Weekend web readin’

From The Guardian, Wired for Culture by Mark Pagel; Beyond Human Nature by Jesse J Prinz; Together by Richard Sennett – review Money quote: Central to his thesis is the fact that humans do not co-operate mindlessly, unlike other creatures that establish elaborate societies, such as ants and termites. In these cases, the role of the … Read more

What Rush hath wrought

On the Daily Show clip in my previous post, Jon Stewart begins (after introducing the show) by noting that Rush Limbaugh’s profession is to be a loathsome human being. It’s just a matter of fact– he’s good at it, and has done it for over two decades with considerable success. But it’s easy to forget … Read more

The Daily Show rips on right wing reactions to Limbaugh

Technically this doesn’t count as me saying something, because it’s Jon Stewart saying something…right? A lot of things. A lot of very funny things, regarding Limbaugh but specifically regarding Republican presidential candidates’ and Fox News’ reactions to his shenanigans: The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily … Read more

On what’s relevant if you’re female

1. At Camels With Hammers today, Daniel Fincke takes an admirable crack at a topic people have danced around quite a lot in discussing Rush Limbaugh’s ridiculous portrayal of why women want birth control: not only does it have nothing to do with promiscuity, but you don’t get to just assume there is something wrong with promiscuity … Read more

If it’s not a battle, why make it one?

The ever-controversial American Atheists have erected billboards in Paterson, New Jersey (large Muslim population) and Brooklyn, New York (large Jewish population), respectively, with the following two messages: Even though the CNN Belief Blog notes that AA president Dave Silverman says that the billboards are intended to reach atheists in these communities who feel pressured by … Read more

Why no women? Well…

Byron York at the Washington Examiner reports that Sandra Fluke’s testimony for the Democratic Steering Committee and the necessity for having it was a bit…manufactured. House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa says that the Democrats originally waited for days before suggesting witnesses for the hearing before the Oversight and Reform Committee until the afternoon … Read more

Weekend web readin’

From Amnesty International News, Amnesty International Urges Stricter Limits on Police Taser Use As U.S. Death Toll Reaches 500 Money quote: On Monday, Johnnie Kamahi Warren was the latest to die after a police officer in Dothan, Al. deployed a Taser on him at least twice. The 43-year-old, who was unarmed and allegedly intoxicated, reportedly … Read more

Marks of the cross that don’t rub off

Tattoo representing the Fourth Station: Jesusmeeting his mother As mentioned previously, I’m a tattooed person. Not heavily so, but I’ve got ’em. I also have, after quite a lot of observation of other people’s tattoos and their explanations of why they got them, developed a schema regarding the central elements of getting a tattoo: 1) … Read more

“I’m sorry I did what I clearly meant to do and don’t regret in the slightest”

Rush Limbaugh issued a double backflip notpology today for his slut/prostitute/sex tape remarks about Sandra  Fluke, saying first that he didn’t mean to attack her personally (err…how do you say that someone is a slut who needs to learn how to have sex less on accident?), and then continuing to misrepresent the content of and … Read more