17.08.2007 - 9:55 a.m.

I've recently discovered Rationalwiki and it has restored my belief in that a lot of people on this planet are normal, as opposed to anyone found on dumbass central, if only we could organise and mobilise 'normals' into a grand army of sense instead of fighting running skirmishes and guerrilla actions, maybe we could crush the funlessmentalist forces of evil.

Until such a momentus event happens, i'm happy to keep laughing at the sniping and ring-running that happens everytime our forces and theirs exchange fire, it's clear from these altercations that dogma, head-burying and illogical arguments are still outclassed by simple, logical statements backed by empirical data.

What is scary though, is the depth of ultra-right wing conservatism in amerikkka, statements made daily by conservative christian fundamentalist lunatics are everywhere once you start looking, and it's not limited to southern bible hurling hicks either, some of those hicks have been elected out of a whole bunch of hicks to be senate representatives, where they can continue their (sic) go(o)d work. The following three links came from (alright, were taken from) Rationalwiki.

Love and compassion for everyone
So much for the separation of church and state
Caeser W Bush, i fucking hope not [update, the original link was pulled, no doubt for nefarious reasons, i've updated the link now]

There was one other story which caused me to laugh so hard a muse of mirth dropped by to see what i was laughing about and during her fleeting visit she gave me what followed.....

In Texas, the director of a Christian boot camp and an employee were arrested Friday for allegedly dragging a 15-year-old girl behind a van after she fell behind the group during a morning run.
Charles Eugene Flowers and Stephanie Bassitt of San Antonio-based Love Demonstrated Ministeries, a 32-day boot camp, were arrested on aggravated assault charges for the alleged incident.
According to an arrest affidavit filed by the Nueces County Sheriff's Department, the two are accused of tying the girl to the van with a rope then dragging her.
Both remained in Nueces County Jail on $100,000 bond each.
A call to Love Demonstrated Ministries was not immediately returned Friday. No listing was found for Bassitt. An answering machine at a listing for Flowers cut off during an attempt to leave a message.
Flowers, the camp's director, allegedly ordered Bassitt to run alongside the girl after she fell behind, when the girl stopped running, Bassitt allegedly yelled at her and pinned her to the ground while Flowers tied the rope to her.
The girl's mother gave investigators photos of her daughter's injuries that were taken at a hospital where the girl was treated and a sworn statement from a witness who claimed to see the girl being dragged on her stomach at least three times.

Apart from the indication that LDM is a fake business designed to extract cash from susceptible christians, the best bit is that it was >Love Demonstrated< Ministries. soto voce -

'containslessthan2%love,someanimalpartsincorporated,purchaseindemnifiesLoveDemonstratedMinistriesagainstlegalaction'

which led, obviously to another parody :

'You can give your hearts to God, but your @rse belongs to Love Demonstrated Ministries. Do you love the lord ?'

'yes sir'

'How much do you love him ?'

'100% sir'

'I can't hear you'

'100% SIR'

'I still can't hear you'

'100% SIR'

'Move out company'

'I don't know what i've been told
but jesus christ is pretty old'

How old?

'pretty old'

And how'd you know

'we were told'

I said, and how'd you know

'we were told'

Bring it back now

'we must do as we're told by the book'
'at heathens and doubters we must not look'

Where will they go

'to satans gate'

etc.