Swine Flu? More like Zombie Flu!!!!

I fear I was dreadfully wrong in my recent post about the Swine Zombie Flu. As it turns out, this is no ordinary flu. This is it. This the final Zombie apocalypse and we have maybe a week before the victims rise from the dead to kill us all.

I have spent the last few hours setting up my fortress. In the basement of my house, I have stockpiled thousands of shotgun shells for my Remmingtons (plural, because I have 26 of them) and I have sharpened my machetes to such a fine point, they can split hairs. I am ready.

My basement has been retrofitted with the newest technologies. A heavy blast door has been installed and there is a window slit where my mini gun sits to pour deadly fire on the zombie hordes. There is only one other exit, a mile long escape tunnel that comes to a secret opening in the middle of the forest. The door cannot be opened from the outside.

Should there be a breach, there are wall mounted turrets. These turrets use infrared, so if anything without a human heat signature (such as zombies) moves, they will fire with near perfect accuracy. These line up my escape tunnel with perfect accuracy.

The freezer has three years worth of food. By the end of three years, the virus will die as it will have no more hosts to consume and then we survivors will be able to emerge and rebuild civilization from the ashes.

I am ready for the zombie hordes!

J Kuhl Signing Off

Somalian Pirates Fail.

Everyone's heard of these so-called pirates off the coast of Somalia, causing disruption and mayhem. However, I must point out, for the good name of pirates everywhere, that these men are not true pirates.

Let us take a look here:



As you can see from the photo, this is a Somalian pirate. But as you can tell, he's doing it completely wrong. He has no eyepatch, no peg leg, no hook. He doesn't wield a saber, scimitar, or a pistol. He doesn't have a knife in his teeth. He doesn't wear a tricorn hat or a bandana. He isn't visibly drunk, nor is he singing about booze and tavern wenches. He also is not gloating over his booty. He could have at least gotten a parrot.



This is a pirate. He stands proud above his treasure, adorned in the finest clothes his riches could buy him.

And what of the Somalian ships?



The hell is this? This is little more than a boat with an outrigger motor! Where's the Jolly Roger? Where are the cannons? Where's the masted corsair? Aw come on!



This is The Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's ship. It's got billowing sails, cannons, and all the works. THIS is a pirate ship. You can't take some little boat, slap on an outrigger and call it a pirate ship. No, it has to have style.

Pirates are all about style. The Somalian hooligans are thieves with boats. You have to be a pirate in order to be a pirate. It is an adventure, a romance with the sea, a love for danger. Arr, we be swashbucklin' pirates, sailin' the seven seas. We plunder by day and drink by night and each time we make port, we be gettin drunk in a tavern with some wench, arr, a pirates life for me.



In other news, the story of Blackbeard.

"When you marooned me on that god forsaken spit of land, you forgot one very important thing, mate: I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." -Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp)

J Kuhl Signing Off

Swine Flu! EVERYBODY PANIC!

A couple of days ago, I went over to CNN to find out what was going on.

Swine flu.

Then I headed over to MSNBC

More swine flu.

ABC? BBC? CBS?

Swine flu! Swine flu! Swine flu!

Once again, after the Avian Bird Flu and the SARS epidemic, yet another disease has arrived to kill about a hundred people, causing the media to incite a global panic over nothing. So far, 86 have died, but most who suffer from this mild, drug-responsive disease, have lived. No one outside of Mexico has yet died. I guess the media got tired of reporting on the economy so they inflated this thing.

I can understand the CDC getting a little worried about a new disease and taking precautions, but as for the media, it's absurd that they're taking it to this proportion, speculating the possibility of a pandemic which isn't going to happen. I guess fear sells.

"The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They're about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover." Al Franken

J Kuhl Signing Off

Canon - Guitar - Jeong-Hyun Lim

Obama Shakes Hands with Hugo Chavez

The right has been barking like a mad dog about the recent visit Obama made to Latin America, especially when he shook hands with the bellicose socialist President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. They claim, once again, that the president is subjecting himself to Chavez by being polite to him.

This I don't understand. For the last 8 years, Bush has decided he'd rather ignore his foreign opponents than sit down and talk with them. We all saw where that lead. America is looked on with resentment by foreign nations. Iran for example was shut out by Bush's unwillingness to talk and Iran is full of people who like American values such as democracy and liberties. Talking to a leader is not surrendering to their whims! Shaking hands with Chavez was nothing more than a polite gesture.

In other news, right wing pundit, Bill O'reilly recently commented that the US was going to become a socialist nation, much like Sweden. And so in curiosity, I looked up Sweden. On a quality of life chart, Sweden is number five and the US is number thirteen.

Doesn't sound like a bad place to live.

And I'll leave you with this gem from the Huffington Post:

Sean Hannity offers to be Waterboarded For Charity

I'll do [the waterboarding] for charity. I'll let you do it. I'll do it for the troops' families. -Hannity

J Kuhl Signing Off

Vaccine and Willful Ignorance

I hate needles. But I appreciate them once they are out of me and their protective juices are flowing through my veins, tricking my immune system into creating anti bodies so that when a real disease hits, I can fight it off without nothing worse than a sneeze. Sometimes, you don't even notice you've been infected.

Of course, with everything out there, there is always a conspiracy. Lately, supposedly needles cause 'autism.'

This has been disproved in several reports. No correlation has been found between incidents of autism and needles.

Report 1
Report 2

Astonishingly, people still believe that needles cause autism. People who are political donors and influences. This guy, Gary Kompothecras, honestly believes his kids got autism from needles.

I'm sorry his kids have autism. But going against overwhelming scientific evidence is asinine and it disturbs me that people who refuse to accept scientific evidence are given influence and power. Needles do not cause autism, no correlation has been found at all.

No harm comes from enforcing vaccinations. It keeps society healthy and prevents epidemics of disease. Needles, as creepy as they are, are a boon to society. They keep us healthy without weakening our immune system. They ensure that when little Billy gets a cold, it dies out before it can spread to other kids. To be afraid of vaccines over a debunked hypothesis, such as "vaccines cause autism" is willful ignorance, which we have enough of in our government.

And why is it always Republicans coming up with crazy notions like this?

J Kuhl Signing Off

Taxed Enough Already

“A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence” - David Hume

J Kuhl Signing Off

Obama and Wiretapping

In recent news, Obama has backstepped on the wiretapping issue, giving 'national security' as an excuse. I'm no politician, but I want to say this:

I vote for Obama so nonsense such as wiretapping would come to an end. It is an immoral, if not illegal, invasion of a person's right to privacy and should not be used without a proper search warrant.

This current issue, I can understand, we don't want all these security details being released to the public. However, his current turn around on wiretapping had better ONLY be because of this technicality and he had better be seeking another way to end the secret wiretapping on innocent civilians.

I did not vote for him to continue any of the Bush policies. This development is a disappointment and if more of them crop up, I might have to vote third party or not vote at all in '12.

Change, Mr. Obama. You promised it. Don't renege.

In other news, Chuck Norris is to be the first president of the Lone Star State.


Y'all need to put your money where your mouth is and revolt already. I bet y'all ain't got the stones to secede (again.)

“I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came.” -Jefferson Davis

J Kuhl Signing Off

Where were the Anti-Fascist Tea Parties

When Bush was in office?

When Bush:

Invaded a sovereign nation on false pretenses?
Allowed wiretapping of innocent citizens?
Put detainees in Gitmo with no Due Process?
Allowed for waterboarding, or worse, of suspects?
Put cronies in places of power?

Bush increased the executive branch's power way beyond constitutional limits.

And where were these activists then?

What. The. Fuck?

A tax raise of 3.3% for the upper class. Most of the tea party goers aren't even going to see a tax hike.

The other issue they have is the spending. Not spending is the worst thing a government can do right now. Not spending freezes the economy further. As to the bail outs, it's fascist for Obama to demand that the leaders of bailed out corporations be responsible for the money the taxpayers give them?

I love how this is about government spending and it was Bush who overspent, didn't even budget for Iraq, and turned our surplus into a massive deficit! Where were these activists back then? Where were the activists when Paulson pushed TARP? Where the FUCK were they?

Has the right completely lost it?

Oh and the huffing from Hannity and his pundit friends is tiresome. These tea parties are "patriotic" but liberals who protested Bush are "anti-american?"

Go blow it out your ass Hannity.

J Kuhl Signing Off

(sorry about the swears, but this is just so f**king stupid)

Chairman Obama to Open Gulags in US

Recently, a nutjob US Rep from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann, stated her fears that Barack Obama was going to open 're-education' camps.

I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically correct forums.-Bachmann The Minnesota Independant


I find this funny. John Stewart, comedian commentator from Comedy Central brought up an interesting point on his April 07 2009 show, that while the Republicans are claiming Obama's a fascist, they sat back and supported George W Bush for wiretapping, torture, invasion of Iraq, indefinite detaining, Gitmo, the No-Fly list, the strengthening of the TSA, and so on. And people who spoke out against Bush were often labeled as traitors, unamerican, unpatriotic. The Dixie Chicks in 2003, for example, were boycotted en masse for saying they were ashamed to be from Texas, just a few days after the invasion of Iraq. It's odd how the Republicans can support the expansion of executive branch powers under Bush, but turn around when Obama allegedly does the same. I agree entirely with Stewart on this point.

It seems that Republicans are desperate to scare people away from supporting Obama, only they've become crazy. Fascism? Totalitarianism? Obama's the fascist? Funny how a quick google search finds The 14 Points of Fascism, a left wing website about George Bush. But fascism was 'patriotism and love for the US' under Republican rule.

I read an article the other day, blaming Obama for polarizing the US. I call bullsh*t to this. It is not Obama, but crap like Bachmann accusing Obama of fascism, that is causing the polarization. The obstructionist, saboteur acts of today's Republican party is the cause of the polarization. Look at what they do. Everything Obama does, he does wrong in there eyes. They'll never admit when he does something right, they'll twist everything he does as being wrong for the country. And they spread their vitriol against the President amongst those who'll listen, fans of Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'reilly and people who buy Ann Coulter's books. As I've said earlier, most of their criticisms have been either fearmongering, like this fascism thing they've got going, and nitpicking non-issues. This is the cause of the polarization. The partisanship of the Republican party is doing far more to divide the nation than anything Obama's done.

As I said before, Obama isn't perfect, it is fine to disagree with him, hell I don't agree with him on a few subjects. But to accuse him of Sovietesque fascism? Do you people want to be re-elected? The party of right wing crazies continues to amaze me. Critique his policies, state your opinion on how well/terrible you think he's doing. But please, enough fearmongering. Enough spreading obstructionist bullshit. Each time you do something crazy like this, you polarize the nation further, and further drive more moderate republicans into independent parties.

We are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. -President Obama

J Kuhl Signing Off

The Mobile Treadmill

Oh lord . . . the treadmill that allows you to go places by walking

Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless. -Sinclair Lewis

J Kuhl Signing Off

Double Standards

At the G20, Barack Obama bowed to the King of the Saudis as a sign of respect. Of course, the republicans went berserk on every pundit show and every newspaper they could get on.

I think the above picture speaks for itself in terms of Republican double standards.

"When [Obama] uses the word “respect,” in the context of a waist-bow to the king of Saudi Arabia, for example, and talks about respectful language, which is code for those who adhere to Sharia that we will submit to Sharia." -Frank Gaffney, rightwing commentator.

J Kuhl Signing Off

The Score Between Creationism and Evolution

Oh and, as to the "teach the controversy" argument, pictures speak a thousand words:



The only thing that scares me more than space aliens is the idea that there aren't any space aliens. We can't be the best that creation has to offer. I pray we're not all there is. If so, we're in big trouble. -Ellen DeGeneres

J Kuhl Signing Off

Hilarious Geico Gecko Movie

EMBED-5 Geico Spots - Watch more free videos

And there is more to it than just the guy with the headphones at the beginning, watch beyond him, trust me, it's funny.

Oh and this is not a rickroll.

This however, is a rickroll.

J Kuhl Signing Off

The Rock that Can Save/Destroy the World

Uranium.

J Kuhl Signing Off

Good Hates Iowa

Iowa Supreme Court has ruled unanimously to uphold gay marriage in Iowa.

Iowa Goes Rainbow

Que in Fred Phelp's reaction, it will be coming in a few days, if it hasn't already. As you can see by the title of my post, I already predicted exactly what he'll say.

The thing of it all is that I cannot think of anything outside of Biblical verses as to why I should be against this. Gay marriage does not affect me, nor does it hurt me, nor does it affect or hurt anyone else. Children growing up in gay households won't 'catch the gay' from gay parents. Provided that a gay couple can raise a kid in a loving and caring manner, I don't see how sexual preference will affect the kids.

So I don't see why I should deny the right of being in love to gay people.

In other news, 70% is too hard for students to achieve in school.

70% Is Too Hard For Precious Snowflake Students

Three parents Pennsylvania complained that the eligibility requirements for staying on an extra-curricular activity is too tough. The standards are being raised to a shocking 70% (C average).

Apparently, getting a C is too hard to achieve.

"It's overzealous that (students) have to carry very high scores through every class," said parent Wayne Zimmerman of Yorkana.

A C is considered a "very high score."

Give me a break.

Is it too much to ask for parents to encourage their students to do the work in school? Honestly, school wasn't hard. I took maybe an hour or two every day to do homework and I did fine, mostly B's with a few A's and C's (An F was a 65.)

A C average is not a difficult achievement and I don't think it is overburdening a student to expect him to maintain a low grade such as a C.

Zimmerman also said that students may quit co-curricular activities in order to focus on their studies, as his daughter did.

Guess what pal, the purpose of school is to educate. Co-curricular activities are not as important as the actual classes being taught. The education is far more important than the other activities that schools offer and it actually frightens me that some parents don't understand this. The focus at school should be on grades, not footballs and dance recitals.

And people wonder why Europeans and Asians laugh at the American education system. We should not be coddling precious snowflake children, we should be encouraging them to learn. Standards need to be high so we have intelligent people entering our societies.

Hell, colleges lately have to dumb down entry-level classes for students who don't grasp things that should be taught in high school, like algebra and basic English composition. It's shocking.

My high school required two algebra courses and a geometry course as a minimum for mathematics. I went up to Pre-Calculus and was glad I did when I hit college because I was ready for College Algebra and Introduction to Calculus.

Schools need to have at least a passing average standard or our system will fail.

Obviously, this all has to be done with special ed in consideration, but honestly, if you think 70% is too hard to achieve, you aren't even trying.

Finally, I think this is relevant: George Carlin on Children:

Child Worship

J Kuhl Signing Off

A Message to Phillip Johnson

I have problems with this guy. He's Phillip Johnson, one of the founders of the current creationism movement here in the US.

You can read more about him here: Phillip Johnson. Oh, and just to get an idea of his scientific credibility, he's an AIDS Denialist.

Lets look at his quotes shall we:

"This isn't really, and never has been a debate about science. It's about religion and philosophy."

Glad you admitted this, Mr Johnson. Now then, if it isn't about science, why do you want it taught in a science class?

"Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit so that we can get the issue of Intelligent Design which really means the reality of God, before the academic world and into schools."

Two major problems here. First of all, God. This nation is a nation where there are hundreds of different religions that people worship. We may be, by majority, a Christian nation, but by the Constitution, we are not. Look at the First Amendment, Mr. Johnson. I believe there is a bit there about Freedom of Religion and the establishment cause. Public schools are NOT suppose to teach a mandatory class on religion, because this violates the establishment clause. If you want God in schools, found a private school. Government funded schools cannot teach about God and it should not because this is a nation with multitudes of religions.

Secondly, the academic world does not want god in their studies. Scientists, even scientists who do believe in god, have all agreed upon the theory of evolution and the big bang. They do not want god in their studies, because god is supernatural and science deals with the natural.

"The objective he said is to convince people that Darwinism is inherently atheistic, thus shifting the debate from creationism vs. evolution to the existence of God vs the non-existence of God. From there, people are introduced to the truth of the Bible, then the 'question of sin' and finally introduced to Jesus."

Oh boy. First of all, there is no 'Darwinism.' No one worships Darwin, no one prays to Darwin. Adherents of the scientific theory of evolution, are called 'evolutionists,' a ridiculous term, but thanks to the creationist movement, we need it. Funny, people who believe in 'gravitation aren't called 'gravitationists.' And yet, gravitation is a scientific theory, just like evolution. Even more so, gravitation lead to the theory of the big bang, another theory you Creationists don't like. And yet you don't argue against gravitation. I wonder about this, but I digress. Adherents of a scientific theory are not similar to followers of a religion, rather they are people who have studied the theory and decided that the evidence for the theory is solid. Those who disagree with theories, within the academic world, don't simply disagree on a whim, rather they disagree with a theory by either providing evidence of an alternate theory, or by stating that the evidence for the theory is unsound, following rationality and logic.

When one disagrees with a theory, one provides scientific evidence for the disagreement. The Bible is not scientifically validated. The Bible cannot be tested thus it is not a science book, nor is it full of scientific principles. If the academic world had an argument against evolution, they would not be looking at the bible, but at something that can be observed with empirical senses and testable hypothesis's.

Also, if evolution was entirely discredited, you still will not have proven creationism until you have found empirical evidence or created a testable hypothesis which supports creationism. The academic world will continuously reject creationism as a science until this happens. And until then, it remains outside of a science class.

Secondly, evolution is not atheistic. Evolution is agnostic when you think about it. An atheist claims there is no god. Evolution makes no claim whatsoever. It does not disprove god, nor does it mention there being one. Evolution is an agnostic theory, in terms of god. Agnosticism means, 'without knowledge' and evolution is without knowledge of God. Again, God is supernatural, why would a naturalistic theory contain the supernatural?

Third, we do not want the debate of atheism vs theism in a science class or in a publicly funded school in a mandatory class. Establishment clause, First Amendment. This argument belongs in a separate, non-mandatory, philosophy class, not in a biology class.

Fourth, the 'truth' of the Bible. What gives the Bible more authority than any other religious text? How is it more authoritative than the Qu'ran or Hindu scripts or anything else? Because god said the Bible is the only word of god? But that's what the Hindus say about their scriptures and what the Muslims say about the Qu'ran! The Bible bases its authority on itself and that principle is inherently flawed. It's like me saying I'm the King of England because I bloody say so!

Last, it introduces us to Jesus. That's great. I learned about Jesus in world history in high school, just a cursory glance at him, after all, he is a historical figure. The class was secular and objective. And that is how anyone should learn about Jesus in a publicly funded school. Give him as much of an introduction as any other historical religious figure, such as Mohammad. Both he and Mohammad did make a major mark in human history, no matter what you believe about the two.

But to claim he's the Son of God? To claim he's the savior of mankind? Save that stuff for the pulpit, Mr. Johnson. If kids want to learn about the divinity of Jesus, they can GO TO CHURCH.

"I have built an intellectual movement in universities and churches that we call the Wedge, which is devoted to scholarship and writing that furthers the program of questioning the materialistic basis of science."

An intellectual movement. Really. With stars like Kent Hovind who believes the world was wrapped in an ice shield before Noah and the flood (Kent Hovind) and also believes that base pairs have genes inside them (other way around, asshole). This man was a high school biology teacher and he didn't understand the basics of dioxyribonucleic acid? He also claimed that, before the flood, iguanas could grow into triceratops. Or how about the guy I posted in an earlier video who claims that dinosaurs roamed around with primative men five-thousand years ago?

An intellectual movement which ignores mountains upon mountains of evidence, developed by intellectuals in the scientific community, brains like Einstein, Darwin, Oppenheimer, the list goes on, in order to indoctrinate children with Christian mythology? This is is madness! (this is Sparta?). This is an anti-intellectual movement. Did you know, Mr. Johnson, that every extragalactic star is over six thousand light years away, proving that the universe is a tad older than 6000 years? But no, you look at the starlight and claim 'god made it in-transit.'

The Wedge. Great, now you admitted your strategy. You intend to push and shove and move goalposts around until your little Bible fantasy story fits neatly into a science class. This tells me that you know creationism is not science and merely wish to push your beliefs on children in America, corrupting and weakening our science curriculum by injecting your malicious and sinister indoctrination. This is more than wrong. This is a purposeful intent to deceive impressionable minds into believing what you want them to believe. This is beyond unconstitutional, this is beyond immoral. This is evil.

Last, science is materialistic. This the nature of science. It deals with the materials of this universe. What the hell else is it for? Science cares about how, not why. Philosophy is why. If a non-materialistic course is what you want, try philosophy.

Stop trying to poison the minds of students across the United States.

Stop making the US educational system the laughing stock of the world.

Stop this evil madness.

Creationism. Is. Not. Science.

J Kuhl Signing Off

Obama Gives Queen An iPod, Hysteria Ensues

When Obama visited the UK a few days ago, he gave the Queen a gift, an iPod with videos and photos and speeches of both the Queen and himself. A gift that has the right wing in an uproar at this moment, claiming that an iPod is cheap, that she already has one, that Obama wasn't thinking, that Obama's a narcissist for giving her an iPod with his speeches on it.

But get this:

The Queen of England wanted a new iPod. And she's happy with it.

Once again, we see the dying Republican party flipping out over nothing, playing the partisan, simply because they can't live with the fact that Obama won the election. They're playing this game of sabotage at every turn. And it is ridiculous.

I already said it, this focus on trivial matters will kill the republican party if they don't grow up.

But I doubt they will. The GOP isn't a party for the United States of America, the GOP is a party for the GOP. They look out for number one and that is all they do. Look at Coleman from Minnesota. He can't admit that he lost the senate race for fear that yet another Democrat will take a senate seat, holding his entire state hostage for the party.

They don't give a damn about us. They don't give a damn about Americans. They care about themselves and their stupid party. They are an obstructionist group of middle aged white men, willing to act like children who aren't getting their way. It is disgraceful.

Eight or more years of Democrats if they keep this up.

J Kuhl Signing Off