God's grace or chance in oklahoma tornado tragedy

I here people in Oklahoma City unwittingly indicting God of murder by saying "but for the grace of God I was spared from the tornado".  It sounds pious, but if God intentionally spared these people then he also intentionally refused to spare all those school children crushed in the rubble.  I think what these people mean is "there but for fortune" it could have been them instead.  But substituting the word "fortune" with "God's grace" is not an equivalent cut-and-paste replacement.  Fortune means it's an accident, but if God was pulling the puppet strings then it happened on purpose.  It makes a huge difference if something is merely bad luck, as opposed to a psychopath intentionally plotting an act of mass murder. And if we wouldn't accept such behavior from a human psychopath, why would God be held to a lower standard? Think about it.

Why would God murder oklahoma elementary school kids?

The flip side of the standard evangelical assertion that "god is in control" of everything is that he would have to be responsible when things go wrong, like when tornados rip through oklahoma city and kill dozens of children at their elementary school.  See, it doesn't work to say that it's just a natural disaster that is out of God's hands if he created the universe and everything in it, and constantly pulls strings to influence other minute details, like whether you get a parking space at the mall.  Furthermore, the standard "free will" excuse doesn't work too well with children in an elementary school in the suburbs of "God-fearing" Oklahoma City.  And the notion that god purposely created the tragedy to allow "greater good" to come through the rescue efforts, etc would be like excusing a mass-murderer like Adam Lanza, on the grounds that good things might ultimately result from his act of evil.

Sylvia Brown Wrong As Usual

Browne had a 50% chance of being right, when she wrongly claimed Amanda Berry was dead, and was clearly playing the odds that someone who hadn't been heard from in 10 years is already considered "legally dead" for purposes like insurance.  But, she was wrong, as usual.  It's hardly the first time that her coin flips have been wrong.  She also predicted that Obama wouldn't be re-elected.  In fact, as CSICOP notes, of 115 cases in which she has offered her "psychic detective services", 90 have been unsolved and in the other 25 that have been solved, she has been wrong in her predictions.   Thus, so far she is batting zero in terms of her crime solving services.

Terrorist Mom Says Boston Bombing Staged With Red Paint

Zubeidat Tsarnaev, the mother of Boston bombers Tamarlan and Dzokhar Tsarnaev, is as dumb as they come.  It's one thing to be deluded, but this woman thinks that everyone in the Boston Marathon was in the conspiracy to make HER kids look bad.  That's right, 180 people just pretended to be injured and intentionally smeared "red paint" on themselves, she insists, so that they could claim they were injured by her kids.  Gosh, one would think that self-respecting conspiracists would have at least gotten to animal blood from the butcher shop, or maybe even from the blood bank, if they are part of some grand governmental conspiracy

She also complains that police shouldn't have shot her son, who stopped his car and opened fire on the police first.  But apparently he has her own problems with the law, having fled the country after being accused of felony shoplifting.  

It just shows you the kind of delusions that these kids likely grew up with on a daily basis.

Tamarlan Tsarnaev said 9-11 was plot to make muslims look bad

It turns out that the terrorist Tamarlan Tsarnaev was a 9-11 conspiracy theorist too.  Unlike fringe whackos such as Alex Jones, however, he didn't believe it was done by the Illuminati, or the New World Order.  He believed that it was done by the US government, according to friends and relatives, to make Islam look bad and to make Americans hate or distrust Muslims.  So what did he do?  He went out and actually performed terrorism himself, that even by his own conspiratorial thinking, would have the effect of making Islam look bad, and making Americans hate or distrust Muslims.  Mission Accomplished.  I mean, what did he THINK the effect was going to be?  Did he think his actions would make us respect raving jihadi murderers like himself?  Did he think that his actions would accomplish anything other than to make Americans distrustful of Muslims?  I'm sure that Muslims in the US are feeling frustrated by all of this, because it puts them back to square one again, in terms of bad publicity, and public mistrust.  It makes it harder for them to practice their religion in peace and carry on with their lives as usual, which were probably just getting back to normal.  This seems to be something that terrorists seldom ever consider.  That their actions will actually be more harmful and counterproductive for the very group of people they claim to champion.

Muslim Terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Captured Alive...But For How Long

Wannabe Muslim terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured alive, hiding in a boat in the backyard of a Watertown residence.  Dzhokhar has to be one of the stupidest terrorists since the Shoe Bomber and the Underwear bomber, since the dumb pot-head, jacka$$ didn't even attempt to conceal his face behind sunglasses like his brother did.  What kind of a dip$hit thinks that he could get away with an attack like this when he doesn't even hide his identity?  I would certainly have to agree with his uncle Ruslan who described both brothers as "losers" and ungrateful haters, "who don't deserve to live on this Earth", and who lashed out at the very country that took them in and gave them opportunities after they fled Chechnya.  Maybe their own dumb asses would have been blown apart with bombs if they had stayed in Chechnya.  And this is how they thank the people who were nothing but kind to them?  It truly is amazing some times to see this level of ingratitude.  I highly doubt that Dzhokhar is going to make it prison, given his expressed antipathy for the US in general.  In some ways it truly is too bad that he didn't have the courage to at least try to shoot it out with cops, like his older brother, and then we could have been spared from dealing with him further.

religious extremists bombed Boston as predicted.

It's hard being right so much, as when I predicted that the bombing in Boston was probably done by religious extremists or right-winger, or both.  It turns out that it was both.  Tamarlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokar Tsarnaev were radicalized Muslim Chechens making them religious extremists.  As religious extremists of the Islamic variety, they are necessarily right-wing conservatives, because they oppose most things in the modern world and want us to go back to the way things were in the 7th  century.  That's pretty conservative. Those who predicted it would turn out to be Occupy Wall Streeters, atheists, progressives, etc are wrong as usual.  Tamarlan has already thankfully died and discovered that there ain't no 70 virgins waiting for him. His brother is likely to join him shortly.  And good riddance to them.  If they hated free society so much, its not clear why they couldn't have gone back to Chechnia.  What did the people of Boston ever do except to help and shelter these ungrateful jerks?

Boston Bombing Suspects: One Dead, One Trapped

Fortunately, the brothers who committed the Boston Marathon bombing appear to have been positively identified.  One is believed dead, in a shootout with police last night, and the other appears to be trapped in a house in Watertown.  Both men, Tamarlan Tsarnaev, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are Russian immigrants from Khazakstan, though it is not known if they are radicalized due to Chechen origins, or if they had some other grievances. 
I long noted that this act has the stamps of amateurism all over it, and it that would likely turn out to be either foreign terrorists or right-wing extremists.  It will remain to be seen what political philosophy these inidividuals follow, but it doesn't particularly matter.  The important thing is that the situation will be resolved soon.

Massive Explosion at Fertilizer Plant in West, Texas

A fire at the West Fertilizer Company has resulted in a massive explosion that virtually flattened homes and commercial buildings in a five to six block radius, throwing up a mushroom cloud, and causing evacuation.  Currently, about 200 people have been hospitalized and between 5 and 15 fatalities are believed likely.  There is no indication of what may have caused the fire, or whether foul play may have been involved.

In all likelihood this is just the kind of industrial accident that periodically happens at facilities like this.  It is amazing though that a middle school and nursing home were close enough to be significantly damaged and require evacuation.  I don't know who would think it was a desirable thing to build in close proximity to a fertilizer plant to begin with.  In many small Texas towns, however, there is perhaps just one industry that dominates, and fertilizer appears to be the thing in West.

I am sure there will be lots of praying and soul searching in the aftermath, but it's doubtful than any answers will come of it. Was it really necessary to God's Divine Master Plan that this fertilizer plant blow up? Of course, good can often come out of tragedies, but any good that results from this most likely could have resulted without the need for these injuries and calamities in the first place.

Boston Bombing is Modern Day Boston Massacre. No Obama did NOT do it.

Right-wing blowhards don't seem to get this, so I'll spell it out for them.  The Boston Massacre was a *bad thing* that turned people *against* the *perpetrators*.  The original perpetrators were the British, but the current perpetrators are most likely right-wing, anti-tax TEA Party traitors.  There is no conceivable way that this incident will generate sympathy *for* their cause.  Some are claiming that it will be another "shot heard round the world", but it's more like "you guys just shot yourself in the head". 

Of course, after realizing this, then they will insist that OBAMA did it to make them LOOK BAD/STUPID.  Oh, that dirty dog.  If he wanted them to LOOK BAD/STUPID he could just stand back and DO NOTHING. 

As far as Obama orchestrating a low rent incident like this, no this one has rank amateur attention seeker written all over it.  Given all the other things Obama has been accused of, he would have to be anything but an amateur, and the Leader of the Free World can get people's attention whenever he pleases without having to pull some crazy stunt like this. 

Boston Bomb Massacre Update. 132 injured.

As the rest of the world continues to process the insanity of the April 15th terrorist bomb attack on the Boston Marathon that has left 2 dead, and 132 injured, the Boston Marathon has now become a modern day Boston Massacre.  While it is too early to known anything definitely, the likelihood that this date was picked coincidentially, given that every American knows it is the deadline for filing federal taxes, is so remote as to non-existent.  Instead, it seems very likely that this was the work of right-winger "tax protesters", who have staged many "tax protests" in the past, albeit mainly non-violent.  However, IRS and federal buildings have been targetted by right-wing extremists in the past.  The notion that this would be the work of a left-wing group like Occupy Wall Street, is extremely out of character for that organization who would probably put a bomb on ....you know....Wall Street, not a race course in Boston.  Of course, this could still be the work of foreign terrorists, but again, they seem obsessed with New York City, not Boston.  On the other hand the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party fanatics are very much associated with Boston.  Time will tell, but the odds make it an easy prediction that right-wing conspiratorial nutjobs were behind this one.

Boston Marathon Bomber. Guess the Lunatic.

An explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon has killed two people and injured around 28 more.  We are now left to wonder what precise type of lunatic is responsible.  It goes without saying that people who think that setting off a bomb in a public area like this have some sort of serious mental defect, or some equally defective political agenda.  Naturally, everyone picks opponents of their own political, religious, and ethnic agendas as the "usual suspects".  Still, if history is any guide, it is much more likely than not that these individuals will be either religious fanatics and/or political right-wingers, since they are the ones who have most commonly resorted to these actions in the past and seem to still advocate for them right now.  For example, the usual militant, anti-government, IRS-hating, anti-tax, TEA party types would likely pick April 15th, being the deadline for federal taxes.  Of course the right-wingers are insisting that it must be Occupy Walstreet, but it's unlikely that Occupy people particularly care about taxes, since they probably don't pay any, or the Boston Marathon.

Pint-sized Antichrist Kim Jung Un

Is it just me, or does Kim Jung Un just need to shave his head, and get a white cat in order to be Dr. Evil?  He's certainly short enough.  Heck he's short-enough to be the mini-me version of Dr. Evil. And he comes up with plots that are every bit as silly.  I'm sure that he has already been working feverishly at putting lasers on sharks to aid in his amphibious invasion of South Korea.
So what are the odds that Kim Jung Un is the antichrist?   Well he clearly has set himself up as a false idol for his people to worship as a bite-sized Buddha on Earth.  The only question is whether he has the ability to pull off the whole Armageddeon thing.  Sure he talks tough about "smashing the imperialists", etc.  However, the only thing this porky little potentate seems capable of smashing is the floor if he falls out of his overstuffed chair.  He would probably more accurately be classified as an antichrist wannabe.

Should Rick Warren Kill Himself to be with his son?

Rick Warren has had a good life.  That's an understatement.  He is the quintessential fat, extremely dumb, and extremely happy person.  He has made a fortune out of selling simple-minded nostrums to people.  But now he claims to be "overwhelmed" with grief about the death of his son, and both he and his son believe in the Christian afterlife.  Therefore, I have the perfect solution.  Since he still thinks his son will go to heaven after committing suicide, I am sure that god will allow Rick Warren the same largesse.  Apparently his son spoke to his dad specifically about this issue and argued that there is no reason that people should have to wait around on earth when they "know they are saved" and can go straight to heaven.  Anyone who is truly a christian and truly believes that heaven waits in the afterlife must agree.  After all this is basically what the founder of their religion did.  Of course, he committed suicide by centurion, provoking others to kill him, but the aim was the same.  In fact, many early christians reportedly did similar things, picking fights with others to get themselves killed, so that they could go their eternal reward.   If the only thing you have to do is mouth the words, "I wuv you jebus" to get eternal bliss why would anyone want to pass up this sweet deal.  If Warren is against killing himself then I am sure he can find some gang banger to do the deed for him for a couple hits of crack.

Rick Warren's Son finally escapes dad's "Purpose-driven Life"

Rick Warren can wear his goofy Hawaiian shirts, and blather childishly about how the purpose of life is for God to love you, but apparently his son saw through the ridiculous charade.  Matthew Warren realized that it's not 100% about what God wants, as his father, god's self-appointed representative on Earth, would have you believe.  Therefore he escaped from his torments the only way he ultimately could, by taking his own life.
The purpose of my life is not for some other being to determine.  The purpose of Matthew was not be a tool for mythical god figure, or a tool for his earthly father figure.  Of course, I am sure that Matthew was a constant source of vexation for his father's simple-minded philosophy and his simple-minded creed.  Why would god intentionally make matthew's brain in such a way that he would constantly experience depression?  The go-to explanation for everything bad in the world for Christian is to blame "free will", but one cannot claim, with a straight face these days, that mental illness is all a result of free will.  Even Rick Warren acknowledges that his son seems to have been afflicted since birth with these issues.  So what are we to make of this purpose drivel that Warren has peddled like snake oil to so many millions.  What was the purpose of Matthew's life?  Did god really need Matthew to suffer for 27 years just so that he could allegedly "love" him, but not lift a finger to cure the maladies that he could effortlessly fix?
Oh many will insist that this is unfair and that I am exploiting death. But his father is in the ultimate business of exploiting death.  Religion was invented, in large part, to exploit people's fear of death and it's what his father does as a full time profession.  So I am not the one exploiting his son's death, nor am I crowing about it.  I think it's better for Matthew that he be released from his agony. I don't think for a minute that he is really in heaven, but even the oblivion of death means a laying down of all burdens.  Even that is better than the hell on earth of his apparently uncurable depression, which Warren acknowledges all the religion, and the best doctors in the world were unable to dent.
Rick Warren claims that is son told him over a decade ago that he knew he was saved, so he didn't see why he shouldn't be able to end his suffering and kill himself.  Apparently the pastor had no adequate answer for his son, and indeed Christianity has no answer for it either, since would seem like a great idea to get to heaven as soon as possible.  Their only attempt at an answer thus far has been to claim that "God said not to...that's why", like a frustrated parent to a toddler.  Such answers never satisfy even toddlers, and apparently don't satisfy the sons of pastors either.

Its 3/13/13. Will new pope be elected at 13:13 pm

It's double 13 day today, since the day and the year end in 13.  I'm not a superstitious person, but 13 is considered an unlucky number.  Judas was the 13th apostle.  Add to this the fact that medieval prophecies attributed to Saint Malachy say that there will be 112 popes before "doomsday" and Ratzinger was number 111.  Like I say, I don't believe in superstitions, but it would be a numerologically unlucky coincidence for the pope to be elected today, especially if the hour or minute includes a 13.  That would be doubly true if the Catholic church elects their first ever black pope, since cardinal Turkson, is a well-liked and viable candidate for pope this time.   As some people have heard it is now popular to claim that the Anti-christ will be a dark-skinned man.  This pretty  preposterous interpretation was heavily used against Barack Obama during both elections in the US, and we can expect that some will use it against Turkson as well in the papal elections.

Last Pope Prophecy Another Doomsday Prediction

With the previous pope now stepping down (sort of) and the cardinals meeting to pick his replacement, the usual suspects have emerged to claim that all of this silliness is part of vague and strange prophecies dating back to the middle ages.  Of course there is the go to prophet of Dumbassery, NostraDumbass himself, who can always be counted on to furnish something vague and undated.  But there is also the alleged writings of Saint Malachy, which many believe are a late forgery.  The text attributed to him names 112 popes from his day in the 1100's up to judgment day.  Benedict XVI is supposedly the 111th.  But most of the one line descriptions of the popes are very vague after the late 1500's, when the forgery was written.  But what's one more failed prophecy and one more holy forgery in a religion chock full of them?  After the Mayan prophecy,  I noted that this would have no effect on the superstitious, who will keep churning out new nonsense as though the previous nonsense didn't even exist.

Besides, if this next pope (allegedly named peter) is the last pope, we don't know how long he will be pope before doomsday.  He could live a very long time, or he could have a heart attack five minutes after being elected.

Hugo Chavez Dead. God Couldn't Save Him

Unlike other Marxists, like his atheist buddy Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez insisted that he remained devoutly Christian, in keeping with his Roman Catholic upbringing.  His religiosity seems only to have intensified since his battle with cancer began.  However, apparently all that praying couldn't cure his disease.  Indeed the 87-year-old atheist Fidel Castro is still around and kicking and Chavez is not.  So much for the power of prayer.

Former Pope Benny No Longer Infallible?

So, now that Pope Benedict has resigned and returned to just being plain old Joseph Ratzinger, what of his former Papal Infallibility.  He used to have a direct line to God, or so we have been told, on important matters of faith.  Has his long-distance account been terminated now?  Has told Benny that he no longer has any minutes left on his plan, and changed the access code?  Maybe without the papal decoder ring and staff and funny hat he can't receive the proper transmissions any more.
What if the new pope does say things that Benny disagrees with.  I know that right now the former Pope Benedict claims that he will be "obedient" to his new successor.  But why should he even need to say that unless there is a possibility that they will disagree?  Don't they talk to the same God?  Oh, right the new pope has the decoder ring now.  But don't you think that Pope Benny already downloaded God's answers on all the important issues of the day when he was pope all the way up to yesterday?  Are we really to believe that,  if the new pope is installed next month, and he then proceeds to abolish some policy that Ratzinger set up, that the Almighty changed his mind?
In short, isn't it time to admit that Popes are nothing but normal men (except in the alleged case of Pope Joan)?  Isn't it time to admit that they have no special access to God and that they are anything but infallible?

Pope Benny is Pope No More

Well Pope Benny is finally no longer the pope again, and they are not even sure when a new one will be selected, despite initial promises that it would be before Easter.  So Benny will go back to just being Ratty old Ratzinger.  He was a cardinal, but presumably he is retired from that as well.  I wonder if he will still dress up like a pimp or not.  I bet he will still wear a cross dress in the little man-skirts that Catholic priests and monks are wont to wear.

Why being pope is the easiest job in the world (part 2)

OK, so I get that Benedict is like 100 years old.  But you could be 150 year old  chimp and still do that job reasonably well.  First off, with enough funny hats and robes and a little bit of makeup (alright, maybe a little plastic surgery too), nobody would be able to tell you were a chimp.  Oh and you might need a few voice lessons, but John Paul II proved that you don't need much of a speaking voice.  Grunting is more than sufficient.
As with most things, the problem is that most people "over-think" it.  Now suppose that someone asks you some ridiculously tough question with no obvious right answer.  You don't have to be a genius to respond.  Here's all you gotta do.  Say, "Good question my son/daughter!  Let's pray together and see what God's answer is."  This will be enough for most people, because they will answer their own question and then say it's what God told them.  But for those who come back you can be like, "Oh, you again, eh?  Still didn't get an answer?  Did you read the Bible?  Twice?  And no skipping the boring parts!  That's what I thought!"  Note that actually, no matter how many times the person says he or she read the Bible, you will say, "Go back and read it ONE MORE TIME.  Oh, and make sure to pray (A LOT) for your answer while you're doing it."  If they still come back after that then you can lay some super-vague fortune cookie wisdom on them or quote them the lyrics of a pop song and if they still say, "How do you know that?" you just tell them, "Because I'm the Pope, that's why.  Next!"
Aside from that, being pope is just like being one of those mascot guys who get paid to dress in a costume outside some low rent business and dance around until people come inside.  Of course, if you're 150, you'll hire a "Pope double" or a "stunt Pope" to do those parts for you.

Pope Benedict Quits Easiest Job in World

OK, let me get this straight.  Pope Benedict has the absolute easiest, softest job in the world and he thinks its too hard, so we wants to resign.  I mean, let's get real, how hard is it really to be the Pope?  Is holding your gold and jewel encrusted scepter really that tough?  Does wearing the goofy hat make your neck muscles hurt? Is it that hard to live in palaces filled with priceless artwork and sit on the softest pillows atop your thrones and pulpits?

You are basically a king -- one of the last divine right monarchs in Europe -- and have people to do absolutely everything for you including wipe. That's why nobody has resigned the job in the last 600 years.

Now, I know people are still going to say that it must be "stressful" and compare it to being President of the US (POTUS), or some other head of state.  However, really, it is nowhere near as hard as being the POTUS.  For one thing, they can't vote you out of office no matter what you do.  Secondly, you don't have to convince anyone of anything.  It might be like the Supreme Court, but there is only one of you, and your word is law.  Plus, your decisions don't have to make a lick of sense.  In fact, it's better if nobody understands them.

You ain't gonna find an easier or better paid job, and it's not like Benedict had a lot of other marketable job skills.

Ding Dong Benedict Resigns. Term Limits for Popes?

Pope BeenADick has been the pope now for 8 years, but is now doing perhaps the most beneficial thing of his entire career, which is to resign from it.  He is quoted as saying, "I recognize my incapacity", but many of the rest of us recognized this before Ratzinger even elevated himself to this ill-considered position.  He was clearly far beyond retirement age even when he started as the Pope.  Granted he may have been more mentally functional than John Paul II.  However, so were most carrots on an average day.

As expected, his abortive little stint in the bully (literally) pulpit of Church was one last ditch effort to turn the clock back in many ridiculous ways.  Fortunately it failed.

However, his 8 year reign of errors does bring up a point about the terms that popes serve.  Even American presidents only serve 8 years.  Surely we shouldn't have to suffer popes even longer than that.

BTW, we can only hope that the Catholic leadership will seize this opportunity to find a progressive leader, though I wouldn't hold my breathe.  One could be waiting for a lot more than 8 years for that.

Travis Alexander and Mormon Virginity Farce

It is being reported that Travis Alexander, they estranged lover of Jodi Arias, whom she admits to brutally killing, wanted  to conceal his relationship with Arias from his Mormon friends, not because she was a CRAZY F*(KING B1T(H, but because he was a professed "virgin" and didn't want to his buddies in the local ward to know what he was tapping. This cult of virginity would be inappropriate in this century for just about any person over the age of about 16.  But it is even more inappropriate when coming from a religion that glorifies screwing as many women as you can convince to be your "wives", and the younger/dumber the better.  This is from a religion where chief figures in its foundation were legendary for their unrestrained excesses in the kinky, naughty department, with pretty much anything that moved, livestock included.

Therefore, while Mormon-boy certainly didn't deserve to be cut to pieces by his deranged paramour, one can't help but marvel at the bizarre beliefs that his church tried to force upon him, and he tried to pretend to uphold.  Of course, with all the pictures of Jodi and him on the internet, his "dirty little secret" seems to have been about as secure as the secret formula for Coca Cola (corn syrup + water).

Of course, they accepted Arias as a convert to mormonism, even though it was probably clear from day one that she had been banged on more times than the Book of Mormon and the Bible combined.

Also, what can really be said about the fact that Alexander was into watching UFC and mixed martial arts, and yet he gets offed by some 95 pound, mousy little waif.  I guess actually being able to fight is a lot harder than watching it on TV, eh?

Will Westboro Baptist Hate Group Picket in Brazil

The Westboro Baptist Hate group that normally pickets the funerals of american soldiers, and who wanted to picket the funerals of the children massacred at Sandy Hook elementary now has an opportunity to go international with the recent night club fire in Brazil that has claimed hundreds of lives.  Perhaps they can fly down there and see if Brazilian families will put up with their hateful antics.  I suspect that Mr. Phelps and his crew are far too chicken$h1t to do that, however. They're probably afraid that nobody would want to let them back in the country again, once they left.  But here is their opportunity.  Here's a little something to get them started.  In Portuguese, "God hates fags" is "Deus odeia bichas".