MONA - Anti-bullying legislation for Missouri schools

Sara Lampe is pushing for this, and PROMO, Missouri's LGBT advocacy group, is also behind it.

There was an article in the News-Leader yesterday, on the front page, and of course, it looks like there's backlash in the comment section of the online version of the story. There are 16 pages of comments. I don't know if there good or bad, since I haven't read them yet. I'm having too good of a day to ruin it with ridiculous Ozarks hate, but if you would like to go talk some sense into anyone who is being hateful, that would be awesome. Since that's what we do.

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081229/NEWS01/812290347&s=d&page=13#pluckcomments

Parrenting FTW

Have you heard about the parents who are seeking legal action against a supermarket because they refused to write out their child's full name on his birthday cake? Did I mention the kid's name is Adolf Hitler Campbell?

Seriously. I couldn't make this shit up.

Oh, and he has two sisters. JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell. How charming.

Such a pretty little sign...

So...

It is the atheists who are trying to trample on others rights?

We are the intolerant ones?

Aaarrgghhsz.

Oh Bill O'Reilly...

You can't sue websites, sir. It's called the first fuggin' amendment.

Meeting Sarah Palin

I was really glad that JT posted about Sarah Palin, because I, like most Americans in the 48 continental states (and likely Hawai'i) had never heard of her.

I did do a little research of my own, however, and wanted to share a few things I found about Mrs. Palin. So below are some photos and some facts that I found interesting. Please note that most of this is going to be just for fun. If you want serious info on her, read JT's post and then do your own research.


Anchorage Daily News/MCT—Landov


1. She hunts, fishes and shoots grizzlies like the one pictured above (this one though was actually shot by her father).
2. She delivered her fifth child during her first term as governor.
3. Palin is pronounced "PAY-lin".
4. She is a lifelong member of the NRA.



5. As she is attractive herself, she also has attractive children (2 boys, 3 girls, daughters pictured above).
6. The kids' ages are 18, 17, 13, 7, 4 months.
7. They have strange new-age-y names: Bristol, Track, Willow, Piper & Trig. (Maybe I just think new age because I know of two prime time WB witches named Willow & Piper.)
8. She's going to be on the cover of Vogue. Are you kidding me?
9. She went from small-town mayor to governor in 2006.



10. In 1984, she won the Miss Wasilla beauty contest, and finished 2nd in the Miss Alaska pageant. In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and won 'Miss Congeniality'.
11. She holds a BS in Comm/Journalism with a Poli Sci minor.
12. Her husband Todd works for the oil company BP.

And for fun, here is an introduction to Sarah Palin as told by one of my favorite nerdfighters John of the Vlogbrothers. This really tells you all you need to know. :)

So much for the moral highroad.

Interesting article about McCain's cute anecdotes about his religious roots.

You know... the one where he talks about the strength that seeing the cross gave him?

It was Christmas Day, we were allowed to stand outside of our cell for a few minutes, and those days we were not allowed to see or communicate with each other although we certainly did. And I was standing outside for a few minutes, outside my cell. He came walking up. He stood there for a minute and with his handle [sic] on the dirt in the courtyard he drew a cross and he stood there and a minute later, he rubbed it out and walked away. For a minute there, there was just two Christians worshiping together. I'll never forget that moment.

Turns out that it was plagiarized. As in... it is almost exactly as described in a book he is on the record as having read.

Wow. Good job McCain.

Funny... I though plagiarism was unethical.

Retroactive Immunity

The government is stomping on the fourth amendment, in case you hadn't heard.

Telecommunication companies that helped the government tap phones and listen in on the private conversations of Americans without a warrant are now being sued for their actions. Around 40 lawsuits have been filed against these companies because these actions are illegal based on the fourth amendment, which states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Sounds good, right? Upholding the Constitution and whatnot.

Unfortunately for the constitution, a bill has passed in the House and is now sitting in waiting in the Senate that will give retroactive immunity to these telecom companies because Bush told them to do it. According to this Reuters article, the suits stem from their participation in a warrantless electronic surveillance program Bush secretly began shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Again from Reuters, critics also charge Bush violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in authorizing the spy program without court approval. He maintains he had the wartime power to do it. But in January 2007 he put the program under FISA court jurisdiction.

Oh Canada...

Canada apologizes for mistreatment Government says it regrets role in abuse of aboriginals at church-run schools

By RON CSILLAG, Religion News Service First published: Saturday, June 14, 2008

TORONTO -- For the second time in a decade, the Canadian government has apologized to the country's aboriginal peoples for its role in abuse at church-run residential schools.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a historic apology for the mistreatment of native children in schools run jointly by the government and four Christian churches.

"The government now recognizes that the consequences of the Indian residential schools policy were profoundly negative and that this policy has had a lasting and damaging impact on aboriginal culture, heritage and language," Harper said Wednesday in Parliament, with an audience that included 12 native leaders.

In the 1870s, the schools began forcibly removing aboriginal children from their homes in an attempt to assimilate them into the dominant white, Christian culture.

Read the full story here.