Gulf Oil Spill Biggest in American History

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37353392/ns/gulf_oil_spill/?GT1=43001

Seriously, can we PLEASE move on to a new fuel source? Twice in 20 years. Our technology is theoretically improving and we managed to fuck this one up worse than the last one. Weren't we at some point in time promised oil eating bacteria?

Oh yeah.

How's that workin' out?

Oh.

CAN WE PLEASE HAVE A NEW FUEL SOURCE?

-Love,
Damios

The Associated Press Caught in a Lie

http://www.slate.com/id/2254975/?gT1=38001

Yay. Thanks for making me doubt any decent news source, you pricks.

Also, posting has been very sporadic and almost non-existent. Two jobs + hosting Requiem is making my life Hell. Well, ok, my jobs have been making my life Hell and Requiem is a release that's probably eating all my time at work, but still...

North and South Korea Tensions

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37329506/ns/world_news-asiapacific

Still rising. Curious to see where this leads.

Texas Board of Education Changes

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37220562/ns/us_news-life?GT1=43001

Wow. Alright.

See, this is why people consider Christianity to be thought-disease. Re-writing history to emphasize the "Christian foundations" of the ideals of the Founding Fathers? You do realize that there are entire books written on how the Founding Fathers weren't anywhere near as Christian as people would like to believe. This isn't as simple as a simply changing a check box from "Deist" to "Christian." It represents more than that. It's sliding back into old habits we're better off not getting into, namely that we've started to slide back into Christian thought-primacy. The Judeo-Christian interpretation of history is not one we should be emphasizing or considering, because it has a tendency to distort our perceptions of reality.

Consider the Evolution vs. Creationism argument. Ignoring for a moment which I feel is right, the simple fact of the matter is that this argument is attempting to teach religion IN a science classroom. Please, consider for a moment the implications of this. Something from the Bible is replacing a scientific theory in a science classroom. Even IF evolution wasn't real, regardless Creationism is in no way, shape, or form a testable hypothesis that can be subjected to rigorous testing. So why would we teach it in a class with theories entirely based on testable hypothesis?

An equally problematic issue for me is that this is making public education more and more involved in the moral development of citizens. The last thing I ever want, as someone who shares a very non-standard view of morality, is for my government to enforce and support a particular moral standpoint in its effort to educate its citizenry. I am of the very strong opinion that government needs to stay free of moral leanings, because quite frankly morality is a decision that should be up to individuals. When we lose the ability to determine our own morality then the Democratic process becomes a sham anyways. How are we to choose between a wide range of ideas when we are subjected to moral persecution at the hands of government thought police? Government should be nothing more than a media for informed discussion and openness to new ideas. If we cease to do so, than we are little better than any other totalitarian regime. In this case, no better than any other religious theocracy.

I'm gonna try and post the first ever Well-Intentioned Extremists Youtube video about this subject later today and see how this goes.

School Rehires All Fired Teachers

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37181719/ns/us_news-education

Oh come on. This is unforgivable.

First of all, I'm all for the idea of introducing longer school days and such at this school to make up for lost time and whatnot. Great idea. But don't use that as a SUBSTITUTE for firing off the staff! The entire problem with teaching, for union members anyways, is that it takes an act of Congress to get a teacher fired. You guys fought the good fight and WON! You did what most people find it incredibly difficult to do! WHY DID YOU UNDO ALL OF THAT?! You clearly need new teachers.

I'm not saying those teachers are bad for the record. As a very impoverished area, I'm sure that the kids are themselves fairly difficult to deal with, especially as its a public school, which means the parents of many of these students likely don't give a damn. But you need more help and a new approach because clearly, the old approach wasn't working. New teachers with new skills to change your strategy are very important. But above all else, and I'm standing by Obama 200% on this one, you NEED to set the example of accountability. Rehiring those teachers, whether or not they deserved the firing they got, shows the rest of the teachers out there that they have perfect job security. This is not an attitude we should be reinforcing in public schooling. That's what's responsible for our failing schools now. This could have been a real turning point for the education system, and signaled a serious overturn of Union monopoly.

Which leads me to an interesting thought about economics. You know what I just now realized the economic ramifications of Unions? Unions are basically monopolies of labor. That's right, a MONOPOLY. Think about it. They effectively own all the labor in states where membership is required. They are therefore the not only a monopoly on a major source of an input in a business (be it factory workers for a factory, teachers in schools, etc), but a monopoly on the SINGLE most costly factor of production! I won't go through all the economics of why monopolies suck(believe me there are graphical representations that spill out exactly how and why monopolies are wasteful), but suffice to say that those big corporate monopolies operate every bit as much as Unions.

Now that's funny. I'm going to write a book on the Tao of economic insanity.

Though, I will admit I really like this finding for my own personal, greedy reasons. It justifies my gradient market theory. It means that the clear opposite of a pro-business government's most monopolistic inefficiency, a corporate monopoly, is directly matched on the pro-labor government in terms of monopolistic inefficiency by the Unions. It's the same structure. Maybe I should start writing my book on economics now...

Video Review: Demon's Souls

http://rapidshare.com/files/386244818/Extremistvideoreview.wmv.html

To experiment some more with audio/video blogs.

Dutch Cartoonist Physically Assaulted by Muslim Over Cartoon

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37089242/ns/world_news-europe/

Yep. Unbelievable. So your response against the man who created a cartoon which accused Islam of being absurdly violent and intolerant is to...assault him physically.

You are all a bunch of fucking morons.

So, in celebration of this event, I'm going to go buy a copy of the Koran and burn it. I intend to video-tape and youtube this demonstration against radical Islam. Omega is in town, and I'd love to invite him in this burning as well. Those in our hometown who might be interested are more than welcome to join me. I'll be buying the Koran once I get off of work.

What say you, Omega?

Why We're in a Recession

http://notalwaysright.com/this-is-why-were-in-a-recession/5094

Demonophobia

Just in case any of you were starting to think, "Hey, the world isn't such a bad place. Especially Japan. That's a country that definitely doesn't have a bunch of crazy people over there. Nah, the human race is pretty cool." I'd like to introduce you to the game "Demonophobia". I'm fairly confident that after watching through this man's "Let's Play" of the game, you'll once again be reminded of how screwed up humanity is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k_SBmLYzfI