Saturday, February 16, 2008

Uncle Orange Disproves Evolution



Does anyone else fear for the people of Florida? Listen for the "amens" in the background. The speaker is Pastor Dallas Ellis of the Providence Baptist Church, Grand Ridge, FL.

Poland Rocks

I've had 29 visitors to this website from Poland this morning. Every one of them reading this post on Leishmaniasis in U.S. soldiers. Is there some sort of conference concerning Leishmaniasis going on in Poland today?

Friday, February 15, 2008

Teaching College is Hard Work



This is the way I feel sometimes.

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid - Again

When it's election season, it's time to be afraid. When Bush leaves office I'm sure he will be able to get a job telling scary stories. This time we need to be afraid unless we allow Telecom companies to break the law with impunity. In order for the American people to remain free - we need to break some laws. The House of Representatives isn't buying this. If the "Protect America Act" is so important in protecting us, just pass the Act now without Telecom Immunity and revisit the immunity issue in another bill. But we can't do that because then it would be more difficult to scare the voters.

Telecom immunity is so important to this Bill that Bush has said he will veto the bill if immunity is not included. That's one way to protect America I guess but it sure seems like that would be called "aiding the terrorists" if a Democrat did such a thing.

Bush should be more honest with us - honest, that is such a laugh. Does he know if the Telecoms broke the law? If they did, why doesn't he say so? If they didn't break the law why can't he tell us they didn't break the law? The thing is....there is evidence that indicates some Telecom companies did break the law.

Big brother - your name is Bush and many people are more afraid of you than they are of third-world terrorists.

Why Shoot Down Our Own Spy Satellite?

Simple, it's a good excuse to test out the latest missile technology. The excuses that the free falling, school bus-sized, spy satellite might hit someone, or that the hydrazine fuel is dangerous are just that - convenient excuses. How many people have been killed by a falling satellite? No, this is all about testing out this baby - the Raytheon RIM-161A Standard Missile 3.



This is a 21 ft long missile with a kinetic "hit-to-kill" warhead. It is fired from an Aegis equipped destroyer or cruiser and was designed to intercept incoming nuclear warheads. This is a perfect opportunity for a real-life test of this missile. Unfortunately, other nations frown upon testing anti-satellite weapons systems. In fact, we didn't much care for it when the Chinese did the same thing last year. This is purely a test of an anti-satellite system by the USA.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Saudi Arabia to Execute Witch



Who knew it was illegal to be a witch these days? But this poor, illiterate, Saudi woman is going to have her head chopped off for bewitching a man. She cast a spell that made him impotent.....really, there were witnesses.

Total Eclipse of the Moon



For people on the eastern coast of the USA a total eclipse of the moon can be seen starting at 10 PM (partial eclipse begins at 8:43 PM)on Feb. 20. The eclipse mid-point will be at 10:26 PM and the total eclipse will end at 12:09 AM.

Find more info on this particular eclipse here.

2008 Ice Palace at Night

Rape Isn't What it Used to Be



How do ignorant old men like this get elected to office?

House Republicans Walk Out



Poor GOP. They are upset over the issuing of contempt citations against White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. See, if you are in the Bush administration you are above the law. Unless, of course, someone gets a BJ I suppose. The GOP think it's much more important to be working on the surveillence bill. We need to be able to spy on the American people. We need to have a bill that gives amnesty to the Telecoms. The rule of law does not seem to apply to Republican administrations. Unless you get a BJ of course. That is a whole other ball game.

BTW, the contempt vote passed 223-32. The Republicans and their faux outrage were not needed.

Sciencedebate 2008 Moving Forward

Hundreds of eminent scientists, Nobel Lauriates, scientific organizations, journal editors and university presidents have signed on to a call for a presidential debate on science and technology. So exactly where does your favorite presidential candidate stand on policies concerning science and technology. Do they think evolution and intelligent design should be given equal opportunity in being taught in the science classroom? What do they think about stem cell research - use embryonic stem cells or not? Global warming - is it an important issue....important enough to address when they are president? How about energy independence? Is it possible for the USA to become independent of foreign supplies of oil? How would they propose doing so? The environment, clean water, healthy oceans; health and medicine, global diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, drug patents, generic drugs. These are only a few of the many issues that should be discussed.

The non-partisan debate has been scheduled for April 18, 2008 at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That is four days prior to the Pennsylvania primary. As far as I know, not a single candidate has agreed to such a debate.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

McCain - Opposes Torture Except When He Does Not

John McCain is opposed to torture as well he should be. Why then did McCain vote in opposition to a Senate Intelligence Authorization Bill that would ban waterboarding? The bill passed 51-45 but without McCains help. The bill will likely be vetoed by G.W. Bush. You see the USA does not torture so we do not need a provision in law that says we will not torture.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Darwin's Birthday

Almost forgot, Happy Darwin Day. Charles Darwin was born 199 yrs ago.

Immunity for Telecoms

[Washington Post Toles editorial cartoon]

It seems a majority of our Senators agree that US telecoms should not be liable for cooperating with G.W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program. Maybe they broke the law - maybe they didn't. I guess we will never know because they will not have to appear before a jury of their peers to make a determination.

Three cheers for the rule of law! Pretty soon everyone, not just G.W. Bush, will be able to pick and choose which laws they want to follow.

MegaVote

I've mentioned this before I believe but a website called MegaVote is a pretty slick site that emails you the current voting record of those specific members of Congress in whom you have an interest - such as your own reps. I get these MegaVote emails from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology which also has some pretty handy tools to find out what your government representatives have been up to recently. The FASEB website even provides contact information about your local representatives. While at the FASEB website make sure and visit the "Take a Stand for Science" page.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

David Shuster Gets Screwed by MSNBC

I have to agree with Andrew Golis concerning the suspension of David Shuster from MSNBC. Shuster is definitely the least of MSNBC's problems. So Shuster, who is an excellent iinvestigative reporter, makes an ill advised comment concerning the Clinton campaign "pimping" out Chelsea Clinton. Ok, he realized it was a mistake and has apologized twice now. Still, the network suspends him indefinitely.

What about some of the things Chris Matthews says on Hardball? What about "Morning Joe" Scarborough and his "girl" cohost Mika Brzezinski. What about Tucker Carlson and Pat Buchanan? I've heard all of those men say things or imply things much worse than what Shuster said about Chelsea Clinton. Remember back in the 90's when Rush Limbaugh compared an elementary school Chelsea Clinton to a dog?

Shuster is definitely getting a raw deal from MSNBC.

2008 Carnival Parade Part 3

2008 Winter Carnival Parade Part 2