten in the way of me updating this blog in a while! I must really put forth more effort to write in the future.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday (Tuesday?) Psittaciform #19
Military Macaws
(Woo: Finally have a break from studying. Still have to contend with three more exams over the next two weeks, though. Not fun.)
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Prop 1 Supporters: Low on Creativity, High on Lies
Back in August, I wrote about the underhanded campaign by arch-conservatives, Catholics and Mormons trying to take gay marriage away from Maine. They've placed a bill -Proposition 1- on the November ballot allow them to reverse the court ruling earlier in the year in favor of gay equality if passed.
That's still a few months away, which means that these bigots have been campaigning like mad. Both the Catholic and Mormon Churches (with the help of the LDS's repugnant little sock-puppet group, NOM) have been funneling massive amounts of out-of-state support and Church funds into the campaign. They've also gone and rehired the same political team that managed Prop. 8 in California, who will now be churning out the same sort of ads to support Prop. 1 in Maine.
And when I say "same ads" I mean the exact same ads.
WiredForChange has pointed out that the most recent attack ads by the Prop. 1ers are pretty much identical to the ones they used in California. See for yourself: it's the exact same script as before, with the exact same "interviewed" parents, and the exact same scare tactics that they pulled last time. Once again, it would appear as though the bigots in favor of Prop. 1 are less interested in being honest about their position, opting instead to scare parents into believing that their children will be indoctrinated with "The Gay" if marriage equality is allowed to persist.
Just as it was in California, these ads are a heap of dishonest bullshit. Allowing gay marriage isn't going to have any bearing on what's taught in schools, regardless of what the idiots at NOM say. The bill doesn't even have anything to do with education, first of all, and marriage has never been part of the lesson plan in Maine schools. Ever. Which makes it safe to assume that teachers are not going to suddenly devote their class time to telling their students about how awesome gay marriage is.
It should be a very clear sign that your cause is garbage when you can't even bring yourself to be honest about it.
That's still a few months away, which means that these bigots have been campaigning like mad. Both the Catholic and Mormon Churches (with the help of the LDS's repugnant little sock-puppet group, NOM) have been funneling massive amounts of out-of-state support and Church funds into the campaign. They've also gone and rehired the same political team that managed Prop. 8 in California, who will now be churning out the same sort of ads to support Prop. 1 in Maine.
And when I say "same ads" I mean the exact same ads.
WiredForChange has pointed out that the most recent attack ads by the Prop. 1ers are pretty much identical to the ones they used in California. See for yourself: it's the exact same script as before, with the exact same "interviewed" parents, and the exact same scare tactics that they pulled last time. Once again, it would appear as though the bigots in favor of Prop. 1 are less interested in being honest about their position, opting instead to scare parents into believing that their children will be indoctrinated with "The Gay" if marriage equality is allowed to persist.
Just as it was in California, these ads are a heap of dishonest bullshit. Allowing gay marriage isn't going to have any bearing on what's taught in schools, regardless of what the idiots at NOM say. The bill doesn't even have anything to do with education, first of all, and marriage has never been part of the lesson plan in Maine schools. Ever. Which makes it safe to assume that teachers are not going to suddenly devote their class time to telling their students about how awesome gay marriage is.
It should be a very clear sign that your cause is garbage when you can't even bring yourself to be honest about it.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Sunday Psittaciform #18
White Fronted Parrot
Sigh. I have two exams coming up, which means that I won't get a chance to update my blog much this week. Again.
You Mean Our First President Wasn't "Jesus"?
Are there any schools in Oklahoma?
I'm asking this as a serious question. Are there any at all?
Just, like, one would be a good start.
I mean, how else am I to explain the piss-poor results of a recent education survey conducted down there? Because it would seem as though Oklahomans -for all their Bible thumping and crowing about "Patriotism"- know next to nothing about America's history or political system.
Last month, the OPCA commissioned a research project to test Oklahoma high schools on their level of basic civic knowledge. Students were asked to answer a set of 10 questions, chosen at random, from the US Citizenship and Immigration Service's item bank, which is a 100 problem test administered to all potential immigrants into America.
Now, one must remember the vast fundamental differences between an immigrant and an American high school student. Immigrants typically come here looking for work and a better standard of living, which means that the majority of people who arrive seeking citizen ship are often penniless, unable to speak English fluently, and have no previous exposure to US history. Our high school students, by contrast, boast the advantage of having lived in America for their entire lives. Moreover, their public education is aided by thousands upon thousands of our tax dollars every year. So while they clearly don't have as much of an incentive to be well verse in American civics, it doesn't seem that unreasonable to expect a certain level of academic competency from Oklahoma students.
The typical passing rate from immigrants on this test is about 92%. Oklahoma students (on the abridged, 10 question test, mind you) only had a passing rate of 2.8%. This is not a misprint.
"Ok," some of you may be thinking. "I'll admit that does look bad. But who knows? Maybe the randomly assigned questions were just really difficult or obscure. Surely we must take that possibility into account." I'll admit, I initially wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt at first too. But then I saw the list of questions. Ladies and Gentlemen, we're not exactly dealing with the freakin' MCAT here.
Here is the list of questions they had to answer, along with the percentage of people who answered correctly. See how many you can answer.
1. What is the supreme law of the land? (28%)
2. What do we call the first 10 amendments of the Constitution? (26%)
3. What do we call the 2 parts of the US Congress? (27%)
4. How many judges are on the Supreme Court? (10%)
5. Who wrote the declaration of Independence? (14%)
6. What ocean is on the east coast of the US? (61%)
7. What are the names of the two main political parties? (43%)
8. How many years does a member of the Senate serve? (11%)
9. Who was the first president of the United States? (23%)
(What the fuck, Oklahoma!? His face is on your goddamn money!)
10. Who is the leader of the Executive Branch? (29%)
Oklahoma, you have failed your students.
I'm asking this as a serious question. Are there any at all?
Just, like, one would be a good start.
I mean, how else am I to explain the piss-poor results of a recent education survey conducted down there? Because it would seem as though Oklahomans -for all their Bible thumping and crowing about "Patriotism"- know next to nothing about America's history or political system.
Last month, the OPCA commissioned a research project to test Oklahoma high schools on their level of basic civic knowledge. Students were asked to answer a set of 10 questions, chosen at random, from the US Citizenship and Immigration Service's item bank, which is a 100 problem test administered to all potential immigrants into America.
Now, one must remember the vast fundamental differences between an immigrant and an American high school student. Immigrants typically come here looking for work and a better standard of living, which means that the majority of people who arrive seeking citizen ship are often penniless, unable to speak English fluently, and have no previous exposure to US history. Our high school students, by contrast, boast the advantage of having lived in America for their entire lives. Moreover, their public education is aided by thousands upon thousands of our tax dollars every year. So while they clearly don't have as much of an incentive to be well verse in American civics, it doesn't seem that unreasonable to expect a certain level of academic competency from Oklahoma students.
The typical passing rate from immigrants on this test is about 92%. Oklahoma students (on the abridged, 10 question test, mind you) only had a passing rate of 2.8%. This is not a misprint.
"Ok," some of you may be thinking. "I'll admit that does look bad. But who knows? Maybe the randomly assigned questions were just really difficult or obscure. Surely we must take that possibility into account." I'll admit, I initially wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt at first too. But then I saw the list of questions. Ladies and Gentlemen, we're not exactly dealing with the freakin' MCAT here.
Here is the list of questions they had to answer, along with the percentage of people who answered correctly. See how many you can answer.
1. What is the supreme law of the land? (28%)
2. What do we call the first 10 amendments of the Constitution? (26%)
3. What do we call the 2 parts of the US Congress? (27%)
4. How many judges are on the Supreme Court? (10%)
5. Who wrote the declaration of Independence? (14%)
6. What ocean is on the east coast of the US? (61%)
7. What are the names of the two main political parties? (43%)
8. How many years does a member of the Senate serve? (11%)
9. Who was the first president of the United States? (23%)
(What the fuck, Oklahoma!? His face is on your goddamn money!)
10. Who is the leader of the Executive Branch? (29%)
Oklahoma, you have failed your students.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Islamist Gangs Targeting Iraqi Gays
At times, one can only look on in horror at the evil perpetrated by those who believe they have God on their side.
The Guardian has simply appalling article about a group of Islamic extremists in Iraq who use social networking as a means of tracking down and killing gays in their country:
This is horrible. I'm both sickened and depressed by what Hamizi and his gang are doing to the gays in Iraq. It just completely boggles my mind that they can do things so horrible to people that they've never met before for a completely infantile reason yet still sincerely believe that they have the moral high ground. But of course, that sort of thinking tends to be what fundamentalist religion is most famous for: when you sincerely believe that your imaginary sky daddy has given you a list of absolute right and wrongs, you are not about to show any tolerance towards anyone who feels differently.
I also couldn't help but notice that Hamizi seems to be obsessed with making sure that homosexuals don't "dirty the reputation of Islam". It would appear, however, that he doesn't believe that his torturing and murdering of said homosexuals could also potentially be construed as "dirtying Islam's reputation". One can only wonder if this is one of the same people who was enraged by the violent depiction of Muslim extremists in the Danish cartoons a few years back. Assuming he did, then he is a monster and a fucking hypocrite.
So long as I'm good and angry about this whole thing, I think I'm going to take my criticism on step further. Hamizi and his gang are a bunch of fringe lunatics, but I am by no means going to completely absolve any of the mealy mouthed, anti-gay, religious moderates either. Sure, you guys don't kill homosexuals like these soulless assholes do, but you still hold to the belief that they are an abomination unto God. In doing so, you are in essence providing homophobic killers like Hamizi with support and justification for their actions. This puts you only a half-step away from them in my eyes.
Do try to remember this next time you all open your stupid mouths to protest gay equality.
Damn you all.
The Guardian has simply appalling article about a group of Islamic extremists in Iraq who use social networking as a means of tracking down and killing gays in their country:
Sitting on the floor, wearing traditional Islamic clothes and
holding an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day
searching internet chatrooms linked to gay websites. He is not looking for new
friends, but for victims.
"It is the easiest way to find those people who are destroying Islam
and who want to dirty the reputation we took centuries to build up," he said.
When he finds them, Hamizi arranges for them to be attacked and sometimes
killed.
Hamizi, a computer science graduate, is at the cutting edge of a new
wave of violence against gay men in Iraq. Made up of
hardline extremists, Hamizi's group and others like it are believed to be
responsible for the deaths of more than 130 gay Iraqi men since the beginning of
the year alone.
The deputy leader of the group, which is based in Baghdad, explained
its campaign using a stream of homophobic invective. "Animals deserve more pity
than the dirty people who practise such sexual depraved acts," he told the
Observer. "We make sure they know why they are being held and give them the
chance to ask God's forgiveness before they are killed."
This is horrible. I'm both sickened and depressed by what Hamizi and his gang are doing to the gays in Iraq. It just completely boggles my mind that they can do things so horrible to people that they've never met before for a completely infantile reason yet still sincerely believe that they have the moral high ground. But of course, that sort of thinking tends to be what fundamentalist religion is most famous for: when you sincerely believe that your imaginary sky daddy has given you a list of absolute right and wrongs, you are not about to show any tolerance towards anyone who feels differently.
I also couldn't help but notice that Hamizi seems to be obsessed with making sure that homosexuals don't "dirty the reputation of Islam". It would appear, however, that he doesn't believe that his torturing and murdering of said homosexuals could also potentially be construed as "dirtying Islam's reputation". One can only wonder if this is one of the same people who was enraged by the violent depiction of Muslim extremists in the Danish cartoons a few years back. Assuming he did, then he is a monster and a fucking hypocrite.
So long as I'm good and angry about this whole thing, I think I'm going to take my criticism on step further. Hamizi and his gang are a bunch of fringe lunatics, but I am by no means going to completely absolve any of the mealy mouthed, anti-gay, religious moderates either. Sure, you guys don't kill homosexuals like these soulless assholes do, but you still hold to the belief that they are an abomination unto God. In doing so, you are in essence providing homophobic killers like Hamizi with support and justification for their actions. This puts you only a half-step away from them in my eyes.
Do try to remember this next time you all open your stupid mouths to protest gay equality.
Damn you all.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
A Battle of Wits Between Unarmed Opponents
A group of Muslims are planning on organizing a massive prayer gathering outside of DC next month. Not as a violent, Jihadist thing, mind you, but rather to achieve the exact opposite effect. It is the group's intention to pray for "the soul of America", display their American patriotism and to give the face of Islam a bit more positive PR than it has had of late:
Trouble is, there is always going to be at least one group of dumbasses out there that will have a paranoid overreaction over things like these. Sure enough, the wingnuts over on the religious right are simply aghast that a group with a different set of beliefs than them would have the audacity to organize a rally. The reasons for their hissy fit are not immediately clear to me: presumably they believe that the Muslims are praying for America's peace and prosperity to the wrong God. Or maybe it's because they are afraid that the Muslims are praying to the right God the wrong way. I suspect we shall never know for sure exactly what their problem is, but suffice to say some Christian groups are planning on holding a prayer gathering of their own, so that they may counter the evil Muslim prayers for peace and reconciliation with some good, wholesome prayers of their own.
...Or something like that:
*Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding!* Let's get ready to RUMBLE!
Personally I find this all to be very funny. At its core, what we are looking at is a group of people engaging in a superstitious ritual for peace and friendship, and another group that has decided that the first group's superstitious ritual is stupid and evil, and is therefore countering with their own superstitious ritual for peace and friendship. I've never realized that the spreading of goodwill could be so idiotically competitive.
The event will not include political speeches or placards, just prayer,Now this might come as a bit of a shock, but I don't actually have that much to say in the way of criticism. I mean, of course I still disagree (vehemently, at times) with parts of the Muslim doctrine and consider prayer from any faith to be a pretty-sounding waste of energy and oxygen, but on the whole, I approve of what they are doing. We live in a free country, which means that every individual is granted the the freedom to worship whatever they please, as well as the right to express it through peaceful assembly. Moreover, I feel as though anti-Muslim sentiments have been at an all-time high in America ever since the 9/11 attacks and during the Bush administration. I also feel that these sentiments are largely due to both the general public making the erroneous (though understandable, given the circumstances) category error that all Muslims were violent extremists, as well as a fundamental lack of understanding of Muslim culture. If this prayer gathering can do anything to break the commonly held stereotypes Americans hold of the Muslim community at large, then it will be a very good thing indeed.
said Hassen Abdellah, president of Dar-ul-Islam and a main organizer of the
event, which is scheduled for Sept. 25.
"Most of the time, when Muslims go to Washington, D.C., they go there
to protest some type of event," Abdellah said. "This is not a protest. Never has
the Islamic community prayed on Capitol Hill for the soul of America. We're
Americans. We need to change the face of Islam so people don't feel every Muslim
believes America is 'the great Satan,' because we love America."
Trouble is, there is always going to be at least one group of dumbasses out there that will have a paranoid overreaction over things like these. Sure enough, the wingnuts over on the religious right are simply aghast that a group with a different set of beliefs than them would have the audacity to organize a rally. The reasons for their hissy fit are not immediately clear to me: presumably they believe that the Muslims are praying for America's peace and prosperity to the wrong God. Or maybe it's because they are afraid that the Muslims are praying to the right God the wrong way. I suspect we shall never know for sure exactly what their problem is, but suffice to say some Christian groups are planning on holding a prayer gathering of their own, so that they may counter the evil Muslim prayers for peace and reconciliation with some good, wholesome prayers of their own.
...Or something like that:
Some Christians also are mobilizing to pray on that day. An e-mail
circulating virally calls for Christians to oppose what they see as Islam's
growing influence on the U.S. through prayer.
"If ever we needed to be
crying out for mercy for America, it is now," the e-mail reads. "We must stand
strong and speak Truth wherever we are and at every given opportunity. ... May
there be multitudes come in to the kingdom of God while there is yet time."
Abdellah said he doesn't understand why Christians would object to
Muslims praying. "What is there to fear about that?" he said. "Nobody's praying
for any destruction? We're praying for reconciliation and that people get
along."
But Nigerian minister Mosy Magdugba believes the Muslim prayer
gathering is part of a spiritual battle for the soul of the nation. In an
e-mail, the leader of Spiritual Life Outreach in
Port Harcourt, Nigeria, called on Christians to fast from midnight
Sept.25 until the Muslim prayer event ends at 7 p.m.
"It is warfare time," Magdugba wrote. "Do not joke with this. If
Christians fail to frustrate this game plan in the spirit, you will regret the
outcome."
Florida resident Karen Leach agrees, saying she plans to fast and pray
on Sept. 25 because she sees the event as a subtle form of "cultural
jihad."
"I'm very distressed," Leach said. "I'm distressed when I read the
statement, ‘We want to show America how we pray.' ... I feel that any kind of
prayer speaks into the heavenly realms. So I feel if they're going to be
speaking into the heavenly realm into the forces of darkness, I want to speak
into the forces of light."
*Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding!* Let's get ready to RUMBLE!
Personally I find this all to be very funny. At its core, what we are looking at is a group of people engaging in a superstitious ritual for peace and friendship, and another group that has decided that the first group's superstitious ritual is stupid and evil, and is therefore countering with their own superstitious ritual for peace and friendship. I've never realized that the spreading of goodwill could be so idiotically competitive.
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