Count Four

Charge!

See, this is why you should never, ever fuck with a moose.

Conversions

Ted Haggard is “completely heterosexual“.

I wonder if his conversion process will be anything like this one.

Sex Suit To Come to Trial

A lesson in why one should be careful how much detail one spills, and about whom.

Lazy Shits

Click here to see why many federal workers didn’t get bonuses or pay raises in time for the Christmas holiday.

The AP Needs a Good Editor

Does the Associated Press not hire writers and/or editors who can actually write proper English?

While reading this article about Interior Secretary Kempthorne touring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, I was horrified to run across the following sentence in the third paragraph down:

His flight from Deadhorse, 120 miles to the west, had been turn backed earlier when a heavy fog prevented his chartered twin-engine turboprop from landing.

(emphasis added)

“Turn backed”?!?!?! What the hell? Does the author not know which word is the verb there? Did his editors not realize which word was the verb? This is not exactly rocket science here, folks, it’s very basic English grammar skills. Unbelievable.

Which of These Is Not Like the Others

In an otherwise okay little article on the CNN web site about how gangs are up online and how cops are using that to their advantage, there was this little gem:

“In order to understand any subculture, be it al Qaeda, witches, devil worshippers or gangs, you have to be able to know their own language,” Knox said.

Yeah, because you know “witches” and “devil worshippers” are right up there with gangs and al Qaeda in terms of public menace.

Christian Persecution Complex

Christian Conservatives are now suing for the right to discriminate.

I think this was the most telling comment from the article:

By equating homosexuality with race, Baylor said, tolerance policies put conservative evangelicals in the same category as racists. He predicts the government will one day revoke the tax-exempt status of churches that preach homosexuality is sinful or that refuse to hire gays and lesbians.

“Think how marginalized racists are,” said Baylor, who directs the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom. “If we don’t address this now, it will only get worse.”

Well, yeah, duh, because they should be marginalized just like racists are because it’s the same prejudice, backed up by the same misused book that these same bigots tried to use to deny civil rights to non-whites and women. A shame that bit of self-discovery (that they’re being treated the same) hasn’t penetrated their consciousness to show them that they’re wrong.

News from the Post

Too many items to comment on today, but here’s the roundup of my favorites:

Montgomery County, Md, ‘Homeland Security’ officers try to police porn in local library; librarians successfully kick them out. One wonders what color their shirts were (brown, anyone?).

Virus targeting Macs is slowly spreading. My favorite quote: “One software expert who examined the bug’s code yesterday downplayed its author’s programming ability as ‘lame.’”

Economists find that ugly people are more likely to commit crimes. Can’t even really comment on this except to point it out; anything I’d say would be either too easy or too cruel.

Taxi, please

In case you live in DC and missed it, taxi fares went up today.

A Fitting Tribute

Rosa Parks to lie in honor at the Capitol.

Rosa Parks, the African American seamstress who refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Ala., 50 years ago and lent a spark to the beginnings of the modern civil rights movement, will make history again as the first woman ever to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, after the House today passed a resolution permitting the tribute.