Let's be careful with that whole omniscience thing.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Sunday, June 29, 2014
The Bible Wasn't Written In English
And god didn't tell anybody to write it either.
The Atheist Experience:
The Atheist Experience:
Saturday, June 28, 2014
What'll They Think Of Next?
They may be wacko, but wacko is what makes 'em creative.
So Sir John of Orange has decided to sue Obama for - uhm - not sure for what exactly, but it doesn't matter cuz Obummer's not one of us so he must be up to no good somehow, and if we just keep pissing into the wind, we're bound to get sumpthin' important wet eventually.
Anyway, great idea, right? This is USAmerica, Inc after all, and if you want somebody to stop doing something you don't want him to do; or you want him to start doing something he's not doing that you think he oughta be doing - sue the fucker.
Quick tho't: isn't it one of the basic tenets of "conservative thinking" that we should do everything possible to prohibit frivolous lawsuits? Or is Tort Reform really just another instance of Repubs trying to recapture the glory days when The Law and The Courts and The Government were all reserved for the landed gentry?
BTW - "conservative thinking" - now there's an oxymoron for ya.
But let's consider what Ol' Doc Maddow pointed out for us on Thursday - that there's no process in place that makes it possible for The House of Representatives to sue The Prez over a dispute about some political or even legal point.
In order to make that happen, Boehner has to pass new legislation (something he has shown himself to be woefully inept at accomplishing); it then has to pass The Senate, and then Obama has to sign it into law.
Why are we paying these guys for this shit?
So Sir John of Orange has decided to sue Obama for - uhm - not sure for what exactly, but it doesn't matter cuz Obummer's not one of us so he must be up to no good somehow, and if we just keep pissing into the wind, we're bound to get sumpthin' important wet eventually.
Anyway, great idea, right? This is USAmerica, Inc after all, and if you want somebody to stop doing something you don't want him to do; or you want him to start doing something he's not doing that you think he oughta be doing - sue the fucker.
Quick tho't: isn't it one of the basic tenets of "conservative thinking" that we should do everything possible to prohibit frivolous lawsuits? Or is Tort Reform really just another instance of Repubs trying to recapture the glory days when The Law and The Courts and The Government were all reserved for the landed gentry?
BTW - "conservative thinking" - now there's an oxymoron for ya.
But let's consider what Ol' Doc Maddow pointed out for us on Thursday - that there's no process in place that makes it possible for The House of Representatives to sue The Prez over a dispute about some political or even legal point.
In order to make that happen, Boehner has to pass new legislation (something he has shown himself to be woefully inept at accomplishing); it then has to pass The Senate, and then Obama has to sign it into law.
Why are we paying these guys for this shit?
Friday, June 27, 2014
Thursday, June 26, 2014
You First
A Chinese hospital in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, has introduced a new machine that makes sperm donation even easier- an automatic sperm extractor. I’m all for hands-free technology, but have scientists gone a little too far with this invention?
The effortless machine features a massage pipe that can be adjusted to suit the height of the user. All the gentleman has to do is plug in the frequency, amplitude and temperature and off they go. It’s also fitted with a small screen for those feeling uninspired.
According to the director of the urology department of the hospital, the machine is designed to help individuals that are finding it difficult to retrieve sperm the old fashioned way. We're not entirely convinced that standing in a room shared by many other people and being milked like a cow is going to help, but their efforts are commendable. Here’s to technology.
About That Thing In Mississippi
Teabagger fave Chris McDaniel challenged Thad Cochran in a GOP primary and lost. The 'Baggers are trying to tell us that Cochran courted "the black vote" to pad his totals blah blah blah.
Look, guys - I'm not gonna try to convince anybody that the 'Murican voter is some kinda genius, but if those Mississippi Democrats wanted to fuck up the GOP's chances to get their guy back in the Senate, they woulda voted for McDaniel. I can't possibly be the only one here who remembers Sharon Angle and Christine O'Donnell, can I?
Of course, it seems the Press Poodles are willing to go with the Shenanigans-At-The-Polls narrative - or at least the Tea-Party-Is-So-Over blurb - because if they point out that a lot of people in today's GOP really are stoopid enough to see a duck and call it a frog, then they lose the dramatic tension and it makes it harder for them sell us the Red vs Blue / They're All The Same / It's A Horse Race bullshit.
Just a thought.
Look, guys - I'm not gonna try to convince anybody that the 'Murican voter is some kinda genius, but if those Mississippi Democrats wanted to fuck up the GOP's chances to get their guy back in the Senate, they woulda voted for McDaniel. I can't possibly be the only one here who remembers Sharon Angle and Christine O'Donnell, can I?
Of course, it seems the Press Poodles are willing to go with the Shenanigans-At-The-Polls narrative - or at least the Tea-Party-Is-So-Over blurb - because if they point out that a lot of people in today's GOP really are stoopid enough to see a duck and call it a frog, then they lose the dramatic tension and it makes it harder for them sell us the Red vs Blue / They're All The Same / It's A Horse Race bullshit.
Just a thought.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Happy Birthday, Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia officially ratified the Constitution of the United States and became the 10th state of the United States on June 25th, 1788.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
The Invisible Hand
..is invisible because it's another mystical fabrication of "capitalists" who aren't interested in doing any more work than it takes to sell us the illusion of a useful product instead of creating something of real value.
There's no such thing as Alternative Medicine. Anything that's been studied and tested and peer-reviewed and proven beyond the 95% Certainty Threshold is called Medicine - because that's what it is. Everything else comes under the general heading of Quackery. However, there are new things that come along all the time, and some of them could lead to (or actually be) the next great discovery. So the point is - as always - to be skeptical and to demand evidence.
By the 1920s, a huge fad had grown up around Radium (eg), which was being touted as a miracle substance - "liquid sunshine" is how some companies described it. They sold people on drinking water that had been infused with radon gas, and never mind that a good buncha these suckers died of various cancers and leukemia - Marie Curie died in 1934 of aplastic anemia believed to have been contracted from her long-term exposure to radiation - and her original lab notes are still too radioactive to be handled safely.
Science finds something interesting, and almost immediately, the sharpsters gather to figure out how to use this new stuff to separate the marks from their paychecks.
Commerce must be regulated. We have to be careful not to let regulation be used as a political weapon to gain an unfair advantage just to beat down competition, but every time we've allowed "the free market" to run wild, we've paid a heavy price. A little of that good ol' American Common Sense is in order here.
There's no such thing as Alternative Medicine. Anything that's been studied and tested and peer-reviewed and proven beyond the 95% Certainty Threshold is called Medicine - because that's what it is. Everything else comes under the general heading of Quackery. However, there are new things that come along all the time, and some of them could lead to (or actually be) the next great discovery. So the point is - as always - to be skeptical and to demand evidence.
By the 1920s, a huge fad had grown up around Radium (eg), which was being touted as a miracle substance - "liquid sunshine" is how some companies described it. They sold people on drinking water that had been infused with radon gas, and never mind that a good buncha these suckers died of various cancers and leukemia - Marie Curie died in 1934 of aplastic anemia believed to have been contracted from her long-term exposure to radiation - and her original lab notes are still too radioactive to be handled safely.
Science finds something interesting, and almost immediately, the sharpsters gather to figure out how to use this new stuff to separate the marks from their paychecks.
Commerce must be regulated. We have to be careful not to let regulation be used as a political weapon to gain an unfair advantage just to beat down competition, but every time we've allowed "the free market" to run wild, we've paid a heavy price. A little of that good ol' American Common Sense is in order here.
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