The DIVINE AFFLATUS

God's Santa Claus

2012-01-29T10:25:00.001-05:00

Daily Kos has a regular feature, "This Week in the War on Women." Yesterday's post, Public hangings, rape is a gift from God, and cream of fetus soup" detailed a few examples of how the Republican party has not been supportive of women's rights (to say the least).

"Public hangings" refers to North Carolina State Assemblyman Larry Pitman's call for public hangings of (among others) abortion providers. I guess they don't have enough stones in that state for proper executions. "Cream of fetus soup" satirizes Oklahoma State Senator Ralph Shortey's bill to ban the use of aborted human fetuses in food. He seems to be confused about food and non-food.

Okay, you might think these are examples of provincial hillbillies whose influence cannot extend past their local hilltop. The last item, however, comes from a candidate in a major political party's race for nomination for President of the United States and Leader of the Free World. Compulsive breeder Rick "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Googled" Santorum has taken the extreme anti-choice position that even pregnancies resulting from rape should not be terminated. In an interview with Piers Morgan on CNN that aired January 20, Santorum was asked what he would do if one of his daughters were to come to him, telling him she had been raped and was pregnant, and begging to be allowed to have an abortion. He responded that he would not consent to his daughter getting an abortion, and said that the offspring of rapists are gifts from God.

Which leads us to the illustration above, which comes from "Santa Claus: Bad Role Model?" posted by Luis Prada, in which he cites research by Australian public-health expert Nathan Grills which suggests Mr. Claus' reckless and unhealthy lifestyle may be a bad influence on young minds. Prada adds concerns about Santa's suspicious spying and maintenance of lists of those whom he deems "naughty" or "nice." Rick Santorum reveals to us that a serial rapist, i.e., one who brings many gifts from God, must indeed by God's own Santa Claus.

Terrorist Attack in Arkansas

2012-01-24T08:16:00.000-05:00

A terrorist struck last Sunday in Russellville, Arkansas. There was only one death, but a number of victims.This is not an isolated incident; indeed, it occurred on the same date as Gabby Giffords announced she would resign her seat in Congress in order to fucus on her recovery from another act of terrorism. Both cases involved demonization of a perceived "enemy," spread by the media.

More PA Gov: This'll Help Keep You Poor!

2012-01-18T08:27:00.001-05:00

Now, if you live in Pennsylvania and you need food stamps (but may not possess any assets above $2,000; see previous post), Governor Tom Corbett has figured another way to keep you in poverty--take away Medicaid benefits for poor children. As in the case of the food stamp restriction, this move was rationalized by claiming it would cut waste and fraud. And, of course, costs.
(noted at Crooks and Liars.)

I guess the Republican strategy is for states to keep children in poverty, and for the Federal government to pauperize older people.

PA Gov to Poor: Stay Poor!

2012-01-15T09:34:00.001-05:00

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett informed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, aka Food Stamps) last December 28 that his administration will resurrect the limitation on assests the recipients may possess. Federal guidelines permit states to apply an asset limitation as long as it is not less than $2,000, a figure set in 1980. The Rendell administration dropped the limitation in 2008 because it was harmful to those who needed assistance.

What this zombie requirement does is make it much more difficult for someone to get out of poverty--and therefore more dependent on programs such as SNAP. The reason given for restarting the asset test is to see that "people with resources are not taking advantage of the food-stamp program," according to Department of Public Welfare spokesperson Anne Bale.

Bale told the Philadelphia Inquirer that approximately 2 percent of Pennsylvania's 1.8 million Food Stamp recipients would be affected by the test. Federal Statistics estimate the rate of Food Stamp fraud in Pennsylvania is 0.1 percent, among the lowest in the nation. Do the math: 1,800,000 x 0.02 x 0.001 = (State spends a whole lot of money hoping to prevent a couple dozen cases of fraud).

That's right--Pennsylvania will probably spend a lot more than it can hope to recapture. And that doesn't include the economic impact to food merchants who will also lose.

Photo "Migrant Agricultural Worker's Family," by Dorothea Lange, 1936 (Library of Congress

It's the Bugs

2012-01-10T09:59:00.001-05:00

I don't want anyone to think that the photo in my last post was a sly, snarky reference to santorum--the subject of the photo was the pair of breeding beetles, not the dung upon which they were cavorting. I didn't have any photos of Rick Santorum's man-on-dog, so I used what I had. Here's a closer view of the same photo:

The happy couple are American carrion beetles, Necrophila americana. As their name suggests, they can often be found on dead critters. In this case, they were exchanging intense joy atop dog feces in my back yard. Their distinctive black markings on pale yellow prothorax can be seen in the photo below:

Rick Santorum Wants to Watch Your Bedroom

2012-01-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

Compulsive breeder and contender for the Republican nomination for president Rick Santorum has declared that states have the right to outlaw birth control. Because, he claims, states have the right to do anything.

Santorum also pledges to eliminate federal funding for contraception because, he says, sex is for procreation. I'm not sure if he has pledged to outlaw sex between people who are unable to bear children, or the pollination of apple blossoms.

Once again, there is a Republican telling women to take off their shoes, get knocked up, and get back in the kitchen.

How Can We Even Consider Electing the Irrational?

2012-01-04T15:11:00.005-05:00

This election cycle's crop of Republican president wannabes has been referred to as a "clown car," and with good reason. They are vying against each other for the admiration of their base, which apparently is looking for some combination of Bozo, Daffy Duck, and Mortimer Snerd.

Here's a sampling of The Crazy provided by the elite of the GOP. This list is very, very far from exhaustive.

Michele Bachmann: In one of the debates she said under her administration paying taxes would be optional.

Just before the Iowa Caucus, with polls showing her far behind, she promised a Miracle: "So polls don't -- are -- sometimes belie the truth on the ground, and that's what we see. This isn't just about polling. This is about what we're seeing in reality, and I think Tuesday night people are going to see a miracle." We know how well that worked.

Bachman wants to invade Iran (although Santorum claims to be the only candidate that wants to invade; Romney and Gingrich also pledged to invade Iran).

Bachman would like the US to become more like China: "If you look at China, they don't have food stamps. If you look at China, they're in a very different situation. They don't have AFDC [Aid to Families with Dependent Children]. They save for their own retirement security. They don't have the modern welfare state. And China's growing. And so what I would do is look at the programs that LBJ gave us with the Great Society and they'd be gone.”

Rick Santorum: This is the fellow whose hatred of homosexuals led him to become known as "He Who Must Not Be Googled."

He talks tough--would invade Iran (so much for "right-to-life").

Santorum accused President Obama of unspecified "un-American activities."

He thinks diversity is bad: For Santorum that means cutting government regulation. Making Americans less dependent on government aid. Fewer people getting food stamps, Medicaid and other forms of federal assistance — especially one group.
"I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money," Santorum begins. "I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families."
Santorum did not elaborate on why he singled out blacks who rely on federal assistance. The voters here didn't seem to care.

Let's not forget the Santorum "Amendment"--Ricky's attempt to teach Creationism under the auspices of the "No Child Left Behind Education Act" signed by George W. Bush in 2002. In a March 14, 2002 op-ed for the Washington (Moonie) Times, Santorum "claimed his language was a 'provision' of the bill"--when, fact is, it is not.

And today, Santorum likened President Obama to Italian dictator Mussolini.

Newt Gingrich: Newt likes dinosaurs, and claims therefore to be an expert on climate change.

Patriotism made him unfaithful.

Newt wasn't labbying when he lobbied Freddie Mac for $1.6M.

Willard "My-First-Name-Is-Mitt" Romney: It's hard to tell with Romney, because we can't be sure which Mitt is the real one (if there even IS a real one).

Romney claims to be a member of the middle class, despite having a net worth of up to $250,000,000.

He also claimed, on "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, “Somebody who’s fallen from the middle class to poverty, in my opinion is still middle class.”

Rick Perry: He thinks Canada is part of US.

Perry claims to be very pro-life, yet allowed 234 prisoners to be be executed (and covered up an investigation into evidence that at least one of those was not guilty of the capital crime).

Ron Paul: Paul claims he was not responsible for the hateful things his Ron Paul newsletters said.

Paul has ties to Christian Reconstructionism (aka "American Taliban"), and has been praised by Gary North, extremist son-in-law of the late Pope of the Theocrats, R.J. Rushdooney. Apparently Paul is enamored of the group's favoring of the death penalty for numerous behaviors as called for in Leviticus.

Jon Huntsman: Huntsman is the least loony of the Republican contenders, yet he has his moments of whackiness. He wrote an op-ed critical of the Dodd-Frank reform that misrepresented that reform and President Obama's efforts, and calling for its replacement by something that is supposed to do what Dodd-Frank already does.

Half a year ago, Huntsman adopted a strategy of pandering to the polls. He sort of backtracked on his switch to global warming denialism (or maybe not), and I don't think he's been overly enthusiastic about his pandering. Not like Mittens, anyway.

Herman Cain: Well, never mind, his brain is still twirling.

Gary Johnson: Who? He found it both difficult and easy to switch his efforts to run as a Republican to Libertarian.

Okay, candidates, please raise your hands if you think you're whacky enough to be the Republican Party's 2012 presidential candidate.

The Annual War on Christmas Continues

2011-12-10T09:32:00.000-05:00

This year's annual War on Christmas issue is dedicated to one of Baby Jesus' favorite generals, Texas governor Rick Perry, who appeared on YouTube dressed as a gay cowboy to rant about teh gay soldiers who risk their lives to preserve his freedom to curse them.

Following up on his religious, anti-gay rant, Perry had an interview (see here)with the editors of the Des Moines Register, in which complained about government getting involved in controlling religion in public schools. Except Texas government, which is needed to set aside prayer time and to wage war against evolution, climate change, and other sciences. Perry further demonstrated his creativity by referring to the "eight" Supreme Court justices who are making these decisions instead of Texas government bureaucrats.

And, of course, Perry blames it all on President Obama.

Rick "Please-Don't-Google-Me" Santorum is Also an Ignoramous

2011-12-05T09:40:00.005-05:00

I know we've known this since before the days of the "Santorum Almost An Amendment," but since Rick Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania who was voted out of office, appears to be engaged in an effort to outdo Michele Bachmann's crazy, we may as well remark upon it.

Hunter at Dail Kos describes and explains Santorum's recent claim of a Grand Jihad against God and Christianity by Science, specifically, the teaching of evolution in schools. He still favors a Crusade as a response to his fantasy.

Someone chosen to lead the United States must recognize what it takes to maintain our country's welfare and leadership in the world today--and an important aspect of that is an understanding of what science is, and how it can be used to maintain a high standard of living and a strong national defense. We need to understand the environment in which we live and how natural resources can be used to support us without destrying the environment in the process, so we don't wind up choking in a cesspool of our own making.

Bachmann is an Ignoramous--Part MCCXVIII

2011-12-01T18:08:00.001-05:00

An astute political observer recently noted that Repub-
lican disdain for learning has gotten so bad that nowadays one is required to have an IQ in single digits to qualify for the party's nomination.

To prove the point, Michele Bachmann, in a question-and-answer session during an education forum at the University of Northern Iowa November 30, said that Intelligent Design Creationism should be taught in schools. She suggested that it is an equally valid scientific theory as evolution, and referred to several "problems" with evolutionary theory--problems that Creationists frequently raise, such as the Second Law of Thermodynamics, irreducible complexity, and the "dearth of the fossil record" (whatever that means; my house is full of fossils, and I think the American Museum of Natural History has some more)--and which have been refuted over and over again. To teach only science in science class, Bachmann feels, amounts to "government censorship."

Bachmann could scarcely be more wrong. Intelligent Design Creationism has no place in science class, because it is not science. It is not an equally valid alternative theory, because there is no "theory" in it. It is no more than the Abrahamic religious creation myth.

But the most mind-numbing foolish thing that Bachmann said on this issue was "So I think intellectually, the best thing to do is to allow all scientific facts on the table and let students decide." If that were done, putting all scientific facts on the table, why, one would simply have a lesson in evolution, because Creationism is fact-free; it is non-science. However, Bachmann obviously means present religious and supernatural claims as if they were scientific facts. And then, leave it to the students, who are just being introduced to the material and have not yet acquired sufficient knowledge and understanding to adequately judge the matter, to...judge the matter. Ms. Bachmann--if the students have the capability to judge such things, why are they in the class?

Remember the runup to the 2008 election, when Republican contenders were asked to raise their hands if they thought Creationism should be taught? That's right, boys and girls, show us that you don't need no stinkin' education. Rick Perry already claimed (falsely) that Texas schools teach both evolution and Creationism, and he, too, suggested that the students could decide which view they prefer. Yes, I think there may be something to the rumor of that single-digit IQ prerequisite.

Free Will?

2011-12-01T09:04:00.001-05:00

It is astounding how some folks cannot recognize irony even when they are neck deep in it. I came across the following example at Crooks and Liars.

A church in Kentucky banned interracial couples from all church activities except funerals, in order to "promote greater unity among the church body and the community we serve." I think this congregation is unclear on the concept.

The name of the church? The Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church. I wonder if part of their worship service is the ignition of the cross.

UPDATE: The Church has reconsidered its decision, and has passed a new resolution welcoming "believers into our fellowship regardless of race, creed or color."

Whom Do They Remember?

2011-11-16T20:58:00.001-05:00

Yes, Mayor, they did clear Tiananmen Square. But now, more than 20 years later, whom do people remember? Not the mayor of Beijing--they remember the brave individual who had had enough of the way power and wealth were distributed in his country, and faced the tanks that represented that lopsided distribution. He is the one that we would consider a "patriot."

Another List of "Experts"

2011-11-09T12:36:00.000-05:00

First, we had lists of "experts" who thought evolution was a scientific dead end, ready to meet its imminent demise, supported only by a huge, ongoing conspiracy.

Then we had lists of climate "experts" who insisted anthropogenic global warming was a hoax, a conspiracy carried on by researchers who wanted more research dollars or else wanted to overthrow America.

Now, Speaker of the House John Boehner has come up with a list of "expert" economists who say the Republican economic "plan" has more merit than President Obama's plan. Like the Creationists and Denialists of the other two lists, Boehner's list comprises fundamentalists of the conservative think [sic] tanks (born of the same mother as the Discovery Institute).

(Steve Benen at Crooks and Liars noticed the similarity between Boehner's list and Senator Inhofe's list of climate-change "experts".)

Let the Bugs Do the Housework

2011-11-06T16:14:00.000-05:00

Mildew has been growing on a vinyl weatherstrip at my garage door, and I could not scrub it off with the usual cleaners. Looks like some bug has effectively grazed the mildew; now, if I could only raise a herd of these critters and put them to work where needed!

I did not watch the bugs at work, and only noticed their handiwork after they were gone. I don't know who they were (they did not leave a bill).

Hornworm Hosts its Destruction

2011-09-30T10:14:00.002-04:00

While admiring some ground cherries outside my front door, I noticed a number of leaves had been stripped off. Not grazed on by the deer that frequent the area, more like eaten by caterpillars. After a brief search I spotted a hornworm munching away. I didn't bother killing the hornworm because, after all, the ground cherries are weeds growing amongst the black-eyed susans, and it's less work for me if they take care of the weeds.

I looked again a few days later, and saw that the hornworm had sprouted numerous white appendages. These are the cocoons of pupating braconid wasps. Braconid wasps are parasitoids that inject their eggs beneath the skin of the host (hornworms are favored by the braconid wasp Contesia congregatus). After feeding on the convenient meal surrounding them, the wasp larvae emerge and spin their coccons, attached to the body of the unfortunate hornworm. In a few days, adult wasps emerge from their cocoons, leaving a dead caterpillar.

I later spotted a second hornworm, which suffered the same fate as the first.

The First One Now Will Later Be Last

2011-09-25T11:33:00.000-04:00

Just a mere couple of months ago, the world as we know it was shocked when Michelle Bachmann came in first in the Ames, Iowa straw poll, beating out suave businessman Mitt Romney, and way ahead of Jon "Who?" Huntsman. Here was a candidate Republicans could identify with.

How times change. In yesterday's Florida straw poll, Bachmann finished dead last (1.5%)--behind even Huntsman (2.3%), and far, far behind Pizza Guy Herman ~~Munster~~ Cain (37%). Bachmann's former replacement as Favorite Whacko, Rick "It-Takes-More-Than-$5,000-To-Buy-Me" Perry, finished at 15.4%, just nudging out Romney (with 14.0%).

I'll Take a bunch of These and a lot of Those, But I Don't Want to Pay For Them

2011-09-22T22:10:00.000-04:00

Several of the contestants appearing at tonight's Republican "debate," beginning with Michelle Bachmann, expressed their desire to build a Great Wall at the border with Mexico, complete with surveillance and weaponry. Funny thing is, these same actors had just been bragging about how much they would reduce government spending. Indeed, Bachmann suggested that she favors a 0 percent income tax rate. So how come nobody bothered to ask how such a project would be paid for?

Earth Science Week

2011-09-11T11:32:00.000-04:00

Earth Science Week will be celebrated October 9 - 15. Malls and car dealerships all over the country will not be having any special sales in recognition of this event, but it is an opportunity for the media and, especially, teachers, to help publicize the importance of understanding how the Earth works. Helpful materials and additional information can be found here.

Earth Science Week presents a chance to learn more about many things in the news lately that affect our lives: the earthquake that shook Virginia in August--how does it compare to previous quakes in the area, and quakes elsewhere; How much do volcanoes affect global warming in comparison with anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases; What impact might additional drilling for oil in America have on the world demand and domestic gasoline prices?

Rick Perry's Economics Class

2011-09-08T08:33:00.000-04:00

At last night's Republican presidential candidates' debate, when asked to respond to former Vice President Dick Cheney's criticism of comments he had made about Social Security being a Ponzi scheme, Rick Perry had this to say:

We're about fixing things. You can either have reasons or you can have results. And the American people expect us to put results in place.

WTF? We don't need no stinking reasons? An intelligent person might want to learn the reasons that brought about a given condition, and have a good set of reasons for taking whatever action he takes to bring about the desired results. Sounds like maybe Perry has not only handed over authority in Texas to God, but, if elected president, will abdicate the White House as well.

Whee!

2011-08-31T16:33:00.000-04:00

Seems like we had been having quite a bit of rain, about a week before hurricane Irene. Finally, the sun came out and so did a few box turtles, to celebrate the fair weather. I don't know if the second male had already celebrated or was waiting his turn.

Rick Perry: Lying Sack of Shit

2011-08-17T17:03:00.002-04:00

Texas Governor Rick Perry today (17 August) accused climate scientists of engaging in fraud and in a vast conspiracy in making their claims that the Earth is warming due to human activities. It is well known that anthropogenic global warming is true, and there are multiple, independent lines of evidence supporting this conclusion. Yet Herr Professor Doktor Perry tells us that Earth's climate has always been changing, and human impact on climate now is merely an unproven theory. Yes, Ricky, climate has undergone natural changes during Earth's history, but it is currently undergoing much more rapid change, change that is attributable to the amount of greenhouse gas humans are spewing into the atmosphere. We're not talking about some theory (as in somebody's hunch), but a consistent conclusion drawn from a multitude of observations.

What next, Gov...will you tell us that Adam and Eve rode about on the backs of dinosaurs, and evolution is only a theory? Oh, that's right, you did.

UPDATE: I was gratified to learn that rival GOP contender Jon Huntsman's campaign admonished Perry for being a denialist, "We're not going to win a national election if we become the anti-science party." Noted, with additional commentary, by Steve Benen at Political Animal.

Questions for Mitt Romney:

2011-08-12T16:57:00.001-04:00

If, as you say, "corporations are people"--how many votes do corporations get?
If a corporation is naughty, can it be put in jail?
Can same-industry corporations marry?

GOP Collects Ransom; Hostage Released, Has Bleeding Anus

2011-08-01T08:22:00.000-04:00

The two houses of Congress have come to what some satirists call a "compromise"--along the lines of "You give us all we want, and we'll say we want more." Our system has been broken by a gaggle of right-wing extremists behaving like a couple of teenagers who have broken into their parents' liquor cabinet.

It looks as though Republicans might achieve their goal, stated by their own leaders: ensure Barak Obama is not re-elected. Not create jobs; not strengthen the U.S. economy, not ensure the U.S. can remain a leader in scientific innovation and technology; just block Obama because, not only is he a Democrat, but also because he's, you know, different.

Luckily, We Have Hindsight

2011-07-30T09:36:00.001-04:00

When Franklin Roosevelt came into office, he took over the presidency from a man who watched as the nation's economy collapsed around him. Roosevelt determined that in order to reinvigorate that economy, the Federal government had to spend money to stimulate it.

He was right, and his programs brought about improvement. Under pressure from the anti-stimulators, however, Federal spending was eased under the impression that the moneys spent had been sufficient. They were not, and the economy began to slump again, not to be truly repaired until World War II -- the Great Stimulus.

Thankfully, we have the hindsight to have observed Roosevelt's stumble and not repeat it. Unless, as so many would have us do, we keep our eyes tightly shut.

God Hedges His Bets

2011-07-24T10:31:00.000-04:00

There are no strong Republican challengers to the re-election of President Barack Obama and, at this point, predicting who will win the Republican primary is a tough call. So tough, in fact, that even God is hedging his bets.

Texas governor Rick Perry is the latest Republican to claim being called by God to accept the privilege of running for the nomination for president. Perry has given up all hope that Americans can improve the nation's economy, ensure security and welfare, and deal with natural disasters, suggesting we let God handle it. Some folks think Perry is out of favor with God, since his call for Texans to pray for drought-ending rain has been answered by the spread of Hellish conditions in the Lone Star State.

Other Republicans claiming summons from God include Michelle (Pray-Away-the-Gay) Bachmann, who made her claim in an interview in the WingNut Daily back in 2009. Fellow conservative Republican Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller has reported that God is punishing Bachmann by serving her up with migraines. The piece did not seem to mention the Curse of Eve, however.

Pizza maker Herman Cain also has God's nomination (Hear him on You-Tube here). Cain vows to protect America by not appointing any Muslims to his cabinet, if elected.

Apparently the field of celebrities provides pretty poor pickings for a presidential candidate, so God has also placed a bet on some guy in Rolla, Missouri. Paul Sims describes himself as an "ordinary citizen and everyday man...George Washington of today." He can be seen describing his call from God and his platform here. His solution for economic recovery is to throw out regulations and make taxes optional.

You may remember that George W. Bush declared that he was called by God to be our nation's leader, and God told him to invade Iraq. Perhaps that was Dick Cheny hiding under a desk and speakinig in a funny voice. Anyway, we all know how well that leadership worked out.

Although Bush claimed to be called by God to lead the country, his attorney general, John Ashcroft, actually had himself anointed with oil in the manner of Israelite Kings Saul and David.

Since incumbent President Obama is expected to run for re-election, there is no crowd of Democratic hopefuls vying for the party's nomination. I guess it's just as well; according to a PPP poll on God's job approval:

There is also an ideological divide over God’s performance. Those who identify as very liberal approve of God 54-18, while those who identify as very conservative are almost uniform in their approval, 61-4.

Did Palin reveal true feelings?

2011-01-12T17:55:00.000-05:00

Did Sarah Palin reveal her true feelings when she used the term "blood libel" in her attempt to portray herself as the victim of Saturday's assassination attempt on Arizonaa's first Jewish Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords? Some people believe it to have been the utmost callousness; I think it was Palin's gross ignorance and her reliance on others to do much of her work for her.

For those who don't know or haven't yet heard, "blood libel" refers to the anti-semitic charge that Jews murder Christian babies and drink their blood, or make matzohs with the blood. As foolish as it is, this charge has been the basis for much anti-semitic activity.

I suspect Palin was at best only vaguely familiar with the term, thinking it simply referred to any false charge (or, quite likely, that was the thinking of her writers), and did not realize associating this term with an attempt to kill a Jew. After all, she was only trying to tell Real Americans that she was the victim.

And the gunsights she drew on the map of America, including Giffords' location? As she (well, her people) explained, they were just surveying symbols. Or bunnies, or unicorns.

Don't fret, Sarah...we know you have to reload your victimhood. Along with "Second Amendment remedies" Angle, "Armed and dangerous" Bachmann, and all those other politicians and media personalities who have been saying it may be necessary to revolt against our illegitimate government. And that includes all those liberals who bring guns to political rallies and call for the overthrow of the elected government (or would, if there were any; but oddly enough, there aren't).

Violence in video games, violence in talk shows

2011-01-09T14:47:00.000-05:00

For some years now people have been talking about violence in video games, and how young people playing those games become inured to the violence and may be led to commit violent acts themselves. Some have insisted on the games being rated to warn parents of violent content. Perhaps we need to see something along the lines of

"Fox wishes to caution viewers that the following program contains gratuitous anti-government and eliminationist rhetoric."

Nice work, Sarah Palin

2011-01-08T17:36:00.001-05:00

Sarah, you put the gunsights on several people, including Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. But the effort would not have been successful without the help of Sharron, Glenn, Sean, and various other damn fools, including Arizona Governor Jan Brewer who recently signed into law the bill that allowed the assassin to carry a concealed weapon without needing a permit (or a background check). As I write this, a 9- or 10-year-old girl is known to be dead and 10 persons in critical condition or in surgery, among them a Federal judge.

Thanks also to the Pima County Republicans for helping to set the mood with their "Help remove Gabrielle Giffords" M16 shoot in June 2010:

Hat tip to Jed Lewison for Palin's gunsight promo, and to David Safier (via David Neiwert) for the Pima County shooting event.

Don't make me go to bed, and I'll be good

2010-12-06T10:04:00.000-05:00

I've seen children do this frequently enough--it's bedtime, but they just don't want to go to bed. "Let me stay up to watch this program, and I'll do the dishes tomorrow" the kid might say. All too often, the parent, tired and ready for bed himself or herself, grants the request.

Tomorrow comes, and after supper the parent says, "Now remember your promise--you said you would do the dishes tonight if I let you stay up and watch your program."

"I can't--I have to go to the movies. Maybe tomorrow night."

I wish Republicans would nominate some grownups instead of little kids who will never agree to abide by a compromise they enter into; and I wish Democratic leaders would avoid playing the spineless parent of spoiled children.

It's almost over!

2010-10-14T15:58:00.000-04:00

Well, have you missed it yet? I'm referring to this year's Earth Science Week, October 10 - 16. If you've missed it, wait for it to come again next October. You can still visit here to learn what it's about and what activities you are missing. If you're home-schooling, download some materials to help teach Earth-science concepts and find additional sources to engage students in exploring the Earth. Check out the sponsors and listed Earth-science organizations--see what they have to say about climate change or this year's theme, energy. If your kids can understand the material, perhaps you might want to direct the attention of your congressman to this site.

But hey, don't just do this once a year!

Glenn Beck--Mommy's shoes don't fit

2010-08-28T10:01:00.004-04:00

When Glenn Beck learned that his gathering of wingnuts in Washington, D.C., on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, coincided with the anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, he was quick to claim he was "reclaiming" the movement that "we" launched.

The Daily Show's Jon Stewart characterization of the event as "I Have a Scheme" is pretty good, but a much better, and serious, comment is provided by Leonard Pitts Jr. (quoted at Washington Monthly, where Steve Benen commented that Beck's minions are "trying to lift a mantle that doesn't fit on their shoulders."). Benen's comment brought to mind all those pictures of toddlers dressing up in their parents' clothes and coming nowhere near filling them.

We won't make a mess--Trust us!

2010-05-23T21:07:00.006-04:00

I received a proxy for a shareholders' meeting of a Big Oil company about a month ago. The company is not BP, and I'm sure the proxy statement was written before the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Take a look at the questions that some shareholders presented at the meeting--under normal circumstances, it's not surprising that the Board of Directors recommends voting against proposals calling for greater care in environmental disturbances, reduction of company-generated greenhouse gases and consideration of real financial risks of global warming, as well as social justice and refraining from buying political influence.

But of course, these are not normal circumstances, as we are currently witnessing an environmental and economic catastrophe of vast dimensions. And for exactly the same reasons as the Board of Directors of this huge corporation recommend voting against corporate responsibility on this proxy statement: It's too costly, we already take great care in our operations, and besides, you can trust us to do the right thing.

Sarah Palin's hand job

2010-02-08T16:21:00.003-05:00

Little Sarah's teacher sent a note home to Sarah's parents informing them that Sarah was caught cheating...no, wait...it wasn't fifth-grade history class, it was the question-and-answer period following her speech at the ~~Republican~~ Tea Baggin' convention February 6. The questions, as usual were selected in advance. Apparently the answers were, too--Stefan Sirucek, reporting for The Huffington Post, caught little Sarah red-handed (inkstain-handed?) reading the responses she has so much difficulty remembering: "tax cuts, energy, lift American spirits" inked on her left hand.

Apparently, Palin is not "smarter than a fifth-grader." But hey, at least she wasn't using a teleprompter for her question-and-answer session.

One man, two votes?

2010-01-30T10:13:00.002-05:00

One of the things that bothers me about the recent Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. FEC, is that in essence it gives multiple votes to individuals who control large corporations. Such an individual casts his own vote and may argue in favor of his favorite candidates. He can also devote his corporation's resources to convincing others to vote his way. Some have suggested limiting a corporation's ability to influence votes by requiring a vote of shareholders; but the majority of shares may be held by a limited, unrepresentative group.

Anyway, it looks like the floodgates have been opened.

Abner farewell

2010-01-02T00:25:00.002-05:00

He came in June 2008, represented as a youngster of Germanic ethnicity. Perhaps I should have suspected this was just a ploy to meet expectations when I saw him drop a social security check and seemed to detect a hint of an Australian accent. He seemed glad to settle in, yet had just a bit of aloofness that contradicted his friendly disposition.

He was a friend to all and did not have any bluster or criticism toward new acquaintances. He joined the DA staff shortly after arriving, and his first post was a little critical of anti-Democratic Party television broadcasting company Sinclair. His September post was a bit of doggerel about Sarah Palin lying, and, in his last post, he referred to Bill McCormack of the Christian Coalition as a "lying sack of shit" for insisting proposed health care reform included a provision wherein the government would administer a program of euthanasia. I guess, for all his friendliness, he could not abide lying ideologues.

In September, Abner suddenly lost his appetite and his energy. We learned that he suffered from a form of cancer that quickly debilitated him; hospital care could not save him.

Abner is gone too soon, but his brief time among us has brightened our lives.

Bill McCormack: Lie down, you sack of shit

2009-08-14T22:44:00.004-04:00

Last night on Public Radio International's "To the Point," the discussion concerned proposed health care provision reform from a religious angle. You might imagine that folks representing religion would hold the view that the morally right thing to do would be to help as many people be as healthy as possible while holding down costs for everyone as much as possible. That's not always the case.

One Man of God, Bill McCormack of the Christian Coalition, vented detectable hatred toward the reformers, and especially toward President Obama. I'm sure if I were across the table from him I would have seen flecks of spittle flying hither and yon. Of course, he had to bring up the Wingnut Lie that the government would institute a program of euthanasia. Euthanasia? That's not in the bill, protested host Warren Olney. "Yes it is," replied His Sirreverence, who continued with his deranged description of health care in America. We're number one in the world! he claimed, speaking with an air that assumed his point was correct (We're number 37 in overall health system performance; France is number one, according to the World Health Organization). Some minutes later, Olney pressed him again about the bill containing a provision for euthanasia. This time the Unpleasant Pastor conceded that no, the word "euthanasia" was not in the bill, but the intent certainly was.

So the question is: is this man merely deluded, or is he a lying sack of shit?

Sarah Palin says, Okay start makin' shit up

2009-08-08T10:37:00.006-04:00

When Sarah Palin quit her job as ~~Vice President~~ Governor before completing a term, she admonished those working in the media to "quit makin' stuff up." Now that she no longer spends her time watching for Putin to come over the horizon, she can make up scary stories about proposed health care reform:

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Also in that Facebook post, a little more hypocrisy, the political exploitation of her children. Shame on Obama's Death Panel for dragging Palin's child into a political debate! How despicable! It seems like every time Palin opens her mouth, we realize that America dodged a bullet last November.

The right direction?

2009-07-31T21:59:00.003-04:00

Today President Obama remarked about the latest GDP figures,

...today's GDP is an important sign that the economy is headed in the right direction...

(You can read a transcript here.)

For the second quarter of 2009, the GDP went down by 1.5 percent. I thought the right direction was "up."

Well, I guess losing by 1.5 percent is an improvement over losing by 6.3 percent, as it had in the last quarter of 2008; and better than losing by 6.4 percent as it had for the first quarter of 2009. So maybe the brakes are working and we can stop and turn around before driving off the cliff. That would be nice.

Maintaining profitability

2009-07-26T09:39:00.003-04:00

I had to pass along this quote from Ezra Klein's column in the Washington Post:

Private insurance is a bit like a fire department that turns a profit by letting buildings burn down.

Klein discussed how, after the failure of Clinton's attempt at health-care reform, a form of unfettered managed care arose to become the predominant mode of health-care insurance. The problem with this mode, as it has played out, is that competition is reduced as insurance companies merge, concentrating power and control in the few megacompanies. People who need treatment are seen by the corporation as liabilities cutting into profits. The reality is that now most Americans have rather less choice than they once had. I'm sure somebody, somewhere, has noted that the Invisible Hand of the Free Market is giving us The Finger.

(Tipped off to this article by a post at Balloon Juice by DougJ.)

Duel of the Titans--who is dumber?

2009-07-14T21:15:00.005-04:00

We've heard how Sarah Palin couldn't name any of the papers and magazines she reads because, well she reads all of them, and how she opined about carbon cap-and-trade without noticing that the point of that is to address global warming. Well, Glenn Beck's show on Monday was a rant about how President Obama's nominee for Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor, will help lead America directly to Hell:

Beck: America, I want you to watch this. As our country burns to the ground, because we all have this kind of stuff going on, this is the questioning -- now get ready, because it's a hard line of questioning -- here's what happened, this is what our senators were doing today. Watch this.

Yeah, watch it Glenn--probably for the first time. This is not the questioning; this is the introduction and opening remarks. David Neiwert at Crooks and Liars was one of those who noticed.

I just wanted to remind people that when you see Palin appear as Beck's new co-host, you read about it here first.

ADDENDUM: BEN STEIN JOINS THE COMPETITION
Dean Baker at The American Prospect read Ben Stein's 11 July column in the New York Times and figures Stein goes beyond global warming denial--he's never even heard of it! (Added 15 July 2009).

Az. state senator Sylvia Allen thinks facts unimportant

2009-07-12T19:42:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-03T19:58:00.003-04:00

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!!

2009-06-30T13:45:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-01T22:12:00.005-04:00

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?

2009-03-28T06:36:00.007-04:00

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

2009-02-18T20:52:00.004-05:00

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

2009-02-07T08:44:00.003-05:00

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?

The savior of the environment

2009-01-15T22:10:00.002-05:00

I was driving into work today (January 15) and turned on the radio, the Diane Rehm Show on NPR. The program was about President Bush's legacy. Well, we've been hearing a lot lately about how Bush and his minions have been desperately trying to spin, frame, and fantasize how Little George has been a good, even exceptional, president. This show dealt specifically with his legacy with the environment.

I didn't catch the name of the first guest, who immediately came across as a Bush apologist. But it quickly devolved into something much worse. According to this guy, Bush was the most environment-friendly president since Theodore Roosevelt. This led me to wonder, "What the fuck planet did this fool come from?" Well, his origin could not be disputed, but I am left to ponder, how do these morons travel through space all the way from the Bizarro world? I'm not kidding--listening to him describe George W. Bush's actions with regard to the environment was like hearing everything arsey-tersy, left is right, in is out. Rehm asked him about a couple instances where Bush clearly abused the environment and misused science to justify doing so. The miserable little toady tried to turn the questions around to blame others, all the while insisting that Bush has been the Mother Teresa of the Environment. I cannot understand why Rehm did not finally tell him he was an ass-kissing, lying pile of dog shit. You can hear it all here.

Upon checking the NPR Web page, I learned the execrable twit was James Connaughton, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Oh well, then; a professional Bizarro.

Hello for now!

Origin of life and that second law of thermodynamics

2008-12-20T16:05:00.004-05:00

This article (subscription req'd) in Science magazine by P.G. Falkowski and Y. Isozaki (24 October 2008) is a perspective on the origin and cycling of free oxygen on Earth. It's a brief, good description of an important geochemical cycle. But what struck me as particularly notable was the ending paragraph, which begins

Each mole of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere required ~450 kJ equivalents of photon energy to produce.

This leads to a very clear refutation of one of the Creationists' favorite, hoary arguments. The paragraph ends

Nature certainly has provided an incredible source of potential energy for the evolution of life on Earth.

Thank you.

Baby Jesus declares war...

2008-12-14T10:29:00.003-05:00

...against those who have engaged in the annual War Against Christmas (TM). Intelligence sources report (and this is a slam dunk) that the young Messiah has acquired six nuclear weapons as well as biowarfare capabilities. If those weapons are used, then this year's War promises to be the deadliest yet. Another disturbing report tells of hundreds of well-trained, elite suicide baptizers who have been promised seventy times seven virgins in Heaven if they complete their missions of terror.

I can't see Canada from my house

2008-11-02T08:16:00.004-05:00

Just in case you haven't heard vice-presidential aspirant Sarah Palin's conversation with (as she thought) French president Nicholas Sarkozy, I suggest you check it out here. Try and figure out at what point Palin catches on to the prank--was it when "Sarkozy" spoke with a funny accent? When he referred to Canadian Prime Minister Stef Carse (even I know the PM is Stephen Harper)? Or was it when the caller announced that Palin had been pranked?

So is Palin prepared? Perhaps if she studies a bit, she may yet become prepared for an appearance on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. Even former Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, in a reckless moment of honesty, said Palin was unprepared for the position of vice president.

Note: I just searched for palin and "smarter than a fifth grader." Google returned about 46,100 hits.

One reason not to vote early

2008-11-01T09:40:00.002-04:00

...You might have reason to change your mind, like one young woman attending a McCain rally at Cedar Falls, as described by University of Northern Iowa student Lara Elborno:

I saw a couple that had been escorted out and they were confused as well, and the girl was crying, so I said ‘Why are you crying? and she said ‘I already voted for McCain, I’m a Republican, and they said we had to leave because we didn’t look right.’ They were handpicking these people and they had nothing to go off of, besides the way the people looked.

(via The Lippard Blog)

McCain's science advisors off to a bad start

2008-10-25T18:06:00.003-04:00

Actually, McCain doesn't seem to have any science advisors yet (what? after 26 years in the senate?), so the science described by Sarah Palin in the McCain Campaign speech she recited Friday was misunderstood, misrepresented, and, of course, politicized. This was to be a speech calling for more Federal assistance for children with disabilities such as autism (read: "redistribute the wealth"), paid for in part with the money saved from cutting back on scientific research. In particular, Palin referred to fruit fly (Drosophila sp.) research, which she called an "earmark."

Sarah, I'll quote Rabelais: Thy Bung hath flung some dung at us!

Fruit flies are one of the workhorses of biological research, and they are important economically (remember the Medfly problem, and fruit quarantines?). The specific fruit fly research Palin was critical of is described here, and involved the olive industry, Pierce's Disease of grapevines, and Sudden Oak Death in the United States. The McCain campaign wishes to trivialize important, applied scientific research, exploiting the appeal of esoteric-sounding work to the scientific illiterates that the Bush administration, Creationists, and wingnuts have been engaged with for lo these many years. How Mavericky is that?

Palin's foolish attitude toward science caught my eye in a post by Mike the Mad Biologist; tristero had more details on the subject, and PZ Myers had more on it. I wish the "mainstream media" could be savvy enough to notice, but then, they'd probably figure they had to give the anti-science crowd equal time. Or maybe not--David Ryan, writing for the Napa Valley Register half a year ago, had the good sense to read the statement by (Democratic) Congressman Mike Thompson, responsible for gaining funding of the research.

Sarah Palin -- Abused power, violated law

2008-10-11T08:42:00.005-04:00

The independent investigation by Stephen Branchflower submitted to a bipartisan Alaskan legislative council concluded that Governor Sarah Palin abused her powers as governor in violation of Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a).

The abuse stems from Palin's sister's divorce from State Trooper Michael Wooten, which upset Palin. Palin wanted Wooten fired, and pressured Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan to do so. Apparently, Shadow Governor Todd "First Dude" Palin voiced most of the complaints about Wooten, but the actual firing was, of course, Sarah Palin's responsibility. The affair came to be known as "Troopergate."

When it began to look like this could be a seriously embarrassing situation for the vice-presidential nominee, she decided to stonewall the investigation. The Alaska judicial system, however, would not allow the matter to be dismissed. Palin conducted her own investigation by a hand-picked group of toadies and, to absolutely no one's astonishment, determined that she had done no wrong.

Our nation has suffered enough damage from a vice president who believes himself above the law and who has abused his powers. Would Todd Palin expect to continue his shadowy work as Spouse of the Vice President? And the last thing we need is someone a heartbeat away from the Presidency who already has a track record of covering up illegal actions.

Bait and Switch

2008-10-05T14:02:00.002-04:00

I went to the Metropolitan Opera recently for a performance of "Salome."

I took my seat. The lights went down, and James Levine stood up. But instead of conducting the opera overture, he announced to the audience:

Doggonit, I'm not gonna do this opera stuff--it's too elitist. I'm just gonna entertain Joe Sixpack directly, with what Americans, ya know, really love. Watch me juggle instead!

The audience booed and hurled rotten tomatoes and cabbages at him, forcing him to leave the building. If audiences would more often show their disdain for such dishonest behavior, perhaps we would see less of it.

Sarah -- Another Big Dick?

2008-10-03T10:52:00.004-04:00

Well, it appears that Palin has figured out what the vice president does. Or at least what she would like to do as vice president. An "expanded role"--sort of like what Cheney had in mind.

Thursday night's debate highlighted a major problem with the format of debates over the past few election cycles, namely, that it is way too easy for one of the debaters to skip difficult or embarrassing questions, and there is insufficient opportunity to challenge statements that are misleading or false.

When I was a wee pup, the bigger kids would often let me play in their ball games. But I did not like it when they said "But his runs and outs don't count." After seeing Palin's interviews with Gibson and Couric, I wondered if the pundits would agree that Palin's "runs and outs" don't count. After the debate, I suspect the Republicans will want to claim her strikes don't count, but her balls do. I think she has to show she can speak her own mind. After all, Hollywood is full of actresses who can deliver scripted lines better than Palin can.

Where's Waldo, er..., Sarah?

2008-09-27T11:18:00.007-04:00

You might think a cheerleader like Sarah Palin might rush out onto the field after a play to offer her quarterback a few "rahs." But I suppose she's busy. Or perhaps the McCain campaign writers were already overworked writing jokes for her running mate. Steve Benen at The Washington Monthly noted how Joe Biden was talking to the media quickly enough after Friday night's debate, but Palin, although asked by CNN, was not ready to speak. But she is ready to be Leader of the Free World, remember, should a President John McCain forget to show up for work.

Grand Obsessive Plot?

2008-09-13T10:20:00.003-04:00

I received a DVD in the mail the other day, Obsession: Radical Islam's War against the West. I thought little about it, but did not thow it away, figuring I might grab some screen shots to use for mocking the wingnuts.

A post by ERV about a push by the Discomfited Institute to distribute a DVD version of Expelled, the Ben Stein tribute to ignorance, reminded me of the Obsession DVD; after being reminded, I then found a post about it at Daily Kos, which made the point that it may not have been a random wackaloon mailing (or as they found it, a newspaper insert), but perhaps part of a Karlrovian scheme to influence the upcoming election.

That makes sense to me. Apparently, Obsession is being distributed heavily in the "battleground" states, including Pennsylvania. The organization that is the source of the DVD, The Clarion Fund, is backing John McCain for president. The disc I received was addressed to me, not to Occupant. I'm registered as not affiliated with a party, so I wonder if my name was taken from the election roll. Oh, and the disc jacket says "It's our responsibility to ensure we can all make an informed vote in November."

That disc jacket also has a picture of a child holding a gun. That, I presume, is the evil way that evil radical Islamic Radicals bring up their children. Well, the Clarion Fundies wouldn't like me to use their picture without permission, so I must use this photo of a young jihadist.

Nothing's new

2008-09-12T19:41:00.004-04:00

Same old shit

More of the same

I'm a poet, I knowit...

2008-09-09T21:37:00.002-04:00

Little Sarah Palin lied,
Pull her panties down and spank her.
But John still loves his little girl;
What a fuckin' wanker.

Are they both dirty old men?

2008-08-30T15:10:00.005-04:00

This headline appeared in the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record today:

Obama, McCain vie for suburbanites, white women

I don't know if the credit belongs to AP or the local paper. I knew McCain has the reputation, and that Republicans try to intimate a danger if Obama is elected.

Did Obama give a speech?

2008-08-30T13:15:00.003-04:00

I was spinning around the televison channels Thursday night, trying to decide which of the many over-the-air stations had the clearest picture. I was not entirely surprised when I turned to channel 45 (WBFF), a Fox affiliate in Baltimore, that it was not broadcasting Obama's speech. "Those biased bastards," I thought.

But then I dropped back to channel 43 (WPMT), also a Fox affiliate, but broadcasting from York County, Pennsylvania. There was Obama, orating away. So I checked channel 5 (WTTG), another Fox affiliate broadcasting from Washington, DC, and there was Obama again.

Then I remembered. Four years ago, during another campaign. The Sinclair Broadcast Group demanded the stations it owns nationwide preempt regular broadcasting and air a scurrilous video-turd, a deceitful smear agaist Democratic candidate John Kerry. WBFF was one of those stations. Now its master has pulled its leash again, trying to muffle another Democratic candidate.

UPDATE: (4 September 2008) Well, they carried live the first 15 minutes or so of McSame's speech. I guess they don't like the former Maverick as much as they like Moosekiller Palin.

Another wingnut argument to keep women barefoot and pregnant

2008-08-09T16:44:00.005-04:00

I saw an opinion piece in the York Dispatch by National Review Online editor Kathryn Lopez, "The Pill--and the law of unintended consequences." Lopez noted that male fish have been turning up possessing certain female characteristics, such as development of eggs, and this phenomenon can be traced to disturbances of the fish's hormonal effects by estrogen present as a contaminant in the water. But this piece was no article presenting information about the environment; it quickly released the fetid odor of a Right-Wing rant.

This was not a call to protect the environment. Lopez quickly pointed the finger of blame at "Estrogen pollution from contraceptive and abortion pills" which she refers to as "the two holiest of holies for the left..."

Ah, yes, of course. It's all the fault of the Evil Left and their preoccupation with SEX, SEX, SEX. Like the Discombobulatory Institute protesting that Intelligent Design is science, not religion, Lopez cites the peer-reviewed scientific publishing house, Regnery Press (yes, that's sarcasm. Regnery is a WingNut outlet that only pretends to publish science), an anti-liberal, anti-environment screed by Iain Murray.And for more scientific backing, Lopez says:

And because its introduction came 40 years ago, at a time when American culture was enamored with Woodstock, feminism and free love, presient warning and cautions--most notably from Pope Paul VI in his encyclical "Humanae Vitae" in the summer of 1968--went unheeded.

Yes, I'm sure the Pope was speaking out of his concern for water quality.

Lopez seems to think we can solve the problem of gender-bending fish by banning birth control (and those "abortion pills" everyone is using). But here's a clear clue that this is an anti-liberal, anti-sex, wingnut rant: Contraceptives are not the only source of these contaminants in our waters. According to Raj Raman of the University of Tennessee, author of one study on animal sources,

Our best estimate is that the amount of estrogen coming out of pigs and cows is over an order of magnitude higher than what the human population puts out.

Think about that next time you sit down for a ham sandwich and a glass of milk, Ms Lopez.

Furthermore, the active contaminant is not just estrogen--various hormones, as well as pesticides, surfactants, and heavy metals are also known endocrine disruptors, being capable of mimicking estrogen (for example. Dennis McQuillan and others, presented at the 7th Annual New Mexico Environmental Health Conference, October 28-30, 2002, Albuquerque). Another source is Bisphenol A (BPA), used in the production of certain plastics, which was in the news recently as a potential hazard. BPA has been found in drinking water supplies and in wastewater (Z. Yang, "Analysis of Phenolic Estrogen Mimics in River Water by Negative Ion Electrospray LC/MS/MS").

Reminds me of the specious claim by Creationists that they only want to "teach the controversy" in order to encourage "critical thinking."

Independance Day--Jesse Helms dead

2008-07-05T10:20:00.003-04:00

Former South Carolina senator Jesse Helms died on 4 July at age 86. A number of Republicans spoke kindly of him after learning the news. They seemed to forget that he was a racist and a bigot, a man filled with hate.

Jesse Helms is dead at last;
I'm not sorry he has passed.
No gentleman, despite what's said,
We're better off now that he's dead.
If we're rewarded when we cross the River,
Eagles will be tearing Jesse's liver.

Biomechanics

2008-07-03T21:38:00.003-04:00

The world inside living cells is very mechanical--Michael Behe and other proponentsists of Intelligent Cdesign have told us so. Cells contain factories; I guess they are where the cells build motors.

The most common cellular motor is the Teeny-weeny Evinrude (Evinrudus microcephalicus), but this is by no means the only motor. A while back I posted a note about an itty-bitty Yamaha, an irreducibly complex machine whose complexity was reduced by its lack of an axle.

Those two cellular motors are just fine for operation in watery environments, but in dry territories motors need a means of taking up a load gradually, otherwise they will stall out. That's why we design automobiles with clutches (those with automatic transmissions utilize a fluid coupling which accomplishes the same result).

And so it is that the researchers of Intelligent Design will surely wet their pants when they hear about the wee clutches that are used to disengage the flagella in the soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis. A report (subscription req'd) by K.M. Bair and others in Science for 20 June 2008 describes how a group at Indiana University (yay!) put some bacterial cells on a real small hydraulic lift, pulled off the drive shaft and transmission, and fiddled with the clutch to see how it works. They found

The bacterial flagellum, powered by a motor that generates 1400 pN-nm of torque, can rotate at a frequency of greater than 100 Hz. EpsE [a gene that was mutated for this study--Mark] disabled this powerful biological motor when associated with a flagellar basal body and, in a manner similar to that of a clutch, disengaged the drive train from the power source.

The illustration at the top of this post is not from Blair &al.'s report. I used this one because it more clearly shows the important elements of a clutch, and the figures in the report just looked like a bunch of coiled ribbons with some colored balls. It's important in explaining Intelligent Design that you have pictures that clearly show the point you wish to make. If I had a properly-equipped garage, I would investigate the effect of installing tuned headers on bacteria.

New member of the staff

2008-06-21T18:55:00.004-04:00

The anemometer has been turning a bit slowly here at The Divine Afflatus, so management thought perhaps adding another worker might help catch the wind. The boss was looking through numerous resumes but not quite finding all of the desired qualifications in a single applicant.

Then this guy walked through the door, brushed all the resumes off the desk, and declared "Woof." Unable to find any flaws in that argument, management hired him immediately. His first assignment is a summary of the Bush Administration, which we expect to be posted soon.

Third World country passes freedom from academics bill

2008-06-13T20:34:00.004-04:00

The Louisiana House passed a bill designed to bring dishonor and disrepute upon that state. It's an unintelligent bill, a foolish bill, an ill-thought-out bill. I think the bill has the intention of allowing teachers to provide supplemental materials to their science [sic] classes, materials that regurgitate the same tired old arguments about the "weaknesses" of evolution, arguments that have long been debunked.

I suspect Jack Chick has a lobby presence in the halls of Louisiana government.

No news; news

2008-06-04T21:05:00.004-04:00

While in Maine I checked the papers to see if there was any mention of the recent effort to teach religion as science in School Administrative District 59, specifically, in Athens, Maine. I found no mention of that, but did come across a letter to the editor of the Bangor Daily News (27 May) by one Donald V. Organ of Northport. Mr. Organ says about evolution,

To the extent that it is a viable explanation of the world in which we live, it is clearly of value.

Well, that seems reasonable, but then he goes on to complain about a previous writer's claim that creationism is unprovable. This, he claims,

...excludes [creationism] as a subject worthy of any scientific study thereby eliminating the risk that such a study might prove that creationism is factual.

He's correct, right up to the point where he thinks that there's a chance that creationism could actually be the subject of scientific study and thereby "proven" factual. No, Mr. Organ, there is no theory of creationism. And to ask the silly question "What are evolutionists afraid of?" shows a total lack of understanding of what science is and how it is done. But to answer your question, evolutionists are afraid that if creationism is taught as if it were a science on an equal level with evolution, we risk raising a generation of confused, ignorant, scientific illiterates unable to compete in a global economy or to face the challenges of disease, climate change, and other issues where understanding science provides a powerful tool.

A too brief vacation

2008-06-02T22:37:00.003-04:00

I just returned from a one-week trip to Moosehead Lake, Maine, where I have been going nearly every year for the past twenty-some-odd years (and some of those years were odd indeed). This year we rented a cabin at a camp near the East Outlet (Kennebec River), pictured above. That's Big Spencer Mountain framed by the gap in the trees.

Our group of co-workers and friends has been making the trip for about 27 years, staying at a colleague's family property on the other side of the lake, closer to the southern end. Unfortunately, that property had to be sold; however, a new place to stay led to novel experiences and new perspectives. And I don't just mean that from this angle Big Spencer Mountain looks smaller than Little Spencer Mountain. Somehow, it seems that we reserved the cabin usually booked around this time of year by a bunch of geezers who have been coming to the same place for about 60 years. Yikes, that could be us in another 30 20 couple of decades.

It's very easy to get used to such a vacation, especially when one's cell phone doesn't get a signal and there are no computers around. I suppose I must snap out of vacation mode now and think about cutting my grass, which is knee-high where I did not mow before leaving.

Saint Matthew's Churches -- They're back

2008-05-21T22:22:00.005-04:00

I don't know if it's the anti-evolutionist who sent me letters and a Chick tract (Big Daddy) sending my address to these bozos, but this is the third time I've received an invitation to mail money to the Church Of The Post Office Box. I posted about this scam before, and I've heard a few people mention it. Their emphasis seems to be on asking God for money (or other worldly goods, like new cars or "big 6 room houses"); heck, the yellow-colored free crucifix is referred to as a "prosperity cross." Of course, in order to receive these blessings the mark is urged to send in a generous "seed" gift, i.e., first you have to send them money, the more the better (for them).

These scammers have become more sophisticated. They now have their own Web page, where they inform us that this is a very old church with a rich (so to speak) heritage: You are welcome to view the website of this very old church ministry. First established in 1951. Imagine that--they've been scamming wretched people for just over 50 years!

It's stuff like this that reminds me not to laugh at the poor benighted Cargo Cultists or Haitian voodoo practitioners. We have plenty of people right here in America wishing for magical interventions.

Speaking of teeny-weeny Evinrudes...

2008-05-15T23:26:00.004-04:00

In my last post I noted that PBS reran the Nova broadcast of Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial. In it, we heard Judge Jones say "We've seen that," referring to a picture of a bacterial flagellum, similar to one already shown. The flagellum had been introduced as literally an outboard motor. This was not noted as a simile; it was not noted as a metaphor. However, I must say, that many times when I hear someone refer to something as literally something else, they frequently mean "No, not literally--when I say literally I really don't mean that literally."

Anyhow, Michael Behe's contention was that this structure, the bacterial flagellum, is irreducibly complex--that is, take away any single part and the thing doesn't function. That contention was seen to be flawed; part of the structure has quite successfully functioned as a delivery system for plague.

An article in Science for 15 February 2008 by Shou Furuike &al. (subscription required) describes an itty-bitty motor that also lacks a rather important part, yet apparently still functions. In this case it's not an Evinrude, it's a Yamaha, er, the Fo motor of the ATP synthase. And the part it's missing is the axle. The axle-less mutants do indeed rotate. The authors end the article with

Why is there superfluous robustness in the rotary mechanism of F1? Perhaps this began as a clumsy device, and then proceeded to sophistication. If so, ring-shaped AAA+ ATPases may all, in principle, be capable of producing torque, as suggested for helicases.

Show the good stuff

2008-05-15T22:59:00.002-04:00

Apparently, PBS is doing more ~~begging~~ fund-raising now, showing those old dead people playing music that wasn't all that good forty years ago. If they want to impress me enough to send them more money, they need to run more shows like they just did. Tonight they reran
Nova's Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, interviews and re-enactment of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial, presided over by Judge John E. Jones III. That's a damn sight better than bringing on the woomeisters and the experts on the obvious that make up the bulk of fund -raising programming.

My only criticism of the show is that although they interviewed Pastor Ray Mummert, they did not get him to repeat , We've been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture.

Expelled? Execrable!

2008-05-11T22:34:00.005-04:00

I'm not going to review the anti-science pseudo-documentary film "Expelled."

For one thing, it's getting a bit late, and the film is being shown in fewer and fewer theaters. It opened in 1,052 theaters on 18 April, and on 8 May it was showing in 656 theaters (data from here).

Furthermore, there have been numerous reviews of Expelled, some by people who have actually seen it. Some reviewers managed to see it despite efforts by the producers to keep them away (i.e., expelled). The reviewers all agreed that Expelled is a lousy film from an artistic viewpoint, but, more importantly, it is exceedingly dishonest. It misrepresents science and scientists, it relates a false history, it ignores facts contrary to its premise, and it insults any viewers capable of rational thought. Expelled is the quintessential manifestation of the phrase, "Lying for Jesus." Judge John E. Jones III made a comment in his opinion in the Kitzmiller &al. v. Dover Area School Board &al. (Document 342, Memorandum Opinion, December 20, 2005, p. 137) that perfectly fits Expelled:

It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy.

The purpose of this post, then, is merely to direct anyone who hasn't been there already to visit Expelled Exposed, hosted by the National Center for Science Education (NCSE). Get the facts. Check the sources.

A desirable state of affairs

2008-05-10T09:10:00.004-04:00

In a post at Rabettrun, Eli quotes a Kansas Republican legislator giving her reason for upholding Governor Sebelius' veto of legislation that would require the state to permit construction of some new coal-fired electricity generation plants: I'm amazed at how well-educated many Kansans are on issues about the environment and energy.

Imagine... if other legislators, of any political party, could make similar claims about their constituents' knowledge of other issues that require just a bit understanding of science. Say, for instance, legislators or school board members in Florida. Or any other place under assault by the anti-science forces of the Discovery Institute.

Did I mention I received an award?

2008-05-03T19:23:00.002-04:00

No, of course I didn't mention it; I was out to lunch for a few months. Every time I thought I would be able to sit down and write a post, something came up. Not that I actually accomplished much over all that time.

A comment in my last post informed me this blog was considered worthy of the "E for Excellence Award," a tag that was making the rounds a few months ago. Well, a belated thanks, Ian--I do appreciate a complement when it comes from someone whose blog I respect and enjoy. And I will try to get back to blogging more frequently.

From the Research Labs of Intelligent Design

2008-02-09T18:06:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm a little behind in my reading. So the article I'm about to discuss may stir a memory because it was mentioned (and probably reviewed) a couple years ago. It comes out of, not the Center for ~~the Renewal of~~ Science and Culture, but from the Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute of the Biblical Theological Seminary. I'm referring to IBRI Research Report #56, presented online in 2005: Rumors of Angels: Using ID to Detect Malevolent Spiritual Agents, by Robert C. Newman.

The title evokes Peter L. Berger's A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural. Berger contends that sociological arguments support the notion that "theological thinking" is possible in modern society. His small volume is not, Berger notes, a book about angels. He does suggest that our perception of reality may be improved by a "rediscovery of the supernatural"--and this rediscovery might allow for more meaningful relationships between people. He notes that existentialist ponderings need to be tempered with an occasional laugh.

Newman provides us with plenty of laughs and guffaws in his essay. Here is his abstract, in its entirety:

Most discussions of God's action in nature since about 1900 have ignored angelic activity, perhaps in reaction to White's History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom. Here we take another look at the biblical data on angels, and then consider what scientific data might be relevant in light of recent interest in intelligent design.

What does this abstract tell us appears in the paper? Very little, and absolutely nothing of what was concluded.

Angels are real, Newman tells us, and are capable of interacting with the material world. Yet they are immaterial beings. So how do they interact with a material world? No explanation is provided. But we know that angels are real because of the evidence--the Bible tells us so, just as it is evidence that there are such other spiritual beings as seraphim and cherubim. Oh, yes--and demons, too. Newman's research report goes on to tell us what it is that angels do, according to his laboratory research (i.e., reading the Bible). His "research" covers what demons do, as well.

Newman reasonably states that people live and act in a real world, a world that has objective existence. So why can't those "other intelligences" (by which he is not referring to chimpanzees or dolphins) live and act in the same world? How can they be detected? In posing these questions, he takes it for granted that angels exist--to doubt their existence, Newman says makes one a liberal--a modern Sadducee.

After presenting several hoary examples of how detection of design can be difficult, Newman proposes

...angelic activity is not like natural laws, which are operating continuously. Rather, they are more like human actions, which are sporadic. But here we have the additional complication that we cannot see the actors.

Then after admitting that science can, indeed, study unrepeatable events, he says

So the only way to find and study such phenomena would be if they leave traces that are detectable and (preferably) unmistakable.

At this point Newman introduces William Dembski's Explanatory Filter, suggesting that it can be used not only to detect God's designs, but

...such an approach could also be used to recognize an intermediate scale of intelligent design, between that of God and humans.

In other words, angels and demons.

And for examples, he cites the book of Job and offers the suggestion that they perform their actions by "influencing individuals and groups" (somehow) or by "doing genetic manipulation on individual organisms" (somehow).

One of the arguments used against Intelligent Design has been the existence of "designs" that are suboptimal or even injurious to humans and other organisms. These, Newman argues, are examples of malevolent design, springing from the drafting tables of Evil Spirits, or, alternatively, the misinterpreted work of God (and so not really malevolent) or space men (which, for some reason, is "consistent with a biblical theism"). "Designs" which are faulty, yet not injurious (such as the famous panda's thumb) are attributed not to evolution contingent upon existing material, but to design by "benevolent (but finite) spirit beings," namely, angels (Good angels, not bad angels). These designs are contingent upon existing material, but changes are not influenced by mutation and natural selection, only by the limited power and imperfect quality that we know is characteristic of angels. I guess angels don't have access to CAD software like God does.

Newman concludes that he doesn't know much about biology, yet he felt no embarrassment in attributing causes to biological observations and determining that his fantasies might seriously impact how science is done, specifically with respect to including the supernatural in scientific research.

Image from Wellcome Library.

Darwin Day is coming...And a little progress

2008-02-06T20:46:00.000-05:00

Don't forget, it's Darwin's Birthday Tuesday, 12 February. Why not make a weekend out of it?

The progress I'm referring to is to note that there was an item in the York (PA) Daily Record announcing an 'Evolution Shabbat' Friday (better hurry) at Temple Beth Israel in York, Pennsylvania. Speakers are Rabbi Irwin N. Goldenberg on the Jewish perspective, and Leonard Berkowitz on science, creationism, and intelligent design.

Rip It ripoff?

2008-01-31T12:55:00.000-05:00

While waiting for lunch at the sandwich shop today, I glanced in the cooler containing various beverages. One caught my eye--it was labeled as an energy drink, something that has gotten rather popular lately. Now here's the amazing part: the label also claimed the drink contained 0 calories!

Uh-oh...Is this the beginning of a trend?

2008-01-14T08:33:00.000-05:00

Last post was about the guy who cut off his hand, per God's instructions, and microwaved it.

Now, (another AP story, via CNN) I read about another whacko who claims to be doing God's bidding by cooking his girlfriend after killing her:

Shearer's boyfriend, Christopher Lee McCuin, 25, was charged with capital murder after police said they found her body, an ear boiling in a pot on a stovetop, and a hunk of flesh with a fork in it on a plate at the crime scene.
...
Smith County Sheriff Lt. Larry Wiginton told the Tyler Morning Telegraph that McCuin told investigators that God made him kill Shearer.
"When he said God told him to do it, one of the investigators looked at him and just said, 'What did you say?"' according to Wiginton.

McCuin called 911 and said he was boiling his girlfriend, leading authorities to suspect that perhaps he was going to eat her. Apparently, he did not inform of God's instructions until after he was picked up.

McCuin also stabbed his estranged wife after he killed his girlfriend. It is not yet clear if the stabbing also was a divine command.

What part of this is not in the Bible?

2008-01-09T10:44:00.000-05:00

According to an AP report in the York (Penna.) Daily News:

A man who believed he bore the "mark of the beast" used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said.

The book of Matthew says and if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It does not say cook it.

Why teach science?

2007-12-28T14:35:00.000-05:00

To avoid starting foolish wars, for one thing.

From an item in Science magazine (7 December 2007, p. 1538, subscription req'd):

In 2002, U.S. intelligence officials claimed that the Iraqi government owned a number of mobile labs capable of producing biological weapons. After U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, the labs were revealed to be production facilities for hydrogen used to fill weather balloons. In 2005, a government commission said the error was due to a lack of scientific expertise within the U.S. intelligence community.

Somebody learned the lesson, and now the biological research program will be opened to external peer review.

Keep examples like this in mind when your local school board starts thinking that science curricula need to be diluted with faith-based "alternative 'theories,'"
bogus "criticisms," or discussions of misrepresented "strengths and weaknesses" of the subject.

Mr. Romney, you're no Jack Kennedy

2007-12-07T19:58:00.000-05:00

Mitt Romney delivered his "Kennedy speech" Thursday, so called because forty-seven years ago, also in Houston, Democratic presidential candidate Kennedy spoke to the American people on the same subject. That subject was the fear that a president practicing the "wrong" religion could not be trusted to act independently of his temple's hierarchy.

Despite the similar purposes, the two speeches could hardly have differed more.

The short explanation is: Kennedy spoke to all Americans, including those who did not hold any religious faith. Romney, on the contrary, pandered to the religious right-wingnuts, saying essentially, "You can trust me because I'm just like you--and together we can hate The Others.

Kennedy: These are the real issues which should decide this campaign. And they are not religous issues--for war and hunger and ignorance and despair know no religious barriers.
Romney: Radical violent Islam seeks to destroy us.

Kennedy: I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell a president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishoners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.
Romney: Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.

Kennedy: So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again not what kind of church I believe in--for that should be important only to me--but what kind of America I believe in.
Romney: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind.

Kennedy: Whatever issue may come before me as president--on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject--I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates.
Romney: But in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. ... We should acknowledge the Creator as did the Founders--in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places. ... I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from "the God who gave us liberty." ... Americans acknowledge that liberty is a gift of God, not an indulgence of government.

I must agree with one of Romney's points, however: We face no greater danger today than theocratic tyranny, and the boundless suffering these states and groups could inflict if given the chance.

Did I hear you say "Dominionism," Mitt?

Sources
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum via NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600

New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/us/politics/06text-romney.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"Mummified" Hadrosaur

2007-12-03T13:56:00.000-05:00

Today's York (PA) Dispatch carried an AP article about a fossil Hadrosaurus unearthed from the Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota. What is remarkable about this fossil is that soft parts, including skin, ligaments, and tendons were petrified. Maybe more soft parts--analysis using Boeing's mother-of-all-CT-scanners is being used to examine the fossil. I'm not sure why it was reported today; two books and a television program have already been produced about it. The program will air December 9 on the National Geographic Channel. National Geographic was a funder of research conducted on the fossil. Oh. That's right, TV show promotion. More information about this fossil and related materials can be found at the website of the research foundation set up to study fossils of the Hell Creek Formation.

Now I have to keep an eye on the York Dispatch for letters written to the editor explaining how this specimen proves dinosaurs died in The Flood. Perhaps an editor, impatient with readers for not flooding the mailroom with letters condemning the PBS Nova presentation of Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, was trying to instigate something.

The War on Christmas -- up a notch

2007-11-26T09:59:00.000-05:00

Baby Jesus has declared He will no longer merely "stay the course," but will escalate Christian Soldier offensives in the ongoing War on Christmas.

Can Intelligent Design researchers say this?

2007-11-25T09:10:00.000-05:00

Michael Eisen of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is the co-leader of a project studying comparative genomics of fruit flies. After sequencing the genomes of ten species of fruit flies they followed the evolutionary trail of genes and associated regulatory regions, pathways, and cellular processes in these ten plus two additional species of Drosophila.

This work allowed the researchers to construct a phylogenetic tree showing the relatedness of the dozen species. But it allows much more, and that is summed up by a quote from Eisen; their work

allows you to map where [genetic] changes occur along the tree, and that allows you to study the process of evolution, not just the product.

Now, just for comparison, what research in Intelligent Design Creationism can make a similar claim? What cdesign proponentsists have even agreed that it is appropriate to study the process of Intelligent Design Creationism?

A brief summary of this work appears in the 9 November issue of Science; more than 40 papers published in Nature and other journals deal with various aspects of it.

I expect letters

2007-11-12T16:10:00.000-05:00

Nova's Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial airs tomorrow (Tuesday, 13 November) on PBS. The show has already received excellent reviews, including one in Nature (in the 8 November issue, subscription required for online version). The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) offers a few quotes from the review here.

I predict that, for some weeks following the show, the two York (Pennsylvania) newspapers will carry another load of letters to the editors. Other than possibly noting what the outcome of the trial was, I strongly suspect that most of the letters will be virtually identical to ones printed before the trial was over.

The buffoons at the Discovery Institute have posted a complaint about the show.It's the same old tired sour grapes whining. I wonder why they did not bother to complain when PBS broadcast the anti-science show, The Privileged Planet: The Search for Purpose in the Universe a while back.

UPDATE: I missed it when it appeared, but Mike Argento, York Daily Record columnist, had a related note in his blog. The news of perjury and obstruction of justice charges against Barry Bonds after four years of investigation reminded Argento of actions by certain Dover board members. One (of two) comments referred to the Nova presentation.

Don't miss this--Kitzmiller v. Dover on PBS

2007-11-06T15:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, Earth Science Week came and went with little notice. But please notice this episode of Nova on PBS--it's a reenactment of the case that the Discovery Institute was eager to see come to trial...then awfully anxious to see not come to trial...then dismissive of the case as not important.

The show airs 8:00 PM Tuesday, 13 November (check your local listings). If you can't wait, check out the promo on the PBS Web site, where, besides the preview, you can find related information and discussions.

As former Dover Area School Board member and one of the chief Creationists involved in the shenanigans, Bill Buckingham, said, "This is never gonna go away." That's right, Bill; the trial exposed Intelligent Design for what it is--anti-science Creationist claptrap with the primary purpose of bringing proselytizing religion into the classroom.

Oh, crap--missed it!

2007-10-22T21:53:00.000-04:00

Well, my last post announced this year's Earth Science Week, but not until a couple days into the week. I never got around to talking about some events around the country. We did even less about it at work--rather embarrassing, if you ask me. Like they say in Cleveland--Wait 'til next year! Perhaps we can practice on February 12: Darwin Day.

It has already started!

2007-10-16T10:45:00.000-04:00

This year's Earth Science Week has already started! It's not too late--go out and look at a rock. Or visit here to see a list of activities going on this week.There's a lot more to Earth Science than just fossils--anti-science groups are just as eager to deny geological evidence of the age of the Earth, environments of deposition of sedimentary strata, knowledge about the occurrence and movement of ground water, and many other aspects of the world around us. Today's newspaper carried an article about psychics. Wouldn't it be better if papers carried articles explaining things that are real, and articles about what we know and how we know it? How can we tell if the world is warming? How long will we be able to pump petroleum out of the ground? Is there enough water available to sustain development at a particular location? Don't ask a psychic, ask a scientist. And geologists are involved in the study of many of these questions.

How the Internet increases productivity

2007-10-13T09:56:00.000-04:00

A person can spend a lot of time diddling around the Intertoobs. How does this allow for greater productivity? For me, it's pretty simple--I have a dialup connection, which means a maximum connection speed of about 44 kbps. However, lately I get connected at about half that. The Cable did not make it this far down the road, and DSL is not available here.

So here's why I can be more productive. First, while waiting for the dialup to connect, I can go wash the dishes or vacuum the living room. Then, while waiting to connect to some site of interest, I can mow the grass or change my oil. Best of all is if I wish to view an offering from YouTube; I can go downtown for dinner and watch an opera.

How to recognize a hole in the ground

2007-10-04T22:05:00.000-04:00

I saw a suspicious area on the edge of a cornfield. I got out of my car to look, and immediately realized it was a sinkhole, even before I saw it. How did I recognize it? First, I saw the flies. I don't understand that, because once I was battered by the stench, I could not understand how I smelled nothing as I got out of the car. This might be a good sinkhole to use in my investigation of ground-water flow in this area, but there is something aesthetically unappealing about pumping water into a sinkhole with a ripe dead cow barely covered over in it. I guess many people still do not understand where their drinking water comes from (on-site wells in this area) and find it easiest to dispose of trash and dead animals in ready-made holes. This seems to be standard practice in many karst areas. This farmer is lucky--his house is upgradient. His downgradient neighbors are not as lucky.

Food safety and capitalism in China

2007-09-27T21:10:00.000-04:00

I've got some catching up to do, but I wanted to add this quickie before I forget. All the talk lately about toxic toys that are being recalled, killer pet food and food ingredients imported from China and added to our manufactured food...what are we complaining about? Please bear in mind that our Commander in Chimp is determined to spread capitalism and the American Way around the world. That's exactly what's going on in China. Not some effort by the government of China to terrorize America; it's just free enterprise at work.

I witnessed this phenomenon when visiting China one summer. It was very hot, and people everywhere carried bottled water. Enterprising youngsters would fetch discarded bottles from trash bins, fill them at the nearest roadside ditch, and offer them for sale. Now, what's wrong with that? As a coworker once explained to me (he was a John Bircher), as long as there is someone willing to buy, any sale ought to be allowed. If a product leads to illness, the sick buyer has the right to take the seller to court. Presumably, this applies to the heirs if the buyer happens to die because of an unsafe product.

Where have I been?

2007-09-22T22:21:00.000-04:00

Yikes, I was not planning a blog hiatus, I just went looking for some scientific references supporting Creationism, and I fell into a black hole--utter Nothingness. I finally escaped when I realized that a Black Hole of Creationism, like anything else having a Creationist origin, has nothing to do with reality and I should just get back to business.

Just before I disappeared, I was "tagged," so I'll take care of this issue first. Even then (end of June) I thought tagging had run its course, but I've seen a couple other tag posts since. Surely by now the fad has faded, but I'll go ahead anyway.

This tag came as a reward for my last post (way back in mid-June), discussing an awful example of misapplication of the tagger's research results in anti-evolutionist arguments. Thanks to CAD of VWXYNot for the tag.

Okay, so first we list the rules:

We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Here are some things about me:

I tend to procrastinate. I suppose I must be an optimist, because I figure I can do it all tomorrow.
Snakes live in my attic; I don't mind.
I just picked up some reading material: Coyne and Orr, Speciation; Isaak, The Counter-Creationism Handbook; Norell, Unearthing the Dragon, and Currie &al., Feathered Dragons.
As a geology major in college, I was a very big frog in a very little pond. Later, as a graduate student, I discovered how very much more there was to learn. Much later, I'm still learning.
My neighbor frequently calls with questions about animals, the moon, the weather, and various other subjects. They're mostly easy questions, but he's impressed and thinks I'm a genius. Other people ask me tougher questions and are less impressed.
I enjoy bluegrass music. I used to listen to some every day on the radio, but that station decided to replace the music with the same talk shows that I can hear more clearly on another station.
I like old monster, horror, and science fiction movies.
The key to my filing system is floor space.

I'll put the tag on blogs I have enjoyed and are worth further notice. I don't think I've noticed these bloggers have been tagged before, but in case I missed it, or if you feel this nonsense has got to stop, please don't feel under any obligation to pass it along. But remember, it's bad luck to break the chain.
Laelaps Further Thoughts Clever Beyond Measure Rev. Big Dumb Chimp
Green Gabbro Primordial Blog The force that through... Silly Humans

Quote mining and worse

2007-06-22T09:36:00.000-04:00

Jason Rosenhouse has a post at Evolutionblog in which he points to an extremely misleading use of a quotation by Michael Behe in his recent Intelligent Design book The Edge of Evolution. Quote mining has long been a standard tactic of Creationists and is an indication of their scholastic misconduct--the whole purpose of scientific writing is accurate communication of research. But, that's obviously not the whole purpose of Creationist writing, which appears to be the political advancement of the beliefs of particular religious sects.

Now CAD at VWXYNot? relates how she discovered that her research ("Endogenous Retroviruses and the Evidence for Evolution") has been misapplied by the anti-science folks at Reasons to Believe. A small percentage of the human genome consists of DNA derived from RNA of retroviruses, and, rather than having no function (inaccurately referred to as "junk" DNA), some of this stuff may regulate some gene, meaning it does indeed have a function. Some Creationists assume that the discovery that some "junk" DNA actually has a function somehow is evidence of Design (I know, it does not logically follow, but we're talking about Creationists here).

CAD's post clearly describes how the properties and working of this endogenous retrovirus material is evidence for, not against, evolution, including how it helps understand the timing of evolutionary splits. CAD has done the research. Creationists, to whom doing original scientific research is anathema, are happy to take yet another piece of science and thoroughly convolute it to produce a bit of logical origami and claim victory. And commit fraud yet again.

World Nut Daily reveals age of the Earth!

2007-06-17T16:57:00.000-04:00

In breaking news last Thursday the celebrated wingnut tabloid revealed that the Earth was created by God on October 23, 4004 BC. This announcement was based on a new English translation of a book nearly 350 years old: The Annals of the World, by Bishop James Ussher.

Many people have been aware of Ussher's calculation ever since it was published in 1658, and the book has been frequently cited over the years. Rather than describing this book as being of interest for its cultural impact or its relation to the study of history, WND's story (well, it's an advertisement really) suggests its historical and Biblical accuracy have made it second only to the Bible itself in literary importance. It does acknowledge

Of course, there will be those who disagree with Ussher's calculations of time - especially evolutionists who need billions of years to explain their theory of how life sprang from non-life and mutated from one-celled animals into human beings.

but I guess we can find an explanation elsewhere on the site from Herr Professor Doktor Pat Boone why many years of subsequent research into geology, biology, and astronomy are all mistaken and should be ignored.

And just in case you were drunk enough to think this was a legitimate news story, the key line may be found at Answers in Genesis:

Donate $350 for the Creation Museum (by using the cart button above) and receive this amazing piece of historical literature, the Annals of the World--a genuine leather-bound limited edition!

And when you read that site, compare with the WND site, and wonder who wrote it.

Dover HS introduces mandatory ID badges

2007-06-05T22:32:00.000-04:00

After weeks of discussion, the Dover (Penna.) Area School Board voted 8-1 to approve the high school student handbook, which includes a policy mandating ID badges for students, according to the York Dispatch.

Okay, the policy does not call for students to wear buttons that say "I'm a Creationist!" or "Intelligent Design is for me!" Dover High School has had some interruptions in the past year and there is very real concern for the safety of students. It's no laughing matter.

Thankfully, the Dispatch article did not quote anyone declaring (Pat Robertson-like) that, by embracing the teaching of evolution in science class, the township had rejected God and will be bringing indiscriminate divine wrath upon its children just like Columbine and Waco (well, maybe not like Waco).

But there is an evolution connection.

The lone dissenting vote came from Heather (I-Don't-Know-
What-Intelligent-Design-Is,-But-If-It-Means-Getting-Jesus-
Back-Into-The-Classroom,-I'm-All-For-It) Geesey. Geesey is the only one of the pro-ID board members who was not voted out of office in the November 2005 election (her position was not up for re-election).

Geesey had to remind folks why she is considered a dimwit:

Geesey said that some "religious" people in the community will also take issue with their children wearing a badge that contains a barcode, due to the Biblical reference of "the mark of the beast."
This won't affect her, she said, because she sends her children to cyber school when they reach high school age.

So it comes as no surprise that Geesey did not win enough votes in the primary election in May to appear on the ballot in the November election. Hey, maybe she can run as Sam Brownback's running mate in '08.

Stanley Miller dies; Biogenic chemistry lives

2007-05-30T12:14:00.000-04:00

The death of chemist Stanley Miller was reported last week, and a number of bloggers commented on his legacy. Miller was an anti-darling of Creationists, owing to his pioneering work (with Harold Urey) on the development of biologically-important molecules from simpler precursors leading to the origin of life. He published the results of his famous experiment in 1953 and Creationists have been denying their validity ever since.

Miller continued his research for decades, but Creationists remain unsatisfied with each new result. I guess that means they will be unfazed by a report in the 11 May 2007 issue of Science, "The Process of Tholin Formation in Titan's Upper Atmosphere." Tholins are hydrocarbon-nitrile aerosols; Titan is the large satellite of Saturn visited by the (unmanned) spacecraft Cassini. The paper discusses evidence for tholin and other complex organic molecule formation in Titan's atmosphere (about 1,000 kilometers up). Here's the line that won't bring a smile to the lips of Creationists:

The chain of molecular growth that we have identified in this study is similar to that first identified in the Miller-Urey experiments.

Creationism museum of deception opens today

2007-05-28T07:50:00.001-04:00

Today is the grand opening of Ken Ham's $27 million Creationism Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati. There is something quite fitting about the fact that it borrows heavily from Hollywood--animatronic dinosaurs in dioramas alongside of humans--providing an atmosphere of make-believe for those wishing to live in a world of fantasy.

As reported on Public Radio this morning, scientists say all the dinosaurs died out by about 65 million years ago. Not for Ken Ham, however. Ham doesn't let mere science get in the way. After all, he claims, those evil atheist evolutionists are attacking Christianity, so True Christians(TM) must use their heavy artillery, otherwise known as Lying For Jesus. Creationists must not only deny the science of evolution, they must also deny physics, chemistry, geology, as well as most of the rest of biology.

It's a beautiful world portrayed by the Creation Museum. To get there, just close your eyes tightly and repeat, "I wish the world was like this; I wish the world was like this; I wish..."

Supernatural not religious?

2007-05-22T00:10:00.000-04:00

The York Daily Record/Sunday News carried another opinion piece on 20 May 2007 by Richard Cleary, a retired alleged science teacher and devotee of Intelligent Design Creationism. He's still whining about Judge John E. Jones III's decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover, in which ID was dealt a mortal blow. He seems to be conceding that ID is supernatural, but saying that doesn't make it religious. He does not bother to define "supernatural" or "religious" in his piece, but obfuscation and fogginess are stanard operating procedures for Intelligent Design Creationists.

Cleary makes a series of arguments, all erroneous, misleading, or merely straw men. His favorite seems to be that the Intelligent Designer may be supernatural, meaning outside of this universe. He claims that's no more religious than the concept of multiverses, so maybe the Intelligent Designer lives in one of those parallel universes. Codswallop--that's no better than claiming said Designer lives in France. I suppose he would have to suggest there's a different Intelligent Designer in each universe, responsible for designing one of the others. In other words, it's turtles all the way down.

Cleary disingenuously claims

But sometimes we hear that ID is a religious belief because its advocates are frequently Christians. But if the metaphysical commitments of a theory's advocates are all that are necessary to make a theory religious, why is the naturalistic Darwinian view not considered to be an atheistic belief since many of its advocates are certainly atheists? Furthermore, if the naturalistic view is indeed an atheistic hypothesis, why is it permitted to be taught in our schools?

The old "if playing baseball is a sport, not playing baseball is another sport" contention. We teach science in school; evolution is science, a very important science, so we teach evolution. What is so hard to understand here? And what about the fact that many evolution scientists are not atheists?

Further foolishness:

But what is meant by saying that the designer can't be detected? Does it mean that we just can't see the designer and thus have no direct evidence that there is one? Or does it mean that the designer is in principle undetectable?
If it means the former, we should point out that there are dozens of entities scientists postulate which cannot be directly observed - quarks, neutrinos and dark matter, for example - but they can be studied and their existence inferred from their effects.
Likewise, there is abundant evidence of design in our world from which we can infer the existence of a designer. It may be that we can't study the designer directly right now because our technology doesn't allow it, but that doesn't mean that we'll never be able to study it.

How silly! What a child! Of course we study things we cannot see; we have special instruments to detect them and measure their properties. What instruments do we have for detecting Intelligent Design? What do we measure, and in what units? Measuring properties of quarks is not the same as seeing unicorns in the clouds, or concluding that, because humans design and manufacture (oops, sorry, I realize the ID folkses can't deal with the manufacturing aspect) pocket watches and Mini Coopers, anything more complex than a piece of chalk must therefore also be designed. We've seen that Dembski's Explanatory Filter is useless; what, then, Mr. Cleary, is the evidence indicating Design that you claim is so abundant ?

Cleary winds up his opinion with the claim that it is "[o]nly those who don't understand ID or who choose to misrepresent it, two groups which include almost all of its opponents, some of its advocates, and Judge Jones, do that [identify The Designer with God of the Bible]." He needs to listen to his leaders; the grand poobahs of ID have themselves identified The Designer as God and revealed their religious agenda:

Phillip Johnson, who reanimated ID in 1991: “[T]he materialist story thrives only as long as it does not confront the biblical story directly. In a direct conflict, where the public perceives the issues clearly, the biblical story will eventually prevail” [The Wedge of Truth, 1991].

William Dembski wrote in the July/August 1999 Touchstone Magazine: “Indeed, intelligent design is just the Logos theology of John’s Gospel restated in the idiom of information theory.”

UPDATE: My letter to the editor responding to Cleary's nonsense was published Saturday, 2 June. Another LTE critical of Cleary's article, was published the day before. That letter concluded, And as long as its proponents base their arguments on biblical references, ID is religious.

A fair question, or not?

2007-05-16T21:53:00.000-04:00

Various bloggers have commented on the recent Republican "debate" in which the eleven assembled contenders were asked if they "believed" in evolution, and three--Brownback, senator from Kansas; Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, and Tancredo, congressman from Colorado, indicated they did not. McCain, who was the only individual asked the question, replied that he did, but went on to waffle and try to please both sides.

There was also unfavorable discussion of Kathleen Parker's Washington Post article, which tried to tell the reader the issue was too complex to be meaningful in any way. She said The debate question was fundamentally a setup for ridicule.

I agree with that second point, but I say the ridicule was well-deserved. I disagree with the first point, however.

Yes, the science of evolution is complex, and we can't expect mere politicians to be able to explain it or to explain why Creationism (of the Intelligent Design or any other flavor) is not a valid alternative scientific theory in the brief time allotted in the entertainment piece gratuitously called a debate. However, all of the candidates have had ample time to listen to real scientists and to realize that evolution is considered the bedrock foundation of biology. If they dismiss evolution science in favor of Creationist publicity and eyewash, will they likewise dismiss scientific findings regarding climate change if those finding are inconsistent with their political ideology; will they advocate failed (as determined scientifically) policies regarding sex education in order to pander to their perceived constituency? Will they disregard scientific advice, preferring instead to embrace misinformation and wishful thinking to take America into unnecessary wars?

The question was fair. It gave voters some insight into the likelihood of candidates preferring to operate within a fantasy world, or at least pandering to a constituency that dwells in such a world.