Link round-up for 2 January 2012

Merry Christmas!

This gal is way too excited about banking.

Planet POV has wish lists for Santa from the right wing.

It's possible to be too convenient.

Sometimes, spelling matters.

If you dislike the lyrics, fine, but sing a different song rather than defiling ours.

I think this person (click to enlarge) could be the ideal Republican Presidential candidate (found via Gothic Atheist). Or maybe this one.

"Twilight" is even more creepy and repulsive than I thought (found via Republic of Gilead).

Daily Kos gets e-mail from lunatics.

Here's what five megabytes looked like in 1956.

Becktoxicated goldtards lose money (but don't worry, gold will go up again at the next high-profile crisis -- the cranks always flock to buy).

What would Jesus spend money on?

Which photo bothers you more?

The chimpanzee who died last month probably wasn't the famous Cheeta.

22 Words has some relatively-non-controversial Hitchens quotes.

Dusty read one of my posts on her radio program (61:40-67:50); her own blog is here.

Teabaggers and Republicans are the more anti-science segment of the American people.

Google takes a serious wrong turn on sex work -- more here.

Here's a list of companies and groups supporting the evil SOPA plan, with their contact info.

Religious nuts hold forth on bio-ethics.

Yes, the Republicans did vote to end Medicare.

Gingrich is willfully obtuse on the issue of religious freedom. Pat Buchanan is worse.

Politics is the art of the possible, and what's possible varies from place to place.

Ron Paul hangs out with friends (more here). And yes, he really is a nut.

Who's responsible for the Ron Paul newsletters? Here's a handy chart.

Health-insurance reform is starting to take effect.

There will be only two choices for President this year -- Obama must win. And his chances are improving, thanks to Republican antics. If you're considering not voting, read this.

The Pope wants you to be stupid.

Voter turn-out is critical -- don't depress it.

Britain is re-orienting its foreign policy away from the EU.

Irish World War II soldiers suffered abuse in their own country (found via Mendip, who comments).

One Spanish village has brought back the peseta, Spain's old pre- euro currency that most Spaniards wish they'd never given up.

The EU is too bogged down in out-dated conservative economic dogma to be able to save the euro.

Investing in education really works.

Russia may have reached the tipping point at which democracy becomes inevitable.

Yes, Judaism also has disgusting religious extremists.

Atheists in Brazil still face an uphill struggle.

The inexorable rise of China has long been an internet cliché, but the underlying reality tells a different story.

Too many fattards think it's OK to be fat (this story is from Britain, but no doubt the same is true here in the US). Some effects of obesity resemble those of aging.

Healthy food can protect the brain from aging.

Here's a striking video of geese in flight.

The colossal "king of herrings" may be the origin of sea-serpent tales.

This book gives a new application of Dawkins's "meme" concept to religion-as-virus.

Tom Harkin is a scientific ignoramus.

If aliens visited millions of years ago, the best place to look for evidence is the Moon.

A new agency will speed up the translation of scientific progress into practical results.