Saturday, March 11, 2006
The War Against Science
DarkSyde at Daily Kos has posted an outstanding interview with Dr. Barbara Forrest. She is the researcher (and co-author of Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design) whose expert testimony in the Dover School Board case was critical to the judge's ruling that Intelligent Design was just Creationism dressed up pretty.
She succeded in Dover by using the defendents' own words to demonstrate their true agenda.
Go read.
UPDATE: mjharmon in the comments provides a link to why the term "theory" should not be tossed around as loosely as thewingnuts creationists tend to when they are demanding equal time in the science classroom.
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She succeded in Dover by using the defendents' own words to demonstrate their true agenda.
Go read.
UPDATE: mjharmon in the comments provides a link to why the term "theory" should not be tossed around as loosely as the
Friday, March 10, 2006
Send Susie Some Love
and get a really cool refridgerator magnet. What a great way to start the weekend, eh?
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Cut and Run Politics
37 percent, and still searching for that bottom.
With Bush's approval (that's using the term loosely) ratings headed further south, Republican lawmakers are running as fast as they can to distance themselves from the president as they run for re-election.
According to the latest AP-Ipsos poll:
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With Bush's approval (that's using the term loosely) ratings headed further south, Republican lawmakers are running as fast as they can to distance themselves from the president as they run for re-election.
According to the latest AP-Ipsos poll:
More and more people, particularly Republicans, disapprove of President Bush's performance, question his character and no longer consider him a strong leader against terrorism, according to an AP-Ipsos poll documenting one of the bleakest points of his presidency.Wonder if the regular, you know, print and broadcast media will bring up, you know, their voting records, just to sort of, you know, compare the actual record with the current rhetoric. Probably not. That would require, you know, actual research and stuff.
Nearly four out of five Americans, including 70 percent of Republicans, believe civil war will break out in Iraq - the bloody hot spot upon which Bush has staked his presidency. Nearly 70 percent of people say the U.S. is on the wrong track, a 6-point jump since February.
[ . . . ]
Republican Party leaders said the survey explains why GOP lawmakers are rushing to distance themselves from Bush on a range of issues - port security, immigration, spending, warrantless eavesdropping and trade, for example.
The positioning is most intense among Republicans facing election in November and those considering 2008 presidential campaigns.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Losing Nashville
The king and queen of country music trashed Bushie for his miserable failures in handling Katrina.
Eric Boehlert, writing at the Huffington Post, noted that Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (McGraw-Hill?):
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Eric Boehlert, writing at the Huffington Post, noted that Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (McGraw-Hill?):
. . .unloaded on Bush when the topic of Katrina came up during a press conference to announce the duo's upcoming tour. "When you have people dying because they're poor and black or poor and white, or because of whatever they are...That erases everything that's great about our country," said McGraw. "There's no reason why someone can't go down there who's supposed to be the leader of the free world and say, 'I'm giving you a job to do and I'm not leaving here until it's done. And you're held accountable, and you're held accountable, and your held accountable."As Boelert says:
Hill, reportedly close to tears as she discussed the Katrina mess, labeled the fiasco "Bullshit" and announced "I fear for our country."
When you lose Music Row, you lose the South.Let us pray on that. Thanks to Avedon for the link.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Jackson out in AZ CD1 Race?
Just heard from a usually reliable source that Jack Jackson, Jr. may be withdrawing from the Arizona CD1 primary race.
This is too bad. Jack, being Dine', had a chance of defeating Republican Rick Renzi in the general election, at least if he could pull most of the votes on the Navajo Nation. But it takes a hell of a lot of money to run for Congress these days, and Jack might not have enough to make a strong run.
Renzi, who shows up on some lists of the most corrupt members of Congress, deserves nothing short of a serious ass-whupping. Now it seems more likely that he'll have his chance to move even higher on those lists.
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This is too bad. Jack, being Dine', had a chance of defeating Republican Rick Renzi in the general election, at least if he could pull most of the votes on the Navajo Nation. But it takes a hell of a lot of money to run for Congress these days, and Jack might not have enough to make a strong run.
Renzi, who shows up on some lists of the most corrupt members of Congress, deserves nothing short of a serious ass-whupping. Now it seems more likely that he'll have his chance to move even higher on those lists.
Premeditated Murder
Duncan, with a link to Digby, notes Chris Mathews trying to pin down Senate candidate and anti-choice zealot Pat Toomey.
Tweety, to his credit, pushes Toomey pretty hard on this basic question:
If abortion is murder, then isn't the woman, in addition to the doctor, a murderer. (Toomey refuses to address that question - Big Surprise!) The murder is obviously premeditated. And, based on what the anti-choice propaganda machine of the past few decades has been spewing out, it's also committed in an especially heinous manner.
So, by that logic, abortion reaches the criteria for Murder 1 in most states. And yet nobody in Wingnuttia is saying that when abortion is illegal, woman who have abortions should die by lethal injection or spend the rest of their lives in prison.
That is the basic hypocrisy of the anti-choice argument. And they'll push to make abortion illegal in all 50 states without ever willing facing that reality.
A number of years ago I was working with a group of high school kids. We were doing a little values clarification exercise. I asked them put themselves into a line based on their position on abortion. At one end of the continuum, abortion was completely legal with no restrictions. On the other end of the spectrum, abortion was murder.
There were several very nice young women who immediately moved to the anti-abortion end of the line. Then I asked the question. "Okay, so you believe abortion is murder?" They nodded their heads, yes, abortion is murder and should not be legal.
"So," I asked, "abortion is murder, and a woman who gets an abortion is participating in a murder? She should be charged with murder? And sentenced to life imprisonment or the death penalty, which is what we do with convicted murderers, right?"
There was a moment of hesitation. Then, suddenly, several of them decided that perhaps they belonged a little further to the left.
Once the real options are made clear, I think we may see lots of anti-choice women moving just a bit to the left, as well. Let's pray for them.
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Tweety, to his credit, pushes Toomey pretty hard on this basic question:
If abortion is murder, then isn't the woman, in addition to the doctor, a murderer. (Toomey refuses to address that question - Big Surprise!) The murder is obviously premeditated. And, based on what the anti-choice propaganda machine of the past few decades has been spewing out, it's also committed in an especially heinous manner.
So, by that logic, abortion reaches the criteria for Murder 1 in most states. And yet nobody in Wingnuttia is saying that when abortion is illegal, woman who have abortions should die by lethal injection or spend the rest of their lives in prison.
That is the basic hypocrisy of the anti-choice argument. And they'll push to make abortion illegal in all 50 states without ever willing facing that reality.
A number of years ago I was working with a group of high school kids. We were doing a little values clarification exercise. I asked them put themselves into a line based on their position on abortion. At one end of the continuum, abortion was completely legal with no restrictions. On the other end of the spectrum, abortion was murder.
There were several very nice young women who immediately moved to the anti-abortion end of the line. Then I asked the question. "Okay, so you believe abortion is murder?" They nodded their heads, yes, abortion is murder and should not be legal.
"So," I asked, "abortion is murder, and a woman who gets an abortion is participating in a murder? She should be charged with murder? And sentenced to life imprisonment or the death penalty, which is what we do with convicted murderers, right?"
There was a moment of hesitation. Then, suddenly, several of them decided that perhaps they belonged a little further to the left.
Once the real options are made clear, I think we may see lots of anti-choice women moving just a bit to the left, as well. Let's pray for them.
Ed Congratulates South Dakota
Fellow veteran Ed Patridge notes that S. Dakota has moved ahead of Utah in wingnuttery -- not an insignificant accomplishment.
Other states are sure to try and surge to the lead (you can almost hear the Deep South girding up its loins even now, not wanting to be out done by a bunch of damn yankees.
So we'll see more of this dangerous idiocy.
For some reason, I'm reminded of an old Dick Gregory line from the late 60s.
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You’ve now officially overtaken Utah as the most bizarre, backward and anachronistic state in the union. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the reputation.Rather than a moment of evil stupidity, I tend to view S. Dakota's anti-abortion bill as an early move to the lead in a new national political sport: Let's call it the Wingnut Olympics.
Other states are sure to try and surge to the lead (you can almost hear the Deep South girding up its loins even now, not wanting to be out done by a bunch of damn yankees.
So we'll see more of this dangerous idiocy.
For some reason, I'm reminded of an old Dick Gregory line from the late 60s.
They say Red China has the bomb now. That makes 6. There's the U.S., Russia, England, France, China, and the NAACP. Oh yeah, we've had it for a few years now. We're saving it for something big. Like if the South does rise again, boy are we gonna have them a surprise.Which reminds me of something one of the black hats at jump school said, early one morning, out on the PT field, back when I was a young soldier:
We tried being nice to you people. It obviously didn't work.I better stop there before Homeland Insecurity freezes my credit cards or something.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Big Brother's Flags & Whistles
You don't really want to know
What's been going on
You don't really want to know
Just how far it's gone
Then you read something like this: You pay down your credit card. Homeland Security takes notice. If I were Dave Berry I would add, "I'm not making this up."
At Once Upon a Time via Kos:
They paid down some debt. The balance on their JCPenney Platinum MasterCard had gotten to an unhealthy level. So they sent in a large payment, a check for $6,522.There's more.
And an alarm went off. A red flag went up. The Soehnges' behavior was found questionable.
And all they did was pay down their debt. They didn't call a suspected terrorist on their cell phone. They didn't try to sneak a machine gun through customs.
They just paid a hefty chunk of their credit card balance. And they learned how frighteningly wide the net of suspicion has been cast.
After sending in the check, they checked online to see if their account had been duly credited. They learned that the check had arrived, but the amount available for credit on their account hadn't changed.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
No Fucking Fucking
If you're poor, that is. Digby, Avedon and Tena take a close look at those who say that if you can't afford children, you should just keep your pants on.
Ironically, I think I had better sex when I was poor. Go figure.
Susie's on the same track, offers some personal insights, and wants to hear your own stories of rhythm and blues.
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Ironically, I think I had better sex when I was poor. Go figure.
Susie's on the same track, offers some personal insights, and wants to hear your own stories of rhythm and blues.
