Are all republicans this stupid or just the ones in Texas?

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/06/28/the-texas-republican-party-platform/

David Frum Explains Washington Gridlock (VIDEO) (HuffPo)

From HuffPo:
David Frum Explains Washington Gridlock (VIDEO)

Honoré: Send Congress to boot camp

(CNN) -- Like most veterans, the men and women who have worn our nation's uniform to defend this country, I am furious with and disappointed in the state of indecision that plagued Washington these past few weeks. Whether or not to raise the debt ceiling so our country can continue to pay our bills and maintain our global credit rating didn't seem like such a difficult decision.

As a retired, disabled soldier who spent 37 years in the Army, I can only see this debacle -- the weeks of haggling to get to an eleventh-hour deal -- as the definition of "mission failure." At this point, even the last-minute deal that is on its way to President Obama's desk will not repair the damage our elected leadership's amateur-hour, worthless grandstanding has caused.

(read full article)

Of course a literal requirement for congressional leaders to first undergo military boot camp would be a sufficiently high barrier of entry to make it nearly impossible to find nonmilitary candidates; a situation that would inevitably lead to a military bias in congress, but the concept of sending the present congress through boot camp has a certain appeal...

Invasion of the Body Scanners

The news these days is filled with stories of the new backscatter and millimeter-wave body-scanners in airport security checkpoints around the United States. Like many things in America these days, the public coverage of this story is very polarized and most of the public is somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, TSA insists that these screenings are necessary to deny terrorists access to commercial aircraft; on the other, many among the traveling public are upset for various reasons.

Some worry about the radiation dose, though that has been compared in the research to the dose one would get from about 20 minutes flying at cruising altitude just from the natural radiation present high in the atmosphere (TSA actually claims on their web site that it's equivalent to two minutes). This may or may not be a valid concern, but it's probably overblown.

Others are offended by the invasion of privacy inherent in having total strangers looking over what are effectively naked images of their bodies.

TSA says passengers have 3 choices:

1. Undergo the body scan screening.
2. Undergo what is referred to as an "enhanced pat-down", a procedure that in any other context would be regarded as sexual molestation.
3. Don't fly.

Moreover, once the security process is started, the passenger is required to complete it, so choice #3 must be made ahead of the checkpoint.

The controversy over the use of these devices, ostensibly in the interest of public security, rages on in the media, but much of the flying public seems to actually be ok with it, convinced that the value in terms of improved traveler safety is worth the intrusion.

Others would say that in effect the terrorists win this round,because they have forced the greatest nation on earth to relinquish some of its rights and freedoms.

We in America are nothing if not adaptable. This controversy has only just begun. It will likely make its way into the court system, where it will take some years before a final decision is rendered. Meanwhile time goes on and Americans will get used to it.

Where did the intelligent Republicans go?

I remember a time not so many years ago when Republican was not synonymous with moron as it sadly has become. Republicans were wrong a lot, sure, but for the most part they were intelligent, educated, articulate, serious people. What happened? When did they become such a pathetic bunch? When did they become anti-education, anti-intelligence, actively ignorant, dominated by right-wing Christians? Why?

Democrats certainly have their share of problems, but at least they're trying to deal with reality.

And then there are the Tea Partiers - decrying the entrenched interests in DC, but themselves mostly just an extension of the Republican Moron brigade.

And where the hell is the 80+% of the population not on one extreme or the other? It's time for the real people to stand up and be heard. Someone has to tell all these wing nuts to shut the fuck up and stop vandalizing America.

Alert: Evolution Suppressed in Connecticut

"Mr. Tangarone, a 17-year veteran of the Weston school system, claims that a program he wanted to teach about Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln was rejected by the school administration because it involved teaching evolution -- the scientific theory that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor."

Mark Tangarone, who teaches third, fourth, and fifth grade students in the Talented and Gifted (TAG) program at Weston Intermediate School, said he is retiring at the end of the current school year because of a clash with the school administration over the teaching of evolution.

"Under normal circumstances, I would have retired in two more years. However, I feel that because of an unacceptable administrative action, I can no longer continue teaching in Weston," Mr. Tangarone said.

Full article

Is this the way public discourse should play out?

From CNN.COM:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Congressman Earl Blumenauer says he's just a regular fellow "trying to get things accomplished." As a result, the Oregon Democrat tells me, he spends much of his time "looking for ideas that can bring people together -- simple, straightforward ideas that would help people and their families."

And so he proposed the infamous "death panels."

Really.

Before they were Palinized -- and turned into those nasty death panels ready to pounce on Grandma (that "goofy stuff," as he now calls it), Blumenauer had a good idea: help people prepare for the end of life.

As he wrote in The New York Times last weekend, the proposition was simple: "I found it perverse that Medicare would pay for almost any medical procedure, yet not reimburse doctors for having a thoughtful conversation to prepare patients and families for the delicate, complex and emotionally demanding decisions surrounding the end of life."

So, when he began work on health care reform, he included a provision that would allow Medicare to cover a voluntary doctor-patient discussion (only once every five years) about things like living wills, power of attorney and end-of-life treatment.

Oh, the horror.

Talk radio quickly got wind of the proposal when ex-New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey excoriated the measure as a depraved idea that would somehow counsel people to just go ahead and die faster. The absurd notion metastasized. And since Congress is the great lagging indicator, the bizarre interpretation predictably headed toward the floor of the two Houses. Republican leaders were unwilling to balk at a juicy opportunity to fan the flames -- even though the fire was fake. They courageously took on this great cause.

(read full article)

Really now. Is this the way our public discourse should play out?

1. Something is proposed.
   
2. Republicans find a way to twist it into something entirely different and trumpet their "message" to their party faithful.
3. Unquestioningly, they accept this as the message, react with righteous indignation, and repeat the message freely, spreading the meme and further obscuring it from its origin. It takes on a life of its own.
4. Politicians respond to this 'public outcry', as if it somehow turns this false message into truth.
5. The proposal goes down in flames.
   

Come on, people. We can do better. We must do better. This is counterfeit democracy at its worst.

Disruptions drown out debate at health care meetings

From CNN.COM:

(CNN) -- The battle raging over President Obama's health care plan has spread from across the aisles in Congress to across the country.

Senators this week joined their colleagues from the House at town hall meetings as they spent their August recess in their home districts.

But disruptive protests are turning town hall meetings into shouting matches and drowning out discussion over what is and isn't in health care plans in the House and Senate.

Videos of the protests have been circulating on the Internet, showing raucous crowds heckling their congressmen, and carrying posters with devil horns drawn on lawmakers' heads, swastikas or Obama with Adolf Hitler's mustache.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, who had a town hall meeting disrupted by angry protesters earlier this month, said he had never experienced such emotion in his 15 years of holding such forums.

Democratic Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina even had a death threat phoned into his office. A caller said that if Miller supported Obama's plan, it could cost him his life, Miller told CNN.

"Of course we want a full debate. Of course we want people who have dissenting views from the administration and Congress to have a full hearing. But that's not what this is about. That's not the intent of most of these people. It's not the way the press is covering it," Mark Halperin, editor-at-large and senior political analyst for TIME magazine, said on CNN's "Reliable Sources."

The protesters' gimmicks, Halperin said, are grabbing the public and media's attention, and valid arguments over the cost and content of the proposals are being put on the back burner.

"There needs to be a debate in America on whether we should have universal health care. There needs to be a debate on the president's ideas. If these protesters have ideas, great. Let's hear them. But if they're just stunts to cause a disruption that gets the media tripped in every time, again, I think it's bad for the country whether you want the president's plan or not," he said.

(CNN article)

Debate is a foundational element of a democracy. It is a critical process in order to arrive at reasonable resolution of any significant problem, certainly of this magnitude. Those trying to disrupt the debate rather than participate in it are distracting us from our civic duty; not participating in it. Certainly they are free to protest (provided they do so peacefully), but under the circumstances, their credibility is suspect at best. Protest should be reserved for the times when the necessary debate is not happening or when important parties to it are excluded. To protest the very debate itself is just pathetic; even stupid.

Obama to move ahead on immigration reform

(CNN) -- The White House is planning to start addressing the nation's immigration system as early as May, two senior administration officials said Thursday.

President Obama will rely on a bipartisan, diverse group of experts to help build the framework for legislation, the officials said.

One official noted that immigration will not be "on the same track" as other key initiatives like health care and energy, and "nobody's promising legislation or a vote this year."

There are roughly 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. In addition to making a way for some of them to stay in the country legally, CNN has learned the Obama administration wants to remove incentives to enter the U.S. illegally, beef up border security and work with Mexico to cut down on illegal immigration.

Meanwhile, the administration is dismissing suggestions that taking on immigration this year will put pressure on Obama's already ambitious domestic agenda.

Moving forward on immigration would fulfill another campaign promise. The president acknowledges that tackling this issue will be challenging.

(full article)

(related opinion piece)

Mr. Obama (and Mr. Navarrette):

The Immigration issue is not only about illegals. These are people who, for whatever reasons (and there are many) are here in violation of our laws. Yes, it's a problem. Yes it requires a solution. Perhaps a path to legalization is appropriate; perhaps not. This can and should be debated.

But what of the fate of the many thousands of people who have come here legally, have done all that has been requested of them, have paid their taxes, paid their attorneys fees, worked hard, struggled with our bureaucracy, all for a chance to become American Citizens so that they can carve out their own piece of the so-called American Dream, vote, pay their taxes, and generally participate in and contribute to our society?

Please take a look at their plight. Many have been waiting years, in some cases over a decade just for a "green card". And our immigration "service" seemingly capriciously, bumbles through its tasks, slips its schedules, and generally unfairly allocates from the immigration status quotas. This system needs a complete overhaul. We need to treat people who've been stuck in this disastrous cycle fairly and approve their requests expeditiously. If we wish to limit the numbers of legal immigrants, we need to do that on the front end, not after they've already been waiting patiently and playing by our fickle rules for many years.

To attend to the needs of illegal immigrants before those of people who've always played by the rules sends the wrong message loud and clear.

Confused

From HAARETZ.com:

Why is this haggadah different from others? Well, it's got Jesus
By Rebecca Dube, The Forward

Here's a Passover riddle: When is a Haggadah not Jewish?

Answer: When it's got more Jesus than a matzo has holes.

A Jewish anti-missionary group has succeeded in persuading Barnes and Noble booksellers to reclassify a Passover guide from a "messianic Jewish" publisher as Christian, rather than Jewish. The group is also pressuring Amazon.com and Wal-Mart to make similar changes. If you judge a book by its cover, "Passover Family Pack: Everything You Need To Enjoy a Passover Seder Dinner" looks like a traditional holiday starter kit. A festive drawing adorns the front of the package, which includes a Seder plate, a Kiddush cup, two copies of the Haggadah and a cassette tape of music, all for $39.99.

But a few pages into the Haggadah, it becomes clear to observant Jews that something is fishy - and it's not the gefilte. The guide recasts the story of Passover as a mere setup for the arrival of "Yeshua the Messiah": The text says the wine represents the blood of Jesus; the matzo represents his body; the three matzot represent the Christian Holy Trinity, and so on.

"They're taking the traditions of the Jewish faith and using them as a blunt instrument to convert Jewish people to the Christian faith," said Rabbi Tovia Singer, director of the anti-missionary group Outreach Judaism and host of a radio talk show in Jerusalem.

"It's a paradigm of this entire nefarious movement. They use subterfuge to lure Jews who would normally resist a more straightforward evangelical message."

(full article)

Religion is perverse enough without fraudulent liturgies circulating surruptitiously. How much brighter this world could be but for the proliferation of such nonsense.

Pope visits Africa, reaffirms ban on condoms

From CNN.COM:

(CNN) -- Pope Benedict XVI refused Wednesday to soften the Vatican's ban on condom use as he arrived in Africa for his first visit to the continent as pope.

He landed in Cameroon, the first stop on a trip that will also take him to Angola.

Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit harder by AIDS and HIV than any other region of the world, according to the United Nations and World Health Organization. There has been fierce debate between those who advocate the use of condoms to help stop the spread of the epidemic and those who oppose it.

The pontiff reiterated the Vatican's policy on condom use as he flew from Rome to Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, CNN Vatican analyst John Allen said.

(full article)

Out of whack and out of touch.

Saudis order 40 lashes for elderly woman for mingling

From CNN.COM:

(CNN) -- A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

(full article)

WTF's the matter with these people?!?

Barack Obama, Rick Warren, and Invocations at Presidential Inaugurations

We've all been bombarded by the controversy over Barack Obama's unfortunate choice of pastor Rick Warren to give "the invocation" as part of the presidential inauguration ceremony. We needn't review the details of that controversy here.

A question the so-called mainstream media has utterly failed to raise is why in a secular government, constitutionally separated from religion, an "invocation" is allowed to be part of the inaugural festivities at all. While that same constitution guarantees freedom of religion for individual citizens (and by inference, freedom from religion for those who do not subscribe to ancient myth), whether or not serving in public office, conflating personal religous beliefs with official governmental functions, be it the inauguration of a new president, the opening and/or closing of governmental functions such as congress, or whatever, stands as an abject violation of the principle of separation of church and state; an endorsement of religion in general, and an at least tacit endorsement of the specific religious denomination of the participants, by official sanction.

By focusing on the controversial nature of the particular selection of the pastor, the mainstream press has once again missed the point and failed in its duty to keep the politicians in line. Even the chatter on much of the atheist blogosphere seems to miss the point but for a few of the comments.

Wake up, people. Notwithstanding protestations to the contrary by the christian "right", the United States of America is not a christian nation; it is a pluralistic society, populated with believers of every major religion and many minor ones, and with believers in reality as well. The atheist community's apparent willingness to accept the notion that some sort of religious invocation is a regular part of a presidential inauguration is disturbing. Granted, not every battle can be fought at once, but if we're going to concern ourselves with this issue at all, we should take it on as the affront it is to the separation of church and state, regardless of the particular pastor involved and his archaic social positions.

Small sect gives U.S. Supreme Court a lot to consider

From International Herald Tribune:

PLEASANT GROVE CITY, Utah: Across the street from the city hall here sits a small park with about a dozen donated buildings and objects - a wishing well, a millstone from the city's first flour mill and an imposing red granite monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

Thirty miles, or 48 kilometers, to the north, adherents of a religion called Summum gather in a wood-and-metal pyramid by Interstate 15 in Salt Lake City. Followers of Summum meditate on their Seven Aphorisms, fortified by an alcoholic sacramental nectar they produce and surrounded by mummified animals.

In 2003, the president of the Summum church wrote to the mayor here with a proposal: the church wanted to erect a monument inscribed with the Seven Aphorisms in the city park, "similar in size and nature" to the one devoted to the Ten Commandments.

(read full article)

Ex-Bear Sterns executive moves to Fed

From The Associated Press via money.cnn.com:

Former chief risk officer at the defunct brokerage is now overseeing U.S. banks for the Federal Reserve.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The former chief risk officer at investment bank Bear Stearns Cos., which nearly collapsed in March, is now a senior official of the Federal Reserve division that supervises U.S. banks.

Michael Alix, who worked at Bear Stearns for 12 years and was its senior risk manager since 2006, was named a senior vice president in the bank supervision group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, according to an announcement by the Fed.

(full story)

God is Hate

From Living the Scientific Life:

Even if I was stupid enough to be religious, this one letter to the editor would challenge everything I held dear because it openly advocates hatred of anyone who doesn't believe in gawd -- in the name of gawd. I was always raught that "god is love" but after reading this letter, I realize I am not ready for this sort of love, nor for the other sorts of love that all you so-called "religious people" embrace, including pedophilia, female genital mutilation and genocide, just to name a few of the aacts you have engaged in. Even though I don't believe in gawd or any of the cruel and hateful actions that a "supreme being" represents, I will say this: I hope all you so-called religious wingnuts burn in hellfire for all eternity.

Florida lawmakers debate offering a Christian license plate

From The Associated Press:

MIAMI (AP) -- Florida drivers can order more than 100 specialty license plates celebrating everything from manatees to the Miami Heat, but one now under consideration would be the first in the nation to explicitly promote a specific religion.

The Florida Legislature is considering a specialty plate with a design that includes a Christian cross, a stained-glass window and the words "I Believe."

Rep. Edward Bullard, the plate's sponsor, said people who "believe in their college or university" or "believe in their football team" already have license plates they can buy. The new design is a chance for others to put a tag on their cars with "something they believe in," he said.

If the plate is approved, Florida would become the first state to have a license plate featuring a religious symbol that's not part of a college logo. Approval would almost certainly face a court challenge.

(read full article)

This clearly violates the separation of church and state. If drivers want to advertise to the world that they're brainwashed, they already have the freedom to place stickers and other emblems on their vehicles. There is nothing for lawmakers to debate. The state government has no role in the support and promotion of any religion for any reason. Period.

Bush: "$4 Gas? I hadn't heard that"

* Originally Posted Feb 28, 2008 - Updated Apr 22, 2008 *

From CNN.COM:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- President Bush, saying he was unaware of predictions of $4-a-gallon gasoline in the coming months, told reporters Thursday that the best way to help Americans fend off high prices is for Congress to make his first-term tax cuts permanent.

"If you're out there wondering... what your life is going to be like, and you're looking at $4 a gallon, that's uncertain," Bush responded to a question posed at a White House news conference. "And when you couple that with the idea that... taxes may be going up in a couple years, that's double uncertainty."

Analysts have said that gasoline could reach $4 a gallon by this spring, due to strong demand and a change in formulation, among other reasons.

When taking the question about the $4 milestone, Bush told the reporter, "That's interesting. I hadn't heard that."

(more)

Teach Your Children Well

This is what they teach their children?

Court will examine profanity rules

From The Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday stepped into a legal fight over the use of curse words on the airwaves, the high court's first major case on broadcast indecency in 30 years.

The case concerns a Federal Communications Commission policy that allows for fines against broadcasters for so-called "fleeting expletives," one-time uses of the F-word or its close cousins.

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Solicitor General Paul Clement, representing the FCC and the Bush administration, argued that the decision "places the commission in an untenable position," powerless to stop the airing of expletives even when children are watching.

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

(full article)

It seems to me that the Federal Communications Commission should concern itself with the practical matters of standardization and bandwidth allocation that are its primary charter and stay out of the business of trying to regulate "decency". It further seems to me that our government in general should not be trying to legislate in so subjective an area as "decency". If parents find it useful to selectively "protect" their children from a handfull of vocabulary words at which some people choose to take offense, they have the option to turn off the TV, or select channels oriented toward children.

The fact is that children always learn all available words and add them to their vocabulary, despite parental efforts to the contrary. And why not? Words are not inherently good or bad - they are just words.

Perhaps people should spend less of their time taking offense at things and more effort fixing our political system.