RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/February 2010

February 2010
The Church singles out one particular group of sinners in the Netherlands. Go on - guess which group. Other bigots are offended when that group protests.  At least the US Air Force still has the Stargate program. What is it with the homophobic Christian beauty queens from California? Oh, right, I remember now - they're usually liars. Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ. Be interesting to see what take CP takes, if any, on this one. 8.8 magnitude earthquake devastates central Chile. Really. If you are going to declare your isolated, rural, 95.7% white county a "United Nations-free Zone," should you be surprised or angry when the Aryan Nations thinks that you are their kind of people? Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning blocks the passing of the employment bill. Why? Because fuck you, Democrats. When will the political class (both Democrats and Republicans) learn? [http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/26/news/companies/aig_fourth_quarter/index.htm This is why you don't pick winners and losers. AIG posts $9 billion quarterly loss.] We're back up to nine planets in the solar system: The eight we all know and love and planet UTAH. A fast food chain in France with a majority of Muslim patrons replaces it's bacon burger with a new burger featuring Halal beef and a slice of turkey. Politicians claim religious discrimination and begin political action to punish restaurants. France really hates Muslims. The Secular Coalition for America wants you to vote for which secular policy they should bring to the table when they meet with the White House on Feb 26th. Italian court convicts Google execs for a video posted by Italian teens to Google video of the boys bullying an autistic teen. To quote the article, "This is like charging the postal service for somebody sending hate mail through it."  Sexually immature, but cute all American girl goes out to Hollywood to try and make it big. Oh no this can't end well. Stewart to Beck: You're a Communist! New Pew Forum study: 79% of Americans, both young and old, believe in miracles. New fuel cell to provide electricity to homes ? | Bloom Box <vote poll=world1431 closed="yes">Palin's family has federally funded health care afforded to them...but if you had it Barack Obama might kill you <vote poll=world1430 closed="yes">Throw the bums out. Not the Democrats, the insurance company leaders, for hiking rates and reducing services when making a 2.7 billion dollar profit. <vote poll=world1429 closed="yes">It's one thing when preachers say prayer reduces crime - of course they're going to say that - but when the police are saying it... <vote poll=world1428 closed="yes">The UK Government, after extensive lobbying from the Catholic Education Service, is going to allow a religious schools an opt-out of the law requiring sex education in schools. Religious schools will still be required to deliver sex education, but they're allowed to do it in a way that's compatible with their religious beliefs. i.e. Catholic sex education will consist of explaining what condoms are for and then threatening the children with eternal torture in Hell if they should ever consider using such wicked devices. Hooray for STDs and teen pregnancy! <vote poll=world1427 closed="yes">Ron Houben, the Belgian in a coma who could communicate via "facilitated communication"? Turns out "facilitated communication" is still utterly bogus and Mr Houben is still locked in his head. <vote poll=world1426 closed="yes">CPAC straw poll voters endorse Ron Paul for president in '12 with 33% of the votes, over such canidates as Mitt Romney (22%) and Sarah Palin (7%). Sure, he could do better than he did in '08, I mean he couldn't do much worse... <vote poll=world1425 closed="yes">Sadly, none of the 33 'orphans' that were involved in the Haitian orphan case were orphans. Desperate parents were sending their children to what they hoped was a new start. <vote poll=world1424 closed="yes">Lucky for Mitt Romney that it wasn't Fiddy on that airplane. <vote poll=world1423 closed="yes">Newsweek reports that John Yoo advised George W. Bush that as president, he not only had the constitutional power to torture, but he also had the constitutional power to massacre entire villages. (Big surprise:  Yoo's faculty profile page on the UC Berkeley website glosses over his ties to the Bush administration.) <vote poll=world1422 closed="yes">Domestic terror attack in Austin yesterday, so what does every major "news" outlet cover today? <vote poll=world1421 closed="yes">The Brown Dirt Cowboy claims Jesus was gay. <vote poll=world1420 closed="yes">Nothing short of taking another person's life will end Marion Barry's political career. <vote poll=world1419 closed="yes">It's a bad time to be gay in Malawi. Protest group, Lesbian and Gay Equality Project, based in South Africa, blames the work of US evangelical Christian groups. <vote poll=world1418 closed="yes">The UK releases it's latest UFO reports. Curiously the aliens appear to model their craft using the latest sci-fi blockbuster. <vote poll=world1417 closed="yes">Complaints Jan Moir's column about the death of Steven Gately are not upheld by the Press Complains Commission; citing that "it was an essential point of principle that papers could print views which might offend readers". <vote poll=world1416 closed="yes">New Pew Forum Poll reports that [http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/17/report.millennials.faith/index.html?hpt=C1 25% of Americans born since 1980 are "agnostic or atheist". 45 percent of the same age group report they pray daily, and two thirds believe in God "with absolute certainty"]. <vote poll=world1415 closed="yes">Fundamentalism kills. No further comment! <vote poll=world1414 closed="yes">So much for Transubstantiation. René Descartes is thought to have been poisoned by arsenic-laced communion wafer. <vote poll=world1413 closed="yes">Russian pulls porno prank, hilarity ensues! <vote poll=world1412 closed="yes">Pauline Hanson, famous for being very much against immigration, decides to emigrate to the UK. *cough*Hypocrite*cough* <vote poll=world1411 closed="yes"> This is one way of making sure people don't get sent to Gitmo. <vote poll=world1410 closed="yes">BNP: racist party ditches racist membership policy. <vote poll=world1409 closed="yes">Looks like others found this to be as funny as we would: Found on the Friends of Irony page <vote poll=world1408 closed="yes">Whilst the US has blizzards, the Olympic men's downhill is cancelled due to "slushy" snow. <vote poll=world1407 closed="yes">Flowers? Chocolates? No, Valentine's Day used to be about pain, baby. <vote poll=world1406 closed="yes">All together now: "He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!" <vote poll=world1405 closed="yes">This wouldn't have happened in China. <vote poll=world1404 closed="yes">While conservatives use recent blizzards in the United States to mock the idea of global warming, record high January temperatures in Vancouver force the Olympics to import snow. <vote poll=world1403 closed="yes">Another odd chapter in the banking crisis that might be called "foreclosure frenzy." Bank of America set out to foreclose on a Florida home. The real estate agent hired by B of A told them that (1) B of A had the wrong house (the actual house that should be foreclosed on was across the street and about ten houses down), and (2) the owners of the house B of A was targeting had paid cash for it. B of A foreclosed anyway. <vote poll=world1402 closed="yes">There is now more space in space. <vote poll=world1401 closed="yes">Anonymous launches Operation Titstorm: For two days now the Australian Parliament's website has been going offline. The new $23.4 million Cyber Security Operations Centre is thwarted by a group of Channers. <vote poll=world1400 closed="yes"> The FBI detains a college student for having Arabic flashcards in his airplane luggage, not doubt thinking that the mere sight of the language of teh ebildoerz would send travelers into a panic. <vote poll=world1399 closed="yes"> And people say there isn't anymore honor in this world. <vote poll=world1398 closed="yes">Must be a slow news day as the BBC compares bananas with Kit-Kats. - although look out for the Ray Comfort shout out at the end. <vote poll=world1397 closed="yes">Unrestricted internet access helps pupils in the long run. <vote poll=world1396 closed="yes">Conservative honesty- the most outspoken opponents of the stimulus bill ask for a cut in private. <vote poll=world1395 closed="yes">The Maverick goes to the extreme right to fight off a primary challenger.

<vote poll=world1393 closed="yes"> RIP John Murtha. <votecp poll=world1392 closed="yes">Sarah Palin caught reading cheat notes written on her hand during Teabaggers debate. <votecp poll=world1391 closed="yes">The Catholic Church shows it's learnt its lessons from the child rape coverups ... by, er, quietly shuffling a criminal priest to another parish. <votecp poll=world1390 closed="yes">>3000 dinosaur footprints found in China. Expect complicated explanations of how they're all less than 6000 years old. <vote poll=world1389 closed="yes">Apparently, Pluto is blushing. Well, wouldn't you, if you'd just been downgraded? <vote poll=world1388 closed="yes">Today's politics in the USA: Republican senator from Alabama places holds on Obama's nominees, over 70 nominations so far, until earmarks get approved for his home state. <vote poll=world1387 closed="yes">The Tea Party reveals its political group, named the Ensuring Liberty Corp. in the traditional right-wing sickeningly jingoistic fashion. <votecp poll=world1386 closed="yes">The Tea Party tells the public that basically no-one to the left of unelectable right wing nutjobs are acceptable candidates. This includes the main bastions of the Republican Party. <vote poll=world1385 closed="yes">Palin shies away from criticizing Rush over using the 'r-word', after being all over a Democrat for doing it. <vote poll=world1384 closed="yes">Gotcha! Three MPs & One peer being charged about their expenses claims under theft act. <vote poll=world1383 closed="yes">In the 1980s there was a TV commercial with a brake technician who said "A car that won't start is a problem. A car that won't stop...{knowing glare}"  Toyota is now suffering a double whammy reflecting the second half of this statement. <vote poll=world1382 closed="yes">From the "Wait... what?" department. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247925/Girl-told-ID-buy-QUICHE-Tesco-looked-21.html You're too young to buy this quiche. Let me see some ID first.] <vote poll=world1381 closed="yes">Finally! An Oregon jury CONVICTS two faith healing parents for standing by and watching as their teenaged son died of a curable condition. <vote poll=world1380 closed="yes">After the UK's General Medical Council officially denounces the publication of Andrew Wakefield's onerous paper linking the MMR vaccine to autism, The Lancet issues a formal retraction (twelve years late). <votecp poll=world1394 closed="yes">"If this poll is accurate, the Republican base has an absurdly high percentage of wackos of all stripes, from religious fanatics to creationists to secessionists to conspiracy theorists." <votecp poll=world1379 closed="yes">Everybody knows that children are in constant danger these days and that things were much better in the good old days, right? Wrong. <votecp poll=world1378 closed="yes">A proposed amendment would reverse the recent Supreme Court ruling granting unlimited spending to corporations <vote poll=world1377 closed="yes">Physicists have 'solved' the mystery of levitation, opening up a path to successful fusion. <vote poll=world1376 closed="yes">You want to download the speeches of a fascist dictator? There 's was an app for that! <vote poll=world1375 closed="yes">The first organic molecule on a world orbiting another star is detected. <vote poll=world1374 closed="yes">On the other hand, Colin Powell shifts in favor of repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. <vote poll=world1373 closed="yes">We're disappointed in you too Senator McCain <vote poll=world1372 closed="yes">Survey of 1300 websurfers finds internet use is linked to depression. UPDATE: Or is it? <vote poll=world1371 closed="yes">A small localised victory for free speech on-line. <vote poll=world1370 closed="yes">After a few weeks of silence, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is talking to FBI interrogators again. No doubt Republicans will see that period of silence as a sign of weakness in the American justice system and will demand that he be tortured anyway. <votecp poll=world1369 closed="yes">Virgin Birth - kinda possible actually. <vote poll=world1368 closed="yes">A school system in Virginia bans a popular historical account of a book-banning regime. Only one person complained about the "sexually explicit material and homosexual themes" in The Diary of Anne Frank. UPDATE: Culpeper County school board reverses decision. <vote poll=world1367 closed="yes">Link between MMR vaccine and autism ruled quackery.  <vote poll=world1366 closed="yes">The presumption of the godly leave me gobsmacked.