Do Ray Me!

6:26 PM Mar 31, 2009by Rob Ritchie

Pious gratitude to: The Great One

Celebrate Human Achievement Hour

5:31 PM Mar 28, 2009by Rob Ritchie

There's rejoicing in Heaven

5:10 PM Mar 28, 2009by Rob Ritchie

Anti-Evolution Bill Still A Fruitless Exercise

A bill aimed at undercutting acceptance of evolution in Florida science classes, which kicked up a fuss but didn't pass in the Florida Legislature last year, apparently is going nowhere this year.

A Senate version of the bill has yet to receive a committee hearing and has no companion bill in the House.

That means, said one proponent of the idea, that the bill has little chance of passage in this frantic session, heavily devoted to cutting and balancing the state budget.

"With no companion in the House, it doesn't have much likelihood," said Rep. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla.

Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, filed the bill in the Senate in late February. It would require that public schools "teach a thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution" in science classes.

Thank God. We don't need to waste everybody's time promoting a particular religious view in the Florida Public Schools.

I'll say it again: Republicans, drop this shit right now. It's a non-starter.

And frankly, I don't like you promoting your religion at the expense of my religion....And I don't mean Darwinism.

Pious gratitude to: LGF

Lunchblogging!

12:47 PM Mar 27, 2009by Rob Ritchie


All-You-Can-Eat Fishfry at Julie's Waterfront

3:26 PM Mar 23, 2009

by Rob Ritchie

MSNBC reporter finds way to mix business with pleasure.

"Hey baby, lean down here and answer a couple questions, OK?"

11:32 AM Mar 23, 2009

by Rob Ritchie

When I was at the Orlando Tea Party last Saturday, I saw a couple of 9/11 "Truthers" who were trying to stir-up their own brand of crazy. Wish I'd had a mobile link to this: 15 Questions for Truthers

The Republican Party's Big 'But'

8:46 AM Mar 23, 2009by Rob Ritchie

Via LGF, I find Ringo the Gringo's account of his visit to a newly-purposed dinosaur attraction:

The Lion, The Lamb, and The Velociraptor

I didn't drag my family all the way out here simply to poke fun at a goofy, creationist roadside attraction. In fact the people who were working at this place were sincerely nice folks. It was also not my intent to ridicule their religion. But still I felt compelled to photograph this place and share the pictures on my website. Why?

The reason is that there are those who would have this type of "creation science" taught in American public schools as part of the science curriculum… And most of the people pushing for this are members of the Republican Party; the party of which I am a member.

States such as Texas and Louisiana have already passed legislation which would allow this type on nonsense to be introduced in to publicly funded schools and promoted as valid "science", equal to legitimate scientific theories regarding, not only evolution, but also geology, biology, astronomy and even archeology! To me this is beyond embarrassing, it’s a travesty.

The governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, who was selected to give the Republican rebuttal to President Obama's recent speech before Congress, is a strong proponent of introducing this kind of phony science in public schools. He is also often referred to as "the future of the Republican Party"… Well, if Jindal really is the future of the Party, then it’ll have to be a Party without me.

Without me either. Get it together, Pubbies.

7:27 PM Mar 21, 2009

by Rob Ritchie

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what an Instalanche looks like:

I'm spent.

Orlando Tea Party!

2:12 PM Mar 21, 2009by Rob Ritchie

I just got back from the Orlando Tea Party in downtown Eola Park. Really good turn-out, several thousand people probably but it's hard to tell.

I'll have more pictures later....wait for it!

Update:  OK, the pictures are uploaded. Click here!

Update 2:  Hey! I've been Instalanched! Thanks for the link, Perfesser!

Orlando Tea Party Today!

9:53 AM Mar 21, 2009by Rob Ritchie

Lent-blogging!

1:45 PM Mar 20, 2009by Rob Ritchie

Today, we went to Five Guys for lunch before an offsite meeting.

On a Friday in Lent, I was sorely tempted, but I had one of their Grilled Cheese, and it was pretty good.

Not as good as their burgers, but not much is.

Lunchblogging!

1:04 PM Mar 18, 2009by Rob Ritchie


Beef & Cheese Sandwich Special, Beefy King, Orlando, Florida

6:28 PM Mar 16, 2009

by Rob Ritchie

Is Obama incompetent?

Frankly, I doubt that he and his gang of socialist toadies is any more incompetent than any other Democratic Senator with no meaningful executive experience. On the other hand, you could probably fill a sock with cat shit and fling it into a Green Day concert and smack somebody who could do a better job.

Sure, our investments are losing value faster than any time in recorded history, and the Obama State Department can't even keep friggin' England happy with some fish-and-chips. Also, it appears that he picks his cabinet by going through a book of mugshots and choosing the ones with the least-noticeable tattoos.

OK, maybe he is exactly as incompetent as we feared he would be. Maybe his room-temperature IQ is fouling the gears of government to an extent that our little 10-speed is going to lose its chain.

What concerns me is that the loving, tolerant and profoundly racist Left of this country are going to sadly shake their heads, lower their expectations, move their goalposts and promote him socially to the next grade without ever examining why Obammy can't read.

And if they do that, they'll set back the cause of African-Amricans by twenty years.

Their first will be our last, and that would be sad. Because there are African-Americans who better deserve to be in the office than Barack H. Obama. And I think he's ruining the place for all of us.

I'm Bad

7:58 PM Mar 15, 2009by Rob Ritchie

I missed the last night shuttle launch. I am so bummed.

I just went outside and snapped this picture, which shows the last rays of the sun on the shuttle smoke trail:

As I said, I'm bummed I missed it.

7:14 PM Mar 15, 2009

by Rob Ritchie

So, while I was wasting my time looking at antique books, they were having a massive Tea Party in Cincinnati:

Is that my brother I see in that massive crowd?

Next week: Orlando!

Antiquarian Book Fair 2009

4:59 PM Mar 15, 2009by Rob Ritchie

It's March, and that means books in our area: specifically, the Antiquarian Book Fair in St. Pete, where booksellers from all over the country come and display their wares.

We set out, and along the way I snapped a picture out the driver's side window:

Not a good picture, I know, but it's not easy to get a picture of the Airstream Ranch

Next, through Tampa and on towards the Tampa Bay bridge:

Finally, on to the Coliseum to the book Fair.

3:20 PM Mar 14, 2009

by Rob Ritchie

10:14 AM Mar 8, 2009

by Rob Ritchie

Rorschach Doesn't Shrug

The Watchmen's hero as Objectivist saint

4:53 PM Mar 7, 2009

by Rob Ritchie

"A prayer wouldn't hurt."

Out and About

4:25 PM Mar 7, 2009by Rob Ritchie

10:03 AM Mar 7, 2009

by Rob Ritchie

My Fellow Conservatives, Let’s Be Bad Guys!

A few years back, television writer/producer/director/visionary Joss Whedon made a little libertarian-themed science fiction movie called Serenity. In it, our ragtag band of heroes make their way around the ‘verse by trading freely when they can and by stealing from the corrupt, oppressive central government when they must. Before launching a minor raid on a government stash of ill-gotten gold, Jayne, the hired muscle (played with an endearingly ignorant malice by Adam Baldwin), cocks his shotgun menacingly — is there any other way? — and suggests, “Let’s be bad guys.”

Yes. Exactly. Let’s.

11:39 AM Mar 5, 2009

by Rob Ritchie

I don't link to Ann Coulter very much since she came out with Godless and supported the teaching of Intelligent Design.

But, fair is fair, and funny is funny:

Fortunately, we have Keith Olbermann to point out that Rush Limbaugh did not accurately quote the preamble to the Constitution in his CPAC speech last weekend. I'm not sure what scam Olbermann imagined Rush was trying to put over on the American people by saying conservatives believed in the "preamble to the Constitution" and then quoting words from the Declaration of Independence -- but Olbermann put an end to that cruel deception!

These small-time opportunities to show off by correcting someone else's teeny-tiny mistakes are the lifeblood of Olbermann's MSNBC show, "Countdown." Olbermann is no more capable of not correcting Rep. Charlie Rangel when he said "inferred," but meant "implied," than an obsessive compulsive could pass a sink without washing his hands.

There is utterly no purpose to these lame "gotchas," except that Olbermann is so desperately insecure that he is willing to waste valuable airtime in order to convince other status-conscious idiots that he is, like, scary-smart.

Olbermann relentlessly attacked low-level Bush administration employee Monica Goodling for not going to a name-dropping college, saying -- approximately 1 million times -- that she got her law degree "by sending 100 box tops to Religious Lunatic University."

I would venture to say that the students at Goodling's law school at Regent University are far more impressive than those at the Cornell agriculture school -- the land-grant, non-Ivy League school Keith attended.

I wouldn't mention it, except that Olbermann savages anyone who didn't go to an impressive college. As it happens, he didn't go to an impressive college, either.

No? Read the rest.

Tweet tip: Jim Treacher

Ombudsmen

8:46 AM Mar 5, 2009by Rob Ritchie

I was a big fan of the Watchmen comics when they came out in the 80s, and I am excited to see the movie tomorrow night.

PVP has been doing a very funny spoof called "Ombudsmen".

Start here.

(I should point out that it will make no sense if you haven't read the book or seen the movie.)