Discriminatory Christian Advertisement Of The Day

Charlie Whittington, owner of Kwik Kar Lube & Service in Plano, Texas, has one hell of a deal for you.  (pun intended)  Come into his location, recite John 3:16, and get an oil change, which normally costs $34.99, for $19.99.  If you happen to be a Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or an Atheist customer - Google it.  Otherwise, it sucks to be you.  Seriously.

Offensive?  Absolutely.  Illegal?  Not in Texas.  As Kwik Kar Lube is a "privately owned business", Charlie has the right to refuse service to anyone, for any reason.  So tomorrow, he could theoretically have an ad giving free oil changes for married, white, heterosexual Christian men only. 

Whittington's reasoning is sound behind the ad, saying "I'm not making you do anything, and I'm tired of people making me do something."  Makes complete sense from someone that misspelled "Quick" and "Car" to me.

In case you aren't familiar with John 3:16, it's a favorite of Christians worldwide.  It says:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life $15 off their next oil change."

Once, just once, I would like to see an atheist alternative to this.  Show me an atheist owned business, where they offer $20 off a service if you come in and curse god.  If anyone has seen an example of this, please... PLEASE...forward it to me.  Thank you.

Oh, one last thing...  One of my biggest pet peeves.  I absolutely hate when I see little "Jesus fishes" in business ads.  It's nothing but a way for businesses to swindle money out of fellow "Christians".  Let's be honest.  Does it mean that they follow Christian business practices?  Hell no.  It means, "Give me your money instead of my heathen competitor".  What a fucking joke.

Thanks to Patheos for the pic.

Balloon Hats For Charity?

Addi Somekh and Charlie Eckert have devised the most ridiculous humanitarian effort known to man.  They have been traveling around the world for the last three years, making balloon hats for people.  You read that correctly.  Balloon hats.  They have made nine trips, visiting a total of 34 countries since 2008.  Their mission?

"Addi Somekh and Charlie Eckert travel to different places in the world in order to make balloon hats for people and take photos of them.

The goal is to show people all over the world laughing and having fun, and to emphasize the fact that all human beings are born with the ability to experience joy."

Here are a couple of photos of folks "experiencing joy":

"For fuck's sake, get this thing off of my head.  Couldn't you have just brought us some food?"

These children appear to be so much happier bathing in their own feces, now that they're wearing balloon hats:

"Who needs clean drinking water, when you have balloon hats?  We're experiencing joy!"

This is how rich douchebags help the world - by spending thousands upon thousands of dollars making balloon animals for starving people, with no access to medicine or safe drinking water, and taking pictures of them.  Think of what they could have done with that money.  If they would have simply sat on their asses, played video games, and made a donation to Doctors Without Borders or the International Red Cross, they would have accomplished so much more than what they actually have with their lives.

And to make matters worse?  They're accepting donations to continue their "work".  Not only that, but Addi has turned this project into a motivational speaking business.  His client list has included Oprah, Disney and Wired magazine.  Are you fucking kidding me?  This guy mocks people in need, and he becomes a motivational speaker?

I'm not linking to their website, because I'm disgusted by what they do.  I am going to post one of their videos, though.  It shows their broken (in my opinion) philosophy, as well as a number of the photos they have taken over the last couple of years.  At the end of the video, it shows a link to their page if you're interested.

Video: America's Newest Fad? Batmanning.

When planking just doesn't pose enough of a risk for a concussion...



Notice how it's all skinny college guys doing it?  Like my fat ass would be able to hang upside down like that.

The nation's next cool fad?  My money is on "douchebagging".

Have You Seen The New Sexist Milk Ads?

The California Milk Processor Board, along with advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, has debuted a new "Got Milk?" campaign touting the effects calcium has on symptoms of PMS.  The problem is, the ads are some of the most ridiculously sexist pieces of marketing material in recent history.  Take a look:

They've also set up the site everythingidoiswrong.org as a companion site.  It features the "Current Global PMS Level" and "Video Apology Enhancer".  Somewhere along the chain of custody there had to have been someone that said, "Wait a second.  Does anyone else think this might not be a good idea?"  Anyone?  Really?  

Anyone?

Republicans: There's A Rep For That

Courtesy of Joe.My.God:

"The Greatest Show On Earth"

P.T. Barnum would be proud. Hell, he could have learned a thing or two in today's society. With the world's ability to deliver instant gratification, and to use the latest technology to beam what would have been tomorrow's story to the masses five seconds ago, he would have become far richer as a tabloid owner than a circus man. Take for example Jon and Kate:

It was announced early last week that TLC was changing the name of their show 'Jon and Kate Plus Eight' to 'Kate Plus Eight', primarily to reflect the way that Jon has not been present this season of the show. Since then, Jon has gone apeshit. He has gone on 'Larry King', saying that the show, now in it's 5th season, is harmful and exploitative to the children. He has posted a no trespassing and no filming notice to the TLC crew on the gates of the family property. And, just in the last 24-48 hours, he has withdrawn (or transferred out) roughly $235,000 of the family's expense account, leaving Kate with roughly $1000 to pay bills, get groceries, etc.

What bothers me about this situation is that, as a country, WE TRULY CARE. Instead of just a passing, "Wow, that's a shame", we're buying the nine different magazines at the checkout counter, each with a different perspective of what is going on. When I turned on my computer this morning, the whole "Jon and Kate" thing was the main story on Yahoo. We have a 9.8% unemployment rate in the country. 14.9 million Americans can't find a job. That is the worst it has been since 1980. But Jon and Kate is somehow more important? Why?

Jon was on 'Larry King' last Thursday. Kate was on the 'Today Show' today. They get paid every time they make an appearance on one of those talk shows. They get paid every time they "tell their side of the story" in 'People' magazine or 'Star' magazine. They both talk about how much they love their children. But if they're bouncing around the country going on any TV show that will book them to bitch and whine about which parent is worse, who is with the children? It's like having Mick Jagger or Rod Stewart as a mom or a dad. And now there is a rumor that Kate is shopping around for her own daily talk show? REALLY?!?!?

My point is, there are tens of thousands of asshole dads out there that pull dick moves like this all the time. Is it right? Absolutely, 100% not. Jon and Kate Gosselin are not celebrities. You are not a celebrity because you are the mother or the father of eight children. They fucked up. They both did. They both made some very bad decisions. I'm sure at the beginning, they were level headed and thought they had things figured out. But when the world gives them that celebrity status for doing nothing....like the "Octomom", or Paris Hilton, or a Kardashian, it changes a person.

You go from "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" to "Douchebag Attention Whore and Whiny Drama Queen Attention Whore Plus Eight Confused Innocent Children Who Miss Their Mommy and Daddy". STOP.....JUST MAKE IT STOP.......