So maybe later tonight, or perhaps tomorrow.
* * *
WTF department: suddenly I have to login to LiveJournal every time I restart my browser. This is incredibly annoying, particularly because it wants to show me some stupid ads before it will let me log in.
* * *
Looks like I got the grass cut just in time; there are some light showers moving in from the south.
* * *
"Figuring out how fast the oceans are warming"--the only problem is, the oceans aren't warming.
Then again, this is Ars Technica we're talking about.
* * *
Oh my God! Here are families who aren't coastal liberals! They're weird!
*rolleyes*
* * *
Speaking of asinine coastal liberals a boycott can go more than one way, Los Angeles. I think it'd be awesome if Arizona stopped sending power to Los Angeles. If I lived in AZ I'd vote for it regardless of what LA did.
"Hey, LA, we've decided to do our part for the environment by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, in hopes you'll like us again!" Heh.
* * *
This is the way to deal with the thuggery of teachers' unions. Damn it, they're doing their best to turn New Jersey into a nice place to live. But I expect Democrats to put a stop to it as soon as they possibly can.
* * *
A "Rule of Law" Community seems to be the opposite of a "Sanctuary City". Good for Costa Mesa, CA! Way to go!
* * *
The case can be made that ultimately, Arizona's law will be beneficial to illegals who wish to become citizens.
* * *
Okay, here's one:
Hey, muslims, don't get all upset! I drew him cool and steely, not gay or old and saggy. He looks like a happenin' dude here!
...wouldn't a restaurant named "Bacon Shack" be totally made of awesome? (BTW that thing in the upper right corner of the t-shirt is supposed to be a pig wearing sunglasses.)
Okay, actually he looks like he's nervously posing for a photo ID or something. What do you want for a 5-minute sketch?
* * *
And here's why: Zombietime on why it's important for Americans who love freedom of speech and freedom of expression to draw Mohammed and post the images.
So you can see the urge of every sane-minded Westerner to say a hearty Fuck you! to anyone who tries to erode away the bedrock of our free society. The more insistent (and violent) these attempts at erosion, the less civil the resistance will become. Which is exactly as it should be. If the Islamists want us to to stop mocking (or even questioning) Mohammed, they can achieve this goal quite simply: Just go away and leave us alone. Don’t bother us, and we won’t bother you. Seriously, 99% of non-Muslims don’t give a good goddamn about Mohammed one way or the other, and we’d gladly ignore him and his followers until the end of time – if they’d just stop trying to boss us around. But if someone comes to our safe haven and tries to impose a repressive or restrictive rule on us, then that is the exact rule we’re going to flout until the interlopers learn their lesson: We don’t take kindly to bullshit medieval religious oppression in these parts.As a Christian I am told I have to accept all kinds of crap--both figurative and literal--being thrown at my religion; so why does islam get a free pass? Particularly when the people who tell me I have to take it are the ones telling me I should be respectful to muslims? But that's only a small part of "why".
I am very powerfully and vociferously pro-free speech. I always have been. There is nothing more pernicious than attempting to silence or shout down someone else's expression solely because you don't like it or disagree with it.
I say it several times in various ways in a bunch of places: "The most dangerous sentence in [language] is, 'They shouldn't be allowed to say that.'"
Islam's attempt to prevent depictions of their prophet through threats of violence is an indicator of how oppressive the religion is. It's totalitarian and violent and savage.
And finally, if islam cannot stand depictions of Mohammed--if their prophet is incapable of withstanding such depictions--then it shows just how weak it actually is.
Christianity can stand an Ofili or a Mappelthorpe or any of the other myriad of allegedly "daring" artists who desecrate holy images of Jesus and other religious figures. God and Jesus can stand it; they're stronger than that. It's why I don't get upset when I see some juvenile "artist" carve a statue of Jesus with a boner or paint Mary with a realistic vagina. The artist is showing his own weakness in the face of true power and glory.
If islam cannot stand depictions of Mohammed--respectful, satirical (like mine) or profane--then islam is weak.