Saturday, July 08, 2006

None Dare Call It Irony

Left Behind Games: The Games > Features


Game description

Wage a war of apocalyptic proportions in LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces - a real-time strategy game based upon the best-selling LEFT BEHIND book series created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Join the ultimate fight of Good against Evil, commanding Tribulation Forces or the Global Community Peacekeepers, and uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances!

· Lead the Tribulation Force from the book series , including Rayford, Chloe, Buck and Bruce against Nicolae Carpathia – the AntiChrist.

· Conduct physical & spiritual warfare : using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world.

· Recover ancient scriptures and witness spectacular Angelic and Demonic activity as a direct consequence of your choices.

· Command your forces through intense battles across a breathtaking, authentic depiction of New York City .

· Control more than 30 units types - from Prayer Warrior and Hellraiser to Spies, Special Forces and Battle Tanks!

· Enjoy a robust single player experience across dozens of New York City maps in Story Mode – fighting in China Town , SoHo , Uptown and more!

· Play multiplayer games as Tribulation Force or the AntiChrist's Global Community Peacekeepers with up to eight players via LAN or over the internet!




Fun for the entire family! (Link to trailer)

You know, I can't even seriously comment on this. To explain how truly warped, deceptive and wrong this is, you'd have to know enough about the Bible to ... well, you'd already know.

What I AM going to say to those who consider folks like this to be Christians is this. They are not. They are heretical fanatics who are at best ignorant of the Bible and at worst deliberately misrepresenting what it says.

Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins make Hal Lindsay look like a rigorous scholar - hell, their book makes "Chariots of the Gods" read like "A Brief History of Time" by comparison. And as violent herosexist patriarchal splatter fiction goes (a genre I'm not above indulging in) "The Punisher" series is far, FAR superior, both in description, technical accuracy and the rounded emotional development of characters.

Believe it or not, I am not being sarcastic.

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Truth is the first casualty of Ann Coulter

Anne Coulter's publisher has dismissed allegations of plagiarism against her as "trivial." While there is really no such thing as a "trivial" plagiarism, it is indeed trivial compared to her utter and flagrant intellectual dishonesty.

Media matters takes her to the woodshed with the hack paddle of fact in Ann Coulter's "Flatulent Raccoon Theory"

It's a wonderful exercise in my favorite technique of debate - drop a library on the idiot and watch them scrabble to get out from under. But, while it's enjoyable in it's own right, and certainly illustrative of the desinction in intellectual rigor between Coulter and those she most favors attacking, I wish to concentrate on one lie, and one lie alone, excerpted from her latest book.

"[L]iberals think evolution disproves God."

Why is this a lie? Well, one could be snarky and suggest that the the bon mot suggests that Liberals think.

I have known a lot of Liberals, and I can tell you that in general they are no more fond of it than Conservatives, or indeed, any of my wondrously well-informed fellow Americans.

The more serious and conscious lie is that Liberals think of evolution in common. Clearly, she has either never listened to a bunch of Liberals, or is choosing to misrepresent what she thought she heard.

There is no required intellectual consensus among intellectual Liberals, save one that is grudgingly accepted among those who are also intellectually honest, and that is that conclusions must be founded in evidence.

Neither liberals nor evolutionists (not the same population by any means) believe that evolution "disproves" God. It merely explains how living creatures evolves - to the extent that the theory is supported by evidence, and so far, there seems no way to prove OR disprove the existence of God.

Science neither confirms nor denies the existence of God. What individual scientists say, in either direction, are statements of faith.

And matters of faith can only be proven or disproven in the realm of faith.

To disprove Ann Coulter's God, one need go no further than The Bible, and the Ten Commandments. "Bearing False witness" is an officially bad thing, and the link above provides overwhelming evidence that she is intentionally lying in order to persuade those still under the sway of her neocon paymasters.

There is a fundamental principle of critical analysis that comes to bear here. "Qui Bono," or "who benefits" (that I believe this.) This is applicable even if an argument is bolstered by fact, but it is particularly applicable to a liar. Why do they wish you to believe something that is provably untrue, and why do they wish to influence you to have such contempt for those who know the truth of the matter that you will never check the facts for yourself?

Instead, Coulter and her ilk wish to reduce everything to emotional triggers. They want you to distrust those who you should trust - and trust those who lie to you.

I'm not gong to tell you why this is so, why it benefits them, for it doesn't matter. What matters is that they think they will benefit at your expense. If this were not the truth of the matter, they would have truths to tell you.

Coulter (and likewise, O'Rielly, Hannedy, Limbaugh and the like) are propagandists, not commentators. They are not interested in informing your opinion, they are interested in getting you to accept their opinion uncrtically.

It's rather insulting that Coulter, in particular, thinks so little of her readers that she cannot be bothered to do a credible job of deception.


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Thursday, July 06, 2006

Sanity Prevails - today.

Florida high court quashes 145-billion-dollar tobacco award - Yahoo! News: "The justices said the amount of the punitive damages awarded, the biggest against US tobacco companies in history, 'is also clearly excessive because it would bankrupt some of the defendants.'

State law, the court wrote, 'requires that an appellate court review a punitive damages award to make certain that the manifest weight of the evidence does not render the amount of punitive damages assessed out of all reasonable proportion to the malice, outrage, or wantonness of the tortious conduct.'

The justices also said the award must be reconsidered in light of US Supreme Court rulings that set guidelines for punitive damages."
Hi; I'm Bob and I'm a smoker. To be frank, I'm a heavy smoker. I've been a smoker since I was 14, and the world is better for it.

The ruling left open the possibility for individual lawsuits - at least in Florida - with the issues of corporate misconduct and deceptive practices beyond question.

So why am I not calling my lawyer?

Simple. I'm neither stupid, nor am I unethical. I did not become addicted to tobacco because I was deceived, or unaware of it's potential health effects. By no means.

I smoke for a simple reason; when I smoke, I am sane. When I do not smoke, I am not sane, and am incapable of recognizing that truth. I was faced with that uncomfortable reality after two years of being self-righteously, obnoxiously, messainicaly smoke-free.

Then there was a moment of weakness - I took a single drag - and I was sane again. I realized that I had spent two irreplaceable years of my life being an inconsiderate, short-tempered, humorless dolt. I spent much that time fighting to restrain what is a truly formidable temper. Mostly I spent it being alone.

It is eerie how very Republican I seemed in retrospect. I did not have the capacity to think in depth - and I did not notice the lack.

Now I think back to my high-school years and see the difference smoking made. Based on my elementary school years - let us just say that columbine might well have happened sooner. I had access to a shotgun and a box of shells, plus two handguns and suffered from clinical depression. Self medication was my only medication.

And it worked. I'm still alive, still have my freedom and I've not killed anyone. So I figure that anything past 18 is just gravy. Indeed, the suicide rates for Aspergers persons is something like 20 or 30 percent. Given other factors that came into my life around that time - well, from a statistical standpoint, the fact that I'm alive is a fluke. That is not a rhetorical exaggeration.

So to all the health Nazis out there who will be screaming about this verdict, I say; shaddup. Until you find an effective and safer alternate to tobacco, I will smoke, and think the rest of you clinically insane for dismissing any thought of unintended consequences in your self-rightious zeal.

An extra decade or two as a crazed person does not appeal to me in the slightest. Living next to one appeals to me even less. And driving California freeways is a damn fine illustration of the shortsightedness of this latest Liberal foray into the land of "mother knows best."
Yes, smoking is bad for me and it has already shortened my life - although possibly not so much as some of the other meds I've been prescribed by doctors. But not smoking - that's worse. And not just for me, either.

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Those Little Blue Pillls

The Rant on Capitol Hill Blue - Why right-wingers can't get it up: "I'm not surprised to find out Limbaugh is all show and no go. He probably couldn't get hard if Jennifer Garner were sitting on his face while Jeri Ryan noshed on his Johnson. Nah, strike that. Garner and Ryan seem like intelligent women who would never crawl into bed with the likes of Rush Limbaugh."

The rest is just as good. And he quotes George Carlin.

YouTube - Jon Stewart Post 9/11 Speech

YouTube - Jon Stewart Post 9/11 Speech

Listen clearly to what John Stewart said about democracy and the response of citizens to the fall of the twin towers. And then ask yourself - what the HELL happened between then and now?

BlogExplosion - Jetting Through Life

BlogExplosion - Jetting Through Life

I was trying to earn a few creds, while seeking for things to blog about that didn't fill me with total ennui. Well, here it is; an illustration in microcosm of the collusion between Christian and Corporate America at the expense of those they claim concern over.

The five Higgins children lost both of their parents in early 2004 when their mother died of breast cancer and their father of heart failure. The orphans were later taken into the home of the Leomitis family, who were acquainted with the Higgins clan through church.

To make a long story short, the moment the Leomitis family had the new house and furnishings in hand, their charitable hearts shriveled up and blew away.

According to the Higgins family, the trouble began immediately after construction of the house and production of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode concluded. The Leomitises allegedly launched "an orchestrated campaign" to drive the Higgins children out of their new home by battering them with verbal insults, racial epithets, and physical abuse. By the end of March, the Higginses had moved out of the Leomitis abode, and are currently scattered among the houses of other friends.


Another triumph of appearences over results. So long as one appears to be helping widows and orphans - as Good Christians are told by Jesus (rememeber Him?) to do - it doesn't matter what actually happens, so long as it's off camera.

Here endith the lesson.

I have just one question; Are you safer now than you were six years ago?

The Gun Toting Liberal » Blog Archive » Consultant embarrassingly hacks FBI passwords, including those of FBI ‘top dog’ with simple, easy to download software

I frankly do not understand how so many of you can call RealID, the USA Patriot Act, wiretapping, and data mining “good ideas” when you can all clearly SEE that the Government is turning such information over to “terr’ists”. Maybe not on purpose, but what do you call it when they cannot hold onto a laptop with every Veteran’s personal information and they cannot password protect their data mined and wiretapped databases? Obviously, the “terr’ists” have all of this information now since they are widely known to be light years ahead of our own Government when it comes to the Internets.

And you think it is a good idea to provide our Government with all of this private info just so your “Gubmint” can catch the “terr’ists”? What the hell are you THINKING?

"Intelligence Gathering" begins at home. Let's start gathering some this coming election. Sen. Ted Stevens is merely one documented example of this dire problem.

May I suggest some simple competence test for our elected representatives? Perhaps something along the line of urine-filled footwear?

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AT&T, NSA, Bush accused of violations of Telcom Act of 1934

And this doesn't come from Democratic Underground.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide: "June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.

The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages."

Well, now. That seems to be "a pattern of organized criminal activity" to me. Seems to me that the place we are in is not simply the result of general ineptitude and delusion, but are on the short end of a plan to gut our Constitution and strip us of the dignities and Liberties due free citizens of this Republic.

If you are a true Patriot, you should be outraged. Do any yet remain?

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Wednesday, July 05, 2006

As Washington Sighs In Relief...

CTV.ca | Enron founder Kenneth Lay dies of a heart attack:
Updated Wed. Jul. 5 2006 1:16 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay, who was convicted of fraud and conspiracy for his part in the energy giant's collapse, has died of a heart attack.

Lay, who was 64, collapsed at his vacation home in Aspen, Colorado, early Wednesday morning, the Colorado Sheriff's Department said."


An autopsy is unlikely. I mean, nobody wants to look a gift horse in the mouth.

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Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Pimping a friend

Astraea's Infamous Add-On Story


Click here for our archive of past add-on stories,
including all three Dr. Colon Rots tales

The Heroes: Lois Lane & Clark Kent
Title: The Rumors Behind The News
Theme: Clark uncovers a conspiracy.

Remember, only 300 characters per entry are allowed, don't be afraid to split up longer entries and keep the story going!! Jay Young, Chris Akanora, Andy Temple, Johnny Shaobek, Gabe Ragland & others, from Astraea

A Senator explains Net Neutrality

Senator Ted Stevens:

Link to full audio

There's one company now you can sign up and you can get a movie delivered to your house daily by delivery service. Okay. And currently it comes to your house, it gets put in the mail box when you get home and you change your order but you pay for that, right.

But this service isn't going to go through the interent and what you do is you just go to a place on the internet and you order your movie and guess what you can order ten of them delivered to you and the delivery charge is free.

Ten of them streaming across that internet and what happens to your own personal internet?

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.

So you want to talk about the consumer? Let's talk about you and me. We use this internet to communicate and we aren't using it for commercial purposes.

We aren't earning anything by going on that internet. Now I'm not saying you have to or you want to discrimnate against those people [...]

The regulatory approach is wrong. Your approach is regulatory in the sense that it says "No one can charge anyone for massively invading this world of the internet". No, I'm not finished. I want people to understand my position, I'm not going to take a lot of time. [?]

They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck.

It's a series of tubes.

And if you don't understand those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and its going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.

Now we have a separate Department of Defense internet now, did you know that?

Do you know why?

Because they have to have theirs delivered immediately. They can't afford getting delayed by other people.

[...]

Now I think these people are arguing whether they should be able to dump all that stuff on the internet ought to consider if they should develop a system themselves.

Maybe there is a place for a commercial net but it's not using what consumers use every day.

It's not using the messaging service that is essential to small businesses, to our operation of families.

The whole concept is that we should not go into this until someone shows that there is something that has been done that really is a violation of net neutraility that hits you and me.
Write "an internet" to Sen. Ted explaining what it is about net neutrality and the functioning of the Internet that he doesn't comprehend. Sen. Ted is a clear example of why the "K Street Boys" have so much influence in washington. The good senator is clearly an example of "You can Fool Some of the People all of the Time."

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