Hey, teachers: this one's for you. (This stuns me. And in a public school, no less.)

Colleen Leduc already had a lot going against her. The Barrie woman was holding down a job while struggling to raise her autistic 11-year-old daughter.

. . .

Leduc's weird tale began on May 30, when she dropped young Victoria off for class at Terry Fox Elementary and headed in to work, only to receive a frantic phone call from the school telling her it was urgent she come back right away.

The frightened mother rushed back to the campus and was stunned by what she heard - the principal, vice-principal and her daughter's teacher were all waiting for her in the office, telling her they'd received allegations that Victoria had been the victim of sexual abuse - and that the CAS had been notified.

How did they come by such startling knowledge? Leduc was incredulous as they poured out their story.

"The teacher looked and me and said: 'We have to tell you something. The educational assistant who works with Victoria went to see a psychic last night, and the psychic asked the educational assistant at that particular time if she works with a little girl by the name of "V." And she said 'yes, I do.' And she said, 'well, you need to know that that child is being sexually abused by a man between the ages of 23 and 26.'"

Victoria, who is non-verbal, had also been exhibiting sexualized behaviour in class, actions which are known to be typical of autistic behavior. That lead authorities to suspect she had a bladder infection that may have somehow been related to the 'attack.'

There's more. It's

Thanks a whole fuckin' lot for speaking for the rest of us. "Atheist" (in big ol' scare quotes) does NOT equal "uncouth scofflaw." (And I'd be purifying the confessional, too--but I'd be using Lysol. I imagine it's more effective at removing residual bodily fluids than incense alone.)

Today--the infamously frisky First of May--has been designated the National Day of Prayer. (Because that's *sure* to keep everyone's minds on Jesus and out of the hormone-flooded gutter of Spring.)

Fuck censorship. Just fuck it. And fuck fundie-fuelled censorship twice as hard with a pointed stick.

Via Wired:
A U.S. government-funded medical information site that bills itself as the world's largest database on reproductive health has quietly begun to block searches on the word "abortion," concealing nearly 25,000 search results.

Called Popline, the search site is run by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland. It's funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, the federal office in charge of providing foreign aid, including health care funding, to developing nations.

The massive database indexes a broad range of reproductive health literature, including titles like "Previous abortion and the risk of low birth weight and preterm births," and "Abortion in the United States: Incidence and access to services, 2005."

But on Thursday, a search on "abortion" was producing only the message "No records found by latest query."

( Rest of article behind the cut, or via the link, above. )

Call me over-cautious, but I'm taking this (and all the other incidents of blog-entry-fallout) as a sign that I should be locking a lot more posts.

Anything could be a screening tool--interests lists, photos, groups, the (fucking) company one keeps... "Oh, look--this one's queer *AND* has multiple partners! We can charge him a fortune and then deny him coverage if he ever gets sick!"

(Via supergee.)

I will eventually internalize the fact that Alpha Male is traditionally served smothered in Pompous with a generous helping of Ass. Just *once* it would be nice if they could add a dash of Humility and, perhaps, a sprinkling of Humor.

You know, if this really was a restaurant we're talking about, I'd have moved on to another dish a long time ago. Perhaps it's no longer a question of changing my ordering habits--I think I need an entirely different fucking restaurant.

One noticed, as the address began, that it wasn't a matter of Bush waiting for the applause to *stop* before he continued speaking so much as a rather obvious refusal to speak until applause had begun in the first place.

They should be learning, exploring the world and developing critical thinking skills, not drowning in doctrine in a veritable swamp of religious zealotry.

Update - 11 Dec 2007: After receiving a slew of messages from men with user names like "IHave8Inches" and "GottaBigOne" I feel compelled to mention that if your user name is in any way indicative of the (supposed) size of your penis, you probably have little else to offer. If your user name makes reference to penis size but is, in fact, a fantastic and subtle joke, please share the humor, as I have yet to encounter a penis-centric username that is anything but self-congratulatory.

EDIT: And why is it almost always 8 inches? Perhaps 7" is regarded as unimpressive but 9"+ is intimidating....

So, LJ is at it again.

http://community.livejournal.com/lj_biz/243697.html

This time, they are offering users the option of designating their entire journal (or community) as containing A.) Adult Concepts, or B.) Explicit Adult Content. Adult Concepts is for readers age 14 and up while journals that self-identify as Explicit are for readers who are 18 and over.

And just in case you choose NOT to screen your filth.... ( Insert suspenseful music here... )

This isn't directed at any specific individual, but just to be clear:

There is a big difference between commuting a particular individual's sentence and pardoning them altogether. Bush commuted the portion of the sentence that required Libby serve time in prison, but left the fines and probation alone. While he probably will pardon the perjuring little weenie tot eventually, as it stands, Scooter officially remains a Bad Boy.

"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is 'one nation under God.'"

George Bush, Sr. said that in 1987 in response to a reporter who asked him if he recognized the equal citizenship and patriotism of American citizens who are also atheists.

Just to kiss it and make it better, here's Richard Dawkins in April 2002:

"In practice, what is an atheist? An atheist is just somebody who feels about Yahweh the way any decent Christian feels about Thor, or Baal, or the Golden Calf. ... We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one God further."

Was awakened at the crack of oh-dark-30 by the massive quantity of lust-crazed wild turkeys gobbling away beneath the bird feeders on the edge of truck yard. The toms--poor bastards--have been rendered stupid with turkey-lust. It's all they can do to keep ANY of their brain cells on basic survival issues like, oh, say, feeding, and avoiding humans with cameras. Yes, I took pictures. The silly things all but ignored me until I was practically on top of them, then scooted away juuuuuuussssst enough to get back to the all-important and pressing business of impressing turkey hens.

To their credit, the hens really seem to have their shit together. Christ, they're practically human. The hens stay in a bunch, looking bored. But the second that one of the toms comes too close, he is set upon by one or two hens who drive him off by heckling him until he returns, shamefaced, to the toms. Occasionally, all the toms will bumrush the hens, resulting in a cacaphony of gobbling and flapping and the eventual separation of one of the hens from her girlfriends.

The only things missing are the tired-ass pickup lines and drunk-sex in the bathroom stall.

Fucking turkeys.

17 LJ communities and 416 users list "masterbating" as an interest.

The second I saw your pic I just knew I had to spew my loins. You with your long blonde hair and shapely body are perfect for my liking. I cum well equipped with the right sized tool. And, my oral appendage is capable of doing anything that any lezbo could do. Nice tan, I want to lick all the white spots, and pink spots, and brown spots.

Oh, and to complete the picture--his user name refers directly to the (supposed) size of his "tool."

Vile. Vile!

There's been a good bit of discussion/ranting going on over in theferrett's LJ regarding this "marriage contract." There are multiple pages, so do read it all if you're interested.

For the record, that kind of contract would *never* work for me. But that's not to say that I don't find some aspects of it appealing. However, I find the "Oh noes! They have No Safewordz!!11!!eleventy-one!1!" comments annoying. That's the least of this woman's problems, IMO. While my impulse is to shrug and say, "There's an ass for every seat," the fact remains that this type of arrangement really *works* for some people. It's their idea of safety, security and contentment, and I would not attempt to prevent anyone from knowingly entering into an arrangement like this one because it's none of my business and these contracts are only worth the weight that the couple or group involved is willing to give them.

That said, there's been a whole lotta focus on how this contract is opening the door for all kinds of abuse. Sorry, but that poorly worded, one-sided piece of paper is not determining the inevitability of abuse any more readily than if she'd simply moved in with demanding, controlling, domineering festering asshole of a person who wanted to subjugate another human being against their will. That contract is *all* about how that guy's wiring is crossed nine ways from Sunday--and since it's SO far from legally binding as to be laughable, abuses based on it are just as offensive as those inflicted in a contractless relationship.

Those contracts work as long as there is a mutual desire to comply with the boundaries and rules the couple agrees on. If there's no mutual agreement, that contract is *nothing* but words, *unless* the controlling party has some other power over the ostensibly powerless party.

So what I'm getting at, I suppose, is that Master Fucknut would have abused her with or without the paperwork; she was powerless *long* before he wrote it. Don't blame the contract. It's just evidence of a disease--it's most certainly not the cause of it.

Oh, god. The stupid--it burns.

(I should know better than to read ANYTHING kit_kallisti finds on webcest. And yeah, I'm okay with body mods and whatnot, but this... this is just dumbassery. If you go injecting your dick--among other bits--with silicone until it looks like you have elephantitis of the Guy Parts, your happy ass goes right into my "No Pity For You, Monkey Boy" file.)

I've been watching the Aulito proceedings, and since I was eating *my* lunch when they broke for *their* lunch, I started flipping channels.

At some point, I stumbled across something about the Bush family. I know that George W. and Jed are weird and dumb, but I had no idea that Neil Bush was out there with them.

Apparently, while in the middle of an ugly divorce, he accused his wife Sharon of "stealing" his hair in order to make a voodoo doll of him. Sharon claims that she took the hair to have it tested for evidence of his cocaine use. Call me gullible, but I think I believe her. Perhaps because Neil is dumber than dirt and lies like a cheap rug. (He claimed that when he'd go to Asia on business, women would show up at his hotel room wanting to have sex with him, and that he did not pay for this service.)

And this... This is the *best* bit, revealed when Sharon's lawyer (Brown) was having a go at him regarding his Asian trysts...

Attorney Brown asked Neil about this, "Is that where you caught the venereal diseases?" and Neil said, "No."

Brown asked, "Where did you catch those?"

And Neil replied, "Diseases plural? I didn't catch..."

Brown apologized, I guess for being insensitive, "Well, I'm sorry. How ... how many venereal diseases do you suffer from?"

Neil said, "I've had one venereal disease."

To which Brown asked, "Which was?"

"Herpes," he said.

...

That boggled my mind. You do not "had" herpes, unless you are dead. Herpes is forever.