Well, it looks like John Kerry has decided to have his “Dukakis in a tank” moment by riding a Harley onto the set of the Tonight Show.
This makes me lose a lot of respect for Gen. Wesley Clark :
The general expressed his view in response to a question from a World War II veteran at a Veterans Day visit to an American Legion post. “I’m absolutely in favor of anything that strengthens the American flag,” General Clark said. “I’m in favor of the American flag amendment.”
The remarks drew applause from a crowd of about 100 veterans and spouses who gathered at the American Legion Sweeney Post No. 2 here. But the comments were also a cause for some surprise because General Clark has been strongly critical of the Bush administration, saying it has tried to squelch dissent about its policies in Iraq. A majority of Democrats in Congress have opposed the amendment in recent years, in part because the most recent versions have been vaguely worded. Opponents also say such an amendment violates free speech rights.
Now, I can totally understand why someone would be offended by burning the flag. It bothers me too, but passing a constitutional amendment to ban a certain kind of free expression is a dangerous precedent. Who knows what kinds of political protest would be banned next? Criticizing the president while we’re at war? Expressing love or compassion for “the enemy”? Sure, this is just a reactionary slippery-slope argument, but Clark should know better than to support this crap.
Update : Via NotGeniuses, here’s John Kerry’s view on flag burning :
Heh, heh. Kerry may not stand a chance, but he’s got his moments.
Neat-o! It looks like they’re having a bipartisan slumber party in the senate tonight :
While both parties hope the debate will mobilize their political bases, the contestants already know the winner: the status quo.
For 30 straight hours ? from Wednesday evening through midnight Thursday ? senators will condemn each other and Bush for the impasse over four U.S. Appeals Court nominees: Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, Texas judge Priscilla Owen, Mississippi judge Charles Pickering and Hispanic lawyer Miguel Estrada.
. . .
Republicans hope the all-night senate session ? the first to go past 4 a.m. since 1992 ? will swing public favor and maybe some campaign cash their way during the winter break. Conservatives have complained the GOP hasn’t done enough to highlight the Democrats’ blockades.
. . .
The senate has confirmed 168 of Bush’s judicial nominees, and Democrats have blocked four. Senators in both parties acknowledge their wrangling over judges the past two years hasn’t caught the general public’s attention the way a Supreme Court nomination fight would.
They’ve blocked 4 out of 168?! I knew those Democrats were obstructionist assholes!
Seriously though, here’s the part (from the end of the same article) that really scares me :
For example, a Republican will talk from 3 a.m. to 3:30 a.m., while a Democrat watches. They’ll switch roles for the next 30 minutes and then head home to bed, replaced by two others for the next shift lasting as little as one hour.
Because senate rules require agreement from both sides to quickly confirm a nominee, the GOP can’t force a confirmation vote as long as a Democrat is present on the floor to object. But if they fall asleep or stop paying attention, Santorum said the GOP will immediately confirm the nominees.
In turn, Daschle said if Republicans stop paying attention, they will immediately pass senate legislation like a bill to raise the minimum wage or one to create a tax credit to stimulate creation of manufacturing jobs.
Okay, somebody needs to send a shipment of No-Doz and Red Bull to the DNC headquarters immediately. If a Democrat falls asleep, Rick “Dog-Fucker” Santorum could make it a felony for men to hold hands or Trent Lott could try to repeal the Emancipation Proclamation or something.
Okay, somebody in Washington needs to take away the Republican’s checkbooks :
The sudden rise in spending subject to Congress’s annual discretion stands in marked contrast to the 1990s, when such discretionary spending rose an average of 2.4 percent a year. Not since 1980 and 1981 has federal spending risen at a similar clip. Before those two years, spending increases of this magnitude occurred at the height of the Vietnam War, 1966 to 1968.
The preliminary spending figures for 2003 also raise questions about the government’s long-term fiscal health. Bush administration officials have said fiscal restraint and “pro-growth” tax cuts should put the government on a path to a balanced budget. Bush has demanded that spending that is subject to Congress’s annual discretion be capped at 4 percent.
But the Republican-led Congress has not obliged. The federal government spent nearly $826 billion in fiscal 2003, an increase of $91.5 billion over 2002, said G. William Hoagland, a senior budget and economic aide to senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). Military spending shot up nearly 17 percent, to $407.3 billion, but nonmilitary discretionary spending also far outpaced Bush’s limit, rising 8.7 percent, to $418.6 billion.
Does this mean we can finally stop referring to those who want to control government spending as fiscal conservatives?
Is it bad that the first thing that popped into my head when I read this headline was “Neoconservative Republicans”?
When searching Yahoo News for the “miracle baby” story, I found the following misuses of the word “miracle”
…Melissa dropped her weight, too, but for Steve, the diet was nothing short of a miracle. He was swimming in his size 6x shirts, and his 72-inch waist pants started falling off his waist…
…Skeptics of the technology have also been invited to speak, and say suggestions that GMOs could make a marked impact on alleviating world hunger are overblown. “It’s one thing to take risks for a technology that is really going to provide miracles, say in the agricultural area,”…
…Despite all the efforts put into delivering timely and high-quality patches, Davidson added, all vendors think that they can do better. Users don’t seem to expect a miracle, but they are looking for a lessening of their patching problems…
…Employing an on-side kick, Saskatchewan scored a third time with 20 second remaining on another one-yard plunge by Szarka. But the Roughriders couldn’t pull off the miracle and a second on-side kick attempt failed…
…Conway will also spend 14 months in federal prison without the possibility of parole. The miracle cars scam targeted churches and religious groups with the promise of bargain-priced vehicles as a reward for religious faith…
Not exactly loaves and fishes, huh?
I wrote about the U.S.’s lack of organ donors back in June, but while listening to Marketplace yesterday I heard a really interesting factoid (God, I can’t believe I just used the word “factoid”. I suck). Apparently Europe is having similar problems finding willing donors. Except Spain. (Requires login. You can see Google’s cached version here)
Within Europe, much attention relating to improving organ donation has focused on the activities of 2 programs: the Spanish donation and transplantation program and the Donor Action Foundation.
Spain leads the world in rates of organ donation per million population. Academics and professionals study the Spanish model for donation and transplantation in an attempt to determine if some of its attributes might be replicated globally. Spain, to acquire global leadership, opted to focus legislative, economic, and media resources on a hospital-based team approach to donation and transplantation.
The Donor Action Foundation has focused its energy on educating professionals and standardizing the request process within critical care units of hospitals and medical centers throughout Europe and the world. With other variables held constant, their program had the causal effect of improving a given country’s organ donation by 70% to 160% within a 3-year period after implementation.
Public policy response to the shortage of organs available for transplantation has varied from country to country. Perhaps the most controversial response from ethical, religious, and individual rights perspectives has been the presumed consent policy for organ donation. Although national programs vary widely in the process for “opting out,” the role of family members in the donation decision and in the potential implementation of such a policy varies from country to country. Regardless of implementation details, studies have suggested that countries with presumed consent laws, on average, have higher rates of organ donation than do countries that do not have a presumed consent law.
Which pretty much brings me back to what I was talking about in June. I can’t understand what (other than religious beliefs) would make somebody be so damn selfish that they’d be unwilling to give up their organs after they die and, in the process, save someone’s life. You can’t take it with you, folks.
So I ask again, why should our organ donor system be one in which a prospective donor needs to “opt-in” rather than selfish people being forced to “opt-out”? It’s not like organ donors are waking up in a bathtub full of ice and their kidneys gone. People who are so pigheaded that they want their organs to rot with them in the grave should be the ones who are forced to jump through hoops, not those who to save lives.
Of course, people opposed to an “opt-out” organ donor program would probably just bring up Baby Lazarus, as if somehow the United States has a high population of miracle babies who would be threatened by a presumed consent law.
On a related note, here’s the highlights of an editorial from today’s Army Times :
Defense officials notified the services in mid-October that they intend to close 19 commissaries and may close 19 more, mostly in remote areas.
At the same time, the Pentagon is finishing a study to determine whether to close or transfer control of the 58 schools it operates on 14 military installations in the continental United States.
. . .
?As Marines, we take the short end of the stick in many ways,? said Col. James Lowe, commander of Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. ?But when it comes to our children, we?re very intolerant about them being shortchanged.?
. . .
?How can leadership be talking about cutting back on quality-of-life benefits right now when the force and everyone supporting the force is at such a high stress level?? Raezer said.
The week the commissary cuts became known, 11 soldiers were killed in Iraq, and as many as 30 failed to show up on schedule for return flights to Baghdad at the end of their two-week R&R visits.
?Betrayal ? write that down and put it in your report,? said Col. John Kidd, garrison commander of Fort Stewart, Ga., testifying at Tafoya?s forum on the need to keep military-run schools on his post. ?As a commander, I will fight this tooth and nail. Folks down there are not just militant on this issue. They will march on Washington.?
Which all brings me back to The Onion’s brilliant parody of Bush’s aircraft carrier photo-op : Bush Visits U.S.S. Truman For Dramatic Veterans’-Benefits-Cutting Ceremony
Mark Spittle has a really funny piece up at Liberal Oasis that gives a little preview of how the 2004 Bush/Dean debates might go :
BUSH: Well, Jim, I .. um… sorry, still can?t figure out what he said there before.
Anyway, I have a different view about the deficit.
I think deficits have been misrepresented. Deficits are known to stimulate economies in some cases, and I think we are seeing that right now.
The stimulus packages I put into place during my first term will be directly responsible for both short-term and long-term economic growth.
LEHRER: Dr. Dean?
DEAN: My opponent is a fuckbrained moron who went AWOL in the military, snorted coke, drive drunk, and almost ruined the Texas Rangers.
To expect him to understand the delicacies of economics is like asking a mule to conduct an orchestra, except the mule has a better chance of coming up with Mahler than Bush has of creating any economic growth.
His policies are designed to benefit the rich, shift the tax burden onto the poor, and permanently bankrupt social programs that have benefited millions of poor and middle class Americans.
LEHRER: Well, I …
DEAN: … Hold on, I?m not done.
LEHRER: Go ahead, sir.
DEAN: He is also an incompetent jackass, a repugnant blowhard, a flatulent bag of pus, and an insult to every pissfaced, dildoheaded bunghole on the planet.
LEHRER: Mr. Bush, would you care to rebut?
BUSH: … I … I can?t feel my legs ….
Dean has done a really good job at the debates so far. Assuming he gets the nomination (which seems more and more likely every day), I’m sure his debates with Bush would be great. While I think they’d probably be a little more civil than Mark does, considering the short fuses of both men, I’m sure there would be some pretty good fireworks. That is, assuming that Bush doesn’t try to pull this bullshit again.
Just for kicks, I’ve looked up the legislative scorecard numbers of five of the senate presidential candidates for the ACLU, NAACP, AFL-CIO, the Human Rights Campaign, the League of Conservation Voters, and the American Association of University Women. And, just for the hell of it, I’ve included the Christian Coalition and American Conservative Union and also included a few prominent Congressional conservatives as well. For the most part these ratings are of the 107th Congress or the legislative sessions of 2001 or 2002. For those who want some more information, the group names in the table below link to the actual reports.
|
liberal
conservative
|
ACLU | NAACP | AFL-CIO | HRC | LCV | AAUW | CC | ACU |
| Edwards | 60% | 94% | 96% | 100% | 68% | 100% | 0% | 15% |
| Gephardt | 71% | 89% | 88% | 100% | 91% | 91% | 0% | 12% |
| Kerry | 60% | 100% | 90% | 100% | 92% | 100% | 0% | 6% |
| Kucinich | 64% | 89% | 98% | 100% | 95% | 73% | 33% | 13% |
| Lieberman | 40% | 94% | 82% | 100% | 88% | 88% | 20% | 20% |
| Delay | 7% | 22% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 100% | 96% |
| Thurmond | 20% | 12% | 12% | 0% | 4% | 0% | 100% | 91% |
| Lott | 20% | 12% | 9% | 0% | 0% | 13% | 100% | 93% |
| Hastert | 17% | N/A | 7% | 0% | N/A | 0% | 100% | 93% |
Unfortunately, neither of the front runners in the senate race (Dean, Clark) have a comparable voting record that could be used to as a comparison. That said, I think this table does a good job of showing how most of the Democrats are pretty close as far as their voting records are concerned, especially when compared against their Republican counterparts.
Cool. I didn’t think this one would have a happy ending :
The 11-4 vote was preliminary and the board was expected to give final approval Friday.
Some religious and alternative science groups had argued that weaknesses in the theory of evolution weren’t adequately presented in the books. But scientists and educators argued that the theory of evolution is widely believed and is a cornerstone of modern scientific research.
Texas is the nation’s second-largest buyer of textbooks, and textbooks sold in the state are often marketed by publishers elsewhere. Texas, California and Florida account for more than 30 percent of the nation’s $4 billion public school book market. Three dozen publishers invest millions of dollars in Texas.
And in case any of you still thought the media is liberal, check out this loaded, re-telling of the story from Austin, TX :
Biology books in Texas will continue to present the origin of life according to the theories of Charles Darwin. The State Board of Education Friday gave final approval to eleven biology books. The action in Austin came despite a campaign by critics to poke holes in Darwin’s theory of evolution as presented in the textbooks. School districts in Texas will be able to purchase books from the approved list for use beginning in the 2004-2005 term. Texas Education Agency Director Robert Scott says any factual errors in the books will be addressed by publishers before the books become available. Some alternative science groups had argued that weaknesses in the theory of evolution weren’t adequately presented in the books. But scientists and educators argued that the theory is widely believed and is a cornerstone of modern scientific research.
Darwinism? Does believing in gravity make you a Newtonist?
I’m really sick of this whole “science is just another religion” talking point that Creationists use. Not only because it’s stupid, but because it further illustrates the profound level of ignorance on behalf of those who make the argument. In science “truth” is determined by what can be tested and proven, while in religion “truth” is determined by what you believe and have faith in. Science is about looking outward and including all known data, while religion is about looking inward and finding what feels true. (I know that these are both really messy definitions. Feel free to call me a dumbass in comments.)
In short, science is not religion. Period. Nobody is “preaching” the word about evolution. Evolution isn’t the dominant scientific paradigm because it’s more popular or because more scientists believe it than any other theory. Evolution is commonly accepted by the scientific community because every bit of data and the conclusions of every reputable test of the theory have upheld the notion that human beings evolved from a common ancestor (creationists always overlook the last from words) with apes.
What’s even more hilarious about all this is that as dumb as the “science is another religion” hogwash is, it’s just shows the weakness of the belief systems of those who are so adamantly opposing it. Science doesn’t invalidate religion. In fact, there are many people who feel like it strengthens it. Honestly, isn’t it more exciting to think of god as someone who put the building blocks together, set up the laws of nature, and sat back to watch his/her handiwork? Even as an atheist, that story makes a lot more sense to me than a woman made out of a rib who screwed us all by eating an apple.
And on a side note, what’s up with this term “alternative science groups”? That phrase is new to me. Y’know it’s hard to have an honest debate with a creationist intelligent design-er alternative scientist (?) when they keep changing the terms mid-debate. I just wonder if the “alternative science” movement has a large enough tent to include astrologers, UFO abductees, paranormal researchers, TM supporters, psychics, flat-earth believers….
As much as I love campaign finance limits, this is really great news :
“We have supported public financing but the unabashed actions of this president to undercut our senate process with floods of special interest money have forced us to abandon a broken system,” Dean said at a news conference.
The 2004 race is the first time that candidates from both major parties will forgo the Watergate-era public financing system. Bush also is opting out, as he did in the 2000 Republican primaries and raised a record $100-plus million.
. . .
At least two senate rivals ? Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (news – web sites) and retired Gen. Wesley Clark (news – web sites) ? also have been considering opting out.
. . .
Some politicians have criticized his change in position as a flip-flop.
“Three months ago, Governor Dean was saying what a senate principle it is to have campaign finance reform and what a big issue it would be if someone stepped outside,” Kerry said Saturday in Concord, N.H.
“That’s when he wasn’t raising a lot of money. Now, Mr. Change-Your-Opinion-for-Expediency is saying, ‘Oh, I’m now able to raise money. Maybe we should get out of the system.’ I think somewhere along the line, fundamental principles are important,” Kerry said.
I think Mr. Criticize – Your – Opponent – for – Doing – Something – You’re – Also – Considering doesn’t realize is that fundamental principles don’t mean jack shit if you lose the election. Turning down matching funds on pricinple may feel good, but in the end it’s as stupid as showing up to a gun fight with a knife. People need to keep in mind that the only reason this is an issue in the first place is because George Bush has enough money to essentially buy the election. He’s the one playing dirty, not Dean.
While I was working really late the other night, I heard a really bizarre interview with David Lynch on the BBC World Service. If you think his movies are weird, they’ve got nothing on his bizarre zealotry for Transcendental Meditation (I apologize in advance if my partial transcription is a little sloppy) :
The peace creating group – the “group” is the key word – and they can enliven this in collective consciousness and negativity, just like darkness and light, negativity disappears in the light of peace. And this group has been tested fifty-two times. Every time it reduces crime and violence in the area of the test. And every time it’s been successful.
They went in, they told the people in Washington D.C. they were going to start this peace creating process on a certain day, go for one month and stop. And you can all imagine people laughing at them, the police laughing at them. And they go and they start and they go for one month. Then they went back and they talked to the police and during that one month crime and violence was reduced I think at least thirty percent in Washington D.C. and the police said “This is an unbelievably beautiful crime prevention technique.”
(Interviewer) But this is a group of people that’s simply meditating all at one time in the same place?
(Lynch) Yes, and because they’re in a group, the individual brain waves begin to overlap and an exponentially greater single global wave emerges. It’s science! It’s really beautiful science, Heather.
I’m not a quantum physicist, but about 25 years ago modern science, after probing for hundreds of years into matter, discovered this level, this field, this ocean and they named it the unified field. It is at the base of all matter and all mind. And it is unity, it is oneness. It is unmanifest, but it’s there.
(Interviewer) Can I ask how’s it’s changed you, transcendental meditation?
(Lynch) What it does is if you have a golf ball-sized consciousness, when you read a book you get a golf ball-sized understanding. When you look out the window you get a golf ball-sized awareness and when you wake up you get a golf ball-sized wakefulness.
If you start transcendental meditation, that ball begins to grow and you therefore have more understanding, more awareness, more wakefulness.
(Interviewer) Do you do yogic flying? Can I ask you that?
(Lynch) Yes I do.
(Interviewer) Can you tell me a bit about that? I mean, like, the way I would describe it is people who do it are sort of sitting cross-legged and bumping along the floor. A little bit above the floor apparently.
(Lynch) Yeah. It’s something that looks very funny and it’s supposed to be flying but it looks like hopping. And inside these yogic fliers is this bubbling bliss. And this bubbling bliss, by the way, is the key to world peace, because it projects out so far and the whole environment is affected by this bliss. it might seem strange, but if you wait just a little while, you’ll see that it’s the most beautiful science that could ever be.
(Interviewer) Well, we could certainly do with a bit of world peace…
(Lynch) Not a bit! This is perpetual world peace, Heather!
(Interviewer) Well, TM has been around for quite a while…
(Lynch) No, no, no. This group practice, it’s like every individual who’s practicing TM is gaining more and more happiness, more and more consciousness each day. But it’s the group, Heather, that will bring peace to Earth.
The formula is the square root of one percent of the world’s population. That’s about eight thousand. That’s a little town. They have to have food, facilities, a place to do this program, and peace will be on earth.
Now Lynch’s weird religious preaching clouded with pseudo-scientific language reminded me of a few things.
The first (and most obvious) thought was about the whole “intelligent design” garbage that’s an ongoing struggle between people who understand science and those who have wrapped the Biblical creation story in scientific language that would be laughable if it didn’t pose such a threat to this country’s schools. In fact there’s a current battle going on in Texas right now that has the potential to make the “equal time” malarkey a national standard (Political State Report is all over this one). Since I’ve written about the evolution vs. retarded people creationists thing in the past, I’ll spare you another long diatribe and just show you this editorial cartoon that made me laugh :
The second thing that popped into my head was Dennis Kucinich. Specifically, I wondered if there was a connection between what Lynch later described in the interview as “Peace Palaces” (which was covered in this SF Gate article from May) and Kucinich’s plan for a Department of Peace? At first glance, the proposal from Kucinich’s website describes the Department in vaguely new age-y language that’s reminiscent of Lynch’s (“a higher evolution of human awareness”, “the infinite capabilities of humanity to transform consciousness”). After the first couple paragraphs though, the proposal gets into some actual policies that makes it look like the Department of Peace is more of a Homeland Security-type idea of reorganizing a bunch of different functions under the same umbrella as opposed to Lynch’s Tinkerbell-syndrome solution. I still think the Department of Peace is a pretty crappy idea, but it’s at least based on more than just a bunch of guys sitting around giving out “good vibes” and “positive energy”.
The third thing that popped into my head was this hilarious line from the film “A Mighty Wind” delivered by a folk-singing cult member :
Y’see? It’s simple, really. All it takes is the square root of one percent of the world’s population to create a global wave that will bring about a bubbling bliss of perpetual world peace. Duh!
Seriously though. This trend of religious balderdash disguised as science is a big deal and needs to be called for the bullshit that it is. All this talk of a “collective consciousness” is just another application of the thoroughly debunked “hundredth monkey phenomenon”, which was well-described by Michael Shermer in his classic book “why Do People Believe Weird Things?”
An exercise in skepticism started by asking whether events really happened as reported. They did not. In 1952, primatologists began providing Japanese macaques with sweet potatoes to keep the monkeys from raiding local farms. One monkey did learn to wash dirt off the sweet potatoes in a stream or the ocean, and other monkeys did learn to imitate the behavior. Now let’s examine Watson’s book more carefully. He admits that “one has to gather the rest of the story from personal anecdotes and bits of folklore among primate researchers, because most of them are still not quite sure what happened. So I am forced to improvise the details.” Watson then speculates that “an unspecified number of monkeys on Koshima were washing sweet potatoes in the sea” – hardly the level of precision one expects. He then makes this statement:”Let us say, for argument’s sake, that the number was 99 and that on 11:00 am on a Tuesday, one further convert was added to the fold in the usual way. But the addition of the hundredth monkey apparently carried the number across some sort of threshold, pushing it through a kind of critical mass.” At this point, says Watson, the habit “seems to have jumped natural barriers and to have appeared spontaneously on other islands” (1979, pp. 2-8).
Let’s stop right there. Scientists do not “improvise” details or make wild guesses from ‘anecdotes’ and ‘bits of folklore’. In fact, some scientists did record exactly what happened. The research began with a troop of twenty monkeys in 1952, and every monkey on the island was carefully observed. By 1962, the troop had increased to 59 and exactly 36 of the 59 monkeys were washing their sweet potatoes. The “sudden” acquisition of the behavior actually took 10 years, and the ‘hundred monkeys’ were actually only 36 in 1962. Furthermore, we can speculate endlessly about what the monkeys knew, but the fact remains that not all of the monkeys in the troop were exhibiting the washing behavior. The 36 monkeys were not a critical mass even at home. And while there are some reports of similar behavior on other islands, the observations were made between 1953 and 1967. It was not sudden, nor was it necessarily connected to Koshima. The monkeys on other islands could have discovered this simple skill themselves, for example, or inhabitants on other islands might have taught them. In any case, not only is there no evidence to support this extraordinary claim, there is not even a real phenomenon to explain.
You’d think with something as easily testable as “collective consciousness” that, if true, this would be universally accepted in scientific circles. Hell, all you’d have to do is get a couple hundred mice, teach all but one how to go through a maze, and then see if the last one was able to get through. So easy it could be a science fair project. Alas, for every crazy belief there’s going to be people dumb enough to believe it.
Okay, this is just too weird :
senate Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, 11/05/03
I know this is old news, but I just saw this picture again and it cracked me up so much I figured it merited a repost :
This is a perfect example of the kind of religious co-opting of patriotic symbols that Kynn of Shock and Awe has written about quite a bit. I guess there’s nothing more American than bowing your head and praying to God. Not the (lower-case “g”) god that the terrorists kill people for. No, we’re talking about the American God. The one they talk about on the 700 Club.