Well, everything sucks.

Except this picture of John Barrowman.

“It's like having Barbie represent women”

From Nightline (yes, that Nightline):

Former child star Kirk Cameron and his evangelist colleague Ray Comfort had pledged to prove the existence of God, scientifically. Cameron and Comfort run an organization called the Way of the Master, which comprises a Web site and cable television show, all focused on preaching what they say is the truth of Christianity....

They were confronted by the might of the "rational response squad" in the form of unabashed atheists Brian Sapient and his comrade, a woman who goes by the name of Kelly. They had been included in a previous "Nightline" report, telling the story of the Blasphemy Challenge in which they invited atheists to deny the existence of the Holy Spirit by posting videotaped denunciations on their Web site.

Comfort and Cameron make videos where they use bananas and peanut butter to "prove the existence of God."

The stupid! It buuuuuurns! (H/T to PJ over at Not the Mad Priest's place for the title.)

Regret This!

Y'know, I was thinking about that idiotic Supreme Court decision about late-term abortion, and it struck me that Justice Kennedy said that because some women regret having had an abortion, it should be outlawed.

That is the biggest crock of shit, y'all. Have you ever made a major purchase? A house, a car, a large appliance? A week later, you were convinced you'd made the biggest boner of your life, weren't you?

So I guess we'll be outlawing Realtors®, car dealerships, and HH Gregg next, right?

Didn't think so.

Bizarre

Mike Daisey is a monologuist and author. At a recent performance, a "Christian" group staged a protest by walking out of the performance and dumping water on his notes. They didn't say who they were, and they wouldn't stay to talk with him.

As it turns out, they were visiting from out of town and had bought the tickets without knowing what the show was like. Now, I can understand their wanting to leave when they heard a few f-bombs and found out what they were in for, especially since the group was made up of high school kids. But did they really need to be disruptive and destructive? How is that Christian?

And what about the chaperones' responsibility to do some fucking research and find out what kind of show they were taking the kids to? What a bunch of self-righteous assholes.

A Boob For All Seasons

When I think what this little shitstain tried to do to the Justice Department, I keep remembering this scene from A Man For All Seasons:

William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

Sweet Chocolate Jesus

These people are insane.

Prayers

Sheesh. I never update this blog. I only got on tonight so I could remind myself of the address because somebody asked.

So I noticed that I still had Steve Gilliard's old address on the blogroll. Steve's hurtin' right now, in the hospital recovering from his second heart surgery, and he's a young man (well, my age, anyway).

If you're the praying sort, please remember him in your prayers. He has a fine mind and knowledge of military history that is invaluable to us liberals. He was calling this stupid war a snipe hunt before it even began.

We need him firing on all cylinders. And his family needs him, too. The way he writes about his niece and nephew, well, you just know he's a terrific uncle.

Fuck this shit

The great Molly Ivins has died.

Shit, shit, shit.

I knew she was hurtin', but I prayed for her, and I convinced myself this wasn't going to happen, not this time. She was gonna pull through one more time. At least.

We need her down here, God! Maureen Dowd doesn't have her ginormous heart, and Dana Milbank, well, let's just not bring him up, OK?

Well, I guess God needed to laugh to keep from cryin', what with His children fighting this stupid war, and all.

Lord, have mercy

The congregation at St. John's in Atlanta near-unanimously chose to call Brad Schmeling as their pastor in 2000. He told the congregation he was gay; he told the bishop he was gay. That was cool. Gay people are welcome to serve in the ELCA.

He also told everybody that if he met a special someone, he'd tell them about that, too. When he did, he did.

His congregation, which adores him, celebrated his commitment to his partner with a big ol' party. Then he told the bishop. And the bishop did his job and filed charges, because they violated the rules.

Gay pastors are allowed to serve, as long as they remain celibate. Because pastors have to remain celibate outside marriage, and gay people can't get married. See the beauty?

No, neither do I.

It's a sucky rule, but rules in the ELCA are voted on in General Assembly by clergy and laity alike. Last time around, rules that would have covered Pr. Brad and his partner passed a simple majority, but they needed a super-majority. It'll happen eventually, thanks to the brave witness of people like Pr. Brad and the congregation of St. John's.

Their actions are civil disobedience in its purest sense: I will openly violate this rule, and I will happily suffer the consequences, just to point out how stupid the rule is.

They're all taking a heeeeuuuuge risk. Pr. Brad could be turned out of ELCA and lose his rostered status as well as his pension, and St. John's could be cast out of ELCA and lose support from the synod. St. John's is like my church, the oldest Lutheran congregation in the city. Their current location is itself a rebuke to hatred and oppression.

If you're a prayin' wo/man, sign up for their prayer vigil.

Oh, dear

This is so embarassing. The lovely and talented MadPriest has given me a shout-out.

Well, that wasn't so bad, but he's added me to his blogroll. Oy. That means I have to, like, keep it up and add more stuff and shit.

I only started because I wanted to blog a mission trip to the Gulf Coast, but I couldn't afford to go, so it's just here.

But Lord knows there's some shit goin' down in my neck of the woods, so I should probably blog on that. Plus, I have a post in mind going beyond George Sanders to all the plummy-voiced British villains of the Golden Era of Hollywood. So there you go.