Goatse is not an argument for God.

So there I was on Twitter, when I saw this:

 The link went to this photo:

Open letter to Vic Toews

Dear Minister Toews,

I'd like to voice my concern about the Government's intent to pass Bill C30, or as it is known, the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act. As a Canadian citizen who uses the Internet, I am supremely concerned that the Conservative government is interested in co-opting my Charter rights for the ease of prosecution. While titled to be defending children from Internet predators, the actual bill's language refers only to general situations. We have no assurances that the rights co-opted by your government shall be used only in the situations suggested in the rationale. Perhaps there is only the greatest of intentions with this bill, but you are surely aware of what the proverbial road to Hell is paved with.

Fuck Russia

Seriously, fuck Russia.

What stupid douchebags they are. Yes, Syria is an area traditionally in the Soviet sphere of influence, but they're murdering their own people by the bucketload. Fuck Russia.

Fuck China too. It's pretty simple. These asshole countries don't want NATO kicking the ass of a country that kills their own people, because they kill their own people too and don't want to mix it up with NATO. I don't blame them. Some USS Enterprise + HMS Illustrious up their ass would fuck their day, assuming nobody presses the big red button.

But Syrians deserve rights. And NATO should protect those rights. I hope we roll in and give al-Assad the same big "fuck you" we gave to Gaddafi. AKA - I hope we bomb him into oblivion and make sure that the rebels have a fighting fucking chance. You can't just send tanks on your own people. We shouldn't put up with that. We shouldn't have to. We should stop this bullshit. We have the power, and we should use it for good. Not Iraq stuff...but actual good.

This is why Obama is a good president, btw. Because he works with NATO, because he respects the Arab League and other similar organizations. The Arab League begged the UN to intervene, but Russia said no. And China, but they'd have fallen in line.

Fuck you, Russia. I don't care how big the man-crush I have on Vladimir Putin is. Fuck you.

1916

16 years old when I went to the war,
To fight for a land fit for heroes,
God on my side, and a gun in my hand,
Counting my days down to zero,
And I marched and I fought and I bled and I died,
And I never did get any older,
But I knew at the time that a year in the line,
Is a long enough life for a soldier,

We all volunteered, and we wrote down our names,
And we added two years to our ages,
Eager for life and ahead of the game,
Ready for history's pages,
And we brawled and we fought and we whored 'til we stood,
Ten thousand shoulder to shoulder,
A thirst for the Hun, we were food for the gun,
And that's what you are when you're soldiers,

I heard my friend cry, and he sank to his knees,
Coughing blood as he screamed for his mother,
And I fell by his side, and that's how we died,
Clinging like kids to each other,
And I lay in the mud and the guts and the blood,
And I wept as his body grew colder,
And I called for my mother and she never came,
Though it wasn't my fault and I wasn't to blame,
The day not half over and ten thousand slain,
And now there's nobody remembers our names,
And that's how it is for a soldier.


1916 by Mötorhead

I wrote this as an exercise...

So, I recently replayed several titles in the Zelda series, and one of the best is Link to the Past, the Super Nintendo version of the classic game. This game is beautifully set up - colourful, vibrant, and with intense and exciting gameplay. Replaying it was like opening a window to my childhood and stepping through it; like few things really can, the sounds and sights that dominated my Christmas and after back in 1989 really took me back.


So I was thinking about it, and imagining one of the more climactic scenes, when Link enters the Lost Woods to reclaim the Master Sword, and what that might have been like "rein-acted" using the new information about the series. Also, I was bored at work. Story below the jump.

Beer + Laptop =?

So I spilled beer on my laptop a few days ago. Oops. That sucks, and it sucked more when my trackpad and my keyboard stopped working. Lugging around a mouse with me and using half a keyboard was a pain in the ass, so I figured, hey, it's not under warranty, I'll just replace the parts.

Today, all the new stuff arrived and within 45 minutes I had reassembled the laptop. It works great, but I'm concerned the life lesson here isn't "don't spill beer on your expensive things", but instead, "hey, if you spill beer, it's only $35 in parts!"

Oops.

Open Letter to Ricky Hood

Ricky Hood is the superintendent for the Eastern School District in PEI, the largest district in the province, and he's cool with the Gideons handing out Bibles. Hemant has the scoop.

I sent him a letter, posted below the jump. Any other concerned Canadians should do the same. I'll post any responses here.

History & Jessica Ahlquist - The Founding Fathers

The wonderful and eloquent Greta Christina has written a detailed post regarding Jessica and the harassment she's been slammed with following daring to stand up for her rights. I suggest you read it in its entirety before coming back here.

What I'd like to do today is look at Jessica, and how she stands among a pool of Americans commonly considered great in times past. You see, those who study history know that there is a "right" side and a "wrong" side. The right side is the side that wins - and it tends to be, in American history, on the side of people who make the morally correct decision. In this situation, the situation of Jessica's First Amendment rights, we can look back through history and find some great Americans who would support - and those who would detract - from what she's done.

Please note that I am writing these as if these long-dead figures have knowledge of today's interpretation of the Constitution, including such important points as the 14th Amendment and Lemon v. Kurtzman.

Fiction: alternate Civil War story

I started this as a story some time ago, and as always, I pick and prod at such things. This is based on the idea of a different outcome to the American Civil War - one where the British become involved on the side of the Confederacy. Although I've only written 11,000 words so far, I did some extensive backstory work that isn't directly relevant to the action. So far, what I have written is one of my favourite pieces of fiction I've ever put to paper. I hope to one day write more on it, and I hope you enjoy what I have so far written. An excerpt, a link, and more detail below the jump.