General

There's some major changes and updates coming to Firewall/SOSDG 0.9.4.  I've been changing code and adding functions, trying to simplify how things are laid out.  I'm hoping over the next month or two to get the code up to production status (1.0 would be nice).

There's nothing wrong with a business making money - that is what they are supposed to do.

There is one major change between businesses of today, and those of the 1900s:

CEOs, investors, etc were once rewarded for successful business practices - things like increasing sales, expanding the business, hiring workers, etc.

Instead, the higher ups and management types of today are rewarded for running the company into the ground, then firing/laying off thousands of workers, and putting the 'savings' into their own golden parachute.

There's a huge difference between making a profit and making an obscene profit - profit is made from good business practices, expansion, selling quality products, etc.  Obscene profit is laying off thousands of people even though you made more money this year then in previous years 10 fold.

We all are pretty well aware of the fact that Christians have this tendancy to allow violations of their own commandments as long as they can somehow justify it in the name of their imiginary friends, but its not often we see ones that post about how they think its okay and try to justify their position.

In this case, Chrissy Satterfield posted a commentary on WorldNetDaily about how she applauds whoever vandalized the atheist billboard in North Carolina.

Some bits from the commentary I thought were interesting...

Chrissy, I'd like to point out that you seem to be confusing truth with opinion.  What you consider 'truth' is actually a rather limited and tunnel vision view of what some people believe in, rather then what the world and country believe in as a whole.  I know its very easy to bob your head back and forth like a cheerleader and scream "la la la!" whenever someone happens to bring it to your attention that there are people in this world who don't believe the same way you do, but for once, do mature a little.

But, Chrissy, you did just encourage vandalism!  It comes back to the Christian way of 'law' (I use this term loosely, considering Christians, if they could write laws, would make being gay and being black an executable offense) where as long as its claimed to be in the name of your imaginary friend, its okay.

One must ask, how would you feel if someone defaced a church billboard?  Oh wait, that issue is next!

Atheists vandalizing Christian billboards?  Chrissy, please, you really think that atheists are really that desperate to get their message across?  We've got other ways to get our message across - some of them are quite humorous and intellegent in nature - but then again, most of the people who would find phrases like "One nation indivisible" offensive, are the ones who can't think for themselves because of what the chruch has done to them.

Only the strongest survive in the world today, it's not my fault you choose to be feeble and weak.  You think the priests and such call you the "shepherds flock" because you can think for yourselves and lead?

Its not abuse to try and share your views with others - in fact, your 'modern' Christian doctrine makes you force your views onto other people even if they don't want it.  Every time I answer my door, and its someone trying to sell me 'the saving power of jesus', I find that abusive, offensive, and a waste of my time.

Being oppressed is the rallying cry of Christians who don't like being told that they aren't special and above everyone else.  Forget the fact that throughout history, Christians have been the oppressers of others, rather then the opposite way around.

I doubt you've had many 'conversations' with atheists - I'm sure it was pretty one sided, with you doing a cheerleader head bobbing "la la la, I can't hear you!" the entire time.  I suggest you speak with Hemant from the Friendly Atheist - he's one of the coolest, bad ass, friendly, and logical atheists I've ever come across.  I can guarantee you, that he will never not be civil and polite to you.

*ghasp* You might just like him!

Atheists and LGBT people alike have to do that on a daily basis - stand up against Christian oppression and bigotry, and say "To hell with what anyone thinks.".  Of course, the difference is, when we do it to you, you call for us to be executed or beaten to death.  On the other hand, we just laugh at your supposed 'openness' and 'good Christian nature' knowing full well that the 'open hand of god' is actually grasping a AK-47 pointed right at us.

Chrissy, I always welcome you proving what i've said wrong.  Please don't hesitate to contact me - unlike most Christians, I welcome constructive feedback.

(Update: James @ Cubik's Rube also blogged about this as well and is an excellent read)

As if this couldn't have been predicted, Laurie Higgins of the IFI is attacking Hemant (The Friendly Atheist) again.  Last year, she called him charismatic, funny, kind, and iconoclastic, now she's saying he's uncivil and disreputable.

Can't she just make up her mind already?

Damn Hemant and his socialist teachings of maths! :-P

The perfect example of a WoW player at their finest. Kudos to the girlfriend for doing what needed to be done.

Guy Freaks Out After Girlfriend Deletes WoW Characters

There's been a bit of lashback against the AHBL over our decision to list GoDaddy for allowing/supporting abuse from their network.  One particular person, Maria Langer decided to contact us about the issue directly.

Because there's an awful lot of misconceptions about how DNSbl systems work, and where we stand on policies, I decided to help Maria understand why we had taken the position we did, and explained to her in fairly reasonable detail.  Apparently, it's a cardinal sin to explain things, as she decided to write this lovely post blasting me.

The best part?  She didn't even bother to read the response I gave her.  I took quite a bit of time to think out what to say to her, and respond to it.  And even better, she's calling me unprofessional with a holier-then-thou attitude in how I handled the issue.

For someone who seems to be the expert in professional behavior, she sure had no problems sending me the following e-mail response:

Here's a hint, Maria, if you are going to call someone else unprofessional, do yourself a favor and behave professionally yourself.  Oh, and I'm a she. not an it.  Hoity toity enough to write a blog posting blasting me under the guise of being a kook, but obviously not important enough to use the spell checker while writing a response to an e-mail you never bothered to read.

And people wonder why I get annoyed with some people's ignorance.