Melanie Phillips: I didn't know they stacked shit that high

Mad Mel surpasses even her own usual level of bug-eyed slavering insanity in The Spectator this week with the shock revelation that the current global financial crisis is the fault of those who don't believe in God. No, seriously. Selected highlights include the usual conflating of religious belief with morality (because all us atheists conduct an exhausting schedule of stabbing old ladies and raping small children, being as we are devoid of the fear of retribution after we die, which is of course the ONLY reason keeping us all from crucifying our neighbours and cutting their lips off with a pair of secateurs) - actually that should be the conflating of Judeo-Christian religious belief with morality, as of course other religious beliefs as practised by those suspect brown-skinned bearded people in unsuitable headgear don't count.

Even better than that is the assertion that one of the effects of atheism is:

....the destruction of truth and objectivity and a corresponding rise in credulousness

If I didn't know Melanie Phillips' output fairly well, I'd have to invoke Poe's Law at this point, i.e. I'd assume she was taking the piss. The only other rational response is sitting there with your mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, but no words coming out (erm, again, like a goldfish).

As if that were not bad enough, she then launches into a spirited defence of moose-slaughtering, newspaper-avoiding, contraception-shunning, evolution-denying, power-abusing Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, mainly on the grounds that Palin opposes abortion (which Mel cutely calls "infanticide" - nice work). Other people's concerns, like for instance her being a pigshit-thick airhead fundamentalist lunatic, are dismissed as "profoundly irrational".

It's not just me and the rest of the non-American western world, though. Now she (i.e. Palin) has incurred the wrath of the Bonj. I may forgive, but the Jovester does not.

Also, if you are wondering what a Palin presidency would be like (and the odds are high that we would get one at some point if the Republicans win, what with McCain's age and health problems), take a look at this. Keep opening the door on the left, but on no account answer the red phone.