Link round-up for 29 July 2012

Don't panic -- organize!

The black cat defines philosophy, metaphysics, theology -- and science.

Murr Brewster has more on dead weasels and all-too-lively garden pests.

Still a better currency than the euro.

Yes, let's do what the Bible says.

.....and the horse you rode in on.

Your washing machine is a time bomb.

Lobsters are getting more colorful.

Romney is a weird tipper.

Some rich people are far from patriotic.

That Churchill bust Obama returned to Britain was only here on loan and was already scheduled to go back before Obama took office.

When fundies try to get profound, you just know the results will be hilariously tacky (found via Republic of Gilead).

What would Jefferson think of the Texas Republican platform?

Lady Atheist has a religious link round-up.

Romney has nothing left to talk about (cartoon here).

After the first woman in space, the US waited 20 years to follow suit.  And Sally Ride had to wait until her death to tell the truth.  Maybe because stuff like this still happens.

Pennsylvania Republicans defending their voter ID law admit vote fraud isn't a real issue.

Chick-fil-A lies about being dumped by the muppets.

"We tried our plan and it worked" -- here's what Obama actually said.

Famous Americans speak out on secular education.  Oh, and there's this guy.

As the Republican convention nears, Tampa strip clubs prepare for a surge in business.  One has even hired a Palin-lookalike stripper.

There are a few problems with religion.

If you want another debt-and-spending binge, vote Republican. Their tax plan would be worse for the deficit too.

Here's a history of race relations in one cartoon.

Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel has positioned himself to personally profit if the US defaults on its debt -- an outcome he has already said he would vote for (found via Plutocrap).

Gun sales in Colorado are up since the theater shooting.  The anti-gun side has, plainly and simply, lost the argument.  But one victim's case illustrates the barbarity of our country's lack of universal health insurance.

Could Bachmann really lose this time?

Religion remains the best predictor of voting patterns.

Keeping Obamacare will save at least $319 billion.

The obsessives who focus on deficits and debt instead of growth have been proven wrong yet again (found via Green Eagle).

There are good reasons why Jewish voters continue to lean Democratic.

Never mind gay marriage, a church in Mississippi has refused to marry a couple because they're black.

An odd poll result in Ohio suggests woeful divisions among Republicans.

A life filled with divine purpose is a wasted life.

Read the comments thread here.  These people will vote -- will you?

HL Mencken had some choice words about ethnicity in the US.

Louisiana's "standards" won't stop public money from going to religious fake "education".

The biggest threat to Obama's re-election is the naïve bipartisanship he wasted so much time on early in his administration.

Investing in birth control could achieve a lot.

Here are 23 brands to avoid -- and tell them why.  More here (found via Republic of Gilead).

On the Aurora theater shooter, I've got nothing to say beyond what I said here.  But Roger Ebert is a must-read.

The heat wave is dispelling denial about global warming (as I speculated would happen); now governments need to focus on real solutions.

Inequality is even worse than we thought.

US conservative moves to Canada, wakes up to reality.

Europe vs. the US: sad but true.

Victorian-era photographs reveal London of over a century ago.

Romney's blundering British gaffe-fest continues to provoke derision in both countries.  He, not Obama, is threatening the "special relationship".  At least we've got Michelle.

Jen McCreight has a photo report from Dublin, a city with character

Welcome to Germany.

As the euro lurches back into crisis, the EU blames the victim.  Austerity in Europe and spending cuts in the US, not "delinquent behavior" by southern European countries, are driving the crisis. 

A man of courage has had to flee his homeland.

In China, don't eat the broccoli (or, apparently, anything).

A sunken World-War-II-era German U-boat is found off Nantucket.

Oh, great, now global warming is creating a new threat to the ozone layer.

Another long-vanquished disease makes a comeback thanks to anti-vaccination nuts.

Life-extension activists in Russia are starting their own political party.