Obscanity: You'll know it when you see it

The Stranger | Slog | A Comment from COMTE.

I would totally watch the TV show s/he suggests… totally.

Pro-Gay Sites Filtered From Tennessee Students | Threat Level from Wired.com.

Public schools in Tennessee are filtering access to online websites discussing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, but are not blocking sites advocating “reparative” therapy to change their lifestyle.

School officials are blaming the filtering company. The filtering company is blaming the schools. (and Amazon.com is blaming a glitch… yeah.)

Meanwhile, what scandalous information was being sought when the filter came to light?

“When I found out about this web-filtering software, I wasn’t looking for anything sexual or inappropriate, I was looking for information about scholarships for LGBT students, and I couldn’t get to it because of this software,” said Andrew Emitt, a 17-year-old Central High senior in Knoxville.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Snakes escape on Qantas flight.

No, like… seriously?

*snickers*

YouTube – Anderson Cooper: It’s hard to talk when you’re teabagging.

Slain girl’s family express ‘shock and disbelief’ at neighbor’s arrest – CNN.com.

"There was some speculation early on that [the suspect] would be a man," Sheneman said Saturday. "It's unusual for a woman — statistically, according to the FBI — to be involved in anything like this."

That’s why it’s interesting that I’ve seen more than a few commenters on news articles speculate that she might be covering for somebody. It just seems a little… off. I have the feeling there will be more to this story.

Right-wing extremism may be on rise, report says – CNN.com.

And we’re surprised why?

Susan Boyle’s Britain’s Got Talent Audition.

Wow!

The Bilerico Project | Planet Unicorn.

Looks like somebody’s been grazing in the ambrosia fields for too long… how is Bilerico JUST NOW discovering Planet Unicorn? Seriously? What’s next – are they going to reveal a fabulous new cartoon called Lizzy the Lezzy?

The Bilerico Project | Best NOM parody ad yet.

Yep. Today, marriage. Tomorrow, analog TV! We are out to destroy God’s creations! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

*arf!*

Spokane parks to detonate squirrels | KOMO News – Seattle, Washington | Local & Regional.

The Rodenator Pro pumps propane and oxygen into the tunnels of squirrels, then sends an electric spark that causes an explosion. The shock waves kill the squirrels and collapse their tunnels – but in a humane way, the agency said.

Ummmm, as opposed to the completely separate, totally different NONhumane way of detonating squirrels?

Gawker – Amazon.com Admits ‘Embarrassing’ Error Over 57,310 Gay Books – Amazon.com.

They got the same response I got when I emailed – first I got the “It’s a glitch and it’s being fixed” email. The next one said:

It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles – in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon’s main product search.

Many books have now been fixed and we’re in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future.

Thanks for contacting us. We hope to see you again soon.

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=rbwwvxuf3476499483
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=rbwwvxuf3476499483

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.

Best regards,

Katikara Venkatesh
Amazon.com
We’re Building Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company
http://www.amazon.com/your-account

Do they even bother to have actual customer service reps, or do they have an “automatic name generator” attached to a stock email responder?

Plan to Change Student Lending Sets Up a Fight – NYTimes.com.

Well, hey, that’s great – now what is to be done about the millions of Americans who are paying almost all of their monthly income straight to the banks for loan repayment? The interest rates have gotten way out of hand. I have student loans at higher interest rates than some of my credit cards. Obscene. Nay – obscane.

Nasstoys Taylor Wane Vibrating Ass & Pussy: Appropriate for a family-friendly business. Ranked.
Heather Has Two Mommies: Adult material. Inappropriate for family eyes. Now unranked.

Hetero smut is still A-OK.

Warning: NOT work-friendly.

So a keyword for “pussy” comes up… yeah… while a keyword for “homosexuality” offers a “cure.” Great. What a great standard to set. I hope all the little children looking for pussy-cats are prepared for the shock of their lives… Amazon FAIL.

Meta Writer – Amazon Censorship – Who is affected?.

Gay Lit Too ‘Adult’ for Amazon.com / Queerty.

Even worse – search Amazon for “homosexuality” and see what the first listing is. Somebody paid off somebody, because the category listing comes SECOND. Look what comes first.

Pam’s House Blend:: More from “Nation for Marriage:” the talking points revealed.

A fabulous post that will have you snickering the entire time… I do like the Jewey font best. That’s probably because I’m Jewish.

Our Heart Aches for This Self-Hating Little Boy on YouTube / Queerty.

This is so sad.

What’s in an Orange? | Jewesses With Attitude.

A bit of background on the tradition of putting an orange on the seder plate.

Same-sex marriage rights a step closer in District of Columbia – CNN.com.

"Same-sex 'marriage' is a movement driven by wealthy homosexual activists and a liberal elite determined to destroy not only the institution of marriage, but democracy as well. Time and again, we see when citizens have the opportunity to vote at the ballot box, they consistently opt to support traditional marriage," Perkins said.

That is of course a load of shit – but you want to know what DOES undermine democracy? Maintaining a district of 591,833 people who have no right to govern themselves without subjecting their votes to the review of the whole of Congress. Sorry, but when the founders forbade D.C. from having a vote or becoming a state, they certainly weren’t anticipating that it would become a major metropolitan area the way it has.

On the other hand, allowing state Supreme Courts to exercise their judicial oversight as to the other branches of government is fully and wholly in line with the three-branch, “checks and balances” government our intelligent founders set up to prevent tyranny by the majority.

With veto overrides, Vermont legalizes same-sex marriage – CNN.com.

What a beautiful sight.

Civil rights aside (hey, there’s something CA knows how to do), it’s wonderful that Vermont and Iowa will reap the economic benefits of these decisions, in this lousy economy. It’s a damned shame California didn’t get to cash in on that, particularly since it would have been couples’ only west coast option (besides Vancouver). Oh well. It’s not like the California economy NEEDED those hundreds of millions of out-of-state dollars and a couple thousand new jobs… Oh, wait…

When Same-Sex Marriage Was a Christian Rite – Colfax Record.

Well, duh. Read the works of John Boswell.

Pam’s House Blend:: Focus on the Family staffer busted for soliciting teen for sex over Internet.

I’m just surprised it was a teenage GIRL the guy was planning to meet. It is Focus on the Family, after all.

what would jesus do for a klondike bar?.

I was going to raise my eyebrows, but then, I can’t really say anything. When I lived in a boarding house and somebody was stealing my food out of the refrigerator, I scrawled, “THOU SHALT NOT STEAL” across the top of my plastic storage bin in black Sharpie.

Renegade DEA finds new excuses « The Hemp Factor.

So the fun now is that the DEA is going to start claiming that dispensaries are in violation of state law in order to continue their raids. Never mind that in the most recent raid in San Francisco, in which the DEA claimed the dispensary was not in compliance with state law, local law enforcement was not even included in the decision to raid. What gives these federal bureaucrats the idea that they get to decide what complies with state laws? Don’t they realize that interferes with the state’s authority to enforce its OWN laws?