Wow. This has been the worst week ever for comments. I even miss being spammed. That’s what I get for having a baby and checking out for a month. Well, I mean, my wife had the baby, but, you know, I mean I’m a new dad and it’s a lot of work.

It infuriates me when I hear staunch Right-wingers interrupt a discussion about the violence in Iraq, or the activities of Hamas, and say something like, “Stop calling them insurgents or militants. They’re terrorists!” Even if the persons in question are terrorists, the purpose of the statement is to shut down any possible dissent.

The same thing happens in the debate over illegal immigrants. Pro-illegal-immigrant activists have liberally dished out the “Racist” label against anyone who opposes them. Such a tactic is intended to intimidate and silence anyone who might disagree.

I haven’t made up my mind about either subject, and I think there should be a healthy public debate. We should be able to debate what an insurgent is, what a terrorist is, and whether the people we’re referring to have any legitimate gripes, without being told that we’re un-patriotic or harming national security. We should be able to discuss whether our country has the right to decide who gets to be here and who doesn’t - and how we want to use that right - without being told that we just hate brown people.

I don’t care if you know you’re right, and everyone else is wrong. When you try to shut down the debate, you’re stealing my fundamental right to participate in the democratic process.

… you stop wondering how much you can drink and still drive legally, and you start wondering how much you can drink and still change your kid’s diaper.

… you open an email you know is going to be spam, just so you can see how they’re spelling “v1 AGar aa” these days.

Note: I am honestly not sure who I’m insulting here. - SF

As you no doubt know by now, Israel has invaded Lebanon in an effort to find Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ new baby, Suri, who apparently was hustled away minutes after birth and has never been seen by any living human beings, only Scientologists.

But what I am really concerned with, however, is the plight of the world’s Atheists, who - to this very day - do not have a religion of their own.

In my humble* opinion, it is downright descriminatory that Atheists have been denied their basic human right to have a religion, simply because they don’t believe in God.

Many people seem to think that religion is, if nothing else, a belief in some sort of god. How bigoted. Atheists are human beings, just like people who do believe in a god, and they have a right to all the same privileges that god-believers enjoy. They have a right to religion just like everyone else.

Religion is so much more than a divine being. Religon is whacky hats and robes, incense, holy water, ancient scriptures and spiffy temples. Religion is prophets and lists of things that you can’t do, holy wars and people on TV with big hair. Don’t Atheists have a right to these things, too?

The answer, I say, is a resounding YES!! I forsee a day when Athiests will gather together in special buildings to sing beautiful hymns about not believing in anything, when little boy Atheists and little girl Atheists will sit, spellbound, listening to an adult Atheist tell the stories of ancient, mighty unbelievers, using a felt board. I forsee a day when groups of Atheists will go door-to-door, interrupting people in the middle of their favorite TV shows, to tell them about nothing.

Many of you who read this will laugh. But one day - one glorious day - this dream will be a reality.

Amen. Let us pray. whisper words to nobody in particular.

* not

I’m going to start home-brewing, again. I have been fortunate enough to run into a few great drafts of fresh, locally-brewed beer (not Coors) and was reminded how otherworldly-good fresh beer can be, especially when it is a beer that isn’t made for general public consumption. New Belgium has an “Abbey Grand Cru” on tap in their tasting room in Fort Collins that’s unbelievable. And so is Oskar Blue’s “Old Chub”.

It’s been almost two years since I last cooked up a batch, and I’m having to re-read my books to remember how it’s done. There’s so many things to consider that I have to remind myself that I didn’t worry about most of that when I was brewing before, and yet still always produced great beers. I’ll probably blog about the process and post some pictures, when I get closer.

Spammers are evil. In my book they are right up there with Hitler, Charles Manson, and the teenagers who throw super-size softdrink cups out the windows of the cars their parents buy them. Pure #$@!! evil.

(Mrs. Spoonfighter would like everyone to know that I’m a lousy hypocrite because I occasionally spit my gum out the car window. But that’s totally different because it just becomes part of the road, or part of someone’s tire. Anyway, she’s the one who “samples” grapes in the supermarket. Case closed.)

What I’m really trying to say is that I’m tired of moderating comment spam. Today there were over 1400 “comments” advertising male-enhancement pills that I can win in online games of strip poker.

If an actual reader (assuming I still have any) left a real comment for me in the last couple days, I’m afraid it got taken out with the trash. There’s just no way I could possibly moderate 1400 comments.

That said, I’ve implemented a new feature to cut down on the crap. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I’m sure you understand.