So, perhaps if I believe hard enough in the existence of the Marvel universe, I can get all super stretchy like Mr. Fantastic. Wait until the wife gets a load of that…

“Science doesn’t have all the answers for everything,” has to be one of my favorite tropes. No fucking shit, lady. However, there are many more answers than yesterday, and the year before that, and the 50 years before that.

It’s what we like to call ‘making progress’ and ‘figuring shit out’.

————–

Oh wow, its gets better.

“Dr. Wendy Walsh is not even licensed. The California Board of Psychology website lists her as “Pyscholog­ical Assistant number PSB35274, unable to practice psychology unless supervised by Dr. Adam Scheck.” She has a PhD, but cannot legally call herself a psychologist. It’s illegal for her to present herself as one.”

Full on CNN fail.

They didn’t have these cool things around when I was a kid.

Here we are three months into the fiscal revolution and just look at the amazing budgets and job creation bills that are pouring forth. Oh wait, that’s on the other-dimensional-Earth.

The right-wing wave of newly installed representatives have been busily increasing government meddling through the introduction of bills that want to track and monitor what goes on with women’s vaginas (going so far as to have the IRS investigate!) while simultaneously trying to push creationism into the classroom.

The original is bad ass.

The latest flurry of activity is to now reaffirm a 1950′s McCarthy-era mistake of epic proportions. Changing the national motto to “In God We Trust.”

If there was a more insulting phrase that could be foisted on this secular nation I can’t think if one.

So now’s your chance to tell your representative it’s time to stop fucking around with bullshit resolutions. Put the real national motto back where it belongs.

The phrase we need now more than any ridiculous sectarian posturing – E pluribus unum.

Out of many, one.

and

Now I have something good to watch in the Spring and can await the return of The Walking Dead.

The propensity of people to be willingly mislead so as not to betray their tribal allegiances should not surprise me. So it is with much curiosity I will be watching Newt Gingrich’s announcement on his Presidential bid.

In a recent interview over at the Washington Post, Newt had these interesting things to say:

“There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate,” said Gingrich

Wow. So it was his passion for the US that led him to forsake his most holy wedding vows and stuff his cock into one of his own staff members, 23 years his junior (for once, it wasn’t another guy. Possibly a first for an incumbent Republican, at the time).

But, it’s really OK because:

“he had sought “God’s forgiveness”

What an amazing club he belongs to. He can break any of the rules, without repercussion, as long as he seeks forgiveness from the top guy. But wait! Do not be distracted by his infidelity, lying, and misogyny for he’s a True Family Values Man pandering to the evangelicals who should be MORE concerned with:

“On one front, you have a secular, atheist, elitism. And on the other front, you have radical Islamists. And both groups would like to eliminate our civilization if they could. For different reasons, but with equal passion.”

Holy shit Newt – you’re surrounded! Booga Booga, evangelicals – time to vote in fear!

So, secular, atheist, elitism is god damn national threat in his eyes.  I suppose I should thank Newt for upgrading my rank to elite.

Should I start wearing a necktie or bowtie? Which is more appropriate for a newly minted elite threat to society?

But wait! Let’s take a moment to closely examine an aspect of Newt’s fear-mongering. He’s actually postulating that there’s a secular movement that stands as threat to the Judeo-Christan civilization. The movement he is talking about is Humansim.

Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.

Wow. That’s some scary shit right there. Why, if it caught on it could very well undermine and empty the coffers of churchs and lobbyists the country over.

Better not let that happen.

That’s right, for an exclusive time only, NASA is offering to fill up your sensory organs with Discovery’s awesome thrust. Check out Discovery’s last mission into space as it hammers it home from every angle imaginable.

Yea, it’s rocket porn at its most awesome!

“It is very difficult to get a man to understand something when his tribal identity depends on his not understanding it,” – Bérubé

I suppose this handily explains why people aren’t more skeptical. They’re afraid to closely examine issues else they risk losing their tribal identity and being ejected from their comfort zone.

Politics is scarily clear and understandable now, and for that matter religion too. There’s no rationality or skepticism involved at all.

Just pure tribalism.

If you are a gamer, then once again you are finding yourself on the upswing of an awesome indie-gaming moment. Not since the heydays of the Commodore 64 and LucasArts bringing out the SCUM engine have things been so good.

Thanks to Steam, developers have a great platform (along with things like the XBox marketplace) to sell their wares. And what wonders we are seeing.

Magicka, despite a rocky start, is one such game. A great top-down shoot-em up that employs various combinations of elemental magic to explode and kill your foe. It was set in a roughly Norse-era landscape.

And now…

They go to Vietnam. Brilliant!

CFI is running an interesting new campaign called Living Without Religion.

It’s meant to combat many of the specious arguments put forward by Christian apologists against atheists, agnostics and the humanist movement. I imagine it’s going to provoke some pretty interesting conversations and comments across the news channels.

I think their message would have been a bit smarter if they had targeted all gods. The aim is squarely at the Abrahamic religions (though that is the dominant flavor around here).

Regardless, how does one live without religion?

Pretty damn easy.