Sean Tevis for State Rep in Kansas

If you haven't heard, Sean Tevis, an information architect and fan of XKCD is running for State Representative in Kansas. For good reason.



"No candidate for state representative in Kansas has ever had more than 644 donors."

As of this post, Sean has received 4,662 donations, which is more than 7 times the record.

This is not just activism, it is responsibilitism, not affecting the outcome from outside, but stepping inside to be the change. Thank God for Sean Tevis.

Be a part of history for less than $10.

Conservapedia: Jesus Christ on a ...what?

Some of you may have already heard of Conservapedia, the conservative, retarded cousin of Wikipedia. The speed at which it loads lends itself to the idea that it is hosted on a dial-up 386 in some teenage kid's basement bedroom.

There is well-founded outrage being shot all over the internet (Jack & Jill's a good one). Honestly, I was surprised the word "Coon" wasn't used (oh yes it was. Now if someone could tell me what the origin of the name Coon Rod is).

But where there is outrage, there can be entertainment! You can read about

• Feminism: "Feminism is the philosophy that the sexes deserve to have equal rights." No need to click; that's the whole entry!


• Siddhartha Guatama "was a Hindu" and five other sentences about the life and religion of the Buddha.


• Hinduism: "It dates back to the ancient days."


• Unicorns: "At the very least, it is likely that they were taken aboard the Ark prior to the Great Flood." They're serious.


• Pacific Northwest Arboreal Octopus (This is a spoof - dang kids!)


• And dinosaurs: "...created on the 6th day...between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago" and how the bible...good Lord. Literally.

You've got to be fucking kidding.

I did not doctor this photo. It is from the Conservapedia Dinosaur entry. No Photoshop needed. Yes, the Lord's holdin' a 'gator while riding Littlefoot sidesaddle.

Conservapedia: openly racist, entertaining, appalling, concise. With lots of clapping and pomp, Conservapedia gets the WTF Award!

This is junk science, junk history, and probably junk math, with the most terrifying friend: Authority. People will read this and believe it and relate it and quote it. It will spread like mullet-sportin' DNA.

These people must be stopped. Until then, have a laugh or two at their expense.

A Haggard Idea, the Haggard Cure

Praise Jesus! In a miracle that could only be brought on my the Lord Almighty and several thousand contributing, praying followers, Rev. Ted Haggard has been cured of his homo-dirty-man-sex-(and-meth) thing. One of the Kleezantsun that made sure he didn't go more queer, Rev. Tim Ralph, said that he was "completely heterosexual."

And the drag queen angels are line dancing to "I Will Survive" on the head of every pin in the world. And they're laughing.

The angels understand the human condition. Ted Haggard does not.

One one hand, we are a species of adaptation (I guess all really are, survival of the fittest, Richard Dawkins and all). But in our daily social lives, in the big questions of what we want to do with our lives, what we believe, and how we think we should behave, internal and external pressures (priests, money, etc.) can mold us, shape our world view. Someone subjected to the same torture every day, be it working in a cube farm or being beat with a stick, can learn to get along. But if there's not that much pressure to conform, if there's enough leeway to pop out of the mold, change will happen (sidenote: this is why I cannot believe in Hell; we can get used to anything. If Hell actually existed, it wouldn't be hell because souls would've gotten used to it to a certain degree. Or they would have reached critical mass, revolted, and it is now being run like a frat house).

So while in counseling for three full weeks, Rev. Ted renounced his man sex and his methamphetamine. There's the rub. Social pressures and four reverends made sure he was "set straight" so to speak. Now he's being advised to move into secular work. This will have the opposite effect. It will start with impure thoughts, quickly move to gay internet porn, and before he knows it, he'll be snorting meth off a tranny's cock with a bottle of Kamchatka Vodka shoved up his ass. The bottle will be half empty.

When forced, we are capable of amazing tolerances. When left to our own ideas of limitation, all hell can break loose (that frat Hell kind). Jesus be praised, angels dancing and all, Rev. Ted is headed for something he'd probably describe to his overseers as dirty gay naughtiness. It's coming folks. It has to. He has such a pretty mouth.

Friends of God, Amen

Two days ago I wrote:

And if you're not completely convinced that the religious influence in the government is working to unravel the basis of good, solid science, please try to catch "Friends of God" on HBO. Okay, you lazy ass, here's the schedule.

That was when I had the documentary on DVR and had heard good things about it. I watched it last night. Every word I wrote is true, and then some. The evangelical movement in America is a travesty of rational thought and the scientific method. There is one guy in particular looking at Job 40 in the Bible, and saying "behemoth" is a dinosaur. That's after he tells a bunch of kids that evolution is silly / the world's only a couple thousand years old, and before he sings a song about people living with dinosaurs (the picture of the harnessed dino pulling the cart is adorable). Did I mention these are kids? Arrgh!

Evangelicals get the WTF Award today.

Watch "Friends of God" on HBO (schedule here). Get angry. You will be a better person for it.

NPS: A Chasm in Understanding

Bush, our beloved government, and a lack of separation of church and state. I love Bad Astronomy.

That's where I heard about this little mess. It actually started by PEER with this premise: The National Park Service sells a book that says the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's Flood and park rangers aren't allowed to say it was created geologically for fear of offending religious nuts.

After that whole story bled through the consciousness of the internet world, some more careful reading was done, and it wasn't exactly as it seemed. PEER starts to look a little shady because of misleading the public on what rangers are and are not allowed to say. But the Park Service still looks shady because there is a book (excellent reviews) and it is still for sale.

And there is movement. Oh, wait...no. More of a shuffle. Bad Astronomy again with the alert, Northstate Science with more details. ParkRangerX rails at the tenacity of the story and the audacity of PEER. Hell, even Doonesbury's in on the act. The book stays, but in the "inspirational" section that was created for it.

There is a valid story here. A National Park, funded by our tax dollars, is selling a book that attributes a fantastic natural phenomenon to Judeo-Christian lore. Despite switching its label or location in the store, it is still a religious book backed by public funds. And why this fundamentalist drivel is still being backed after all the press is an outrage.

What else is an outrage? PEER. Why the hell would they deliberately taint the story that's already got legs? This is state funded religion already, you asses. You made Trudeau look like an asshat. Feed the clean story to a couple of blogs and ...wait a second. I see what you're doing.

Wait. No.

You're just not that smart.

On this day, the NPS and PEER share the WTF award!