RationalWiki:What is going on in the blogosphere?/July 2013

July 2013
Fundie Christians believe in talking snakes and donkeys. Should we be surprised that a growing number of Muslims in the Middle East believe that Israel is using birds to spy on them? Let us remember the time when Saint Ronnie nearly began WWIII for no reason. Come on, whites, get your act together! Meanwhile in Russia... Update: The Daily Mail says what everyone else is thinking. Oh Jenny. Please, Obama, don't let us have to write an article about Larry Summers. An open letter to Trayvon Martin's father: [http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/17752-open-letter-to-trayvons-father-sue-zimmerman Forget the federal prosecution. Here's why you must sue George Zimmerman]. Thanks Christie, we're going to have to differentiate between "civil" and "Rand Paul dreamland" libertarianism again. And there goes a political career. Andrews & Arnold trolls David Cameron. And that is why I consider myself a scientismist. I know it is supposed to be a perjorative, but I am reclaiming it.

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: you are not going to infringe the viewer's right to skip ads, especially hours after the TV show finishes broadcasting. A bit of wishful thinking for atheists to indulge: In the developed world, "religion will completely disappear by 2041" and be replaced by atheism.  (However, note that the author of the study has a rather limited definition of "the developed world" that doesn't include the richest and most heavily armed nation on the planet, at least when considering its current political and economic climate and its high levels of religiosity.) Gawker has a warm word of welcome for the royal sprog. "Some Mormons Search the Web and Find Doubt." How economic equality in Canada and Denmark increases social mobility and meritocracy. <vote poll=blog3156 closed="yes">How to end both Jack Thompson-esque censorship and the basement-dwelling nature of the the gaming world? "We need to find something that resembles the academic environment, someplace where people seem to have endless amounts of free time, where everyone is long-winded, argumentative and encouragely cliquish, someplace obnoxiously elitist and frustratingly male-dominated." <vote poll=blog3155 closed="yes">First trailer for Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey. <vote poll=blog3154 closed="yes">NPR Discovers the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory! And it may just be a positive feedback loop. <vote poll=blog3153 closed="yes">Neil deGrasse Tyson has a possible explanation of why extraterrestrials have never contacted humanity: We're just too stupid to make contact worthwhile for them. <vote poll=blog3152 closed="yes">Lakoff, don't stoop down to their level. <vote poll=blog3151 closed="yes">What type of atheist are you? <vote poll=blog3150 closed="yes">Anonymous goes on a fruitful hunt for paedophiles within the English Defence League. <vote poll=blog3149 closed="yes">Oh yes, blame the intern. <vote poll=blog3148 closed="yes">XKCD raises a valid point on the absence of evidence. <vote poll=blog3147 closed="yes">How Intellectual Property Reinforces Inequality. <vote poll=blog3146 closed="yes">Fred Clark of Patheos spells out the reality of how prominent homophobic and misogynistic churches and evangelists are. <vote poll=blog3145 closed="yes">Introducing Representative Mark Takano (D-CA). <vote poll=blog3144 closed="yes">ForwardProgressives: Obama says GWB wasn't all that bad. Read the comments, but for the sake of your sanity, read the article too. <vote poll=blog3143 closed="yes">This could have all been preventable if the government, not private companies, paid for the majority of health insurance. But no, we're still stuck in square one again, GOP. <vote poll=blog3142 closed="yes">There's a reason nobody takes you seriously anymore, Krauthammer. <vote poll=blog3141 closed="yes">Federal judge to the NSA: What State Secret? (Full decision) <vote poll=blog3140 closed="yes">Apparently, we missed how poorly Bobby Jindal's school vouchers program is working in Louisiana; here, Bill Maher chimes in. Also missing: Proof that voucher money's being used responsibly. <vote poll=blog3139 closed="yes">VIDEO (documentary film trailer): Ever hear of the tough love programs where parents have their uncontrollable kids spirited away to a juvenile boot camp to receive discipline training? Now imagine what it would be like if the reparative therapy movement used the same tactics. That's the subject matter of the new documentary Kidnapped for Christ. <vote poll=blog3138 closed="yes">"When Women Used Lysol as Birth Control." (This article about a rather common, yet toxic, birth control method from the Good Old Days was first published more than a year ago.  But since it wasn't posted here at that time, we offer it now as Rick Perry yet again calls the Texas legislature back into session to take another swing at passing that anti-abortion bill.) <vote poll=blog3137 closed="yes">So, who runs the secret court that acts on all the NSA wiretap info? This guy. <vote poll=blog3136 closed="yes">Salon notes that, having solved all bigger problems, armed SWAT teams are being deployed to perform raids alcohol license inspections. <vote poll=blog3135 closed="yes">All of this is true, Mr. Larsen, but please remember that the ratio of anti-science wingnuts to moonbats is 164 to... well, <vote poll=blog3134 closed="yes">How to troll NSA recruitment drives. <vote poll=blog3133 closed="yes">How Copyright Makes Books and Music Disappear. <vote poll=blog3132 closed="yes">Wine tasting is bullshit. <vote poll=blog3131 closed="yes">The four sides of one seriously fucked-up Egypt: a military that wants to keep selling Windex, millions of increasingly liberal protesters that are being ignored, the remaining Mubarak apologists, and and a Muslim Brotherhood which proclaims itself to be "democratic" but thinks the Jews are everywhere. (The last of the four is now being shot at by the military.) <vote poll=blog3130 closed="yes">NSFW video: A Brazilian(?) priest during Mass: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2kv4Xrtsyc Um... wow! I guess that's why they like wearing those cassocks.] <vote poll=blog3129 closed="yes">We all know how this is going to end. <vote poll=blog3128 closed="yes">The one place Edward Snowden would be safe from prosecution. <vote poll=blog3127 closed="yes">Ed Brayton blogs about the problems with the US Legal Standing Doctrine. <vote poll=blog3126 closed="yes">The Washington Post: Let's burn the bridge right after we've crossed it. <vote poll=blog3125 closed="yes">Stephen Meyer's new book is "a masterwork of pseudoscience." <vote poll=blog3124 closed="yes">German online voters selected an innovative nuclear reactor for the GreenTec Awards environmental prize. The organizing greens threw a hissy fit and arbitrarily disqualified it. <vote poll=blog3123 closed="yes">Guessing there were facepalms from this. <vote poll=blog3122 closed="yes">Why worry about NSA spying when companies like Motorola keep track of all your login details through unsecured channels? <vote poll=blog3121 closed="yes">Is this the laziest Congress ever? <vote poll=blog3120 closed="yes">Who says atheists have no morality? We "commit less crime, have longer marriages and are more highly educated than almost any other group in America." <vote poll=blog3119 closed="yes">Oh, Canada! The American media is starting to notice your current political climate. "How America's friendly northern neighbor became a rogue, reckless petrostate." (Psst... the wingnuts have already hijacked the comments, stay far away)