A Skeptic, a Feminist and a Professor walk into a bar (Part 2)

Note: I consider myself an a skeptic, a rational thinker, a feminist and an agnostic. The first two parts are regarding where I am today, and how I got here. The last is about an issue that is important to me that regards both. This post will contain some language that some may find offensive.

Part 2: Feminism

My parents separated when I was fairly young. During that time, my parents did a lot to make sure I was aware that it wasn't anything I did or didn't do, and it wasn't that they didn't love me or any of the stuff that people seem to think kids go through. Sure, I was upset and I do remember being worried and sad some of the time, but I was intrinsically aware that I was safe and okay. They were civil to each other after the divorce and eventually became fairly good friends.

My daily life went through the same motions after the divorce as before the divorce, for the most part. Wake up at parent A's house, go to school and learn, go home to my father's grandparents house, do schoolwork/play with neighbors, wait for a parent to pick me up, have dinner with that parent, got to sleep at Parent's B.

My father lived in the same apartment as we did with my mother for the next few years. My mother moved about 5-6 miles away, and we had the bottom half of a house converted into two apartments and had a few neighbors. The upstairs neighbors were almost always pleasant and were usually youngish couples. For the most part we had a quiet life there. We got a cat, I read a lot, and it was nice. However we I was around 10 years old I got a rude awakening that not all relationships were like my parents. 

Our yard was fairly large, and we mowed and raked with each season. The yard was large, and had a number of large over grown trees, a couple bushes against the road, and a nice set of large hedges separating our yard from the house next door. I didn't really make friends with any of the neighborhood kids, I kept alone when I was at my mother's place. Typically I read or spent time with her or watched TV. Most of the neighbors were older, and nice; some were younger with kids a little older than myself and were pleasant to my mother and I. But I was a shy awkward thing with kids my own age. I could easily talk with adults years older than me, but I'd clam up with the kids next door.

But one neighbor of ours I was kind of scared of. The house right across from our hedges in the side of the yeard. I don't remember the man's name, barely remember what he looked like, and I sort of remember his girlfriend... but I do remember the hearing the yelling matches in my own room which was on the far side from their house, the doors slamming and things breaking. And their young sandy haired little boy playing outside, trying to ignore it all.

I remember how it just started one day. A little louder than normal, enough to hear with an open window. The a week or two later, it was punctuated with slamming doors and louder voices. A day later, shouting for hours. Then nothing for a week. Then it was worse than before, loud arguments and slams you could hear through a closed window. Then tires peeling away and a man bellowing after a car. Then an quiet for a month, no shouting, no angry voices, no slamming of things against walls or glass breaking. The eruption all over again, escalation to a cacophony of noise and then just loud talking and finally, silence. Somehow, the silence was worse.

I remember the female neighbor coming over after one of the nights it started loud and then got quiet. She was having coffee or tea one weekend while he was at work, and my mother talked with her in worried tones at the kitchen table.

Her dark hair usually fell down and framed her young face and green eyes. Her hair was a mess, like it hadn't seen a shower and was wind whipped around. Her eyes we swollen from tears, but were currently dry. Her mouth was puffy and had a slightly stained look on her lips, like she drank too much cherry KoolAid. Her voice wavered as if about to crack. And there were bruises on her tan arms. Her hands shook slightly, and some of her nails were broken or chewed on. 

I half watched Saturday morning cartoons, concerned about my mom's friend. She didn't come over to our apartment often, she had her own child to worry about, but she was always smiling and pleasant to me when she saw me outside. But hearing how much yelling was happening right next door, I was a little timid about saying the wrong things to her, worried that her boyfriend would come and yell at me.

It's odd what you remember as a child. I can recall her appearance at that very point; but I can't recall her name. I can remember how beautiful she looked under the horror she must have endured. I can remember how worried my mother was and what little snippets of conversation remain to me are so short that only have a few short syllables, fragments of words. Words, at that point, I didn't understand. Not really.

I didn't understand at the age of 9 or 10 what that woman endured. I now wonder how it came to pass... what was the trigger? What escalated from what must have been small short verbal spats to full blown pissed off arguments, progressing into threats and assault, to more and more verbal abuse, of her feeling trapped and finally... she wound up at the kitchen table in the apartment.

They spoke quietly, but didn't actively hide what they were talking about to me. It was too important to my mother and to this woman to talk and convince...

"did you look in a mirror today?"
"can you move your fingers?"
"...could be your son..."
"....him raised like this?"
"...you can't excuse this type of...."
"....it's not about sex, it's never about sex...."
"....power, control, degradation ..."
"... please consider..."
"...can you at least...."
"...please go now, call your parents... take your son..."

My mother sat me down and told me that I couldn't tell anyone she was over her today. That I didn't see her at all today, that we didn't see her last night. I didn't know why my mother was so panicky. I hugged my mother and I promised.

I know soon after that day, I didn't see the sandy haired boy any more, and I didn't see the neighbor any more. I did see more people go over the the gray house. Bringing stuff in, but mostly taking stuff out.

And I never told anyone. Not until now. Because this is too important. Because this happens more often than we'd like to admit. But rape, assault and battery are only symptoms of larger problems. 

As a society we tend to ignore smaller instances of sexism and intolerance and just focus on things such as female genital mutilation*, Sharira (fundamentalist Islamic law), rape as a war crime, prosecution for the rapes in Darfur, and yet we ignore problems here. Some of it is simply people being 'okay' with things the way they are. Some are people actively trying put women as unequal to men and having less say over what they can say and do. Some of these people are men, and some are women.

Feminism is not the same as wanting to have a female dominated class structure. Women are just entitled to the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as men are.


*Which i'm glad most people don't use the euphemistic term 'female circumcision'. Because in my opinion, removing the labia, cutting off the clitoral hood or the clitoris itself, and/or sewing/fusing parts of the vagina to the labia is quite a bit different than cutting, burning or otherwise removing the foreskin off of a penis. Neither, in my opinion, should be done for anything other than a valid logical medical reason [which I can think of none for female genitals and only one or two for males]. Tradition and cosmetics be dammed. If you're concerned about legitimate medical problems due to not being circumcised (male) or vulva problems, I understand. Do some research and listen to doctors. But don't worry about circumcision or labial appearances. If they want to have it done later in life, they can have it done then.

A Skeptic, a Feminist and a Professor walk into a bar (Part 1)

Note: I consider myself an a skeptic, a rational thinker, a feminist and an agnostic. The first two parts are regarding where I am today, and how I got here. The last is about an issue that is important to me that regards both.

Part 1. Skepticism.

Some of you knew me in High School, and if we've ever talked about my past, I walked all sorts of 'spiritual' paths: Roman Catholicism, Non-denominational Evangelical Christianity, psudo-westernized Buddhism, psudo-wiccan-ism, Taoism... and a myriad of others. After I walked and believed with all of my heart in each and every path that I walked, that it would lead to better life, that it would lead me to happiness, that I wouldn't be depressed and none of it came to fruition, I examined my life and became a very bitter angry cynical atheist.

I embodied the stereotype that makes atheism unpopular. I wore shirts that were all black and said ignorant phrases about religion, and openly was blasphemous towards just about anyone who would listen except my grandmother. Jesus/Yahweh were frequent targets as was L. Ron Hubbard, and to a lesser extend Mohammed, Joseph Smith, any anyone with a notion of spirituality. I believed we were born, lived whatever life we wanted to (and it didn't matter), died and nothing else. That everything we did was futile, that anything you tried to accomplish or love or create was ultimately futile, because wouldn't last, or would die or would never make a lasting impact.

I was extremely intense, I was very confrontational, I got in your face and I made it clear that I was incredibly angry. I offered no quarter to religion, spirituality or people who believed in any of it. I was an arrogant human, knowing that there was absolutely no god, that there is no soul and there was no afterlife. And anyone who couldn't see this was a moron and deserved nothing but derision, scorn and contempt.

This was a viewpoint I held for a very long time. I read as much as I could on Christianity, Judaism and Islam (mostly because they are the ones most common in my westernized culture), and picked it apart with relish. I couldn't get enough of "edgy" people like Frederich Neitzsche, Ayn Rand, Bill Hicks, Marilyn Manson, George Carlin, and Bill Maher. I think you can now see where my cynicism came from.

After a while, this life style wasn't satisfying either. It provided me no comfort, no kind of solace in knowing that this life is short, brutal and incredibly unfair for every living thing on this planet, and no real hope. I viewed my life as something that wasn't really unique and it wasn't anything special.

I thought I was being rational and being passionate; rather than what I was: a bitter curmudgeon who read books and thought himself educated. Who listened to passionate rhetoric and thought it to be logical, and then parroting beliefs. A man who fell into every logical fallacy while arguing, and thought that even though he never persuaded anyone, he 'won' the argument.

I started by examining myself, and what I really though and believed. I read and really digested what some of these writings by Rand, Maher, Dawkins and others saw why I felt so cynical and a bit depressed. They were cynical. They were making us vs. them distinctions. They were being 'passionate' of their beliefs, then turning around and not tolerating that some people see their 'passion' as 'shoving it down your throat'. The same thing they accused believers of doing. These hypocrisies and the attitude of I am right, you are wrong was really getting to me. I didn't want that. I didn't like what I was becoming. I wasn't being critical or logical- I was a person who's was living an uncritical, unexamined life.

Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins and most of the "new atheists" were arguing from emotion and not logic. They were drawing their conclusions before they critically examined their evidence. They were falling into the same traps that I thought Fundamentalist Christians, Orthodox Jews, and New Age practitioners fell into: they were arguing from the assumption that their viewpoint is right will always be right and has always been right. There was no direct evidence stating absolutely that there is no god or gods/goddesses.

There is evidence for evolution by natural selection, evidence for general relativity, and for gravity, and evidence for the big bang. All of theories (scientific theories, testable, falsifiable and the best logical explanation we currently have) are being tested every day and if proven false can be rewritten and falsified. As written, most deities are untestable scientifically. We can look at claims written in holy books and point out things that science has proven is not true, and back it up with testable evidence, but one cannot dismiss something is true or not true if you cannot examine evidence that does not exist. It is simply not testable.

Now, I live my life in an agnostic fashion. I see no evidence for a deity, so I live as there is no deity. But I can be wrong.

This to me, is the beauty of science... that life is complex, and that the universe is complicated, and when things happen, it is almost never ‘A happened and therefore B’. No, A happened and therefore B, C, D and E, but then there is this thing F, and that had a 10% effect, and that prompted G to go back and tip over A, and it is always like this – everything is interconnected. And this subtle complex and intricate system is one of the things that makes me happy to be alive.

The wonderful scientist and skeptic Carl Sagan once said -
There is no other species on the Earth that does science. It is, so far, entirely a human invention, evolved by natural selection in the cerebral cortex for one simple reason: it works. It is not perfect. It can be misused. It is only a tool. But it is by far the best tool we have, self-correcting, ongoing, applicable to everything. It has two rules. First: there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined; arguments from authority are worthless. Second: whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised. We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be.

Part 2 will continue with Feminism.

I Read Twilight

aj-reads-twilight.blogspot.com

Why this blog became static and plans for the future

Hello, my long time readers, or perhaps, new ones.

This is just a quick update, and a little plan to tell you about the future of this blog.

As you can see, this has become very... sparse over the past few months. Some of you may think it's because I have nothing (of value) to say, or that I got bored with posting but it is really not the case. In this age of the 'new internet', one has to consider how he or she presents themselves. Social networking sites don't really have this problem. You maintain a personal profile, you do little updates with little things every once in a while, boom. you're there.

With a blog, to me at least, or any other web presence, you have to decide if it will be 'personal' or 'business'. And kind of stupidly, I've tried to merge the two. Some of my posts have been personal, some have been 'business' (comedic observances, political opinions). Going back and reading through it... it doesn't work. It's jarring going from me talking about snow and beautiful weather to a long winded rant on Obama™ The ActionFigure. It just doesn't make for a good read.

So, what will happen in the next few months (hopefully) is a more seperated webpresence from me. Granted, still contained within one site (I'm thinking of moving to wordpress for blog hosting) and having a much more streamlined feel of what I want to do on the web.

While considering all of this, I've been working on my own fiction and poetry. I have a small collection of poems I'd like to put out there, and possibly make a limited number of print editions to sell. Sadly, I don't think I have the infrastructure to do that via Blogger.com, so this is another reason why I'm considering moving to my own site.

What I'd like to do is the following: have my work, avalable online via creative commons licenses; have a seperate blog for daily musings (i.e. my rambling about weather, daily life), and then a section for what i consider my 'esays'; my views of the world, my social commentary. and what i'd like to do (way down the line) while all of these would be avalable on line for free; to offer a limited run print editions that would be bundled with other stuff. such as a personal inscription by me. or other things that i'd like to have as a reader.

In other news: things that may be on the new site, if/when it launches.
The project i was working on with Blake M Petit has mutated. You'll be informed when I can tell you.

Thinking of trying to do a webcomic; i've been writing a script for comic based (very very loosly) on college stories and the college life i lived. i'm looking for someone to draw/ink.

Also, thinking of doing a podcast with some friends... just geek topics and whatever happens in our head.

anyway, i hope to update this a bit in the interem. but as to what the nature of the updates will be... i have no clue.

quick blurb

the california state supreme court will issue an opinion regarding the constitutionality of Prop 8 on may 26th at 10 am local time.

Prop 8's passage prohibitied Gay and Lesbian couples from marrying/recognizing any marriage between homosexuals in the state of California by amending the State's constitution by having the phrase "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." be included.

The thing is this due to the seperation of Church and State, any religious group (which is mostly the reasoning people are supporting prop 8; on moral/religious grounds) does not have to marry nor recognize married homosexual couples. Just how a Catholic run hospital doesn't have to do vasectomies, birth control or historectomies, churches would not have to marry the gays. the state run offices will issue marraige certificates; and the couple is married. much like how it works elsewhere. the church stuff has no legal bearing outside of church stuff.

I'm still just stumped on how and why people can justify this kind of action as anything but restricting someone else's rights. GLBT is a lifestyle choice, just like vegitarians, religious beliefs and golfing. We don't ban all golfers from marraige, and golfers (much like the gays) don't try to presuade you to 'join their team' unless you've expressed an interest in the sport previously. 

Maybe this is just another case of me missing the point; but i don't think so. i think i hit it on the head.

this isn't meant as an attack on religion, or an attack on morals; this is nothing but the same mindset of civil rights, and the right to worship what you want. this is called 'respect for others'. i believe you have every right to protest, complain, try to convice gays that they are 'wrong' (as long as it's not hate speach/intimidation); but you have no right to take away their persuit of happyness, nor rights to privacy and equal protection under the law.

so, if california upholds Prop 8, expect a very graphic and long winded rant on wednesday; if california rejects the constiutionality of prop 8, expect a rant on another topic.

Marilyn Manson: Best We Forget(about his career), the worst of.

A lot of you may not know the picture to the left. It is a mug shot of Brian Warner (no, not one of the Animaniacs) also known by his stage name Marilyn Manson. Manson; named after model Marilyn Monroe and serial killer Charles Mason is a 'rock star' hailing from Florida. His music and image were once attacked by pundits on both the Left Wing and Right Wing due to the shooting in Littleton, CO in 1999. Manson-- as a persona and a musician has changed over the 15 years he's been on the musical radar (I count only the time from Nothing Records/Interscope onwards). He's gone from being the most 'feared' man in music, one of the most controversial to one who does nothing but parody his former 'talent'.

We Should Have Stayed in Florida(Portrait of an American Family)

Their first full length album produced by Trent Reznor is very much a continuation of the band's origional sound when they were known as Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids. Mostly a drum machine, keyboards and thrash-y guitars. Oh, and what sounds like a cat in a blender (manson's vocals). Manson started to get some attention during this period outside of Florida, mostly due to their tour with Nine Inch Nails and Danzig. The album is not as layered as the next few efforts, but it did spawn 3 music videos.
Get your Gunn
LunchBox
Dope Hat

Between the first two albums, a remix EP Smells Like Children was created; more sonic experiment with then band and Reznor and some other collaborators. This included a cover (I'll dedicate a whole section on Manson's covers) of the Eurythmics song Sweet Dreams (are Made of This). The popularity of this song catapulted Manson into the mainstream spotlight with a more 'dark' image than previous works, which was more a parody/twisted outlook on children's entertainment (the willy wonka parody in dope hat and the childchatcher image from chitty-chitty bang-bang used on the cover of the EP).

Lookatme! I'm EEEEEvil.(Antichrist Superstar)

The band's second full length album released in 1996 was produced by Reznor, and the sound of this album is arguably their most 'industrial' sounding due to collaborations on the album with (at then) Nine Inch Nail members Robin Finck, Danny Lohner, Chris Vrenna and Charlie Clouser, and Reznor contributing piano, keys, guitar and the kitchen sink. The album artwork and music is filled with jarring images and religious references some of them taking a misanthropic viewpoint.

The band's dark image progressed and religious groups protested Manson's performances; around this time rumors also started to fly about Manson, ranging from having his bottom ribs removed so he could preform self-feliatio; that he was Paul Pfeiffer from the wonder years (Joshua Saviano, the actor who played Paul is a lawyer); he mutilated small animals on stage etc. none of which, to my knowledge and research are true.

Three videos spawned during this time frame
The Beautiful People
Tourniquet
Man that You Fear

ZOMG I do DRUGS & I have BOOBS!! (Mechanical Animals)

In 1998 Manson recruited guitarist John Lowery and decided to break with Reznor and decided to rip off David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and The Man Who Fell to Earth and add prothestic boobs, more glitter, and lots and lots of drugs. The result is a surprisingly good album with very idiotic lyrics. Mechanical Animals spawned a few Music Videos
The Dope Show
Rock Is Dead
I Don't Like the Drugs (but the Drugs Like Me)
Coma White

The Columbine Massacre in 1999 stopped his tour after media focused on him for supplying 'hate filled music'. He canceled 5 of his dates at the end of his 1999 tour due to the incident in Littleton, CO. Senator Joseph Leiberman among others in public outlets focused blame onto music, movies and games, including Manson's band. Manson was quiet about his views on the subject mostly until his next album Holy Wood.

Celebrity and Violence: Now I'm Exploiting America! (Holy Wood)

Holy Wood, released in 2000 is Manson's reaction to American's obsession with violence and celebrity. It draws paralles between our culture and a love of violence as entertainment; giving murderers the attention (some) they crave. Manson paints a poitrait of american media as vultures and how as americans we consume every last dribble of violence on TV. From Kennedy to Christ to Columbine. His views are expressed in the excellent documentry produced during this time by Michael Moore Bowling for Columbine; as well as his appearances on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. Back to the music. Manson as usual does the lyrics and vocals, but almost all the acutal music on this album is by Twiggy (Jeordie White) with some exceptions by John Lowery. Musically this has a throwback to AntiChristSuperStar. Some glam elements remain, but it's mostly just hard rock with some industrial-esque elements.
Singles were
Disposable Teens
The Fight Song
The Nobodies
After this point, I really disliked the musical direction of Manson; so from here on out, I may be a bit.... critical compared to earlier.
Mickey Mouse, Nazis and Imitation Swing Jazz (The Golden Age of Grotesque)

So for his 2003 musical endevor, Manson gave us a lot of puns in lyrics (although he CAN be skillful at wordplay... these just fell very flat), some vaguely 20's-30's swing-esque/metal sounding noises (Thanks Tim Skold! [and I like Skold's work in KMFDM, but this album was just... awful]). Manson's art direction done by photographer Gottfried Helnwein is atually kinda fun... sorta. Some of the 'we're in old vintage suits, with makeup' is kinda cool. very zoot-suity, very 30's... but then we also forget what else happened in the 30's... nazism. Yes, folks. Nazi's, and not the silly Indiana Jones Nazi's. Nazi's. In the video for This is the New Shit, manson rides into the video in one of Hitler's old limos. A lot of the promo pictures had Manson in an SS uniform, or sporting the Totenkoph (death head) on a hat. I'm not offended by any of this, it doesn't effect me, but... it's fucking silly.
Songs such as Doll-Dagga-Buzz-Buzz-Ziggity-Zag, Golden Age of Grotesque, and The Bright Young Things all have a very very vague 30's sound, and the rest is just kinda... blah. It's missing the *something* from early Manson albums; and it's not less-shocking, I mean, NAZI's! and look at manson as Mickey Mouse! What the Hell?!

Singles (thank god there were only 2! ["(s)AINT" the third music video has been banned by Universal Music Group]):
mOBSCENE
This is the New Shit

I'm DONE with music... Oh, Wait! (Lest We Forget)

So, Mr. Manson decied to call it quits in 2003/4 after Golden age of a Giant Turd of an Album. So his record lable Interscope (Nothing Records folded in 2004 due to John Malm being a giant dick) decides to cash in on Manson's popularity and releases a 'Best of' CD. Personally, i kind of hate best of CDs, unless I really just like the singles from the artist. It takes the songs out of any context... and that, to me, is boring.

Anyway, Mr. Manson is going to make a movie based on alice in wonderland, then work on his Art, then... ruin his marraige to burlesque dancer Dita Von Tesse by FUCKING EVAN RACHEL WOOD who, i think was like 17 or 18? maybe 19.. and you're closing in on 40? what the hell man, what the hell?

So during this wonderful phase of Manson's career... he does two fatal mistakes. First he coveres what seems to be the hight of self parody he could ever do, by covering Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus and THEN, he goes out and ACTUALLY DOES cover the ONLY song that could at ALL be considered the HIGHEST form of self parody in the history of EVER! He covered This Is Halloween from Tim Burton's Nighmare before Chirstmas.
Seriously, can you be done making music now? Can anyone take this live performance seriously?

Aren't You Done Yet?(Eat Me, Drink Me)

Ahh... let's look at the picture on the left-- see what it looks like he's doing? That's how I feel abut this album. Although it's not as bad as the cover of This Is Halloween... it's bad. Very, very bad. Once again, it's Manson and Tim Skold. The crux of this album seems to be two things. 1. Manson is happy to be fucking Evan Rachel Wood. 2. Manson is pissed off at Dita Von Tesse.
Self parody still abounds here (If I Were Your Vampire, They Said Hell's Not Hot), and Manson is as emo as Chris Carrabba. "Wahh, I'm sad Dita left be because I am fucking a 18 year old no-talent-wanna-be-actress/songwriter, but I'm happy because I'm-fucking-said-18-year-old-and-I-don't-have-boobs-any-more."
Music Videos that are not as bad as Personal Jesus:
Heart Shaped Glasses (When the Hand Guides the Heart)
Putting Holes in Happiness

I'm a leach who brought back the only person who made my records a sucess! (The High End of Low)
So it's been announced a while ago that Jeordie White is back in Manson. White/Twiggy has had a sucessful time from Manson, auditioning for Metallica's vacant bassist position; recording and touring with A Perfect Circle, Nine Inch Nails, Goon Moon and Josh Homme's Desert Sessions, Manson pooped out his Nazi album, his 'best of' cover album, played with his paints, and his emo album.
What have we heard that Manson and White are working together again? A lot of hype 'that [the record] will blow Antichrist Superstar out of the water' and that 'it's harder than Twiggy's dick.'

Yeah... so far, i've heard two songs from it. the track "Arma-God-Damn-Mother-Fucking-Geddon" and "We're From America" (which is avalable as a free download from Manson's website). Not impressed at all.

I wish White all the best, but I do hope that Manson can either regain his creative edge and make something worth listening to, or just fade into obscurity.

another quick blurb

power cord has been replaced and things are going very good.

well.. some things have been going good. my personal private life is amazing, and my more public social life has been... a mixed bag.

i'm keeping this short, but i expect a few blog posts in the next few days to be posted. it probably won't be ranty, but more explorative.

in movie news: 

although it does not deserve every single 'OMG SEE THIS!!1/ best film evar,' i do recomend Slumdog Millionaire. it was a very good film. that night, however, was not a good night.

i do not, recomend The Watchmen unless you have read the book. It's a 3 hour almost straight adaptation of the comic and what that does is make the movie's pacing suffer...a... lot.

lastly, i watched bill maher's Religulous. it preaches to the athiest crowd, but it offers no other real chalenges as a film. basically a (and this is a massive intentional pun) 'preaching to the choir' piece. it offers a strong arguement against religion if you are an agnostic/athiest/skeptic, but it will not  sway anyone sitting on the fence or anyone who has a belief in a god will see it as an attack. all it really does is act as ground for maher and director larry charles to poke fun at religion and dissect the bad stuff done in it's name. for me, it was funny at times with (maher is funny if you can detach yourself from the subject matter) and slaughters a sacred cow that most people don't dare touch. so for that maher gets an A for the sheer balls and for humor. but for actuall arguement/content, it's get's a C. while maher looks at most religions as morally 'wrong' and dangerous, i view it more as a tool for people who need it. yeah, bad shit is done in it's name, but one on one, religious people are fairly good folk. So for those of you who can laugh at religion/your religion/have no religion, go watch it. for those of you who can't/won't/don't... don't watch it, but don't try to ban the DVD. it's his opinion, and it's our right to consume it if we wish to.

in the next few days, you will see a blog on fiscal policy, another dealing with 'terrorism,' and one on some very nostalgic stuff from my childhood.

keep safe, eat your veggies.