Why Science Matters

It is important that American citizens have at least some background in science because some moronic politicians will say the most foolish things and expect people to believe them. People ought to be able to have some sense of what the scientific community thinks about such things and, if they are not sure of the actual science, they should at least have an idea where the answers can be found.

Case in point: wingnut politician Todd Akin, Missouri Congressman now running for the U.S. Senate, is virulently anti-abortion. Now, some people think that perhaps an exception should be made in the case of rape; not so Mr. Akin. According to Mr. Akin, there is no need--after all, "in cases of legitimate rape" the "female body has a way of shutting that down."

One can only hope that the people of Missouri are not all as mind-numbingly ignorant as the twit that would like to represent them in the U.S. Senate.


Sorry, I cannot recall the source of the illustration, which is several years old.

How Can We Even Consider Electing the Irrational?

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.

Free Will?

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." 

Bill McCormack: Lie down, you sack of shit

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?

Expelled? Execrable!

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.

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

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?

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.

Dover HS introduces mandatory ID badges

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.

So much woo in such a small head

Part of my job is to provide answers to members of the public who call in with requests for information. These generally are along the lines of how deep is the aquifer in my area, what kind of rock is in my neighborhood, or where can I go look for fossils. The other day someone called and made my head spin.

I could barely get a word in edgewise; she was speaking nonstop, jumping from subject to subject like a flea on a frying pan. Part of what she was saying went something like this:

Praise Jesus! Are you familiar with the chemicals that make the water in Fiji I was studying Fiji and their water problems and do you have records of the water quality from colonial times to compare with today why do we have to pay for pure water because water is god's gift to man and it should be provided free from the federal government because "federal" comes from "feed" and evolved from local then state now federal but now we have to pay because of bad morals and you know Japanese industry didn't account to anything until after World War II when they got rid of the geisha girls because there was such immorality in Singapore now they have coral calcium water in Japan and the people in Prince George's County need to know this and do you have records of successful marriages going back all these years because all those minerals water is made from like silica and the congressman and Fiji...

We keep all our notes on loose women in the drawer with the geophysical logs, and I didn't feel like opening that drawer. I figured since she wanted demographic information (records of immorality, broken down by county), her best bet (or my only relief) was for her to call the State planning department.