Az. state senator Sylvia Allen thinks facts unimportant

Arizona state senator Sylvia Allen doesn't care for facts--"...people are welcome to believe whatever they want...," as reported in the Arizona Republic.

Allen was responding to the ridicule she recently received for twice stating that the Earth is 6,000 years old during a committee meeting on 25 June, which was discussing asking Congress not to limit access for certain uses, including uranium mining. The Earth has been here 6,000 years, long before anybody had environmental laws, and somehow it hasn't been done away with. Well, that's the kind of attitude that results in destruction of the environment. If Allen truly believes that it doesn't matter if people "believe whatever they want about how old the Earth is," what else can people believe whatever they want to without it making a difference? Should people who believe being sprinkled with Holycheney water can dodge bullets and are immune to H1N1 be given any credibility?

Yet another Palin speculation

After Alaska governor Sarah Palin's announcement today that she would relinquish her seat as governor and watcher of Russia, media pundits were furiously punditing their little hearts out. My first thought was that she was preparing her 2012 presidential campaign as the Alaskan Independence Party candidate (emails on that subject between Palin and McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt last October having just been revealed--thank you, David Neiwert). That's right--get elected president and then secede from the United States.

After reading what Jed Lewison of Daily Kos had to say (...I can't do it and make a difference where I am right now behind the governor's desk, so I'm going to go around the governor's desk, and I'm going to make that difference, outside -- outside government). Upon careful reflection, however, I am now able to speculate with as much reliability as any mainstream media pundit, Palin's true plans--she will become co-host with Fox News' Glenn Beck.

OH NO! Y2K IS COMING!!

In need of a laugh, I checked out the Wing Nut Daily, and learned that Y2K is coming! Well, this post didn't call it Y2K, but it did present the same scare scenario as we remember from ten years ago. Don't trust the Government, the Terrorists are out to get you. And oh, by the way, they would like to sell you a book (How to Survive the Collapse of Civilization, by Bob Livingston).

Obama fails to protect America from terrorists

It looks like the Republican fear-mongers were right after all, when they told us that President Obama would fail to protect America from terrorism. This past Sunday, a religious zealot committed an act of terrorism inside a Kansas church, assassinating an usher.

This was no typical murder, but rather part of terrorist activity that has been ongoing for years. The murdered usher, Dr. George Tiller, had been harassed for over 25 years, and the doctor had been shot before. All part of a campaign to terrorize Americans by a group of jihadists who are convinced they are carrying out the will of God, abetted by right-wing talk-show hosts like Bill O'Reilly and columnists who have been demonizing Dr. Tiller and others.

Perhaps we should accept former Vice President Richard Cheney's counsel. Round up anti-abortionists and people with Jesusfish on their cars, imprison them overseas, and waterboard them until they reveal their next targets. So far, I haven't seen any of those conservative pundits suggest that we use torture for these domestic terrorists. I wonder why.

Who would Jesus murder?

Bobby Jindal -- Do you get it now?

UPDATE: I just read this post by Sam Stein at Huffington Post, via Steve Benen at Political Animal, noting that Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) announced that half a million dollars of the $140M stimulus funds criticized as "wasteful" by Jindal were being directed to Louisiana for flood monitoring, upgrading stream gages (something I'm familiar with), and facility maintenance. At least some people in Louisiana recognize that monitoring a vital activity in an area that is subject to natural disturbances. Apparently, Jindal has not yet made up his mind whether funding improvements to disaster readiness is worthwhile.

When something called Bobby Jindal gave the Republican rebuttal speech to President Obama's not-exactly-officially state-of-the-Union speech some weeks ago, many people were dumbfounded by his criticism of Obama's stimulus package for including money for "something called volcano monitoring." Apparently Jindal, governor of Louisiana (that state right next to New Orleans of Hurricane Katrina fame) is not familiar with natural disasters. A lot of people are aware that the hazards posed by volcanoes are not trivial.

People mocked Jindal after his speech, seeing the irony of the governor of a state vulnerable to natural disasters not seeming to know about or care about the natural disasters others may have to face. When Mt. Redoubt in Alaska blew a few days ago, Jindal's "What-me-worry?" attitude was mocked anew.

Perhaps Jindal figures the only harm of erupting volcanoes is that they might frighten dinosaurs, which may then stampede. Well, Mudflats describes one aspect of the situation around the Mt. Redoubt eruption, and it is not trivial--an oil tank farm and terminal is threatened by a mudflow and possible flooding (often forgotten consequences of eruptions), and this could lead to a big oil spill in Cook inlet.

One more reason to appreciate a President who has real science advisors and is willing to listen to them.

Missouri bill aims to ban science from public schools

Show me a half-dozen morons, and I'll show you the sponsor and co-sponsors of House Bill No. 656 introduced in the Missosuri General Assembly this month. Yes, it is yet another "teach the controversy" bill adapted from the Disinformatory Institute's boilerplate. As such, it's pretty much entirely worthless, but this paragraph stands out for not getting it:

3. This section only protects the teaching of scientific information and this section shall not be construed to promote philosophical naturalism or biblical theology, promote natural cause or intelligent cause, promote undirected change or purposeful design, promote atheistic or theistic belief, promote discrimination for or against a particular set of religious beliefs or ideas, or promote discrimination for or against religion or nonreligion. Scientific information includes physical evidence and logical inferences based upon evidence. [Emphasis mine--Pupdog]

The true intention of this bill is to allow teachers to introduce Creationist materials and arguments and to encourage students to swallow the lies that some teachers apparently are prepared to feed them (Funny--that didn't work in Dover, Pennsylvania, where science teachers cited an ethical obligation not to lie to students, forcing the Superintendent to read the Cdesign Proponentsists' statement).

These efforts are not designed to promote "critical thinking," even if they are self-labeled as "teach the strengths and weaknesses," "academic freedom." or "Creationism must be science because the guy talking about it was wearing a white lab coat!" It is a sad state of affairs indeed when life imitates The Onion (source of the picture for this post).

Darwin returns to Dover

Charles Darwin came back to haunt Dover, Pennsylvania, in the form of a billboard proclaiming "Praise Darwin: Evolve Beyond Belief." The billboard was prepared in time for the bicentennial anniversary of his birth, February 12, at a site of significance in the history of ideas. The Freedom from Religion Foundation paid for this billboard and a second one in Dayton, Tennessee. Both sites are known for trials arising from anti-evolutionists wishing to teach Creationism in public schools as the explanation for biodiversity. In Dayton, John Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution, a prohibited act. In Kitzmiller &al. v. Dover &al. (the trial was actually held in Harrisburg) the Dover Area School District was found in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as well as in violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution (Article 1 section 3).

Some reactions to the billboard were reported by one of the local papers that followed the story leading up to the 2005 judgement. Steven Neubauer, an outspoken local atheist, said the billboard celebrates science and is not an attack on religious beliefs. Tammy Kitzmiller, the lead plaintiff in the case, said she likes the billboard but figures it will stir up matters that ought to rest. William "Deer-in-the-Headlights" Buckingham, a former school board member who was one of the perpetrators of the Dover Affair, feels the billboard is an expression of free speech, which is allowed to everyone except Christians. Apparently, he is one of many who remains confused about what is meant by "free speech." Similarly, local pastor Sterling Walsh Jr. said the billboard merely reflects one of many viewpoints about the beginning of the world, not realizing that Darwin's theory of evolution did not address the origin of the world, or even the origin of life.

Larry Hicks' column in the paper the next day took the point of view that the billboard represented the gloating of winners in a clash of atheists versus Christians, blaming extremists on both sides for perpetuating the Creationism controversy. He claims "the Christians" who lost Kitzmiller v. Dover have "begrudgingly accepted thair loss," have "been mostly quiet since," and have "licked their wounds and moved on." Mr. Hicks is unaware of the extent and depth of the issue, as was clearly pointed out by Dan Gilbert in an Op-Ed piece two days later. Mr. Gilbert gets it. Judging by the comments posted in response to these articles in the York Dispatch, many people still do not. Our society still fails to educate very well. Can we make a special effort this year, Darwin's 200th birthday, the 150th anniversary of the publication of his The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, and the International Year of Planet Earth, to promote a rational, scientific understanding of the world around us?