So this image has been popping up on Facebook.

My conservative family is always looking for things to attack Obama on. They are all outraged over this — obviously photoshopped — picture of Obama using is left hand. As if using your left hand means anything different — but anyway. I noticed right away that Obama’s ring looks wrong, and then I noticed the Marine in the background. It’s so obvious that the image was reversed. I didn’t need Snopes to sniff this one out, but they did have the original image.

I don’t care where you stand politically, as long as your beliefs are based on facts. Conservatives seem to be controlled by fear, and a simple Photoshop job gets them all worked up.

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I guess I am closest to Obama? It makes me wonder why the current presidential candidates disagree so much. Could they just be making shit up? No, that can’t be.

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So Rush Limbaugh’s advertisers are dropping like flies. I usually don’t comment on scum like Rush. I live by the ignore and they will go away theory. I’ve always tried to avoid companies that support people like him. I never listen to him, so I often don’t know who his advertisers are. Here is a list of some of the companies you might want to avoid using. It’s sad that Netflix is on that list. They are the only company that I use that supports Limbaugh, but sadly don’t have a decent competitor to switch to.

I am also a little suspect of all these companies that are dropping support for Rush. Part of me hopes they are doing it because it’s the right thing, but honestly I think they are doing it just for the free publicity. They are getting free ads in all the papers, and also separating themselves from the controversy. It’s not like this is the first time Rush said something stupid. Those companies know who he is. I bet a lot of those companies quietly go back to Rush once he is out of the news. For some reason, a large portion of Americans can’t think for themselves, and love the guy. Advertisers will always go where the people are, and this loser has a lot of listeners.

**Update** I guess Netflix doesn’t support Limbaugh. That makes me feel better.

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• Back Listening to the Daily Source Code
• links for 2010-01-16
• Crazy CD Prices
• Rocketboom back
• I’m Back

I’m sure by now you have all seen this Rick Perry video.

Is saddens me that someone this bigoted is one of our leaders, and can actually be considered a presidential candidate. It makes me hopeful by all the dislikes it’s been getting. I believe it’s the most disliked video on YouTube now. Granted, most of his bigoted fan base probably isn’t online, but it gives me hope that common sense will prevail. Wouldn’t it be nice if our leaders knew what the constitution was, and what it stands for, and maybe even used logic and reason to make decisions that are best for the American people. Is that too much to ask for?

In all honesty though, did anybody really think Rick Perry was a serious candidate? He is just another of the crazies in the likes of Palin and Bachmann, that are in it to further their careers, or to cash in on a book deal. I’m sure they know they don’t have a chance in hell at winning the nomination yet alone the presidency. I wish there was a way to get rid of these faux candidates. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had strong candidates on both sides that used reason and logic? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to vote for someone you wanted, and not just against someone you don’t want? Yeah, i’m dreaming.

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• American scientific literacy
• Flashback Friday: Bad Religion – “American Jesus”

So today supposedly a bunch of people are going to refuse the airport scans and request the pat-downs.  I think it’s pretty stupid.  I don’t feel sorry one bit for the people getting patted down a little too much.  It serves them right.  I feel more sorry for the TSA people that have to pat down the idiots. 

First, if privacy is what they are worried about they may have a point.  The only images of the scanners I have seen have been online.  I am not sure how valid they are, or if they are photoshop jobs.  You may be able to see a little bit of an outline of some boobs or a penis, but who cares.  Aren’t we all adults here?

Second, if health reasons are what they are worried about they really shouldn’t.  There are two technologies being used in the new scanners.  Millimeter wave, and Backscatter X-ray.  There is no heath concerns with Millimeter wave scanners.  They use radio frequency radiation that is non-ionizing and cannot cause cell damage leading to cancer.  The Backscatter X-ray scanners on the other hand uses ionizing radiation which can cause cell damage and lead to cancer.  The thing is there is similar naturally occurring ionizing radiation all around us.  In 42 minutes of ordinary living, or 2 minutes in a plane flight, you would be exposed to the same amount of radiation.  So the amount of radiation you are getting from the scan is almost nothing.

You deserve to be felt up if you refuse to go through the scanners.  I don’t agree with the extra “security theater” the TSA is putting on though.  I think the new body scanners are a waste of money.  I don’t think the TSA has ever caught anybody trying to blow up a plane.  All this extra “security theater” is just telling the terrorists that they are winning.  The TSA always seems to be a step behind.  I can think of so many attacks that could happen that really couldn’t be stopped.  What would happen if someone set off a bomb waiting in the security line?  Then what would we do?  You really can’t stop anybody that is willing to kill themselves to cause terror.

I think the TSA should be doing stuff that can actually make us safer.  Taking off our shoes, throwing away our fingernail clippers, and putting our liquids in plastic baggies really doesn’t make us much safer.  Wouldn’t the money spent on these scanners be put to better use on educating TSA agents, and coming up with strategies that actually make us safer, and maybe less inconvenienced?

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• Not All Birds Fly South

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I’m not really a political junky, but you have to pay attention to be educated enough to vote intelligently.  That seems to be getting harder and harder with all the misinformation news networks and politicians spread nowadays. 

I don’t consider myself a member of any particular party.  I do my research and vote basted on the person, not whether they have a (R) or (D) next to their name.  Lately though, the GOP has been so wacky, I can’t honestly vote for any of them.

My main gripes about the GOP is how anti-science they are.  Anybody that denies global warming, or evolution, and wants to dumb down our children by teaching creationism in science class, is not fit to run our country. 

They GOP is so hell bent on cutting taxes for the rich, and cutting spending.  Isn’t a tax cut mathematically the same thing as increasing spending?  So they really want to increase spending and cut spending?  What?

What inspired this blog post was this video of Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann.  How she got re-elected I have no idea?  I thought Minnesotans were smarter than that.

In the video she goes on and on about some made up numbers pulled out of someone’s ass about the cost of Obama’s India trip.  It doesn’t matter how wrong them numbers are, she says them over and over, and other news networks will pick it up and pretty soon misinformation is as good as true.  It’s one thing for political pundits to pull numbers out of their asses, but a politician?  They should know better.  It’s this kind of misinformation spreading that drives me nuts. 

Then Anderson Cooper tries to get her to tell us where they are going to cut spending.  That was one her key re-election topics, and she had no idea where to make the cuts.  I guess it was just something that sounded good to get re-elected.

In a perfect world both sides would deal with only the facts and work together for the benefit of the American people.  Sadly it’s not a perfect world, so the American people are left confused to what the facts really are, and have to wade through all the misinformation, to decide who to vote for.

Oh well, at least the Sun will come up tomorrow.

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• The Rare Post About Politics
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via imgur.com

I’m not really a bumper sticker guy, but one like this would be pretty cool.

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• To stick or not to stick

Is everybody else as sick of hearing about the Qur’an burning as me?

Why is this news?

So some nut thinks 0.00000000001% of the Muslim population represents them all.  With that kind of thinking, you might as well say, “Since all Christians want to blow up federal buildings, lets burn some Bibles on April 20th”.  It’s just plain stupid.

Since nowadays we have many 24 hour news channels, and most of the time nothing is really going on, they need some kind of ratings boosting story.  So nuts like Terry Jones, the Balloon Boy, and many others make headlines, and have a platform.

Personally I find burning any kind of book offensive.  I bet the majority of Christians are against burning Qur-ans too.  It’s just another example of extremists making a bad name for the rest of them.  I was raised Christian and was taught to love everybody, even people that don’t agree with you.  Burning other people’s book of worship doesn’t sound like a Christian thing to do to me.

Some people think burning the Qur’an’s will make more enemies for the US in the Middle East.  I don’t really agree with that.  It would probably piss off our enemies, but the majority of Muslims over there I am sure would understand that this is just being done by a bunch of wackaloons, and is in no way representative of the majority of Americans.

I really wish the news media would just ignore the crazies, but crazies drive ratings, ratings sells ads, and ads make money.  And really, that’s what it’s all about.  Who cares about informing the public about what’s really going on, when there is money to be made in making up their own news.

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• Flag burning
• Numbers are Hard
• Mr. Rogers is a evil Man? WTF?
• links for 2010-08-11

via buzzfeed.com

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The past weekend I worked, and like usual we listened to talk radio at work. I would rather listen to talk radio than music actually. The downside is that most talk radio is right-wing conservative talk, but some of them aren’t too bad, but a lot of them get under my skin. Why do so many of them have to spread fear and lies? The Glenn Beck’s of the world aren’t doing our country any good. Why not use your voice to educate your audience? I guess it’s more about ratings though. Tell people what they want to hear and they will listen.

Everybody tends to believe what they want to think is true. If you are a conservative, you are going to believe all the bad things you hear about Obama; if you are a liberal, you believed all the bad things about Bush. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle. I think everybody needs to listen to what BOTH sides have to say. That is one reason why I listen to right-wing conservative talk radio.

The thing is right now the conservatives seem to be spreading lies about how bad government health care would be, how government can’t do anything right, how Obama wants to kill your grandparents. Instead of spreading lies, why not come up with some solutions? Maybe they don’t think there is anything wrong with our healthcare, but I don’t think it’s right that big insurance companies are making billions off us by denying coverage. Conservatives always say the don’t want to pay for someone else’s healthcare, but they already are. One reason why prices are so high is to cover the people that don’t have insurance and end up in the emergency room. So everybody right now is paying for the people without insurance.

How ridiculous is it that the conservatives are so against the President talking to our students? What is so wrong about that? It’s not like he is going to be spreading any kind of agenda or anything. What would the point of that be? The students aren’t voters yet, and frankly, they probably don’t understand too many of the issues either. One little twenty minute speech isn’t going to turn your 3rd grader into a flaming liberal. I think it should be something every President does on the day after Labor Day. Having the current President talk and encourage the school kids to work hard would be a great way to start every school year.

The main thing is that Obama is our President right now, like it or not. You many not have voted for him, you might not agree with his politics, but he is OUR President, and deserves the respect. The same thing held true for Bush, and any future President. I wasn’t a fan of Bush’s politics, but I knew he was doing what he thought was best for our country. That’s exactly what Obama is doing now.

If this post is too liberal for you. Ben over at Neo-fight.tv put together a great video about his thoughts. He is a conservative and makes some very good points. Critical criticism is great, but both sides need to quit it with the name calling and spreading of lies. We are the United States of America, and need to start acting like it.

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