Happy Birthday, Aretha Franklin

On this date in 1942.

What are some of your favorites by the Queen of Soul? I could list a bunch of things here, but I do think my all-time fave performance of hers is "Think" from The Blues Brothers. (You can watch the scene here.)

The Best Demonstration I Have Ever Seen Of How The Religious Right Is Genuinely Insane

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association:

The First Amendment was written by the Founders to protect the free exercise of Christianity. They were making no effort to give special protections to Islam....

Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam. Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy. While there certainly ought to be a presumption of religious liberty for non-Christian religious traditions in America, the Founders were not writing a suicide pact when they wrote the First Amendment.

Our government has no obligation to allow a treasonous ideology to receive special protections in America, but this is exactly what the Democrats are trying to do right now with Islam.

From a constitutional point of view, Muslims have no First Amendment right to build mosques in America. They have that privilege at the moment, but it is a privilege that can be revoked if, as is in fact the case, Islam is a totalitarian ideology dedicated to the destruction of the United States. The Constitution, it bears repeating, is not a suicide pact. For Muslims, patriotism is not the last refuge of a scoundrel, but the First Amendment is.

Well, isn't that just special.

JAYZUS FUCKING FUCK (#433 in a series)

The Wisconsin GOP is ignoring a judicial restraining order and acting as though their union-busting "budget repair" bill is law.

Just go read it. It'll flatten your mind.

A few years ago, I posted a lengthy screed in which I insisted that Republicans were evil. I took a fair amount of heat for it, but I stood and still stand by it, although I've amended my attitude to limit the declaration of evilness to the Republican leadership.

But even I can't believe the shit they're pulling day in, day out.