Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Non-negotiable Issues

Just a reminder, separation of Church and State is not particularly encouraged by Catholicism. I particularly enjoyed the use of quote marks around marriage, there.

Non-negotiable issues. Like the choice to die with dignity, or conduct medical research, or show even a trace of compassion towards those denied recognition of marriage.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

What the HEK

A friend recently shared this article from the ever-charming Examiner, with injunctions to boycott Pepsico (BUT WHERE WOULD I GET MY FRITOS), because Pepsico was flavoring our drinks with dead babies.

Really?

I couldn't quite believe that. So I did a swift google search ("fetal cells enhance flavor"):


The-prolifers seems abuzz. And here is LifeSiteNews with its breaking news article!

Well, breaking news in the 70s, maybe. See, basically what's at issue here is using a cell *line* from HEK 293. In other words it's a maintained cell line that originated from some embryonic tissue cells, the same one that's been used in drug testing and virus research for years. 

Now, I'm not saying the pro-lifers can't take issue with HEK 293 and be consistent with their principles--they do, after all, decry abortion, and these cells originated from an aborted fetus. But do pro-lifers decry organ donation with this much vim and vigor? I think that disagreeing with abortion and disagreeing with the use of fetal cells (in a freaking cell line like HEK293) are two very separate arguments. I doubt many pro-lifers would agree, but I thought I would throw that one out there anyway. 

The shit that really bugs me is the inaccuracy of this flaming, Satan-is-coming-now, The-World-is-Evil reporting. You won't get the courtesy of even a cursory summary of what HEK293 is from the pro-lifers, of course. Let's take a look at the Examiner article I linked to above: 

...fetal cells are being used as receptors to test new and different flavors by Senomyx, a company that contracts with Pepsi.


It’s bad enough that babies are being aborted at all, but to then use them to create a more delicious Pepsi is just nauseating...


"Fetal cells" is pithier, I imagine, than "cell line originally derived from aborted embryonic tissue, a cell line which is biotech standard and has been used to construct a number of vaccines and conduct virus research." 

And the muck of the internet is even better, overflowing with pious Catholics conjuring images of baby-debris floating with the ice in your Diet Coke, thezombieapocalypsebegins.

Anyway, I'm waiting for more credible sources than LifeSiteNews to take a shot at this one, but as far as I can tell HEK 293 is what Senomyx is using, if anything. 

Monday, May 30, 2011

Religojacking


Ah, FarmVille. Time-waster, fake crops, Path to Righteousness.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Smiley Faces

I'm just gonna leave this one up here for you guys.
(click to enlarge)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Debt Free

When I heard that Newt Gingrich was once half a million in debt to Tiffany's, I thought to myself, "How sweet! Is the GOP finally proposing to Fox News?"

Gingrich's comments are, as per usual, from OppositeLand, where being frugal is apparently the same thing as racking up hundreds of thousands in debt. 

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Liberal Conglomerate

Scene: Liberal Fortress of Evil, probably in Homosexxx, Massachusetts, but possibly in Fruitjob, California. 
A dark night, heavy with the scent of rain and new taxes. 


Pompous Liberal Butler, hired to serve his masters like a mindless drone from their boyish days at elitist institutions like Princeton, Yale, and Harvard, strikes the granite floor with a staff made from wood recently  requisitioned from a mom-and-pop small business store.
"Stand for His Honorable Most Glorious Highness and Future Tyrant of the Universe, Obama!"

The Liberal Conglomerate stands. Obama swirls into the room wearing a cape embellished with Muslim, African, Marxist and Nazi symbols. 


Obama: Let the meeting begin.

Chief Environmental Officer/Idolatry Promoter: Lord Obama, sir, we've been making headway in subverting the American consciousness and infiltrating it with our messages of "compassion" towards the "environment." Greenies--as I like to affectionately call them--have been moving out of our sleeper cells in California and moving across the continental United States. Even Sarah Palin-

Obama (thundering): What did I tell you about that name?! THAT NAME!

Chief Environmental Officer: Oh, sorry sir, my apologies, I mean--her, she--the umm, the frightening one, as it were--

Obama: Oh, to hear her very name is to hear a piercing beacon of clarity that plunges the jagged blade of righteous truth into my twisted liberal heart! I cannot bear it!

Chief Environmental Officer: Yes, um, very good sir--she's foul--but any way, even she took to promoting the wilderness on her so-called television program, which we're choosing to take as proof of our Greenies' influence.

Tea Party Persecutor: Outrageous! That thing has been a thorn in our side from the very beginning! I need to contact our people in the media and have them exploit her children some more.

Chief Environmental Officer: Well, silver linings...

Tea Party Persecutor: Ooh, do you think she has some grey in her hair? Can we run a few old-looking photos of her?

Obama: All right, all right. Our media is valiantly fighting to besmirch the Palins as we speak, let us move on.

Tea Party Persecutor: Lord Obama, it's getting a little ugly. The mighty wagon of truth that is the Tea Party has done much damage to our carefully structured lies and got a lot of Republicans elected in the midterm elections.

Obama: Republicans? So? They're not doing anything remotely in line with the Tea Party.

Faux Conservative/Liberal Collaborator (chuckles nervously): Yes, well, we of course sing the song to get elected--

(Jeers and boos from the Liberal Conglomerate)


Faux Conservative/Liberal Collaborator (hastily): But look we're not going to DO anything, I mean we're going to bluster, and whine, but you know most of us are spineless, idea-less politicians who are more scared of the Tea Party than you are! And we certainly haven't got a coherent plan of action! 


Obama: It's correct. This is a roadblock, but ultimately all will proceed according to our nefarious designs. After all, within a few short years the federal government will have abolished private property. And then we will make owning private property a requirement for voting, and then the federal government will be the only one with a vote. How will they like that for conservative values?


(general applause) 

Obama (raises one hand delicately, with a small smile): Fear not, followers. We shall quell them. We shall quell them, with reform. With better healthcare, with lower federal taxes, with saving our economy from plunging even further into the gutter. We shall quell them by promoting sensible, rational discourse about complicated problems!

(Scattered, slightly confused applause breaks out)


Obama: Next on the agenda, don't forget; Undermining the American Family, Dissolution of the White Population, and Blatant Disregard for Special Privileges for Churches, unless of course they are mosques.


Liberal Butler: All right, ladies and gentlemen, if you will please rise for the closing prayer.

(all chant)
Hail the Glorious Rise 
of the Obama Empire, the Marxist triumph 
Destroyer of Faiths, Liberator of the Dissolute, 
Obama the Magnificent, true heir to Hitler, 
He who shall crush under his heel of taxes the hissing head of the serpent, Small Business, 
Preserver of the Rainforest, Hater of Babies, 
Gateway to the East, bring us Terrorists, and China.
AMEN.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Gates of Heaven



I am pretty sure that Glenn Beck is ticked off that the Rapture is taking attention away from his brand of crazy.