Gerbera Tetra - 15 Seconds of Animation

So Harry Reid compares Obamacare opponents to slavery supporters, suffrage opponents and anti-civil rights thugs. . I should have been offended right away but to tell the truth I've gotten so used to this kind of crap that I just kinda yawned. I mean who does he think he's talking about? Democrats?

I mean it's not like he never been this stupid before. But it's become routine to call any opponents of anything Obama as racists. john Dingell did it [Tea parties = KKK] Cynthia Tucker did it [ 45% to 65% of protesters are racist] and Carlos Watson seems to think so too [socialist = nigger]

Not to put too fine a point on it but the political right and much of the middle have always been skeptical or even outraged at left wing health care reform attempts. But as soon as a black man is in the white house, it has to be motivated purely by racism.

Really? Fucking Douchebags. Socialist please!

The fact that the same reaction came from the same people when a white person was trying this kind of shit proves the opposite, actually. But liberals love to use it anyway. I got to admit it's a great attack. There's no real defense that anyone will listen to and you're guilty .. and nothing will prove you innocent.

Now I'll grant you people are a lot angrier this time. However given that this plan is going to be far more expensive that the last one

You can plead the friend excuse, but black people find that condescending for some reason, hispanics less so. [explain that one to me please].

You can just deny that you are a racist. Needless to say that doesn't fly because all minorities are equipped with telepathy and know your inner soul and you can't hide, like gaydar. [just kidding]

Truth is they can just blanket assume that all conservatives [and whites] are racist and there's no way to prove anyone wrong to their satisfaction. So why bother trying to not be racist? There isn't any point really, even if you're motivated by simple human decency and do your best towards your fellow man in general it's a waste. All you have to disagree with a minority about pretty much anything and 'Shazaam!' you are now and forever a racist.

I am forever a racist because I thought Obama was an under qualified and corrupt product of the Chicago machine before he was president. Now that he is my president I think he's an incompetent socialist. So yea, I'm a hate filled racist.

You knwo why I'm a racist?

Because I treat Obama differently that I would if he were white. If Obama were white I'd call him out more often in public. If he were white I'd not post this kind of crap [I wouldn't need to]. I would be far more comfortable talking politics with people, especially minorities, if Obama were white.

Basically the only reason I dislike the fact that Obama is a black person is this; we can't dodge his race and just be honest about where are issues really are.

I'm certain that for every person who's extra uncomfortable with the president's policies because Obama is black there's one who's going to give him far more leeway that their good sense dictates because he's black.

Having said all this there is no arguing that racism exists and that people let it influence their politics. I brought this up in the election too and it's less of an effect than you'd think.

This is important to emphasize; if race is a problem with his support. Obama will not fail because of right wing racists. He'll fail because of left wing racists. Why? because right wing racists weren't going to support him anyway.

And you can tell it's really just about political ideology when Bill Clinton is 'the first black president' and Clarance Thomas 'isn't really black'.

But wait.. wait.. there's this thing called the past, umm recent past..



Damn, caught again!

Gee, I wish I'd though to this;



Next time... blame Bush bingo!

A favorite line for atheists and agnostics to use when explaining themselves to believers is; "You believe in one god but not all the others, right? Ok, well, the only difference between us is that I believe in one less god that you do."

Never mind that that is a huge difference.

Some times I feel that way around other skeptics. The only difference between me and them is I believe one less line of bunko than they usually do. Trouble is its a doozy. Anthropogenic Global Warming, or 'Climate Change' as it's being called now is something I'm skeptical of, very skeptical of.

I used to be in the environmental camp of politics you could say. The Ozone hole thing you could say was the first time, for me, global effects moved global political matters. It was the first time I looked at ‘green’ issues in a humanity vs. the earth sort of way. I don’t recall the details of how it got started anymore but I was assigned a research paper. I think I self selected the Ozone hole. At the time I was pretty sold on the idea that humanity was destroying he earth and this was the best, biggest example. I was happy to dive into it and reel out the litany of man’s sins (as I saw it).

Well it didn’t work out so well. Even though the science by that time had become rather well understood the facts didn’t get distributed as well. Essentially the “Iaeee We’re All Gonnnaaa Die!!!” tirade from the media, the greens and politicians was grossly over stated. At the time I was pretty shocked. So I dug into it some more. The more I dug the less convinced of catastrophe I became.

Eventually I just threw my hands up and presented what I found as a display of scientist to public escalation. Kind of like how a rumor mill works. Ever see Johnny Dangerously? The scene in the prison where he gets a message via the grape vine, the distortion by the time it gets to Johnny is amazing. Luckily he knows this grapevine and can translate.

Lil: Get this to Johnny on the grapevine. Vermin is going to kill Johnny's brother at the savoy theater tomorrow night. Got it?
Polly the parrot: Got it.
[flies away]
Polly the parrot: [arrives at prison mess hall and lands on the shoulder of a prisoner] Vermin is going to kill Johnny's brother at the Savoy theater. Pass it on.
Prisoner: [to the next prisoner sitting next to him] Vermin is going to kill Johnny's brother at the Savoy theater tonight. Pass it on.
Prisoner: [to the next prisoner, "telephone" style] Vermin is going to kill Johnny's mother at the Savoy theater tonight. Pass it on.
Prisoner: [to the next prisoner] Vermin's mother is going to kill Johnny tonight at the Savoy theater. Pass it on.
Prisoner: [to the next prisoner]
[unintelligible]
Prisoner: ... at the Savoy. Pass it on.
Prisoner: There's a message through the grapevine, Johnny.
Johnny Dangerously: Yeah? What is it?
Prisoner: Johnny and the Mothers are playing "Stompin' at the Savoy" in Vermont tonight.
Johnny Dangerously: Vermin's going to kill my brother at the Savoy theater tonight.
Prisoner: I didn't say that.
Johnny Dangerously: No, but I know this grapevine.

So you see part of the reason I’m not buying the hype on global warming is, I know this grapevine. I’ve been fooled once before and I’m not going to be again.

However, I’ll believe any damn thing no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.

What was even more shocking was that some of the politicians involved seem to know better but let the hysteria go on for effect. This got me really wary of both parties. One for preaching the gospel of “Global DOOM!” and the other for kicking reasonable scientist for hurting business cronies.

For this I [and people like me] have been called a lot of things. Being compared to a Holocaust denier is a low point. But the worst, from my skeptical P.O.V. was when I was asked what was next? Did I not believe in evolution?

Recently the word Traitor has come up;

But 212 representatives voted no [on the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill]. A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered the bill too weak, but most rejected the bill because they rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases.

And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.

Sadly almost everything Paul Krugman cites as a "grim turn" is wrong or at least subject to debate, if given even cursory examination.

Ice caps are shrinking?

Yes and no... Arctic Ice has it's rebounds "The average temperature in January 2008 was 30.5 F. This is -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 49th coolest January in 114 years."

Heck the Ice in the arctic might be causing a wild life issue, and not because of a lack of ice;

But since the ice has gotten thicker, these seals had to find other places to breath. The growing ice sheet even caught 200 narwhal whales by surprise. What was supposed to be a routine breathing stop turned into a fatal nightmare. Thickening ice cut their escape route to the sea; promising them a slow death. The Canadian government had no choice but to allow hunters to exceed their whale hunting limit.

Growing ice becomes everyone's enemies, man and animal alike. With the ice cutting their food source off, unlucky polar bears face starvation. Human villages offer them hope; garbage cans become instant all-you-can-eat buffets.

--

Those claiming that the ice sheets are shrinking point to "Exhibit A," the photo with bears huddling on a shrinking chunk of ice.

But, if you talk to the photographer, that ice chunk was within easy swimming distance to the main ice sheet. This photo took place during the summer, when the Arctic ice sheet normally melts around the edges. The sun wouldn't be that bright during the winter.

As "Exhibit B," they talk about the polar bear drowning as it tried to swim the long distance to the nearest ice sheet. The fact that a storm blew this polar bear out to sea goes unmentioned.

Ok, but the Antarctic ice is disappearing .. right? Eh.. kinda;

East Antarctica is four times the size of west Antarctica and parts of it are cooling. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research report prepared for last week's meeting of Antarctic Treaty nations in Washington noted the South Pole had shown "significant cooling in recent decades".

Australian Antarctic Division glaciology program head Ian Allison said sea ice losses in west Antarctica over the past 30 years had been more than offset by increases in the Ross Sea region, just one sector of east Antarctica.

And one more, for the end kicker;

Over the past 20 years, southern sea ice has expanded, in contrast to the Arctic's decline, and researchers want to understand why. Many climate-model experiments show the Arctic responding more rapidly than Antarctica as global warming kicks in. But after looking at the latest projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "Arctic sea ice is well ahead of the models, and Antarctic sea ice is well behind what the models project," says Stephen Ackley, a polar scientist at the University of Texas, San Antonio.

Well, I'm sure the comebacks above aren't in the modeling forecast. What.. models wrong?

Arid zones spreading, yes.. and no. Kinda like glaciers climate alarmists only pay attention to the bad news... while people like me are left to talk about a bigger picture;

The southern Saharan desert is in retreat, making farming viable again in what were some of the most arid parts of Africa.

Burkina Faso, one of the West African countries devastated by drought and advancing deserts 20 years ago, is growing so much greener than families who fled to wetter coastal regions are starting to go home.

China also has less desert lately;

China's deserts are shrinking annually at a rate of about 3,000 square miles.

A senior forestry official said that the new finding sharply contrasts with the 4,000 square mile annual expansion at the end of the 20th century, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

Now, to be fair; most of the reclaimed desert is a man made effort.. but then isn't global warming supposedly also man made?

To steal from Krugman; What you see here, are people who show no sign of being interested in the truth. They like the political and policy implications of climate change, so they’ve decided not to question it — and they’ll grab any argument, no matter how disreputable, that feeds the message.

Not only are the alarmist projections not worse that projected, supporters of green policies are willing to cook graphs to produce fear. And heavan help your sanity if you can actually hold the buggers down for debate.

But the name calling, yea you get used to that.

I'm pondering doing 40k again, if only for modeling purposes. I might play but who knows-

My thought at the moment is to do a Space Marine army, a Mentor Legion/Iron Hands type of chapter.
This is the color scheme I'm thinking of atm, courtesy of Bolter and Chainsword.

Note they also have a Sisters of Battle painter as well as others.







Alternate versions..





Update, my wife the artist liked the first alternate best, so ....

Normally I'd offer my option in the place this was posted, but I don't appear to be welcome to offer my opinions soo...



Oh, surprise, surprise, people react negatively to other races.

I tell ya what on behalf of my fellow white people..

We'll stop the 'black scare'* When we're not automatically suspect for being on the verge of a hate crime. I don't know how many times I've gotten the "when is he going to show his 'true colors' and go all klan on me?" Vibe.

So f*ckign stuff it.

The truth is we're all going to have to learn to live with the fact that people don't like strangers, folks that are obvious in appearance different from the subjective 'norm' are going to get a funny vibe.

I've grown up in a neighborhood or two where I was in the minority. My workplace puts me in a minority just like it. To wit; I'm up to my armpits in darker skinned people.

Let me tell you, until I got some time assisting and coaching my coworkers, I was treated like the I was either the special needs kid or a sex offender. Even after I got to be helpful and connect with my non-white coworkers to show I was a nice guy there are some limits. I just kept my head down and endured nasty attitudes and hateful stares. It's not really a big deal to me anymore. But for the purposes of this conversation I mention it. Logan can confirm this attitude issue, he worked there too [we all got laid off this week ^_^"].

So I have to say this, n*ggas please. You folks aren't any better than us. In fact sometimes it's worse. At least we know [to some degree] that we're supposed to feel guilty about it. Most black people seem entitled to be racist. The only 'balancing' factor is that there is [as yet] more of us than of you, so it happens to you guys more often.

Unless we want to get into some sort of mind control we're just going to have to deal. This kind of 'message' doesn't really make us feel sympathetic. This kind of thing makes us wonder; "Do I have to be extra nice or neutral around non-whites?" or "Great now I have to watch every little move I make, lest some nervous or paranoid black person calls me a racist" That sounds trivial, but accusations of racism, even false ones, can ruin your life... if you're white.


Because you're not white you've probably never seen a white chick do the bag clutch to other white strangers.

Hell I've generated the 'bag grab' before as well as other fear responses. Mostly when I was more of a long haired freaky [I miss those days]. I don't get it much anymore, since I'm older, less grungy looking and usually travel in public with my wife. None of those helps me avoid the 'white fear' though. Too bad the long hair did take some of the edge of my 'whitness' though.

The fact is the more visibly different you are from someone you are, the stronger and more likely a 'stranger danger' response is going to be. And while I pointed out before ;

*speaking of that.. it's not all about you anyway. Hispanics get that too.. of and also, other non-blacks do the same crap. But yea, I know.. it only counts when white people do it ^_^