Gov. Walker backs down on tax cuts

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Michael

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker looks to be backing down on the massive tax cuts he wants to give big business:

Walker’s spokesman, Cullen Werwie, wrote in an e-mail Saturday that Walker wouldn’t publicly comment on the negotiations but was focused on balancing the budget and following through on his campaign pledge to create 250,000 new jobs. Walker has said he wouldn’t compromise on the collective bargaining issue or anything that saves the state money.

I can only presume by that final line that he isn’t going to waste everyone’s time by letting unneedy people hoard money.

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

What is ‘junk DNA’?

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Michael

I’m always hearing people bring up the modern understanding of ‘junk DNA’ as if it somehow lends evidence to the existence of God. It’s not an argument I really get. Whether most of an organism’s DNA is needed or not doesn’t magically disprove evolution. Maybe people just don’t get the concept, I don’t know. I’ll try and give a brief explanation.

About 30 or 40 years ago it was understood that most of the human genome was composed of DNA that served no discernible purpose. That understanding changed with time, morphing from a position of no purpose to one where most DNA was noncoding. This was partially a technical change. Most DNA is noncoding; it doesn’t produce proteins. “Junk” is a misnomer in this context. But we’re discovering more and more that previously deemed purposeless DNA actually does have a function. Often enough it is important in regulation. But still, some 95% of our DNA has no function at all. We may be finding that more of it serves some purpose than we previously thought, but the fact that most of it is useless remains.

I bring this up because of a recent post I saw on an anti-science website (better known as the inspiration for my still-new Punching Bags series – I use it as a hunting ground now). What I find so entertaining about these creationists and their infatuation with junk DNA is that one of the reasons biologists (not creationists, of course) are able to determine that DNA has a function is because of evolution. Sometimes we can directly determine a function through experiment and observation, but much of the time we rely upon inference. DNA which is noncoding yet none-the-less conserved is said to have some sort of function. It must. It makes no sense for a given sequence to exist over millions of years and across distant lineages if it doesn’t serve some function. Of course, this is no problem for those of us on the side of science. Everything really does make sense in the light of evolution. (And you thought that saying was just rhetoric.) But this does pose a problem for creationists. While they’re trying to inanely deny that most of our DNA is not usefully transcribed, they are necessarily relying upon the fact of evolution – the very thing they want to deny.

If it wasn’t for the harm to all of science they cause, I would more easily delight in pointing out how ill-considered creationist ideas really are.

Filed under: Evolution | Tagged: , | 10 Comments »

Oh, woe is me! I’m only white!

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Michael

This is fucking ridiculous:

  • A recent Public Religion Research Institute poll found 44% of Americans surveyed identify discrimination against whites as being just as big as bigotry aimed at blacks and other minorities. The poll found 61% of those identifying with the Tea Party held that view, as did 56% of Republicans and 57% of white evangelicals.
  • U.S. Census Bureau projections that whites will become a minority by 2050 are fueling fears that whiteness no longer represents the norm. This fear has been compounded by the recent recession, which hit whites hard.

Uh-huh. All that bigotry I face, day in, day out. I just wish brown folk could recognize how bad I’ve really got it. People see me walking down the street and I just know they’re staring! I must stick out like a sore thumb. Especially in Maine. And when I go for a job? Oh, man. Talk about bigotry. I can’t begin to describe how many times I haven’t even been offered a cup of coffee at an interview. And when I go down to the coast in the summer? I swear I got an undersized lobster one time. Bigots.

Augment your reading with Shambling After.

Filed under: Politics and Social | Tagged: , , , , | 28 Comments »

Bigot Boehner

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Michael

Bigot Boehner has a boner for banning benefits bequeathed in bonds:

House Speaker John Boehner said Friday the House may go to court to defend the federal law against gay marriage, which President Barack Obama’s administration has concluded is unconstitutional.

This helps no one, is based purely in bigotry, is itself blatantly unconstitutional, is political pandering, is overtly on the wrong side of history, and will only serve to continue to irrational hardship society inflicts upon gay couples.

Filed under: Politics and Social | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Northwestern students given live sex show

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Michael

And all the (relevant) responses have been amazingly mature:

More than 100 Northwestern University students watched as a naked 25-year-old woman was penetrated by a sex toy wielded by her fiancee during an after-class session of the school’s popular “Human Sexuality” class.

The woman said she showed up at the Feb. 21 lecture in the Ryan Family Auditorium in Evanston expecting just to answer questions, but was game to demonstrate. The course’s professor on Wednesday acknowledged some initial hesitation, but said student feedback was “uniformly positive.”

And Northwestern defended the class and its professor.

“Northwestern University faculty members engage in teaching and research on a wide variety of topics, some of them controversial and at the leading edge of their respective disciplines,” said Alan K. Cubbage, vice president for University Relations. “The University supports the efforts of its faculty to further the advancement of knowledge.”

Fantastic. Several students and the couple consented to the showing. And it happened. I find this incredibly refreshing. I’m sure there’s plenty of rage from the sexually immature Christian right, but who cares? They aren’t relevant to adult discussions on sexuality anyway.

I agree with other comments in the article that this is rather shocking, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s reality. People really do have sex and they really do use toys and they really do role play and they really do engage in fetishes. Not everyone is required to be comfortable discussing or viewing any of these things, or even doing many of them themselves, but I think it’s great that there are people out there – especially school administrations – that are mature enough to allow this. I think the ending quote from the class professor, John Michael Bailey, sums things up nicely:

“Do I have any regrets?” he wrote on Wednesday. “It is mostly too early to say. I certainly have no regrets concerning Northwestern students, who have demonstrated that they are open-minded grown ups rather than fragile children.”

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , , | 11 Comments »

Harvard to allow ROTC

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Michael

After DADT was rightfully repealed by Congress, conservative bloggers went apeshit, attacking everything in sight. It was cute. One of their targets was higher education, something to which so many of them seem so hostile, and the institutes that haven’t allowed the Reserve Office Training Corps program on campus. Harvard was an especially big target. Well, stfu:

The university said it will formally welcome Naval ROTC, which trains students for possible service in the military, in a ceremony on campus between Harvard President Drew Faust and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus on Friday.

The change of heart follows December’s repeal of the 1993 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, which disqualified gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. military.

“Our renewed relationship affirms the vital role that the members of our Armed Forces play in serving our nation and securing our freedoms, while also affirming inclusion and opportunity as powerful American ideals,” Faust said.

Under the agreement, Harvard will resume full and formal recognition of Naval ROTC on the effective date of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, expected to come this summer.

Filed under: Politics and Social | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Wow, some honesty in Biblical translation

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Michael

I constantly see Christians making excuse after excuse over certain phrasings in their cultural holy book. It always happens that they argue in favor of the particular book and views their parents favored, as if by some magnificent stroke of luck they happened upon the One True Christianity. It’s pathetic. I mean, come on, let’s just look at the actual documents and actual words and translate them appropriately. No, that isn’t going to bring anyone to any cosmic truth, but it will at least bring some honesty to such a big piece of literary history.

The Catholic Church, while not known as the most truthful institution, especially if you want to look at their boy-rape record, and a council of its members made at least one honest change to one version of the Bible:

In a change in a passage in Isaiah 7:14 that foretells the coming of Jesus and his birth to a virgin mother, the 1970 edition’s reference to “the virgin” will become “the young woman,” to better translate the Hebrew word “almah.”

Of course, they aren’t going to alter their irrational belief in the magic of a virgin birth, but at least they have the wording correct now. And for everyone else it will be easier to point out that, hey, Mary had sex. Probably many times. Because that’s what happens not too long before babies are born.

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

Thought of the day

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Michael

I always find it so entertaining when one Christian calls another “not a True Christian” or some such thing. As if there is any objective way to tease out what makes one person a better Christian than another. lulz.

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

Supreme Court: Westboro Church can picket funerals

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Michael

I can’t say I’m very surprised with this recent Supreme Court ruling:

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a grieving father’s pain over mocking protests at his Marine son’s funeral must yield to First Amendment protections for free speech. All but one justice (Samuel Alito) sided with a fundamentalist church that has stirred outrage with raucous demonstrations contending God is punishing the military for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

The 8-1 decision in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., was the latest in a line of court rulings that, as Chief Justice John Roberts said in his opinion for the court, protects “even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”

I find myself torn very slightly on this one. Deep down I knew the Westboro Church was going to win, but I hoped they would lose. I hoped it would be found that they were harassing families, not exercising their free speech rights. Because, come on. That really is what they were doing. But, still, I’ve been torn. As far as the law is concerned (something the church pretends to know something about), they weren’t targeting anyone. Even though everyone knows they were.

I appreciated when I read that Bill O’Reilly offered to pay the legal bills of the family. But that was when the costs were relatively low. Now the family may be in debt to the church for around $100,000. I wouldn’t expect O’Reilly to pay that amount, but I hope he does. And if not him, then someone. The Westboro Church is made up of pure scum, one step above the religious fanatics who physically harm others. Maybe they deserved this court victory, but they don’t deserve the sick satisfaction from further hurting the families who have lost loved ones.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , , | 6 Comments »

The Republican Plan

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Michael
  • Weaken the middle class.

Check.

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

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