'It Is Sooooooo Ordered'

Stephen Colbert on how straight men can ruin marriage for gay men.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Intro - 8/5/10
www.colbertnation.com

Bring in the Straitjacket

Sharron Angle has outdone her loony self!

Not only does she say that Democrats will 'make government our God,' but also goes on to suggest that the First Amendment does NOT guarantee the separation of church and state, but rather protects the church from the state.

However 'in touch' she may be with mainstream America, people like Sharron Angle are dangerous to a secular democracy, which ours is, try as anybody might to convince us otherwise. Secularism ensures freedom of religion for large and small religious groups equally. Religious freedom is already strained today from many large Christian groups claiming more or less a stance similar to Angle's with regard to the First Amendment. Harming the Republic's secularism will only lead to theocracy and restrictions of freedom brought on by a majority's view of morality. If people like her get elected, it wouldn't be strange, in one generation, to see the United States transformed—if not de jure then de facto—into a theocracy of thugs that present-day Iran would envy.

SENATVS POPVLVSQVE AMERICANVS

If you ever wondered why the Senate is so much on the news and why very little seems to happen there, I strongly recommend you read this report from The New Yorker, which attempts to answer the question, 'Just how broken is the Senate?'

I'll let you discover for yourself. But here's a preview:

Even if the freshmen Democrats can somehow reform the filibuster next January, the Senate will remain a sclerotic, wasteful, unhappy body. The deepest source of its problems is not rules and precedents but, rather, its human beings, who have created a culture where Tocqueville’s “lofty thoughts” and “generous impulses” have no place.

Vatican's Queens and Prima Donnas

Quite coincidentally, my newsfeed pulled up two items on the Vatican today.

The first highlights Vatican's problem with gay priests in Rome who, quite contently, lead a double life. Now, I do not know what the purpose of this exposé was, nor do I want to condemn what the priests in question do outside of their priestly garb; but the fact that they freely pursue their sexual desires while also being ordained into a celibate order highlights the anachronistic nature of celibacy for Catholic priests.

The second item was not as serious and it shows pictures of the current and last popes in what it deemed as their '15 gayest pictures.'

My favorite: Papa Ratzi as a lace-clad, red-shoed prima donna. Dorothy would be jealous....

Talk About Activist Judges!

Conservatives will throw around the phrase 'activist judges' quite liberally anytime there is a judicial nomination to be made on the Federal level, or anytime there is a recognition of the constitutional or human rights of a disenfranchised or targeted minority.

Little do they know (or do they know very well...?) that conservative judges are the most staunchly activist of all. As this report from The New York Times shows, the Roberts Court has been the most conservative in the history of the judicial body and the trend to more conservative decisions shows no signs of weakening, despite a second addition by president Obama.

Perhaps liberals and progressives ought to adopt an equally charged language when referring to judges in the Supreme Court and elsewhere in Federal courts across the nation. After all, what is more activist than a judge who adopts an intractably conservative position and whose decisions can be predicted with almost 100% certainty, as in the case of Antonin Scalia or, the loonier loon, Clarence Thomas? No, Samuel Alito, you were not forgotten; you are sure to give both these justices a run for their money if they want to remain on the extreme right of the Supreme Court.

What Climate Change?!

I'm sure many Californians right now are saying, 'where is global warming?' I have an answer: it's already here. And although you may not feel it in the temperatures and general conditions as of late, look up the definition of 'weather' and 'climate' and reconsider.

For those in the rest of the United States, the case for global warming might be easier to make. As the country swelters, and as crops dry up from the Great Plains to the steppes of Asia, people are coming to terms with the reality of higher temperatures worldwide and their immediate consequences. While many lobbyists and the politicians they have in their pocket will tell you otherwise, stop and think for a moment. 2010 has been, on average, the hottest year on record, second only to 2005, third to 1998. Notice a trend?

In spite of this and regardless of his promise to act on this ever-threatening problem, Obama's White House has given in to pressure and opted for a better score in the popularity contest rather than the right choice on the issue. As the planet cooks—to borrow Paul Krugman's phrase—the Obama administration falters on its promise to deliver what it had pledged to pursue during the campaign. And, although a lot of good legislation has passed in the past year and a half—despite Republican obstructionism might I add—it is worth reminding everyone that it was not as strong as it could have been or need have been.

Unfortunately for us and our posterity, the climate bill will not even get the luxury of a dilution in the Senate. Obama needs to think this through again, unless he wants to alienate Democratic and progressive voters in the upcoming and in the 2012 elections.

Evolution's Handy Job

Opposable thumbs anyone?

It's actually more than that. NPR is on it.

Injustice we trust

The Economist has a couple of articles on America's justice and prison system, one of which gives an overlook of their general problems in comparison with those of our peers, and the other is a more detailed briefing of their current state and the contributing factors that go with it.

Trimming the Bush

The younger Bush is well on his way to becoming a hallowed figure in conservative circles, much like Reagan—the president who expanded government more than anybody since FDR and more than his three predecessors combined—is today. It is the purpose of the well-oiled (double entendre is quite intentional) to portray him as a true conservative who improved everything from taxes and the budget to international relations. Everyone with an ounce of functioning brain knows he did nothing of the sort. On the contrary, his tax cuts were detrimental to the economy itself and, of course, the budget; and the international relations can be summarized in one word: Iraq.

Paul Krugman's latest op-ed in The New York Times says this much better, but is worth reiterating how, time after time, Republicans and conservatives in general come back with a rewriting history or a re-polishing of figures in order to, then, shape the future of politics and return to power and keep doing just the same thing that required the polishing in the first place.

Dituri

PYETJE
Cili ka qenë Onufri?

PËRGJIGJE
Onufri ka qenë piktor i shquar shqiptar i shekullit XVI. Ai krijoi në fushën e pikturës murore dhe të ikonës. Onufri shkoi drejt përqasjes së pikturës kishtare me jetën e gjallë dhe ambjentin real. Ai ka zbukuruar me pikturat e tij një varg kishash në Shqipëri, Greqi dhe Maqedoni.

Në Shqipëri firmën e tij mbajnë kishat e Beratit dhe ajo e Shpatit në Elbasan. Onufri ka qenë laik në fillimet e krijimtarisë së tij, por më vonë u vesh prift dhe më pas u bë edhe kryeprift i Elbasanit.

Në krijimet e tij Onufri i pajis figurat me bukurinë e lartë fisnike të idealizuar, por edhe me tipare individuale të vjela nga jeta. Parapëlqen kontrastin e fortë të ngjyrave, të kuqen e flakëruar (të kuqen e tij e kanë quajtur «të paimitueshme»), vjollcën, të gjelbrën dhe të artën e shndritshme vezulluese.

Onufri zë një vend të shquar në kulturën ballkanike. Ai la pas disa nxënës, ndër të cilët spikat djali i tij, Nikolla dhe Onufër Qiprioti që njihet si autor i ikonave në Berat, në Çatistër të Gjirokastrës dhe bashkëautor i pikturave të vitit 1622 në kishën e Vllaho-Goranxisë (Gjirokastër).

Burimi: Shekulli

They Didn't Ask—He Still Told

Just watch this segment and you will understand how medieval and draconian Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell is. Not to mention costly and detrimental to the government, the army, and the individuals involved.

(Kid) Housewives of New Jersey

Children acting like adults is both scary and hilarious.

(Via Buzzfeed)