Link round-up for 26 August 2012

Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon, died yesterday.

The present-day US is like the French Revolution in reverse.

What if Jesus were to appear at the Republican convention?

Listen to Devo's new Romney/Seamus song.

Travel broadens the mind.

Meet Don Dwyer, protector of children.

Here's what Romney's money looks like.

What could possibly go wrong with this plan?

Fundamentalist pastor Grant Storms, crusader against public displays of sexuality at Mardi Gras, is convicted of public masturbation (found via Lady Atheist).

These are the faces of the enemy.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has issued an official statement on rape and pregnancy.  More hard data here and also here.

If Romney wins, Roe v. Wade almost certainly will be overturned; read this too.

Yes, religious politicians' delusional beliefs do matter (found via Lady Atheist), the problem is especially bad with House Republicans.

It's hard to keep track of all the Republican gaffes these days, but this odd piece of nastiness from the head of the RNC shouldn't pass unnoticed.

The tax-returns issue has bite.

Fundamentalists are driving away women and thus endangering their own future (found via Republic of Gilead).

Romney probably won't, and can't, use the convention to humanize himself.

Matthew O'Brien does a full fact-check of that Newsweek cover hit-piece on Obama (found via Green Eagle).

Global-warming denialism is a vote-losing position, except among hard-core Republicans.

Lady Atheist looks at Bertrand Russell.

Rosa Rubicondior looks at the evidence for the existence of Jesus.

Smartypants looks at the National Review's weird lunge into sexism about sons and daughters.

The NYT looks at Republican lies about Medicare reform.

Racist fanatics infiltrate the military to learn fighting skills.

Texas judge Tom Head threatens treason and civil war if Obama is re-elected, and Republicans elsewhere in the country are talking insurrection.

If elected, Wenona Benally Baldenegro would be the first American Indian woman in Congress (found via Smartypants).

The economy isn't bad enough to doom Obama's chances.

Akin's poll numbers have imploded even though several top conservatives still support him.  But Ryan and the party generally are just as extreme (found via Politics Plus), including the platform.  Huckabee, a featured speaker at the Republican convention, helpfully points out that rape-induced pregnancy sometimes produces great people.  Akin's religious mentor had some weird ideas of his own, and he wasn't the first.

In just six years, the self-declared religious percentage of Ireland's population has fallen from 69% to 47%.  Religion is massively declining all over the world.

This article on the latest plan to save the euro is a bit complex, but the gist of it is that the EU will act to save the southern European economies even at the risk of higher inflation -- a move which could inflame the German public's already-smoldering hostility to the common currency.

Historic sites in Syria are being wrecked by the civil war (I've been to Krak des Chevaliers, 2nd and 3rd photos).

Here's a collection of photos of spectacular cloud formations.

A short application of intense heat can deaden the itching from insect bites, apparently.