TEA Party Tracker

I like this the >tea party tracker website.

The TEA Party is NOT racist.

Wilful Ignorance or Know-Nothings?

I didn't realize that 'wilful ignorance' (wilful blindness) is a legal term.

a term used in law to describe a situation in which an individual seeks to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally putting himself in a position where he will be unaware of facts which would render him liable

So let's look at how the urban dictionary defines the term:

Knowingly ignoring something for no good reason

Well, that's not how I think of the term. I like this definition from rational Wiki.

Wilful ignorance is the state and practice of ignoring any evidence that appears to contradict one's preconceived notions

Some examples: President Obama is a muslim or President Obama is not a citizen or climate change theory is a big conspiracy or evolution is only a theory.

People holding these views are wilfully ignorant in my opinion. There is a nice opinion commentary on this phenomenon in todays NYT called "Building a Nation of Know-Nothings" by Timothy Egan. One paragraph that deserves some thought:

The Democrats may deserve to lose in November. They have been terrible at trying to explain who they stand for and the larger goal of their governance. But if they lose, it should be because their policies are unpopular or ill-conceived — not because millions of people believe a lie.

It does appear that the TEA Party is especially adept at choosing know-nothing candidates. Sharon Angle, Rand Paul, Joe Miller, and our own local TEA partier Doug Hoffman. At least in the case of the first three individuals, it seems to say alot about the people who support these candidates.

Follow the Money

Who is actually funding the NYC "ground zero mosque" which is not at ground zero and not a mosque. We need to investigate whether muslim terrorists are investing money in this mosque.

Leave it to FOX news to find the possible source of some of this money. The Kingdom Foundation has funded Imam Rauf in the past, tried to give Rudy Giuliani 10 million dollars after the 9/11 attacks (which he refused) and supposedly funds radical madrassas all over the world. This is outrageous.

His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud is the chairman of this foundation. Where else does the foundation invest money? Well, Citigroup, Inc.; The Plaza Hotel (NYC); PepsiCo Inc.; The Walt Disney Company; Apple, HP, Eastman Kodak, Ebay, Motorola and surprise, surprise, The News Corp., parent company of FOX News.

What does Jon Stewart of the Daily Show have say about this?

"This is the proposed 'terror mosque.' We know that it's a terror mosque, because the money may be coming from a bad guy, who definitely owns part of Fox News. Now we know that he's a bad guy, because we just heard it on Fox News. And by hearing it on Fox News, watching Fox News, I'm increasing their viewership, and their advertising rates go up. Now part of that money goes to the bad guy we learned about on Fox, because he's their part-owner, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, allowing him then to 'make it rain,' so to speak, on the terror mosque.

"My point is this. If we want to cut off funding to the terror mosque, we must, together as a nation, STOP WATCHING FOX! It's the only way! Using their reasoning, it's the only way to cut off the revenue stream to these 'bad dudes.'"

Watch the whole thing

here.

The Bush Tax Cuts

Remember the Bush tax cuts? No, I don't really either. At my income level, the tax cut was near invisible. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, and they were for the wealthy, are soon set to expire. Conservatives want you to think President Obama wants the tax cuts to end for everyone, but he doesn't. Ninety-eight percent of us get to keep the new tax brackets and the other 2% keep paying. At least, that's the plan.

Paul Krugman has a must read opinion piece in today's NYT's. Krugman reminds us that Republicans wrote the tax cut law so it would expire soon. Why did they do that? Two reasons, first to hide the cost of the tax cuts and second, so they could pass the law using reconciliation (the procedure Democrats aren't supposed to use to pass laws).

Making all the tax cuts permanent would cost 680 billion dollars over ten years. Conservatives want to spend that much money without making spending cuts. After all, tax cuts pay for themselves in conservative-world.

Right now, I'm guessing the Conservatives win on this issue. The tax cuts will be extended for all because Democrats are spineless and because it's what the rich want. And, the rich give the money to elect the politicians.

I fear for our economic future. I'm actually starting to believe I need to get what money I have and put it someplace safe....like my mattress.

The New Culture Wars

Remember the old conservative culture wars? Abortion, flag-burning, school prayer, gun rights and the Ten Commandments in government buildings? It kind of makes one yearn for the good old days. Promises were made to the religious right by conservatives, but the conservatives couldn't deliver. The above conservative culture issues seemed to have gone away because they aren't as effective in getting votes as they used to be.

Now we have culture wars II. The new culture war is based on the premise that you have to be afraid of the people who aren't like you, usually brown people. Immigrant anchor babies, immigrant terrorist babies, Mosque construction at ground zero by terrorist supporting muslims, and the double whammy of having a President who is not only a muslim, but wasn't even born in the USA.

And, instead of proposing new Constitutional amendments to ban flag-burning and make abortion illegal, the conservatives are now proposing that we repeal some of the Bill of Rights.

This is identity politics at it's worst. Be afraid. Be very afraid (usually of dark skinned people). The white Christians in the USA are being persecuted. Vote for us before it's too late and the muslims take over. Being in the middle of a severe economic crisis doesn't help. Someone needs to be blamed. How about blaming the guy who is a muslim and wasn't born in the USA.

This strategy is effective and will garner votes for the conservatives.....in the short term.

Doug Hoffman, Castro, and Michael Moore

I saw Doug Hoffman in the Blue Moon Cafe this morning discussing strategy with a little weird guy. Couldn't really hear what they were saying but I did hear three words clearly. "Democrats", "Castro" and "Michael Moore". Hmmmm, an anti-HealthCare ad or an ad about how democrats hate capitalism? Just can't decide.

Just a quick question for Republican women

Are Republican women embarrassed at all that Sharon Angle, Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin seem to be the best the GOP has to offer in female politicians?

Fox News and the Republican Party

Anyone with half a brain has known that Fox News has been an advertising arm for the Republican party for years. Now, Fox News (News Corp)has decided they would come clean today. BTW, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is Fox's No. 2 shareholder, so I hope he gets his share of influence in the GOP.

The Dunning-Kruger effect

Bertrand Russell wrote The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. Charles Darwin wrote Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. Russell and Darwin had noticed what's now called the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias. It's why many incompetent people are very confident but their very incompetence denies them the capacity to realize their mistakes.

Dunning and Kruger put it this way: Overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it."

My interest in this phenomenon is due to comments to a recent article in the ADE concerning Bill McKibben's talk about climate change at Paul Smiths College.

The climate change "deniers" (skeptics?) seem to be 100% certain that humans are not responsible for recent warming trends. It's a conspiracy, it's the Sun, it's always happened, it's volcano's, man is too puny etc. etc. etc. Forget the scientific evidence, forget that most of their "explanations" have been investigated and found not to be contributing to the warming trend.

Am I 100% certain the climate is warming? Well, it's rare in science to be 100% certain about anything, so of course there are doubts. But all sorts of scientific evidence point to a warming trend due to increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. Until there is good evidence that shows this is not the case, I guess I'll stick with the climate is changing crowd.

George Carlin, one of my favorites, once said something like: Imagine the average American...half of them are dumber than that. I'm afraid when it comes to certain scientific theories, it's a bit more than half.

You can read more about the Dunning-Kruger effect in this NY Times science article.

There's Nothing to Fear.......or is there?

It's been a long hot summer. In fact, it's likely to be the hottest summer, if not the hottest year on record. But not only the temperature made this summer hot. We've had lots of fear-mongering about brown people. A white hating Ag department official, Arizona going to hell in a hand basket due to Hispanic looking persons, the New Black Panthers are plotting revolution against whites, beheadings in Arizona, anchor babies, terrorist babies, evil dangerous mosques being built on the 911 site in NYC etc. Will this be known as the Summer of Fear Mongering?

But do you want to hear something that actually should scare you a little? How about the discovery of a new antibiotic resistance gene that makes almost all beta-lactam antibiotics obsolete?

Beta-lactam antibiotics are antibiotics that contain a beta-lactam nucleus in their molecular structure, eg. penicillin and its derivatives, cephalosporins, and carbapenems.

Beta-lactam antibiotics are resistant to beta-lactamase, an enzyme produced by some bacterial strains which can break open the beta-lactam ring and render the antibiotic useless.

Carbapenems are a group of beta-lactam antibiotics that are highly resistant to beta-lactamase and is the last drug of choice to treat some bacterial infections. But now we have a brand new bacterial antibiotic resistance enzyme encoded by the New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1) gene.

The appearance of the gene was first seen in New Delhi about a year ago. In the last year it has been isolated from bacteria in the UK, USA, and Africa. There are no current antibiotics to combat bacteria containing the NDM-1 gene. And, the gene is rapidly spreading via horizontal gene transfer.

Here is a nice quote from a recent paper Lancet paper: "Enterobacteriaceae with NDM-1 carbapenemases are highly resistant to many antibiotic classes and potentially herald the end of treatment with β-lactams, fluoroquinolones, and aminoglycosides—the main antibiotic classes for the treatment of Gram-negative infections."

So, if we are really unlucky, we might have real problems to deal with in the near future.

Time to Choose Obama or Bush Tax Plan

The Black People are Gonna Get You

One thing always seems to get the vote for the GOP. It worked in the 60's and it is working now.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

But Where are the Specifics?

GOP: Keep Tax Cuts for the rich but we can't afford to help jobless

Seriously, GOPer's want to spend $68 billion per year on tax cuts for the rich and at the same time tell people who are out of work that we can't afford an extension to unemployment benefits. What is really shocking is that the GOP will likely gain seats in the next Congress. What is wrong with the American voter?

Fixing Social Security

According to the Congressional Budget Office we have several choices.



I favor taxing covered earnings up to $250,000 without an increase in benefits or better yet, taxing covered earnings above the taxable maximum without an increase in benefits. Why? Because higher income earning men live longer than lower income earning men. Seems only fair that those that are going to live longer should have to pay more into the system.


Reference

Who Owns You?

I do believe wilfull ignorance is a major problem in the USA. People can't think critically, they cannot evaluate evidence (facts) that is staring them in the face. And, even worse, even if they see and understand the facts, a majority will not accept those facts. We are getting screwed by a big Red, White and Blue Dick.

It Sounds True; It Should be True: Therefore it IS True

Ever hear of Ted Barber? He's runnin fer Congress down home in Alabamy. He's the guy running the campaign commercials where he has conversations with ghosts of the founding fathers. He ran the commercial claiming we are all going to end up slaves or in nazi-like concentration camps.

Today he writes an editorial in the Washington Post defending his positions.

Over the past 18 months, the federal government has sought to seize or has seized control of the health-care industry, the financial industry, the mortgage industry, the automobile industry, student loans, broadband Internet and the energy sector through cap-and-trade legislation.

Some questions. Has the federal government seized control of the health-care industry? If they did, they used mostly Republican ideas to do so. Have they "seized" control of the finance industry? Explain how please. Where is the evidence for what Barber wrote in the above paragraph? What are the facts? Do facts even matter anymore?

A few days ago, Former Gov. Mitt Romney wrote an editorial in the Washington Post describing how bad President Obama's new strategic arms limitation treaty with Russia is. Paragraph after paragraph of demonstrable misinformation and lies were written. Facts did not matter. It sounded true, it should be true, so it is true. No matter the facts.

Sadly, at least 40% of us believe in this crap. It sounds true, it should be true, so it is true. Facts no longer matter.

Republicans for Corporations

Not that there are any new revelations here. The Republican party has not made a secret of their support of corporations over people...ever. One example not mentioned is the funding of the finance reform bill to be voted on shortly. Democrats want banks to pay for it. Republicans want to use TARP (taxpayers dollars) funds to pay for it.

Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?

Joseph Nye Welsh was the lead counsel for the US Army when it was being investigated by the infamous Sen. Joseph McCarthy. When Sen. McCarthy accused one of Welsh's junior attorneys of being a communist, Welsh eventually said: At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

I wonder when someone will state some similar phrase to Republicans that are defending British Petroleum, especially concerning the $20 billion escrow account?

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) doesn't want to live in a country that "shakes down" private corporations. He has actually apologized to BP.

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) sees the escrow account as a "redistribution of wealth" fund.

Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) says the fund was obtained using a "Chicago-style shakedown".

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) is worried the fund will hurt BP's profits.

Rep. John Boehner thinks the America taxpayer should fund some of the relief.

GOP candidate Sharon Angle says we need further deregulation of the oil industry.

Tea Party candidate Rand Paul stated that it is un-American to criticize BP.

And, not surprisingly, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are both opposed to the escrow account, as is Dick Army, one of the puppetmasters behind the tea party.

I wonder how many people in the Gulf states agree with the views of these people. And, why do the above individuals seem to favor BP?

In one way the views of the above people aren't really surprising. Shortly after President Obama was elected, the GOP decided that they would oppose ANYTHING that President Obama or Democrats supported. I also believe that these views will catch on with a good portion of the GOP and conservatives.

Unfortunately, the tea partiers and other right-wing nuts will suck of these views adding to the support of the BP supporters. The views stated by the above individuals will actually help them and not hurt them.

The Loony Left

Rand Paul is blaming the "loony left" for his problems concerning his views on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But just who is the "loony left"? For Paul and probably most conservatives, any Democrat would be included in the loony left group. But there is no question that there does exist a "loony left".

For example, those people who do not "believe" in the protective capacity of vaccines. Or, believe that vaccines are responsible for autism. This group of people consist of those "new age" liberals that probably accept the evidence for global climate change but somehow can't accept the evidence for the usefulness of vaccines.

The Huffington Post is one place these new age loony leftists seem to get their information. Take for example this post by "integrative physician" Dr. Frank Lipman on the usefulness of the swine flu vaccine. Dr. Lipman questioned the swine flu vaccine's safety. Right off this indicates to me the good Doctor does not understand how flu vaccines are manufactured.

For some reason the loony left seems to be very suspicious of science based medicine. Many members of the loony left prefer to use "alternative medicine" such as homeopathy, naturopathy or hydrotherapy.

Another group of the loony left are those that want the right to get sick from drinking raw milk. Raw milk is regulated, as are many other food products, because there is a possibility of infecting yourself with some dangerous pathogens when drinking unpasteurized milk. The loony left is willing to take that chance however.



Then there is the hypocrit group of the loony left. These liberals want the US to be self sufficient in energy. But, not if it ruins the "view". Or, they combine the "view" criticism with health issues, as has been done by Dr. Nina Pierpont.

Now don't get me wrong. Show me convincing scientific evidence that raw milk is safe, that vaccines cause autism, that you can be healed with water and that wind turbine syndrome is an actual danger to health and I'll be the first to join the loony left.