Category Archives: Opinion

Bertrand Russell on the Foolishness of Religious Belief

by Editor

British philosopher Bertrand Russell on why it is foolish to ‘believe’ in something that is totally unverifiable.  I think I would have really liked this guy.  I agree with him completely.  One should simply ‘suspend judgment’ on something as unverifiable as the existence of god.  There is so much religious dogma that the world would be so much better off without.  Many people over the years wrongly interpreted this web site with its book and candle logo as having something to do with religious belief.  It has been my profound pleasure to disappoint them.  The book and candle logo actually represent the intellect expressed through creativity, along with a nice light to read by.

My view on all religions that purport to represent the word of god is quite simple:  No god has ever spoken a single word to any human being on the planet throughout all of history.  If a god had spoken, it would not have done so in a subtle or confusing manner.  A giant mouth would have appeared above Mount Everest and it would have spoken very clearly and would have left no room for any doubts whatsoever.  That should be self-evident to anyone who is not mentally deficient.

Via Dangerous Minds

WikiLeak Video Appears to Show U.S. Military Killing Without Cause

by Editor

Extremely graphic video that shows killing:

WikiLeaks, an organization that releases whistle-blower information, has released a 2007 video that appears to be part of a U.S. military cover-up. It shows U.S. Apache helicopter gunship crews shooting a group of men on a sidewalk that included two Reuters journalists. They also kill innocent people who arrive to help the wounded, seriously injuring two small children in the process. We can hear the helicopter gun crews begging for clearance to fire on people who are simply talking on a street corner. After killing most of them, they then beg for permission to kill a man who stops his van to render assistance to a victim (one of the journalists, in fact) who is crawling on the sidewalk.  Even if the soldiers thought the van was in fact trying to rescue wounded insurgents, so what?  Since when and under what rules of war are medical personnel or rescuers fired upon and killed for helping the wounded?  That’s a war crime.

I cannot see anything on this video that would give any sane and rational person the slightest motive for firing a weapon.  It is clear and simple murder.

After seeing this video, I think it would have been perfectly justifiable for anyone, including an American, to have taken these helicopters down.  This makes one wonder just how many attacks against American troops might actually be perfectly justifiable self-defense.  The idea that money I’ve earned actually goes into the pockets of murderous military personnel like this crew is hard to accept.  What’s really frightening is how widespread these bad soldiers must be in our military.  After all, these gunship crews are supposed to be the cream of the crop.  These soldiers should not want to live with what they did.

I think everyone should show this video on every web site in the U.S.  And we should find the men in these helicopters and on the radios and charge them with murder.  If this is how we are fighting our wars, I want no part of it.

Obama Signs Healthcare Bill – Big Fu*king Deal

by Editor

I’m for health care reform because I’m about as liberal as one can get. I would never in a million elections consider voting for a Republican candidate for any office whatsoever.  But I also have a nasty habit of biting off the political hand that feeds me and then spitting it back.  I’ve seen the rock-bottom brutal racism and stupidity of the healthcare reform opponents and the Tea Party protesters who look to me exactly like Ku Klux Klan members.  I think they need white hoods to go along with all their racial epithets and homophobic remarks.  The fact is that the United States desperately needs some kind of health reform to reign in the murderous insurance companies and protect all people, not just those who make lots of money and can afford absurdly priced, flimsy medical coverage.  Now that I’ve said that, I will also say that this country also needs a vice president who does not say ‘it’s a big fu*king deal’ on television in front of the world with his arms around the President.  His remark is shameful and not in slightest bit funny.  It put his president in an uncomfortable position during an important and historical moment.  Obama should have asked him to kindly leave the room.  Biden is a liability and needs to be dropped from the ticket in 2012.  He will be.  Watch.  All Republican campaign commercials will now feature Joe Biden saying ‘Big Fu*king Deal.’

As for the health reform law, I think it is obviously unconstitutional.  There.  I’ve said it.  I will be rejected by most of my friends now, but it’s the simple unavoidable truth.  The law’s central requirement that all Americans buy health insurance from private companies is ludicrous and will be quickly rejected by the United States Supreme Court.  Already, fourteen states have filed a lawsuit declaring the law an infringement of states’ rights.  They are correct.  Taxing Americans in order to cover them through a public policy is one thing.  But forcing them to give money to insurance companies that routinely murder people by withdrawing medicine from them is an entirely different matter.  I think Democrats are in a frenzy of forced celebration over a victory they know is somewhat temporary.  A conservative Supreme Court is going to dismantle this thing in a hurry.  The federal government’s power to regulate interstate commerce does not give it the power to force people to engage in that commerce in the first place.  If I don’t want to buy something, I don’t have to buy it.  Certainly, we are all obligated to buy car insurance if we drive.  But we choose to drive.  We are free to not drive and not buy car insurance.  But the health reform law forces Americans to pay corporations… for being alive at all.

Obama did not have the courage to push a public insurance option through.  He made a deal with Murder Incorporated and he is going to pay a very steep price for this mistake.  A reform bill without public insurance coverage should have simply forced the insurance companies into strict codes of behavior.  It should not have forced every single U.S. citizen to hand cash over to these horrendous people.  No way.  It’s actually pretty shocking to see this happening during a Democratic administration.  The plan is actually this: to have Internal Revenue Service agents investigate people who don’t buy insurance and to levy penalties upon them.  That’s like a government penalty for not buying your tires at Sears.

It is not necessary to argue about the reform bill anymore.  It is law now.  But I can predict that no law requiring private medical insurance coverage is going to be on the books in two years’ time.

London Police Lose Free Speech Encounter

by Editor

The Love Police in the U.K. went to the Tower of London with their cameras and a megaphone to utilize their right to free speech. The guards at the Tower objected and called the London police. What you see in the video is the leader of the Love Police group speaking very intelligently and effectively to the lead police inspector about what the law actually says and what his rights are under that law. He successfully argues for his right to refuse to identify himself or to be searched under the Anti-Terrorism Law in the United Kingdom. What is so interesting about this video is the clear and overwhelming evidence that the police in London do not at all understand the laws they are enforcing or even which laws they are enforcing. They have clearly met more than their match in this instance and are in fact at serious risk of getting their department into liability troubles. The same problems with police are encountered here in the United States. There is the same lack of education and training in police ranks and the same willingness to try to remove basic rights from citizens.

Continue reading …

Kindles and Little Bookstores

by Editor | 4 Comments

I don’t understand much about the book business.  But I do know what makes a person want to go and be somewhere.  I read a good blog post at The Devil’s Accountant about the troubles small bookstores have with the existing book business and the emerging business of ebook publishing.  Small bookstores have to purchase books at wholesale for too much money and can’t make enough profit when they sell at retail.  That’s true.  But most movie theaters can’t make much money selling tickets either.  They sell candy and sodas at big markups to make good money.  In fact, there’s no such thing as the ‘movie business.’  There’s only a candy selling business that uses movies to bring you up to the candy counter.

An important point I’d also like to make about independent and small bookstores is that most of them really suck.  Seriously.  Most small bookstores are just a modest room full of books on poorly built shelves.  Dead boring.  Nothing puts me to sleep faster than a crappy independent bookstore.  Good riddance to them.  Most independent bookstores can’t hold a candle to any Barnes & Noble or a Borders.  Don’t open a bookstore if all you want to do is sell books.  You’re an idiot if you do.  And I won’t give you my money.  I’ll give it to Amazon.  They are not boring.  They are smart and interesting.  I enjoy watching them slaughter dull little bookshop owners every single day.  It’s a fascinating and wonderful bloodbath.  These booksellers are being eaten by lions and their screams are rare amusement.

Continue reading …

School Guy Brags About Watching Kids with Laptop Cameras

by Editor | 1 Comment

The show is called Digital Nation. This segment is called How Google Saved a School. Well, really? How did it? Come on now, Frontline. Let’s get real. There’s an assistant principal bragging on video about how he watches the students through their laptop cameras and finds out if they are using their computers inappropriately. Would it be inappropriate to stick one of his laptops straight up his smug geekster rear end? Because if I were one of these kids trying to learn in this nightmare of a prison school, that’s what I’d do and I’d just take the consequences as they came (that’s an insult, not an actual suggestion). But for now I’d recommend having a quick look at his hard drives to see exactly where he’s watching these kids. I’d certainly be curious. After all, he says the kids ‘use their laptops as a mirror,’ and that he watches them. Hmmm. Interesting, bud. How much time do you spend watching? There’s a school in Pennsylvania right now in all kinds of trouble with parents and the FBI because they are alleged to have been filming kids through laptop cameras in their own homes! That’s jail time, Ms. Principal lady. You spy on naked kids for any reason whatsoever and you get a free pass to the big house. No kidding.

These ‘educators’ are losing it in a bad way. If you’re watching a kid through a camera at school or in their home, you are one diseased nut-job and have no business being anywhere near children. Parents should not tolerate this sort of activity from a school or a school employee. They should call police in and create a very public stink. It is the job of a parent to very forcefully defend a child from this kind of surveillance.