1) Believes he was chosen by god to rule.
2) Claims to get instructions directly from god.
3) Never admits to having made a single mistake.
4) Displays no apparent remorse for actions. Never apologizes for anything.
5) Used an act of terror as a basis for establishing and expanding power.
6) His political base is an alliance of religion and industry.
7) Claims absolute power as supreme commander.
8) Premptively invades other nations branded as potential threats.
9) Creates a powerful domestic spy agency to monitor citizens.
10) Establishes Secret courts, secret trials, secret jails.
11) Establishes the practice of interrogation by torture.
12) Claims the power to kill anyone he deems a threat to the security of the state.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Friday, April 07, 2006
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Evolution and Art!
Do yourself a huge favor and visit this website! It's Ray Troll's art and he sells some really cool stuff. Be sure and click on the evolution button on the left hand side. Then in the next screen click on the tv and watch a single cell evolve into a human right before your eyes.
While on this topic:
Here: "There is no evidence in the fossil record of one kind of creature becoming another kind. No transitional links or intermediate forms between various kinds of creatures have ever been found." For example, "the evolutionist claims that it took perhaps fifty million years for a fish to evolve into an amphibian. But, again, there are no transitional forms. For example, not a single fossil with part fins...part feet has been found. And this is true between every major plant and animal kind." ([22], p.19)
Wrong even before the latest discovery.
From the NYT.
They still don't buy it.
From Discovery Institute blog:
Even though this find does not challenge intelligent design, there may be good reasons to be skeptical about it.
These fish are not neccesarily intermediates, explain Discovery Institute scientists I queried about the find. Tiktaalik roseae is one of a set of lobe-finned fishes that include very curious mosaics--these fishes have advanced fully formed characteristics of several different groups. They are not intermediates in the sense that have half-fish/half-tetrapod characteristics. Rather, they have a combination of tetrapod-like features and fish-like features. Paleontologists refer to such organisms as mosaics rather than intermediates.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy - Mad Cow Disease
BSE is a slow, degenerative disease that affects the central nervous system of cattle. Most scientist think it is caused by an infectious protein - a prion. BSE is similar Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease which infects humans. 155 persons worldwide have gotten a variant form of Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease after consuming BSE infected meat. BSE was first found in cattle in 1986 in the UK. How the disease came to be in cattle is a mystery, but it most likely happened when the cattle were fed food contaminated with scrapie infected sheep meat and bone meal. Scrapie is a disease in sheep caused by infection with a prion similar to BSE.
Much more information on BSE can be found here and here. More information on prions can be found here and here. Technical information on the structure of the prion protein can be found here.
So how does this topic fit in with my usual anti-Bush administration rant? Well, in the USA the only cattle that are tested for BSE are those that die on the farm, can't walk or are obviously sick. This amounts to 1% of the 35 million cows slaughtered in the USA every year. Creekstone Farms, a small slaughterhouse in Kansas, spent $500,000 to build its own BSE testing lab so it could test every cow that it slaughters for BSE. The problem lies with the USDA. They control the sale of BSE testing kits and they won't provide enough kits so that Creekstone can test every cow. USDA claims that testing 1% of the slaughtered cattle is statistically sufficient to detect BSE. Japan, where Creekstone sold much of its high quality, antibiotic-free, angus beef, requires that all cattle be tested before beef can be imported.
So the question is - why is the USDA opposed to testing all cattle slaughtered in the USA for BSE? Of course the answer is the rest of the meat-packing industry opposes it so of course our government has to oppose it.
From todays NYT:
The fear is that broad testing may reveal a higher rate of infection and destroy consumer confidence, with a devastating impact on the cattle market. Which leaves us where we are now: relying on what we don't know to make us feel safe.
Much more information on BSE can be found here and here. More information on prions can be found here and here. Technical information on the structure of the prion protein can be found here.
So how does this topic fit in with my usual anti-Bush administration rant? Well, in the USA the only cattle that are tested for BSE are those that die on the farm, can't walk or are obviously sick. This amounts to 1% of the 35 million cows slaughtered in the USA every year. Creekstone Farms, a small slaughterhouse in Kansas, spent $500,000 to build its own BSE testing lab so it could test every cow that it slaughters for BSE. The problem lies with the USDA. They control the sale of BSE testing kits and they won't provide enough kits so that Creekstone can test every cow. USDA claims that testing 1% of the slaughtered cattle is statistically sufficient to detect BSE. Japan, where Creekstone sold much of its high quality, antibiotic-free, angus beef, requires that all cattle be tested before beef can be imported.
So the question is - why is the USDA opposed to testing all cattle slaughtered in the USA for BSE? Of course the answer is the rest of the meat-packing industry opposes it so of course our government has to oppose it.
From todays NYT:
The fear is that broad testing may reveal a higher rate of infection and destroy consumer confidence, with a devastating impact on the cattle market. Which leaves us where we are now: relying on what we don't know to make us feel safe.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
So Are We Going to Attack Iran?
From the Telegraph. It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme.
The United States government is hopeful that the military operation will be a multinational mission, but defence chiefs believe that the Bush administration is prepared to launch the attack on its own or with the assistance of Israel, if there is little international support. British military chiefs believe an attack would be limited to a series of air strikes against nuclear plants - a land assault is not being considered at the moment.
This is just perfect. Anyone want to bet that the strikes on Iran, if they take place, will be scheduled for next November?
UPDATE:
Key players in the Bush administration think a military confrontation with Iran is unavoidable, leading to stepped up military planning for such a prospect, according to several experts and recently departed senior government officials.
More here.
The United States government is hopeful that the military operation will be a multinational mission, but defence chiefs believe that the Bush administration is prepared to launch the attack on its own or with the assistance of Israel, if there is little international support. British military chiefs believe an attack would be limited to a series of air strikes against nuclear plants - a land assault is not being considered at the moment.
This is just perfect. Anyone want to bet that the strikes on Iran, if they take place, will be scheduled for next November?
UPDATE:
Key players in the Bush administration think a military confrontation with Iran is unavoidable, leading to stepped up military planning for such a prospect, according to several experts and recently departed senior government officials.
More here.
Yesterday Snow Gone.....Today....
Sunday I could have raked my lawn. Today 5-6 inches of heavy slushy snow at my house with more to come tonight.
Monday, April 03, 2006
The Bugkiller Announces Retirement
We won't have Tom Delay to kick around anymore. He's finally hanging it up.
Why?
March 31, 2006: Tony Rudy, a one-time aide to DeLay, pleads guilty in Washington to conspiracy and promises to cooperate with a federal investigation of bribery and lobbying fraud.
Why?
March 31, 2006: Tony Rudy, a one-time aide to DeLay, pleads guilty in Washington to conspiracy and promises to cooperate with a federal investigation of bribery and lobbying fraud.
Nobel Laureate Criticizes Gov't Science Policy
Dr. Eric Kandel won the 2000 Nobel Prize for his work on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons. He is comparing effects of todays government science policy to the Eisenhower-McCarthy era when scientists were denied funding for their political views. Except today is worse than the McCarthy era. Dr. Kandel was joined by 62 top US scientists in denouncing the Bush administrations suppression of scientific knowledge.
Noting that it's "a terrible time for science" in the U.S., Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel has compared the effects of government science policy to the Eisenhower-McCarthy era, when scientists were persecuted for their political beliefs.
He goes on to say:
"There's very little funding, there's political censorship about what one does and how one speaks about it," he said. "I think the scientific community is extremely concerned about the future of this country given the restrictions on science at the moment."
The Bush administration has been known to manipulate science to fit its policies.
Go here to see a 'jibjab' like cartoon critique of Exxon Mobil, global warming, and the Bush Admin.
Noting that it's "a terrible time for science" in the U.S., Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel has compared the effects of government science policy to the Eisenhower-McCarthy era, when scientists were persecuted for their political beliefs.
He goes on to say:
"There's very little funding, there's political censorship about what one does and how one speaks about it," he said. "I think the scientific community is extremely concerned about the future of this country given the restrictions on science at the moment."
The Bush administration has been known to manipulate science to fit its policies.
Go here to see a 'jibjab' like cartoon critique of Exxon Mobil, global warming, and the Bush Admin.
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