I am closing my business of the past 15 years, probably before Christmas. I took a full-time gig back in March and I’m loving it: not just that my boss pays me on time, but I honestly love the work. Of course, I’m always inclined to do more than I have to, and I take my responsibility seriously. Last week was the third 60+-hour week in a row, and I’ve only had maybe 3 or 4 weeks since March where my hours fell below 50. So, yeah, I’ve been busy. So that, with finishing up this year’s wedding shoots and the like, well, my time has been anything but my own.

As I noted a while back, the whole political conundrum scene really wore me out, too. This election cycle has found me doing a lot of talking with people about politics and religion, and I reached a point where blogging about what I talk about all the time was just a bit too much. So, that’s why I haven’t been posting so much. It’s been all that I could do to comment on some blog posts from time to time.

But here we are, the day before the election, and I would be remiss indeed not to at least try to remind people of some things. Not to mention the fact that it looks like South Dakota is potentially a swing state now, which impresses the shit out of me. Of course, our curmudgeonly republicans are still who they are, they’re simply aware that a McCain presidency would be bad for farmers, they’re tired of the Bush Economy already, and Sarah Palin casts light on the very hypocrisies they themselves have trouble stomaching in their heart of hearts.

This post also comes in part from a recent conversation with a fellow atheist, who, while active and interested in political things, doesn’t vote, because he doesn’t want to support what he feels is a failed system. So to him, and others whom I’ll generously label “undecided”, I say this:

1. Our system of government cannot be fixed from the outside. It can only be changed from within. The most fundamental step in changing our bureaucracy is changing its leadership. While not all government positions will be overturned just because we elect a new president, in this particular case, how government is expected to do business will change in fundamental ways. That is not a small step, and without it, we have no real way affect change. This is not something that works well from the “grassroots” up.
2. Atheists can be, and should be, very concerned about the elections. The argument that “They’re all Christians, so what does it have to do with me?” is banal. It has everything to do with you. On one side, you have a group of people, largely led by radical fundamentalists who would be quite happy to legislate your belief system into a form of treason. Many of them are feverishly intolerant. The only reason atheists are not their primary targets is because they interpret the hatred of Muslims as “patriotic”. On the other hand, you have another religious group that is tolerant, open to new ideas and change, and which represents the vast majority of religious scientists. They appreciate, and often even welcome, the exchange of ideas with atheists, agnostics, and persons of other religious persuasions. They are willing to fight for your religious disbelief as a matter of moral principle.
3. Take a look around. Even if we all felt “safe” in promoting atheism, agnosticism, and free thought, we’d still be a relative minority. And, it’s going to be a long, long time before candidates, en masse, feel that the religiously predisposed will feel “safe” in voting for self-described atheists or agnostics. We only have one such in Congress right now. If we want our candidates to feel comfortable in platforming on atheism, we have to make an environment for them to do so. And that environment starts by keeping radical fundamentalists out of government. Before we can establish a government of the non-deluded, we have to have a government of the somewhat-willing-to-accept-the-fact-that-they’re-deluded. First things first, in other words, and one thing at a time.

I could probably go on and list more, but quite frankly, I think that these three reasons stand as argument enough that being an atheist and sitting on your ass tomorrow, watching the world go by, is not an option. If you’re a registered voter, you need to vote. Period.

For at least part of tomorrow, I will be driving persons to the polls who are unable to get themselves there. Get out and vote, and if you can help someone else do the same, please do so.

{original: AP Photo/Roswell Daily Record/Mark Wilson}

{the real off-camera interview}

(original image: AFP / Mandel Ngan)

sometimes.

like when a Ruling Gives South Dakota Doctors a Script to Read regarding a ‘Unique Living Human Being’ that a patient may wish to have surgically removed.

fuckity-fuckless, fucktarded, fuckmongering fuckheads.

(sidenote: the word “fuckheads” spell-checks okay in FireFox 3. whoda fucking thunkit? wow “fucking” spell-checks, too! fuckin-a!)

in related news, according to that same article it appears the anti-abortion crowd is indeed once again going to attempt to shove anti-abortion legislation down our collective throats for the November 4 ballot. which no doubt means we’ll be seeing much more of the over-make-upped (and yet still it’s not enough) fucktarded (literally) hypocrite (who had an abortion herself and somehow apparently managed to dodge her mother’s own coat hanger to boot), Leslee Unruh and her abstinence-only program that won’t even encourage teenagers to dry-hump for Jeebus.

heh. on the other hand, i fucking LOVE living in south dakota.

this summary should do the trick for you:

Other popular Grassfire petitions include “Secure our borders” and “Save marriage”.

gah. bah. humbug.

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So, I’m sitting in a coffee shop, minding my own business, posting entirely irreverent thoughts and feelings to my little corner of the universe, wholly satisfied with the relative unlikelihood that either I or my “eternal soul” will be consigned to “Hell” for the things that I do. I’m typing away joyfully, committing one or more likely indiscretions in the views of my religious friends, when I hear a tinny-but heartfelt rendition of Amy Grant’s “Arms of Love”, which I hadn’t heard in literally over twenty years, back when I was still a brainwashed, Jesus-loving troglodyte.

I turn to my left, and sure enough, there at the table next to me is a forty-something religious-type working on his church’s website through his earbuds. My eyes quickly take in the scene with a “go figure” attitude, but then they seem to be drawn from his expensive Bose earguds, down the connecting cable, but not to his dinky-looking-but-swanked-out 14″ notebook computer, which would have made at least some form of sense. No, instead, they appear to be attached to the very thing that was responsible for the death of his very own Savior.

“Jesus Christ, what the Hell are you listening to,” I am unable to keep myself from exclaiming aloud.

He looks at me askance, unable as he was to really hear what I said, notes that I have “Planet Atheism” in my the browser of my considerable 17″ notebook, and slides away from me further to the left while cranking the volume up on Amy Grant’s tinny croonings. As he slides away, I indulge in the fond reminiscence of the early 1980’s when my still-adolescent mind would have heartily enjoyed banging Amy Grant to Kingdom Come, but prudently choose instead to glorify the femaleness of several of the members of my youth group.

But, I digress, and no, I wasn’t a very good Christian. I honestly felt all guilty about that until I finally realized that I was simply following in the footsteps of most of the Christian leaders who had progressed through adulthood before me. At least I liked young women instead of juvenile males who needed far more from a “father figure” than his holy rod of spiritual retribution.

So, if you’re a good little Christian boy or girl, and you’re wondering how you can subtly offend the non-believing people around you (or those who prefer that their music not contain false, self-aggrandizing dogma-ingratiating lyrics), be sure to pick up one of these little gems. They’re probably a little uncomfortable in your front pocket, but that right there is a Judas-thought, and you should be ashamed of yourself!

You can get your very own Cross MP3 Player (jPod) from engadget.com, a place which now makes me shudder. Impress your entire youth group with your semi-phallic representation of the presumed sacrifice granted unto you by some mythological guy who probably never existed! Use your 4Gb of Sacred Digital Storage Space to maintain your entire collection of “Christian Rock”….up to ten times over at 128kbps! It even comes complete with a microphone jack so that you can record the Holy Rantings of your Chosen Pastor of Duplicitous Ramblings!

From the website:

Destined to be sold in bulk quantities to youth groups everywhere, the Cross MP3 Player is hardly designed by coincidence, and comes with 4GB of internal memory, a two-color LCD, built-in speaker, FM tuner, integrated mic, seven equalizer modes and a multi-language menu for those overseas mission trips. Fightin’ the good fight will only cost you $48.14, but you can whittle that down even more by purchasing these things by the hundreds

Yes, that’s right. You’re a rich, young, probably-white neo-conservative Christian. You can afford to buy them in bulk and pass them out as a “blessing” to those less fortunate to you. Because, after all, nothing says “holiness” like the gift of cheesy, cross-shaped small-ass MP3 players for the less-fortunate-than-you token Hispanic members of your congregation who don’t even have computers! Rock on, Christian Soldier!

Sadly, the jPod’s FM Tuner may not allow you to capture Rush Limbaugh broadcasts, but at least you’ll be able to listen to your favorite alternative-rock station while you’re fag-bashing at the local park or gang-raping that little trollop who lives a couple of blocks away.

Buy one today. Hell, buy a dozen! Jesus would! In fact, if he had actually existed, I’m sure Jesus would have loved to have one of these to listen to while he was supposedly hanging up there on that hunk of wood, saving YOUR ass from Eternal Damnation and Hellfire!

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{the title of this post was unabashedly plagiarized from Jesus Built My Hotrod, by Ministry, a totally blasphemous work of music, which, were i to actually purchase this piece of turd, would be one of the first songs i would download and play on it.}

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JESUS CRAP™, fun-filled Judeo-christian E-commerce Systems Under Scrutiny for the Collective Retardation of All People, by commander other.