http://www.muckmakers.com Highlighting the scandals you may have missed. Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:32:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Oh Rick Warren, why did you have to go and squelch that little glint of hope I had in Obama being a less religiously-motivated president than Bush? I guess it could have been worse. If McCain was elected instead, we would have had Palin's preacher up there forcing the demons out ... http://www.muckmakers.com/defrocked-the-purpose-driven-cock/ So, another year has come and gone. As we all fight our hangovers and head back to work or whatever it is we have to do today, I’d like to thank everyone who has read our site, enjoyed it, and come back for more. Thank you for linking us, commenting, ... http://www.muckmakers.com/looking-back-and-looking-forward/ Just for fun, I thought I'd add a new regular feature to the site - the Video of the Week. Yeah, it's not exactly an original idea, but I'll do my best to find interesting (or, at the very least, entertaining) videos that relate to our common themes on Muckmakers. ... http://www.muckmakers.com/video-of-the-week-how-to-beat-your-wife/ So, updates have been a bit slow lately. Yes, Virginia, even two cynical atheists can take some downtime for the holidays. Of course, that's not to say Rich and I are off lighting candles or praying to a baby in a barn, but c'mon - who can't get behind fantastic ... http://www.muckmakers.com/some-recent-happenings/ After a short hiatus, the boys are back... Hey, give me a break. My original idea was to go for the obvious ZZ Top joke. http://www.muckmakers.com/defrocked-moral-vapidity/ It looks like Christmas came early this year for those of us that truly appreciate intellectual freedom…Paul Weyrich died at the age of 66 on Thursday. The media, along with most of the political blogging community, seem to have this thing where they can’t make fun of someone’s death or ... http://www.muckmakers.com/paul-weyrich-meets-his-maker-finds-heaven-warmer-than-expected/ An interesting article was making the rounds on the news blogs and social networking sites yesterday, and since it’s been one those issues that has been dividing people, I can’t resist throwing my two cents in. Here’s the scoop… Last summer, Second Lieutenant Ian McVey got his orders. He was to ... http://www.muckmakers.com/sallie-mae-forgives-the-debt-of-dead-marine-but-the-living-only-get-a-forbearance/ It took an Iraqi to do what any American should have done a long time ago. Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq today and received a surprise of his own. After shouting, "It is the farewell kiss, you dog," a reporter for Al-Baghdadia television named Muntazer al-Zaidi hurled both ... http://www.muckmakers.com/shoes-thrown-at-bush-by-iraqi-journalist/ So England, I have to ask – what the fuck is really going on over there? One minute I hear that Islam has invaded your poor country and gained significant ground, and the next I hear that it’s an atheist’s paradise… Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor claims that the rise of secularism has ... http://www.muckmakers.com/cardinal-murphy-oconnor-claims-england-is-being-oppressed-by-secularists/ Via LA Times In perhaps the starkest sign yet of trouble in the news business, media giant Tribune Co. -- owner of the Los Angeles Times, KTLA-TV Channel 5 and other newspapers and TV stations -- filed Monday for bankruptcy protection from creditors. Tribune is far from being the only troubled media ... http://www.muckmakers.com/tribune-co-files-for-chapter-11/ Funny or Die has done it again with this one, proving once more that any conflict can (and should) be converted into cheap show tunes. This whole mess was just begging to be lampooned. John C. Reilly as a Mormon, Jack Black as Jesus, and a finale starring Neil Patrick ... http://www.muckmakers.com/proposition-8-the-musical-lightens-up-the-gay-marriage-issue/ Every year, Yahoo releases the top searched terms on their search engine for the year. This can be viewed as a pretty good barometer of what the average people are looking for online, given the fact that a large chunk of web browsing begins with an online search. Here's this ... http://www.muckmakers.com/what-we-searched-in-2008/ Why wait 'til death for the 40 virgins, right? http://www.muckmakers.com/defrocked-perks-of-the-job/ The hottest new name in terror, the Deccan Mujahideen, have reminded us this Thanksgiving to be thankful for at least one thing – that the FBI sucks at making predictions. It seems that New Yorkers were more in danger of getting trampled by overeager shoppers than getting blown to bits ... http://www.muckmakers.com/mumbai-terrorists-may-teach-us-nothing-but-can-a-wal-mart-stampede/ This is unconfirmed at the moment as I haven't had the chance to personally dig up each figure, then adjust it for inflation, but the graphic over at Voltage Creative is scary stuff. In a nutshell, it illustrates in pie graph form how the cost of the 2008 Bailout equals ... http://www.muckmakers.com/most-expensive-thing-ever/ Every weekend, we highlight some of the scandals you may have missed in a post we like to call “The Week in Muckmaking”… - The Wall Street Journal did an interesting report on atheists and freethinkers across the country trying to get noticed by advertising their lack of faith on billboards, ... http://www.muckmakers.com/the-week-in-muckmaking-112308/ I think my time in grade school studying the Bible was about as meaningful. http://www.muckmakers.com/defrocked-bible-study/ It looks like I’ve got to put a lot of people in their place tonight. It’s not going to be pretty, but all of this has to be said. The conservative bloggers and pundits are at it again, so let’s put some very fucking stupid complaints to bed already, shall ... http://www.muckmakers.com/setting-the-conservative-bloggers-and-pundits-straight-about-bush-and-obama/ Via The Huffington Post: The Bush administration is moving in its last weeks to finalize regulations to enforce a controversial law that seeks to block Internet gambling. The move is drawing hot protests from Democratic lawmakers and supporters of online betting. "This midnight rulemaking will tie the hands of the new administration, ... http://www.muckmakers.com/bush-finalizing-internet-gambling-regulations/ The names may be different, but it all smells the same. http://www.muckmakers.com/defrocked-holy-moroni/ Bill O’Reilly appeared on The Daily Show again on Thursday, and Comedy Central was kind enough to post the entire interview, uncut, last night. As you can expect, hilarity ensues. Take a look… I love the snide sarcasm these guys give each other every time they meet – it’s absolutely priceless. ... http://www.muckmakers.com/bill-oreilly-on-the-daily-show-uncut-111308/ We spend a lot of time on Muckmakers criticizing religion, and even more time criticizing the religious leaders and politicians who use their misguided beliefs to justify the persecution of those of us with more freethinking lifestyles. This is not to say that we don’t respect those with spiritual convictions ... http://www.muckmakers.com/2004-interview-with-obama-about-religion-and-faith-confirms-his-progressive-views/ Sorry, no sympathy for the devil. http://www.muckmakers.com/defrocked-oppression/ Every weekend, we highlight some of the scandals you may have missed in a post we like to call “The Week in Muckmaking”… - File this under, “No surprise here,” – a noose was found hanging from a tree on Election Day on the campus of Baylor University, the world’s largest ... http://www.muckmakers.com/the-week-in-muckmaking-11908/ Via the NY Times: Squeezed by tight credit and plunging spending power, the American economy is losing jobs at the fastest pace since 2001, and the losses could accelerate to levels not seen since the deep recession of the early 1980s. Employers shed 240,000 more jobs in October, the government reported Friday ... http://www.muckmakers.com/unemployment-hits-14-year-high/ Exxon Mobil just reported the biggest quarterly profit by a US company, ever. Seriously, ever. Some interesting tidbits... Exxon made $14.83 billion in the third quarter of 2008. That equals about $2.86 a share. Or,  about $1,865 every second. Yes, every - single - second. Their total revenue was $137.7 billion. Now, it's easy to be mad ... http://www.muckmakers.com/exxon-reports-biggest-profit-ever/ So, apparently, yes we can. It has been a grueling fight this past year of campaigning, but our man finally came out on top, and against amazing odds. If you told me four years ago that the Democrats were going to run an outspokenly liberal black man with a Muslim-sounding name, ... http://www.muckmakers.com/post-election-pondering/ Here we are on the 5th of November and the election back and forth is finally over. Democrats came out big, with what I can comfortably call a staggering win in the House, Senate, and Presidential race. A few personal notes from yours truly. To the Republicans that responded to McCain's ... http://www.muckmakers.com/its-finally-over/ A true maverick... It's funny that it took so long for McCain to warm up to the religious right, considering they have so much in common. http://www.muckmakers.com/defrocked-endorsement/ Admittedly, my last entry was a tad long for a blog post, but I think the abortion issue is definitely something that is causing a lot of muckmaking in this country, and what was said needed to be said. I assumed that I wouldn't hear from Mickey again after that, ... http://www.muckmakers.com/the-abortion-debate-rages-on/