RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/September 2012

September 2012
California bans reparative therapy for minors. Not a spoof: The official UK "back to Church for Christmas" campaign from ChurchAds, funded by most of the major denominations. "He cries. He wees. He saves the world." Fetch..... the comfy chair! From the desk of Curiosity: Looks like water used to flow on Mars, guys. The last Western detainee is out of Guantanamo: Supreme Court of Canada confirms terrorist Omar Khadr was tortured and he will serve his prison sentence in Canuckistan. Ignorant commenters: "Leftist sheeple! Not in my backyard!  WAAAAAAAHHHHH" What is this, the tenth time now? UPDATE: The story is pulled and replaced with funny Engrish. UPDATE II: Start the slow clap.

ABC still does good journalism. Man offers $65 million reward to any man who can seduce his lesbian daughter. Nativists on a Canadian panel on immigration get the boot. The short national nightmare is over. Now gawk at Ed Hochuli's guns. This is some interesting shit right here, and I don't mean the colonic bullshit. Summon the tellers of end times. "'Space,' it says, 'is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is.'" Some replacement NFL referees were rejected from what basically amounts to really softcore porn. Apart from the truth, neither lockouts nor analogies are his strong suits. Republicans look for proof of widespread vote fraud in order to justify the draconian voter ID laws they're backing, and find next to none. <vote poll=world5811 closed="yes">Farewell, Wente. (If you don't know who the twit is) <vote poll=world5810 closed="yes"> Holy God. The Romney Unit was very, very worried about his wife's plane making a forced landing due to smoke in the cabin. Why not open a window, asks the Republican scientific genius. You couldn't make this shit up. <vote poll=world5809 closed="yes">The NY Times headline reads: "Romney Blames Obama for His Campaign Challenges". There is nothing I could possibly add which would make that more hilarious. <vote poll=world5808 closed="yes">Intel ends support of Boy Scouts of America due to discriminatory policies. <vote poll=world5807 closed="yes">Look oh ye Canadians and despair, for the beast is nigh! <vote poll=world5806 closed="yes">Is Zimbabwe getting its tips from South Park? <vote poll=world5805 closed="yes">Libyans in Benghazi decide it's time to kick some Ansar al-Shariah ass. <vote poll=world5804 closed="yes">How to restore a mummy? Lego, motherfucker. <vote poll=world5803 closed="yes">According to Rick Perry, "Satan runs wild across the world," and the separation of Church and State is hence Satan's fault. <vote poll=world5802 closed="yes"> At least one US ally has had enough - The Australian Deputy Prime Minister declares that and crazies" have taken over the US Republican party. Update: the Prime Minister is backing him. <vote poll=world5801 closed="yes">At least Romney didn't take this approach with the NAACP.

<vote poll=world5799 closed="yes">Mittens - take note. Proceeds from the single are to go to charity. No - seriously. <vote poll=world5798 closed="yes">We develop and provide business-focussed antivirus software; how badly can we fuck up? - Whoops! <vote poll=world5797 closed="yes">The repeal of DADT is one year old and, guess what, the US military hasn't imploded. <vote poll=world5796 closed="yes">The Lenski papers are published. ArsTechnica provides commentary. <vote poll=world5795 closed="yes">Chik-Fil-A likes money more than it hates gays. Update: Whoops, busted raising money for anti-gay groups again. <vote poll=world5794 closed="yes">Quelle suprise. <vote poll=world5793 closed="yes">Senior member of German Pirate Party really doesn't like people sharing her book. <vote poll=world5792 closed="yes">NHS's NICE considers acupuncture "effective for the prevention of both tension-type and migraine-type headaches" <vote poll=world5791 closed="yes">French satirical magazine publishes obscene cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. What could possibly go wrong? <vote poll=world5790 closed="yes">A fourth century piece of papyrus is found that is the |utmccn=(direct)|utmcmd=(none)&__utmv=14933801.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc%7Ccover=1^12=Landing%20Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing%20Hostname=www.nbcnews.com=1^30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Earned%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=72390931 earliest known reference to Jesus having a wife. <vote poll=world5789 closed="yes">Non-religious people make up the largest group in the latest survey of UK religious attitudes. <vote poll=world5788 closed="yes">Another week, another Romney gaffe. And the shit just keeps on flowing. <vote poll=world5787 closed="yes">Crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle. No, not tortoises - balls on Mars. <vote poll=world5786 closed="yes">Sometimes you can't make this shit up: Rick Santorum Says "Smart People Will Never Be On Our Side" <vote poll=world5785 closed="yes">No shit? Researchers (in Australia) find those who believe in superstition/wishful thinking tend to live unhealthful lifestyles. Listen up, certain people who don't like science. <vote poll=world5784 closed="yes">The Cuban Missile Sino-Fishing Crisis. If this is how WWIII starts... <vote poll=world5783 closed="yes">How things change. Portuguese citizens flee their economic crisis to Angola, a former colony, pushing up prices, depressing wages, and causing resentment.  <vote poll=world5782 closed="yes">Assange may be right after all. <vote poll=world5781 closed="yes">Cash-strapped Spanish cities consider taxing the Catholic Church. <vote poll=world5780 closed="yes">Welcome to the 21st century, Canada. <vote poll=world5779 closed="yes">Good To Know Dept.: I, and everyone I know, are proud members of the working classes, and despite our delusions of grandeur,not a one of us is 'Middle Class'. Thanks for clarifying Mitt! <vote poll=world5778 closed="yes">Possibly something we already knew: A study finds that presidents are a lot like psychopaths. <vote poll=world5777 closed="yes">"Science requires faith because you can't see atoms!" Oh yeah? <vote poll=world5776 closed="yes">Protestors in Tripoli, Lebanon (not Libya) are so angry about the Muhammed film and/or the Pope that they set fire to a KFC. <vote poll=world5775 closed="yes">Someone doesn't know how to use Twitter. <vote poll=world5774 closed="yes">Hurray! Mouthfoamer Glenn Beck is back on TV! <vote poll=world5773 closed="yes">How did Godlike Productions miss this conspiracy? Probably because it actually was one. An unsafe stadium put people’s lives at risk, incompetent police and ambulance service resulted in 96 deaths. What to do? Blame the victims: feed lies to the press and falsify evidence. <vote poll=world5772 closed="yes">Luckiest bastard on the planet. <vote poll=world5771 closed="yes">So, Apple released a new something or whatever. It's got more megabits and stuff. Context: Fake Steve Jobs says the iPhone (and Apple) has gotten stagnant. <vote poll=world5770 closed="yes">Muslim fanatics in Libya storm an U.S. consulate and murder an ambassador in revenge for somebody posting a movie on the Internet. What was the reaction of the Vatican representative in Libya? "What has happened is terrible, but we need to avoid offending the people's religious sensibility." Update: And Romney has proven again to be a total asshole., while thousands of Libyans prove they are not. <vote poll=world5769 closed="yes">First shitting on the Olympics, now on 9/11: NBC thinks the Kardashians are more relevant. <vote poll=world5768 closed="yes">I asked for a holodeck! Well... Close enough. <vote poll=world5767 closed="yes">[http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/juror-says-too-homophobic-racist-serve-now-faces-192615923.html Wanna get out of jury duty? Claiming to be a homophobic racist is a step above soiling yourself during selection!] <vote poll=world5766 closed="yes">SNAKE JESUS IS A-COMIN'! <vote poll=world5765 closed="yes">♫&hellip;flash, bang, wallop, what a picture; What a picture, what a photograph&hellip;♫ You can even stick it in your family album, if that floats your boat, but it's probably better to get your 'scopes out. <vote poll=world5764 closed="yes">The Pennsylvania judge who upheld the restrictive voter ID law may have unwittingly doomed the case. To support his decision, he cited heavily from an 1869 court case upholding a more restrictive law designed specifically to deny voting rights to impoverished immigrants in Philadelphia while allowing the same rights for poor people (men) elsewhere in the state. <vote poll=world5763 closed="yes">15% of Ohio Republicans believe Romney killed bin Laden. <vote poll=world5762 closed="yes">So, who hates small businesses now? <vote poll=world5761 closed="yes">The Black Death returns! <vote poll=world5760 closed="yes">German Jews and Muslims protest together against the court ruling that prevents circumcision. <vote poll=world5759 closed="yes">Communist! <vote poll=world5758 closed="yes">Scientists are uncertain about uncertainty <vote poll=world5757 closed="yes">Fox goes to yet another new low. <vote poll=world5756 closed="yes">So much for that whole "Religious Freedom" thing. <vote poll=world5755 closed="yes">Obama's speech to the DNC buys him less than 12 hours of momentum. <vote poll=world5754 closed="yes">[http://thinkprogress.org/education/2012/09/06/808841/student-loans-holocaust/?mobile=nc Educating our children is a slippery slope because... the Holocaust happened?] <vote poll=world5753 closed="yes">The toll of NCLB. <vote poll=world5752 closed="yes">Headline of the Year. <vote poll=world5751 closed="yes">"But let's be clear, it is an ad." Well thanks for your honesty there! <vote poll=world5750 closed="yes">Louisiana school class of '73 desegregates its reunion, but not the reception. <vote poll=world5749 closed="yes">So, the UK now has a Health Minister who thinks homeopathy works, an Equality Minister who simply couldn't care less about gay people and a Minister for Transport who once ran over a cyclist. Fuck yeah! <vote poll=world5748 closed="yes">How deep is Paul Ryan's opposition to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare? Less than nine months after it was signed into law, he went begging to the Obama administration to send some ACA funds to help build a new clinic in his district. That's how deep his opposition is to. . . Wait, what? <vote poll=world5747 closed="yes">Now we're talking. A hacker group has (supposedly) accessed the entirety of Mittens' tax returns and are prepared to release them by the end of the month. The catch? They want Bitcoins. Lots of them. <vote poll=world5746 closed="yes">An Australian general practitioner -- who is also a member of a radical Christian sect called the Exclusive Brethren -- is banned from practicing medicine for using a particularly nasty form of reparative therapy on a gay teen -- chemical castration. <vote poll=world5745 closed="yes">Mars disowns deep-fried Mars Bars because they are counter to their "healthy" image. <vote poll=world5744 closed="yes">International poverty-fighting organisation Save the Children starts a fund for the hungry children of Britain. <vote poll=world5743 closed="yes">Ethnic violence at a political rally... In Canada. <vote poll=world5742 closed="yes">So, some guy wanted life sentences for women who have abortions. Is anyone surprised by this shit any more? <vote poll=world5740 closed="yes">Don't forget to renew your domain name. <vote poll=world5739 closed="yes">Four UK Christians take their 'beliefs' work dismissal cases to European Court. No surprises to find that the Christian Legal Centre are behind it. <vote poll=world5738 closed="yes">The Mounties continue to degenerate into Stephen Harper's personal Praetorean guard. <vote poll=world5737 closed="yes">Now you can get completely hammered Obama style! <vote poll=world5736 closed="yes">Mitt Romney, visiting Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Isaac, told a woman who was flooded out of her house that if she needed assistance, she should go home and dial 211 (community service). Then he asked Bobby Jindal where all that water came from. <vote poll=world5735 closed="yes">One for the freedom of speech debates: British man arrested for praising Breivik. <vote poll=world5734 closed="yes">Reverend Moon of the Unification Church is dead of pneumonia, aged 92. <vote poll=world5733 closed="yes">Desmond Tutu: Try Dubya and his British chihuahua already. Bliar: Saddam did ten times worse! The WMDs were always there! The Iraqi economy is doing so much better now! Please don't send me to The Hague. Please! <vote poll=world5732 closed="yes">"Catholic church 200 years behind the times" says dead cardinal.