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

August 2009
 Michelle Bachmann volunteers to slit her own wrists - but don't start cheering yet. Robert Novak goes to join the great debate in the sky.  The Republican Death Machine  people really need a life.  "Mr Zimmerman, I've never heard of you", says cop. Oh well, the times they are a-changin' . But it leaves your reputation blowin' in the wind.  Do you know anyone from Sodom? Well tell 'em to be careful in Arizona. Dove World Outreach Center's message of peace  - Time to reclaim the toothbrush moustache for international democracy day. Good news - you're having a daughter. Bad news - Hubby wants to name her after his favourite porn-game character. Reader's Digest misses out chapters 1-10 and files chapter 11 The scary side of the second amendment.

It's yoga cranks vs. yoga quacks: anyone who engages in yoga for a commercial purpose is threatening to disrupt the good karma that has attracted millions of acolytes to yoga. Big Brother is monitoring your votes. Scheduled to be tested on October 31st, NASA assembles it's Ares I-X. A majority of American conservatives now support gay servicemen  Don't worry Michael soon most Eagles fans will start booing Donavon McNabb again, but you'll still probably have to deal with PETA. <vote poll=world912 closed="yes">Public health care leads to TERRORIST MUSLIM DOCTORS!!!! Oh for fuck's sake fox... <vote poll=world911 closed="yes">Yes, this is gossip about a Z-level celebrity. Still, you have to chuckle at the thought that two years from now the newest Baptist minister will be Reverend Omarosa. <vote poll=world910 closed="yes">Okay, so conservatives are being overprotective of Sarah Palin's kids, even when liberals are trying to expose them being exploited. Let's see how conservatives feel about death threats against the Obama kids. <vote poll=world909 closed="yes">Arizona man sentenced for leaving water out for illegal immigrants. <vote poll=world908 closed="yes">Christian Creationism Exhibit at Tulsa Zoo a Top Priority for Mayoral Candidate. <vote poll=world907 closed="yes">Godwin's Law. Health care debate is over. <vote poll=world906 closed="yes">Muslim fundamentalists pull gold and silver tooth-fillings from people's mouths, thus getting precious metals to bankroll their war giving people the modest appearance so essential to a good Muslim. <vote poll=world905 closed="yes">The government of Norway imposes a gender quota on corporate boards. This of course makes the situation worse for "gender diversity;" women are drawn out of important managerial positions to fill the quotas, and there rises a cadre of deadwood professional quota-fillers dubbed "the Golden Skirts." Awesome quote: ""From the Viking time, the females had to take a lot of responsibility when the Vikings went away. We have a tradition for that..." <vote poll=world904 closed="yes">Is Sarah Palin trying to be Phyllis Schlafly? <vote poll=world903 closed="yes">The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is awarding credit if you "provide at least 10 posts defending ID that you’ve made on “hostile” websites". Trolling for credit? <vote poll=world902 closed="yes">US nuns helping people in the community show "liberal drift", according to the Vatican. <vote poll=world901 closed="yes">Irony at its finest: Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), one of 11 Republican co-sponsers of the birther bill in Congress will not release his birth certificate. <vote poll=world900 closed="yes">No miracle on the Hudson: a tour helicopter and a small plane collide in New York City, crashing into the Hudson River. <vote poll=world899 closed="yes">Ben Stein gets Expelled. Sadly, it's over journalistic ethics, not science. <vote poll=world898 closed="yes">Bob Herbert: "Life in the United States is mind-bogglingly violent." The New York Times should pack him off to be a correspondent in Darfur; that'd knock the delusions out of him pretty fast. <vote poll=world897 closed="yes">Hell, no - it wasn't about WMD's - it was Satan! Finally we know why Bush invaded Iraq - "We've got to stop Gog and Magog rising from the Underworld", he told French President Jacques Chirac. <vote poll=world896 closed="yes">On the lighter side: guy blames his cat for downloading kiddy porn <vote poll=world895 closed="yes">Glenn Beck loses advertisers after calling Obama a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people" <vote poll=world894 closed="yes">A wise latina gets confirmed to the Supreme Court, and Al Franken announces it. <vote poll=world893 closed="yes">APA rejects Gay Therapy <vote poll=world892 closed="yes">Creation/Evolution Journal (up to 1996) goes online <vote poll=world891 closed="yes">Utne Reader: "Creativity it's surprisingly orderly, it can be learned." Scientifically, no less! And to prove it, we note that people were more creative about designing train systems for cities they'd never seen. <vote poll=world890 closed="yes">Which is scarier: A Neo-Nazi who was trying to make a dirty bomb? Or the fact that the corporate media found it utterly unworthy of attention? Or the fact we have laughed at Conservapedia for faulting the media in a similar manner? <vote poll=world889 closed="yes">Blackwater founder Erik Prince is implicated in murder. He "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe...." <vote poll=world888 closed="yes">Bill Clinton goes to North Korea to negotiate for the freedom of detained American journalists and succeeds! Although some people believe we've given them a reward by talking to them, and some people think Clinton was on a secret mission to betray America over there. <vote poll=world887 closed="yes">Australia votes to extend guaranteed paid family leave to its residents, starting in 2011. This makes Oz the second-to-last industrialized nation to do so. Guess which industrialized nation is now the last? <vote poll=world886 closed="yes">The New York Times, in a startling turn-around, reports that something good came out of the Iraq War. Unfortunately, this is something that is now under attack from the new government there. <vote poll=world885 closed="yes">Oh, noes. The government seizes Kent Hovind's creationist Dinosaur Adventure Land! <vote poll=world884 closed="yes">R.I.P. Corazon Aquino <vote poll=world883 closed="yes">Japan switches back to trial by jury for the first time in 66 years <vote poll=world882 closed="yes">More Sea Org workers come forward with tales of abuse. <vote poll=world881 closed="yes">32 stories; 200 apartments; 1 tenant. The legacy of the foreclosure crisis. <vote poll=world880 closed="yes"> Prayer, it really works! Yet another innocent is sacrificed to faith. <vote poll=world879 closed="yes">Liberal bias my ass