Catholic Church Child Rape & Women

This is my first attempt to create a video blog using the XtraNormal service. It's kinda good for a laugh, much like the early days of text to speech.

The comments contained herein refer to this article at the Guardian web site.

Joga Bonito

Like many people around the world, I've caught a couple of soccer games over the past week or so, and despite a lack of interest in most sport on TV, I've enjoyed the ride. The World Cup is a massive international event, and it's great to see world class teams competing with mutual respect both for the game, and each other (clearly not referring to France here).

Sadly though I have also been subjected to hearing the occasional disparaging comment from Americans many of whom have commented that soccer is lame, it sucks, it's a wimpy game (seriously, I saw that on Facebook, someone claiming soccer proved European men were not as 'manly' as Americans). I've heard Americans trying to persuade others that the World Cup should be ignored, or otherwise dismissed as unimportant.

I have to say, I find these attitudes pathetic. On the one hand America meddles in the affairs of dozens of countries around the world, maintains a military presence in 150+ countries, yet many seem to believe that when it comes to internationally important events like the World Cup, we should turn our collective noses at the notion of an international competition, and go back to playing games we made up, or games only we play, and then claim to be world champions at.

Now I know that not all Americans feel this way, and that many indeed are very interested by the World Cup, for those that aren't, I have a message for you: Get your head out of your ass, and open your mind to the other six billion people that share our planet. Stop being so fucking insular all the time, and labeling foreign things as 'lame.' If America ever wants to live peacefully in the world, and not constantly live in fear of terrorist attacks, one positive step it could take is at least pretend to give a shit about others.

The World Cup is not just about soccer, it's about nations coming together in healthy competition. So stop whining, take a look at it, accept it for what it is. Soon it will all be over for another four years, and you can go back to playing football with your hands.

Justice For Gaile Owens

I'm glad I didn't live in America in the 1980's because it seems that back then there was no such thing as justice, a mistake we run the risk of failing to learn from.

The picture is that of Gaile Owens, a woman that the state of Tennessee are getting ready to execute, after 25 years in prison. In the 80's while the rest of us were watching The A-Team and Knight Rider, this woman was being sexually and physically abused by her husband.

Eventually in a bid to protect her children she discussed a hit on her husband. This eventually led to a person killing her husband. She was arrested in 1985 and decided to plead guilty in a deal that would lead to her spending life in prison, something she did to protect her children from hearing the evidence of sexual and physical abuse she had suffered.

But after a series of legal blunders she ended up sentenced to death without ever being able to speak in her own defense, or have the jury know of the physical and sexual abuse.

Fast forward to A-Team The Movie and a failed attempt to rekindle Knight Rider (with a Mustang, seriously?), we have the present day. All her appeals have fallen on deaf ears. Despite the absurdity and horrific miscarriage of justice, no one in the legal / political system can be bothered to put a stop to a potential execution date that is looming. That's right, this battered woman is about to be killed (the first woman killed in Tennessee since the 1800's) by the state for asking someone to kill her abusive husband.

Never mind that she didn't pull the trigger. Never mind that she was trying to protect her children. Never mind that she has already spent 25 years in prison. Time to murder her? Are we really still no better than this?

I say that 25 years is enough. That's a stout sentence and far more than so many other criminals get; even the ones that actually kill people. David Phillips, just reported to jail for his role in killing a high school girl in a 2005 traffic accident, where he was racing on city streets with a youth in a Mustang. The 100 MPH crash left one 17-year-old girl dead and another severely burned. But David and the other driver got just 6 years in jail, which in the real world will probably be less than three years.

In the case of Gaile Owens, she was trying to get out of a horrific situation that was endangering her life and the lives of her children, and she actually serves 25 years, with the likelihood of execution hanging over her.

If you care about justice at all, please inform yourself further about this case, and let's see if we can get the politicians to listen for once, and reverse this horrible miscarriage of justice.

Visit her official supporters web site here, and learn how you can write the State Governor.

American Idol Kicks Bucket

Like most of this (and previous) seasons of American Idol, I watched the show only because I have a DVR and can fast forward through most of it.

Last night was the grand finale and I was incredibly grateful to be able to condense the 128 minute show into less than an hour.

The show clearly illustrated beyond any reasonable doubt why Simon Cowell decided to quit such a lucrative gig. The aging producers of the show have clearly lost touch with their audience, and it's only a matter of time now before they squeeze the last drop of dignity and taste out of the show and leave it for dead by the side of the entertainment highway.

As usual Ryan Toolcrest was an annoying prick. The supposedly mushy moments for Simon were overdone. Someone made the decision to bring rejected retards onto the show, one of whom grabbed the mic and in an insanity produced delusion started shouting that he was going to take over from Simon, until they cut early to commercial. Perhaps they should have done the same when the train wreck that is Paula Abdul took to the stage for no real reason.

Speaking of the mentally disadvantaged, William Hung was wheeled out for another cringe worthy performance. But the saddest moments of the evening were the aging rockers that, like Dick Clarke on New Years, were wheeled out to rock out one last time, to some tragic anthem that once made them famous, and still keeps them in comfortable retirement.

The one thing that Simon Cowell talks about with up coming stars is relevance. Something that today's youth will enjoy. I guarantee right now that 90% of the teen audience at the Idol finale, would not have been able to identify over half of the geriatric performers that came out on stage last night. I'm as old as two of those audience members put together, and even I couldn't identify most of them, even if I vaguely remember hearing my father listening to some of those songs on the radio when I was a child.

If Simon had been in charge of the finale, he would never have allowed such a crappy show, and I believe this is why he is leaving. Clearly the aging hippies who make Idol have no clue what young people are into these days (vodka eyeballing anyone?) I mean who gives a shit about Janet Jackson or Alice Cooper? And those were the two that were recognizable. Even Christina Aguilera, for all her obvious talent, is yesterdays news; recently cancelling her tour because no one would buy tickets, just like no one is buying her music any more.

As a fan of Simon Cowell, I'm glad he has left now and will distance himself from a franchise that has lost touch, and seems oblivious to its own obsolescence.

As for the winner, it is of no relevance. With the kind of exposure they have both had over the past few weeks, they now have every opportunity to make a fortune in the music business. And for that at least, we should be thankful to the show.

Republicans on Facebook

Like many people I have made the mistake of friending a few casual acquaintances on Facebook, and this has inevitably exposed me to some fucking idiots who annoy me.

Thankfully, several months ago, I started using the hide option so I don't have to read their crap on my wall.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't mind someone identifying as Republican if they have an intelligent reason for doing so. But among the ones I've met around here, for many it seems like they are merely supporting a football team, or following in the footsteps of their Republican parents.

The latest 'friend' to annoy me this morning posted an app that counts down the days until Barack Obama leaves office. I simply cannot fathom this kind of nonsense.

Initially Republicans mocked the man for doing nothing at all, just as the racist tea baggers began calling him every offensive word they could think of without using the N word. Then Republican politicians began to cock block every single bill the Democrats tried to pass. And now this 'do nothing' President is annoying them by actually trying to do things (successfully, I might add).

The reason I have such a hard time understanding this sentiment is because Barack Obama is about as centrist as you can get. He's hardly a liberal. He's hardly pushing through radical liberal/socialist laws. Just some basic common sense stuff that is needed if we are to have a successful country.

We cannot continue to let people die, just because they are poor. We cannot continue to allow corporations to do whatever the fuck they like without some kind of sensible regulation.

The only conclusion I can come to is that many Republicans are pissed because a black man is telling them what to do. I simply cannot imagine this level of animosity over such bland policies were it to come from some dude that looked like Glen Beck. Yet when it comes from a black guy, there is sudden anger and fear, for no logical reason.

What I find even more sad is that many Republicans and so called Libertarians, seem to want to push the Republican party even further to the right. The Glen Becks of this world get on their radical soap box and suggest incredibly radical positions, that many dumb Americans get all excited about. To me this is one of the truths I have noticed over the years; the typical Republican is stupid.

Okay, it's more complicated than that. But if you look at the average right wing viewpoint, it is overly simplistic, and appeals to the masses (of idiots) because it involves less thinking. To Republicans there are no gray areas, no weighing of facts. It's so easy for Republicans to stymie the efforts of the Democrats, when the whole party can march in lock step, around simple principles that need no real thought:

• Abortion = Killing Babies. Yeah, the issue is just that simple.
• Murderers should be executed. How easy it is to paint the whole picture Deathwish style, where an innocent family is torn apart by a murderer, and revenge should become part of justice. Of course you have to conveniently ignore the truth that states with the death penalty typically enjoy a higher homicide rate. The other reality that the death penalty is more expensive than life in prison. The racial element of the death penalty, where it seems to 'favor' African Americans (for execution). The real social issues and poverty, created by bad politics, that leads to a lack of value in human life, are also largely ignored (poor people should just pull themselves up by their boot straps).
• The government should tax less; we should cut government spending. Sure, that would be nice. No one likes to pay a tax bill. But the same Republicans (and Libertarians) who want a nice small government that doesn't interfere, don't seem to be objecting to 369,000 of our troops being in 150+ countries around the world. And these same people don't seems to realize that the spending that the government is going to cut, is out of social policies that help society. Education programs, programs to get people off welfare and into employment. Programs to keep kids out of gangs, and reduce future crime. In other words, programs that make for a safer, better society.
• Trickle down economics. Make the rich people even more rich, and they will simply use that cash to create jobs and help everyone get rich. Of course that concept is total crap; it never happens that way. Mr. Ritchie Rich simply stashes his extra cash in some off shore investment account where he can pay even less tax, but go to sleep happy that his net worth just went up 0.837%.
• Maintaining the sanctity of marriage. By discriminating against homosexuals, we can follow what the Bible tells us and aim for that 1950s utopia that Republicans pretend existed. We can also try and claim that being gay is a 'lifestyle choice.'
• Common sense. One of my favorites! Republicans present a highly complex issue in an extremely simplistic manner, and then QED, problem solved. All it took was some 'common sense.' Of course the solution proffered is actually a dumbass solution, that doesn't address the complexities of a problem, but to a stupid person it seems to make sense, and can therefore be sold to them as common sense.
  

I could go on, but I don't have all day.

In conclusion, Republican politics saddens me. There are so many problems with America including grinding poverty, a lack of a safety net for poor people, intolerance, violence, out of control gun ownership, poor education, the widening rich/poor divide, crumbling infrastructure, trying to maintain an empire, drugs, obesity and horrific food choices, lack of access to health care and so on. Many of these issues could be solved with intelligent social policies and a caring attitude towards our fellow human beings. But instead, racists, idiots and rednecks are counting the days until Sarah Palin takes office and drags this country further to the right, pursuing the same failed policies of Bush and Regan that created so many of these problems to begin with.

And yes my Republican friends, I did just put Regan in the same category as George W. Bush. He may be your poster child, but I think he was an idiot, just like W.

Does Your Church Do This?

A church near where I live (not pictured) recently got one of those large color digital LED signs that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Now, every day that I drive by I get to see 'important' information about how Jesus is going to save me in glorious high definition color.

I just gotta say, if you go to a church that does this, they are ripping you off. Using the Bible, guilt and peer pressure to coerce you into giving your hard earned money to them so they can afford the fancy sign whose sole purpose is to attract new members who they can exploit financially (and in many other ways) in a similar fashion.

Just before I wrote this blog article, I Googled church signs and visited over a dozen different sign manufactures, and noted that there was not a price in sight. It was all about call or email for a quote so that a smooth talking salesman can have a shot at making that big sale.

In any case, by the time a church has amassed the kind of money for a sign like this, they are in my opinion, totally out of control. Much like a spoiled heiress with daddy's credit card. Traditionally church donations were merely to give the preacher a meager living, and pay for basic repairs and upkeep. Now though, this kind of expensive digital media is pushing things into another dimension with sophisticated lures to attract more followers and make more money.

I'm all for people worshiping whatever magic invisible deity they choose to. But I do have a problem with churches actively recruiting the gullible to their flock.

Two Tales of Abercrombie & Fitch

I just read an interesting article in Time Magazine about the failing CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch, Mike Jeffries, who appears to be trying to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

In 2007 the teen stores, with their racy advertising and overpriced crappy clothes was making a profit of $476m. In 2008, this profit dropped to $273m. When the recession hit, they essentially broke even with a profit of around quarter of a million dollars. But in typical CEO style, Mike Jeffries milked the company as much as he could, taking $76m in personal compensation in 2008, just as his failed policies and bad strategies caused same store sales figures to plummet 23%, and stock price to drop 56%. He was also listed as one of highest paid, worst performing CEOs in 2008.

Jeffries not only likes his big fat paychecks, even when he sucks, but he also has a thing for the company jet. His personal travel cost some $1.3m in 2008. Now that the company is hitting some hard times, the board decided to end his love affair with the jet, but in exchange gave him $4m by way of apology.

What I find interesting is the reality that CEOs haven't learned. The recession was, for most of them, just something that happened to the peasants. As the mortgage crisis hit middle America, CEOs like Jeffries were taking multi million dollar bonuses in exchange for curtailing their travel expenses. And in CEO land, if you fuck up, and make bad decisions that cost a company millions of dollars, it doesn't matter. You still make millions of dollars personally. Essentially the price of failure is no different from the price of success. So just fly around on the company jet destroying the company that pays you millions, and then eventually take a golden multi-million dollar handshake and head to the yacht for a vacation.

This kind of corporate stupidity, and greed, is seriously going to bring America to its knees. When you have people completely unconcerned about company profits, putting themselves so far ahead of the employees and the customers, it simply cannot end well.

***

After I had read that article I noticed another one from the end of last year that kind of annoyed me.

It seems that some Muslim teen, forced to wear a hijab by her oppressive religion, was turned down for a job at the store allegedly because the hijab is against their dress code (which includes no black clothing and no head covering).

Of course she is suing over the alleged discrimination and will probably end up with some settlement. But this has to be the height of bull shit doesn't it? Abercrombie & Fitch is famous for their dark stores containing massive posters of half naked models (such as the one above). Please explain to me how it is that you can be part of a religion so strict that showing your hair to people is offensive, yet hanging out among half naked sexualized images all day is okay?

I'm all for religious freedom. If people want to worship magic invisible deities, that's up to them (so long as it doesn't hurt others, or involve raping children). But I certainly have a problem with the oppression of women, even if they have been conditioned to 'like' wearing the oppressive garments. We live in a country where most states can fire people for almost any reason, so they should certainly be allowed to make a judgment call when it comes to a hiring decision. Do you really think that Abercrombie would not fire an employee who refused to follow the dress code because of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

If you believe that your god is offended by women showing parts of their face or hair in public, then you cannot tell me that this same god is going to be okay with you standing around in a dimly lit store surrounded by images of naked people, and young teens in skimpy over priced outfits.

This entire lawsuit seems like an elaborate ruse to me. Conservative Muslim teen tries to get a job at of all places Abercrombie and Fitch. Just happens to have a friend who already works there, who just happens to leak that the only reason she wasn't hired was because of her hijab. Okay, sure.

Asking About Life?

A Knoxville man is trying to get a biology text book banned from this son's school, because when mentioning creationism it refers to, "the biblical myth that the universe was created by the Judeo-Christian God in 7 days."

Kurt Zimmerman, a concerned parent and Sunday School teacher, who just appeared on Fox News this morning to state his case, claims that the use of the word 'myth' is offensive to Christians.

Well sorry Mr. Zimmerman, but this sentence is accurate and reasonable, and you are being a moron.

The dictionary defines the word myth as, "a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, esp. one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature"

The Bible is indeed a traditional and legendary story, it contains a god (and hero), and describes events that cannot be scientifically proven that are by their very nature supernatural.

So yes, it is indeed a myth that the world was created in seven days by a deity. Just because YOU believe it, doesn't make it any more true than a Harry Potter book. There is a mountain of scientific evidence that proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the Earth was not created in seven days.

Thankfully so far the school board, and now the appeals board have refused to take steps to ban this book. Let's hope they continue to make the right decision. And if Mr. Zimmerman wishes to fill his child's head with stupid shit, then he should home school. After all, that does seem to be the appropriate venue for right wing religious extremists to toss out education and cram in the word of God.