The Sober Side of Wank

Hear the Good News!*

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:27:04 GMT

Press release of California churches trying to get Prop 8 overturned.

FYI: It's a PDF file.

*Yes, that was on purpose.

Because teaching four-year-olds to hate themselves is totally what Jesus wanted

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:28:38 GMT

A four year old who knows she needs a savior!

A woman writes about how proud she is to have taught her daughter that she was born evil. At least the majority of people in the comments seem to be calling it child abuse.

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:06:25 GMT

I... I got nothing bar 'KILL IT WITH FIRE. KILL IT NOW.' Sorry.

From the International Herald Tribune: Last-minute Bush abortion ruling causes furor.

And once again, I find myself incredibly grateful to not be American right now. *spits*

News for the Back Pages of the Paper

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:49:37 GMT

Via Racialicious, let's remember that hate crimes totally don't happen anymore and America is now a country that totally embraces differences, kk?

SAALT (South Asian Americans Leading Together) has been keeping track of an increase in xenophobic violence and rhetoric against South Asians in the weeks and months leading up to the 2008 elections, including assaults targeting immigrants who either supported or were perceived to support President-Elect Obama. Here are a few examples of recent violence against South Asians and other communities of color:

Hardwick, New Jersey — On November 6, 2008, an incident occurred in which Alina and Gary Grewal found a cross burned on their front lawn. The cross was wrapped in a congratulatory banner the family had made which read “President Obama, Victory ‘08″.
Carteret, New Jersey — On October 30, 2008, an incident occurred in which an elderly Sikh gentleman, Ajit Singh Chima, was punched and kicked repeatedly in the face, suffering fractures in his jaw and near his eyes. This occurred soon after a 10-year-old Sikh boy, Gagandeep Singh, was attacked on October 8, 2008, by an individual who pushed him to the ground and forcibly cut his hair.
Staten Island, New York — In early November, an incident occurred in which four white men beat a Liberian-American Muslim teenager, Ali Kamara, near his home. The attackers jumped out of a car and assaulted him with a baseball bat after shouting “Obama.”
Providence, Rhode Island — In September 2008, an incident occurred in which a Sikh-American man was accosted by an individual who said, “I have a gun in my car and since you are a hajii no one will care if I kill you. You know why the police won’t do anything? Because I got blond hair and blue eyes.” As the assailant left, he screamed, “F*** Arabs and F*** Obama.”

A white woman who carved a B into her own face made news for days, but crosses burned on people's lawns and a 10 year old boy having his hair forcibly cut? I guess that's for the back pages.

The KKK took my baby away

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:52:32 GMT

Protesting Prop 8 is like being in the KKK

...

Westboro Baptist is coming to Portland. Maybe.

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:12:02 GMT

A yep.

Fred Phelps and a group from Westboro Baptist Church have a slate of picketing events planned in Portland from 7:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24.

I added the 'maybe' in the title of this post because there have been other announced protests by them that they never showed up for. I hope they do show, because I want to make a God Hates Shrimp sign.

And yeah, I posted there. I checked the community rules and didn't see anything against it.

The damnportlanders thread.

Newsweek Speculates President-elect Is the Anti-Christ

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:05:29 GMT

No, really.

Writeth Lisa Miller for Newsweek: One of the winning lottery numbers in the president-elect's home state was 666— which, as everyone knows, is the sign of the Beast (also known as the Antichrist).

I'm not too familiar with Newsweek online, but if I'm reading the dating correctly, this will appear in the Nov. 24 print version.

So, back to OMG DIAF.

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:34:14 GMT

Hotel charges fat kids more for their lunch

Spokesman Nigel Massey said: "There will no doubt be people who say it's not politically correct.

"Well, frankly, they should get a life and stop being so miserable."

Achievement FTW

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:49:26 GMT

Army gains first female four-star general.

Because unfunny doesn't have to mean OMG DIAF badness

I'm leaving my cheating second life husband for a WoW man.

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:13:42 GMT

FESTIVAL OF STUPID!

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:03:39 GMT

No communion for Obama supporters

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:05:22 GMT

Spotted: at dark_christian, there is a post regarding the posthumous baptism of Jews killed during the holocaust by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

147 comments to said post so far.

I have to say, this is the most inventive tactic for holocaust denial that I have ever heard about. I presume it was with similar inventiveness and joie de vivre that the LDS church also launched a long-range ideological attack on California from Utah, and won.

Good job burnishing that wacky reputation, Church. Good job.

ETA: oops, I jumped the gun. This has already been posted! Won't delete this post until/unless a mod gives me an okay, but until then, please direct all comments here:

http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/52273.html

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:13:19 GMT

Via Brian Wood:Holocaust survivors to Mormons: Stop baptisms of dead Jews.

Holocaust survivors said Monday they are through trying to negotiate with the Mormon church over posthumous baptisms of Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps, saying the church has repeatedly violated a 13-year-old agreement barring the practice.

Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say they are making changes to their massive genealogical database that will make it more difficult for names of Holocaust victims to be entered for posthumous baptism by proxy, a rite that has been a common Mormon practice for more than a century.

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:12:59 GMT

Disabled Woman barred from Marks & Spencer.

Though, hey, they sent a bullshit follow-up explaining that she could still come in as long as she had a chaperone, so that makes it all okay, right?

"Spicy Curry Man Sandwich"

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:17:53 GMT

So, as some of you may have noticed, Rahm Emanuel is apparently the Obama administration's special gift to fangirls, which is all well and good.

But then some people looking for Rahm pictures found their way to the politisex community on lj, longstanding home of hot politician picspam. And discover that the community tags Black and Hispanic politicians with "brown sugar" and Southeast Asian politicians with "Spicy Curry Man Sandwich".

emily_shore, understandably taken aback by this, left a comment mentioning that those tags seemed problematic, and an entry on her journal describing the issue, which was later unlocked and metafandomed. We can't see her comment on politisex, because bellichka, the mod, locked that entry.

But we can see the entry bellichka made in reaction, I Hate Wank, in which she tells her membership that someone is "bitching at me about our tags" and "directing their friends to come over and harass me." The membership is supportive, the consensus being that those people need to get over themselves. ETA: This post is now locked; pre-locking saved version at my webspace. (Does this post count as breaking Godwin's law already?)

For someone who hates wank, bellichka is all over emily_shore's post, with everything from stalking accusations to asking emily_shore to delete her own entry. For fairness, here's her side of the story, as she explained it in emily_shore's comments: "there is no "white" tag, because a majority of the posts are white guys. for people who are specifically attracted to Indian/Asian/Hispanic/Whatever, we offer a separate tag for them. I actually offered that the OP join and make a tag for white guys, and she declined."

...oh boy.

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:33:37 GMT

Two men at Prop. 8 protest beaten, arrested</i>.

harrylovesron found the link.

Countdown to the religious right apologetics in 5...4...3....

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:24:31 GMT

I wanted to post this on political_wank but it's reached the point where it's too unfunny for words :|

kittikattie makes a post in metaquotes:

edric00 writes an open letter:

Dear Media,

I get it, Barack Obama is the first black man elected president. It is a truly monumental thing. But no matter how many times you play MLK saying he has a dream followed by Obama saying "yes we can", racism is not dead in America. No, this doesn't make up for slavery, stop saying that.

Sincerely,
Juan A.G. Munoz

You can guess where this goes.

272 comments and counting.

For the OH NO HE DIDN'T files.

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:23:17 GMT

Ralph Nader is confronted on Fox News over the following statement: "To put it very simply, he is our first African American president; or he will be. And we wish him well. But his choice, basically, is whether he's going to be Uncle Sam for the people of this country, or Uncle Tom for the giant corporations."

It never quite seems to occur to Nader throughout this whole thing that maybe his choice of words was highly imprudent, to put it very mildly. You know it's bad when someone makes the anchors and hosts of Fox News look good.

ETA: Explanation of the term "Uncle Tom", if needed.

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:54:12 GMT

Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT.

With Fifty-Two Percent of Vote, Prop 8 Passes.

Christian Children's Fund Hates D&D

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:18:07 GMT

I suppose y'all would like a break from the election unfunniness. I spotted this at Fark and I have to say, this feels so 80's.

GenCon raised over $17,000 for the Christian Children's Fund . Said donation was turned down as being tainted by the foul touch of D&D.

Way to go, CCF, way to go. *slow clap*

ETA: From sf_drama, Christian Children's Fund responds.

Sigh.

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:56:24 GMT

State by State Voter Suppression Guide

"$400 of every mortgage goes to ACORN"

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:44:22 GMT

According to Glenn Beck, Texas senator Culberson said that $420 of every $100,000 worth of mortgage will go to ACORN and similar organizations. The closest I've been able to find is a report from the Congressional Budget Office on the Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008, which says that $420 of every $100,000 will go to finance the government created organizations HOPE for Homeowners, Housing Trust Fund and Capital Management Fund. Also, keyword searching through the text of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 [H.R.1424] doesn't show anything like it. However, plenty of people are willing to believe this without any sort of citations. *sigh*

I want to move to New Zealand

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:19:56 GMT

Doctor denied permanent residency visa.... because his son has Down Syndrome. Yay, Australia, proving once again how our immigration department sucks. (At least this family hasn't been incarcerated? Yet, anyway.)

Edited for HTML fail

holy hell

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:55:17 GMT

Well, I just watched a video on YouTube that scared the shit out of me. As it should.

Anti-Abortion Measures Can Hurt ALL Pregnant Women

Its summary:

Colorado's Amendment 48 and South Dakota's Measure 11 will not only affect women who want to end their pregnancies, but also pregnant women who want to go to term.

Visit http://www.advocatesforpregnantwomen.org for more information.

No kerfuffle in the comments just yet, but the fact this shit is happening in the US is mind-boggling enough.

Antidote to the stupidity of skinheads and College Republicans

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:19:28 GMT

To quote Shakesville, blub

One more week....