StrangeSox

Wasn't sure if I should toss this in the environment thread or in here: Climate Change Denial is Tea Party Article of Faith There are no words to describe my reaction to this "thinking", only edit:

It would require amending the Constitution, but these ads aren't going away until the money goes away from campaigning. I also think that candidates spending up to $100M to get a job that pays a few hundred thousand at most says a lot about our system.

I just saw a fantastic ad here in Minnesota. Not sure what race it was for, but it was the typical "gay boogeyman coming for your children" scare ad, complete with "2nd graders in Maryland are taught gay marriage!!!!"! Here's an article on it: http://wcco.com/realitycheck/anti.gay.marr....2.1936452.html The problem is that these sorts of ads work. They shouldn't, but they do.

Hey man I watched 20 minutes of the SIU debate so I'm informed now. oh wait damnit.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 20, 2010 -> 08:10 PM) Last Gov election in IL, I made the one and only "message" vote I've ever entered for any election. Blago vs Baar-Topinka, I just couldn't bring myself to vote for either one. I voted Green, and so did almost 10% of IL, as I recall. I may have to do the same again this year. I'll be voting green but I genuinely believe he's the best candidate of the three.

Whitney/Gianoulias Both of our main choices for governor are terrible. Again.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 20, 2010 -> 10:00 PM) The funny part is she was sitting there looking like she thought the audience was laughing at Coons. Yeah, that was fantastic. Her ignorance knows no bounds. She was bleating on about the same evolution crap in the 90's on Bill Maher's show. You think she could have spent at least a few hours in the last decade to review relevant case law and all the hoopla surrounding the Dover trial.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 20, 2010 -> 05:47 PM) I don't know where to put this, but I feel it needs attention. I was reading up on some political races today, and it was just mind-boggling how awful the ads are that people running for high office are running. Just a few examples... --Sharon Angle's campaign puts out a ridiculous ad about Reid being busy in a conga line with supermodels while Nevadans suffer through unemployment. They show a picture of Reid holding the outstretched arms of a woman, unseen other than her arms. Problem? The pic is a doctored image, and the woman in the original picture is the First Lady, showing off her arms at a speech about physical fitness. Even stranger, the ad was pulled because of copyright infringement. More hilariousness of advertising here. --House Rep Cory Gardner runs an add hitting their opponent, Betsy Markey, for voting for a huge Obama budget, that they characterize as disastrous. Problem? She in fact voted against it, but Mass rep Ed Markey (another Markey unrelated) voted for it. Nice research. . --Jack Conway, in his race against Rand Paul, published the now infamous "aquabuddha" ad, digging up an obscure statement Paul made 30 years ago, says he's not really a Christian. Watch the video here. Now, combine these ads with the utter stupidity of O'Donnell and other candidates we've seen lately, and one thing seems clear to me. These candidates aren't insulting each other. They are insulting me. And every other voter. I realize, obviously, this isn't really new. Its just worse, every cycle. And now there is so much more money flowing into these campaigns, thanks to Congress' inaction on campaign finance and SOCTUS's bizarre decision that coprorations are voters... its just making me ill. Again, I realize, not really new - just worsening. So... I ask my fellow Busterites... and let's see if this can stay non-partisan for a bit... what to do about it? What's the solution here? Perhaps the problem is the electorate.

Yeah, pulling out that "where's the separation of church and state?" question out at a law school (where the debate was) is about as dunning-kruger as it would be to say "if evolution is true why are there still monkeys" at a conference of biologists. Of course, you get blogs like American Thinker (LOL) saying "yeah but technically she is right! those words aren't there and the evil librul media is just wrong, unlike these 'constitutional scholars' who agree with me!!!!11!!" Ron Paul gets a lot of credit for his libertarian economic views but his theocratic side rarely gets mentioned. For all the "Christian Nation" s*** that gets tossed out, there's a rather glaring lack of religion in the founding documents and arguments.

QUOTE (Soxy @ Oct 20, 2010 -> 02:32 PM) Ugh, that was f***ing grim. There are days were I want to turn in my membership to the human race. Become an honorary rhesus monkey or something. I believe Uganda is also the country that turns down aid from the Episcopal Church USA because of the gay issue--and a lot of the very conservative episcopal churches are flocking to for leadership. At least the American "religious" leaders that sparked the worst of this fatwa/jihad/crusade/whatever are a little contrite. Just shows the continued problem of religious/cultural imperialism and going in and saying s*** like that when you don't know a damn thing about the culture. They make me absolutely sick. Here's a sad map: yellow-minimal penalties orange-large penalties red-life in prison dark red-death http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_b...ry_or_territory

The establishment clause as it is written is stronger than "Separation of church and state" anyway. The biggest issue, to me anyway, was that she didn't even appear to know the establishment clause was in the first amendment.

I don't want to live on this planet any more.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 19, 2010 -> 01:42 PM) If I was an active participant in Tea Party goings-on, I'd be f***ing pissed about the people who are chosen to represent my interests in the political arena. If what I wanted was smaller and more responsible government, I'd have to either laugh or cry at people like this O'Donnell character. Seriously, she makes Sarah Palin look like wonkish. How did this person get nominated? Did people want "change" so badly that they just blindly voted for someone they knew nothing about? Or did they knowingly choose an ignoramus? *obligatory smug Obama response*

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 19, 2010 -> 01:36 PM) And you don't think BushCo and the GOP Congress had some part in that? Plenty of blame to go around. and, of course, substantial economic decline.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Oct 19, 2010 -> 01:08 PM) <!--quoteo(post=2275757:date=Oct 19, 2010 -> 12:02 PM:name=Soxy)-->QUOTE (Soxy @ Oct 19, 2010 -> 12:02 PM) <!--quotec-->Link At the link Christine O'Donnell asking where in the constitution is separation of church and state while looking smug. When the audience laughs she acts like she scored a major point. It has to be performance art, right? It has to be. OMG! I just watched the video. that... i dont know what to say. I was taught that in grade school. That couldnt possibly have been an act. She asked genuinely confused. Watching that video makes me want to punch something. She doesn't understand the Constitution (establishment). She doesn't understand court decisions (ID is creationism). She doesn't understand evolution at all (JUST A THEORY!!!!). She's repeating creationist talking points from the 60's.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Oct 19, 2010 -> 01:22 PM) I would have expected her to cough up some argument about how the Establishment Clause is just a ban on a 'national religion' or some such nonsense, but she genuinely didn't seem to know the clause is even IN the 1st Amendment. There's that possibility, too. See her answer about which SCOTUS decisions she agrees with. It's willful ignorance. There's no excuse for someone who is running for the Senate to be this deficient in basic knowledge. The original Tea Party people, like Ron Paul, at least they had ideas and arguments and an understanding of history, even if their proposals were a bit nutty or unworkable. This batch of candidates is an embarrassment for our country and for democracy in general.

QUOTE (Soxy @ Oct 19, 2010 -> 12:02 PM) Link At the link Christine O'Donnell asking where in the constitution is separation of church and state while looking smug. When the audience laughs she acts like she scored a major point. It has to be performance art, right? It has to be. No. There are plenty of conservative Christians who see no "separation of church and state" in the Constitution and think the only way to violate the 1st amendment is to establish a state religion i.e. the Anglican church. They believe the country was founded by like-minded evangelicals who injected Christianity all throughout the government and that it's evil secular liberalism that has stripped it away. They would welcome theocracy (or at least quasi-theocracy) with open arms, as long as it was the right religion. Hell, it wasn't that long ago that we had a President saying atheists shouldn't be considered citizens.

You know it's bad when they make Tom Tancredo the more sane option.

Alternative Energy in China You have to register to read, ubt here's an interesting paragraph:

QUOTE (zenryan @ Oct 18, 2010 -> 01:43 PM) suicide attempt according to who? Witness said no braking and high speed, at least as reported on the Score.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Oct 16, 2010 -> 11:01 AM) not really that surprising considering 75% of the country is classified as white. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_...e_and_ethnicity 95% of those who responded "White" were non-Hispanic white.

Well, basically met the deadlines, then went out for beers, which the company picked up. So a nice day overall.

Massive deadlines at 5:00 PM. Wait, what am I doing here?!

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 14, 2010 -> 07:23 PM) Here's a report on one survey that indicates the tea party is largely just Christian conservatives. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 14, 2010 -> 08:42 PM) Here's a broad brush social issue poll question.[/url]

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 14, 2010 -> 04:25 PM) I'll try to find some polls tonight that ask self-identifying tea party supporters their positions on social issues. You may very well be correct. Here's a report on one survey that indicates the tea party is largely just Christian conservatives.