Eminem and Rihanna have a hit here. Great new song, deep meaning. Rihanna has monsters, one of them being the fact she had another relationship with Chris Brown after being physically abused by him. Eminem has monsters... for example pain from not getting to live "as a regular civilian" or because of his OCD "conking me in the head." In fact he's willing to admit "I am nuts for real."

Being friends with the monster is being able to cope with our weaknesses. We all have at least one... somewhere. Do you manage to navigate life by being friends with the monster? Maybe you let the monster get the best of you. As we mature we learn to live with these flaws better.

I can only speak for my 36 years of experience, but I think I'm friends with the monster, it wasn't always that way.

LYRICS

EMINEM LYRICS
"The Monster"
(feat. Rihanna)

[Hook - Rihanna:]
I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy

Do you have a little time for a little easy online atheist

This week I found out Edward Snowden is an agnostic humanist, and Diana Nyad is an atheist. 

We have re-opened posting on the Atheism United wiki, it was closed due to uncontrollable spam.  Over the years many people have asked me to put a link to their website on this site or one of the other sites I manage.  My solution was to help all atheist sites by making the longest list of atheist sites ever created.  I can always use your help, even if just to be a watchful eye attacking spammers.  Please link to the list on your own blogs and sites.  Why?

Quite a few #Republicans should be out of a job because of their negligence. I want to fight back. But I refuse to accept this idea from the DNC that a donation will do the job. Democrats don't need my money to do their job. They will get their paychecks tomorrow even when others will not. The democrats must learn how to respond to the dishonest tactics of Republicans better. When the Republicans say "the american people want this" someone needs to be there to say "actually polls show the american people don't want this."

You don't need my money to fight something that the Republicans promised to their base. The Republicans promised gleefully they would shut the government down as a tactic. They are getting what they want... the destruction of America so they can get their own sick twisted ideological goals based on a misinterpretation of a bronze age book and whoever is willing to give them the most money.

Here is how they asked for money: http://my.democrats.org/GOP-Shutdown

On a scale of 1-10 how mad are you at the Republican party for holding us hostage, risking our credit rating, and trying to restrict us from affordable health care?  I am a 10.  It makes me sick that they are treating our fiscal health and literal health like a game.  Oh how ironic, I'm sick... I don't have health insurance!

Let the Republicans know you will not be voting for them in the future.  Here are some of their twitter feeds.

I played golf today with my favorite Christian golfing partner.  I said something like "and if you think I'm a non-conformist with my atheism..."  and he cut me off and said "I don't think you're non-conforming, I see you like most other people.  Almost everyone is atheist now." The numbers don't necessarily back his claim, but his perception is that most people are atheist.  This certainly wouldn't have been the case in our discussions 10 years ago.  

We came to a point of agreement that the majority of Americans don't practice religion actively.  Maybe we're products of the sights and relationships we have in our liberal Philadelphia area.  I suppose our perception might be different if we lived in the bible belt.  Thankfully, we don't.  

It feels damn good to know I played a role in getting us this far.  Hopefully you have done enough to feel the same way.  

 I sent a tweet out today asking people to retweet if you wanted to see Kelly, Rook, and I get together for some kind of RRS reunion.  Rook and Kelly retweeted it.  Jake and Rich Woods retweeted it.  None of you retweeted it.  So I assume most of you don't use twitter or don't check it.  I thought you might want me to bring it to your attention, so you can retweet it.  

Facebook has figured out that "Sapient" isn't my real last name.  They have restricted access to my account and I can no longer do anything with it.  This includes managing the "page" I created for "Brian Sapient" and managing some of the facebook groups I formed related to atheism.  As a result I will not participate in Facebook as frequently from now on.  However I have created a new page for people to like that I will communicate on from time to time.  Please share this page to let others know it's the only profile I'm using on facebook now.

http://www.facebook.com/rrsbriansapient

A better place to find me on social media is usually twitter: http://twitter.com/rationalsquad

I'm not a big google+ fan but I am on it: http://plus.google.com/104193718637227075417

Seems like Barney Frank has lent credence to the idea that the atheist closet is harder to escape than the one for gays.  Only after retiring was Barney Frank able to admit he is an atheist.  

Celebatheists story: Barney Frank is an atheist 

 I understand that many of us are struggling but I was touched by a story and request for help posted tonight by Terence Weyenberg.

His car was about to be repossessed and he asked for immediate help to pay the bill to avoid it.  He received a loan from a friend but had to deplete the last $200 he had and has no cash on hand for luxuries like food.  I know we're a skeptical bunch, but I think it's legit, and maybe a few of you will want to throw $5-10 his way to buy him a meal.  Just a good deed for the day, a few dollars to a freethinking brother who could use a hand up.  

MONEY SENT TO THE PAYPAL CHIP IN ABOVE GOES DIRECTLY TO TERENCE ([email protected])