Disassembled...

11:07 pm - Goth persecution..

Goth clothes 'prompted killing'


A 15-year-old boy kicked and stamped to death a woman because she was dressed as a Goth, a court heard.

The drunk teenager was among a gang of five who "savagely and mercilessly" attacked Sophie Lancaster, 20, and her boyfriend, Preston Crown Court heard.

Miss Lancaster was begging the gang to stop beating Robert Maltby, 21, when they turned on her in Stubbylee Park in Bacup, Lancashire, the jury was told.


Teens Get Life for Killing 'Goth' Woman



I'm at a loss for words... It just makes me sick. :(


Hat Tip to klemrev for the heads up...

12:57 pm - Muslim Aids Jews Attacked On N.Y. Subway...

Muslim Aids Jews Attacked On N.Y. Subway...

Group of Christians scream "Merry Christmas"
Group of Jews return with "Happy Chanukah"
Christians start beating up Jews
Muslim kid comes to the aid of the Jewish group

Sounds like something out of Disassemblance... O.o

09:56 am - NEWS: Christian trinkets made in sweatshops

I had to share this, because its in-line with what I think is one of the greatest ironic tragedies of our time. A lot of that cheap "Jesus Saves!", "God is Love!", "Merry Christmas!" shit that you get at places like Wal-Mart, Christmas Tree Shop, and the innumerable "Christian" book shops that dot our American landscape is made in Chinese sweatshops.

Not only is the support of such horrific slave labor an affront to the teachings of Jesus, I find it also immensely ironic that the people making these Christian bobbles are the same people who can be imprisoned (or killed) for their Christian beliefs.

Ed Brayton has a little write up about this on his blog about a report by the National Labor Committee:

An absolutely appalling story that I'm working on for a longer expose for the Michigan Messenger. The National Labor Committee released a report documenting that crucifixes sold in Christian bookstores all over the US are being made in a sweatshop in China that is far below even the Chinese legal standards. A sample of the findings:

More on Dispatches from teh Culture War...

10:06 am - NEWS: Saudi lawyer suspended for defending gangrape VICTIM...

I shit you not...

Saudi lawyer suspended for defending gangrape VICTIM...!!"

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 21 -- Saudi officials have revoked the license of human rights lawyer Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem, who has handled the country's most controversial cases and defended a gang-rape victim sentenced to jail time and [200] lashes.

This lawyer is an amazing human being. Check out a few of the other controversial cases he has taken up in the name of fighting the archaic political/religious institutions of Saudi Arabia, and the violence, intolerance and horrific human rights that only royalty and religion can create:

• a school administrator suspended for criticizing the religious establishment
• a man convicted of promoting homosexuality for saying it was genetic
• three political reformists seeking a constitutional monarchy
• the first Saudis suing the country's powerful religious police

05:59 pm - GOTH BIGOTRY!! Sorta...

EL principal sends 'Goths' home:

Three Edward Little High School students complained of unfair treatment Monday when they were sent home from school because they were wearing Gothic-style makeup...

It's no more distracting than kids who walk around with bright underwear and their pants halfway down their legs...

I would rather she be wearing makeup and dressing the way she wants than going out or doing drugs and getting into things I don't want her getting into...


This event kind of irritated me. Having been a little gothling at one time or another, I hated when people got all on my case about it -- assumed I was a Satanist and did drugs (my mother accused me of both when I started wearing all -- or mostly -- black in high school. In a bit of irony, the only time I've done drugs in my life is when I went through my College Preppy, phase -- ie, the only time in my life that I didn't dress "goth.")

Of course, when you are a teenager, dressing "goth" is a bit of a rebellious thing. There was a certain thrill with dressing in a manner that was not typically accepted, but that doesn't mean I thrived on the unnecessarily harsh reactions too it. Standing out from the norm, making people a little uncomfortable was good thing, but such a thing never warrants abusive, bigoted and violent reaction that can sometimes result.

I've always enjoyed dressing dark, but I never acted in a manner that truly matched my outward expression. I prefer to wear my black on the outside, not on the inside.

Their "gothic" make-up is just about as basic and stereotypical as you can get. But it's hardly offensive or distracting. As one kid indicates in the article, there is FAR more distracting stuff going on in high school. Do you think people are more often distracted by boy wearing eyeliner, or the chick with a whale tail peeking up over her uber-low-rise jeans.

A little eyeliner is not going to lead to the next Columbine. Let the kids have their stereotypically "goth" make-up.

I wish I could hand those kids a Flatline flyer... :\


hat tip to milkgonebad

07:41 pm - Plumpy'nut

I was quite inspired to see a segment on 60 Minutes concerning Plumpy'nut. From Wikipedia:

[Plumpy'nut] is a high protein and high energy peanut-based paste in a foil wrapper that can be distributed to children at home rather than in specialist feeding stations and can be eaten without any preparation. It tastes like a slightly sweeter kind of peanut butter. It is categorized by the WHO as a Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).

According to the report, I guess this simple thing is essentially reversing childhood starvation/malnutrition in some of the most poor and underdeveloped nations. The product is administered by one of my personal favorite charities: Doctors Without Borders. (Secular and non-governmental...)

Now, if only a more money could be spent on products like this, and a little less on technology to blow people up...

10:37 am - Americans take Nobel...

What gives me a little hope for the future of this country?

Sixth 2006 Nobel goes to American

I would be hoping for a clean sweep of the prizes this year, but the two left to be announced are in literature and peace. Neither of which is exactly our strong point. :\

04:31 pm - New show about transexualism...

New show in development about a transwoman: 4oz

Should be rather interesting. Hopefully it gets to the heart of it and isn't superficial and meat-headed (har, har).

Brad Pitt is an executive producer, so you know it MUST be good! *rolls eyes*

Hat-tip to madhatterofoz for the link.

10:36 am - Afghan women's rights activist slain

Afghan women's rights activist slain

It is this sort of sick, oppressive, barbaric ideology that we are ultimately fighting against. It all goes beyond "fighting terrorism," but standing up to an ever increasing brutal mentality that is running rampant in the Middle East, and growing here on our own soil***. Frankly I don't care what god** tells you hate, oppress and kill -- you are the true enemy -- the enemy of civilization, of freedom, of humanity itself.

Ed Brayton has a good run down of what concerns me so.

06:11 pm - Why I want to adopt a little Indian girl...

I've had it in my mind that when the times comes for me (/us) to have a child, I would want to adopt a girl from India. Female babies are not seen as valuable and therefore they are literally thrown away. That is, if they are not aborted first...

India's female freefall

Makes me rather ill, on a number of levels. I'm not a huge fan of abortion, but will concede the right to people to have one, on those rare occasions it may be necessary or rightly justified (the same position I take on all life/death issues: war, death penality). A child not being profitable, however, is not one of them.

(I could easily go on, but I'm trying to reign in my ranting these days...)

12:54 pm

You want to topple a hardline, oppressive government?
You want to end extremism and centuries of anti-modernism sentiment?
You want to fight the terrorism and hatred the above two things breed?

Support the local feminists.

Iranian women applaud space tourist

10:52 am - Democrat Could Be 1st Muslim in Congress...

Democrat Could Be 1st Muslim in Congress

Given the current political climate, this is bound to become a "big thing." I don't know much about the guy, but assuming the best, for the moment, it would be nice to have a prominant Progressive Muslim in our government.

In general, I'd like to see more variety in Congress. The legislative branch is in essence supposed to represent the masses, but Congress looks a hell of a lot more homogenous than the general population.

I'm not one to demand variety for the sake of variety, but I think it can only help matters to get people from as many different backgrounds as possible into our system. It keeps our country delightfully viril. It also has the potential to encourage immigrant populations that may have otherwise felt isolated and unrepresented (as suggested by the article).

02:08 am - Steve Irwin dies...

Crocodile man, Steve Irwin, dies

This saddens me greatly. I adored the man and he was kinda a hero to me. :(
klemrev suggested I pay homage to him in Dis.

I think a little homage is in order.

10:57 am - Limiting speech to increase "tolerance..."

Pastors Who 'Incited Hatred Against Muslims' Want Decision Overturned

I got weirded out recently when I heard the issue of religious criticism being a punishable crime in a number of European nations. Our supposed allies in protecting the "FREE World." The incident outlined in the above article happened in Australia.

Similiar nonsense came up during the whole Mohammed Cartoon fiasco, and more recently when Madonna "crucified" herself as part of her act on her European tour.

To be honest I think laws like this all go completely counter to everything that a free, liberal nation stands for -- I see this as nothing more than attitude control -- discouraging criticism. Laws shouldn't demand everyone love and hump each other. They are there to maintain order and civility, not prevent disagreement. I believe criticism, even over something as supposedly sacred as religious belief, is extremely healthy for a culture. In fact, if anyting thing is deserving of scrutiny and criticism it is the power structures of our culture: religion and government.

Let everyone get their viewpoints out on the table.

And sure, that level of freedom means that some pretty vile ideologies with show themselves -- crazy-ass, idiotic and hateful ideologies. But let those who present them feel the social consequences of being crazy-ass, hateful idiots. That's the culture's responsibility -- when we rub a little against one another, it keeps us all sharp. As my wife always says "iron sharpening iron."

It's not the government's responsibility to make sure we are all "play nice" only that we don't kill each other in the process of working things out.

I much prefer to live in a land of immense freedoms. With more freedoms comes more chances that people who don't have the ability to monitor their own behavior will do lots of stupid shit. But in the end, I say its worth it.

Hat tip Ed Brayton for bringing this article to my attention.

01:38 pm - Church fires woman... for being a woman.

Sunday school teacher dumped for being female

They say they are adopting a more LITERAL interpretation of the Bible:

The First Baptist Church dismissed Mary Lambert on August 9 with a letter explaining that the church had adopted an interpretation that prohibits women from teaching men. She had taught there for 54 years.

If this be the case, I would hope that, in the name of consistancy, they start stoning their children when they get out of line (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).

This of course being the problem with most AmeriChristians -- they pick and choose what to take literally, what to take figuratively -- what to follow and preach, and what to ignore. Is it the infalliable word of God, or what?

12:36 pm - ISLAMIC FASCISTS!!

I'm all for slamming the president when he says or does something quite retarded. I think if anyone deserves hard scrutiny its our leaders (that's what makes this country great, taht we can scrutinize!) But I'm more than willing to turn the gun over to commentators when they blow things he's said way out of proporation. This whole "controversy" over Bush's use of the term "Islamic Fascists" is driving me nuts. Check out the following article. I've taken some selections from it where I think the author is a little off his base:

US Muslims feel Americans' prejudice

As Muslims, we use "Islamic ethics" to mean ethics based on Islamic teachings that guide our behavior. Similarly, "Islamic art" draws its inspiration from Islamic teachings that discourage certain types of art (immodest imagery or certain life forms). When the president uses "Islamic fascists," it conveys that fascism is rooted in Islam...

What?! That line of reasoning is completely off the nut. Saying that "Islamic facists" conveys that facism is rooted Islam, is (to use his own example) like saying that "Islamic art" conveys that art is rooted in Islam. This is a matter of how the terms are nested. Islamic art is a subset of the the greater concept that is ART, Islamic fascism is a subset of the greater concept of FASCISM. An Islamic artist is an artist who is also a Muslim. An Islamic fascist is a fascist who is also a Muslim.


...or fascism that is inspired by Islam.

Perhaps it is. So what? People can read into just about any ideology and draw from it justification for fascism. That doesn't mean that Bush is proclaiming that Islam necessarily goes hand-in-hand with facism.

These terrorists hold an ideology that is best described as fascist. And it does seem that they draw a certain amount of inspiration (or at least justification) from their religious beliefs. But to condemn them is not condemning all of Islam.


This is the way the Muslims will see it, regardless of what George W. Bush may claim he really means.

I totally understand that in their language convention, that could has subtle meanings to the contrary, but people need to have a little sense and put things into the proper context of the speaker. And don't you just love that little barb at the end "may claim he really means."

I think Bush is a twit, as are most of our political figures (Repub and Dem, alike), but I don't think time should be wasted harassing him over details like this when there are other problems going on elsewhere in our political system.

People are just looking for insult.

10:33 am - I meant to say... THEOCRATIC facists...

Bush: U.S. at war with 'Islamic fascists'

There is nothing particularly spectacular about this article, the standard rhetoric. But I just found something strange about the following comments by Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in response to the president using the term "Islamic Fascists":


We believe that this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islamic Muslims with fascism...

No offense Awad, but I think that is a pretty damn accurate term to desribe some of these psychos that want to destroy us. I'm not going to sit here and say that some small part of venom Muslims/Arabs/etc. have for America isn't justified, but the violent actions of so many of these groups is COMPLETELY UNjustified. The same mentality that births suicide bombing of the innocent bystanders is the same fucked up mentality that demands authoritation control!

Maybe the term "Islamic Fascists" isn't the best term... I think "theocratic" and "fucking nuts" needs to be inserted in there somewhere.


"We ought to take advantage of these incidents to make sure that we do not start a religious war against Islam and Muslims...

IN the minds fo the terrorists, this is already the case.

To be honest, I think there SHOULD be a religious war. A war BETWEEN Muslims and Islam! Those Muslims that aren't crazy-assed psychos should be fighting to reign in the extremist sects. The religions is in desperate need of reform. As well, I'd suggest a war between Christians and Christianity in the US as well.


We urge him and we urge other public officials to restrain themselves...

Bush hasn't nuked IRan yet, has he? I think that's about as much restraint as we are going to see from that guy. XD

10:06 am - Warmonger demands peace!!

Bush calls for peace in the Middle East...

Anyone else find something ironic about Bush calling for peace in the Middle East. It's like Hitler condemning China for human rights violations. Afterall, Israel's military action is well justified and very likely to actually cause some damage to an actual terrorist threat.

Imagine that.

04:20 pm - Chinese Wildlife Irony...

China OK's hunting of endangered species

Two things struck me as ironic about this:

06:24 pm - Update on bigotry...

I just happened upon a follow up article on that couple that was harassed for having a rainbow flag outside their Inn, because the local yokels percieved it to be about "teh scary gays!!" I think the link may be another reg-link, so here is just a sample of the article (acquired from Ed Brayton):


"We're getting 200 e-mails a day," J.R. says.
To give financial support to the Lakeway for standing its ground, people out of the area are calling up to rent rooms by credit card with no intention of spending the night.

The southwest chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition recently booked the Lakeway as the site of their next monthly meeting.

Then there are the flags.

People are sending rainbow flags from around the world.

That way, the Knights will never run out of them.

"I'm never taking it down," J.R. said.



It provides me a little hope to know that not everyone in this world is a raving moron and/or asshole.