USA
That damned liberal biased Bible!
From Conservapedia, the project set up to counter the liberal bias of Wikipedia (ie its insistence on editing out lies) comes the Conservative Bible Project. [Right now that link doesn’t work, it may be back by the time you click on it.]
As of 2009, there is no fully conservative translation of the Bible which satisfies the following ten guidelines:
1. Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias
2. Not Emasculated: avoiding unisex, “gender inclusive” language, and other modern emasculation of Christianity
3. Not Dumbed Down: not dumbing down the reading level, or diluting the intellectual force and logic of Christianity; the NIV is written at only the 7th grade level
4. Utilize Powerful Conservative Terms: using powerful new conservative terms as they develop; defective translations use the word “comrade” three times as often as “volunteer”; similarly, updating words which have a change in meaning, such as “word”, “peace”, and “miracle”.
5. Combat Harmful Addiction: combating addiction by using modern terms for it, such as “gamble” rather than “cast lots”; using modern political terms, such as “register” rather than “enroll” for the census
6. Accept the Logic of Hell: applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of Hell or the Devil.
7. Express Free Market Parables; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning
8. Exclude Later-Inserted Liberal Passages: excluding the later-inserted liberal passages that are not authentic, such as the adulteress story
9. Credit Open-Mindedness of Disciples: crediting open-mindedness, often found in youngsters like the eyewitnesses Mark and John, the authors of two of the Gospels
10. Prefer Conciseness over Liberal Wordiness: preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities; prefer concise, consistent use of the word “Lord” rather than “Jehovah” or “Yahweh” or “Lord God.”
The American Right are revolting!
That’s revolting as in disgusting, nauseating and horrific. They think they mean revolting as in starting a revolution but, as usual, they’re wrong.
Sounds of Soldiers was based upon the premise that McCain/Palin stole the 2008 election then McCain keeled over and left the mad woman to play out her apocalypse fantasy with the world’s biggest military machine. Glenn Beck’s wet dreams, if realised, could plausibly lead to the same catastrophe.
They’re number 37
This is based upon numbers from 2000, but I seriously doubt 8 years of Bush moved the USA up the list. More likely they’ve dropped below Cuba and others. Sadly, I doubt the UK has moved up the list either, but the NHS still kicks the American healthcare system in the balls no matter what.
RIP Teddy Kennedy
The US senator, and brother of John and Bobby, has died of cancer aged 77. Are there any Kennedys left in US politics? Schwarzenneger’s related to the clan by marriage, but I mean blood relatives.
“Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table.”
At last an American politician comes out and treats an anti-“Obamacare” shouter with the respect they deserve. In fact- given that Barney Frank is Jewish and she was holding up a caricature of Obama as Hitler and saying that efforts to make the US healthcare system fairer are akin to Nazism- I’d say he treated her with several orders more respect than she deserved.
via BoingBoing
Update Further evidence of just how stupid, if not downright evil, these people are. Here’s an Israeli being interviewed about the Israeli health care system. Listen for the shout from stage left about half way through, the moronic justifications of the woman who makes it and her debating techniques when confronted- which five year olds would be embarassed by.
via Daily Kos
Detroit goes back to nature
Jalopnik has a fascinating gallery of abandoned and derelict factories in Detroit which are being overgrown and reclaimed by plants. There are still bits of Manchester where you can see this process going on, though there are significantly less of them now than there were when I first came here.
There is no health care system in the world that could cure this level of stupidity
People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.
From something called Investors’ Business Daily, which has now removed the line after so many people pointed out how stupid it was.
The White House Flickr feed
The official White House flickr feed. Photo reference for the Space Comic. I’ll stick Obama, or someone who looks a lot like him, in the comic but not Brown. For one thing Obama is going to have more international recognition than the British Prime Minister. For another, it’s unlikely the scotsman will still be in office by the time I finish. If there’s an election whilst I’m drawing the comic there might be a “call me Dave” cameo.
How will the USA end? 2
Slate asked the Global Business Network to come up with scenarios for the end of the USA as it currently exists. With Sounds of Soldiers I’ve already put forward my version of the collapse scenario. I have no plans in the near future to examine any of the other possibilities, but I may come back to them in the future.
via io9
Barack Obama’s real birth certificate finally revealed 1
Or Nirth Certifikit, as Little Green Footballs calls it. LGF used to be home to some of the most hateful, uninformed, racist arseholes imagineable (based upon the few times I visited, which were unpleasant enough to keep me away for a long time). Now it seems to be one of the few relatively sensible right wing blogs in the USA. Anyone who upsets the idiots at Stop The ACLU is fine by me.
Get your own tiny Obama
Top German modelmakers Preiser now do a 1:87th scale Barack and Michelle Obama for your railway layout.
Technorati tag: Scale Models
Manhattanhenge
Are there any other cities where this happens?
Neo nazis in the US military
This is another of the elements that went into Sounds of Soldiers. There is evidence that a small, but significant, number of US military personnel are members of hate groups. The Southern Poverty Law Centre, cited in the report, have done other investigations into the problem. It seems they’ve mostly been ignored.
As a folow up the Stripes site has this- White supremacist leader says half of his group has served in the military.
Sarah Palin wants to sue the internet
Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska on Friday. So news organisations and bloggers have been speculating about her reasons. The mad woman has tweeted a few comments about getting the truth out to the American people and had her lawyer send out threats to anyone she thinks will say things she doesn’t want heard.
This is the woman some fools want to run for President of the USA in 2012. (She’s also the inspiration for the big war in Sounds Of Soldiers. I imagined a world where McCain won last year’s election then died, leaving a scary, incoherent, ignorant woman in charge of the most powerful military in the world.)
“First we get the military, then we get the nation”
This is the sort of thing I’ve based the lunatic holy warriors of the US military in Sounds of Soldiers on- the chaplain at Camp David, the presidential retreat, is a member of a group that wants to turn the US military into a Christian military and use them to install a theocracy in the States and then the rest of the world.
What should the US do with General Motors?
The United States government has bailed out General Motors and now holds a majority stake in the company. Should they use that power to demand some serious changes to the company’s output and outlook? Michael Moore has a vision for a reconfigured GM that involves mass transit and renewable energy.
Technorati tag: EcoHouse