Philosophy, politics, and religion from behind the bar.

Religion poisons everything. http://www.skeptical-science.com/religion/salvation-army-gays-put-death-comment-happened/

  This is jaw-droppingly amazing. Watch the video. I dare you. http://samuel-warde.com/2013/09/sarah-palin-rants-ted-cruz-america-listening-laughing/   Over 40 million people once thought this illiterate psycho was worthy of being one heartbeat away from the presidency. Watch as she tries to form a coherent thought. We are doomed.   She starts out pretty bad, but I'm telling you, give her credit. She hangs right in there, and by the end, it gets even worse. A whole lot worse. It's hard to believe this is not satire. This lady is going down in our history books. Dwell on that thought for a moment. http://realitybyalex.blogspot.com/search?q=palin+watch Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day, from the one who just can't keep her mouth shut: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/20/sarah-palin-mlk_n_4632831.html

http://www.buzztimebusiness.com/smarts/bartender-dos-donts/ How to screw up, and screw up your place and fellow bartenders: http://www.artofdrink.com/archive/bartending/50-signs-you-are-a-bad-bartender/

  While we're getting distracted by all the other problems we're going to face, the population bomb is intertwined with all of them. http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/09/alan-weisman-inquiring-minds-population-countdown  "Everybody says that Norman Borlaug, the great plant geneticist, he disproved Malthus and Ehrlich forever," he explains. "It's kind of cherry-picked, because the part that they neglect to add, Norman Borlaug's Nobel acceptance speech, he didn't sit there congratulating himself—as he was congratulated by others—for saving more lives than any other human in history. He said, 'We have bought the world some time, but unless population control and increased food production go hand in hand, we are going to lose this.'"

  http://www.upworthy.com/that-one-time-a-ceo-said-something-so-profoundly-awful-and-dumb-that-we-had-to-fact-check-his-face?c=ufb1   Why there are not riots in the streets, why there are not tribunals calling for justice, it boggles the mind.   These guys stole EVERYTHING, and claim to be victims. They buried the American Dream, and robbed us all of our futures, and now are crying that they're deserving of it all and that they're like the victims of lynching? " In 2008, AIG received $85 billion from American taxpayers on top of the funds made available from the TARP program. Less than a week later, a bunch of AIG executives went on a “retreat” to the luxurious St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif., where they ran up a bill of almost a half-million dollars, including $150,000 for meals and $23,000 in spa charges. Now, with Wall Street employees pocketing average cash bonuses of $121,900 — while most families’ incomes stagnate — Benmosche thinks the pu...

  http://www.nationofchange.org/ex-halliburton-official-charged-destroying-evidence-gulf-oil-spill-disaster-1379858063   Why do we get wall-to-wall coverage of every detail of a grisly murder, including live coverage of the trials, but next to nothing on investigative reporting, context, and commentary on stories like this? THIS is news. This is information that an informed electorate needs. Murders are not news.   And, as murderers go, the ones we get coverage of are rank amateurs compared to the liars, polluters, treasonous terrorists, and war mongers that are the ruling class of today's corporate U. S. A.   Never mind. I think I just answered my own question.    Local news is the worst. A constant parade of brown and black people in orange jump suits paraded in front of a judge, serving only to sell us things. Move to a better neighborhood. Get a nicer house. Buy security equipment. Get a gun. Go to church. Meanwhile, city hall is in bed with corpor...

https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews/posts/10151654692441336    I felt sympathy for him. Then the lawsuits pending are reprehensible. But to plead your case here .    This guy had a case. Then he went on Huckabee, one of the mouthpieces (along with the rest of Fox) for the largest and most devastating acts of vandalism this country has ever seen. His house got wrecked. That's bad. Criminal. But the Teabag Party, Huckabee, the GOP, right-wing radio, and their cohorts have destroyed the country. And no one is going to prison for it. Suddenly, I feel, "meh."    This lying sack of shit was almost nominated for President by the GOP. His show this weekend clocked in at over 20 lies before he got to his first guest. So, Mr. Holloway, you've got a right to be pissed. But cozying up to worse criminals isn't helping your case.

There is a slim chance that they are not hiding anything illegal. But, just the hiding should, or could, be considered obstruction of justice. Poof! They've broken the law. http://billmoyers.com/2013/09/19/conservative-lawmaker-defies-open-records-law-to-keep-alec-dealings-secret/

"We would be irresponsible employers if the jobs we provided could not support housing stability and health security. So we are motivated to gradually raise wages to a “thrive-able level” for all of our lowest-paid employees across the board. A living wage is the path to a living economy and the antidote to the current suicide economy trajectory we find ourselves on. We don’t own this approach. Nothing would please me more than for it to go viral, industry wide. But in the mean time, to start to lift millions of people out of poverty and create an economic stimulus through increased consumer spending, we cannot wait on voluntary adoption. The legal minimum wage level must correspond to the actual cost of living to produce and enforce the action needed." From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130919/OPINION01/309190010#ixzz2fSmwFpCg http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130919/OPINION01/309190010#ixzz2fNrmF9m0

http://urbanhabitat.org/node/856    It's not just about the abuse of prisoners. It's also about a shrinking job market, and wage suppression outside of the prison walls. Prison slavery affects us all. http://realitybyalex.blogspot.com/2013/08/profits-american-slave-industry.html

  How to totally avoid reality: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/18/gop-senate-challenger-mass-shootings-linked-to-women-in-workplace/   Has Sen. Rubens entirely lost his mind? Certainly, he has lost his humanity. And his sense of history, politics, and economics.   Is the GOP relevant anymore? Is there any reason to even have it? Well, yes, I guess. It's good to have a place where these idiots can all be gathered together so we can keep an eye on them. But if you vote for them, or join the party, we can assume you're too crazy or too stupid, or both, to own guns.   Add him to the long list of the insane that have taken over the party, and the lobbies that support them, and the ignorance in America that produces people that vote for them. http://realitybyalex.blogspot.com/2013/09/louis-gohmert-watch.html

http://www.buzzfeed.com/timchester/12-of-the-bleakest-places-on-earth-baqg   All things considered, we don't really belong on this list. But there we are, Youngstown, Ohio. I've seen much worse places in this country alone. Life sucks here, for the most part, don't get me wrong. But Camden, N.J.? Detroit? Any backwater of the South? I ain't buyin' it.   And it's an international list. Kazakstan? Zimbabwe? Haiti? North Korea?   Some idiot just put together places he imagined. Whatever came to mind first. Such is the reasoning ability of today's average American.   Did this even get considered for the list?: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139914/A-rare-insight-Kowloon-Walled-City.html  Rep. Tim Ryan responds and straightens out BuzzFeed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/reptimryan/10-things-you-dont-know-about-youngstown-ohio-f3sg

  The question comes up often. Well answered here, and as always, in the comments of the article: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/09/18/answering-the-question-dont-you-atheists-have-something-better-to-do-with-your-time/    Atheism simplified in a five part list: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/staks-rosch/5-pretty-good-reasons-to-be-an-atheist_b_3434210.html

https://www.facebook.com/AllianceDefendingFreedom?hc_location=stream

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/09/14/most-holy-water-found-to-contain-not-so-holy-shit/

 Very long, statistics analysis on morality, crime, happiness, generosity, and a few other things. Spoiler alert, it's better to not believe...   Your mileage may vary: http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/zuckerman/Zuckerman_on_Atheism.pdf

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-weirdest-things-weve-learned-since-911/ "Sure, it's not like some controversial comment on Twitter will get you sent to a gulag. It may merely get you a day spent in a hot interrogation room and your computer seized for a few months. Just a little reminder to watch what you say, and what you think, at all times. They don't have to throw you in prison, they just have to harass you enough that you'll remember next time. And the fire that makes us human grows just a little dimmer, and we shrug and say, What can we do? After all, it's a Post-9/11 World. And apparently it always will be." Read more: http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-weirdest-things-weve-learned-since-911_p2/#ixzz2elPZSl6a   Have no doubts about it. You want to bring the world to a stop, cheaply? Easy. Well, easy-ish. You want to stop people from scaring us all into irrational behavior? Sorry, can't be done.

Like I keep saying, I believe in the 2 party system. Democrats in the middle, and Greens on the left. Oh, and the GOP in prison.

George Voinovich shared a link . 46 minutes ago Congress is back! Here is the FixtheDebt campaign explaining the big issues facing Congress as they return. Congress needs to stop kicking the can down the road, get past partisan politics, and get serious about addressing our nation's most difficult issues. Blog: A Big Fall? - Fix The Debt www.fixthedebt.org Congress has returned to Washington after its long August recess. Lawmakers have some big decisions to make in the coming weeks. Will they face the big issues confronting them or will they kick the can down the road again? Will those decisions help the country continue its slow climb out… Like · · Share Larry Adams likes this. Bruce Beckwith Why didn't we raise taxes before the Iraq war? 30 minutes ago · Unlike · 1 Alex McDowell I see you deleted my post. And I got this dialogue on private message. (Please be brave enough to allow this and...

   My computer has been acting odd. I'm hoping to have it up and running normally, but it may be hit or miss in the days ahead. I missed it in an unhealthy way for the past day and a half...

  Antonin Scalia equates Christian values to capitalism. And I agree, but for very different reasons. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/09/antonin-scalia-capitalism_n_3894153.html   Capitalism, as it's practiced today in the USA, has everything to do with Christian theology. Not for the capitalists themselves so much, but for the people they convince to keep quiet, pray, and hope for a better after-life. The more they can convince the masses of the myth, the more they can keep them underpaid, overworked, and pacified.    Squeezing "value" out of Christianity is the key.

     The Friendly Atheist pulls apart fake news commentator, S. E. Cupp. S. E. Cupp Explains   "Cupp says she, like believers, “agree[s] with pretty much all of the Ten Commandments.” Really? Including the first four ?! What about coveting? Isn’t that the driver of capitalism?"    Yeah. Okay. If Cupp is an atheist, I'm the King of the Hindus.    Atheism, as almost all of the comments to Hemant's blog have already pointed out, is nothing more than a marketing "hook" for her. As are the glasses, the mask of intellectualism. They're both a lie for her, and they keep her in good stead with the crowd she wants to be associated with. But she's not only a bad liar, she's not very bright. And that's why she's no longer on MSNBC's The Cycle anymore. Her gig playing the conservative atheist, the smart, perky, young redhead could not stand up to the scrutiny of people that were actually who and what they were saying they wer...

I had an idea for a longer, more in depth post on this topic (or something close to it) back when I started the blog. I alluded to it, then let it go by. It's what I do...  And here we go. An article that comes quite a ways along in proclaiming what I had in mind back then. I'm not letting this stand on its own as the finale on what I had in mind. I think I may have wanted to go a bit further. Maybe not. But this article seems to have what I had in mind: http://www.beinghuman.org/article/five-ways-our-need-fit-controls-us I don't know. Maybe not. I may sober up and take it all apart. Probably not. We'll see. Or not. From earlier posts: http://realitybyalex.blogspot.com/2013/07/community-individualism-and-fitting-in.html And a more sincere stab at it that just went off the rails, somehow: http://realitybyalex.blogspot.com/2013/07/boxes-part-1-brief-metaphorical-history.html

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/camelswithhammers/2013/09/when-all-that-abstinence-fetishism-goes-too-far/ Ack!

Showing your religious fervor can take some rather bizarre turns. History has a few things to show us. The Friendly Atheist gives us a few examples and asks for input. Fun reading: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/09/07/that-old-time-religion-new-series-to-kick-off-on-the-friendly-atheist-your-help-needed/

I have had issues with it. I don't care. I have a few friends on a private page and I made a game. This is only for those on the page, so please, don't get involved...Names and numbers are blocked out for the purposes of this post anyway.... _____________________________________________________________________________ I need some help. A bizarre idea that came to mind tonight, after work. Give me a moment to set this up. I had a job tending bar for a loge at the Youngstown State game tonight, and it was a pretty easy gig, except it turns out the caterer was a few bodies short, and so I became the guy to load the van, and unload the van, then rinse, repeat, afterward. I'm tending bar for one loge, and ended up doing the work for 4 loges...And it beat the living shit out of me, which has next to nothing to do with why I'm sending this. Anyway, I get through it, and go home for a beer, and pour myself a big glass of rye with some Peychaud's and sit in a ho...

Friendly Atheist , Hemant Mehta, weighs in on a stupid joke from the people of Duck Dynasty . http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/09/06/why-duck-dynasty-patriarch-phil-robertsons-joke-about-atheists-makes-no-sense/ "Incidentally, in God Is Not Great , Christopher Hitchens brings up a very similar scenario. He recalls a panel where he was asked to imagine himself in a strange city late one night: Now — would I feel safer, or less safe, if I was to learn that they were just coming from a prayer meeting?… I was able to answer it as if it were not hypothetical. “Just to stay within the letter ‘B,’ I have actually had that experience in Belfast, Beirut, Bombay, Belgrade, Bethlehem, and Baghdad. In each case I can say absolutely, and can give my reasons, why I would feel immediately threatened if I thought that the group of men approaching me in the dusk were coming from a religious observance.”  "

The crazy just keeps coming: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/06/glenn-beck-we-should-all-get-along-but-progressives-should-be-hunted-down-like-nazis/ And you can earn one Alex/Gander Blogpoint for being first to correctly identify the quote I used in the title. (Alex/Gander Blogpoints are not registered as anything, and win you nothing but the honor. For now.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Gohmert I thought I'd just start a post here to link articles to my favorite bat-shit insane, stupid politician. Louis Gohmert has one hell of a long history of ass-hattery, but I think his comedy show has legs. This one just caught my eye today: http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/14038/gohmert-calls-vaccines-a-liberal-plot-as-measles-outbreak-tears-through-north-texas?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook I'll post 'em as I get 'em. Watch this space. The best piece of Gohmertitus (crazed babbling), melting down in a hearing with Attorney General Eric Holder. The "cast aspersions on my asparagus" moment. Pure classic.: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/louie-gohmert-eric-holder_n_3280953.html Note: The Chairman of the committee that he's arguing with is from his own party. Louie sits in on The Family Research Council for Tony Perkins, and interviews insane former POTUS candidate, Alan Keyes. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/opinion/krugman-years-of-tragic-waste.html

I've been watching this man con people for over 35 years. He's a despicable liar who's been able to shield his crimes under the veil of religious liberty. It turns out that he's worse than we ever imagined. And it won't matter a damn. His followers will still defend him. He could rape little boys on live TV, eat their livers, and kill their moms, and get away with it. Now he's been caught stealing the honest work of aid workers for his propaganda and fund raising purposes, and funneling the money to his own blood diamond operations in Africa. All tax free, Praise the Lord. http://www.examiner.com/article/pat-robertson-used-millions-aid-to-fund-private-diamond-mine http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-threatens-legal-action-against-filmmakers-exposing-charity-scam

"One nation, under God" is an oxymoron. The phrase itself divides. So, Fox News,  incredibly stupid and bat-shit insane as usual, weighs in: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/09/06/fox-news-dana-perino-if-atheists-dont-like-the-pledge-of-allegiance-they-dont-have-to-live-here/ An online survey takes an ominous turn: And Rachel's Hobbit Hole weighs in, as usual, to the point (I'm beginning to really like this blog): http://rachelshobbithole.blogspot.com/2013/09/foxs-five-take-on-question-of-under-god.html For the record, I wrote this post long before I saw this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/09/12/nothing-says-divisible-like-under-god/ Are people reading my blog?

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265501.php

   Sorry that I haven't been posting much. End of summer blues, underemployed, waiting for the next new place to open. It looks like my next gig is being pushed back to the end of October.    I've been ruminating (as usual) on the general stupidity being foisted on us from all quarters. There's too much to be able to comment on much. Overwhelming, really.    Playing Star Wars Angry Birds, and still thinking that the best thing to come out of the Star Wars series is Bill Murray as the sleazy lounge performer singing the theme song. It's what comes to my mind every time I hear it. Bill Murray sings the theme to Star Wars    Figured I would try to play hero, and do the dishes (Suziema sets the bar low, tyvm). Broke one of our last 3 good wine glasses.    Payday is on Friday, and my last checks for awhile will go to Suziema's birthday. Powerball is up over 169M, maybe it's my turn. :-P   Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood , The An...

"The Rich Against the Poor! Judge Edwards, the tool of the aristocracy, against the people! Mechanics and working men! A deadly blow has been struck at your liberty!... They have established the precedent that workingmen have no right to reg ulate the price of labor, or, in other words, the rich are the only judges of the wants of the poor man. " http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnother10.html Happy Labor Day. Same as it ever was. The Other Civil War www.historyisaweapon.com A sheriff in the Hudson River Valley near Albany, New York, about to go into the hills in the fall of 1839 to collect back rents from tenants on the enormous Rensselaer estate, was handed a letter:

Pope Frank goes full-predictable. Nothing new here. Meet the new boss, dumb as the old boss. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/ friendlyatheist/2013/09/02/ pope-francis-first-encyclical-s hows-what-he-really-believes-a bout-unbelievers/ Pope Francis’ First Encyclical Shows What He Really Believes About Unbelievers www.patheos.com That’s big news for Catholics, who comprise the target audience for this sort of document, and who often put a great deal of stock in the pontiff’s opinions on how to live their faith. In atheist circles, the most likely reaction is a shrug, a raised eye My favorite responder, so far: Holytape • 11 minutes ago ...

Cal Thomas, on Fox News', The Five repeated the lie of omission about the Dixiecrat history in the civil rights movement. His whole career in print, and as a talking head on TV, has been as spin-meister spewing the most  vile of half-truths and lies. So I went to his FB page to find his reminiscence of covering the MLK "I Have a Dream" speech as a cub reporter, and left him this: After your comments on "The Five", today, you should refrain from talking about the history of race relations. With that ridiculously evil smirk, you repeated the lie of omission about the history of the Democratic Party during that era. You know what I'm talking about. Every thinking American knows what I'm talking about. You know what the Republican Southern Strategy was. You know what Johnson had to say about the future of the party in the South. You also know that the Freedom Riders and the southern black civil rights activists never went to the Republican Party,...