Reason Morning Links: Blago Comeback Edition

• U.S. troops will no longer face combat in Iraq…except when they face combat in Iraq.
• New applications for unemployment benefits hit their highest level since November.
• The government cracks down on online pharmacies.
• A sheriff's showdown with ICE over jailing illegal immigrants.
• New frontiers in urban planning.
• Rod Blagojevich: future reality TV star?

Comments

[SugarFree]

U.S. troops will no longer face combat in Iraq...except when they face combat in Iraq.

Mission Accomplished.

[Nipplemancer]

its the thought that counts.

[Rich]

US troops "will continue to conduct partnered counter-terrorism operations"

I'm thinking this is tough to distinguish from "facing combat". Does that thought count?

[SugarFree]

partnered counter-terrorism operations

Only US/Iraqi gay couples go out on missions.

[Wind Rider]

So, if they do it Annie Oakley style with a mirror and the rifle over their shoulder shooting behind them, that's ok.

[SugarFree]

The requirement that the kills be fabulous! is actually in the ROE.

(Sometimes we need a blink tag, dammit.)

[Pro Libertate]

We had it until the oppressors took it away. Libertarian indeed.

[Brett L]

Giving blog commentors a blink tag is like handing a 3 year old a chainsaw, the BEST that could happen is that they lose interest immediately.

[Yearning to Breathe Free]

I'm glad they did; it fucking sucked.

[Pro Libertate]

All of my comments still blink, just veeerrrryyy slowly.

Keep watching.

[JEP]

Or faster than 30 Hz...

[Pro Libertate]

Or both.

[BeltwayLurker]

I don't know how to quit you!

[AA]

US troops "will continue to conduct partnered counter-terrorism operations"

U, ya, thats the same thing we were doing when I was there in '03-'04. "Mission Accomplished" indeed.

[?]

I'm shocked and a little disappointed that there's not a link to a "Obama the Secret Muslim" story, as a reputed 25% of Americans who don't know the difference between race and religion seem to driving a national hysteria, forcing the Obamas to go to church, take communion and sing psalms that comfirm their god as The Bestest God.

[Jesse Walker]

Radley linked to it yesterday.

[?]

Thanks. Interestingly, the writer says, "The number of Americans who believe -- wrongly -- that President Obama is a Muslim..." and, "The number of people who now correctly identify Obama as a Christian..." as if anyone can truly know. Birthers believe Obama is a Muslim because his father was a Muslim, dismissing from the equation the fact that religion is not part of a person's DNA. It's not race.

[Jim]

No, but we know he was not born in the US because he got no birth certificate.

[Brett L]

You know who else didn't have a birth certificate? Lincoln! Most of the presidents before him were born in British territories! Its all a conspiracy. Put on your tinfoil hat and tune to channel 77 for more details.

[?]

Gah! My tuner only goes to 76!

[Wind Rider]

That's what the tinfoil is for. Brings in Channels 77-146. As a bonus, 107 is all Taiwanese Miniature Golf, all the time. The windmill, whoa, that one is a son of a bitch!

[?]

Can I get the Steeplechase Network? I'm not buying no tinfoil if I can't get the jumping horseys.

[TrickyVic]

I find it funny when people claim muslims must follow the Koran to the letter, then claim someone who does not is a muslim.

[BeltwayLurker]

Radley was off by too. Pew says 12%, not 20% or 25%

[MNG]

Actually it was 18%

http://people-press.org/report/645/

[Fist of Etiquette]

And that's not even counting the secret birthers!

[Dean Wormer]

Don't even get me started on the double secret birthers.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You again?

[BeltwayLurker]

Try the actual Pew report you fucking Obama troll.

[?]

Is that the One and True poll?

[BeltwayLurker]

Yes, the one we are talking about and it is true! Independents polled at 18% believing imam Obama to be Muslim. Did not see if they asked about race in that one.

[SIV]

They take communion in those "Kill-Whitey" Black-Nationalist churches?

[MNG]

The wafer becomes the body of Whitey McWhite, the wine his blood...

[Tim]

"are you now or have you ever been a communionist?"

[SIV]

I couldn't find anything specific about the Eucharist/communion thing in United Church of Christ but it does seem common in protestant churches.

[?]

Communion was my favorite part of church, back in the day when I was forced to participate in my parents' superstitious rites. Those Episcopalians had damn good wine. The trick was to get first dibs before the goblet filled up with old ladies' backwash. Blood of Christ? All for it. Saliva? Not so much.

[Abdul]

Proddies don't believe it's the blood of Christ. You all just do it for the shits and giggles.

Catholics, on the other hand, roll old school on the miraculous transubstantiation.

[Brett L]

Cannibals!

[cynical]

I think people that gain strength and longevity from consuming the blood of the undead are actually ghouls, at least if we're talking about vampires.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

So basically, J.C. said to all of his disciples, "eat me!"

[rustedangel]

His one desire, his only wish was to be eaten.

[SIV]

Don't a bunch of liberals and "libertarians" believe Barck Obama is a "secret-atheist"? They're either misinformed or crazy too right?

[MNG]

Wouldn't you want an answer to your first question before asking the second?

[SugarFree]

Whatever, MNG. It figures that someone like you couldn't see the insensitive symbolism of atheists building an achurch near Ground Zero.

[Wind Rider]

The atheists have obviously already won, since they built nothing to symbolize what they don't believe in on the site. Bastages.

[Fluffy]

Why do you think it's still a big hole in the ground even all these years later?

Our atheist illuminati want that hole in the ground to represent the Hole in the Sky where God is supposed to be.

[David]

We're through the looking glass, people.

[Fluffy]

Like who?

I've never heard that one before.

As far as I am concerned, being an "atheist" requires you to have the guts to declare yourself one. If you go to church every week but keep locked in your own brain the secret that it's all a front and a lie, that's not really "atheism". It's probably pretty common among churchgoers, but "atheism" it ain't.

[Tim]

In 1910 being an atheist required guts. In 2010 it's "meh" good for you.

[Fluffy]

I'm sure you're right.

But that would just make it even more true that if you don't say you're an atheist, you ain't one.

You're just a theist who is having some doubts but is too chicken to talk about them with your co-religionists.

[Tim]

Fluffy old chap, you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder. But you also have a fine mind and I am not trying to pick a fight with you. Peace.

[Fluffy]

Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like a fight here.

I just think that people who attend church for years and years in an environment that is Christian-normative, they aren't atheists until they say they are. Because if we're going to start assuming atheism of anyone we think really doesn't believe all that they hear at church, but attends anyway out of some other motive [like political ambition, or a fondness for tradition, or so their kids will "get some church", or because their wife nags them, or because they sell insurance or cars or something in the Bible belt, or whatever] then we're going to have to declare the US majority-atheist.

[robc]

then we're going to have to declare the US majority-atheist.

And?

[SugarFree]

I'm right there with you, robc.

[Tim]

And Obama won't have to schedule photo ops at churches.

[TrickyVic]

An atheist wouldn't waste his/her time in a church.

[Law Student]

I understand what your getting at but sometimes people go to church because it makes other people happy. I'm openly atheist most of the time but around my extended family it is just not worth trouble. I still go to Mass every Easter and Christmas despite my mother knowing I don't believe because it makes her happy to have the whole family together at church. I don't think it makes me a theist with some doubts because I won't tell my grandmother considering it could quite literally give her a stroke.

[Wind Rider]

And we can ALL see Skippy standing up to Michelle. . .on principle, of course.

[Aresen]

"I'm openly atheist most of the time but around my extended family it is just not worth trouble. I still go to Mass every Easter and Christmas"

I'm not too up on some of the finer points of Theology, but don't the believers hold that faking it can get you in a lot of doo-doo with the Hairy Thunderer in the Sky?

[Law Student]

I don't receive the host anymore so it is not blasphemous.

[Isaac Bartram]

Not if your running for public office in the USofA, it's not.

[Aresen]

Outside of the Scandanavian countries and the Netherlands (and I'm only guessing that they might be a little more open to an atheist in public office), I don't think one could successfully run for high public office anywhere if one were atheist.

(A couple of members of the New Democrat members of the Canadian Parliament are openly atheist, but that's all that I know of.)

[Plate-O]

The PM of Australia, Julia Gillard, is openly atheist:

[prolefeed]

As far as I am concerned, being an "atheist" requires you to have the guts to declare yourself one. If you go to church every week but keep locked in your own brain the secret that it's all a front and a lie, that's not really "atheism". It's probably pretty common among churchgoers, but "atheism" it ain't.

If you're an atheist, but your continuing access to good pussy requires you to go to church with her on Sunday and STFU a bit about the crazy, you're still an atheist, albeit a pragmatic one.

I know several men who married hot Mormon women who have done that. I'm OK with lying if pussy is involved.

[cynical]

"As far as I am concerned, being an "atheist" requires you to have the guts to declare yourself one."

Why? Atheism is a stance on the metaphysical nature of the universe, not a question of praxis. You can be an atheist and still be a hypocrite -- there's no UnGod that demands you speak out in his UnName, so if pretending you believe in a different religion makes your life easier, why not do it?

[?]

"Atheist" is the one word you don't hear in the mainstream Muslim vs. Christian debate. It's inconceivable to both sides of this silly and depressing controversy that Obama could be without any religion at all. And you can bet that if it did come out that he is an atheist, both sides would join forces against him. When it comes to the presidency, no Jews, no Muslims, and hell freezes over before there's an (avowed) atheist.

[Joe M]

Isn't Gary Johnson an atheist?

[?]

I don't know. I do know that he isn't the president.

[SIV]

I think he is a Lutheran.

[?]

That Martin Luther. What a kidder! But I give him props for having sex with a nun. Who could have predicted at the time that someday whole websites would be devoted to that bit of kink?

[Wind Rider]

Add rule 34 to the list of things not available in the Middle Ages.

[Skid Marx]

Every time my 14-year-old German shephers dog pees, I have to don a pair of latex gloves and clean her vulva with some blue solution and then apply Mometamax, which is an antimicrobial.

So last night while doing this for about the thousandth time I thought to my self, if anyone saw this they would think I had a latex and dog pussy fetish. Now that without a doubt, is a very specialized fetish.

[?]

Indeed. I'd stop letting her drink.
Don't you have a shotgun? Or a large rock? It's time.

[prolefeed]

+1

[dbcooper]

Why on earth don't you just get it put down!

[Skid Marx]

I think the fact that she can still walk a quarter mile twice a day, enjoy eating grilled steaks and follows me around is reason enough to not put a bullet in her. She is very happy and content. Her only negative is that she was spade and for a lot of older dogs, that causes some vulva problems that have to be addressed.

[?]

Please stop saying vulva.

[Skid Marx]

I need to be specific. I don't want to piss off the chicks at Jezabel by calling it her vagina.

[prolefeed]

I don't think you need to worry too much about chicks from Jezebel reading the comments on HNR posts.

And even if they did, so what? What can they fucking do about your non-PC comments? Cry a lot? Post angry shit in all caps? Feature, not a bug.

[Aresen]

"spade" =/= "spayed"

/usage nazi mode

[prolefeed]

Because he likes touching dog pussy -- and then rationalizing that fetish.

Just admit you like it, Skid Marx. We won't judge you.

* snickers *

[Wind Rider]

Which there is probably porn for. No, I'm not looking for it for you.

[SugarFree]

Not uncommon at all at the time. Nunneries were dumping grounds for fallen women, bastard daughters of nobles, and other women with no support that didn't want to be straight up whores. Nunneries were full of women that really didn't want to be there and weren't "committed" as a bride of Christ. Nuns were hot properties back in the day.

[SIV]

Ken Russell's adaptation of The Devils of Loudon is a pretty accurate portrayal of this.

[kinnath]

Sister, what's a quickie?

25, same as in town.

[alittlesense]

He's not a Lutheran unless he drinks coffee constantly and eats lots of Jello, especially with fruit in it.

[The Gobbler]

And the jello must be green.

[Wind Rider]

With the little marshmallows. And mandarin orange pieces. No crunchy shit though.

[Militant Agnostic]

No respect. No respect at all.

[Slut Bunwalla]

Well, considering it's very public knowledge that Obama went to church for 20 years and has made quite a show of being a Christian, I'd think it reasonable that it wouldn't occur to a lot of people that Obama could be an atheist.

[Mike Laursen]

Well, he has publicly proclaimed his faith. And since he always says the opposite of what he does, he must be an atheist. QED.

[John]

It is the drawback of being a total blank slate. The guy has never explained what he thinks about religion. And he brags about going to a maddress in Indoesia. Then he attends church every Sunday for 20 years but later claims never to have heard any of the sermons or have any idea that the paster there was a nut.

I can honestly see how you determine what he actually believes. I don't he is a muslim. But it is not surprising that at least a few people conclude he is. If he were more upfront with what he thought, he wouldn't have this problem.

[John]

And even if he is a Muslim it wouldn't do the country any good in the middle east. The Arabs consider black africans muslim or not somewhere slightly above Jews and dogs.

[?]

It's the 21st Century, for crying out loud. He shouldn't have to answer such questions. That we Americans still have a de facto religious test for high office is depressing.

[John]

It is not a test for office. They still elected him didn't they? But if you asked people the question, it is unsurprising that a good number think he is Muslim. What are they supposed to think? What evidence do they have to go on?

[?]

It shouldn't concern them. Happily, most Americans aren't overly obsessed with his religion. Just as long as he has one, that is.

[?]

Anyway, the Founders thought so highly of keeping religion and politics separate that they enshrined it in the Constitution:

Article VI, section 3
-The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

200+ years later we're still obsessing over Obama and his alleged religious views. Sheesh.

[SIV]

And 200+ years later there is still no religious test for qualifying to run for office. So you have no "point".

[?]

There is a de facto test. An avowed atheist will never be president.

[Subsidize Me!]

Neither will a pre-op tranny or a midget or a person with tattoos on their face.

Is your de facto test just that atheism has a bad rep with The People??

[#]

people where asked a question of what they thought his religion is. That doesnt mean all peopel who resoinded care that much if at all. If I had to guess it hink hes just nto that religious period. But no one knows for sure, and I don't care. But id still answer the poll question.

[Zeb]

There is evidence that he is Christian (or at least goes to church sometimes and claims to be a Christian). There is no evidence at all that he is Muslim. That is what they have to go on.

[John]

Just where he went to school as a kid and who is father was. That is evidence. I think how you were raised is evidence of your beliefs. It is not dispositive on the issue. But it is evidence. If you knew nothing else about me and I told you my parents were X and I went to X religous school as a kid, you would at least have some basis to conclude I might be X.

[TrickyVic]

There is more evidence that he is christian than muslim.

""If you knew nothing else about me and I told you my parents were X and I went to X religous school as a kid, you would at least have some basis to conclude I might be X.""

True, if you stop there and don't consider any changes. Switching from one church to another is evidence that you abandoned the old and embraced the new.

If you found out Tom Curise grew up baptist, would you call him a baptist or a scientolgist?

[Wind Rider]

No shit, they're willing to experiment with our money, but when it comes to experimenting with a Wiccan at the wheel, Noooooooooooo.

[rustedangel]

We should elect a norse pagan president. International disputes could be settled by holmgang and we could transition to a plunder based economy!

[sloopyinca]

Um, our government already has transitioned to a plunder-based economy. For reference, pull out your pay stub and read it.

[cynical]

I think he was talking about an economy where we plunder other nations, not where we get plundered.

[GoNavy]

Then he attends church every Sunday for 20 years but later claims never to have heard any of the sermons or have any idea that the paster there was a nut.

On this, I cut him a break. He will not be the only man that buys a week of peace with an hour on Sunday morning.

[Nancy Pelosi]

forcing the Obamas to go to church...

This can't be a bad thing since it keeps them out of mischief for at least an hour or two.

[Rich]

The authorities in southern Sudan have unveiled a $10bn (?6.4bn) plan to rebuild the region's cities in the shapes of animals and fruit.

You can't fool *me*, Jesse. This is from The Onion.

[Atanarjuat]

And they wisely plan to locate the sewage treatment plant where the giraffe's asshole should be.

[CoyoteBlue]

The Brazilians built their capital in the shape of a plane. Of course the cockpit is the Three Powers square with the President's office, Congress and Supreme Courts around it.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Does this mean that pets who witness human gay sex are more likely to commit rape? (Why Do Rabbits Rape Cats?)

[waffles]

now this is the insight I've been looking for:

The economy is screwed because people such as myself are NOT committing to pay for $big-ticket$ items we need/want, b/c:

(1) No one knows from one day-to-the-next, whether we are subjects of illegal government surveillance/break-ins. I'd rather keep things I already own, than be forced to hustle $ to pay for new things, while my phone is tapped and my home/padlocks are unlocked with master keys obtained from Masterlock with National Security Letters, by people employed by "Top Secret America" because I openly support 9/11 Truth Movement.

(2) Global warming changes the entire investment/depreciation equation. All property value is diminished due to projections everything coastal will be under H2O in 100 years.

(3) Congress and Courts have been deadlocked ever since they made an issue of Clinton's sex affairs. Nothing gets done, absent PATRIOT ACT laws passed in a panic.

(4) Everyone knows the dollar will soon be rejected as tender for overseas oil. When that happens, chaos will occur for certain.

(5) 2012 predictions do not put people in the mood to buy a flashy new Buick, etc.

[Law Student]

I don't think his tin-foil hat is doing a very good job of protecting his brain.

[TrickyVic]

It's not properly tuned for the wavelength.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Why Do Rabbits Rape Cats?

[Tarantula]

the world of reality TV that Blagojevich's wife visited ? appearing on a show and famously eating a tarantula ? may also be in his future.

Eat me, Blago.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Why Do Rabbits Rape Cats?

Since the spam filter is complaining, I'll include the Weigel post...

David Weigel

1. Who are you voting for in November? I've got the luxury of a guilt-free, zero-impact vote in the District of Columbia, which I would cast for Bob Barr if he was on the ballot. Since he's not, I'm voting for Barack Obama, the only remaining candidate whom I trust not to run the country (further) into the ground with stupid and erratic decisions,...

[Johnny Longtorso]

Fucking spam filter

[Cap'n NoStar]

New applications for unemployment benefits hit their highest level since November.

To spin the record straight, the Obama Administration will be relabeling unemployment figures as Workers Semi-Retired or Retired.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Fucking spam filter.

[SugarFree]

"I like some "self-love" and I like to look in the mirror while I do it."

[Wind Rider]

All the vapid vajayjay's have 'em.

[mr simple]

What happened to not referring to everything as the vagina, because a woman's glory is more than just the penis tube?

Also: so that leaves girl-on-top. So you have do all the prep work and the heavy lifting?

Even radical feminists want to just lie down and take it.

[Tulpa]

And she means HEAVY lifting.

[Wind Rider]

Why you gotta be all hatin on the Rubenesque?

[cynical]

Women who resemble Ruben Studdard?

[V J Dai]

Be creative [in avoiding friction]. Maybe not so horizontal.

Truly, words to live by.

[?]

a reputed 25% of Americans who don't know the difference between race and religion seem to driving a national hysteria

That's about the baseline percentage who pick the nutty answer in any poll that offers a nutty answer. I wouldn't take the result as signifying anything.

But if it does, it's probably something like this, especially the "people do not pay close attention" part.

And 18% of Americans are Juggalos.

[Michelle]

"Obama touched on his own Muslim roots," reported the Associated Press.

HEY!!

[Fluffy]

But if it does, it's probably something like this, especially the "people do not pay close attention" part.

Well, sure.

The people talking about this poll are talking about it because it reveals the percentage of the public that are fucking morons who can't be bothered to keep track of pretty simple and readily obvious facts.

There is really no difference between saying that and saying the sentence you just wrote. All that's different is the critical evaluation of the personal qualities of the people "not paying close attention". But, to me, if you aren't paying close enough attention to know things like who was on each side in WWII, or who was President of the US during the Civil War, or what color the First Lady is, or what sex Oprah Winfrey is, or any number of other questions that should be as simple to know as this is, that makes you a fucking idiot.

[Wind Rider]

The only obvious 'fact' is that nobody really knows what to believe, and are just making this shit up as they go along, to fit their own opinions on the matter. the 'record' states that he went to a muslim school, as a kid, but wasn't affected/didn't pay attention; he sat in Wright's church litening to vitriol for 20 years, and wasn't affected/didn't pay attention, socialized and hung out with exreme leftists/Marxists through most of his college years, but didn't pay attention/wasn't affected. Based on all this, the only reasonable conclusion is that this guy is fucking Chauncy the Gardner.

[Wind Rider]

And no one has bothered to ask Chauncy if he even likes it!

[Chauncy]

I like to watch, Eve.

[Fluffy]

The word for someone who attends a Christian church for decades after attending a Muslim school for a couple of years is "Christian".

[SIV]

So Islam isn't like the US Marines where "once a ___, always a ____" regardless of your current affiliation or professed beliefs?

[Fluffy]

Actually, it's not.

Being a Muslim is pretty much explicitly like my definition of an atheist above: you aren't one unless you say you're one. And if you are one and then start going around saying you aren't one any more and are a Christian instead...(draws finger across throat).

[SIV]

An interesting aside:
Kosher appears to be Halal while Halal is not kosher. Islam permits eating meat slaughtered by Jews and Christians if it is done properly.

Either way don't serve observant Jews or Muslims frog's legs.

[Wind Rider]

I really wanna open a shithole rib joint in Mecca.

[SIV]

My personal "dietary observations" are more in line with the Cajun and the Cantonese.

[Brett L]

Hell yeah. If it don't crawl off the plate, it's dinner.

[SIV]

If you can catch it when it crawls off the plate- it still is dinner.

[Andrew Zimmern]

Correct.

[John]

Fluffy you are the same guy who concludes that Palin is a fundie nut because she was once photographed with some with some wich doctor. But Obama goes to a maddress as a kid, has a Muslim for a father, and has never said shit about what his actual religion is, and you think only a jugaloo could conclude he might be a Muslim.

The personal really is the political for you. Obama is team Blue so he gets the benefit of the doubt at all times. Palin is team red and presumed always to be the worst no matter what.

[Fluffy]

He attended a Christian church for DECADES.

I conclude that Palin is a fundie nut because she attends a fundie nut church.

My standard for what constitutes a fundie nut is very, very low, John. And if you pray for the strength to fight witches even once [which is what Palin did on video] then you are a fundie nut.

Let's put it this way: anyone who spent as much time bitching about the Wright affair as you did, and now can turn around and say that you think Obama is a Muslim and it's OK to do that because you have "nothing to go on", is an intellectually dishonest douche. You should consider yourself estopped from even offering such a statement or non-argument.

Ron Paul and Gary Johnson and Rand Paul are Team Red, and I don't "presume the worst" of them. I presume the worst of Palin because she always delivers.

[SIV]

Sarah Palin is a political genius. It would be good to have her on "our side".
At least she's down with the whole jury nullification thing. Somewhat more important to libertarianism than where she stands on gay marriage.

[John]

Translation; you don't like Palin. We got that Fluffy. And I love how below you claim that anyone who isn't a millitant tiresome asshole isn't a real atheist.

Admit it Fluffy. Your hatred of evangelicals is really just a form of self loathing isn't it?

[Fluffy]

And I love how below you claim that anyone who isn't a millitant tiresome asshole isn't a real atheist.

Are you fucking kidding me?

I said I expected atheists to say they were atheists, and not go to church and pretend to be Christians.

John, seeing someone not going to church and saying the words, "I am an atheist":

"Militant tiresome assholes!"

[Wind Rider]

He attended a Christian church for DECADES.

He sat in fron of Wright spewing vitriolic hatred for 20 years - does that make him a Christian, or a RAAAAAACIST?

[TrickyVic]

Does Obama eat pork?

[TrickyVic]

http://blog.washingtonpost.com.....ecial.html

So he does. Muslims don't eat pork.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

What has Obama done in the last 20 years that indicates he is Muslim?

I'm about as far away from an Obama fan as you'll find - I detest him and consider him to be a world-class narcissist and pathological liar. But I've seen nothing to indicate he's a Muslim today.

The fact that his dad was a Muslim and his mom sent him to a Muslim school for a couple years when he was young (by the way, the word you're looking for is "madrassa", not "maddress") does not make him a Muslim today.

I have known people who had a Jewish dad, a mother who had been raised some variety of Christian, and who had been sent to sunday school but also occasionally attended temple, but as adults have no strong religious beliefs of any kind.

Obama's father might have been a Muslim, but that does not make him one himself.

Hell, for reasons to complicated to explain, I attended Catholic school for one year - my freshman year of high school. It was probably the worst year of my life, and there is sure as hell no damn way I'm a Catholic.

And yes he has said what his religion is - he has self-identified as a Christian and has attended Christianity-based churches.

As far as I'm concerned, we've got bigger issues with Our Dear Leader than what his particular breed of nonexistent deity belief is.

[Fluffy]

But Obama goes to a maddress as a kid, has a Muslim for a father

By the way, these two data points are absolutely irrelevant to anyone who isn't a moron or scum.

Using these two data points, you would be forced to conclude that I am a Catholic. Do you think I'm a Catholic, John? Would it be reasonable to think that I'm a Catholic?

[SIV]

If you were confirmed I think the Catholic Church still considers you a Catholic. Unless they excommunicated you.

[Jason]

The Catholic Church still considers you Catholic even if you are excommunicated (which is automatic if you join another religion).

There is no "unbaptism"... there is no real way to leave the church.

[John]

So who your parents are and where you went to school as a kid is irrelevent to figuring out your religion? It is not dispositive, true. But it is evidence.

I dont' know what Obama believes. And I really dont' care. But, I can understand why some people, given his background and total opaqueness about the issue, think he might be or is really a Muslim. I don't agree with them. But I can't disprove them either.

You only have your panties in a wad because of who you think believes this. As I said above, you have no problem assuming the worst about Palin. But you think only crazys can assume the worst about Obama. Is there any political issue that doesn't boil down to culture for you? Any at all?

[?]

I went to an Episcopalian church as a kid. My parents are both Christians. Does that make me a Christian? No. The end.

[Isaac Bartram]

Palin wasn't just photographed with some wich doctor, she publicly accepted a witch-fighting blessing from him. She still attends the church that hosted him. And she has never refudiated her association with him. That tells me that she still believes it and, frankly, is sufficient to disqualify her from being anywhere near the rains of power IMO. I need to se someone who is a little more intellectually curious and a little less gullble.

Now, Obama wrote in a book that he after a life of no particualrly notable religious observance he was converted to christianity by Rev Jeremiah Wright who he later refudiated due to the Rev's intemperate and over the top rhetoric about an America that he perceived as having treated his people unjustly.

I personally have serious doubts as to the fervency of BHO's religious convictions or his allegiance to any faith. But in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, I'm going to go with Christian.

However I believe that like that of many Americans his christianity is one of convenience, adopted to advance his political career as others adopt it to advance their business careers or social lives.

I doubt that most people give much actual thought to their declarations of belief, though.

The article that the cent linked to above at 8:42AM is worth reading.

Beyond that, Obama's religion is neither fish nor fowl to me. I find his economic programs and governing style, not to mention the cult of personality his supporters have built up, quite enough to reject him.

[SIV]

That tells me that she still believes it and, frankly, is sufficient to disqualify her from being anywhere near the rains of power IMO.

What part of "no religious test" don't you understand?

[Isaac Bartram]

It's not a religious test, it's an intelligence and morality test. And it's a test I'm making to determine my willingness to support anyone. Note that I said "disqualify her...IMO (in my opinion)". Someone who associates with someone who instigated villagers to attack a woman he claimed was a witch* is not morally qualified for political leadership.

Likewise disqualified are candidates who advocate the extermination of or generally unequal treatment of any religious racial or ethnic group.

If you wish to support candidates with moronic ideas, have at it. I won't.

By the way, I don't believe that SP is unintelligent, she demonstrated a reasonable level of competence of governor of Alaska, though her quitting should give anyone pause. But she does seem to have decided to pander to the lowest common denominator of know-nothingism in the country.

*This woman was just driven out of town. Attacks like this frequently result in the death of the accused "witch".

[Pip]

Smoking Gun?

"His half-sister Maya told the New York Times that her "whole family was Muslim.""

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer......z0xA2vUl9a

[Wind Rider]

Or he's actually Indian! A fakir!

[DJF]

"""The word for someone who attends a Christian church for decades after attending a Muslim school for a couple of years is "Christian"."""

Are you talking about the Christian church he attended for 20 years until he ran for President and then claimed he could not remember what the preacher was preaching?

[Fluffy]

Yup.

That one.

So you DO remember, I see.

"Gee, it's not surprising the public is confused. What do they have to go on?"

[John]

And of course in your "who is a real athiest" post claim that there are people who go to church but don't believe, which is true. Obama went there. But he later repudiated the pastor. And also, there is no way a Muslim would get ahead in politics in this country.

I would say it is possible, not likely but possible, that in his heart he is a Muslim or some wierd mush of views. Again, I don't care. But it is pretty hard to figure out just what he is. It is not obvious one way or another, which is fine with me. But don't get on here and tell me you have any fucking idea what the hell he believes because you don't. You just assume you do because you view it as a good way to fight the red team blue team culture war. And that is what it is always about with you isn't it?

[-]

Again, I don't care.

You've expended a lot of words for not caring.

[Fluffy]

Dude, this is so weak.

It's exactly what you're accusing me of doing.

There are a bunch of retarded redneck stupid fucks who insist on thinking something completely in odds with the available facts, but you have to step up and defend their idiocy because they're Real Americans.

In the course of defending those idiots, you're willing to stoop as low as "Well, we can't prove what he's thinking..." which we could say of anyone and everyone, up to and including the motherfucking Pope. We can't prove that the Pope isn't secretly a Muslim, who's been faking all these years as part of a nefarious plot. That's the level of argument you've been willing to reduce yourself to, in order to defend semiliterate scum.

I hate stupid people, John. Some days the stupid people think we should demolish industrial civilization to fight global warming. Other days the stupid people think Obama faked his birth certificate. TODAY, the stupid people think that Obama is a secret Muslim.

It's not a Team Red thing at all, unless your claim is that to be on Team Red you have to be a birther who thinks Obama is secretly a Muslim. Is that what you're saying, John? That this is now the official GOP line?

I think you mistake the subset of the GOP that is made up of redneck morons for the entire GOP. And if you want to go there and say that they're the entire GOP now, feel fucking free.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

That goes in the huge column of evidence that he is a chronic, pathological liar. It does nothing to prove he is a Muslim.

[John]

True. But if he is a cronic liar then we really have no idea what to believe about him do we? Given that, it is unsurprising that people think he is a Muslim, Communist, Shirner or whatever else.

[David]

My father (and his entire side of the family) is Catholic. I went to a Christian private school (Quaker, though) for four years. My grandparents dragged me to church with them for a while when I was visiting regularly.

Does that make me a secret Christian, even though I was Bar Mitzvahed after all that and have spent the last 15 years as an irregularly-practicing Jew?

[John]

No it doesn't. But if we didn't know what you were, those facts would be evidence that you were.

[Johnny Longtorso]

http://christwire.org/2010/08/.....rape-cats/

[Johnny Longtorso]

Again, fucking spam filter. Maybe using the website I attached to my name will allow me to post the link.

[They]

"They need help. And if we want this economy to create more jobs more quickly, we need to help them," [President Obama] said before departing for an extended family vacation at Martha's Vineyard.

kthxbai

[sage]

Fart stinks like a mutherfucker!

[Johnny Longtorso]

I repeat, fucking spam filter.

[?]

I'd advise you to get your own damn blog, but it's the quickest road to oblivion.

[SIV]

Check out my blog tumblr blogs can be set up in a few minutes.

[&]

While we're on the topic of girls in underwear, you might enjoy this vid, SIV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jpmpz5yJug

[mr simple]

Horton told CNN that with the affidavits, the Department of Justice was attempting a new line of legal reasoning to clamp down on online pharmacies.
"The Department of Justice, for the first time, is saying these are considered unregulated drugs, and that is a violation of the law," Horton said.

Well I'm glad we got that settled. We wouldn't want anything floating around out there unregulated. CNN is so fucking proud of themselves, like the grade school class snitch.

[Fluffy]

Wow.

Even more bullshit than usual.

The substances in question are either approved by the FDA or they aren't. Their metaphysical being can't be altered because the wrong person puts the pills in an envelope.

[Spartacus]

My wife gets migraines regularly. When she runs out of pain meds, she calls the neurologist's office and they write a new prescription, usually without her having to come in for an office visit.

If she contacts the doctor's office by email instead, does that make them illegal?

[BeltwayLurker]

Blago is already a reality tv star. NEXT!

[Law Student]

I suggest him and patty release a sex tape by "accident".

[&]

Patty is obviously the brains of the outfit. Somebody should bitch-slap that twat.

[Fist of Etiquette]

New applications for unemployment benefits hit their highest level since November.

It's a very popular - and therefore successful - program.

[Rich]

New claims for unemployment benefits jump unexpectedly

The administration blew it this time. If they had simply *expected* the jump, everything would be cool.

[mr simple]

I love how every month the jump is unexpected. I picture a bunch of professor types standing around befuddled saying "How did this happen? We totally did not see this coming. It doesn't fit the models."

[Brett L]

Well if they'd stop using "what the administration wants to hear" as their major criterion, their model would perform better.

[Tim]

If you pay for something you get more of it.
If you tax it you get less.

"Feed the rich, tax the poor, till there are no, poor no more"...

[BG]

If you pay for something you get more of it.
If you tax it you get less.

Well, since we want more jobs and employment, let's get rid of employer payroll tax -since it is a tax directly on job creation. Also, we could have an income tax credit of a dollar or two per paid employee hour worked. Both of these would reduce the cost of employing someone, and thus make tend to make it more profitable to run one's business in a way that creates jobs.

"Feed the rich, tax the poor, till there are no, poor no more"...

Yea, man! No problem with that reasoning! Poor countries like Bangladesh just need to institute massive regressive taxation. The poorer you are the more you pay. People on the brink of starvation should have to pay the most, since being that desperately poor is what we want to discourage the most. Third would countries with massive poverty should simply tax themselves into prosperity!

In fact, why stop with poverty? Don't we want to have less disease and disability, and fewer victims of natural disasters? Lets impose a special tax on people with cancer, with HIV, with altimers, with sickle cell, with amputated limbs (or born missing limbs), the blind, and so on. Same thing with people whose house is destroyed by earthquakes, floods, hurrices, or other natural disasters. Higher taxes for them all!

This way, people will stop making bad decisions like not looking for a job, or looking but being turned down, or being born in a third world country with no opportunity, or being born with a genetic disability, or having natural disaster destroy their house and all their worldly possessions.

[BG]

The last three paragraphs were sarcasm in case that is not clear.

[Pip]

I would like to subscribe to your news letter.

[Brett L]

I got an email from the Florida Libertarian party candidate for Senate, letting me know that he had 500 tickets to the WND Conference in Miamah, and would I like to go to this wonderful event about Taking 'Murca Back and support him...

I want the money I sent his campaign back, is it rude to request a refund?

[?]

It can't hurt. Go for it.

[creech]

No, my boss asked for money back from Sen. Specter and actually got it.

[?]

And then Specter lost the primary. Nice!

[Yearning to Breathe Free]

The men with the golden guns: Mexican museum displays 'narco bling' weaponry confiscated from drug lords

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z0x9UaWxjn

[Bill C]

Rand Paul getting hammered by his Democratic opponent on his states right approach on drugs. If you're interested in fighting back against this demagoguery donate or volunteer @ http://www.RandPaul2010.com There's a "moneybomb" happening right now...

[Tim]

Suddenly he needs Libertarians?

[Pip]

Fuck his Republican ass.

[SIV]

You'll probably have to gay-marry him first. Rand went to Baylor after all.

[Brett L]

At least he has an excuse for not being able to dance.

[Law Student]

I think his excuse was he was too high the whole time.

[mr simple]

Rasmussen has Paul up 49% - 40% among likely voters as of Wednesday, with 7% undecided. I'm still feeling good about this one. But I still don't like Paul enough to donate money.

[prolefeed]

Rasmussen polls skew Republican. The other polls on this race show Paul +8, Paul +5, and Conway +1. He's maybe ahead, but if so just barely.

[Jo Maker]

Oh wow, should be interesting to see how that turns out.

http://www.total-privacy.cz.tc

[Tim]

Not exactly up to terminator level of intelligence...

Arnoldbot : "Sarah Connor?"

Sarah Connor: " No, er, I'm Sarah ...TRonnor, yeah Tronnor."

Arnoldbot: " I won't be back. "

[Joe M]

They should plan all those Sudan cities in the shape of a donkey.

[Warty]

Best headline of the day: Obama had facts wrong about visit here

Death by the headcrusher

[DJF]

The AirForce Time says that they just renamed the combat brigades in Iraq "Advise and Assist Brigades".

Combat brigades in Iraq under different name

http://www.airforcetimes.com/n.....me-081910/

[hmm]

Didn't you get the memo? The administration is no longer fucking us. They are know shtupping us. You should feel much better about the shtupping.

[R C Dean]

I think the only rational answer to the religion question is "don't know, can't really care." Why you would take his word on it when he says he's a Christian is a mystery to me, since its in his political interest to say this.

His churchgoing (back when he went) was a transparent political ploy, after all.

He's not a Muslim or a Christian. He worships at the Church of Me, He never talks about Christianity (which is a blessing) but when he talks about any religion, its to puff up the Muslim one, so its easy to see why, if you had to guess, you would guess Muslim.

NTTAWT. As if it matters.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

He worships at the Church of Me

Exactly.

[Hank]

That sounds like one kick-ass religion. The Progressive Socialist Mosque of Obama. Could the person responsible for posting that glorious air brushed gem of The Prez on that unicorn please use your Internet magic to put that back up.

Asalamobama, brothers.

[NoVAHockey]

I think he would expect more than the traditional tithe.

[Brett L]

I'm pretty sure the next church I join is Kevin Fowler's "Church of Hank Williams".

[hmm]

I heard he was a scientologist.

[GG Allin's Corpse]

UK Banning Legal Highs

[Zeb]

Whenever you start to think that the US press is total shit, just go read some British papers.

[?]

Yeah, but the Brits know it's bullshit. Americans believe it.

[TrickyVic]

They live by it.

[Tokin' Brit]

Home Secretary Theresa May said legal highs were the "next battle" in the fight against drugs.

Well, duh.

[kinnath]

With each passing day of the Obama administration, I find that I miss Dick Nixon just a little bit more.

[waffles]

Milhous Nixon, I can never forget his middle name

[Zeb]

I generally assume that all politicians are full of shit about religion. But imagining that Obama is a secret Muslim is very, very silly.

[SIV]

Totally silly

It's not very secret if 24% of the US population knows it

[G. Hodd]

So true. He never gives the secret Muslim handshake or salute.

[Isaac Bartram]

Barely Suppressed Rage wrote at 10:22AM

As far as I'm concerned, we've got bigger issues with Our Dear Leader than what his particular breed of nonexistent deity belief is.

Just though this quote needed to be reprinted all on its own.

[-]

Wouldn't a better handle be Barely Suppresed Crackpot?

[Law Student]

So not believing in a magical sky fairy makes you a crackpot?

[Isaac Bartram]

Explain.

[Nooge]

Everybody knows that Presidents are either Masons or closet Thelemites. Obama isn't a Muslim; he's conjuring Goetic entities and astrally mooning the Congress.

/tinfoilhat

[TrickyVic]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/201.....fact_check

"Rauf counts former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright from the Clinton administration as a friend and appeared at events overseas or meetings in Washington with former President George W. Bush's secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and Bush adviser Karen Hughes"

Maybe those are Rauf's terrorist connections people speak of. 😉