As if you needed more reasons to oppose the Spendulus

NCCAM is lined up with its filthy paw out.

It’s Orwellian

People who want to kill babies in the womb wrap themselves in a “pro choice” label because, really, who could be again’st choice?

Similarly, dishonest dunderheads who want to confuse students about reality wrap themselves in the label “academic freedom“.

Well, the pro-choicers have nothing to do with choice, and teaching something other than science in a science class is a perversion of the very idea of freedom.

Note that we don’t have to play “Guess That Party” when the idiot du jour is a Republican.

Update:

Now that Bobby “The Exorcist” Jindal has signed that stupid creationist bill in LA these stealth attempts to teach superstition in science class are popping up all over. Now another knuckle-dragging “Republican” is at it in Florida.

Yeah, I’m putting scare quotes around “Republican” because people in that party should be the ones fighting for truth and conversant with reality. But Derb is right: Either side of the aisle can be hostile to science. To the extent that politics is ideology, science is always going to dig up something inconvenient. But I really think people who stand mostly on the ‘R’ side of the aisle should be the honest, eyes-open ones.

This is probably my own bias talking: I think I’m right and that everyone should think like me. I’m hardly alone there. At least I don’t have to live in what Heather MacDonald calls a “theological panic.“

The Titles Are Usually Better Than The Loglines

But many of these are funny anyway.

Trying to Erase Hillary with Emoluments

Judicial Watch has filed a suit claiming that it’s illegal for Hillary to serve as Secretary of State. It’s doomed to fail, of course, because it’s based on what the Constitution actually says:

“No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time.”

Obama’s Speed Record

In The Fierce Urgency of Pork Krauthammer marvels at how fleet two left feet can be.

After Obama’s miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell — and that this president told better than anyone.

I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.

Witness Michael Greenspan:

This monstrosity of a bill, and the assumptions underlying it (e.g., “Politicians are wiser than non-politicians,” “Citizens don’t own what they earn,” etc.), are making me consider joining the Republican Party. Not because the Republicans are great, but because they’ve shown they can be decent. The Democrats are just ravening parasites.

And what is this in The Atlantic? A Harvard professor?

This is probably the worst bill that has been put forward since the 1930s. I don’t know what to say. I mean it’s wasting a tremendous amount of money. It has some simplistic theory that I don’t think will work, so I don’t think the expenditure stuff is going to have the intended effect. I don’t think it will expand the economy. And the tax cutting isn’t really geared toward incentives. It’s not really geared to lowering tax rates; it’s more along the lines of throwing money at people. On both sides I think it’s garbage. So in terms of balance between the two it doesn’t really matter that much.

Update:

Mark Steyn is laughing.

His Majesty’s courtiers are beginning to notice that the Emperor doesn’t seem as clothed as he was a couple of weeks ago, but figure that “an array of villains” cunningly caused the coronation robes to dissolve.

Party Like It’s 1234567889!

This February 13th the Unix clock will reach 1234567890.

If you’re with me on PST, that will be Fri Feb 13 15:31:30 2009.

Geeks will celebrate. If you don’t know what this is about, you won’t celebrate.

Update:

Count down!

Or, count down with a side of bacon!

Collapse of a Texas Quote Mine

This is a hilarious fisking of the creationist liar, Donald McLeroy, who entered a lot of quotes into the record in an effort to establish that there’s some sort of scientific controversy about evolution.

Every quote is presented, first as quote-mined by Dr. McLeroy, then in the original context. For example:

Mcleroy:

“The fossil record, in spite of its many gaps, is the most irrefutable evidence for the occurrence of evolution. However, continuous fossil sequences are still the exception; the fossil record remains woefully inadequate.”

In context:

“What is most gratifying is that all findings are consistent with Darwin’s theory of common descent. Together with molecular sequences, the fossil record, in spite of its many gaps, is the most irrefutable evidence for the occurrence of evolution. However, continuous fossil sequences are still the exception; the fossil record remains woefully inadequate. For instance, we have no fossil documentation of the human ancestry between 14 and 4.5 million years ago. The most recent coelocanth fossil is dated ca. 60 million years ago and, of course, everybody concluded that this group had become extinct that long ago, until two living species were discovered within the last 50 years. However, when even such an unexpected discovery has been made, it always fitted perfectly into the Darwinian framework.”

Update: (And bumped)

Being incandescently dishonest is not enough to keep you from being re-appointed by the Governor of Texas. (Reminds me of Massachussetts: The penalty for manslaughter is reelection.) This is a shame. If dishonesty and superstition are how the Republican Party thinks it can rebuild itself, it has another think coming.

Expect More Like This

Now that Eric Holder, who is essentially Janet Reno in drag, has been confirmed expect a lot of anti-gun action on the Federal level. And, as in the case of a Marine arrested in Oregon for a made-up “crime”, at the State level.

The student was charged with “possession of a firearm in a public building.” The college has barred him from classes and the state has charged him with the same crime. The student was involved in no unlawful activities nor was he engaged in any actions that would discredit a responsible gun owner. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There is one small problem. The student has a valid Oregon concealed handgun license. He is statutorily exempt from the prohibitions on gun possession in public buildings.

Apparently neither the college nor the Monmouth Police are acquainted with the law.

The OFF is being too kind or, perhaps, ironic. I’m sure the University and the police know the law, they just don’t care. And since the new top attorney in the Federal government has already demonstrated he doesn’t care about the law, either, jackboots like these are going to feel emboldened.