We're a nation of laws, and law requires factual evidence.
Creationists claim that their faith (ie: absence of evidence) is the same as the presence of the factual evidence of science.
If I'm in a position of authority, and I've established my Belief as The Law, then I should be able to drag anyone into court and convict them of the worst crimes imaginable simply by saying I believe them to be guilty.
UPDATE:
Kansas decided a couple of years ago that science courses in public schools would deal with teaching Evolution and not Creationism. The full force of law is now behind Science - meaning that the use of deadly force can be brought to bear on anyone teaching anything else in a science class in Kansas.
Logical Extreme: If I teach Creationism in my science class when Creationism has been banned, I can be fired. If I refuse to leave the building, then I can be forcibly removed. If I resist being removed, then the authorities have the option to escalate all the way to the point where they can kill me if they deem it necessary. It's not good straight-line logic, but the net effect is that I've been killed for trying to do what I tho't was right. Is this something of a Logical Fallacy?
One point remains clear: The law is not a trifling thing.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
10 Years Of Hell
Well now, this oughta make your day. The guys at The Agonist are in their usual cheery mood.
"If you are an American and want to survive this, you have got to get your living costs down. You have to find a cheaper mortgage or cheaper housing, you have to monitor your food costs, shrink your electrical and heating bills, renegotiate your homeowners and life insurance, and pray that the federal government does something to reduce health care costs. Your wages are going to stagnate for a long time to come - if you can keep a job - and you are going to have to play the deflation game yourself when it comes to managing your costs."
"If you are an American and want to survive this, you have got to get your living costs down. You have to find a cheaper mortgage or cheaper housing, you have to monitor your food costs, shrink your electrical and heating bills, renegotiate your homeowners and life insurance, and pray that the federal government does something to reduce health care costs. Your wages are going to stagnate for a long time to come - if you can keep a job - and you are going to have to play the deflation game yourself when it comes to managing your costs."
Corporatism
There are a few things for which Capitalism is just not well-suited. Prisons for example.
Here's a story from The Texas Observer reporting on a riot in Pecos.
"As the crisis negotiators quickly found out, the riot had not been prompted by gang infighting, racial tensions or a spontaneous outburst of violence. The men incarcerated at the Pecos prison are considered “low-security”; most are serving relatively short sentences for immigration violations or drug offenses. All are set to be deported at the end of their sentences.
Leaders of the rebellion were demanding a meeting with the Mexican Consulate, the FBI and the warden to discuss a number of grievances that they said GEO Group, the prison company that manages the 3,700-bed facility, had refused to address.
The evening of the uprising, the inmates sent a delegation of seven men—a Venezuelan, a Cuban, a Nigerian, and four Mexicans—to meet with the authorities.
They explained that the uprising had erupted from widespread dissatisfaction with almost every aspect of the prison: inedible food, a dearth of legal resources, the use of solitary confinement to punish people who complained about their medical treatment, overcrowding and, above all, poor health care.
The delegates pointed to a string of deaths (according to public records, five men died in Reeves between August 2008 and March 2009, including two suicides) they attributed to the prison’s inattention to medical needs."
It's never as simple as it seems, but when you set up a system that provides a profit incentive for a certain outcome, try not to act surprised when that outcome is what you get. The goals are always lofty-sounding; "we have to do something (about Illegal Immigration, Illegal Drug Use, etc) to keep Real Americans safe", but the practice is that we're paying companies to put Scary-Looking Dark-Skinned People in jail, so that's what they're doing.
Here's a story from The Texas Observer reporting on a riot in Pecos.
"As the crisis negotiators quickly found out, the riot had not been prompted by gang infighting, racial tensions or a spontaneous outburst of violence. The men incarcerated at the Pecos prison are considered “low-security”; most are serving relatively short sentences for immigration violations or drug offenses. All are set to be deported at the end of their sentences.
Leaders of the rebellion were demanding a meeting with the Mexican Consulate, the FBI and the warden to discuss a number of grievances that they said GEO Group, the prison company that manages the 3,700-bed facility, had refused to address.
The evening of the uprising, the inmates sent a delegation of seven men—a Venezuelan, a Cuban, a Nigerian, and four Mexicans—to meet with the authorities.
They explained that the uprising had erupted from widespread dissatisfaction with almost every aspect of the prison: inedible food, a dearth of legal resources, the use of solitary confinement to punish people who complained about their medical treatment, overcrowding and, above all, poor health care.
The delegates pointed to a string of deaths (according to public records, five men died in Reeves between August 2008 and March 2009, including two suicides) they attributed to the prison’s inattention to medical needs."
It's never as simple as it seems, but when you set up a system that provides a profit incentive for a certain outcome, try not to act surprised when that outcome is what you get. The goals are always lofty-sounding; "we have to do something (about Illegal Immigration, Illegal Drug Use, etc) to keep Real Americans safe", but the practice is that we're paying companies to put Scary-Looking Dark-Skinned People in jail, so that's what they're doing.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Creationism vs Evolution
(this is a work in progress; I just want to jot some things down as they pop into my head)
We're a nation of laws, and law requires factual evidence.
Creationists claim that their absence of evidence (faith) is the same as the presence of the factual evidence of science.
If I accept the creationists' belief as the law, then I should be able to drag them all into court and convict them all of the worst crimes imaginable simply by saying I believe them to be guilty.
We're a nation of laws, and law requires factual evidence.
Creationists claim that their absence of evidence (faith) is the same as the presence of the factual evidence of science.
If I accept the creationists' belief as the law, then I should be able to drag them all into court and convict them all of the worst crimes imaginable simply by saying I believe them to be guilty.
Unemployment Numbers for September 09
SUMMARY:
The unemployment rate increased a tenth of a percentage point to 9.8% in September, in line with the Bloomberg market consensus.
The rate has doubled since the start of the recession. This 4.9 point increase is the highest recessionary increase on record.
The labor force contracted significantly in September.
Some scary shit from The Fed in Atlanta.
Why is it they never give us the real numbers the first time around?
The unemployment rate increased a tenth of a percentage point to 9.8% in September, in line with the Bloomberg market consensus.
The rate has doubled since the start of the recession. This 4.9 point increase is the highest recessionary increase on record.
The labor force contracted significantly in September.
Some scary shit from The Fed in Atlanta.
Why is it they never give us the real numbers the first time around?
Short Memory
Cluster Fox needs you to believe; they need you to clap your hands so Tinker Bell doesn't die; they need you to ignore that man behind the curtain. And they need you to believe there's no such thing as a video archive. These people have no soul.
Crooks & Liars
Crooks & Liars
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
It Gets Worse...
...Before It Gets a Lot Worse.
This bit from Bill Moyers isn't fun.
In just the last few months, the health care industry has spent 380 million dollars on lobbying, advertising and campaign contributions. And a million and a half of it went to -- don't hold your breath -- Finance Committee Chairman Baucus, who said he saw "a lot to like" in two proposed public options but voted "no."
Don't just get mad. Get busy.
This bit from Bill Moyers isn't fun.
In just the last few months, the health care industry has spent 380 million dollars on lobbying, advertising and campaign contributions. And a million and a half of it went to -- don't hold your breath -- Finance Committee Chairman Baucus, who said he saw "a lot to like" in two proposed public options but voted "no."
Don't just get mad. Get busy.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Reality's Bias
"Terrorist activity" was uncovered in a smallish town northeast of San Diego when a a young man showed up at a local ER with a few of his fingers missing; apparently caused by an explosion. This first report on Cluster Fox was all about a possible link with Najibulah Zazi simply because the cops found the same explosive at this guy's house as they found at Zazi's place. They had absolutely no information that the two incidents were related in any way, but there's Trace Gallagher breathlessly speculating.
The first report is an obvious attempt to link this new development with the Zazi case, trying to amp up the fear of dark-skinned bad guys. But in the followup, when the emphasis has to shift away from Zazi, they pivot deftly to the standard paranoia - 'your children are in danger; your neighbors can't be trusted; a grisly death for you and your loved ones lurks around every corner.'
And here's the kicker: They intercut video of a cop carrying an AERIAL BOMB with shots of kids' toys in somebody's yard somewhere, while the Lady News Model and The Hero Cop read their Scary Story Script in voiceover mode. None of the video is identified - either as File Footage or whatever. So the viewer is left to draw the inference that "this must be something big".
These people have no soul. Whatever Fox News is in fact, it's not very often a news organization. Reality itself is biased against these dimwits.
The first report is an obvious attempt to link this new development with the Zazi case, trying to amp up the fear of dark-skinned bad guys. But in the followup, when the emphasis has to shift away from Zazi, they pivot deftly to the standard paranoia - 'your children are in danger; your neighbors can't be trusted; a grisly death for you and your loved ones lurks around every corner.'
And here's the kicker: They intercut video of a cop carrying an AERIAL BOMB with shots of kids' toys in somebody's yard somewhere, while the Lady News Model and The Hero Cop read their Scary Story Script in voiceover mode. None of the video is identified - either as File Footage or whatever. So the viewer is left to draw the inference that "this must be something big".
These people have no soul. Whatever Fox News is in fact, it's not very often a news organization. Reality itself is biased against these dimwits.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, October 09, 2009
Good and Cheap
Two words that don't often bump into each other in the real world - but there's a wine we've recently discovered that puts things together in a pretty good way.
Bandit Wine. Give it a try.
Bandit Wine. Give it a try.
If Only They'd Had More Guns
A Pennsylvania woman who drew national attention for carrying a loaded handgun to her daughter's soccer game has been shot and killed in an apparent murder-suicide, the Lebanon Daily News reports.
Meleanie Hain, 31, of Lebanon, Pa., and her husband, Scott Hain, 33, were found dead after a two-hour standoff with police Wednesday night, the AP reports.
Hain was dubbed the 'pistol-packin' mom' after wearing her holstered 9mm Glock pistol to her 5-year-old daughter's soccer match in 2008.
The local sheriff revoked her concealed weapon permit after receiving several complaints, saying she had used poor judgment, The Patriot-News reports.
A county judge reinstated the permit, but asked Hain to conceal the pistol when she attends soccer games, The Patriot-News says.
Hains, however, said she would continue to carry the weapon openly and filed a federal civil rights suit that was awaiting a trial date.
Update at 10: 24 a.m. ET: The Lebanon Daily News says Lebanon police Chief Daniel Wright is providing little information aside from acknowledging that both were found dead and that he did not think anyone else was involved. The district attorney likewise refuses comment. The paper quotes several neighbors as saying they heard or saw the couple's children's running from the house screaming, "Daddy shot Mommy!" shortly before the 911 was called.
The paper also quotes one neighbor, Debbie Mise, as saying she feared something bad would eventually happen at the Hain home. "She just wasn't right," Mise said of Meleanie Hain, the paper reports. "You don't bring a gun to a kids' soccer game, and you don't wear a gun when you go shopping at Kohl's."
Lebanon Daily News
Meleanie Hain, 31, of Lebanon, Pa., and her husband, Scott Hain, 33, were found dead after a two-hour standoff with police Wednesday night, the AP reports.
Hain was dubbed the 'pistol-packin' mom' after wearing her holstered 9mm Glock pistol to her 5-year-old daughter's soccer match in 2008.
The local sheriff revoked her concealed weapon permit after receiving several complaints, saying she had used poor judgment, The Patriot-News reports.
A county judge reinstated the permit, but asked Hain to conceal the pistol when she attends soccer games, The Patriot-News says.
Hains, however, said she would continue to carry the weapon openly and filed a federal civil rights suit that was awaiting a trial date.
Update at 10: 24 a.m. ET: The Lebanon Daily News says Lebanon police Chief Daniel Wright is providing little information aside from acknowledging that both were found dead and that he did not think anyone else was involved. The district attorney likewise refuses comment. The paper quotes several neighbors as saying they heard or saw the couple's children's running from the house screaming, "Daddy shot Mommy!" shortly before the 911 was called.
The paper also quotes one neighbor, Debbie Mise, as saying she feared something bad would eventually happen at the Hain home. "She just wasn't right," Mise said of Meleanie Hain, the paper reports. "You don't bring a gun to a kids' soccer game, and you don't wear a gun when you go shopping at Kohl's."
Lebanon Daily News
Meta-Narrative
"A narrative is the series of events which the individual organism experiences. The meta-narrative is the collective history by which a group defines itself."
(snip)
"One thing that has become clearer to me in the last six years is that democracy is for grownups, and most people, whatever lipservice they give to the concept, really don't want the responsibility of self-rule."
Read it all at The Agonist.
(snip)
"One thing that has become clearer to me in the last six years is that democracy is for grownups, and most people, whatever lipservice they give to the concept, really don't want the responsibility of self-rule."
Read it all at The Agonist.
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