We ought to have a rule: if you can’t read the research and comprehend it, you shouldn’t be writing about it.
~PZ
Filed under: Creationism | Tagged: Creationists can't read | 6 Comments »
Dear creationists,
Posted on March 15, 2011 by Michael
God did it
Posted on March 15, 2011 by Michael
I’m thinking about making a drinking game out of all these videos. Every time one of these people says “amazing”, take a shot. Only problem is I don’t like hard alcohol. Besides, I think I would die if I did that.
I guess there are at least some honest Christians out there who aren’t disowning the God of the Old Testament.
Filed under: Religions | Tagged: tamtampamela, Trivializing Japan with God | 1 Comment »
LePage, Scott, Walker = Three Stooges
Posted on March 14, 2011 by Michael
At least according to Stephen King:
“So, you’ve got LePage in Maine, Walker in Wisconsin, you’ve got Scott in Florida. Larry, Curly and Moe. That’s what we’ve got here,” he said, according to a video of the event posted on YouTube.
It’s a good one, but I liked this very straight-forward – and true – point King had to make:
“As a rich person, I pay 28 percent tax. What I want to ask you is, why am I not paying 50 percent? Why is anybody in my bracket not paying 50?” he said. “Well, you know what? The Republicans will tell you — from John Boehner to Mitch McConnell to Rick Scott — that we can’t do that. Because if we tax guys like me, there won’t be any jobs. It’s bull. It’s plain, old bull.”
King said he and his wife, Tabitha, try to make up the difference between what they pay in taxes and the 50 percent threshold they feel is appropriate by making charitable donations to support libraries, schools, fire departments and veterans.
But that wasn’t the best part:
He also sarcastically praised Scott’s decision to decline federal funding for a rail line in Florida.
“He’s probably right, probably it would be a bad deal, considering how low the price of gasoline is,” King said, referring to Scott’s decision. “Who would want to get on a railroad when they can ride scenic I-4? And wait in traffic? Maybe my next horror novel could star Rick Scott.”
Filed under: News | Tagged: LePage, Scott, Stephen King, Three Stooges, Walker | 39 Comments »
Thought of the day
Posted on March 14, 2011 by Michael
If a road is horribly muddy and its trenches are only getting deeper, one might imagine people would at least attempt to drive on the high points of mud. But no.
And that’s from a few days ago. It has only gotten worse since.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Go to hell spring, Thought of the day | 1 Comment »
Stubborn bigotry
Posted on March 13, 2011 by Michael
The Supreme Court got rid of all bans on interracial marriage in 1967. Unfortunately, it took two states over 30 years each to formally get rid of the statutes they still had on the books. Both states – South Carolina and Alabama – had to go through the process of a vote because of how their constitutions work. In 1998, 38% of South Carolina voters said they did not want to remove the ban. In 2000, 41% of Alabama voters said the same thing. Those numbers were shockingly disgusting. People like to hold on to their bigotry, quite apparently.
Now the same thing is going on in Kansas:
Members of Kansas’ gay community aren’t happy as lawmakers in Topeka, KS, have decided to leave on the books laws banning homosexuality.
Laws banning gay sex have been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, but the law remains in place in Kansas.
An effort to repeal the law was killed this week, leaving gay and lesbian Kansans outraged…
The House Judiciary Committee was considering a bill to clean up Kansas’ criminal code when a pair of lawmakers, Jan Paul from Hutchinson and Lance Kinzer from Olathe, removed an amendment from the bill that would have repealed the law banning homosexual acts.
Got that? People were considering cleaning up Kansas’ ugly past, but Jan Paul and Lance Kinzer said they prefer to keep things dirty, filthy, and ugly.
“I think their motivation is pretty clear,” said Thomas Witt, chair of Kansas Equality Commission. “They don’t like gay people and they’re going to make sure in the eyes of the law we’re still considered criminals.”
Filed under: Rights | Tagged: Alabama, bigotry, Criminalization, homosexuality, Hutchinson, Jan Paul, Kansas, Kansas Equality Commission, Lance Kinzer, Olathe, South Carolina, Thomas Witt | 6 Comments »
Michele Bachmann: History buff
Posted on March 13, 2011 by Michael
Ya know, if we just changed the facts and junk:
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota stood before New Hampshire Republicans with a tea bag clutched in her hand Saturday, but her grasp on Revolutionary War geography wasn’t quite as tight.
Before headlining a GOP fundraiser, the possible presidential hopeful told a group of students and conservative activists in Manchester, “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord.”
I’m just glad Maine doesn’t have the first primary in the nation. We’d have to deal with anti-facts people like Bachmann praising us for our awesome golf tournaments.
Filed under: Humor | Tagged: Augusta National, Concord, Lexington, Michele Bachmann, Revolutionary War, Teabaggers extraordinaire | 1 Comment »
Thought of the day
Posted on March 12, 2011 by Michael
I have yet to come across a laptop with a remotely respectable built-in mouse.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Laptops, Thought of the day | 4 Comments »
Rock-Paper-Scissors
Posted on March 12, 2011 by Michael
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Rock-Paper-Scissors | 2 Comments »
No more protections for faith healers in Oregon
Posted on March 11, 2011 by Michael
It seems like all I’ve been seeing is terrible legislative news the past few weeks. It’s so nice to see an elected body, somewhere, actually doing something good for a change:
The Oregon House approved a bill Thursday that would remove legal protection for parents who choose faith healing over medical intervention when treating their children.
The bill passed unanimously, though two Republican representatives raised concerns that the legislation was taking the issue away from juries and sending the state down a slippery slope.
The legislation comes in response to an Oregon City church, the Followers of Christ, that has a long history of child deaths even though the conditions from which the children died were medically treatable.
Currently, spiritual treatment can be used as a defense against some* homicide charges. The bill would eliminate that defense and subject parents who chose faith healing over medical treatment at the expense of their child’s life to mandatory sentencing under Measure 11.
Faith healing has been one of the shining examples of how we give undue respect to religion. These abhorrent laws have taken the protections already granted by the constitution and twisted them into legal defenses for neglectful parents. I am absolutely ecstatic to see them get thrown away in Oregon.
Twenty-nine states to go.
Filed under: News | Tagged: 29 states to go, Faith healing, Oregon | 3 Comments »
For the Sake of Science 