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No need to be polite

I’ve decided that I’m no longer going to be polite and try to quell arguments with those of the Christian right for being rude and ignorant.  Two reasons, really.  First, right wingers (mostly claiming to be Christian) insult the scientific community.  They call it out, call it junk science, say that it’s a lie, and cry and cry and cry.  And when someone tries to politely point out the flaws in their argument, they again cry out, claiming that their freedom of speech is being violated.  This, naturally, includes topics other than science in general.  It includes women’s health issues, issues of race equality, freedom of choice, freedom of worship (or not to if one so chooses), taxes, climate change and so much more.  And it doesn’t just include those who happen to call themselves Christian.  There are atheists who can be called out on some of this as well.

The second reason why I’m done being polite with these people, and this is mostly to those who identify as Christian, is because it makes a complete and total mockery of my faith.  I often say that my faith is very private, and very personal, and I don’t talk about it much at all.  But there’s times when I just can’t sit idly by, stewing in my own rage that there are people in the world, like Mittens, like Palin, like Bachman, who claim to be Christian but act in ways that would make Christ feel ashamed.  Their attitudes, actions, and comments are a complete slap in the face to the Christian religion and it makes me incredibly mad.

So you don’t get a pass with me anymore.  Especially if you claim to be Christian, but demand that things like abortion is made illegal, that contraception is banned, all because it’s against your religion.  I’ve had enough of that bullshit.  Those who would want that have no more right to dictate that then I do.  And please take note of the word “dictate”, it’s not that far off from dictator.

Easiest way to get into space… NOW!

We should colonize Mars.  Really.  We should.  And I have a simple and fast way to do that.  Encourage NASA to fib a little with the findings from Curiosity.  Tell politicians that they believe they’ve found oil on Mars.  Do you realize how fast we’d have a colony on Mars?  How much NASA’s budget would increase just so we could get to Mars.  How quickly the technology would come about so that living quarters and environments to survive on the Martian planet would be made.  Guaranteed, by the end of 2013, we’d have a fully functional colony on Mars.  Forget the moon, though that would be cool, too.  Let’s go to Mars.  Because we wouldn’t be that far from the asteroid belt, and who knows what minerals would be there.

Hell, could even tell a fib and say there’s a possible tree that grows on the asteroids that would be the equivalent of one hundred Earth trees.

One side note; if we do this, we have to make sure that the oil magnates and the forestry magnates and any politician supporting oil, forestry and coal, gets shot into space as well.

Updating words

My dictionary in my office at work, an old, frayed edition of the Pocket Oxford Dictionary, Seventh Edition, that was published in 1984, has many a spelling of a word that I sometimes do need assistance with.  But it’s interesting to read those definitions and see how much they’ve changed.  Both my dictionary and thefreeonlinedictionary.com agree that it does have aspects of pompousness to it.  However, my Pocket Oxford always points to it being the administer of an office, a bishop or Pope.  Which is true.  But the online version also states that it means to express opinions or judgements in a dogmatic way.  And, to behave in a pompous or dogmatic manner.  Interesting how the term has gone from identifying the head of a church or one aspect of the church, to describing someone who’s really full of themselves.

On another note, regarding my fraying dictionary, seeing how it was published in 1984, it does not have the common phrase Double Double, which is Canadian for two creams and two sugars in a cup of coffee.  The current edition of the Oxford does, however.

What goes around

So according to CBC News (‘cause that’s where I read it) Newsweek is making headlines for a controversial cover about a doctor who is said to be describing the after life.  I’m sorry, but that’s not new.  Every five years or so, someone comes forward to say “I have seen Heaven and this is what it’s like”.  I even remember one time reading about people who knew they were going to Hell.  That must have been an eye opener.  To bad that couldn’t happen to some politicians, maybe they’d change their tune.  However, I think Mitt Romney has changed his enough for one election campaign cycle.  But this stuff about the afterlife, it’s not new.  It’s not even confirming anything for anyone about anything.  We won’t know what the afterlife is until we die.  Or maybe we all just become jackrabbits in Texas.  Who knows.  The short answer: nobody.  The long answer: No-fucking-body.