It just so happens that Texas and Louisiana have more of these idiots than most.
Okay that headline is of course not entirely accurate since evolution has been in effect since the very first cells formed, however it was on 1 July 1858 (150 years ago today) that the idea of natural selection was first presented to the public.
Of course don’t tell anyone in Texas or Louisiana because they’ll just get all upset that you’re making them think too hard.
The Beagle Project has a summary of the significance of this day in scientific history.
Happy Darwin Day!
AT&T whistle blower Mark Klein succinctly pins down the basics of the snooping allegations the EFF’s pursuing against AT&T in two minutes.
The New York Times has an editorial that nails the issue with more detail but I have paraphrased that article here for your condensed reading pleasure.
The White House and Democratic and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill announced a “compromise” on a domestic spying bill that is decidedly NOT a compromise. The White House and Republicans lap dogs want to keep courts from reviewing the legality of domestic spying programs and to give legal immunity to the telecommunications companies that broke the law by helping Mr. Bush carry out his warrantless wiretapping operation.
The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, requires the government to get a warrant to intercept communications between anyone in this country and anyone outside it. The FISA court has approved all but a small handful of the thousands of warrants requested by the government so anybody claimg the government’s hands are tied is ignorant or lying. (President Bush, I’m looking at you)
Still, after Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Bush bypassed the FISA court and authorized the interception of international calls and e-mail messages without a warrant. Once news about this got out in 2005 Bush falsely claimed that FISA did not allow the United States to act quickly enough to stop terrorists. Not surprisingly that was complete crap because FISA always gave the government the power to listen first and then get a warrant later (up to 48 hours later).
FISA did require a technology update since it required a warrant to eavesdrop on foreign communications that go through American computers, but it was an easy fix. Unfortunately when Congress made the fix last year, they once again curled into a pathetic fetal position and let the White House add amendments that seriously diluted the courts’ ability to restrain the government from spying on its own citizens. Typical really.
That law expires on Aug. 3, and Bush is trying to not only get it renewed but to weasel in more spy powers and the telcom immunity. Obviously given this administration’s refusal to submit to any oversight from courts or congress, lawsuits against the telcoms are the single best hope of finding out the extent of Mr. Bush’s lawless spying.
Alas Democratic leaders in Congress are still craven spineless cowards and have agreed to a phony compromise drafted by the Republican vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee Senator Christopher Bond. Under this “compromise” the government could tap all communications in the United States without individual warrants or even a showing of probable cause…and it would do so with greatly reduced judicial review.
If Congress cannot pass a clean bill that fixes the one real problem with FISA, it should simply extend the temporary authorization. At a minimum, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, should oppose FISA expansion and pledge to revisit it next year. If any significant changes are going to be made, they should be made under the next president, Barack Obama.
Please call your Congressional Representative and tell them you want this appalling legislation blocked. Also encourage the funding of stem cell research so that someday Democratic leaders can get the spinal and testical transplants they so clearly need.
Dry clean only…
Car discussed by BMW Director of Design Chris Bangle
Today I ask the faithful the question:
“Do you believe the story of Noah and the flood? Why or why not?”
Sounds simple enough, but I imagine there is a broad spectrum of opinions on this well known story. Not to ruin the surprise but I think the story is completely ridiculous. I know, you’re shocked to hear that. But I’ve heard young earthers talk about the flood in the context of ridding the earth of dinosaurs and creating the Grand Canyon. Hell, there’s a whole section of the creationist museum in Cincinnati devoted to convincing people that the Noah story is true.
So c’mon people, what am I missing here? Convince me God pulled off this amazing story…or are you just going to wuss out and tell me this is yet another example of the Bible teaching in parables?
Evangelically yours (in a completely heterosexual way),
Super J.
This might turn into a new series of questions and maybe the faithful out there will bring some answers to the table. To begin this series then I didn’t want to throw out some recent or obscure scientific question that nobody has researched. No, to be fair I thought I’d give them an easy question that’s been around for a while. Something they should have had time to work out by now.
Today I ask the faithful the question, why is there evil in the world? Of course the Greek philosopher Epicurus asked this question over two thousand years ago:
“If God is willing to prevent evil, but not able…then He is impotent.
If He is able, but not willing…then He is malevolent.
If He is both able and willing…then whence cometh evil?”
Two thousand years is a long time and yet I have yet to hear a good answer to such a basic question. I do hope someone out there can clear this up for me once and for all.
Evangelically yours (in a completely heterosexual way),
Super J.
If you don’t think this is the coolest desk ever you just don’t have any idea how wrong you really are. Yes, it’s that cool.
“Yes sir, I’d like to demand a raise. What? Why no I didn’t see your new desk. That IS something isn’t it?! Yes, um, I’m sure what I said is that I’m overpaid and underworked…nevermind.”
Credit: From Tom Spina Designs
New York Times food writer Mark Bittman weighs in on what’s wrong with the way we eat now (too much meat, too few plants; too much fast food, too little home cooking), and why it’s putting the entire planet at risk.
He makes a compelling case worth considering.
There has been a long standing debate about Einstein’s views on Religion. The devout will rightly point to quotes from Einstein saying “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind” or even his dismissal of the randomness of Quantum theory stating “He [God] does not throw dice”. To the less theistic these quotes always seemed to be flamboyantly hollow rhetorical devices used by the great thinker.
Now there is proof that our suspicions were correct.
The philosopher Eric Gutkind sent Einstein a copy of his new book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. Einstein sat down and on January 3 1954 penned a reply stating:
“The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”
…
“For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.”
Perhaps science isn’t so lame without religion after all.
The handwritten letter will go on sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in London later this week and is expected to fetch up to $16,000.
(source: The Guardian)
Just try and pretend THIS isn’t the definition of awesomeness. In fact there is so much awesomeness in one place that if it was any more awesome it would collapse into an inescapable vortex of awesome that the entire universe would be sucked into. True story.
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