The Gamut

May 20

I wrote this article for an atheism blog as a way of promoting my novel. Give it a read. Join the conversation. Oh, and read the damn book.

May 18

Summary of an ACTUAL discussion I had with an actual right wing moron

HIM: Did you hear about this abortion doctor they found guilty of murder? Now more than ever congress should push for removing funding for Planned Parenthood.
ME: Planned Parenthood uses the tax money they get to fund women's health works such as cancer screenings and providing medication to regulate menstruation and to assure other vital health concerns for poor and middle class women.
HIM: They also perform abortions.
ME: Not with government money.
HIM: There's no way to seperate the money.
ME: Actually there is, and abortion is legal, so Planned Parenthood is doing nothing illegal.
HIM: It doesn't matter if it's not illegal, it's our tax money, and I don't want it going to pay for abortions.
ME: It's not, but even if it was, I don't want my money going to pay for drone attacks, wars, separating Mexican families, incarcerating people for marijuana possession, etc. But that's not how government funding works.
HIM: At such a time PP cleans up its act and stops promoting abortion and stops advising people how to get away with illegal late term abortions maybe then taxpayers wouldn't mind giving them money again.(Actual quote)
ME: So what you're saying is that the government should stop giving them money to save women's lives until they stop doing something that's currently legal and that they already don't use government money to do so that you'll feel better about giving them money to continue the good work that saves women's lives?
HIM: Yes.
ME: Well, I think we should stop paying the police to arrest murderers until they stop joining the policeman's benevolent society.
HIM: That doesn't make any sense.
ME: Why not? Is it because what they do privately is none of my business so long as it's legal it's their right as Americans, and because we all benefit by using government money to pay for the good services they provide?
HIM: Exactly.
ME: Exactly.

“Spoiler Alert” it says.

I do not think those words mean what Yahoo thinks they mean.

May 13

[video]

May 11

You know what’s weird?

What’s weird is that the very group that is angry with the government for not profiling blacks, middle easterners, or people in turbans, who want the government to pee test welfare recipients, who think children born in the US should be re-patriated to Mexico if that’s where their parents were born because why should “we” pay for them, who think the poor don’t pay their fair share in taxes, these same people are upset that the IRS put them on a list.

Seriously, fuck the TEA Party. Just fuck ‘em.

May 10

prolifeproblems:

gamutman:

prolifeproblems:

gamutman:

prolifeproblems:

gamutman:

Why is it not “murder” to kill nematodes?

Because nematodes are not human beings.

Neither is a cluster of identical cells.

Except yes it is, because it’s human DNA.

A drop of blood is a cluster of human cells with human DNA. Is it murder to test your blood for diabetes?

No, because blood is not a separate and unique human being. I wasn’t saying destroying human DNA is murder, I was saying that the “clump of cells” is human because it has human DNA.

A blastocyst is also not a separate and unique human being. It’s a parasitic clump of undifferentiated cells, just like a tumor, just like a cancer. As the image notes, like a tumor and a cancer, a blastocyst is not sentient, it’s not autonomous, it’s incapable of feeling pain. It’s no different than a drop of blood or a benign biopsied mole. It’s not a person at this stage of development, just like an egg is not a chicken.

prolifeproblems:

gamutman:

prolifeproblems:

gamutman:

Why is it not “murder” to kill nematodes?

Because nematodes are not human beings.

Neither is a cluster of identical cells.

Except yes it is, because it’s human DNA.

A drop of blood is a cluster of human cells with human DNA. Is it murder to test your blood for diabetes?

prolifeproblems:

gamutman:

Why is it not “murder” to kill nematodes?

Because nematodes are not human beings.

Neither is a cluster of identical cells.

Here's what it's like to argue for raising the minimum wage with a right-winger:

THEM: But what right does the government have to tell an employer how much he has to pay an employee?
ME: Actually, the Supreme Court has decided in numerous challenges that the goverment has that right under the Commerce Clause to the Constitution. It's considered settled law.
THEM: Yeah, but what gives them the right?
ME: The Commerce Clause.
THEM: That's just your opinion.
ME: No, that's what the Supreme Court has determined.
THEM: That doesn't make it Constitutional.
ME: Actually, according to the Constitution, the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of what is and is not Constitutional.
THEM: But still, the goverment has no right to tell an employer how much he has to pay an employee.

Why is it not “murder” to kill nematodes?