What's A Skeptic?

From The Skeptic Society:



My favorite bit is the Radical Skepticism:

Radical skepticism or radical scepticism is the philosophical position that knowledge is most likely impossible.[1] Radical skeptics hold that doubt exists as to the veracity of every belief and that certainty is therefore never justified. To determine the extent to which it is possible to respond to radical skeptical challenges is the task of epistemology or "the theory of knowledge".[2]

Lou Reed Walkin'

I'm not much of a fan really - and maybe this is just too much of a chestnut, but it's also one of the great headphones memories from my misspent youth.

Take A Walk On The Wild Side - Lou Reed, 1972

Unfortunately

...some of the best commentary comes from the jokes on a comedy show - and way too much of the policy comes from politicians who don't know that they actually are the jokes.




And if you have the time, listen to this bit from WWNC Talk Radio in western NC to hear this clown make it even worse by trying to rationalize it:






Here's the basics:  "I don't care if what I said was racist crap - as long as I don't recognize it as racist crap, it can't be racist crap - so I'm not the racist asshole, you Librulz is the the racist assholes for calling me a racist asshole."

Can't Say It Better

From Democratic Underground:

I really have to say I think it's great that Fox has taken time to profit off of "honoring" America's veterans during these World Series games, seeing as how Fox News worked so hard to feed so many thousands of soldiers into the meat grinders of Iraq and Afghanistan...again, for profit.

You really want to honor our veterans, Fox? Send Rupert Murdoch and the rest of his henchmen out to home plate, have them get on their knees, and let them beg for forgiveness from the shades of the men and women who can't do something so simple as watch a baseball game because they're dead in wars your network promoted as if they were a fucking game show.

Fuck you sideways, Fox. The only thing you honor is ratings, and I will literally thank God out loud the day Major League Baseball un-fucks itself and finds another network for these great games. The troops deserve far, far better than the saccharine bullshit "honor" Fox is peddling.

Hey Look - I'm A Pollster

Google Search Term: "Republicans Suck"
44,300 hits

Google Search Term: "Stupid Republicans"

52,000 hits

Google Search Term: "Democrats Suck"
25,200 hits

Google Search Term: "Stupid Democrats"
26,700 hits

No, I dunno what it means.  They don't pay me to know what it means, they just...wait - they don't pay me.  So of course, it can't mean anything at all.

Never mind.  Everybody go back to sleep.  I'll call ya if anything happens.

Told Ya

From Addicting Info:

Being honest was her downfall
Alicia Beltran, 28, had done what she thought she needed to do in order to have a healthy first pregnancy. Her only mistake was telling her doctor’s office about her efforts to protect her fetus. Beltran had a bout with addiction to the painkiller Percocet in the previous year. She took steps to get herself off of it, including getting some of an anti-addiction drug, Suboxone, from a friend. With that, she weaned herself off of the Percocet. She finished the process a few days before going to a clinic for a prenatal checkup. In providing her medical history to a physician’s assistant (PA), she helpfully included this information. Drug-testing done on that day confirmed that she had no opiates in her system.

The PA wanted Beltran to go on Suboxone again, but she refused. She hadn’t been able to afford her own prescription in the first place and now felt confident that she was done with drugs. Two weeks after the checkup, a social worker came knocking on her door. She insisted that Beltran take Suboxone or else a court order would force her to. An angry Beltran again refused. Two days later, her house was surrounded by officers from the sheriff’s department. She was arrested and taken in shackles to a court hearing.

I've posted some stuff in the past about how this is what we might be talking about if the TheoCon Lifers get their way.  But I was just kinda speculating about it, and projecting it out to the logical extreme - or I tho't I was anyway.  Now it turns out I was right!?!  What the fuck, Jesus?

Now, c'mon, think about this a little and take this one instance a few steps farther.  What if Ms Beltran had resisted arrest?  What if she had barricaded herself in her house and there was a standoff with the cops?  Eventually, aren't we talking about justifying the use of deadly force against the mother when the whole point of the exercise in the first place was to protect the fetus?

And what was all that bullshit about not wanting da gubmint in your doctor's exam room?

How about "small, limited government"?

Seriously - what the fuck?

Speaking Of Knocking

Can't You Hear Me Knockin' - Stones

Have Mercy

Waiting For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago - ZZ Top

Drive Me Home, Baby

Radar Love - Golden Earring

Waitin'

I'm Just Waiting On A Friend -  Stones

Go Back Where Ya Been

I Hear You Knockin' - Dave Edmonds

What A Wicked Thing To Do

Wicked Game - Chris Isaak



The world was on fire and no one could save me but you.
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.
I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you.
And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you.

No, I don't want to fall in love 
(This world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I don't want to fall in love 
(This world is only gonna break your heart)
With you 
(This world is only gonna break your heart)

What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way.
What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you.
What a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way.
What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you and,

I want to fall in love 
(This world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I want to fall in love 
(This world is only gonna break your heart)
With you.

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you.
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.
I never dreamed that I'd love somebody like you.
And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you,

No, I want to fall in love 
(This world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I want to fall in love 
(This world is only gonna break your heart)
With you 
(This world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I... 
(This world is only gonna break your heart)
(This world is only gonna break your heart)

Nobody loves no one.

You'll Be A Woman Soon

Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon - Urge Overkill

Today's Quote

“To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”

--Thomas Paine

The KrugMan Speaks

There are plenty of smart guys who talk in high-blown language because they're kinda desperate to make sure everybody thinks they're as smart as they need everybody to think they are.

But the really smart guys are the ones who can take the densest, most impenetrable content and turn it into words that fit nicely into just about anybody's brain - anybody who's willing to do his part in actually learning one or two things anyway.  You can't expect it to be spoon-fed to ya - because it does, after all, take some effort on the part of the listener.

(Always remember: for every problem that's gnarly and complicated and difficult, there's a solution that's simple and elegant and fucking wrong - are ya paying attention here, wingnuts?)

Paul Krugman:

The dollar is, first of all, a vehicle currency (mainly in the interbank market) thanks to thick markets: if a bank wants to convert bolivars into zlotys, it will generally trade the bolivars for dollars, then the dollars for zlotys, rather than try to find someone wanting to make the reverse trade. It is the currency many though by no means all international transactions are invoiced in. And to some extent people hold dollars or dollar-denominated assets because the dollar is more liquid than other currencies.

Meanwhile, governments trying to prop their currencies up or hold them down often do so with trades against the dollar, even if they’re trying to affect some other exchange rate, again because of those thick markets. Some countries peg to the dollar, although not too many these days. And governments hold dollar-denominated reserves.

I won't pretend I understand the whole thing, but if I take the gist, then I have to look at the wild-eyed panic of "conservatives" running around screeching about the Debt and the Deficit and Fiat Currency and Hyper-Inflation etc, and I just have to wonder what purpose it serves for them to kick up such a fuss.  It's never really about what they say it's about, so what's it about?

Today's Pix

Coining A New Term

To co-opt Mr Clemens - There are lies, damned lies, and TeaParty Rhetoric.



So, lemme see.  We can add Job Killing to Death Panels; Abortion Surtax; Healthcare Rationing; Government Takeover; blahblah blahblah blahblah.

The GOP is just straight-up lying.  And they can lie all they want because they know there's a constituency out here just waiting to lap up whatever falls outa their asses.  Which is why I've decided to start referring to the Tea Party in a way that more accurately reflects their actual function: Toilet Paper Republicans.

Seriously tho', what does it take to get some of these people deprogrammed?

A Word From Professor Cole

Juan Cole (aka the smartest guy in any room when it comes to talking about the gigundous cluster fuck polite people call The Middle East):

Why the US needs Electric Cars: Saudi Arabia threatens Pivot away from US
Posted on 10/23/2013 by Juan Cole

The royal family of Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy with no constitution and no elected legislature, is in a snit about US foreign policy. King Abdullah doesn’t like even the mild American criticism of the Sunni Bahrain monarchy’s brutal crackdown on the majority Shiite community in that country. He is furious that President Obama went with the Russian plan to sequester Syria’s chemical weapons rather than bombing Damascus. He is petrified of a breakthrough in American and Iranian relations that might permit Iran to keep its nuclear enrichment program and allow Tehran to retain a nuclear breakout capacity, which would deter any outside overthrow of the Iranian regime. Those are the stated discontents leaked by Saudi uber-hawk Bandar Bin Sultan.

Behind the scenes, another Saudi concern is that the US likes democracy too much. Washington ultimately backed the Arab upheavals that led to the fall of presidents for life in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Saudi Arabia hated this outbreak of popular politics and parliamentary competition. It connived with Egypt’s generals to roll back gains in Egypt in favor of more authoritarian rule. It has just cut off Yemen because the post-Saleh situation there isn’t developing its way. Only in Syria do the Saudis want regime change, and there it is because they want to weaken Iran and depose a Shiite ruling clique in favor of a fundamentalist Sunni one.

Today's Toons

That's Pretty Fucked Up, Right There

And the binary thinking "on the right" means that if you're talking about Wealth Inequality, then what you're really after is to upset the natural order of things and to turn USAmerica Incorporated into a Bolshevik nightmare and make Jesus cry.  Cuz everybody knows Capitalism is god's way of separating the good smart people from the poor stupid people.

Uh - no, actually.  We're talking about not returning to the glory days of the 18th century, when the king could do no wrong; when the noble class owned everything and collected rent from anybody who worked for a living, and "justice" was all about the aristocracy keeping the commoners in line by meting out punishment that included branding, whipping and partial hanging.

In this country today, tell me how it's fair and equitable to fill the prisons to overflowing with people making minimum wage while the real crooks on Wall Street and the Rentiers in the executives suites can buy their way out of any jam at all because they have the money and the connections.