Favorite Stones Tune?

You might pick Jumpin' Jack Flash, Satisfaction, Sympathy for the Devil or Gimme Shelter (I would). But here's one of their more underrated clasics:

It's not quite as good as the original, but hey -- it's free, so stop griping!

Here's an improvement on democracy

Here's a convincing editorial arguing that Secularism is Better than Democracy. As usual, too many people are afraid to look to the heart of the problem and prefer to see things as they *wish* they were. In this case, few are willing to say anything negative about religion. Well why not?

Our priorities in the West are wrong. Secularism is what we should be spreading across the globe. The inconvenient truth is that the West should be exporting secularism around the world before it exports democracy. Democracy implies not just one person one vote but no less important that the political process proceeds by rational means, by argument, by persuasion, and is based on knowledge that is as objective, as scientific, as one can make it. The objective knowledge has to come first.

How We Can Win the Oil Endgame

Another great TED talk -- If this is true, we can win the oil endgame.

Energy guru Amory Lovins lays out his plan for weaning the US off oil and revitalizing the economy in the process. It's the subject of his free book Winning the Oil Endgame, and he makes it sound fairly simple.

The Earth Charter

The ideals in the Earth Charter seem like something that everyone should support. Too bad the UN recently voted it down as too costly (or something along those lines).

Can We Save the American Experiment?

If so , maybe we can we save the world. This article seems important. Here's a quote:

The real political contest in America is between those of us committed to a politics based on principle and the common good; and those who pursue a politics of individual greed and power. It is between those of us who represent the true political mainstream and truly want to solve the problems that beset us all — and those at the extreme political fringe whose primary agenda is advancing their personal power.

Here's another good one by the same author.

More attempts to revoke our hard won freedoms

Here comes the thought police! Let's hope that this never comes to pass.

Capitalism = THE Problem with World?

Does this sound like the common notion of a corporation?...

"The only legitimate reason for a government to issue a corporate charter... is to serve a well-defined public purpose under strict rules of public accountability?" It used to be clear that business interests were secondary to public interests -- business served the public. Nowadays, we can't even get people to agree that copyright is a *limited* benefit meant to encourage creative works -- not what most people have been brainwashed to think of it, which is as a protected mechanism for ensuring profit, typically long after the original creator has died. What public benefit does this serve?

This is a very good article to get people thinking about how capitalism and the greed culture is really the source of most of societal problems. Of course the fix is pretty scary but the alternative is scarier still. Hopefully, we can find some middle ground. Now I'm not of those "liberal commies" who rail against people making a buck. In fact, I'd much rather reward good work because that's good for the individual *and* for society.

Unfortunately, corporations are in business to make money and have no social responsibility that isn't FORCED upon them. They are in a race to the bottom, looking for the cheapest labor in the cheapest country; the lowest cost product that isn't *too* dangerous; and the highest price that they can force upon the consumer. This usually results in more money being diverted from the public into the hands of a small percentage the uber-rich -- typically the same CEOs, major stock holders and board members who run them. There also are no restrictions other than what is (mostly) legally allowed -- no checks or balances -- just unrestrained consumption until the business model fails. Frequently the model is already failing but they refuse to change and instead try to bend reality to maintain their outdated methods by bribing, or let's say "encouraging," the government to enact new laws to protect their interests. You see this all the time with tariffs, farm subsidies, copyright extension, etc. Corporations can only be somewhat curtailed by enforcing restrictions on monopolies, minimum wage, pollution emissions, minimum working age, overtime compensation, benefits, etc.

Democracy however, is in stark contrast to this. Everyone has equal rights and equal power (supposedly). It has built-in checks and balances to limit power grabs. It's government by the people, for the people. Seeing how disparate these two concepts are, it's no wonder that they are not in harmony. Unfortunately, it appears that capitalism and its monied interests are beating back democracy.

"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first thing to be bought and sold are legislators." P. J. O'Rourke

So while you may not think that things are this dire or that this is the correct solution -- but let me ask you this: what *would* have to happen for you to recognize that the problem is too big to be solved with the same type of thinking? What would *you* suggest we do?

There also are some good comments in this article. I recommend that you add your comments there. Here are a few to get you started:

If you enshrine the private profit of a few as society’s organizing principle (aka corporate capitalism), you get an unsustainable society guaranteed to destroy the world either by resource depletion, climate change, war, or social unrest triggered by rising inequality. That’s our future in a nutshell — if corporate capitalism is not challenged.

You’ll never change the inherent and necessary attribute of all living things to maximize benefit to themselves. The best one can hope for is some degree of enlightenment that recognizes self-interest in the context of broader societal benefits, and even that is not likely through mass education alone.
The theoretical benefits of capitalism, which rightly accepts self-interested realities, are generally based on the assumption that marketplace forces alone can adequately address their excesses. Unfortunately, even those limited countervailing forces, and the regulatory measures put in place to maintain them, are themselves weakened as much as possible by the above-mentioned ‘narrow private interests’ through collusion with those ‘representatives’ who are chosen nominally as protectors of the common good. So long as political parties continue to operate under a system whereby they represent their ‘corporate person’ sponsors rather than their electors amongst us ‘common folk’, the desired ‘paradigm shift’ is highly unlikely to say the least.

Simply by incorporating We the People into a private benefit corporation where every American gets equal, non-transferable shares of stock in and dividends from their trillions in public resources and treasure. Where the administration works for us, not for other corporations. Where we can hire and fire our administrators in yearly stockholders meetings, according to their performance.
We the People will vote to take our dividends in money, peace, education, healthcare and a healthy environment. It will mean an end to poverty, pollution, war, crime, hunger, overwork, corporate and financial exploitation and so on. A greater share of stock divided up by a smaller population would give us an incentive for reducing population growth. And public assets like wildlands and wildlife, clean air, clean water, could no longer be stolen by a rapacious corporate oligarchy.

The solution has been provided by the very corporate elites who have been on a dizzy binge of obscene profit for the past six years — in their greed they have managed to wreck the American economy, making paupers of the consumer base they need to maintain and grow by outsourcing their jobs, inflating prices, and ruining their communities by selling them homes they can’t afford, thereby guaranteeing a massive economic meltdown, which is in progress.

Taking time off for Christmas

You should do the same. :)

A Winnable War, Please.

We've seem unwilling and/or unable to win any wars these days: the war on drugs, the war on terror, the war on poverty, not even the war against stuperstition (=stupidy+superstition) -- okay, I made that one up but we should have one and we are losing it. So perhaps we can all work together to win this one for the gipper, the war on greed. This one is costing more than the others put together anyway. So grab yer gun and take a post!

Eternal Vigilance

Thomas Jefferson is commonly credited with the memorable line, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” Well, we need it now more than ever if we want to get off of the slip-n-slide to becoming a third world police state. Read it and weep.

Is SB 1959 For Real???

What is this, 1984? The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, a.k.a. Senate Bill 1959 is a disgrace.

Mitt Romney doesn't get it

Great editorial -- here are some quotes:

Mitt Romney's speech in Texas on Thursday was supposed to be an attempt to fend off religious bigotry. Instead, it betrays some prejudices of its own (against secular people), and seems to provoke others to bigotted statements.

Deists, freethinkers and Freemasons--the kind of people that Romney was complaining about-- produced the First Amendment.

As for the insistence that you need religion for political freedom, that is silly. Organized religion has many virtues, but pushing for political liberty is seldom among them. Religion is about controlling people. No religiously based state has ever provided genuine democratic governance. You want religion in politics, go to Iran.

By Romney's definition of freedom, Sweden and France, where 50% and 40% of the population, respectively, does not believe in God, cannot have a proper democracy. But of course Swedish democracy is in many respects superior to that in the United States.

Keith Olbermann Nails Bush (deservedly so)

Yet another Olbermann moment that everyone should see.

United States of Weaklings

We’re becoming a country of flinchy, drug-popping, namby-pamby, you-name-it-phobic, worry-worts afraid to take ANY risk – terrorists, germs, anything. What happened to “give me liberty or give me death?” Now it’s “give me comfort & safety and you can take my freedom … along with anything else you want.” It starting to look like Rome around here, right before the fall. Apparently, I'm not the only one concerned.

And don't get me started with people taking no responsibility for their actions, suing for their mistakes, crying about this, whining about that. We should make it mandator for everyone take Hwa Rang Do for at least a year and learn to be a little more self-reliant. Maybe people would reach out more to help one another and we wouldn't need Good Samaritan laws.

Marcus Brigstocke is Hilarious

He has a number of funny clips on You Tube. This one is good ... smart, funny and it's likely to piss off over 90% of the world's population -- I guess it's good that they don't all speak English (or have a computer) -- but you do, so give it whirl:

5 Stages of Global Warming Deniers

Jon Stewart is Great (as usual)

Funny *and* smart -- and right on the money in terms of who needs skewering. The material is 10 years old and still good. Enjoy!

Thanks 1gm.

How YOU Can Save Democracy

Consumer-Driven Culture Is Killing Our Democracy

This is a great article interviewing the author of this new book. Here's an interesting idea:

Stop trying to get corporations to be socially responsible. Stop trying to achieve any particular social objective like global warming or a national healthcare system ... Put all of our efforts into a citizen's movement for democracy. That would include the public financing of campaigns and would require any network, any broadcaster using the public airwaves to provide advertising for all candidates.

Each candidate sets up a blind trust that receives all political contributions, so that no candidate can ever know who contributed what. Once all political contributions become anonymous, I would predict a substantial drop in contributions, because there can no longer be any quid pro quo.

What Would it Take to Impeach?

Other than a BJ that is. :-) Here's some commentary from the same source as the last post but this time, they have links to backup their arguments.

Impeachment: Congressional Silence = Constitutional Death

Bush signed an agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki for permanent bases in Iraq, in defiance of the explicit opposition of both the U.S. Congress and the Iraqi Parliament. Yet Congress is utterly silent.

Bush issued his first signing statement since Democrats won Congress, and gave himself the right to steal all the money he needs to invade Iran. Yet Congress is utterly silent.

Bush knew a year ago that Iran abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003, but threatened World War III with Iran just weeks ago. Yet Congress is utterly silent.

Bush formally advised a British Court last week that he is fully entitled to kidnap foreigners (i.e., Britons) off the street around the world for any reason at all and carry them off to secret prisons. Yet Congress is utterly silent.

Bush's former press secretary Scott McClellan admitted he lied about the role of Scooter Libby and Karl Rove in destroying the career and urgent work of Valerie Plame. Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison but Bush commuted his sentence under orders from Cheney to shut Libby up. Yet Congress is utterly silent.

Bush rehired Iraq War Criminal Paul Wolfowitz as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board. The Board includes Robert Joseph, who put the Niger Uranium Big Lie in Bush's 2003 State of the Union, and ex-CIA director James Woolsey, who helped mega-liar Ahmed Chalabi defraud the U.S. into a $1+ trillion disaster. Yet Congress is utterly silent.

Bush is still contemptuously defying dozens of subpoenas. Yet Congress is utterly silent.

The people are not silent. Impeachment activists continue to organize from coast to coast.

How the President Defines "Success"

I recently received this email from an admittedly partisan source but the content is still quite accurate (and sad):

Remember when Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq? Now he's calling Iraq a "success." Bush whined, "It's unconscionable to deny funds to our troops in harm's way because some in Congress want to force a self-defeating policy, especially when we're seeing the benefits of success."

The "benefits of success"???

Bush's "success" unleashed chaos that murdered 1 million Iraqis and drove 4 million more out of their homes into desperate poverty. Bush's "success" created a sectarian Shia government that ethnically cleansed Baghdad of Sunnis and Christians and corruptly lined its pockets with our tax dollars. Bush's "success" killed nearly 4,000 brave young Americans and maimed tens of thousands more, both physically and mentally, leading to 120 veterans' suicides each week. Bush's "success" broke our military, corrupted our intelligence agencies, and embraced torture as official U.S. policy. Bush's "success" empowered Osama Bin Laden and handed half of Afghanistan back to the Taliban. Bush's "success" empowered dangerous dictators in Russia, Pakistan, Burma, Iran and Venezuela. Bush's "success" increased global terror and hatred of the United States. Bush's "success" wasted $500 billion on Iraq, with trillions more to come. Bush's "success" added $4 trillion to our national debt and trillions more in future debts. Bush's "success" drove the price of oil from $16/barrel to nearly $100/barrel, and tripled the price of gasoline from $1.06 to $3.11.

America - and the world - cannot afford any more of Bush's "success."

The Pres and His Hawks

It's scary to see the country with the most nukes rattling sabers and sounding alarms about WWIII based upon bad data, untrue data, ignored data, twisted data and outright lies. The hawks in this world are gonna get us all killed. There's a good editorial on this from Truthdig -- here are some quotes:

The whole episode shows that our democratic system retains at least some essential checks and balances, but it also is depressing to see that, in this instance at least, the fanatical leader of a theocracy seems to have a higher regard for truth than does the president of the world’s greatest experiment in representative democracy.

Take Hillary Clinton, who said that “Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is in the forefront of that” by way of defending her vote for a resolution that, like the one she voted for before the Iraq war, blindly supports rather than seriously questions the president’s case for war. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was absolutely correct in calling candidate Clinton out on that vote and challenging her lame excuse that she had not read the full intelligence report before her Iraq war vote. “Members of Congress,” Obama cautioned, “must carefully read the intelligence before giving the president any justification to use military force.”

It’s humiliating to all of us who believe in a free press, separation of powers and individual liberty that a system of government designed by its founders to hold leaders accountable can be so easily manipulated by an unremarkable loser who has been rewarded throughout his life for screwing up. It is hoped that this time around the truth will catch up with him before he gets us in yet another bloody war, just to show he can.

Empty Policymaking

Here's a funny editorial comic. It's sad what passes as an acceptable argument these days -- no evidence, no reasoning, no justification at all -- just make a statement and say "I know this to be true. Why? Because that's *my* opinion!"

It's amazing how many people find that an acceptable form of debate. Maybe we should make debate class another mandatory class in my long list of "things people must know to get the license to be an adult, live in society and vote:"

1. logic, critical thinking & problem solving
2. basic science (at least until they understand evolution)
3. Civics
4. manners, and all other things you should have learned in Kindergarten
5. comparative religions
6. basic computer use including typing, Internet, and basic maintenance
7. how to drive -- being consciencious of others while still being safe (watch the road)
8. debate, or at least how to make a rational argument without using common logical fallacies

Until they pass the test they can't hold any job managing people or money. Maybe they should also not be allowed to speak until spoken to so perhaps they'll listen to others and learn a thing or two. Add your suggestions in the Comments section.

Science Good, Ignorance Bad

Here's yet another reason why ignorance of science is bad -- and also why comets are so damn scary!

Thanks 1gm.

NOVA - Intelligent Design on Trial

PBS has posted this program online in 12 short chapters so you can skip around. There also are transcripts. Good stuff on evolution, Intelligent Design, what is science, and the long-running attempts by Christian fundamentalists to insert religion into public science education.

But is it really true that between 35-50% of Americans don't believe in evolution? Wow! How sad that so many are so poorly informed or so willing to ignore facts when they conflict with how they wish the world was. Hey, I agree that it would be nice if the entire universe was created for our benefit -- but it wasn't. I'm sure that we all can imagine hundreds of ways that things could be better than they are. But wishing it true doesn't make it so; no matter how much wishing or praying is done. In fact, some studies show that praying may actually make things worse.

After much denying, most now accept that we're not the center of the universe, either literally or figuratively. So yes, it is a bit humbling to know that we're just an insignificant spec of life on a spec of a planet in some remote corner of a spec of a galaxy. But just like we grow up and acknowledge that there's no Santa Claus, we must also acknowledge all that we find to be true about life, the universe and everything.

If you want to continue believing that there's God who created the cosmos and is watching over you, go ahead. Just don't foist your unsupported beliefs on others and you can then expect that they'll do the same. Kind of like the Golden Rule. It's also called "freedom of religion" and is one of the basic rights that make our country so great. Let's keep it that way and drop this nonsense.

TheRealNews.com

This site appears to have some promise. It says "beta" so hopefully, it will get better and provide us some much-needed REAL information that isn't filtered by big-media and the bum rush to the bottom in search of a dollar. The interviews with Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal are good.

Are We Safer?

It's been 6 years since we've been told that our government is working tirelessly to make us all safer. Other than having to fly barefoot & fluid-free and being told to tape plastic bags over our windows, I haven't seen any evidence of any improvements at our ports, chemical factories, water supplies, nuclear plants, etc. The LA Times published this recent report summarizing figures from the government's own sources -- it's not pretty.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee - Global Warming is Real and it's HERE

Really, people; is there *anyone* still out there doubting that we need to do something big and act fast if we want to avoid fucking up the planet? The data keeps coming in from the world's top scientists and some still want to live in denial. First it was, "it's not real." Piles of data later, "okay, it's real but it's not man-made." From the new report:

The report leaves no doubt that man-made emissions from the burning of fossil fuels (and, to a lesser extent, deforestation) have been responsible for the steady rise in atmospheric temperatures.

Okay, both man-made. Next it will be, "oh but nothing can be done" or "it wont be enough" or "we're not going to tighten our carbon-footprint belt unless China does too" or some other sort of petty squabbling while we continue to ignore the problem. They've already told us what we need to do, so let's do it. What happened to the Americans who kicked ass and got things done. What, are we all too busy going to the mall and worrying about Britney Spears custody?

Sure, whatever we do may still not be enough but any improvement is for the better. It's not a win or lose proposition -- it's a sliding scale of how much are we going to lose. I vote for less! And yes, if China doesn't join in it will be harder; but again, better is better. We can't wait for everyone to join in before we start making improvements.

Sure it's going to be painful in the short run but it's going to be much worse in the long run if we don't! And as someone wisely pointed out -- we don't have another planet to run the test on or to move to when we ruin this one!

Another common bit of denial is that it won't be that bad. "The Earth probably has some way of adjusting that we just don't understand." Maybe, but since we don't know we really can't take that risk. Oh, and the Earth doesn't really give a hill of beans about little ol' homo sapiens so it has no interest in keeping things cozy for us. It would probably be better off if we were gone.

"Besides, what's a few degrees?" Well, our best estimates are that a 3 degree change will cause the loss of about 25% of all plants and animal species, while a 6 degree change could wipe out about 50% of all species. This sounds serious to me! Plus, if the Greenland ice sheet melts then we'll also lose the reflective benefit from the white ice and the planet will absorb even more heat. Should that happen, scientists aren't even sure what this would do to sea levels and overall weather patterns. If we're having trouble feeding everyone today and already have numerous unsustainable practices that are depleting our food supply (suggesting that we already have a resource problem), what will we do when the weather and the bees and the refuse to cooperate? We may have to learn to love Soylent Green.

“What we do in the next two or three years will define our future.”

Hillary is Scary!

I think that Bill Clinton was a great President but even then, his wife was a bit of a harpy. Now, even more so. I think that people are hoping that she'll follow in Bill's footsteps, which would be great -- but it's not going to happen. From her record, she's more likely to follow in Bush's footsteps. In fact, if it wasn't for Bill she could probably run as a Republican. Check out this recent article. And please don't vote for Hillary! The best candidates on either party right now appear to be Gore, Kucinich, Edwards, Obama, Ron Paul and everyone else before Giuliani. Hell, I'd take Ross Perot over Giuliani!

Hillary Clinton in her remarkable senate career has blamed Canada for 9/11, supported the patriot act, wiretapping, an bill to ban flag burning, war against Iraq, blamed the Iraqis for the disaster afterwards, approved the Kyle-lieberman resolution which was hatched in Cheney’s office, takes more money from lobbyists than all the other candidates combined and now is lying again about Iran. It’s pretty clear that Hilary is the logical successor to Bush in terms of the military industrial complex. Anyone expecting different is in denial or just not informed.

Is the Church really this blind?

Wow -- according to this LA Times article, the Catholic Church not only needs to clean house of certain "unsaintly" priests but needs to get rid of all those who *continue* to shelter those predatory priests, directly violating their own "youth protection charter." I can't believe that these people still haven't learned their lesson. This is what happens to those whose ego has been stoked over too many years thinking that they can communicate directly with the creator of the universe and that He is on their side.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops released data showing that they had identified about 4,400 abusive U.S. priests. Not four hundred but four thousand and four hundred! That's nearly 90 abusive priests per state -- holy crap! And this is according to their own numbers, which are bound to be a low estimate.

What does it take to get through to these guys?? And what does it take to get through to the flock who follow these unethical and immoral felons? It makes you wonder why people think that they need organized religion at all. Why must it be "organized?" Just do your own thing and stop being a follower. Think about it, what would Jesus do?

Mark Your Calendars -- Bush Death Watch!

Mark Morford, the SF Gate columnist, pens another great article. You should read the whole thing but here's a tasty morsel:

It is now less than one calendar year until the next presidential election. It is less than one year until the country finally takes a deep breath and flexes its atrophied muscles and opens its bloody, Cheney-punched mouth and lets it be known to the world, to the universe, to its own numb and dejected soul just exactly how unwell it has felt, how much pain has raked its heart, lo, these past seven (eight, by then) years, by ushering in an entirely new political era, as we all exhale a massive sigh of long overdue relief that — praise Jesus, Allah, Buddha and the devil all at once — the long national nightmare of George W. Bush is finally over.

It is now safe to imagine. It is now becoming increasingly easy to actually dare to think that, in less than one year's time, Dubya will begin packing his bags, jamming into his Spongebob duffel his map of the world coloring book, English-to-English translation dictionaries, mangled pocket edition of the U.S. Constitution, Bibleman action figure set and a "Mission Accomplished!" sweatshirt, and heading off to face his destiny as one of the bleakest, most morally repellent chapters in all of American history.

And please, let's not forget the entire parade of incompetent clowns that GW is taking with him. Hallelujah!

Writers strike

In case it's not clear that we should all be supporting the writers in their quest to get paid a fair share of that which they create (but the mega corporation then owns) ... have a good laugh watching this and this and this.

Thanks 1gm.

Balls *and* Brains

It's too bad that we can't get a president with brains of a Democrat and the balls of a Republican -- you know, like Kucinich.

Some 9/11 Perspective

Good article from a reporter speaking to Richard Dawkins at Ground Zero, "celebrating" its 6th anniversary last month. Two important points that bear repeating since they're not comfortable to many religious folks:

"The people who did this terrible thing were sincere, deeply religious, believed they were right, believed they were doing the will of their god, firmly believed they were going straight to heaven for doing what they thought of as a wonderful deed," Dawkins says. "They had just one thing wrong with them. They believed. They had faith. And it was their faith that drove them to it."

"I wouldn't for a moment suggest the majority of people would do anything remotely so terrible, indeed anything terrible at all, but there is a logical pathway that leads from religious faith to doing the most appalling deeds." Accept that there is a God. Accept that He is involved in the world's affairs. Accept that the Bible or the Koran is His holy word. "Once you've got that in your head, then a reasonable person can progress step by step to the conclusion that the right thing to do, the righteous thing to do, is to destroy thousands of lives."

Fanaticism -- i.e. unquestioning faith -- is possibly the greatest threat to our delicate balance of international relations and most likely to trigger WWIII. Here's a tip: if the real world of empirical evidence doesn't agree with some ancient belief, drop the belief and join the rest of us in the real world!

Remember the surplus?

Speaking of our shrinking pool of critical engineers and scientists -- this is only the tip of our iceberg of problems -- most thanks to our illustrious non-leader, GWB. It's sad that our kids and grandkids will be paying for today's mistakes and financial disasters for long after we're all gone. Let me start apologizing now (not that I voted for this buffoon but we're all complicit).

As usual, PZ "gets it"

This is why I like many of the ScienceBlogs post -- scientific minds are trained to cut through the crap. And today there is less time and possibly more crap than we've ever had to deal with since the Dark Ages. We need every bright person pushing our collective knowledge forward if we hope to figure out a way not to obliterate ourselves through famine, religious wars, pollution, corrupt governments, greed or any host of reasons predicated on overpopulation and shrinking resources, ignited through ignorance and fueled by fanaticism.

The dearth of American scientific minds and the failing of our science and math curriculum might be a harbinger of the coming idiocracy.

So back to PZ, here are a couple of good quotes from his critique of a recent New Humanist article:

Personally, I'm fired up by the fact that religions have been spending millennia hammering the brains of thinking human beings into a dopey stupefaction like that of domesticated sheep.

Religion claims to be a method that maps the human heart, that produces stability and contentment and soul-fulfilling reverence, and leads to immortality in an afterlife where the good are rewarded and the evil are punished. It fails in its own terms. None of what it promises can be demonstrated, and the plethora of different religions all make different and often contradictory promises. It certainly doesn't seem to be promoting peace, love, and understanding, and those conflicting claims are often barriers to reconciliation.

I don't condemn religion because it causes extremism or evil actions. I condemn it because it is so bloodily and thrice-damned ineffectual at doing what it claims to do. Religion is an incompetent guiding philosophy, unifying principle, source of solace and wisdom, whatever screwy virtue you want to imagine it represents. All it seems to excel at is driving people to make excuses for its failures.

Financial Wizardry

I'd always thought that the smoke and mirrors financial industry was a crock. Apparently, this is also true in GB.

Robertson backs Giuliani - Lord have mercy

I couldn't have said it better:

It is truly a match made in Heaven: a long-time dictator-coddler, blood diamond merchant, Jew-hater and milkshake shiller – who dabbles in religious flim-flammery on the side – endorsing a torture-loving, warmongering, serially adulterous, gender-confused, compulsively lying authoritarian to lead God's own country.

Verily I say unto you: we live in blessed times.

Technology doesn't *always* further education

This is why we've disabled Internet access during class:
Thanks Doonesbury.

Led Zeppelin Lost Performances

I hope that they beat the odds and are unbelievable at their upcoming reunion concert in December -- even just a fraction of their former glory -- not just so I can enjoy the rock-godness of the moment but so they can give current fans a glimpse of perfection and light a fire under the many mediocre rock bands today in order that they have a greater height to aspire to.

Waterboarding is Torture… Period

In case you're still not convinced.

The Mendacity Index

Which recent president has told the biggest whoppers?

Poor scientists

The presidency is now a criminal conspiracy

Keith Olbermann hits another homer pointing out all that is wrong with the current administrations attempt to drum up enough fear that we allow them to turn America into a fascist state.

If, say, a president simply needed a constant supply of terrorist threats to keep a country scared. If, say, he needed phony plots to play hero during, and to boast about interrupting, and to use to distract people from the threat he didn't interrupt. If, say, he realized that even terrorized people still need good ghost stories before they will let a president pillage the Constitution, Well, Mr. Bush, who better to dream them up for you than an actual terrorist? He'll tell you everything he ever fantasized doing in his most horrific of daydreams, his equivalent of the day you "flew" onto the deck of the Lincoln to explain you'd won in Iraq. Now if that's what this is all about, you tortured not because you're so stupid you think torture produces confession but you tortured because you're smart enough to know it produces really authentic-sounding fiction — well, then, you're going to need all the lawyers you can find … because that crime wouldn't just mean impeachment, would it? That crime would mean George W. Bush is going to prison.

Why media matters

It makes me sick when people are not held accountable. It's gotten so bad that even the media not only doesn't check the facts, they don't report it when someone else has checked them and shown them to be wrong. In this case, the Repbulican front-runner is lying, knows he's lying, and is continuing to use the lie -- and it's not news!?! WTF? Remember when the news media was the publics attack dog who had politicians quaking in their boots at being caught with both fists in the candy jar? What happened? When did they get neutered?

Memo to editors: If a candidate says something completely false, it’s not “in dispute.”

America - land of the bubble-babies

I've always thought that Americans have an unhealthy fascination with cleanliness -- and no, this is not just because I'm an occasional slob. Turns out, I'm probably right.

We all do this, right?

Ten Reasons Why American Health Care Is so Bad

If you aren't yet CERTAIN that we need a major overhaul of our healthcare system, read this. Here's the 25-cent tour:
1. We spend the most. (actually twice as much)
2. We don't pay doctors according to the quality of their care.
3. Our wait times are low because many of us aren't getting care at all.
4. Most of us don't have a regular physician. One might expect, given what we pay, that our care would at least be more central and convenient.
5. Our care isn't particularly convenient. Nor is medical service more convenient for Americans to access.
6. Our doctors don't listen to us.
7. We have high rates of chronic conditions. Aside from the surprisingly unhealthy Australians, Americans have the highest rate of chronic disease.
8. … But we're not treating them properly.
9. We're frequent victims of medical, medication, and lab errors.
10. Most of us are dissatisfied with our current system.

Read the full article for all of the gory details.

Job hunting - the worst job in the world

I've always said that; primarily because it weighs so heavily on your sense of self-worth. Well, who knew that it had gotten this bad? Wow, the middle-class in general and white collar jobs in particular are being gutted from within. American citizens need to stand up and collectively vote out the corporate shills in our goverment and get some people in there that will stop selling our country to the highest bidder.

This book reviewer has a few tips:

White-collar employees should expect that everything, especially their career, is temporary and will disappear from their lives suddenly and when they are most vulnerable. Once they are unemployed, they should expect to remain so for a long period of time (at least for six months and probably for two or more years) at least once in their working lives, and they should plan accordingly. My advice is to always save as much money as possible to keep yourself from having to live on the streets. Even if you manage to get a good job that pays well, keep your living expenses as low as possible and NEVER go into debt for anything, including your education and housing. Even after you have a "real job", continue learning new (and marketable) skills, such as bookkeeping or a new computer language. And -- as a reserved and self-effacing person, I have particular trouble with this one -- always market yourself for your next position to your family, friends and colleagues.

Commander of plane that dropped Hiroshima bomb, dies at 92

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr., the Army Air Forces pilot whose bombing run over Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 introduced nuclear war, died today at his home in Columbus, Ohio. He was 92.

Good LA Times article. Not everyone agrees that it was necessary but either way, it's a horrifying responsibility to bear. Let's hope that no one else ever has to accept this burden.

The Golden Compass

The trailer looks good. You can also create your own Daemon. Here's mine:

I'm not sure how accurate their 20-question assessment is, but the tiger is cool.

John Edwards appeals to us all to take back the power

Thanks 1gm! I wish all politicians talked like this. Perhaps they wont live up to their promises but how long has it been that they've even *promised* to do these things?

Eat the rich!

A World Without the Rich:

If Americans examined the deeper damage that the rich do to society, perhaps they might be willing to try cutting the rich down to size.

Your ARE being watched

Here's another major lurch forward on our downward spiral into becoming an Orwellian dictatorship. Once again, our congresscritters are working against our best interests.

With the disbanding of Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure without court warrants or probable cause, no Americans, not even those who are apolitical and believe they have nothing to hide, are safe. Under this judicially unregulated Orwellian system of total information awareness, all Americans who use the Internet and/or the telephone (which means virtually all Americans) are suspects in a massive, nationwide (and global) government dragnet.

Some conquering music, please

Fox News

We all know that Fox News is one of the signs of the Apocalypse. Now we have more reasons to hate them.

Unfortunately, it seems that being fired for refusing to reporting false news isn't protected under the federal whistleblowers law. What it should be at least is against the FCC guidelines that news must not knowingly be untrue so in the "real world" Fox would at least be fined!


Fortunately, there is some comeuppance in that several former Fox News employees came clean and expose what we've known all along, which is that they don't present news at Fox, they present opinion as if it were news. This would be akin to the WSJ replacing all of their reporters pieces with editorials written by one right-wing nutjob masquerading under various pseudonyms as "fair and balanced" reporting.

Al Qaeda Infiltrates Fox News!

Thanks Daily Show!

Government Surveillance Threatens Your Freedom, Even If You Have Nothing To Hide

Great article.

"I've got nothing to hide, so electronic surveillance doesn't bother me. To the contrary, I'm delighted that the Bush Administration is monitoring calls and electronic traffic on a massive scale, because catching terrorists is far more important that worrying about the government's listening to my phone calls, or reading my emails." So the argument goes. It is a powerful one that has seduced too many people. Millions of Americans buy this logic, and in accepting it, believe they are doing the right thing for themselves, their family, and their friends, neighbors, community and country. They are sadly wrong. If you accept this argument, you have been badly fooled.

What was that quote again? ... "Give me liberty or give me death!" Maybe this should be our mantra until we can get the current batch of loons out of the Whitehouse.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Is this true or is this just some hoax drawing its name from the Peanuts cartoon about the Great Pumpkin Patch (or something like that). More here. It's weird that you can't find a decent picture of this thing. This is the best we can do?

Great stuff from Bill Maher

Real Time has been pretty good lately, and not just for the jokes. Here are some excerpts, most thanks to 1gm:

New Rules 10/19/07, text or video -- here's a quote on so-called "Values Voters:"

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the states with the most conservative Christians have the highest rates of divorce, the highest teen pregnancy rates and the highest obesity levels. Yes, they're fat, knocked up and not talking to each other--but, at least they put homosexuality back where it belongs: in the airport men's room.

And I know that if you can look at the war in Iraq, the melting environments and the descent of America into "idiocracy," and still think our biggest problems are boobies during the Super Bowl and the "war on Christmas," then you don't have values, you have issues. If you had "values," you'd draw the line at torture. But a startling number of people who call themselves Christians don't. And I'm pretty sure if you asked, "What would Jesus veto," it wouldn't be health care for sick kids.

He also had a great interview with Garry Kasparov, who is running against Putin for President of Russia. Compare his level of sophistication against any of our candidates for president (no comparison to our actual President need be made -- sometimes two thoughts so opposed cannot occupy the mind simultaneously).

Now, the closest we can drum up is John Edwards. Let's hope he can beat Hillary.

I can't beat this description from 1gm, "Bill provides a useful demonstration of the silliness that is the Catholic Church." The scary thing isn't that some people will believe anything. It's that so MANY people will believe anything!

New Rules, 10/16/07 -- What to really be afraid of this Halloween. Hint, who peddling fear and who stands to gain? What ever happened to "We have nothing to fear but fear itself?" Here's another one that people have forgotten about today, "Give me liberty or give me death." Stop letting the fear mongers manipulate us into giving total power over to the government in the hope that they will do the right thing and protect us from the scary bogey men out there. Who are they today? Oh, that's right -- the terrorists! It amazes me how few people get that our government is the biggest threat to our freedoms, not the terrorists!!!

UCLA #2!

Sure this could be the ranking of our basketball team (or the football team, in the PAC-10) but no, this is more important (just don't say that to my sporto wife). The US News & World Report on America's Best Colleges that recently came out is so biased toward those elitest private colleges that some say you shouldn't pay attention to them. In fact, there first public university appears on their list at #21 -- Berkeley, of course. They rank UCLA at #25. The much more rational folks (by definition) at the Washington Monthly have instead ranked UCLA as the #2 university in the nation -- again. Their criteria try to measure not what colleges can do for students (as others do) but what colleges are doing for the country.

Maybe these are not the most important criteria for the typical self-centered, egocentric, climb the corporate ladder at someone else's expense types -- around here, we call these specimens "Trojans." But these are good criteria for those looking for a good education that comes with an opportunity to give something back to the community that has helped you get this far in life. It's also may be the best criteria for determining where to invest in the future of our state and our nation. So if any public or private groups are looking to donate, you know who to call. :)

Science, delusion, and the appetite for wonder

Here's an older but still moving speech by Richard Dawkins called "Science, delusion, and the appetite for wonder." The video on YouTube may give his words more feeling but I generally prefer text. Here's a quote:

"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been standing in my place but who will never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Sahara - more, the atoms in the universe. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Donne, greater scientists than Newton, greater composers than Beethoven. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds, it is you and I that are privileged to be here, privileged with eyes to see where we are and brains to wonder why.

There is an appetite for wonder, and isn't true science well qualified to feed it? It's often said that people 'need' something more in their lives than just the material world. There is a gap that must be filled. People need to feel a sense of purpose. Well, not a bad purpose would be to find out what is already here, in the material world, before concluding that you need something more. How much more do you want? Just study what is, and you'll find that it already is far more uplifting than anything you could imagine needing."

Now I know why atheists are so angry.

What a fantastic summary of many of the very good reasons why atheist are angry and why they should be. Given the likely positive outcome of this they shouldn't stop, ever -- even if there weren't literally dozens if not hundreds of good reasons to be annoyed, pissed, enraged, and utterly insane. Here's one of the many reasons that I think most people never think about:

What right do they have to act as if their opinion is the same as God's?

Isn't this convenient? You select your opinion about the exact nature of time, space, existence, morality, afterlife, purpose, etc. AND then you get to act as if it's backed by the creator of the universe so no one can possibly disagree with you. Neat trick.

How egotistical do you have to be to think that out of 6 billion people, God has chosen you? I suppose 6 Billion to 1 isn't that great of a leap faith for many in the supernatural crowd. Look at all the other unlikely things they believe with little to no evidence.

Here's one: we live in the corner of the vast universe consisting of billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars, making our planet an infinitessimal speck within an infinitessimal speck -- the human species is the unlikely evolution of millions of species, 98% of which have already permanently died off -- humans have existed only the smallest most insignificant slice of time -- and some people still have the gall to think that this was all built for us??? I suppose if you can believe that you're gullible enough to believe in anything. You want to buy a bridge?

Child molestation is an accepted part of Catholicism

In defending one case against yet another serial pedophile priest, lawyers for the Catholic Churchc are seriously arguing that the Church be allowed to harbor felons who commit the most destructive of crimes and that no civil court has jurisdiction over their doing so. Wow, what balls! In attempting this argument, the pious Church is actually stating that the government can't get involved in any part of their holy rituals ... of child molestation!!

Bush Administration Decides Birth Control Not a Health Care Issue

More religiously motivated and ultimately harmful decision making by our pres. the "(Bad) Decider." Now more people are bound to suffer needlessly. Gee, thanks George.

Are we the "Good Germans?"

Here's a fantastic NYT article on our complicity in the Iraq debacle/war.

Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in our war. The longer we stand idly by while they do so, the more we resemble those “good Germans” who professed ignorance of their own Gestapo. It’s up to us to wake up our somnambulant Congress to challenge administration policy every day. Let the war’s last supporters filibuster all night if they want to. There is nothing left to lose except whatever remains of our country’s good name.

Bill Maher - phony patriotism

Bill's latest rant is on the phony patriotism the lapel pin flag represents and the fake outrage of the media.

Thanks 1gm!

We're losing the 4th estate

When the push for profits guts the news it's no wonder we all turn to the Internet. But are we then only reading what we want to hear? Isn't this likely to degenerate into a race to the bottom where the most popular sites are tabloid trash and sports bloopers? Take a look at the most popular YouTube videos; chances are it's some guy getting hit in the nuts -- again. It feels like we can't wait to become like those in Idiocracy.

It's bad enough when the lowest common denominator viewer drags down the average IQ of the viewership/readership but I really get pissed when I hear about the utter disdain out government shows toward the news media. It's almost as if they don't *want* us to have accurate news upon which we can base a valid opinion. What do they have to hide??

Here's yet another example of the current administration kicking the news media in the teeth. If you can't afford the time to read the article, I'll cut to the money quote:

What has the 4th estate become when we attended a government press event that includes a press release, lights, microphones and all the accommodations needed for the press, yet it is somehow rude for us to ask a question?

Contraception Matters

Daily Kos comes through again with this summary:

The Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization have done a major new study of abortion patterns throughout the world. The broad lesson is that abortion rates are not much affected by the legality or illegality of the procedure. Instead, the availability of contraception has a greater effect. While the legality of abortion does not have a great affect on its frequency, legality does increase safety enormously.

So sorry religious fanatics but it's once again been shown that your meddling with public policy is a disaster. Abstinence-only programs don't work and neither does restricting abortions. Please, help us reduce massive suffering by truly educating the world about the value of contraception! Should that fail, then abortion should be available as a last resort to ANYONE who wants it. Anything else is immoral.

Why is ignorance cool?

Many are aware of the funny bit Chris Rock has about how the lowest-class blacks (he used a different word) had no respect for education and acted as if books were kryptonite -- "just keeping it real" they would say; yeah, real dumb! Sadly, this behavior is not limited to race or even socio-economic status, which makes the joke even funnier but makes real life that much more sad. I'm worried that if this cancer is growing in society then we are doomed. Case in point, even the otherwise upper-crusty educated types are frequently close-minded, inconsistent, lacking curiosity, intellectually lazy and quick to admit ignorance in important areas that they deem somehow beneath them (which really means, things that they're not good at):

It has become almost a cliche to remark that nobody boasts of ignorance of literature, but it is socially acceptable to boast ignorance of science and proudly claim incompetence in mathematics.

More info here.

Yikes - we need to teach Civics!

I too was pretty bored by government and politics in high school but our social fabric is tearing and we need some superglue -- fast. I can't believe some of the answers to this poll on how little people appreciate our freedoms. Don't read questions 6 (compared to 5), 10, 15, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27 or 34 unless you're willing for your head to explode. These people think that we have too much freedom, or take it for granted or only care about it for their myopic causes but not across the board. They don't understand how quickly and easily we'll lose these essential freedoms if we give the politicians any leeway -- they're doing it right now: ignoring the Constitution, revoking habeus corpus, attacking our privacy, tapping our phones, tracking our whereabouts, etc.

No more healthcare for poor sick kids

Another crack decision by our "family values" president -- The Decider. Thanks pres.

Think Tanks Need More Thinkin'

Logical Path from Religious Beliefs to Evil Deeds

Interesting Newsweek article by Richard Dawkins. It's funny how many people argue that atheism promotes immoral behavior, which isn't true of course. First of all, atheism isn't really a "thing" (it's an absence of a belief in a supernatural creator) so it can't promote anything. If by this people mean that only through religion can people be moral then this is pattently false and it's insulting to insinuate that we'd all rape and murder if there were no threat of hell. I would think these people are just trying to justify their religious beliefs to make themselves feel better. Paraphrasing Christopher Hitchens, we don't need to believe foolish things nor do we need divine permission in order to behave well.

The following quotation from the Nobel prize winning physicist Steven Weinberg has become well known, but it is so devastatingly true that it is worth quoting again and again: “With or without [religion] you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion.”

Of course, many evil deeds are done by individuals who happen to be atheists. But it can never be rational to say that, because of their nonbelief in religion, it would be good to be evil. This is an important point given how frequently you hear illogical statements about how evil men like Stalin or Mao were atheists; as if that's *why* they were evil -- how silly. While that may have been both evil and atheists, they may also have both had mustaches -- neither shows any causality. You need to find out the underlying reasons why they did horrible things -- power, money, fame, glory, etc. Maybe they are just evil, crazy mo-fos. If they are atheists, all we know is that it's not because they're tying to please some invisible man in the sky. We still don't know why.

What this article shows, however, is that religiously inclined leaders not only have one more reason to be evil than atheists but they have the best reason of all -- because God told them so and they'll be punished for eternity for disobeying. The irrationality inherent in all religious/supernatural beliefs makes it that much easier to make this mental jump and cling to it faithfully in spite of any evidence to the contrary. And that scares me more than anything else!

What the world needs is more rationality; otherwise we are doomed. If religious fanatics get their hands on nukes or bio-weapons we will look back at the good ol' days when they only flew planes into buildings. As someone recently put it, "right now we have armed Christians killing Muslim civilians by the thousands in the heart of the Middle East." What part of that makes you think that there aren't millions of poor, down-trodden Arabs interested in doing whatever they can to get back at us?

What We Don't Know

This is a great article from Wired even if it's not brand new (soorrry!). John Hodgman is hilarious.

The Fall of the Godmongers

Praise Jesus, it's the collapse of evangelical Christian rule in America. Rejoice!
You know who this article is talking about:

They're the ones who've made all the headlines and influenced all sorts of laws and national policy changes lo, this past half-decade concerning everything from stem cell research to gay marriage to evolution, sanitized school textbooks to failed abstinence programs to RU-486 restrictions to silly anti-science rhetoric, the ones who gasped in horror at a woman's bare nipple and made a disgusting mockery of Terri Schiavo and actually applauded when John Ashcroft spent $8,000 of taxpayer money to throw some heavy drapery over the shamefully exposed breasts of the bronze (female) Spirit of Justice statue in the Hall of Justice. And so on.

Oh, how I'm sure we all wish it were true. It would be a veritable nirvana of rational thought based upon facts and reason.

New Rules - Bill Maher

This week was good. Here's the transcript but checkout the video.

Maybe a president who didn't believe our soldiers were going to Heaven might be a little less willing to get them killed.

And while we're at it, here's last weeks:

He hits on a good point on how petty and parochial our causes have become.

Traffic - Dear Mr. Fantasy

Traffic - The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys

A little Traffic for your listening pleasure.

Health Care Hopes

...as long as you don't vote Republican:

“The Republican vision is for a world in which the sick and dying get to deduct some
of the cost of health insurance that they don’t have — and can’t get — on their taxes.”

Get back behind that line, Mr President

...and stop politicizing our military!

Keith Olbermann - Special Comment

GW: "Saddam killed the Mandelas"

I'm so embarrassed that he's our president -- again.

“The View” co-host doesn’t know if the world is round or flat

Wow; the dumbing down of America is in full swing. It's bad enough that people like this exist in the boondocks, but in the city? -- hosting a TV show?? We're doomed!

Another Health Insurance Lie

Insurers *have* denied more than the purported 3 percent of claims and health care *is* already being rationed.

Bring Back Evidence Based Government!

Bring back the OTA! For 12 years Congress has been engaging in "a stunning act of self-lobotomy" by operating without any non-partisan scientific advice. It's one thing to ignore the science but not to even ask to see the scientific evidence in the first place, that's criminal!

Write your congress-critter today.

The US isn't the only country putting superstition before reason

Apparently, the Indian government has withdrawn a controversial report submitted in court earlier this week which questioned the existence of the Hindu god Ram.

Why are humans so comfortable with denial? It undoubtedly served some evolutionary purpose reducing the Cro-Magnon stress of not understanding how the world works and still being able to get out of bed to hunt Brontosaurus burgers. You'd think that this would have diminished more by now so it was about as relevant as our vistigial tails. So what gives -- are we really this unevolved?

How badly are we being manipulated?

I think it's at an all-time high. Read this article and use the Comments section to tell me what you think.

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." -- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

Gen. Betrayus

This is a good one. I don't watch much hardball but Chris Matthews nails this one (feel free to ignore the blatant grandstanding by the senator). Apparently, thousands dead, including innocent civillians and children; a trillion dollars spent; world-wide loss of political goodwill; and terrorists lined up for decades to come and General Patreus doesn't know if this will make America any safer. Then what are we fighting for?

I do appreciate his honesty, however -- I see that the politicizing of his career hasn't completely wiped out the blunt truth demanded of a soldier. But what does he tell our current soldiers why they're out there putting their life on the line every day?

Repeat after me...

"The Bush administration’s sole strategic objective in continuing the war in Iraq is to avoid being blamed for losing it."

This is a sure thing -- if only one could bet money on it! Of course the war in Iraq is lost but even more certain is that while GW's brain may be so hard-wired by his faith to ignore the facts, his Republican advisors are not so simple-minded. They know that it's no longer about the war, it's about the blame.

Everything the White House does over the next sixteen months is not merely an attempt to pass the Iraq war onto Bush’s successor. The larger strategic objective is to make sure that when Bush’s successor inevitably withdraws the troops, the Republicans can then blame them for losing the war. Accordingly, for the next sixteen months, the Bush administration’s sole goal is to provide the appearance that progress is being made in Iraq.

As we have seen over the past two weeks, the facts on the ground in Iraq simply do not matter. Regardless of what actually happens in Iraq, right up until the moment Bush’s Democratic successor is sworn into office, the Republican talking point is one word: Progress! Then, the moment a Democrat is sworn into office, it will change like a light switch. In fact, they might not even wait for the inauguration. More likely, as soon as it becomes apparent that the Republicans are going to lose the White House, they will start blaming the insurgent attacks and low morale of the troops on the coming Democratic takeover, before they even take office.

Kathy Griffin Wins Emmy - Gets Censored

Kathy Griffin is both funny and smart. Her Emmy reception speech certainly was funny but I also hope it was well though out on her part as she now has to weather the storm of whining, politically correct wusses over her off-color comments. Maybe her career can only be improved by this kind of infamy.

From my perspective, the "suck it Jesus" comment was hilarious although I can see why some may not have a sense of humor on this topic. But that's okay; most people have some overly sensitive area where their sense of humor can't go -- I can't think of any personally, but I have an abnormally broad funny bone. That being said, she has every right to say it. Even if it were tremendously offensive (and it's not), her right to freedom of speech would come first.

Of course, the Catholic League has come out against it but wrongly calls it "hate speech." I'm sorry if you don't like it; but you can't label everything you don't like "hate speech" just as everyone you don't like isn't a "Nazi." Hypersensitive religious types need to realize that we don't all believe in Jesus (or Thor, Vishnu, thetans or fill-in-your-favorite-non-existent-deity). Atheists put up with this "thanking Jesus" nonsense at every sporting event and award show and don't make a big stink about how ridiculous it is. For example, have you noticed how the losers never blame Jesus?

It's time that religious folks got down off their high-horse (whatever that is) , recognized that they don't have the last word on the exact nature of the physical & supernatural realms and instead respected ALL theoretical perspectives -- maybe even a little more so the one based upon science (hint: it's the one we call "reality").

When did America become a nation of do-nothing complainers? Stop whining people and grow a backbone, would you please!?!

Honor Bound

The stupidity of sound bites drive me insane -- the war on terror, flip-flopper, fight-em over there... etc. As if you can make it true if you say it often enough. Makes you sick not only that they try but because it works (on some). Why don't we add other truisms like "step on a crack, break break your mother's back."

George Carlin had it right when he said that they dumb-down the language to manipulate people using soft words that completely hide the real meaning until there's no meaning left.

Here's some much-needed levity on the subject:

Bill Maher - New Rules

Finally, Real Time is back on HBO. The video is always better but here's the text as well. This is the last bit:

In the book, President Bush goes on and on about how his certainty about Iraq is not just for show; “Oh, I’m not pretendin’ to have my head up my ass. It’s really up there!” and the message you hear from Bush apologists these days is, “Oh, sure, short-term Bush may have fucked everything up, but he’s thinking long-term, 100 years into the future.”

Well, thank you, George W. Nostradamus. America’s first science fiction president. I’m sure when Americans are all flying around in jet packs and eating Soylent Green, they’ll be building statues in your honor. You know, it must feel good to be dead certain about everything. But it’s not a virtue. Especially when you’re ALWAYS WRONG!

Bertrand Russell said, “The trouble with the world is the Stupid are cocksure and the Intelligent full of doubt.” And then rewrote that quote 56 more times.

Doubt, for lack of a better word, is good. It suits human nature. Doubt is what makes you careful. Doubt is what makes you open to change. Doubt is why Eddie Murphy took a DNA test.

Morality in Primates

Interesting NYT article showing recent evidence supporting the long held belief that moral & ethical behaviors are not unique to humans.

“Morality is as firmly grounded in neurobiology as anything else we do or are,” Dr. de Waal wrote in his 1996 book “Good Natured.” Biologists ignored this possibility for many years, believing that because natural selection was cruel and pitiless it could only produce people with the same qualities. But this is a fallacy, in Dr. de Waal’s view. Natural selection favors organisms that survive and reproduce, by whatever means. And it has provided people, he writes in “Primates and Philosophers,” with “a compass for life’s choices that takes the interests of the entire community into account, which is the essence of human morality.”

Great review of God Is Not Great

Richard Dawkins has written an excellent review of God Is Not Great, by Christopher Hitchens -- currently #2 on the best sellers list -- which mixes great quotes from the book with personal anecdotes and current events. I just finished this book and recommend it; it's an enlightening read.

There is a good chapter on religion as child abuse; another on religion as a health hazard, which doesn’t fail to mention those Roman Catholic priests, including at least two cardinals and an archbishop, who solemnly told their flocks, in African countries ravaged by AIDS, that condoms transmit the virus.

A related theme is plagiarism: “monotheistic religion is a plagiarism of a plagiarism of a hearsay, of an illusion, extending all the way back to a fabrication of a few nonevents”.

A pair of chapters explores “The Tawdriness of the Miraculous” and the widespread fallacy that we derive our morals from religious rules such as the Ten Commandments. As Hitchens witheringly puts it:

Does anybody seriously think that, before Moses delivered the tablet inscription “Thou shalt not kill”, his people had thought it a good idea to do so?

In speaking of his friend, Salman Rushdie:

One might have thought that such arrogant state-sponsored homicide . . . would have called forth a general condemnation. But such was not the case. In considered statements, the Vatican, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the chief sephardic rabbi of Israel all took a stand in sympathy with – the ayatollah. So did the cardinal archbishop of New York and other lesser religious figures. While they usually managed a few words in which to deplore the resort to violence, all these men stated that the main problem raised by the publication of The Satanic Verses was not murder by mercenaries but blasphemy.

As Hitchens would say, "religion poisons everything."

A Short Logic Quiz

You Are Incredibly Logical

Move over Spock - you're the new master of logic You think rationally, clearly, and quickly. A seasoned problem solver, your mind is like a computer!

How Logical Are You?

The Danish Cartoon Dispute Continues

It's amazing to me that this is even possibly an issue in the 21st century; that people actually waste time arguing about it, let alone that it causes riots and death threats.

Certainly I can believe that the Iranians, Pakistani and Saudis are denouncing this and calling for a worldwide Muslim boycott of Danish & Norwgian products (but don't they have better things to do?). What I have a MUCH harder time believing is that the Vatican sided with the crazed Muslim rioters back in 2006 -- instead of siding with the notion of free expression about religion, or for that matter religious freedom.

"The freedom of thought and expression, confirmed in the Declaration of Human Rights, can not include the right to offend religious feelings of the faithful."

My only response to this nonsense is, WTF?!? Just when you think the Vatican might have an opinion that belongs in the same century you're in. So they believe that we are not free in though or expression if it might offend?????????? ANYTHING might offend! Nowdays, people go around looking to be offended. Hell, as I previously blogged, I'm offended by the stupidity of those who act like little children going around wasting our time and tearing down society looking for things that might offend them just so they can complain and get some attention. I wish they would grow up. I do NOT however, expect my being offended by their juvinile actions to form the basis of a legal restriction on their freedom of speech. In return however, they shouldn't expect to be free from criticism when the rest of us point out what annoying little piss-ants they are.

Bush admits that he's "'playing' at keeping our troups at war, indefinitely"

Olbermann nails this one showing that Bush has no intention of withdrawing troups -- ever. With the release of a new book, "Mr. Bush probably did not know that, with his own words, he had already proved that he had been lying, is lying and will be lying about Iraq."

How sad that we sit by and let this one man do so much harm misrepresenting all that America stands for! How much more will it take before people wake up and demand his impeachment?

Hitchens on Global Warming

While I've recently read some interesting things that suggest that our overly simplistic models for predicting global warming are insufficient to the task, I do like Christopher Hitchens' comment to the effect that "we can't take the chance that we are either not making it worse or unable to minimize it. We don't have another Earth upon which to run this experiment -- we have to live on this one and we only have one chance to get it right."

The Owners of the Country

...and education will never get any better. Why? Well watch why don't you?

Liars!

Thank goodness we now have videotape to show the truth -- so police can't cover-up a beating, like that of Rodney Smith and our politicians can't lie, prevaricate, twist, mendicate, backpedal, obfuscate and otherwise blow smoke trying to rewrite history.

In this case, the lying was premidated and pervasive costing billions of dollars and thousands of lives both American and Iraqi, civilians included -- and this cost will continue for the forseeable future. We can continue to argue whether whatever benefit there may be has been worth the cost. There is little argument however, that we were all lied to and now the liars are trying to rewrite history to cover their asses. Sorry, not this time. Roll the videotape!

Iraq misses 15 of 18 benchmarks!

I don't think anyone is surprised that they didn't make all of them but couldn't they have made most? half? some? ...but only 3? That's not even good enough to earn an F! Thank goodness they leaked the GAO report before the Bush administration has a chance to lie about it, er, I mean, interpret it for the American people -- 'cause you know we can't think for ourselves. George Orwell had it right; he was just off by 20 years.

Daniel Dennet on Mother Teresa

I get mail all the time from religious leaders who admit to me in private that they do not believe in God but think that the best way to continue their lives is to swallow hard and get on with their ministries, concentrating on bringing more good than evil into the lives of their parishioners and those for whom their churches provide care. I would never divulge their names without their consent, but I do wonder: How many millions of priests, pastors, rabbis, imams, nuns and monks around the world are living lives of similar duplicity? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the outing of Mother Teresa inspired a few thousand of them to come out of the closet and acknowledge their atheism! Then it might start being obvious not only that faith in God is not a requirement for morality, but that the loss of faith in God often goads people into living more strenuously helpful lives, as seems to be the case with Mother Teresa.

More evidence that man does not get his morals from religion, but the other way around.

It's Bush vs. the beauty pageant contest

Remember though, he's not 17, he's being giving clueless answers for years, and he's the president!
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2007/09/role_models.html

Thanks, Bill.

2006 Bill Maher on Larry Craig being gay

Rep. Barney Frank tells it like it is. And why is always REPUBLICANS or Fundamentalist religious kooks that are outed? Ignorance I can tolerate, but not incompentence and especially not hypocrisy.

Citizens Movements Take On Corporate Power

This is very important so I'm going to steal the entire introduction to a very good article:

Corporate power lies behind nearly every major problem we face-from stagnant wages and unaffordable health care to overconsumption and global warming. In some cases, it is the cause of the problem; in other cases, corporate power is a barrier to system-wide solutions. This dominance of corporate power is so pervasive, it has come to seem inevitable. We take it so much for granted, we fail to see it. Yet it is preventing solutions to some of the most pressing problems of our time.

With global warming a massive threat to our planet and a majority of U.S. citizens wanting action, why is the U.S. government so slow to address it? In large part because corporations use lobbying and campaign finance to constrain meaningful headway.

Why are jobs moving overseas, depressing wages at home, and leaving growing numbers under- or unemployed? In large part because trade treaties drafted in corporate-dominated back rooms have changed the rules of the global economy, allowing globalization to massively accelerate on corporation-friendly terms, at the expense of workers, communities, and the environment.

Why are unions declining and benefits disappearing? In large part because corporate power vastly overshadows the power of labor and governments, and corporations play one region off against another, busting unions to hold down labor costs while boosting profits, fueling a massive run-up in the stock market.

Why were electricity, the savings and loan industry, and other critical industries deregulated, contributing to major debacles whose costs are borne by the public? In large part because free market theory, enabled by campaign contributions and lobbying, seduced elected officials into trusting the marketplace to regulate itself.

With all this happening, why do we not read more about the pervasiveness of corporate power?
In large part because even the “Fourth Estate,” our media establishment, is majority owned by a handful of mega-corporations.

Big corporations have become de facto governments, and the ethic that dominates corporations has come to dominate society. Maximizing profits, holding down wages, and externalizing costs onto the environment become the central dynamics for the entire economy and virtually the entire society.

What gets lost is the public good, the sense that life is about more than consumption, and the understanding that markets cannot manage all aspects of the social order.

What gets lost as well is the original purpose of corporations, which was to serve the public good.

American Common Values

I wish we had more leaders with the integrity and courage to speak out for what's right. If you get about a minute into this presentation he starts the section on Becoming What We Despise, which is the best part. He point out seven basic American Common Values and how George Bush has violate each one:

1. Rule of law
2. Protection of individual liberties
3. Balance of power
4. Honesty
5. Peace among nati0ns
6. Competence and diligence
7. Humane treatment

As was pointed out in an ealier post: the terrorists cannot take away our basic freedoms nor can they change our basic values as codified in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- only our government can! The ironic thing is that the President takes an oath (on his Bible, no less) to protect the Constitution -- that's his primary duty; and one that he has failed most miserably. You could even argue that he (and Cheney and Rove) have actively attacked the Constitution. For this they should all be removed from office, if not imprisoned. Maybe they should see how they like it at Gitmo. Poetic justice, one might say.

Of course, this video is "A Compelling Case for Impeachment: A Return to Moral Leadership, the Rule of Law, and Constitutional Government." If it's not clear to you that impeachment is justified, you should watch it now.

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

Yet another reason to thank god we're not in Texas

PZ Myers has a great post on a new law that's about to be signed in Texas to force public schools to accept all sorts of timewasting religious commentary to be injected throughout the curriculum. If this is the kind of education available in Texas, make sure not to hire any professionals from there -- especially not a doctor! Imagine heading into surgery and hearing, "I learned all I know about biology from the bible."

The purpose of this bill is to allow students to aggressively state their beliefs about creationism in science and Protestant Christianity in history, health, and other classrooms without fear of contradiction by teachers. The bill states, "Students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions. Students shall neither be penalized nor rewarded on account of religious content." Thus, a biology teacher may not penalize a student for giving answers on biology homework, classwork, and exams that invoke non-scientific creationist explanations of natural phenomena. Students may hold such pseudoscientific beliefs, learned in their churches and Sunday schools, but it is a perversion of science and education to permit such expressions in a science class without contradiction by a science teacher.