Yeesh---sending lots of good thoughts your way. Things balance out eventually--hope your balance comes sooner rather than later. In the meantime...chin up! Chest out!

Agreed, vjack. I watch Olbermann and Maddow, but once I move (very soon), I'm not getting cable. I won't have time for it, and honestly, all I really watch regularly is the news. I'm actually looking forward to having to look for new, better news outlets...we'll see how that goes...

I see they have "Religions Around the World," but oddly, no link to, say, 'Atheist Revolution.' =D Harrr...

Wait a second...were all the links to all the churches removed from the website, or just the gay-friendly ones that the state had recently put up? It's only a victory for the separation of church and state if all the links were removed--it's a victory for faith-fueled bigotry and a failure of separation of church and state if any links to churches remained.

The headline says "Conn. state Web site removes church links," but the article says "Links to churches that welcome gay members have been removed from a Connecticut
state government Web site," and says nothing about removing all of the church-related links. In fact, according to the DoC&F spokesperson, "questions of separation of church and state did come into play" with the links to "open and affirming churches." By "open & affirming," I'm assuming they mean "gay-friendly." So, what---there's no problem with the separation of church and state with those bigoted-shithead church links?

Am I missing something?

I've watched Maddow's coverage of this all last week, and when I saw she was still hammering away at it this week, I couldn't help myself no longer and ordered the Sharlet book. I figured, if I'm going to be pissed off over bits and pieces, I may as well know the whole deal.

Sure thing.

Sparse crowd...but it still looked like a whirlwind of dumb and crazy. I applaud Userjack6880 for being able to go, take pictures, and not gouge out his own eyes.

I would identify myself as an atheist activist and a woman (and a number of other things). I think women keep a low profile because sometimes the work it takes to be accepted on a level playing field isn't worth the small rewards. Atheism tends to be male dominated (or *perceived* to be a male majority), and so, like with a lot of male dominated groups, women tend to be marginalized. Sometimes it's just *annoying* and not worth the time or effort to actively be a part of a group who still treats women as if they aren't as smart, as capable, etc, etc. It's frustrating, but that's the way it is.

I do the best I can *as* a women, speaking up for myself and other women, but you can't even imagine the time and energy that would take on a daily basis, with every aspect of life--for me, I have to pick and choose my battles.

The internet does seem to make it a little easier, because of the anonymity. Someone might actually take what you have to say seriously, if they think you're a guy. And yes, once you disclose that you're a woman, you *do* often get treated differently--your arguments for or against something are picked apart in a way that's not just trying to get to the truth, but for the express purpose of proving you wrong. The fact is that just because many men are atheists, it doesn't necessarily mean they are any more accepting of women on equal terms as a believer would be. We are objectified is this company as we are in most company. It sucks, but there it is.

...so much for ever visiting the Capitol Visitor Center,

It's funny we still get this well into our 30s. *sigh*