RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/December 2009

December 2009
On FoxNews, Rep. Peter King (R-duh) said, "100 percent of the Islamic terrorists are Muslims, and that is our main enemy today. So why we should not be profiling people because of their religion?" 100% of Islamic folk are Muslims? Good to know. 2010: Click up if you prefer "Twenty Ten," down if you prefer "Two Thousand (and) Ten." (No link, just the question.) Our people are rioting in the streets because they hate the dictatorship, thus it must be America and Britain's fault. California Science Center is sued for canceling a film promoting intelligent design Tom Ridge, the man who used to be head of Homeland Security, doesn't think the suspect in the Christmas day airliner incident deserves constitutional rights. California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Washington consider legalizing marijuana in order to tax it. Couple uses GPS rather than a printed map, then gets lost and stuck on a snow-bound logging road. How to find them? Their uncle uses a similar GPS to find the same disastrous "short cut". Pay no attention to what those brain-damaged experts say; the best of the public are smarter than them, especially when their poll numbers are threatened! With that in mind, all daycares are hereby ordered to make three-year-olds scribble write more. "The undignified and disruptive behavior of the pro democracy demonstrators rioters is no longer tolerable for our leaders people Charlie Sheen gets drunk, chokes his wife, and his lawyer will probably get the wife to drop charges ... Typical domestic violence meme. But the real story here is will the Guardian ever learn to stop copying Wikipedia? Notice whole sentences that just seem copied and pasted? In Sweden, a giant straw Yule goat is burnt down.

In China you have the right to remain silent, and stay silent.

Mentally ill woman knocks down Pope. Christmas celebrations begin Officer Scrooge, you don't bring a gun to a snowball fight. It's semi-official -- Catholics are now free to watch The Simpsons without the risk of eternal damnation.  Nineteen million dollars down, $146 million to go. Stem cells (not from embryos, it should be noted) are used successfully to restore a man's eyesight. <vote poll=world1249 closed="yes">Mexico City legalizes same-sex marriage, the first jurisdiction in Latin America to do so. <vote poll=world1248 closed="yes">Unemployment insurance funds in 40 states will go broke in the next two years unless the feds cough up at least $90 billion. Meanwhile, next year Goldman Sachs will move into a brand new skyscraper that was partially funded with tax breaks and government grants, all thanks to its location across from the World Trade Center site. Isn't the rugged individualism of free market capitalism wonderful? <vote poll=world1247 closed="yes">"My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift." Good thing it's not expressly forbidden in the Bible, or anything. <vote poll=world1246 closed="yes">The internet sticks it to Mr. Nasty. <vote poll=world1245 closed="yes">Worst snowstorm in a decade hits U.S. east coast. That's why it's called "climate change" and not "global warming". <vote poll=world1244 closed="yes">Nearly half of Detroit's workers are unemployed - Analysis shows reported jobless rate understates extent of problem Nothing witty here; vote up if you feel there is significance to bringing the plight of the one of the hardest hit communities of the Great Recession to light. <vote poll=world1243 closed="yes">Now that there is an uproar over the anti-gay measures in Uganda, suddenly evangelical leaders are all sweetness and light on the topic, denying that they had anything to do with it. <vote poll=world1242 closed="yes">A possible glimpse of dark matter is announced <vote poll=world1241 closed="yes">A NZ church puts up a poster to encourage debate. For some reason the Catholic Church finds it offensive. Jesus, Mary and Joseph! <vote poll=world1240 closed="yes">Ten years, thousands of deaths and one insane policy too late. <vote poll=world1239 closed="yes">Oral Roberts has been called home to the Lord, if only people had donated to his latest cash raising drive. <vote poll=world1238 closed="yes">A poster uses the Nativity story to promote the upcoming U.S. census among Latino evangelicals. The evangelicals are not at all amused, calling "blasphemy." <vote poll=world1237 closed="yes">Gay marriage legalized in Washington, D.C. The Catholic archdiocese threatens to shutter adoption services in the city. Congress has the power to veto the measure. Culture warriors prepare for the fight. <vote poll=world1236 closed="yes">In today's "...what?" department, weightlifter gives birth to baby boy while training. The catch is, she never realized she was pregnant. <vote poll=world1235 closed="yes">A news organization publishes some juicy details about orgasms. Cue religious-right outrage in 3...2...1...oops; the religious right isn't allowed to criticize that news organization... <vote poll=world1234 closed="yes">Not all food supplements are woo, as the milk thistle has been found to have proven efficacy against cancers in tests. <vote poll=world1232 closed="yes">The United Nations's oopsies in Congo. <vote poll=world1231 closed="yes">My country of Eritrea is a brutal military dictatorship where people are allowed to pick one of four religions, and all the smart people are fleeing left and right, but I'm a Red, so obviously all of my problems aren't my fault; they're America's! <vote poll=world1230 closed="yes">The 22 million e-mails that were intentionally mislabeled lost during the Cheney Bush administration have been recovered. <vote poll=world1229 closed="yes">Tool use in octopuses octopodes. Nature isn't only brilliant, but pretty funny. <vote poll=world1228 closed="yes">"When officials reject stimulus funds, sparks fly: Communities split over attempts to forgo Recovery Act money" <vote poll=world1227 closed="yes">Not to be outdone by Nick Griffin and John Prescott who were attacked in recent years with eggs, Silvio Berlusconi gets hit on the head with a scale model of Milan Cathedral <vote poll=world1226 closed="yes">Judith Levine once said there are two kinds of sex education in the U.S.: mainstream and right-wing. She forgot to mention a third kind: Orthodox Jewish sex education, a.k.a. "Sex With the Rabbi." <vote poll=world1225 closed="yes">Eight students at Berkeley are arrested after pitching Molotov cocktails at the university president's house because they thought the tuition was too high. Cue great long whiny column demanding amnesty for them in 3...2...1... <vote poll=world1224 closed="yes">A large city has just elected a gay mayor. Where is this city? Texas. <vote poll=world1223 closed="yes">Three Associated Press reporters reviewed the 1,073 stolen e-mails that recently raised questions about scientific fraud in the field of climate change research. Their judgement: The e-mails show that the scientists had doubts, but worked through them; they were petty and competitive; but in the end, THEY <i>DID NOT</I> COMMIT SCIENTIFIC FRAUD.  Not that research by the librul media will sway the Limbaughs, Palins and Faux Newsies of the world. <vote poll=world1222 closed="yes">Health insurers pay facebookers to write anti-health reform letters to congressmen <vote poll=world1221 closed="yes">The University of Minnesota puts out a report recommending that students in its education college be required to call the American Dream a pile of bunk, etc. Having gotten the idea that this is some sort of new development, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education reminds the university president that such a requirement is unconstitutional. <vote poll=world1220 closed="yes">A high school in Texas (big surprise) refused to let a pregnant student play on her volleyball team, even though she recieved medical clearance to do so. Whatever happened to the old days, when those dirty whores were just sent to live with relatives or nuns for a few months? <vote poll=world1219 closed="yes">A new bill in Uganda could execute people for the terrible terrible crime of... being gay. This bill, inspired by the fundamentalist right in the United States, would place people in prison for 7 years for giving rooms to gays, and would place doctors in prison for failing to tell the state about gay patients. Conservatives continue to fret about healthcare, but at least Rick Warren has come out against the bill. <vote poll=world1218 closed="yes">Stanford University researchers debunk the previous theoretical limit on Moore's Law by writing the university's initials in electron-sized type. <vote poll=world1217 closed="yes">New York Times: Communism is dead. In other news, Christianity died with the Nazarenes. <vote poll=world1216 closed="yes">How to speak Australian: Stubborn Ignorance <vote poll=world1215 closed="yes" closed="yes">Disney World twins with ...Swindon?. Go ahead punk, make my day. <vote poll=world1214 closed="yes">A RationalWiki meet up in Dubai is starting to look quite financially viable. <vote poll=world1213 closed="yes">Muslim woman 'abused' over dress by Christian hotelier. No doubt part of that "persecution of Christians" argument heard so often, except this time the Christian is actually getting persecuted. Update: The incident may have ruined the business, the trial continues and concludes with dismissal. <vote poll=world1212 closed="yes">[http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5B60PV20091207 If you don't give us back our obscene bonuses, we're gonna hold our breaths until we turn blue and die! Then you'll be sorry!] <vote poll=world1211 closed="yes">What a difference a year makes. The new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency says that ALL greenhouse gases -- not just CO2 -- are harmful and must be regulated. <vote poll=world1210 closed="yes">The GOP has a new leader! Zombie Ronald Reagan! <vote poll=world1209 closed="yes"> Backward Forward masking as a children's toy supposed to sing "Jingle Bells" sings... something a bit less appropriate. <vote poll=world1208 closed="yes"> It's Student Day in Iran and that only means one thing, cracked skulls. <vote poll=world1207 closed="yes">DARPA assesses the accuracy of information on the internet with an interesting experiment. <vote poll=world1206 closed="yes">In a move that is certain to be welcomed from all sides of the political spectrum, and cause no controversy at all, an Episcopalian diocese in Los Angeles elects a gay woman as bishop. <vote poll=world1205 closed="yes">In an average year before Dubya, the Internal Revenue Service approved only 5 percent of the charities that applied for 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. By the end of Bush's last year in office, the I.R.S. was rejecting only 0.5 percent of applicants. The number of tax-exempt "charities" grew by 60 percent during the Bush era, which will cost the federal government $50 billion this year. <vote poll=world1204 closed="yes">Fuck you I won't do what you tell me! <vote poll=world1203 closed="yes">Good grief, will Obama's crimes never end? <vote poll=world1202 closed="yes">The results are in, the H1N1 vaccine is... no safer or more dangerous than the vaccine for the seasonal flu. <vote poll=world1201 closed="yes">The War on Terror isn't the only thing that's more expensive because of private contractors. The U.S. Forest Service used to operate many free campgrounds. After Reaganomics, you had to pay a fee at most campsites, but you got 50% off if you were over 62 and/or handicapped. Now, thanks to Dubya, private concessionaires run the campsites and they have a message for all nature loving Americans: Pay up or stay home. <vote poll=world1200 closed="yes">Obama's latest eeeeeevil scheme? Cancel Christmas! (or Charlie Brown's, at least) <vote poll=world1199 closed="yes">Thanks to the latest news article about the Conservapedia Bible Project, Assfly got his picture in teh paper. <vote poll=world1198 closed="yes">Scientists wanted to study the habits of men who don't watch porn. Problem was, they couldn't find any. <vote poll=world1197 closed="yes">Britain's Ministry of Defence closes its UFO investigation section. <vote poll=world1196 closed="yes">Meet Barack Obama's latest critic. Bill Ayers. <vote poll=world1195 closed="yes">A study into terrorism finds that al‐Qa’ida is eight times more likely to kill a Muslim than anyone else. <vote poll=world1194 closed="yes">New evidence suggests that the last ice age occurred suddenly -- in less than a decade, maybe in only a few months -- when Lake Agassiz burst through its banks. And if the Greenland ice sheet melts, then we could see (pre)-history repeat itself. <vote poll=world1193 closed="yes"> The rest of the world says don't do it, but Iran decides it will go ahead and enrich even more uranium. <vote poll=world1192 closed="yes"> American scientists can start experimenting on embryonic stem cells with federal government funding! <vote poll=world1191 closed="yes">Charities in America, most notably the Salvation Army, accused of discriminating against illegal immigrants. <vote poll=world1190 closed="yes">The former governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, is to host a new television show promoting conspiracy theories. <vote poll=world1189 closed="yes">What goes around, comes around. <vote poll=world1188 closed="yes">South Africa begins to undo the effect of Thabo Mbeki <vote poll=world1187 closed="yes">Moms are great, especially if she gives you $10.4 million over the course 5 years. And if you're running for Prime Minister of Japan just say it came from dead people

<vote poll=world1185 closed="yes">It is now a sin to hug. Damn hard to get into heaven these days