There sure are a lot of churches in this neighborhood...

By "church" I mean "christian places of worship". I'm not counting the nearby synagogue or mosque in my reckoning.

On my block: A Catholic church.
Up the hill: A Lutheran church, and the former Mormon temple
Up the hill and down the street: An Episcopal church
Down the hill: At least two storefront churches within two blocks.
Down the hill and to the right: A Baptist church, LOUD preaching.
Down that hill: CHURCHMANIA. Loud singing from the Pentecostals, altar-boys going from church to church, churces on top of stores, churches inside old movie theaters and warehouses, churches inside other churches, churches that don't announce their prescence in any way but are STILL THERE.

If you live in my neighborhood, and are even marginally religious, you better go to church, because with all that hinting, I think God'll take it personally if you don't.


I always knew there were a lot, but this is like some sorta explosion. I think they've multiplied in the past few years since I went down that way by the old Woolworth's.

Stupidity in signs...

If I take the s48 bus to the Pathmark, I pass a large anti-abortion center with two very large signs on it:

"Abortion stops a beating heart" and "The NATURAL choice is life!"

Ahem.

1. Abortion stops a beating heart. Yeah, I guess it does. Well, I don't really know because I haven't done the exhaustive research I am sure everyone in your center has (warning for the sarcasm-impaired... that was it), but I still don't think it matters. I'm not a vegetarian. Somehow, I suspect that many of the people who think that's a wonderful argument chow down on the meat just as much as I do. Possibly more so. And meat, wow, that stops a beating heart, it also stops brain functions, which is not something you can say for most abortions. And that's really the big part of my criteria, to avoid hypocrisy. Brain activity. Whatever it is, it has to be somewhat capable of thought.

2. The NATURAL choice is life. Sure is! The natural choice also is death. Death? Yes, if you eschew antibiotics, transfusions, organ donations, most medicines... oh wait, I guess many medicines CAN be made from plants, so if you take those, you're fine. But... some plants are natural abortificants. Hm. Maybe sometimes the natural choice IS an abortion! And death. It's definitely death. Oh, for all those unaborted babies? The natural choice is breastmilk. Definitely. If you're going on about the natural choice, I'd better not see you feed your kids formula. Cause, you know, hypocrisy kinda sucks.

Now, I'll be fair, I think there are a number of perfectly good reasons to PRIVATELY believe abortion is wrong, and a few to justify PUBLICLY campaigning against it. But those two aren't it, and they make your entire movement look stupid. Plus, they're unnecessarily emotive. If your argument were a good one, you wouldn't have to cheap tricks like that.


(edit) Yes, I realize that all animals are capable of thought, by "thought" I meant "higher thought, somewhat similar to how humans think". And yes, I like to pretend that animals I don't know don't go near that, it keeps me sane.

Time for random link-quoting!

And a question. Usually, when I hit tab, I go to another link or box or something, but today, for some reason, it's just switching whatever window I'm in. Why?

Anyway, link number one! ( The relevant quote is inside )

Link two ( And some quotage )

Link three ( No clue what I put in here )

Link four ( Go ahead, click it. I dare you )