ignorance subsidized?

Pharyngula: I had no idea CNN had gotten this bad:

[The CNN segment on athiests] starts off reasonably enough with a segment on a family of atheists who were ostracized in a small town; then it closes with some young Republican-looking talking head who babbles about how atheists bring it on themselves, and we should blame all the militant atheists for the fact that people feel compelled to shun those who don't believe as they do. It was a weird blame-the-victim moment.

Then there's the panel afterwards. Others have mentioned the odd omission of any atheists from the discussion, but I was also flabbergasted at the question they were debating, which was displayed in big letters on a board behind them:

Why do atheists inspire such hatred?

Whoa. Hey, Debbie Schlussel, how would you feel if a panel of Christians and Muslims met to discuss "Why do Jews inspire such hatred?", and they decided that the problem is that Jews need to shut up and quit mentioning their beliefs in public? It's probably silly to ask that of Schlussel who seems to be vapidity personified, but that's really what the panel was about, with two (one was not sympathetic, but at least realized that atheists have the same rights he does) Christian twits telling us that atheists ought to shut up (literally) and that we ought to have prayers in school to restore morality.

I'm not an athiest nor an agnostic, though I'm certainly more of a "free thinker" than most religious people out there.  However, just as much as I won't tolerate the willful ignorance of people regarding science and history, I won't tolerate it in social factors as well.

Seriously, to have a panel (without an atheist on it) discussing atheists like they were "some other type of person" from those on said panel really is akin to having a panel discussing any religion or any other ethnic group like they were a "problem", and all it shows is that not only is bigotry alive and well in this country, but you can get paid for it on national (cable) TV!

*sigh* - more zero-brain-cell headlines in the top 10 of yahoo/AP

Aguilera, husband strip down on Sundays - Yahoo! News:

NEW YORK -  Christina Aguilera has no problem showing skin — especially on weekends with her husband, music executive Jordan Bratman.

"We claim ourselves to be the coziest couple ever. We have something called `naked Sundays,'" the 26-year-old pop star tells Ellen DeGeneres in an interview set to air Wednesday on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

I post this crap not because it is in the least bit interesting (QUITE the opposite), but because AP decided this 4 paragraph piece of absolute total fluff was VITAL to our actions regarding our lives and the security of our country to flood it down the "top headlines" feed for Yahoo to place into the top 10 news items of the hour.

Really.

VITAL, I say, VITAL.

*sigh*

There are FAR better ways for a "liberal" media to fight the culture wars against the sex-repressed theocrats out there than publishing this shit.

geek humor

Uncertain Principles: Requiescat in Pace:

SDL 5401-G1, October 2001- February 6, 2007

SDL 5401-G1 ("Sid" to friends) died today of static shock, after five years of service in a grating-locked diode laser system. He had survived three lab floods, and more than a dozen power outages, but succombed to electric shock following a mishap with a Tesla coil.

He is survived by three siblings from the same batch, one of whom has already taken his place in the grating-locked laser mount. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you send research grants.

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I think I have that "paterns" book in the Who collection @ mom's...