Last October, it seemed as if The Bush Gang had proved the "stopped clock" theory and had "gotten one right" on the foreign policy test. A major development in the nuclear situation in North Korea involved six-party talks and an agreement stipulating that N. Korea would end their nuclear programs in return for removal from the "State Sponsors of Terror" list. They did. We didn't. Surprise!
Now, as the US and other nations bicker about the method of verification of the disarming, N. Korea has stated that as of Aug. 14th, they have halted the dismantling of their enrichment program. Way to go George. The immaturity of this guy is astounding. He got what he wanted, the feather in his cap for disarming N. Korea, but when it came time for him to keep his end of the bargain, guess what he did? Yup, changed the rules and yelled "Psych!" And now the world once again must face the consequences of the Bush Cabal's ignorance/incompetence; a potentially re-armed North Korea.
Sorry that it has been so long since I've updated but things have been rather hectic lately as I moved to Chicago on one week's notice. Hopefully things will get settled down pretty fast and I can start posting again. Dean will still be in Texas and if he ever gets time will be posting from there still.
So I did a bit of talking about ScienceDebate2008, anyone remember that? It was going to be a public forum debate in Philadelphia concerning the science policies and knowledge of the Presidential candidates. Remember how all the idiots running for President turned it down? They were just 'too busy' or 'washing their hair' or something?
Amazingly though, both Obama and McCain found the time to participate in this shit-fest:
The Rev. Rick Warren, author of the best-seller "The Purpose-Driven Life," will spend an hour interviewing each candidate at his 20,000-member Saddleback mega-church in Southern California.
Yes, good idea guys, turn down the request of the most brilliant fucking minds on this planet and every major science organization, but accept the opportunity to be questioned by RICK FUCKING WARREN IN A FUCKING MEGA CHURCH. Seriously guys, what the fuck?!?!?
Sometimes I feel like no matter how much text I spew out about climate change and damage to the environment I just can't get the point across that we really are affecting our planet. So I've gathered a few visuals to do the explaining, you can't argue with this.
That's right folks, the Bush administration continues its war on science and its practitioners by redefining the term "abortion". This move attempts to try and cover more people under pre-existing laws concerning medical procedures and provider's abilities to refuse them.
Under the new definition of "assist in the performance" people such as the instrument sterilizers can now refuse to participate if they feel abortion or any other procedure goes against their personal beliefs. No word yet on whether the custodians who clean the operating floors will come under this protection (though I severely doubt it considering the intent of this move).
The definition of abortion though is the one that people should be scared of. Traditionally an abortion has involved terminating pregnancy after the embryo has successfully implanted in the uterus. The new definition, one which more closely resembles the religious beliefs of the administration at the expense of the science and medical tradition, is much, much, much broader:
Therefore, for the purpose of these proposed regulations, and implementing and enforcing the Church Amendment, Public Health Service Act AS245, and the Weldon Amendment, the Department proposes to define abortion as "any of the various procedures--including the prescription and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action--that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation."
This is a major, major change in the definition which brings every form of contraception under its umbrella. Birth control pills, plan B, even IUD's.
Women should be appalled at this, as well as the myriad reproductive rights and care the administration has taken away from them. Please contact your representatives and tell them where you stand on this. Things start off on a slow roll, such as allowing Viagra to be covered under insurance but not birth control, and eventually take a mind of their own (now we'll just adjust the definition of abortion to bring those techniques under scrutiny).
I almost didn't want to write about this because of the recent tradgedy in Knoxville, TN, but there really doesn't seem to be any harm. This group (this joke, really) has no connection to the Unitarian Church, and obviously does not encourage or condone violence. Some humor and peaceful talk is probably the best remedy.
But this article is awesome. I know, its old, but I love the idea of radical rationality, that measured dialogue has become fringe. Some time it does seem that the country has decided it will only pay attention to the squeakiest, and craziest, of wheels. Voices of intelligence and thoughtfulness have been marginalized and replaced by screaming faces like Rush and BillO and (yes, him too) even Olbermann. Even the sounds coming out of our government have become more belligerent and opinionated. Irrational Ideology has become mainstream, demands loyalty, and has thrust Reason into the realm of Extremisim.
This was the best line:
We will require all lobbyists, spokesmen and campaign managers to dress like trout in public.
I totally agree, with this particular jackass as People's Exhibit A.
One of the most photographed arches in southern Utah collapsed earlier this week. I remember standing under Wall Arch in Devil's Garden area of Arches National Park and getting my photo snapped by my mother. Now the photograph opportunity is gone and most likely the area will be closed to the public as the structure continues to collapse as it's weight is shifted.
Gravity and erosion are the culprits for the arch's collapse. Over time the slow march of natural forces took its toll on the arch, which joins the 1991 collapse of Landscape arch is merely a memory. All other arches in the park will meet this same fate over time. Something like this should remind us all of the incredible power of time.
The arch was once just a solid rock whose center was eaten away to reveal a beautiful formation. This arch stood for hundreds of thousands of years until eventually the same forces which shaped its pleasing aesthetic caused it to collapse under the delicate frame that time had left it with. This is one of those punctuating events of geology and the evolution of earth's mass, similar to an earthquake that builds tension for hundreds, if not thousands, if not millions of years. Every point in time in which the earthquake doesn't begin but builds the potential for action is just as important as the event itself. Over time this slow build up, like drops in a bucket, wields heavy penetrating power which is released in the geologic equivalent of blink. A geological bomb, assembling to reach critical mass, punctuates these events.
Anyone following the race between Obama and McCain has been constantly bombarded with this idea of Obama's "presumptuousness." That he's some elitist liberal, looking down his nose at the rest of the country. He ordered arugula lettuce at one point, which obviously indicates how out of touch he is, right? His Ivy League education is another evident smudge on his "average Joe" record, despite Bush's (C average) degree from Yale which wasn't an issue in 2000 or 2004.
But the worst of it came during Obama's recent trip abroad. He was greeted with massive crowds at each campaign stop and met with various heads of state in Europe and the Middle East. And at each appearance, Obama carried himself with the dignity and courtesy of, well, a president. He was respectful, inspiring, and noble, and the foreign crowds and dignitaries he met with responded in kind. Yet he has been slammed as merely "acting" the part, that he thought he already had the election in the bag and was putting on the airs of his assumed victory. Of course, I never bought that criticism. John Stewart said it best when he pointed out that both Obama and McCain are running for the office of the freakin President of the United States, of course they are going to have egos. But watching the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, I think I now understand where these ideas are coming from. This is what we have become accustomed to from our Leader.
Can you believe this putz? He is on the world stage, for Christ's Sake, maybe he could act interested, or at least grown up. This guy, who we elected twice (/shame), is bouncing his knee, looking at his watch, looking bored as hell. He's like a toddler in church! When I saw that I started yelling at the TV, telling George to "fucking behave yourself!" I mean, the whole damn world is watching, and you can tell that all this jackass wants to do is go back to the hotel room and make a fort out of the extra pillows. The man has pissed me off too many times to count, but damn it, I never thought I would be so embarrassed by the POTUS. Next to his shredding of the Constitution, torture policies, Iraq, the economy, etc, this isn't such a big deal, but it is such a slap to our national image. Behaving like an adult at major state functions is kind of the bare-minimum, I would guess, of the President's job description, and this immature frat boy can't even get that right.
So no wonder everyone thinks Obama is being snotty. We're used to a leader who probably shoots spitballs at the Joint Chiefs during briefings and has his old drinking buddies over for late night toilet-papering runs on the Hoover Building.
So if that is presumptuousness, I'll take that over juvenile jackassery any day.
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