Sorry, Mr. Jefferson

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Michael

Sorry, Mr. Jefferson, it is now a terrible idea to go to school in Virginia.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says Virginia’s colleges and universities cannot prohibit discrimination against gays because the General Assembly has not authorized them to do so.

In a letter Thursday to the presidents, rectors and boards of visitors of Virginia public colleges, Cuccinelli said: the law and public policy of Virginia “prohibit a college or university from including ‘sexual orientation’, ‘gender identity’, ‘gender expression’ or like classification, as a protected class within its non-discrimination policy, absent specific authorization from the General Assembly.“

Most places of higher education have the reasonable policy of not allowing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. It just isn’t relevant to the quality of work one can produce. And fortunately for much of the country, places of higher education do not include many in the general population who tend to be bigoted towards gays (i.e., old people who never needed to go to school to get decent jobs, the religious who are hostile toward secular education [such as facts], dumb people, etc). And some states even have laws banning discrimination based upon sexual orientation. In fact, despite my home state recently voting in favor of bigotry – and for no reason other than “ewwww!!!!” – there is a law on the books (after many tries) which bans sexual orientation discrimination in Maine. But this is New England, the place where fewer people tend to think their sexual orientation is superior to that of others.

Jon Blair, chief executive officer of Equality Virginia, criticized Cuccinelli’s opinion.

“Attorney General Cuccinelli clearly doesn’t understand that his radical actions are putting Virginia at risk of losing both top students and faculty, and discouraging prospective ones from coming here,“ he said.

That’s unfortunate for education in Virginia, but I hope it happens. Cuccinelli is another conservative out to ruin the liberty and rights of individuals for no good reason. Anyone considering school in Virginia should only do so once this issue is resolved in favor of equality.

Oh, and this.

In his first weeks as the state’s top lawyer, Cuccinelli has not tried to hide his conservative political philosophy.

He filed petitions seeking to block a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency that global warming poses a threat to people.

There’s some underlying horror that seems to cause certain people to go off the deep end, embrace crazy ideas, and reject all that is real.

Filed under: News, Politics and Social | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Quality music

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Michael

I often hate most music I hear. It sucks. Objectively. No, no. I know what you’re thinking, “But Michael, it’s art. There’s a high subjectivity to it all, isn’t there? And even if we can say something objectively, then whether someone likes something or not, it’s still ultimately opinion, no?” Nope. It sucks.

But that isn’t the case with all music. Every once in awhile something with quality will come along. That was the case last night in Portland (the original, not that copycat place) at The Apohadion. I saw four local bands/acts: Shai Erlichman, The Cups, Manners, and Theodore Treehouse. They were all fun. And that’s a term I think should mean more than it usually does. Take movies, for instance. The term is bandied about for crappy summer nothing movies (“The most fun you’ll have all year at the movies!”), but it should be reserved for something with quality. I recall one critic describing Catch Me If You Can as a fun movie, and that’s entirely accurate. It’s also a great movie. It had something to it that made it more than just another movie. That’s how I feel about good bands. If I’m going to call them fun, there needs to be something more, some depth. I would say that applies to everyone I saw last night.

Filed under: Local | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Thought of the day

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Michael

Apparently reaching 100,000 blog hits means an increase in spam that gets through the filter. Awesome.

Filed under: Misc | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Another good example of rule internalization

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Michael

Rule internalization is a significant problem. It places rules above reason and our fellow humans. It’s an ugly little thing that often doesn’t take into account things that are actually happening. One small example I can recall from back in my high school days involved the cafeteria doors. One set was for going in, one was for going out (each on opposing ends of the room). The reason was to avoid massive jams when the bell rang and a bunch of people were going in and out. Okay, fair enough. But the people ‘guarding’ the doors enforced the rule beyond its point; even during lunch when few to no people were going through the doors it wasn’t allowed to exit the in-door or enter the out-door. At that point the rule lost all meaning and just became another non-educational tactic of arbitrary control and enforcement. (I know, in high school? Crazy.)

In the same rigid spirit as that, some silly neighbor in New Jersey made a silly complaint.

Police in the US state of New Jersey have ordered a family to cover up their snow sculpture of the famous nude Venus de Milo after a neighbour complained.

Eliza Gonzalez sculpted the snow-woman with her son and daughter on her front lawn in Rahway following a snowstorm.

Many people praised their creation, but a police officer told them a neighbour had found it too risque, she said.

When given the option of covering the sculpture up or knocking it down, she dressed it in a bikini top and sarong.

“We didn’t want to have any problem with the police so we covered it up,” Ms Gonzalez told the AFP news agency.

The internalization here should be obvious. The neighbor is equating nudity with pornography; he/she has been conditioned or has become stupid enough to internalize the idea that the bare human body is always an object of sex. Who wants to bet this person is religious? The immature view of sexuality certainly suggests as much.

But [Ms. Gonzalez] now thinks the snowy Venus looks “more objectified and sexualised” than it did before the authorities intervened.

Aside from the obvious problem of a person dumbly believing nudity always equals sex, there’s this issue of actually equating the body with sex when that was never the intention. The bikini top throws a flare of sexual energy at this front yard snow sculpture, entirely ruining what it’s really all about, its artistic qualities, and the general impressiveness of what this mom created with her children. Rule internalization only makes things worse.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , , | 5 Comments »

Thought of the day

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Michael

Look, I know Pawn Stars is a sweet show, but History?

Filed under: Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Sean Hannity logic

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Michael

It’s frickin’ nice outside right now where I am. According to Sean Hannity logic, global warming is true. For today.

Filed under: Humor | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

More claims of objective morality with no basis

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Michael

It’s a big irk of mine when someone tries to claim an objective basis for morality while going outside the supposed source of objectivity. The religious have a habit of it. I don’t get it; it’s so simple. If a person claims something is objectively moral without being able to directly source said claim, then there is no objectivity. The claim may still be moral, but subjectively so.

Of course, religidiots don’t always get it.

You are aware by now that a 12,000 pound killer whale at SeaWorld Orlando killed his trainer Dawn Brancheau yesterday by pulling her into a pool and dragging her around until she drowned, in front of a crowd of stunned guests.

Chalk another death up to animal rights insanity and to the ongoing failure of the West to take counsel on practical matters from the Scripture…

If the counsel of the Judeo-Christian tradition had been followed, Tillikum would have been put out of everyone’s misery back in 1991 and would not have had the opportunity to claim two more human lives.

Says the ancient civil code of Israel, “When an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner shall not be liable.” (Exodus 21:28)

So, your animal kills somebody, your moral responsibility is to put that animal to death. You have no moral culpability in the death, because you didn’t know the animal was going to go postal on somebody.

So, your animal kills somebody…? Animal? The Bible does not support a case for stoning animals in the given passage. It explicitly states ox or bull (depending on which of the varied, inconsistent Bibles one chooses). It goes on further to state other specific animals and the ‘morality’ surrounding them and particular situations. The conclusion here is that the website advocating for the immoral death of a captive whale has no basis for making its supposed objective claim. Instead, it relies on extrapolating something explicitly specific from a book written by very simple men who had no notable training in philosophy and certainly no understanding of how their already ugly words would be made even uglier. And it’s all subjective.

Filed under: Religions | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments »

I declare Poe’s Law

Posted on March 4, 2010 by Michael

Bigots have suffered a couple of blows recently; one is in D.C. and another in Mexico City where same-sex marriage has started. Don’t worry. All the buildings are still standing and the birds are still flying.

Unless you’re Robert Moon.

Washington, D.C. has now officially become the sixth place in the U.S. where homosexuals can go to force the public to endorse their lifestyles. Until now, insecure gays in need of validation had to travel to Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire or Vermont if they wanted to help dismantle our foundational institution of marriage.

…f-for real? For real real? Am I endorsing all the heterosexual marriages right now? What about the bans on same-sex marriages nearly everywhere else? Am I and all the other non-bigots endorsing those by living in places where they exist? Is everyone endorsing Obama by him being president? Do we all endorse each others checks when just one of us signs?

Never mind the fact that the will of the people is completely against this (as evidenced by the overwhelming rejection of gay marriage even in ultra-liberal states like California) or that marriage in this Judeo-Christian country is, by definition, incompatible with homosexuality, polygamy, and other deviations from “one man, one woman.” A liberal special interest group needs to feel more mainstream than it is, so there is nothing else to think about.

I don’t understand. Does Robert Moon just smash his face against the keyboard when he writes? This must be an accident.

As I have noted, whether it be trying to criminalize dissent against homosexuality, forcing taxpayers to fund special gay high schools or strong-arming homosexuals into a military that does not want them (especially in the middle of a war), gays are simply on a war path here…one that is all about special treatment, not actual equality.

I still don’t understand. All these letters form words. If he’s just smashing his face, then wow. What are the chances?

Filed under: Same-sex marriage | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Creationist dentist loses primary

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Michael

Don McLeroy, creationist dentist and long-time member of the Texas State Board of Education, has been beaten in his primary.

McLeroy, one of the most outspoken social conservatives on the panel, ran firmly on his record as he faced his toughest opponent since he was first elected to the board in 1998.

McLeroy is an utter moron with no understanding of any subject (except teeth) and no qualifications to do anything (except drill teeth). His record is a piece of garbage that should be a point of shame. Except it isn’t for him because he’s genuinely too stupid to realize. Like, Sarah Palin stupid. It’s severe.

The guy believes the Universe is 6,000 years old, the U.S. was founded by Christians to be a Christian nation, and that abstinence-only education ever made sense. He’s wrong on everything – and proud of it. The man is a menace to education.

Good fucking riddance.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , | 3 Comments »

“Do you wish to file a complaint?”

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Michael

The title of this post is also the content of an email I received from someone in the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, Office of Licensing and Registration. To what was she responding, you ask?

A naturopathic doctor is not allowed to claim he is a doctor under Maine law. He must use the term “naturopathic doctor” or some similar phrasing. The intent behind this law is clearly to avoid confusing naturopaths with standard doctors.

That is why Christopher Maloney is so concerning. On his website, he expressly says he is a doctor under his “WHO AM I?” section.

Also, in a comment section on a blog post, he claims to practice medicine. This is also prohibited under Maine law.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/02/christopher_maloney_still_a_qu.php#comment-2285801

Of course, my answer to her question is a certain yes. Naturopaths like Christopher Maloney are legitimately dangerous by the very virtue of naturopathy.

If anyone else would like to file a complaint against Maloney, it can be done so by sending an email here.

Filed under: Pure bullshit | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

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