Ignorant Git of the Day

I really have to hand it to this Christian moron. The man knows how to spew his Christian nonsense.

Via Raw Story, I learned that ignorant-git president J. Stacy Miller of the Myrtle Grove Christian School presented the following biblical message to students and parents. He said:

"...that all families with children at Myrtle Grove must sign the 'Biblical Morality Policy,' swearing not to participate in, support or affirm 'sexual immorality, homosexual activity, or bisexual activity; promoting such practices; or being unable to support the moral principles of the school.'”

“For this reason,” said Miller, “the school reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to refuse admission of an applicant or to discontinue enrollment of a student if the atmosphere or conduct within a particular home or the activities of the student are counter to or are in opposition to the biblical lifestyle the school teaches.”

If the family even knows a gay person, the school will expel the child. So if Aunt Harriet, bless her sweet soul, is a lesbian, the kid is going to need a new school. Because of God's love, or something. Actually, it makes perfect biblical sense. After all, the bible is a collection of fairy tales festooned with rot, hatred and murder.

But the best part was how he opened his message to parents:

“Do you remember playing circle games like ‘Duck Duck Goose’ in elementary school?” Miller asked. “In order to form a circle, we would gather in close together, hold hands, and then back up away from the center” and form a circle. 

“If we move to [sic] far from the center, we can’t hold hands anymore,” the principal warned.

You don't want to be forced out of the circle for knowing any of those horrible gay people. Because outside the circle of Christian Love, you could easily bump into some real-world information -- and that could harm your faith.

Seriously...the Duck Duck Goose game? This git really knows how to get his rubes riled up. And so I award Christian bigot J. Stacy Miller my very first Ignorant Git of the Day award. Let us all join together in a secular wish: may he go to heaven soon.

It's not a game

I'm always surprised when media sources fail to be proactive. I'm not sure if this is news everywhere, but in NYC the media can't stop talking about the "knockout game". Game?

Police are investigating whether a rash of cowardly sucker punch assaults in Brooklyn is all part of a sick "knockout game."

The latest victim — a 78-year-old woman in Midwood — came forward on Tuesday and told police she was hit in the back of her head while walking along E. 5th St. and Ave. L earlier this month.

That woman, along with seven Orthodox Jews who were attacked in Crown Heights, could all be targets of a mean-spirited knockout game in which people are punched in the back of the head and onlookers post video of the assault to the Web. [Emphasis mine.]

I get it. Some kids call this the "knockout game". But that's no reason for the media to spread the terminology around. For Dog's sake, don't call it a game.

[Note: I have to give credit where it's due: the above-linked NY Daily News article at least managed to provide one mention of this being a "cowardly suckerpunch assault". But then they reverted to calling it a "game". Sigh.]

Call it a "knockout crime" or a "cowardly suckerpunch" or simply "sociopathic behavior" -- but don't call it a "game". The consequence of using this innocent term is that you're creating a playful meme; you're telling the public that this is a simple, childlike behavior. It diminishes the heinous nature of the crime.

In the US, the news media rarely feel responsibility for the news they present. I remember that it took about ten years for the media to stop saying that this or that organization "took credit" for a bombing or shooting. Credit is what's given for a laudable act. And then one bright day, the media got some sense slapped into it, and began to say that this or that organization "took responsibility" for the crime. Phew. Was that so hard?

Why can't the media wake up at the beginning of a terrible trend in terminology? Why can't they see right now that calling this cowardly suckerpunch crime a "knockout game" is a terrible idea? 

The media act like irresponsible children. And that's an accurate call. They led us into a false war, they don't provide accurate information about who's lying and who's telling the truth, and they spread damaging ideas on a daily basis -- without a qualm. I guess they like to play the irresponsibility game. That one's hurting us, too. Every day and in every way.

Phew, that was close

Last night, the Federation of Intelligent Galactic Entities tried to filibuster my hold on the Lid!

It was an extremely close call. But at the last second, Dog changed the rules!

Now, as long as Dog votes for a thing, it will happen! So I get to keep the Lid. Praise Dog!

Enough

In the past week, I've taken care to fast-forward through every TV mention of JFK's assassination. And I've scrolled quickly past the endless JFK stories on the internet.

I'm just not having it.

Fifty years of remembrance is long enough. I refuse to think about that day ever again. It's gone.

But y'all go enjoy another funeral dirge, if you want to. Takes all kinds.

No shame

Remember those two girls who were charged for bullying another girl who jumped to her death, seemingly because of the abuse? Well, after getting off scot-free in court, Katelyn Roman made a bizarre statement on the Today Show.

One of the two girls cleared of driving a 12-year-old Florida girl to suicide says she doesn’t feel guilty about the teen’s death.

Katelyn Roman, 13, made the stunning admission on NBC’s “Today” show Thursday.

“No, I do not feel I did anything wrong,” said Katelyn, speaking publicly for the first time.

That's probably because you're a psychopath, dear. Later in the article, we get a special bonus. Apparently, Katelyn thinks she "learned a lesson" from what happened.

“I learned it’s not OK to bully. When you have a chance, stand up to bullies,” she said.

Stand up to bullies?! Did she actually say that? Does this girl have any clue that she's the bully? Lessons learned, my ass. I think she should run for a Republican seat in the House of Representatives. They'd love her over there.

Confirmed: humans are mutts

We finally have confirmation for scientists' hypothesis that early humans interbred with other pre-human species. And it wasn't only one species -- humans were interbreeding with several species.

All humans whose ancestry originates outside Africa have about 2 percent Neanderthal genomes, and some Oceanic humans, such as Papua New Guineans and Australian Aboriginals, have about 4 percent of their DNA from interbreeding between their human ancestors and Denisovans, whose remains were found in a cave in Siberia’s Altai Mountains.

Wait, it gets even better:

But researchers said the new genomes also suggested that Denisovans interbred with another extinct population of ancient humans who lived in Asia more than 30,000 years ago, and scientists are left guessing who they might have been.

“We don’t have the faintest idea,” says Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the London Natural History Museum.

Humans = mutts. I say we celebrate this news by picking up a mixed-breed puppy at our local shelter. Aw, look at him. He's so cute!

The Craig Cobb Show

Like George Zimmerman, Craig Cobb just won't go away. You remember Cobb -- he's the white supremacist who learned that his DNA is 14% African. We all wondered how his racist buddies would react. Well, it's payback time:

According to local prosecutors, after other white supremacists in Leith learned that Cobb possessed “sub-Sarahan African” DNA, one of them — currently not identified by name by the police — spray-painted “BACK IN BLACK” on Cobb’s house.

It was this graffiti that led Cobb and a follower to “patrol” the streets of Leith over the weekend. The pair were arrested and charged with three counts of terrorizing.

This is what makes reading the news fun. The lives of wingnuts are like reality shows but they don't get paid for it -- which is where the real fun comes in. Just think of poor George Zimmerman driving around aimlessly, looking for someone new to point his gun at. Life is berry berry bad for these folks. And I repeat, they're not getting paid.