Hannity and Colmes vs. Shirley Phelps Roper

Yes, Shirley Phelps Roper. Whether you’re a loved one of a fallen soldier, or gay person you KNOW who the identity of the Phelps Clan. You know that their favorite pastime is to spread vitriol in order to deflect their own religious shortcomings.

First watch the video clip

It is an absolute train wreck. Note that Mrs. Phelps-Roper looks so demented. Perhaps its the inbreeding in the Phelps clan. Also note how she states that the WBC membership is less than one hundred, last count I heard they were at 80 people. The Phelps clan makes up 80% of those 80, or a total of 64. Those 64 are the cretinous spawn of old Fred the Fraud and the other ilk that subscribe to their twisted worldview and marry into such a dysfunctional family.

If you want to find out more about the Westboro Baptist Church and its ilk, vist this site. Also keep in mind that the Phelps clan is on several domestic terrorist watch lists. That’s right – terrorists.

The media should stop giving them attention. Then they’d just shrivel up and blow away, die off, whatever the case. It’s bad enough that they’re allowed to maintain web sites that do nothing but spew hatred. Maybe a DDOS is in order. Or maybe an elite squad to….., oh never mind. Let’s just say that despite the slippery slope argument against it, assassination is sometimes a valuable tool.

The utlimate solution that will be appreciated by the squeamish is to contact media throughout the U.S. and ask them WHY they continue to run footage of those hateful bastards.

If enough of us do so, maybe the media will get the message.

Three Alabama Students Expelled for showing Porn

Initially I laughed at this.

First, it’s because there’ s always someone bad in the class that would bring a porn DVD, magazine, book, or what have you to school. Call it an adolescent version of show and tell.

Second is because there’s always a goody two shoes that has to ruin it for everyone else.

But then I thought about it and I was very unhappy that the students were expelled for this incident. My apologies to those that feel it necessary but zero tolerance is ridiculous to me. There has to be leeway for discretion when it comes to disciplinary measures. I suspect that the reasoning for zero tolerance is that we’re such a litigation happy society that educators feel they must protect themselves using ludicrous measures.

The result of such a litigious society is that we’ve also become a society that abdicates the responsibility to self. It’s always someone elses problem, a principle amply demonstrated in the late Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy which is actually 6 books.

I suppose that if you’ve read my blog you might get the idea that I’m an individualist. But make no mistake, I see the value that society affords us. For example, in many cases it probably prevents me from punching someones lights out. Instead I make nice even though I may strongly dislike the person. Problem is I seem to attract those I strongly dislike. But that’s life.

Nova: Dimming the Sun

Many of the items on my blog deal with things I’ve found that have to do with our environment. This program on PBS is scary. If you haven’t caught it yet, I strongly suggest you find out when it runs next by going to PBS website.

And while I’m at it, please support your local PBS station. I say this as a member of WGBH Boston PBS.

Los Angeles vs. the Homeless

It appears that the Federal Appeals Court for the 9th circuit has overturned the LAPD and city policy that regularly harassed the homeless in LA’s Skid Row.

That they threw it out under the grounds of the 8th Amendment using the cruel and unusual punishment points of the amendment.

What I find most interesting is the dissent written by justice Pamela A. Rymer. She has to be a conservative Christian Republican for in her dissent she writes:

Judge Pamela A. Rymer issued a strong dissent that took issue with both the majority ‘s interpretation of the facts and its conclusion. The Los Angeles code “does not punish people simply because they are homeless,” wrote Rymer, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush. “It targets conduct – sitting, lying or sleeping on city sidewalks – that can be committed by those with homes as well as those without.”

What I find more interesting is that my own city has a law on the books that targets this behavior. It’s called “Failure to Move” It’s in Article 1, section 16-13. It’s obvious purpose is harassment but nobody has challenged it yet.

When I worked at the state AG’s office we used to get fingerprint cards that we’d have to reject because every other PD in the state of RI had agreed to uniform statutes and Failure to Move wasn’t one of them.

But in the case of Los Angeles I’d be willing to bet that there was another motivator for the harassment. It would be interesting to look at the deeds for the properties surrounding Skid Row. I’d be willing to lay odds that a developer is interested in gentrifying the area.

The homeless get it from all ends. And it is a never ending cycle of abuse. Maybe if a few true Christians would step up to the plate, things would be different.

Eye color

Whoa – this one bagged my eye color dead on.

Your Eyes Should Be Hazel

Your eyes reflect: Intellect and sensuality What’s hidden behind your eyes: Subtle manipulation

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

Exactly how evil are you

I found this on another blog I visit frequently – Onanite Online. I suppose if Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld took this test, they’d probably score as 100% evil. So I guess I’m not quite up to their level yet.

You Are 64% Evil

You are very evil. And you’re too evil to care. Those who love you probably also fear you. A lot.

How Evil Are You?

82 Year old finds new fame after being ticketed

Apparently Miss Coyle got a ticket for crossing during flashing red and taking too long to do so. Now she has new found fame at 82.

But in her defense I will say that I can walk at a brisk clip and sometimes just barely make it before the damned walk signal turns into that orange upheld hand. To add insult to injury, the pedestrian signals around these parts have timers on them that count off the seconds in that orange glow.

The nice part is that in Rhode Island, if a pedestrian is in a crosswalk it doesn’t matter if that hand sticks up. You have to let them finish traversing the roadway. Crack down on the drivers damn it.

Oh Sweet Mother of a Non-Existent God – hangoverless alcohol

Known in STTNG circles as Synthenol(tm) you get all the more pleasant effects of intoxication without suffering a hangover. Now it seems a scientist in the UK has stated that it should be quite possible to make the stuff.

I don’t know about you but long ago I learned the secret to avoiding hangovers. There are actually a few strategies. One of them isn’t any fun since it means you can’t drink alcohol. But if you like to imbibe past the legal limit, here are some things to remember.

Hangovers are for the most part caused by dehydration. You see, alcohol also has the effect of flushing out your kidneys and so all the liquid in your system pretty much takes a beating.

In order to combat this I can give you one sure shot cure. Before retiring after a hard night of drinking, chug down 20+ ounces of water along with two tylenol tablets.

You should wake up feeling just fine.

But strangely enough, make sure you click the links in here or in the article, particularly this one about alcohol fueled muscles for robots. To think that Matt Groening nailed it with his robotic character, Bender from Futurama.

Movie Review: The Bourne Identity

Ok, so I’ll be the first to admit that I never saw this when it first came to theatres, nor did I pick up the DVD because I thought to myself, how can a pretty boy like Matt Damon carry an action movie.

Turns out that he did it quite well. Sure, I’m a law abiding citizen but I do love movies in which cops get sytmied on a regular basis. And movies with insane car chases also make me very, very happy. But in this movie Bourne opens up a can o’ whup ass on some Swiss cops. Papieren indeed.

Of course I have The Bourne Supremacy in my Netflix queue. Hopefully they didn’t murder the sequel.

The Little Rover that Could

I’ve been following the Mars explorers Spirt and Opportunity since their launch. When you consider that each rover was designed to last approximately 90 sols and has now been active for 807 sols for a total of 717 sols past it’s warranty as NASA puts it, you can see that this was an engineering masterpiece. The science that the two rovers have provided is out of this world, literally. Seems there was both water and life on Mars at some point in the past. Who knows, that life may have been what sparked the explosion of flora and fauna on planet Earth. So in reality we might all be Martians.

FYI – Opportunity has been on Mars for 786 sols, or 696 past its warranty.

NASA should be trumpeting the success of these rovers, but then they’re blown the deadline for the CEV which means we’ll have no way of getting to the ISS by ourselves. Just great.