Brent Rasmussen

Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.

Jim Downey

UTI Associate blogger Jim Downey is a former newspaper columnist and also writes at the Daily Kos under the handle Shadan7. "I'm the fat old man of the crowd (well, make that middle-aged and overweight). My life's arc has been colorful in some odd and delightful ways, and though by most conventional standards I'm not 'successful', I've mostly enjoyed the ride. I now keep busy writing, playing with my dog, and as a book & document conservator in private practice."

Paul Fidalgo

UTI associate blogger Paul Fidalgo is an actor, musician, and writer with a background in political media, communications, and research. He holds a master's degree in political management from George Washington University, and blogs on atheism in American culture. He blogs at Examiner.com as the DC Secularism Examiner, and maintains two blogs, Near Earth Object, a blog of several overlapping magisteria including political satire and his own musical work; and Bloc Raisonneur, specifically concerning atheists' precarious place in American politics and culture. Paul's music can be purchased for mere pennies at Amie St.

Navigation

Rick Ulrey

UTI Associate blogger Rick Ulrey comes to UTI by way of the Marine Corps: "I'm 31 and I earn my living fixing computers. I served 6 years in the Marine Corps and consider myself a liberal libertarian with conservative leanings. I am a firm believer that the world would be a better place if people took responsibility for themselves and their actions. As you can see from the picture I love food. That's me eating a banana fritter in Australia with a nice cup of coffee. I love to cook and my other hobbies include hiking, camping, reading and on and offline gaming."

Steven Darksyde

UTI co-blogger and friend DarkSyde has this to say about himself: "I'm in my 40s, I work out a lot, I'm a personal trainer as a hobby, I've worked mainly as an investment advisor, stocks and bonds. I've done quite a bit of sky diving. I live a few miles from the Space Center in Florida. I have a strong background in math and physics and I'm an active advocate for Evolution in the Evolution vs. Creationism issue."

A Vote For Sarah Is A Vote For God

Submitted by Brent Rasmussen on September 17, 2008 - 11:09am.

Jeffery Lord, former White House political director during the Reagan Administration, knows why you're all worried about Sarah Palin possibly getting elected. And it is not for the reasons you might think.

[Jeffery Lord] Make no mistake. The vociferous attacks on Sarah Palin -- on her views of abortion, family, work, the environment, science, the role of women and all the rest -- are about much, much more than they seem. A lot of them aren't even about Sarah Palin at all.

Their real target doesn't even have His name on the ballot.

You get that? Being opposed to electing Sarah Palin to the Vice Presidency of the United States, for any reason...

...really means that you are a dirty atheist who hates God.

Do you see how very logical that is? Gosh! I certainly don't want to be a dirty atheist, so I'd better vote for Sarahbear and old whatshisname - you know, war hero guy. Because I want to be a Real Man™ like the First Dude.

Anyone know where can get a good deal on Sarah Palin glasses and snow machines? Does WalMart sell both?

Bookmark/Search this post with:

free homemade christmas card ideas

Submitted by gbivoit (not verified) on December 18, 2008 - 8:32pm.

traditional christmas radio online

Submitted by rsudzil (not verified) on November 21, 2008 - 9:23pm.

The basis of my cynicism

Submitted by Steve James on September 23, 2008 - 10:42am.

...is the observation that, while individual people tend to think like Democrats--generally in favor of the proposition that government should help people who need help--when in groups, people tend to think like Republicans--other peoples' problems are just that, and government should help people who are deserving of help, i.e. "us".

The basically tribal nature of humans means that they will act as their group identity suggests to retain that group membership, regardless of the suicidal outcome of that action. Since they want to go along with the group, they are very suceptible to being told what the group thinks by anyone in the group who cares to do so.

Thus, despite any misgivings a rational person would have about a given candidate, our human minds will begin to work overtime to rationalize the choice that must be made to conform to the group. To do otherwise is to betray themselves as not really a member of the group, i.e. nobody.

That sounds awfully mechanistic and simplistic doesn't it? A condemnation of human nature disconnected from reality? But you probably know someone else who sort of fits this picture, don't you? Not you, no, but other people. Oh, maybe once or twice you just went along, but...

But think about it. This ability to act against one's own interests to support the tribe is precisely what makes most of society work. Armies are a good example, after all. It isn't like soldiers normally have to be forced to go into combat. They work out for themselves a rationalization that allows them to support the group they are associated with. Which, of course, is vitally necessary to their function.

Individually, the typical voter can surely make decisions with sense and logic in their own lives, but when cast as a participant in our monolithic two-party system, they become part of an identity--an either/or. They may value their own independence and clear thought, but give them a ballot and they become either Us or Them.

And nobody is comfortable with changing from an Us to a Them.

That's the basis of our gerrymandered apportionment system, after all. Groups vote the same way every time.

Politics, Religion, Rival Sports Teams, Patriotism--these things are all about Us and Them. Who is in Our Tribe and Who is the Enemy.

I don't know if you've noticed, but a great many people think any action is justified to defeat The Enemy. If it's worth it to kill and die to prevent the triumph of The Enemy, how much easier is it to vote to do so?

If enough people are angry enough to rebel against the (R) next to their name--and probably their parents' names--and if the election can't be rigged to deny the enemy his triumph, then maybe Obama will win this election.

But I can't do more than hope at this point.

Steve "Depressed yet?" James

Full version here http://www.unscrewingtheinscrutable.com/node/2065

The scariest conspiracy

Submitted by Janicot (not verified) on September 19, 2008 - 12:43pm.

The scariest conspiracy theory I've heard recently involves SP.

The theory goes that the reason John (actually his Republican masters) picked Sarah is that they're going to steal the election (already have the voting machine, etc. tools in place) but they need a semi-plausible story to go along with it. If Barack is 15 pts. ahead in the -- even the exit -- polls, it's going to look very suspicious when the Republican pulls a narrow victory.

They need to be able to say the sheep (Xtians) came out all together and swayed the election. Nonsense though that might be, it would take time to disprove (possession the Presidency nine-points-of-the-law and all).

The part that bothers me the most is that I can't get it entirely out of my head. I have no confidence at all that our country has enough integrity to stop the Rethuglicans from doing exactly that. My biggest hope is that the massive magnitude of the task could make it impractical to get away with all at once on election day. I wish I could convince myself that at least that much could be true.

Re: The scariest conspiracy

Submitted by No More Mr. Nice Guy on September 20, 2008 - 12:49pm.

I've got an even scarier one. Think Manchurian Candidate.

- No More Mr. Nice Guy!

Stealing the election

Submitted by Hank Fox on September 19, 2008 - 1:24pm.

I think about that too, sometimes.

Bottom line realization is that some of the White House crew stand a chance of going to prison, if Dems take both White House and Congress.

Considering the obvious and utter lack of morals in people like Rove and Cheney, I believe there's nothing they won't do to avoid it.

In the same way one of the Watergate conspirators answered the question of "Who suggested a coverup?" with "Actually, I don't think anybody ever considered there wouldn't be a coverup," I think the answer to "Would they actually do something crooked in the upcoming election?" the corrected question has to be "Is there any chance at all that they WON'T do something crooked?"

And don't sell yourself short by describing your honest fears with the term "conspiracy theory." There really ARE conspiracies, and they happen all the time. If you can think of it, THEY can think of it, and I see very few people in elected office who have higher morals than the ordinary people we live among every day.

We already know Bush, Rove, Cheney, Palin and McCain are bald-faced liars. Why assume they'll hold back on any other type of shenanigans?

Seriously, people don't get elected to office because of superior morals; they get elected because of superior ambition.

Presidential Pardon

Submitted by Kentucky Boy on September 19, 2008 - 6:37pm.

But they don't have to steal the election to avoid prosecution-all they have to do is get Dubya to issue pardons on January 19th. Plus, allowing those people to be prosecuted would be a great way for McCain to show what a Maverick he is. If they had that much power to steal elections, why didn't they get someone they liked the GOP nomination? Romney is the perfect meatbot-he can be programmed to say anything!

Pardons

Submitted by Hank Fox on September 21, 2008 - 7:06am.

If presidential pardons work the same way regular criminal proceedings work, he can't pardon anyone who hasn't yet been charged with anything.

I like to think this is one underlying reason the Dems haven't really gone after the criminals yet. I imagine the bit with Scooter Libby as a trial run.

After Jan. 20, they can go after anyone they want, and probably make it stick.

The question is: Will they do it?

As to McCain, once he gets the White House, he has no NEED to be a maverick.

And it cuts both ways

Submitted by wantobe on September 19, 2008 - 3:43pm.

There's no reason to think the Democrats are any better. They just haven't been as effective at stealing elections lately.

Who said "Anybody who wants to be president probably can't be trusted with the job"?

(Maybe it was me, just now.)

Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.

Good News

Submitted by Hank Fox on September 17, 2008 - 10:32pm.

My take on all this: Sarah Palin: Radioactive Girl

Good rant.

Submitted by Jim Downey on September 18, 2008 - 5:03am.

Palin, who’s so morally and intellectually devolved she practically has scales.

Love it. Good rant!

Jim Downey

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.

Heh.

Submitted by Hank Fox on September 18, 2008 - 11:16am.

I thought the money line was:

Conservatives are like meat robots just waiting for programming. Punch in the passwords – Liberals! Terrorists! Democrats! Prisoner of War! – and then upload whatever you want.

The Good News

Submitted by Kentucky Boy on September 17, 2008 - 5:50pm.

Is that I'm sure that McCain isn't into woo. This is a guy who dated a stripper and dumped his old wife for a hotter, richer babe. He picked Palin to provide the wingnuts their own pinup girl to drool over, and its worked like a charm. I'm sure McCain plans to keep her traveling to ribbon cuttings, NRA conventions and children's hospitals while he brings adults back to the executive branch to do real work. The problem is that he's 72, which will put this empty-headed whackjob one fatal or disabling stroke away from the Oval Office. We better hope McCain stays healthy the next four years.

Fucking christian taliban...

Submitted by Neil the password forgetter (not verified) on September 17, 2008 - 3:55pm.

all they can do is call names and claim to be sent from god. That's all they can do....well of course there's also the mass murder, war profiteering, promotion of ignorance, and all of the other obvious power plays that go along with theocratic authoritarianism.

I am just about at the end of my rope with this country. If we elect these insane, megalomaniacal, mass-murdering shitbags, then we deserve to go down in flames. Conservative Christians are going to destroy every last good thing about America, laughing and praising themselves the whole way.

Maybe the rest of America

Submitted by iheartmitochondria on September 17, 2008 - 9:10pm.

Maybe the rest of America deserves to go down in flames, but not me. And I'm not sticking around for it either. You have no idea how tired of the bullshit I am. I'm thinking its time for a new adventure in some other country for a while. I just have to stick around here long enough to finish up what I'm doing now.....

Of course they think that.

Submitted by Jim Downey on September 17, 2008 - 3:34pm.

After all, she herself says that God intervened to get her the Gov's job, via a witchhunter:

Palin linked electoral success to prayer of Kenyan witchhunter

The pastor whose prayer Sarah Palin says helped her to become governor of Alaska founded his ministry with a witchhunt against a Kenyan woman who he accused of causing car accidents through demonic spells.

At a speech at the Wasilla Assembly of God on June 8 this year, Mrs Palin described how Thomas Muthee had laid his hands on her when he visited the church as a guest preacher in late 2005, prior to her successful gubernatorial bid.

In video footage of the speech, she is seen saying: “As I was mayor and Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he’s so bold. And he was praying “Lord make a way, Lord make a way.”

“And I’m thinking, this guy’s really bold, he doesn’t even know what I’m going to do, he doesn’t know what my plans are. And he’s praying not “oh Lord if it be your will may she become governor,” no, he just prayed for it. He said “Lord make a way and let her do this next step. And that’s exactly what happened.”

She then adds: “So, again, very very powerful, coming from this church,” before the presiding pastor comments on the “prophetic power” of the event.

Enjoy the whole thing. The woman is completely whack.

Jim Downey

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.

I'm quite sure WalMart has

Submitted by Fiona (not verified) on September 17, 2008 - 11:41am.

I'm quite sure WalMart has ramped up it's orders, just in time for Christmas. Every good little christian girl will want a pair of those glasses and the little boy cherubs will just have to have a snow machine to rip up the winter wonderland with.

Brent Rasmussen

Jim Downey

Paul Fidalgo

Navigation

Rick Ulrey

Steven Darksyde

A Vote For Sarah Is A Vote For God

Comment viewing options

free homemade christmas card ideas

traditional christmas radio online

The basis of my cynicism

The scariest conspiracy

Re: The scariest conspiracy

Stealing the election

Presidential Pardon

Pardons

And it cuts both ways

Good News

Good rant.

Heh.

The Good News

Fucking christian taliban...

Maybe the rest of America

Of course they think that.

I'm quite sure WalMart has

Comment viewing options

User login

Recent comments

Recent blog posts

Who's new