Governor Sam Brownback sucks

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Michael

Emma Sullivan was on a terrible school field trip to the state capitol building in Kansas when she tweeted this:

Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot

So what did Governor Sam Brownback’s people do? They tattled, of course:

Emma Sullivan, 18, was hauled into her principal’s office and ordered to write letters of apology after one of Governor Sam Brownback’s office contacted the tour organizer to complain about the offending note on the social networking site Twitter.

I believe my letter of apology would have consisted of “And you can go fuck yourself too.”

I’m at a loss about which part of this is worse, the fact that some prick in Brownback’s office told on a high school kid or the fact that Sullivan’s school made her apologize. Maybe this quote can clear things up:

“In general,” spokeswoman Leigh Anne Neal said in an e-mail “students on school-sponsored field trips, in which they are representing the school, would be expected to conduct themselves in accordance with school district policies, including use of electronic devices.

“Students may express their personal beliefs, views, and opinions, as long as they do so appropriately and in accordance with school policies.“

What a load. In other words, feel free to express yourselves, kids, but only if what you’re saying is stamped and approved. Yeah, Brownback’s people are morons, but the school has handled this like, well, the average high school that is unconcerned with educating children well.

I realize free speech and other basic human rights get ignored in schools because, well, what are kids going to do, amirite, ‘adults’? But regardless, the girl spoke her mind to a public official in person and then Tweeted about it. Good. That’s exactly the sort of thing she ought to be doing. If anything, the school should hold her up as a positive example for the rest of the student body. Of course, if that didn’t happen immediately, it isn’t going to happen now – high school administrators don’t tend to be open to looking like the idiots they usually are. Thank goodness for the Streisand Effect, though:

Governor Sam Brownback sucks.

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

Too many journalists do not understand evolution

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Michael

The primary reason so many Americans reject the theory and fact of evolution is religion. I think that’s pretty undisputed. However, there is a lot of incorrect information out there promulgated by journalists who get in way over their heads, and that is also a contributing factor. For the most recent example, let’s turn to the obituary of Lynn Margulis:

The [endosymbiotic] hypothesis was a direct challenge to the prevailing neo-Darwinist belief that the primary evolutionary mechanism was random mutation.

Rather, Dr. Margulis argued that a more important mechanism was symbiosis; that is, evolution is a function of organisms that are mutually beneficial growing together to become one and reproducing. The theory undermined significant precepts of the study of evolution, underscoring the idea that evolution began at the level of micro-organisms long before it would be visible at the level of species.

This is just awful. Just awful.

Margulis’ theory showed that some organelles – primarily mitochondria and chloroplasts – were once bacteria before being taken up into eukaryotic cells. This did not overturn any major precepts, nor did it shake the biological world. It was a big idea, one that turned out to be correct, and it marked a major turning point in our understanding. But that turning point was more complementary than it was subtracting. That is, it added a good deal of knowledge, it explained some mysteries, and it opened up a lot of avenues of research (as correct ideas often do) while fitting into the broad model of evolution, but it did not diminish the importance of random mutation, natural selection, genetic drift, or any other aspect of the theory.

Moreover, Margulis’ theory did not show that “evolution is a function of organisms that are mutually beneficial growing together to become one and reproducing”. It showed that sometimes endosymbiosis happens. And when it does, it sometimes has huge contingent importance. For instance, without the mitochondria in our cells, the history of life on Earth is not even remotely the same. But there are other hugely important events which, while ultimately reliant upon historic events like moments of endosymbiosis, can be explained without the need to appeal to Margulis’ theory. For example, the rise of mammals. Of course we are eukaryotes and so we depend upon the endosymbiosis event that happened billions of years ago, but that would be like appealing to the formation of Earth to describe the construction of a skyscraper. It just isn’t necessary and, besides, planetary accretion doesn’t happen every time a worker pours some concrete.

Stuff like this is why I say science is so undermined by so many science journalists.

Filed under: Evolution, News | Tagged: , , , , | 2 Comments »

Occupy Augusta

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Michael

I was at Occupy Augusta with Nate and other Michael today when the protesters held a general assembly meeting. It turns out the governor (who lives across the street) has said they must obtain a permit starting Monday. It will not include the right to have more than one tent and overnight camping will not be allowed.

More updates to come as things develop.

Filed under: News | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

Lynn Margulis, 73, dead

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Michael

Lynn Margulis was one of those scientists that biology needed. She forged the now universally accepted endosymbiotic theory only about 44 years ago, bringing it to the mainstream 30 years ago. I have heard her work compared to that of Watson & Crick insofar as it marked a significant turning point within the field. She really did have some great ideas and it’s a shame that she died so young.

Filed under: Biology, Evidence, Evolution, News | Tagged: , | Leave a comment »

‘Flagged for review’

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Michael

The American Atheists have billboards posted again. Here is this year’s:

This is better than last year’s design, but it still isn’t that great. The devil guy on the right makes the whole thing ugly, plus he is featured very close to the word “atheists”, which is printed in a similar red font. All it does is serve to associate atheism with the magic evil that Christians and other religidiots think exist. If they changed the font color and inserted an alternative myth in the final panel, I would say this is an excellent ad.

What I think is hilarious about this whole thing, though, is the CNN article I used as my source. This is what I get when I go to the page:

Under review

The following contains content that has been flagged as inappropriate, and is currently under review. Do you want to continue?

It’s actually a straight forward report. It does only cite those who support the message, but I can’t say that’s all that upsetting. After all, when Christians have some message to put out there, I don’t see the media running out to talk to any atheist organizations.

Of course, we all know why this was flagged. A handful of Christians can’t deal with the fact that some other group would dare not show them the utmost respect – “respect” being code for “shut the hell up, atheists”. It’s sad and pathetic, if anything. But who knows. Given the actions of these people, I guess I could see Jesus being an Internet troll if he was still kickin’ today. At least then a lot of his followers would be consistent with who he is for a change.

Update: The article has apparently been reviewed. And gasp! it’s appropriate.

Filed under: Atheism/Humanism, News | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Ridiculous story of the day

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Michael

A transgendered woman in Tennessee wanted to change the sex on her driver’s license from male to female. The DMV said no, so the woman became proactive about the situation:

As WATE.com is reporting, Andrea Jones was arrested for indecent exposure after taking her shirt off after the Morristown Driver’s License Office refused to change her sex from male to female on her driver’s license.

She was out in the parking lot when this happened, so it can’t particularly be said that she was being a disruptive jerk right in the middle of the DMV office.

“If I was a male, I had the right to, when I stepped out the door, take off my shirt,” Jones, who has had a partial sex change, explained. “It’s not right for the state to ask me to be both male and female. A choice needs to be made. They cannot hold me to both standards.”

I have no doubt there are conservative Christians out there who would be perfectly happy to condemn Jones’ plight in its entirety, but I’m hard pressed to see an iota of rationality in any of this on the part of Tennessee. She is having two separate standards applied to her; this whole thing is fundamentally unfair. And utterly ridiculous.

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

Pizza and potatoes for all!

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Michael

I have been doing what I refer to as a 5-5-5 plan. It’s actually known as 5X5 training, but I like telling people that I’m as excited about my 5-5-5 plan as conservatives were about Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan a few weeks ago – the difference is that my plan will be effective. But I digress.

Part of my plan includes eating. A lot. I’ve already put on 5 pounds in a little over a week and I expect to add another 5-10 pounds by the time I’m done in a month or so. This is roughly in line with the average lives of most Americans except that my weight gain is controlled. And zero of it is fat. I can do this plan for two primary reasons: 1) I am regularly working out (and I have seen strength gains already) and 2) I’m not eating a bunch of shitty food. Not that I’m opposed to tastiness, but the majority of what I consume throughout the day has good nutritional value, including lots of protein.

Now, if I was to stop working out while continuing my food intake levels, I would put on a bunch of fat. Even with a favorable metabolism and youth on my side, I wouldn’t be able to avoid it. But I wouldn’t do that to myself because I value my health, unlike most Americans. In fact, the valuing of health in America is so low that Congress actually wants to continue the practice of effectively calling pizza a vegetable:

The final version of a spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year, which included limiting the use of potatoes on the lunch line and delaying limits on sodium and delaying a requirement to boost whole grains.

The bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. USDA had wanted to prevent that.

It’s unclear if this relates to the healthy eating bill Michelle Obama lobbied to get passed not too long ago, but it’s shitty any way you slice it. And speaking of slicing, guess which groups were most active in this effort to keep kids fat?

Food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools, the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes, and some conservatives in Congress say the federal government shouldn’t be telling children what to eat.

Shocking, I know.

So let me summarize what happened: a number of businesses that live off government purchases want to keep doing so and the party that lives off donations from businesses like these said sure. Very pragmatic.

But what isn’t pragmatic is the ideology that underlies much of this. Republicans believe that the government should stay out of telling kids what to eat*, but that is either a fundamentally dishonest or fundamentally stupid argument. The government is footing the bill. It can restrict whatever it damn well pleases, just as it restricts prepared foods and (in at least some states) energy drinks from being purchased with food stamps. I fail to see why anyone thinks there is a fundamental right to eating pizza and potatoes.

But by all means, let’s keep feeding kids bad food. Think of all the benefits. No longer will “the fat kid” get bullied and mocked – it isn’t easy to go after half the class. And with this generation of 20-somethings being the most educated group in history, there will be plenty of jobs for them in the health care industry as more and more kids develop diabetes. And as airplanes and stadiums and movie theaters and any place with seats grow older, they will need to be replaced with bigger and wider places to sit. That’s going to be a windfall for manufacturers and maybe even the construction industry. If anything, The Obese Generation is going to be a boon for the minority of people who won’t be on disability in the coming years.

*In fact, Republicans believe the government should stay out of everything. Unless it’s a social issue on which Christianity has an opinion.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Oakland vs New York City

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Michael

Oakland PD’s Strategy: Force confrontations with protestors, fire tear gas, cause chaos.

New York City PD’s Strategy: Surprise the protestors but allow them several hours to move their stuff.

Oakland PD’s Result: Confrontations, streets filled with tear gas, chaos.

New York City’s Result: Peaceful dispersal, quiet arrests, a soon to be clean park.

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

Muslims to Muslims: Don’t call the NYPD

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Michael

Apparently the NYPD has been spying on New York Muslims for quite some time. Often they do so without any evidence of wrongdoing and the common rationale seems to make as much sense as praising a ‘prophet’ who raped children. Well, the Muslim community is getting fed up:

Muslim community leaders are openly teaching people how to identify police informants, encouraging them to always talk to a lawyer before speaking with the authorities and reminding people already working with law enforcement that they have the right to change their minds. Some members of the community have planned a demonstration for next week.

Good. This is what every group should be doing. Of course, we don’t want some groups to do this – gangs, mobs, other criminal organizations – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good legal strategy. In fact, given the utter lack of evidence the police have for their actions, I would say it’s one hell of a legal strategy. I’m glad these Muslims, even with their patently silly religious beliefs, are being pro-active. I hope they thwart these police efforts, eventually curbing the baseless spying.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

Group rescinds Cain endorsement

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Michael

In light of recent facts (not allegations) that Herman Cain settled with a number of women over sexual harassment claims, the Republican’s campaign has been doing a lot of damage control. It’s been awful (except for late-night comedy fans), but I suppose they’ve been trying their little hearts out. Unfortunately for Cain, that hasn’t prevented him from losing a key endorsement:

In a devastating blow to businessman Herman Cain’s presidential ambitions, the American Mustache Institute–a group which had previously lavished rapturous praise on the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO–announced it was rescinding its official endorsement of the GOP field’s only mustachioed candidate…

“Amid a storm of allegations levied against Herman Cain, the American Mustache Institute today announced it had rescinded its endorsement for his presidential candidacy,” the organization, a nonprofit charity and “the world’s leading facial hair advocacy organization,” announced in a statement Wednesday. “[M]embers of the AMI administration said they could not in good conscience support his candidacy on behalf of the powerful Mustached American electorate.”

It isn’t normally the policy here at FTSOS to do independent journalistic research because it isn’t that sort of website, but I went ahead and started asking a few questions. According to an anonymous, high-ranking source within the AMI, the organization fears that if it continues to associate itself with Cain that “the term ‘molestache’ will become more and more popular – and we aren’t willing to just sit around while the dignity of the mustache faces such insults.”

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

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