RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/October 2008

October 2008
This is exactly why everyone should have the largely defensive weapon of AK-47 assault rifle in their homes: So they can shoot and kill all the twelve year olds trick or treating with their familes on Halloween. The echo of a slamming stable door in the Vatican. Priests to face 'sex drive tests'. "I'm Elizabeth Dole, and I approved this steaming load of crap."VIDEO North Carolina sounds like a haven for fundy idiots very odd place. First, one member of their congressional delegation stated that liberals hate "real Americans." Now, Senator Dole has accused her opponent -- a Presbyterian church elder and Sunday school teacher -- of being anti-Christian. Christians pray before golden calf for strong economy, fail to appreciate irony. Australian newspaper reports on Vatican's acceptance of evolution. & mentions Palin's creationism. "Meanwhile, a recent Pew survey found that for the first time in more than a decade, a majority of Americans think religious organizations should stay out of politics." Malaysia bans women wearing trousers and practicing yoga over fears of uncontrolled lesbianism. Bloomberg reports that according to a British Medical Journal study, half of American physicians surveyed report prescribing placebos to their patients. No wonder your new super-advanced medication looks like Nilla wafers... Evangelicals see an Obama win as the beginning of the End Times - "it is exciting for us as conservatives because we can actually see what God prophesied coming about". 8-year-old fatally shoots self with uzi his father handed him at a gun show. His father (a doctor himself) describes death as "a mystery". Other Republican mavericks are concerned about McCain's candidacy? Dear, oh dear... Ted Stevens guilty on all seven counts! The government foils a skinhead plot to assassinate Obama. P.J. O'Rourke on cancer, death, God, and evolution. It fairly makes a person cry that this has to be done, but at least there's hope. The U.S. attacks Syria. TERROR ALERT!!! “Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others (i.e., everyone...) to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences. <vote poll=world348 closed="yes">Look out! Rogue moose! <vote poll=world347 closed="yes">Crazy fundies offer their view of an Obama presidency: '''WE'RE ALL SCREWED!!!! FEAR THE BLACK MAN, FEAR HIM!! <vote poll=world346 closed="yes">Sarah Palin shits on fruit fly research. C. elegans was unavailable for comment. <vote poll=world345 closed="yes">When you look into Russia, Russia looks back into you. <vote poll=world344 closed="yes">Free speech? Not in my France.  <vote poll=world343 closed="yes">Something that can travel faster than Godspeed? <vote poll=world342 closed="yes">Al-Qaeda supporters back John McCain. <vote poll=world341 closed="yes">A plant in Queens kinda sorta looks like Hindu god Ganesh if you look at it the right way. It goes without saying, of course that it healed a follower's chronic pain. <vote poll=world340 closed="yes">KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has posted the raw audio of a July, 2007 interview of Sarah Palin. (If you think she sounds like a dim bulb now. . . .) <vote poll=world339 closed="yes"> A helpful hint for the RNC: if you're going to portray a vice-presidential candidate as folksy and like the average American, don't blow $150,000 on their wardrobe. <vote poll=world338 closed="yes">The atheist bus slogan goes ahead. Be sure to read and re-read Stephen Green's (of pressure group Christian Voice) comments for a full irony meter blow out! <vote poll=world337 closed="yes">Iceland is bankrupt. What is glossed over in this story is that Iceland rejected social democratic economics in favor of supply side economics in 1991. Their conversion was so complete that every Icelander's share of the national debt is now more than $200,000. (Compare that to the U.S. where, after 27 years of Reaganomics, each American's share of the national debt is about $26,000.) <vote poll=world336 closed="yes">LittleBigPlanet, the hotly anticipated PS3 release is delayed... because the background music apparently contains a few words from the Koran... <vote poll=world335 closed="yes">A poll by Mercer University and Faith in Public LifePDF found that 57% of Southern Evangelical Christians think torture is often or sometime justified. However, acceptance of torture declines when they rely on "Christian teachings and beliefs" rather than "life experiences and common sense." <vote poll=world334 closed="yes">Republican, retired General, former Head of the Joint Chief's of Staff and former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has endorsed Barack Obama as the candidate for whom he will vote in the 2008 election. In passing, he slammed McCain's negative tactics. Be entertained by the way Fox News opens the article in a fair and balanced way. <vote poll=world333 closed="yes">Revenge of Web 2.0! Michele Bachmann, a right-wing creationist representative from Minnesota, embraced her inner McCarthy calling for an investigation into anti-Americanism in Congress. Her comments went viral and spurred by the blogosphere an amazing $500,000 was raised for her opponent El Tinklenberg. <vote poll=world332 closed="yes">A rare moment of true peace in the 2008 election. Both candidates take a stop at the Al Smith Memorial Dinner to do some stand up comedyVideo <vote poll=world331 closed="yes">A McCain aid has gone on the record as saying the senator is ahead in "real Virginia." The McCain camp and RNC then demanded a DOJ investigation for voter fraud in fake Virginia. <vote poll=world330 closed="yes">A record 100,000 people rallied in MO for Obama this picture is amazing. <vote poll=world329 closed="yes">Internal Republican women's newsletter contains cartoon of Obama food stamps, complete with fried chicken and watermelon racist clichés. Ironically, the cartoon originated on a satirical blog several months ago, as a lampoon of racist right wing Republicans. <vote poll=world328 closed="yes">Attempt to sue God for terrorist threats has been tossed over due to lack of address to notify God of the case (Wasn't he omniscient?). <vote poll=world327 closed="yes">Christopher Buckley: "Eight years of 'conservative' government has brought us a doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance. As a sideshow, it brought us a truly obscene attempt at federal intervention in the Terry Schiavo case." (Oops, someone forgot to add a link - also, he got "excused" from his dad's magazine over this.) <vote poll=world326 closed="yes">The national debt clock has run out of digits. In anticipation of continued Reaganomics, the new clock to be installed next year will count up to $1 quadrillion! <vote poll=world325 closed="yes">Sarah Palin drops the ceremonial first puck at Flyers game and nearly gets booed out of the building. <vote poll=world324 closed="yes">The impossible has been done: North Korea has been taken off the U.S. terror list. <vote poll=world323 closed="yes">On Friday, October 10, Connecticut joined the real world as it became the third state in the Union to recognize gay marriage. Three down, 47 to go! <vote poll=world322 closed="yes">Because, sometimes even a pick-up truck, with a gun rack just isn't getting your point across. <vote poll=world321 closed="yes">A Catholic priest, homemade pornography and (police posing as) a fourteen-year-old-boy. A match made in heaven. <vote poll=world320 closed="yes">A rough day for McCain on the campaign trail. The Republican senator was booed by his own supporters after calling Obama "decent." <vote poll=world319 closed="yes">Austria's Joerg Haider, Nazi defender and former cause for sanctions from the EU dies in a car accident <vote poll=world318 closed="yes">Sarah Palin abused her power but broke no law in the troopergate scandal. <vote poll=world317 closed="yes">McCain gets shot down by the scientific community after criticizing the Adler Planetarium for its mean, wasteful $3 million overhead projector. <vote poll=world316 closed="yes">Not only is Obama polling the highest ever in national polls, but he's doing even better on the electoral count. All the state-analysis sites agree: <vote poll=world315 closed="yes">An American Carol didn't bomb because it sucked, it bombed because of a country wide liberal movie theatre conspiracy. The AAC website removed the original posting after widespread ridicule, but the text was saved <vote poll=world314 closed="yes">A special shout out to the country of Brazil, who recently paid to fly several penguins back to their icy home

<vote poll=world313 closed="yes">Really Condi? <vote poll=world312 closed="yes">Those Kenyans sure know their Goats. <vote poll=world311 closed="yes">Pope Nazi the Third issues a dire warning that the Catholic Church and all of organized Christianity are in danger of becoming extinct. ::HIGH FIVE:: <vote poll=world310 closed="yes">Dick Morris can be dismissed, he's crazy... But when Karl Rove projects an Obama victory, the Republicans are in trouble <vote poll=world309 closed="yes">When a woman who has problems with simple geography says that someone is "palling around" with terrorists, it's hard to take them seriously. <vote poll=world308 closed="yes">McCain tries to forge new ground in the last throes of the election. By using the same tired tactics. <vote poll=world307 closed="yes">Friday movie openings include Bill Maher's religion satire/documentary Religulous and a conservative attempt at satire with a new "Michael Moore" film. Friday's box office numbers have Religulous at $1 million in 502 theaters while An American Carol earned $1.3 million from 1,639 screens. <vote poll=world306 closed="yes">God's not just cool - he's a financial whizz too! Like, God helped countless Americans get a no-money-down, 5 year ARM. <vote poll=world306 closed="yes">Gasp! The Curse of the Billy Goat still plagues Chicago. <vote poll=world305 closed="yes">Sarah Palin's greatest hits. <vote poll=world304 closed="yes">MTV awards get Rickrolled! <vote poll=world303 closed="yes">Sarah Palin cannot name a single newspaper or magazine that she has read <vote poll=world303 closed="yes">When friggin' newsmax has Barack Obama winning big, something is in the works. <vote poll=world302 closed="yes">Asia Times: "Bush had no plan to catch Bin Laden"