Month: April 2018

 
From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:

People raised in Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) churches have heard countless sermons on what the Bible says about sex. Teenagers are warned about the dangers of petting, and many IFB church forbid unmarrieds from having any physical contact with each other. Young men are characterized as weak horn-dogs and young women are viewed as gatekeepers who are responsible for any untoward sexual advances made by sexually aware boys. Young women are given strict orders concerning how to dress and behave to ward off church boys from having sex with them. One thing is certain: if a young IFB woman has sex with a boy, it is almost always her fault.

IFB churches often have lengthy and complex rules that are used to keep unmarrieds from having sex. These rules follow young adults to the IFB colleges they attend. Here we have institutions filled with eighteen- to twenty-five-year-old men and women who, with hormones raging, are expected to refrain from physical contact with the opposite sex. This includes: no holding hands, no kissing, no hugging, no putting one’s arm around another, or sitting too closely to someone of the opposite sex. My wife and I attended Midwestern Baptist College in the 1970s. We were expected to maintain a six-inch distance from each other at all times. Even after we married, we were expected to refrain from public displays of affection lest we cause unmarried dorm students to “sin.”

One would think that IFB pastors and college leaders would approve of masturbation as a way of dealing with pent-up sexual frustration. Unfortunately, masturbation is also a sin. As an IFB teenager, I heard pastors who warned church teens about the dangers of masturbation, including, — oh yes they did! — warning that masturbation will make you blind. Now lest you think it’s just crazy IFB preachers who have a problem with masturbation, consider this quote by Evangelical pastor Mark Driscoll:

First, masturbation can be a form of homosexuality because it is a sexual act that does not involve a woman. If a man were to masturbate while engaged in other forms of sexual intimacy with his wife then he would not be doing so in a homosexual way. However, any man who does so without his wife in the room is bordering on homosexuality activity, particularly if he’s watching himself in a mirror and being turned on by his own male body.

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From our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit:

21 hours ago
Via Phil comes word that it’s possible to put together a wearable piece of kit that will negate facial recognition. It can possibly make the facial recognition gizmos think you’re someone else. The attack on facial recognition is invisible to the naked eye and, if tuned right, can spoof the machines into thinking you’re someone else.

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From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:

It has been said that a large turnout benefits Democrats. That is true. It is true because there are more Democrats (50%) among registered voters than Republicans (42%).

So, how is it that Republicans have done so well in the last couple of off-year elections (2010 and 2014)? They did well because their voters went to the polls and too many Democrats didn’t bother to vote.

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A President interested in science:

Wondering why a few conservative friends fail to be impressed.

• Green Eagle notices an old guy among the young people at the Save Our Lives march.
   
• Dave Dubya looks at the pattern of public statements and sees an NRA filled with fear and loathing directed at shooting victims.
   
• Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit offers a cogent argument against a gun ban. It involves her ability to defend her home from a prospective angry ex or other intruder. Excellent response to the occasional bumper sticker – or protest sign. The sign she argues against is held by a small child. Fortunately, the proposals made by march organizers – the student survivors – do not involve taking her weapon.
   
  For the absolute best arguments for caution in gun control laws, Comrade Misfit and Infidel753 are the go-to sources.
   
• Jack Jodell at The Saturday Afternoon Post applies an observation by a long departed uncle about self-pitying rich folks to the pathologies of our current President.
   
• For Infidel753 the elevation of John Bolton is a sobering reminder of the biggest threat posed by my President.
   
• Yellow Dog at Blue in the Bluegrass watches teachers walk out of classrooms all over Kentucky and manages no sympathy at all for the Republican governor and his legislature.
   
• Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger takes a close look at my generation and asks what the hell is wrong with baby boomers.
   
• Is it always wrong to enjoy brutality? driftglass takes the rhetorical bat Assange protaganist Glenn Greenwald is using on an unsuspecting victim (well – neurosurgeon and author Sam Harris), turns it around, and pummels Mr. Greenwald to a bloody pulp. Oh, sweet Lord, I feel so guilty about not feeling any guilt.
   
• @bjork55 at Bjork Report reminds me of just a few of the many reasons I love Jesus.
   
• The Journal of Improbable Research discovers research by universities in Italy and Uruguay on whether skipping is an efficient way to walk on the moon.
   
• Professor PZ Myers is impressed that flat-earther Mike Hughes was able to build a rocket, ride it to 600 meters, come back to earth, and somehow survive. He wanted to proved the earth is not round. Professor Myers notices a huge flaw in the rocket-and-survive strategy.
   
• This week’s note in Trumpian ‘Alternative Facts’ comes from Alabama where Jim Vickrey writes in the Montgomery Advertiser, tracing today’s disrespect for truth to a single source.