Carnival of the Liberals, Number 91 – Eine kleine Nachtlesung

Carnival of the Liberals, Thinking Liberally

Following Quiche Moraine is a monumental and intimidating task. The collaboration of writers they have over there is a top notch, first rate bunch of folks. I’ll do the best I can to fill their shoes, rather than wind up the mess on the bottom.

Let’s start with a little humor, move through some more serious stuff, and see if I can send you off to your bed with a liberal dose of sex that will have the NeoCons pulling out their hair, and you pulling out… something more interesting.

Pointing out the bizarre nature of Republican logic is often an excursion into the ridiculous, but it’s rarely been as toe tappingly funny as The “We Did Nothing Wrong & Nancy Should Have Stopped Us” song. Now you see why Kane is quite Mad.

And Kilroy_60 seems to have discovered an important clue as to why. Send in the Clowns? They’re Already Here. Boy, does that explain a lot.

Johnny Pez has uncovered the Secret Hope In Time that the Republicans have been waiting for. Turns out they have an ace in the hole. Inspired by Isaac Asimov’s Foundation books, they’re going to get direction from their glorious past, and all they have to do is wait Inside the Time Vault.

(The rest of this edition of CotL lies below the fold.)

A homeless woman eats dinner, an orphaned image from Living the Scientific Life

In what seems like it should be humorous satire but isn’t, GrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrlScientist (who once told me that the more a person loves her, the more r’s they stick in her name) tells us that fat-cat real-estate development advisor and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (8th richest man in America and top moneybags in all of The Big Apple) is demanding rent from the city’s homeless population. Who says you can’t get blood from a stone? Not Michael Bloomberg, apparently. Being much more tactful than I would have been, she calls her post Tough Love for City’s Homeless: Pay Rent or Get Out! I would have been tempted to title it “Homeless? Tough Shit! Love, Mike.”

For something more calmingly informative, Jill of The Barefoot Badger has collected some Important Conservation Facts Everyone Should Know. They are important, and you really should know them. Having just done some study of The Tragedy of the Commons in the final portion of my Biology 112 class, I have to say this is yet another vindication of Garrett Hardin’s insights. (I got an A in the class by the way, for both of you regular readers who’ve been wondering.)

While the election of Barack Obama is a great step for our country in a multitude of ways, there is still a great big elephant in the room. 390 Years Minus 100 Days is a four part must-read reflection on the new President’s first hundred days in office and what that means for Americans of color. America’s journey toward racial equality is not at an end, but rather finally just beginning.

KPSilverman is back, but insists that we Don’t Call It a Comeback. It’s more a coming the first time. Either way, he’s coming with a vengeance. There are some damned good reasons why reasonable people are dropping the Republican Party like a used H1N1-infected snot rag.

Mammi-Ama Ofori, by ~Purple Vintage Space Princess~

Speaking of coming the first time, Doctor Biobrain reminds us why the wingnuts like James Dobson are more dangerous than ever, now that they feel The Desperation of the Powerless. It’s a scarily plausible thought, and he makes a case for being sure the nutters don’t feel ignored completely. I’ll agree with him this far: there are few things more dangerous in this world than a religious whacko with an excuse to self-martyr.

And what’s with the Religious Wrong’s obsession with sexual repression, anyway? Why must everyone shove themselves into the fundies’ own closet? Andrew Bernardin at Evolving Mind goes about explaining Why Religion Strives to Clean Up Dirty Sex. He seems to be on my wavelength, by the way. While reading that, I noticed that the other day he mentioned A Kinky Science Fact. I thought I’d share that with you since it popped up and was also part of my Bio 112 class.

Kiss / Hiro at the Maritime Hotel, by See-ming Lee @ Flickr

There are few things that annoy me more than someone twisting science to justify an agenda. The religiofascists obviously annoy me on a regular basis. The is no sewer too scuzzy for them to crawl around in, no level to which they will not stoop to pretend that science supports their delusions of a 6000 year old earth, their invisible genocidal maniac in the sky, or their self-hating fantasies of wiping out teh gehys. (I’m sure it would be by restraining gay men in leather cuffs and forcing them to their knees to beg forgiveness, turning them over their knees and paddling their cute little butts as punishment, … ahem. But I digress.) Speaking of lying about science and butts, Ron Britton notes yet another attempt by the nutters to lie about science. I’ve always felt that being a liar is a choice, But Was Charlie Butts Born That Way? Sexuality, in all its wonderfully varied and subtly nuanced forms, is not a psychological disorder but I often wonder if the glaringly obvious self-repression of homophobia is.

Greta Christina asks at her blog, “Why is it that, when religious leaders and groups finally come around and say or do something marginally nice about queers, the LGBT community falls all over itself in gratitude… but the godless community, one of the staunchest and most vocal supporters of queer rights outside the queer community itself, gets almost no recognition for their support?” As she is a member of both the LGBT and the atheist community, it’s an especially poignant question. Ironically, she uses a biblical parable, that of the prodigal son, to illustrate her point beautifully. And while you’re reading Greta Christina, let me point you to another piece of hers I saw a few days ago over on AlterNet. It wasn’t submitted for this carnival, but it’s worth your time. Why Atheists Have Great Sex. (And we do, for the record. I have the … oh, I better not discuss that here, sorry.)

Jane Reads In Bed, by me

For my own part, allow me to point you to my own little rant, Real Women, where I tell you what kind of woman makes my godless liberal heart skip a beat. (Feel free to tell my wife in the comments how sexy that photo is.) And keep your eyes peeled on Carnal Nation for my upcoming review of The Unlikely Disciple (the book Jane is reading in the photo to the left here) by Kevin Roose. Given my own history with bible college, it may prove to be an interesting look at a fascinating investigation.

That’s all I’ve got for you this time around. The next thrilling episode of Carnival of the Liberals will be hosted on June 3, at Obama Action Comics! Be sure to mark your calendar.

If you’d like to volunteer to host a future Carnival of the Liberals, or if you have a piece to submit to the carnival, you can do either or both, by clicking right here.

Carnival of the Liberals is generously maintained by Leo Lincourt of Neural Gourmet. Be sure to stop by and thank him for his efforts. While you’re there, feed your brain.

From whence came the art:

The image of the CotL Logo presumably belongs to Leo Lincourt, or possibly to the carnival.

A Homeless Woman Eats Dinner is an orphaned image over at Living the Scientific Life. Please contact GrrlScientist if this image belongs to you, so that she can give it proper attribution.

Mammi-Ama Ofori, by ~Purple Vintage Space Princess~ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works license.

Kiss / Hiro at the Maritime Hotel, by See-Ming Lee is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.

That photo of my wife Jane is titled Jane Reads in Bed, by me, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.