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.