Clipmarks | graphictruth's 'morality' clips

Can I get fries with that idea?

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:00:47 GMT

clipped by: graphictruth
clipper's remarks: Find out more at http://www.zazzle.com/webcarve*
and consider signing up as an associate (you get a nice cut for sending folks this way.

I will create a special template in a bit, to help viewers create their own versions. OR you can take the "M$M can I get fries with that idea" WITHOUT the graphics and run with it.

I'll be putting up a scroll with all shirts using that phrase.

Yes, it's a googlebomb. Yes, there' some money in it for me - and for you. And yet, it's still a great idea.

You should steal it.

Clip Source: www.graphictruth.com

My idea for a collaborative T-shirt network.

Can I get fries with that idea? T-Shirt by webcarve
Get this custom shirt at Zazzle

I plan on using this as a template to blog mind-bogglingly stupid ideas that are repeated straight-faced by the MSM. You are encouraged to play along, either by promoting my version or creating your own "Can I get fries with that idea" templates. However you do it, with whatever service, I'd love you to link it here.

By the way, I'm going to try and be as non-partisan as I can here, but there is a distinct difference between an idea that IS stupid, and an idea you happen to THINK is stupid. And the final cut is up to me. Don't like it? Start your own stupid blog - everyone else has!

Tags: blogging, culture, cuba, elections. politics, ethics, funny, george bush, impeachment, morality, t-shirts

Bleeding Heart Libertarianism

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:59:40 GMT

clipped by: graphictruth
clipper's remarks: "Devil Take the Hindmost" is not libertarianism.

Nor is it freedom.

Clip Source: www.graphictruth.com

I confess freely that I might be accurately described as a "bleeding heart libertarian."

I believe that because I believe it to be rather obvious that my personal welfare and that of my neighbors and fellows are inextricably entangled, and that the only sure way to ensure my rights and to meet my needs is to be rather insistent about theirs not being infringed.

I believe in a free market, by which I mean a market in which all persons are able to participate on an equal footing, trading what they have for what they wish at a fair rate of exchange so that everyone involved feels as if they got the better end of the deal. If that sounds like an idealized and highly simplified description of capitalism, it is. It's also, you may note, an idealized description of Communism, in that it really is "from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs."

Tags: elections. politics, ethics, liberty, morality

Another Breathtaking Bushism

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:04:12 GMT

clipped by: graphictruth
clipper's remarks: George Bush, in his own person, is the single best argument against both intelligent design and an active and participant God of Justice.

I mean this quite seriously; this is the sort of thing that causes people to loose their faith - or at least, put the greater part of their faith into causes and ideals with more immediate payoffs.

After all, if there were such a god as the followers of Bush proclaim - the thirty-percenters, the name-it-claim it fringe of the ignorant, the stupid and the magical thinkers, bush would have been incinerated by a bolt of divine lightning as he uttered these words.

On the other hand, were that the case, we'd pretty much have to live with the idea of the Divine Right of Kings, so I suppose it's a wash. Not to mention being a huge relief to personal security personnel the world over.

Still, when a Bush president says they want to "help the people realize the blessings of liberty," that means everyone else hears a chorus of "Freedom's just anot

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

HAVANA - An ailing, 81-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying he will not accept a new term when parliament meets Sunday.

Bush, traveling in Rwanda, pledged to "help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty."

"The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy," he said. "Eventually, this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections — and I mean free, and I mean fair — not these kind of staged elections that the Castro brothers try to foist off as true democracy."

Tags: cuba, castro, impeachment, elections. politics, ethics, george bush, liberty, morality, politics, reform

They aren't Conservatives, they are Authoritarians

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:37:12 GMT

clipped by: graphictruth
clipper's remarks: Which is the point to sociologist Altmeyer's book, who has been researching authoritarianism for thirty years, and can now publish a popular work (for free) because he's about to retire and can't be fired for his temerity.

Clip Source: www.graphictruth.com

Bob Altemeyer's "The Authoritarians"

I'm devouring this book, and the footnotes are as tasty and entertaining (in a dark, horrifying, goddamit, I TOLD you so sort of way) as the text itself. While this is obviously mandatory socio-political ammunition for democrats and leftists, it's far, far more vital for Centrists, Independents, Libertarians and traditional Conservatives to read and understand.

Eight of the “most corrupt” had perfect 100% endorsements from the Family Research
Council. The lowest score was a 64% posted by the Democratic Representative Alan
Mollohan from West Virginia. (Seventeen of the twenty “most corrupt” were

Republicans.)

To be sure, many other lawmakers who got high scores from the Family
Research Council did not get named as most corrupt. But I think I read somewhere
that there’s this interesting connection between being a lying, dishonest, amoral
manipulator and becoming a leader of right-wing political/religious movements.

Tags: christianity, culture, ethics, evangelical christianity, facism, george bush, morality, politics, religion

Ron Paul: A matter of concience.

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:20:24 GMT

clipped by: graphictruth
clipper's remarks: Trevor Lymon, the unpaid and unofficial Ron Paul volunteer who is directly responsible for two record-breaking "money bombs" has captured the attention of the MSM.

Why is he doing it? What does he expect to gain? What agenda does he advocate? What strings, in other words, come with this money?

Concience. Strings of principle, of ethics and of concience - strings that Ron Paul is more than happy to be bound by.

"I know my tax dollars are being used to kill people," Lyman said. "It makes me feel horrible."

It's hard to argue with motivations like that - and it's hard to argue that such motivations are "naieve" or "unrealistic" in light of more than ten millions raised on the strengths of Ron Paul's principles alone, without direct or implied bribes.

Ron Paul doesn't advocate single payer health care and he's opposed to social security in principle (I differ with him there, by the by). But there are few personally selfish reasons to vote for him.

Clip Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com

At midnight EST, donations were over $6 million, according to the campaign Web site. Those donations were processed credit-card receipts, said Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton. Benton said the median donation was about $50 in the fundraiser, which was the idea of Paul supporters who are not officially connected to the campaign.

Like many Paul backers, Lyman is a political novice. He has never even bothered to vote. But he had to act, he said, when the new Democratic majority in Congress didn't pull the troops out of Iraq. He was drawn to Paul and his promise to end the war immediately.

"I know my tax dollars are being used to kill people," Lyman said. "It makes me feel horrible."

Tags: ron paul, ethics, trevor lyman, liberty, morality, politics

Funny, Hill and Holy Joe have said nothin' about this

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:03:01 GMT

clipped by: graphictruth
clipper's remarks: I consider censorship of any sort problematic, and almost certainly politically opportunistic. And nothing could underline this better than an extremely violent videogame that neither Hillary Clinton or Joe Libermann have condemned.

Could it be because they don't like the idea of condemning religiously motivated violence in videogames?

Not that I expect better of them, but supporters and constituents should be able to, don't you think?

I'm putting these two in the same bin with Harry Reid, D Nevada, who's clearly more interested in pandering to bush than being on point for the interests of Nevadans.

Here's a hint - there's DAMN few Nevadans that are in the economic top 1% you keep caving for.

Oh, and Harry, where do YOU stand on the use of video games to desensitize home-schooled ignoramuses to the idea of religously motivated ethnic cleansing? I bet killing Mormons scores big in these games.

I've probably missed anything you've said on the topic, and you might t

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Hillary wants to censor video game violence -- will she go after the gory Left Behind game series?

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians.

Christian, Muslim and Jewish groups denounced it at the time of its release, but out of Clinton and Lieberman, who have made themselves the scolding nags of video game morality, why -- not a peep.

Tags: hate speech, left behind, theocracy

Huckabee - Theocrat wannabe

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:29:50 GMT

clipped by: graphictruth
clipper's remarks: So, he's lying about his qualifications, and deluding himself that he knows what "this war on terror" is about.

AND he thinks fighting fire with fire is a good idea, too.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

In November, Huckabee tried to claim the mantle of the GOP's leading terror fighter, arguing:

"I think I'm stronger than most people because I truly understand the nature of the war that we are in with Islamo fascism. These are people that want to kill us. It's a theocratic war. And I don't know if anybody fully understands that. I'm the only guy on that stage with a theology degree."

Apparently, Mike Huckabee knows a theocrat when he sees one.

Well, unfortunately Huck's campaign had to do some backpedaling because the rapist/murderer-releasing Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor doesn't have a theology degree -- he only spent a year in seminary.

Tags: religion, politics, political, christianity, ethics, evangelical, mike huckabee, morality

The Truth In Pornography

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:02:45 GMT

clipped by: graphictruth
clipper's remarks: The more I think about it, the more I realize that the objection is not to it's existence, but to the existence of some of it's direct and implied messages that contradict conventional (and in my humble opinion, dangerous and destructive) moralisms.

Clip Source: erotictruth.blogspot.com

There is really gross stuff out there, no question. Far more is not at all grotesque because (thank ghu) most people do not have the kinks that make the truly grotesque attractive. However, if you are heavily invested in maintain the social sexual status quo, it's the good stuff (in my humble opinion) that will truly screw with your preconceptions and cause you to wonder if the assumptions about yourself and your sexuality imposed by family and culture are, in fact true for you, or even true at all.

Tags: christianity, culture, ethics, liberty, morality, pornography, rape

Sex 2.0 - Porn with round corners?

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 01:03:34 GMT

clipped by: graphictruth
clipper's remarks: I frankly think that anything that takes the middlepeople out of sexuality is a good thing.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

If I'm married and spend every Tuesday at Seska Lee's webcam show (NSFW), am I enjoying some downtime with porn or do I have a virtual girlfriend? Does her practice of blending our chat room into her lovemaking with her husband make me a swinger? If I develop a strong attachment or even fall in love with her, or them, or him, am I polyamorous? Is it closer to a relationship or to a lap dance? Or is it just a movie scene I happen to see being filmed?

These kinds of questions weren't being asked a decade ago. But the argument I got when I used the word "porn" to mean "studio-produced porn," rather than including the full range of Web 2.0 activities people do with sex and sexual content, showed me just how much things have changed, especially in the past five years.

Tags: optional. separate by commas., culture, ethics, morality, pornography

Those who are easily shocked

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:44:29 GMT

clipped by: graphictruth
clipper's remarks: ...should be shocked more often.

I made this one JUST for Willhiem.

No, not really.

Clip Source: www.graphictruth.com

Mae West: Those who are easily shocked...
by

webcarve

Get this custom shirt
at Zazzle

Tags: mae west, shocked, ethics, morality, liberty, politics, pornography

The New Frontier - Second Life

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:51:49 GMT

clipped by: graphictruth
clipper's remarks: Internet, Threat or Menace in a new wrapper; 2nd Life presents a huge potential challenge to those who would impose public regulation of private conduct.

Clip Source: www.graphictruth.com

the sorts of places I have been is where the obsessive people who create the platform hang out, relax, share and develop new ideas in an environment that is neither mission critical nor subject to criticism based on anything other than performance.

This particular obsession came from a decision to give 2nd Life another try.

If you can depict, simulate, transmit, record, or usefully participate in human sexual activity to the limits of the medium, the system itself is both robust and flexible enough to support eCommerce, government agencies and, of course, spam and "griefers".

2nd Life is now robust enough to support a degree of parasitic activity

directly aimed at screwing with people and what they would otherwise freely and benignly choose to do.

the republican mindset says that it's ripe for exploitation and domination. The problem is, you cannot strip-mine an intellectual property

Creative people tend to create contexts

governed only by their own ethics and morality

Tags: 2nd life, second life, ethics, creativity, mmorpg, virtual community, government, regulation