Ian David
Ian David's JournalBastrop, Texas pastor charged with animal cruelty over death of neighbor's cat
Posted on January 23, 2012 at 9:19 PM
Updated Tuesday, Jan 24 at 8:10 AM
BASTROP, Texas -- A Central Texas pastor is being accused of throwing a neighbor's cat off of a bridge.
Rick Bartlett, pastor of the Bastrop Christian Church, is facing animal cruelty charges. Bastrop Police Chief Michael Black said Bartlett admitted that he caught the cat, named Moody, in a trap on Sunday, Jan. 15. Bartlett told them that he was having a problem with feral cats in his garden.
Moody also told police that he had the cat in a cage in the back of his pick-up truck for three days and forgot about him until Tuesday, Jan. 17., when Bartlett brought the cat to police. An animal control officer noticed a name tag including the phone number of Moody’s owners, Sarah and Eddy Bell, on the cat's collar. The officer offered to take Moody back to his owners but police said Bartlett told them he’d take the cat back himself since they were his neighbors.
Later on the same day, a park visitor discovered Moody’s near lifeless body on the bank of the Colorado River, some 40-50 feet below a bridge.
More:
http://www.kvue.com/news/Bastrop-Pastor-charged-with-Cruelty-to-Animals-over-Neighbors-cat-death-137934273.html
Man Forced to Dismantle "Star Trek" Living Room
Man Forced to Dismantle "Star Trek" Living Room
Tony Alleyne spent a decade converting the living room of his Leicester, U.K. from an ordinary living space into the bridge of the starship Voyager.
And now, he’s had to dismantle it all.
Alleyne and his wife, Georgina are going through a divorce. And while he lives in the apartment, she owns it and has been paying the mortgage. His soon-to-be ex-wife decided to sell the apartment, forcing Alleyne to have to dismantle it.
For 10 years Alleyne lovingly transformed his 500-square-foot apartment into a fully realized Trek fan’s dream by hand-crafting all of the furnishings and adding molded walls, a high-tech bathroom, voice-activated blue lighting, air conditioning, a command console and even his very own awesome transporter room.
More:
http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2012/01/25/man-forced-to-dismantle-star-trek-living-room/
Santorum Loves CUM
Santorum Loves CUMGiven the number of emails I've received about this, I'm pretty sure it's the most important thing ever to have happened:
That's right. In an effort to raise money, Rick Santorum named his 72-hour fund-gathering plan "Conservatives Unite Moneybomb," or "CUM," for short. You guys are right in thinking that this is pretty hilarious, but the fact that (as of this posting) he's already raised over twice what he set out to get, I'm kind of concerned.
More:
http://blog.spreadingsantorum.com/2012/01/santorum-loves-cum.html
In the ‘what were they thinking’ dept: Rick Santorum launches C.U.M.
By: Pam Spaulding Sunday January 22, 2012 2:43 pm
This comes from the land of “you can’t make this sh*t up.” GOP Clown Car occupant, ace homophobe and bearer of a redefined surname that has become a giant political problem for him on Google, Rick Santorum is not doing himself any more favors by launching the Conservatives United Moneybomb, or C.U.M. for shorthand. Hat tip to Daily Kos front-pager Scott Wooledge on Twitter:
More:
http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2012/01/22/in-the-what-were-they-thinking-dept-rick-santorum-launches-c-u-m/
Rick Santorum Wants His Supporters To C.U.M.
You just can’t make this stuff up. I expect Rachel Maddow to die from embarrassment if she tries to report on this. I suppose the good news is that he’s raised over $1.6 million dollars. That’s a lot of C.U.M.
OK, I can’t write anymore. I’m laughing too hard!!!!
More:
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/01/22/rick-santorum-wants-his-supporters-to-c-u-m/
Santorum Begs for CUM
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 3:39 PM
I put this on Slog on Saturday, but we're still getting a ton of Slog tips about it from our readers: Santorum's website over the weekend was begging for CUM. Here's a screenshot:
Let's just take a moment, here, to appreciate the fact that this shit-soaked anti-sex pervert had the entire evangelical coalition fall behind him in South Carolina, and it just didn't matter. This means one of two things: Either Santorum is so unlikeable that not even his base can stand him or the evangelicals have no political clout anymore.
More:
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/01/23/santorum-begs-for-cum
Santorum Uses CUM (Conservatives United Moneybomb) to Grease the Hinges of War Chest
This story broke late last night with the obstreperous blah nightingale,”AngryBlackLady” who began tweetering the effectiveness of a Santorum moneybomb uniting the Conservative movement. Santorum’s website calls on the faithful to lubricate the squeaky gears of the Santorum political machine. As a outspoken advocate for legislating a three way marriage between one man, one woman and a loving creator that spins the wheel of fate for pro-creative blessings, Santorum speaks for many conservative voters.
More:
http://christwire.org/2012/01/santorum-uses-cum-conservatives-united-moneybomb-to-grease-the-hinges-of-war-chest/
Santorum wants to drop a huge load of CUM all over America’s dick
As much as I would have liked to have made that headline just out of thin air, the sad part is that it’s actually not that far from the truth. Rick Santorum is organizing his supporters, especially those in Florida, to donate to his campaign in a “Conservative Union Moneybomb”, or CUM for short. Nasty.
So yeah… if you like Santorum, you can now participate in some sort of Santorum CUM party. Have fun.
More:
http://www.iheartchaos.com/post/16381740034/santorum-wants-to-drop-a-huge-load-of-cum-all-over
The Gingrich in You
&lcPerformed by The Election 2012 Rockers.
http://www.facebook.com/TheElection2012Rockers
You Can’t Make This Up: Rick Santorum Launches C.U.M.
You Can’t Make This Up: Rick Santorum Launches C.U.M.Posted by Brent Peterson on Jan 23, 2012 in OMGWTFLOL
<snip>
Despite being exposed to myriad odd stories, one of the biggest, most common, and frothiest contributors to our “WTF” stories is none other than Rick Santorum. The man has done so many WTF-worthy things that I’m starting to think he’s going out of his way to make everyone think he’s a nutjob.
His newest campaign move is no different.
Mr. Frothy-Mix recently launched a new campaign… thing (strategy, move, misstep, blunder, horror, etc). And, much like his last name, the title of this “measure” is just incredibly unfortunate.
It’s called Conservatives Unite Moneybomb. Literally C.U.M. I mean really. Like… what?
More:
http://unicornbooty.com/blog/2012/01/23/you-cant-make-this-up-rick-santorum-launches-c-u-m/
Rick Santorum wants you to bomb him with CUM!
Wednesday: Show up at the Cranston School Committee Meeting
Wednesday: Show up at the Cranston School Committee Meeting
If you've been following the case of Jessica Ahlquist vs. the Cranston
School Committee, known more widely as the Cranson Prayer Banner case, you
might know that the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff. Not
unsurprisingly: the courts, for all their wavering, have been pretty clear
that school resources cannot be used to advance a denominational religious
message, and a prayer banner addressed to Our Heavenly Father is just that.
The conflict isn't over, however; the Cranston School Committee will be
meeting this Wednesday for their regular committee business, and on the
agenda is the question of whether to proceed with an appeal to the court's
decision: http://cpsed.net/schcom/agenda/
.
Maybe you were or are a member of the Facebook group supporting the
Ahlquist side, www.facebook.com/groups/179298715436387/. Maybe you chimed
in from time to time, with words of support. Maybe you even donated a few
bucks to the college fund for Jessica (because don't we want to support
people like this?). And maybe you were wondering if there was anything more
you could have done, or can do now.
Well, there is.
BE THERE WEDNESDAY NIGHT.
And what's more, get everyone you can, in every group there is, to turn out
at this meeting. Steve Ahlquist's op-ed Saturday's issue of the Providence
Journal (http://bit.ly/zTYfk3
) might well mark a turning point in public
opinion, and Steve (he tells us by email) is personally sick "of being one
of only six people in support of Jess facing off against 230, let's call
them "passionate" Christians." So let's help even the odds (even if we know
that a public question is settled by the rightness of one's arguments, and
not by force of numbers). At the very least, we can show there is no need
for police protection, as we will be our own protection.
Let's let Jess know she has support not only on the Internet, but in the
real world. Bring signs! Wear tee shirts! Bring cameras, family and friends!
RSVP at www.facebook.com/events/152410891539811.
Via: http://www.facebook.com/groups/bostonatheists/
Connecticut Florist Delivers Flowers To Atheist Teen After Four RI Florists Refuse
Connecticut Florist Delivers Flowers To Atheist Teen After Four RI Florists Refuse
The Cranston prayer banner debate shifts to flowers as businesses refuse to deliver to the teenage girl at the center of the battle. The Freedom From Religion Foundation in Wisconsin had to go out of state to find a florist to deliver flowers to the Cranston West teen, after four other Rhode Island businesses said "no thanks" to the order.
Co-owner of Glimpse of Gaia Florist Sean Condon, drove all the way from Connecticut to deliver the flowers to the atheist teen who won the lawsuit against her school over a prayer banner. Cranston West was ordered to take the banner down. It's temporarily covered, pending the school committees decision on an appeal.
Condon said, "I think we don't discriminate against people for any reason."
The anti-religious group wanted to send Ahlquist congratulatory flowers, but four different florists in Rhode Island refused.
More:
http://www.abc6.com/story/16558428/connecticut-florist-delivers-flowers-to-atheist-teen-after-four-ri-florists-refuse
Tea Party Jesus: Sermon on the Mall
Learn more at www.teapartyjesus.org. Read the fully cited and quoted script. Also find full "bios" for all the cast members and watch the movie trailers. Tea Party Jesus is a project of the American Values Network in conjunction with Faithful Media. Learn more at http://www.americanvaluesnetwork.org.
Hat-tip to: https://twitter.com/#!/drdigipol/status/160443976271405058
Science says people are "mostly good" without God.
Science says people are "mostly good" without God.
A recent study gives us a fascinating look into how humans "naturally" behave. Scientists collected data from the online game Pardus, which has over 300,000 players, and crunched it through a series of analysis techniques for complex systems. The game is one where the players are free to behave in any way they choose, with no built in advantages for good or bad. The bottom line? Humans are mostly good, most of the time, and they generally behave well even if there are no laws preventing bad behavior.
According to the study:
The analysis of binary timeseries of players (good-bad) shows that the behavior of almost all players is ‘good’ almost all the time. Negative actions are balanced to a large extent by good ones. Players with a high fraction of negative actions tend to have a significantly shorter life. This may be due to two reasons: First because they are hunted down by others and give up playing, second because they are unable to maintain a social life and quit the game because of loneliness or frustration. We interpret these findings as empirical evidence for self organization towards reciprocal, good conduct within a human society. Note that the game allows bad behavior in the same way as good behavior but the extent of punishment of bad behavior is freely decided by the players. (LINK)
Another interesting observation was that negative behavior is more repetitive than reciprocal. In other words, those who do bad often repeat bad behaviors. Scientists also found that people who have recently been wronged are 10 times more likely to do wrong themselves compared to people who have been treated fairly. This is a powerful truth that has far-reaching implications. There are, apparently, bad apples, and they can spoil the bunch. (Hint for Christians: Here's your empirical justification for rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior without reference to a deity.)
There is also an implicit warning in this finding: In the complex real world, there is often little difference between being wronged and feeling as if you've been wronged. We would expect that people who perceive themselves as victims of wrongdoing would also be more likely to act wrongly. This is a chilling observation when we consider that the Republican Party and FOX News specialize in villainizing an entire class of people (liberals) and convincing its viewers that they are being wronged. It has created a culture where many, many people believe there is a left wing conspiracy to take their money, their freedom, and their rights. It has taught us that anger is the correct response to political opposition. If this study is correct, they are causing great societal harm, and greatly increasing the probability that individuals will do evil.
More:
http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-atlanta/scientists-say-people-are-mostly-good-without-god
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