Jon Stewart - Baracknophobia

[Stolen from Saganist]
Jon Stewart does what he does best here: deconstruct right-wing talking points, showing them to be utter absurdities. Watch this.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Baracknophobia - Obey
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Twilirony

[via Latter-Day Main Street]

I am here in a hotel room in Madison, Alabama literally laughing out loud:

Deseret Book, the LDS-church owned book store chain, has banned Twilight from their shelves.

Yep. A book that in many ways is LDS-church propaganda, or at least propaganda for the worst aspects of the sorts of relationships encouraged by the LDS-church authority (e.g., woman giving up on their personal development to get married as soon after high school as possible; women being completely subservient to their overbearing husband; sex only after marriage and ideally only for propogation; reproducing as efficiently as possible regardless of it effects on a woman's well-being) has been removed from Deseret Book stores.

The church and the bookstore have declined comment, but it's honestly not hard to imagine why: aside from the fact that all that stuff above is completely abhorrent, the books ARE a vaguely sadomasochistic fantasy aimed at teenage girls, as I've noted before. I haven't read the last book (or, to be honest, ANY of them), but I understand things get a little hot and heavy once rings are on fingers.

So, I understand why they've done this, and it's perhaps not all that surprising... It's just a little bit ironic given the criticism the books have received from many non-Mormons.

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day, and (via The Intersection) here is Carl Sagan, whom the world lost too soon, remarking on just how... well, remarkable, our world is, how precious life is, how gloriously insignificant and yet unique and grand we are.

Beautiful, beautiful words:

What should Jesus have done?

[h-t to PZ]

Things that make me cringe, Part 1a

Anyone who knows me personally knows that, despite getting worked up about a lot of things here on my blog, I take things pretty easy, and don't get upset about too many things. But there are a few things that I just can't stand.

Here they are:

People who make fake gang signs in photographs. That stopped being clever in 1996. Scratch that, it was never funny. Also, I suppose I should make an exemption for actual gang members. You can keep doing that, if you must.

Here's a typical member of the species, found randomly on the web:
Looks like a fun night... but thanks for ruining the photo, jerkwad!

The word "hubby." I don't know what it is about it. It always bugged me, particularly in Facebook status updates, then Alex (curse you!) got me hooked on the STFU, Marrieds blog, and now my seething hatred of this word knows no bounds. Same goes for "wifey," though thankfully it's less common.

A typical specimen:

Glenn Beck.
Of the rabid right-wing TV/radio show hosts, Rush Limbaugh may wield more evil power, Sean Hannity may be more smugly righteous, and Michelle Malkin more reflexively accuse liberals of colluding with terrorists, nut when it comes to utter dumbshittery, none can match Glenn Beck.

Here' a typical example I stole from Travis. Seriously, watch the whole thing.


.... And that's where I'm leaving this list for today!

Rick Warren: lying lieface

[hat-tip to the Friendly Atheist]

Let me just preface this by saying that I absolutely hate pious hypocrisy and pious deception. I hate it when religious leaders think that because they are working for the Glory of God or whatever, they feel they have the right to lie.

Rick Warren, who you may remember from such films as I'm a Bigot, but Don't Tell Anyone! and Saddlebackin' is in the news again.

Warren was notoriously criticized by many for his anti-gay bigotry after being selected to give the invocation.

Last week, Warren claimed on the Larry King show that he had never endorsed Proposition 8. Specifically, he said:

I am not an anti-gay or anti-gay marriage activist. I never have been, never will be.

During the whole Proposition 8 thing, I never once went to a meeting, never once issued a statement, never — never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop 8 was going. [emphasis added]

Of course, everyone knew this was a blatant lie, so people rushed to the intertubes and tracked down a video of Warren, speaking to his congregation saying:

Now let me just say this really clearly. We support Proposition 8. And if you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support Proposition 8.

That sounds like about as unequivocal an endorsement as I can possibly imagine.

Warren responded that this statement cannot be construed as an endorsement, as it was just a pastor takling to his flock. Umm.. What?

But wait! There's more!

Warren felt all picked on for being caught in an obvious lie, so he canceled an upcoming appearance on ABC's This Week.

And it gets even BETTER:

Warren attacked Beliefnet founder Steven Waldman, hardly a hostile interogator for Warren, for tricking him into equating gay marriage with pedophilia. Specifically, Warren said:

I was asked a question that made it sound like I equated gay marriage with pedophilia or incest, which I absolutely do not believe.

So, just how did he do that? Here's the passage Warren's talking about:

“WARREN: The issue to me, I’m not opposed to that [some partnership rights] as much as I’m opposed to redefinition of a 5,000 year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.

BELIEFNET: Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married?

[WARREN:] Oh , I do. For 5,000 years, marriage has been defined by every single culture and every single religion - this is not a Christian issue. Buddhist, Muslims, Jews — historically, marriage is a man and a woman.

(Um... Has Rick Warren even read the Bible?)

Now, in fairness, I will say that some of Warren's statement's in the full transcript of that interview are a hell of a lot less virulently anti-gay than what you hear from many religious leaders, but it really seems like he wants to have his cake and eat it to on the whole bigotry issue.

Of Sparkly Vampires and Sleeping Beauty

So, I saw the Twilight film a week or so ago. And since then, I've been trying to work out how I feel about the whole Twilight phenomenon.

NOTE: The film itself is horrendously, hilariously awful. It IS worth seeing, if only for the lawls.

I'm of at least two minds on the Twilight thing. I sometimes feel like people (including myself) who've criticized Twilight for being a bad example for teenage girls don't give teenagers enough credit.

When I was was in 7th grade, I devoured (no pun intended) Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. I remember getting in trouble from by 7th grade English teacher because the book I was reading had 'Damned' in the title. In terms of unhealthy relationships and explicit sexuality, these books went far beyond anything Twilight has ever dreamed of. By the end of the year (remember, I would have been 13 at the time), I was reading Rice's gloriously over-the-top, incredibly sexually explicit BDSM epic Sleeping Beauty Trilogy.

These were, to say the least, not books meant for children. Though I openly read the Vampire Chronicles in front of my parents and at school, I was well aware that the content of the Sleeping Beauty trilogy was not something I "should" have been reading at such an "impressionable age," so I kept it to myself.

But despite the ever-present themes of sexual domination, surrender and sadomasochism (seriously, if you haven't read the books, go check one out. Open to a random page and see what you find), I didn't seek out relationships that mimicked those in the book. I understood that what's in those novels is fantasy. And fantasy is not only okay, it's a good thing, in my opinion.

So, what's so different about Twilight?

Well, I'm not entirely sure there is a real difference, but if there is, this is it:

The Sweerthearts box above isn't a 'shop job, but is an actual product available at your local grocery store. This whole commoditization of BDSM sexual fantasy for teen girls (albeit without the intercourse) is just bizarre to me. Seriously? A sexy-vampire-themed conversation heart that says "lamb" and "bite me?"For kids? Mmm, delicious.

When I was reading Rice's Sleeping Beauty, I knew it was subversive, that it was so enrapturing in part because it contravened society's boundaries. And it wasn't the only thing I read. I was reading works of literature, poetry, news, science and nonfiction. I was raised with values of gender-neutral self-empowerment and principles of free inquiry.

Twilight, on the other hand, has gained a reputation in some circles as a shining example for the nation's children, what with the traditional gender roles stuffed down your throat and the no-sex-until-marriage stuff. Girls are reading this tale of an obsessive relationship where a girl pretty much subsumes her entire character and identity into a guy she just met. A guy who secretly spies on her and sneaks into her room at night to "watch her sleep." A guy who vomits at the thought of their sexuality, and yet draws her in closer and closer. And we're all supposed to accept that this just means he loves her, and not that he's a creepy stalker. Any why? Because they don't fuck until they're married. And that makes it an excellent moral lesson, apparently: If you're going to get into an horrible, abusive relationship that will, quite literally, result in your death, be sure you get married before you find out if the sex is even good.

Like I say, I think we do teenagers a disservice when we thing they're not capable of understanding the difference between fantasy and reality. It's hard to put yourself back into the mindset you were in at 13 or 14, but I know that I wasn't totally ruined by the books I read. To the contrary. I think that nearly anything that gets people -- kids or not -- to read more is a good thing. Twilight is certainly not a shining example of classic literature, but is it going to lead to a generation of girls specifically seeking abusive relationships? No, I don't believe so.

That said, when it comes to empowering, positive vampire tales, Buffy could totally take both Edward AND Lestat with both hands tield behind her back (and no, I didn't mean that as a bondage joke... though I do now).