Mourning England

Jeremy Clarkson has beheld England’s demise from within. His diagnostic tool is a dead parrot.

Today my encyclopedic knowledge of everything Python is seen as a bit sad. Former fans point out that Cleese has lost it, that Jones is married to an eight-year-old and that Spamalot was a travesty. Worse. Liking Python apparently marks me out as a “public-school toff”.

There’s a very good reason for this. Nowadays people wear their stupidity like a badge of honour. Knowing how to play chess will get your head kicked off. Reading a book with no pictures in it will cause there to be no friend requests on your Facebook page. Little Britain is funny because people vomit a lot. Monty Python is not because they delight in all manifestations of the terpsichorean muse.

Stop The Presses

It turns out that Bill O’Reilly is an irredeemably stupid, dishonest moron. Who knew?

I’m short on time right now, but may later update this post with a list of the fallacies he presents here. It’s a long one. My differences with Dawkins are well documented, but the man showed supreme patience in this interview and, to anybody with an IQ above room temperature, clearly won the debate on merit.

Winner!

Happy Halloween

Here’s a cartoon from 2006 that is, strangely, still relevant.

Just Thought You’d Want to Know

Is the Messiah Jesus Christ?

Mmm, mmm, mmm. This has been a public service.

Liberal Mugged By Reality

You’ve heard the old saw: “What’s a Conservative? A Liberal who’s been mugged.”

Welcome to reality, Ms. Button.

Since I care more about my country than my personal pride, here’s how I lost my insurance: I moved. That’s right, I moved from Washington, D.C., back to Massachusetts, a state with universal health care.

In D.C., I had a policy with a national company, an HMO, and surprisingly I was very happy with it. I had a fantastic primary care doctor at Georgetown University Hospital. As a self-employed writer, my premium was $225 a month, plus $10 for a dental discount.

In Massachusetts, the cost for a similar plan is around $550, give or take a few dollars. My risk factors haven’t changed. I didn’t stop writing and become a stunt double. I don’t smoke. I drink a little and every once in a while a little more than I should. I have a Newfoundland dog. I am only 41. There has been no change in the way I live my life except my zip code — to a state with universal health care.

From Guns to Butter

Jacob Sullum on how a correct SCOTUS ruling on gun rights could “prepare the ground for a renaissance of economic liberty.”

[I]n 1872 the Supreme Court declared that the “privileges or immunities of citizens” included only those rights that were created by the Constitution (such as the right to petition the federal government), not the pre-existing rights the Constitution was designed to protect. The Court therefore upheld a slaughterhouse monopoly created by the state of Louisiana, an infringement of economic liberty that the three dissenting justices saw as a violation of the Privileges or Immunities Clause.

Those privileges or immunities, the dissenters said, include “the right to pursue a lawful employment in a lawful manner, without other restraint than such as equally affects all persons.” That view reflects the original understanding of the 14th Amendment, which holds great promise as a bulwark against arbitrary interference with economic freedom. The Supreme Court should seize this opportunity to revive it.

Speaking of gun rights, of which we have very few left in California, the clock is ticking on two very, very bad bills. One would make it nigh impossible (for non-criminals) to buy ammo, and the other tramples on both First and Second Amendment rights. If the governor does nothing by October 11th they both become law. So it’s vital to let him know he should veto SB  585, the Cow Palace gun show ban, and AB 962, the Ammunitions Sales Restrictions bill.

There’s an automated phone droid at 916-445-2841 (you have to press 1 for English!) which will let you easily register opposition for one bill at a time. So you’ll have to make two calls. The line is often busy, but you can keep redialing and get through. Since it’s a phonebot you can call any hour of the day or night.

You can (and should) also fax governor Schwarzenegger at 916-558-3160, and send him an “email” via his web site. It’s a simple two-step process.

Then do all three again the next day. He needs to feel the heat on this.

No Respect

Parody Proof

Apparently this hangs in the White House.

PhotoSketch

Wow.

So Much For That “Word of God” Thing

Here’s a group that has set out, ironically, to prove that the Bible is not the immutable word of God. Rather, as has been the case with just about everybody who has translated or edited the book, it’s a malleable political document.

Anybody who talks about getting to the “original text” of the Bible has no idea what they’re talking about in any case. We can’t even get back to the Greek or Hebrew, let alone the languages that came before that. I recently read a fascinating book on textual criticism, which is a kind of linguistic sleuthing aimed at figuring out what the original authors may have actually said. The takeaway is that there are easily more translation errors in the New Testament than there are words.

These Conservapedia cretins are a living example of one of the many reasons why.

Meanwhile, Pat Condell has quite a rant against organized religion.

He’s clearly mostly on the case of the Catholic Church and the Church of England. While most members of Christian churches (as well as most Muslims) will find plenty to be upset about, I suspect that some of my Mormon friends could feel smug about their lay clergy. There certainly are no Mormons living in castles off the tithes of the faithful.

Update:

Now this is funny.

Inconvenient

Penn Jillette tweets:

Once in a while I like breezy, & if it’s skeptical breezy, making fun of Al Gore, I’m grooving…

One should never miss a chance to poke fun at the eminence ris, the risible Algore. Enjoy.

England Death Watch

The English lost their freedom so long ago they don’t even know it’s gone. A once-great country has degenerated into a despicable nanny state.

The great-grandmother, who fled to Britain from East Germany following the Second World War, said youths in her neighbourhood had been making her life a misery.

She told the Daily Mail: “What justice is there? There are a group of youths who throw gravel at my window and use foul language against me.

“I saw one of them throw the stones against my window from my bedroom. I went out and found him hiding behind a wall. I poked my finger out at him and told him what I thought of him.

“Then the police arrested me – I thought ‘What a joke. What is going on?’.”

I would wish for those morons at the CPS to lose their jobs, but I fear they’d just move here and get jobs with the TSA.

President, or Cult Leader?

You decide.

On a related subject, everybody has probably seen that group of slightly older children supporting Dear Leader’s attempt to insert government control into the most intimate parts of your life.

Watch this brilliant PSA response.

Update:

Another one. (Thanks to our commenter for the pointer.)

Strange Definition of “Safe Schools”

Years ago a man arrived in Australia. The immigration agent was reviewing his documents and asking a few questions. One was, “Do you have a criminal record?”

The man responded, “I didn’t know you still needed one.”

The Messiah’s vetters seem to be channeling that old joke.

Let’s be clear: Kevin Jennings let a potentially terminally-ill minor and a victim of rape walk out of his office, and Jennings never reported the incident to the boy’s parents, the school nurse, the police, or anyone who might help protect this child. This Kevin Jennings is President Obama’s new “safe schools czar.”

Which reminds me of something I’ve been wondering of late. Just how naive and gullible is the average Messiah voter? I never, never understood how anybody could be taken in by such an obvious flim-flam man. My confusion at the anti posters that turned out to be pro is already documented. I mean, gee. A few minutes of watching this guy on TV and it’s blindingly clear that He’s a three-dollar bill. So how did He pull this off?

It’s obvious that His staff believes in Him to the point of risible tone-deafness. I don’t get it.

Oldest “Human” Ancestor Found

Meet Grandma:

There goes the missing link theory.

The fossil puts to rest the notion, popular since Darwin’s time, that a chimpanzee-like missing link-resembling something between humans and today’s apes-would eventually be found at the root of the human family tree. Indeed, the new evidence suggests that the study of chimpanzee anatomy and behavior-long used to infer the nature of the earliest human ancestors-is largely irrelevant to understanding our beginnings.

More at Science Magazine.

And, predictably, the Dishonesty Institute didn’t wait long to start spewing squid’s ink.

Losing Afghanistan

If you really want to know what’s going on in the war you read Michael Yon. In this recent Washington Times op-ed he lays it out clearly.

Along with the more strategic questions (for example, should war be pursued?) are those closer to the shop floor: Are we gaining or losing popular support? Is the enemy gaining or losing strength? Is the coalition gaining or losing strength?

The first answer is a common denominator for the rest.

We are losing popular support. Confidence in the Afghan and coalition governments is plummeting. Loss of human terrain is evident. Conditions are building for an avalanche. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the military commander in Afghanistan, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates are aware of the rumbling, and so today we are bound by rules of engagement that appear insensible.

We must curb civilian losses at expense to ourselves. I believe the reasoning is sound and will share those increased dangers. Erosion of popular support seems reversible. There still is considerable good will from the Afghan population, but bomb by bomb we can blow it. We have breathing room if we work with wise alacrity. I sense a favorable shift in our operations occurring under Gen. McChrystal.

Enemies are strengthening. Attacks are dramatically increasing in frequency and efficacy. We are being out-governed by tribes and historical social structures. These structures are – and will be for the foreseeable future – the most powerful influence upon and within the political terrain. “Democracy” does not grow on land where most people don’t vote. The most remarkable item I saw during the Aug. 20 elections was the machine-gun ambush we walked into.

You should read the whole thing.

It Wasn’t the Cylons

It was the shark. The one Battle Star Galactica gradually jumped when it let politics take it off the rails.

The extent of the show’s political and ideological corruption is best exemplified by the fact that one of the central pillars of the series had to be yanked: the notion that the Cylons had a grand, complex, conspiratorial plan involving their human doppelgängers that was unfolding inexorably over the course of the show’s run, one that humans needed to uncover in order to secure a victory in the war for the survival of their species. Indeed, every episode of the first three seasons began with an opening sequence in which the viewer is explicitly told that the Cylons “have a plan.” But in the third season, a Cylon leader explains that “plans change,” whereupon the Cylon quest to exterminate the human race simply evaporates so the show can riff on the evils of “occupation.” By the premiere of the fourth season, the Cylon plan was no longer mentioned during the opening credits. And every other seed of plot that had been planted over the previous years was left untended and forgotten as well.

The miniseries and first season are some of the best television ever done. The first half of the second season is pretty good. By the third season it was clear that the earlier claim, “they had a plan” was a lie.

I never watched the fourth season.

Not Yours to Give

Mark Alexander’s column today recounts my favorite Davy Crocket story. It’s one which should be required reading by every member of congress.

Once per week, minimum.

And enjoy this sidebar rant:

In one of his more legendary orations, Crockett proclaimed: “Mr. Speaker … the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Everett] talks of summing up the merits of the question, but I’ll sum up my own. In one word I’m a screamer, and have got the roughest racking horse, the prettiest sister, the surest rifle and the ugliest dog in the district. I’m a leetle the savagest crittur you ever did see. My father can whip any man in Kentucky, and I can lick my father. I can out-speak any man on this floor, and give him two hours start. I can run faster, dive deeper, stay longer under, and come out drier, than any chap this side the big Swamp. I can outlook a panther and outstare a flash of lightning, tote a steamboat on my back and play at rough and tumble with a lion, and an occasional kick from a zebra.”

Crockett continued, “I can take the rag off — frighten the old folks — astonish the natives — and beat the Dutch all to smash, make nothing of sleeping under a blanket of snow and don’t mind being frozen more than a rotten apple. I can walk like an ox, run like a fox, swim like an eel, yell like an Indian, fight like a devil, spout like an earthquake, make love like a mad bull, and swallow a Mexican whole without choking if you butter his head and pin his ears back.”

The Cap and Trade Mystery

Senator John Kerry recently said, “I don’t know what ‘cap and trade’ means. I don’t think the average American does.”

As a public service, Buttle’s World will translate “cap and trade” into English:

Massive energy tax.

You’re welcome, Senator. Good luck getting that cat back into the bag.

Polanski

I have read both the original Robert Towne draft of Chinatown and Polanski’s rewrite. That should go down as one of the great rewrites in movie history. It was the work of an artistic genius, and produced one of the most iconic and well-crafted movies ever to come out of Hollywood. Nothing can take that accomplishment away from him.

But Polanski should be arrested, tried, and spend the rest of his miserable life in jail because he raped a child.

What’s The Harm?

“What’s the harm in believing…?”

Ever heard that one?

The harm can actually be deadly.

A problem skeptics face is that, emotionally, anecdotes trump statistics. Lack of critical thinking skills is why a single sob story can beat a mountain of evidence.

I’ve added whatstheharm.net to the Honor Roll of links there on the right because they understand this problem. Not only do they present just how many people are killed and injured due to fallacious beliefs, but they put a human face on the toll. Highly recommended.

My thanks to Rebecca Watson for mentioning it on last week’s edition of my favorite podcast, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe.

Update (and bumped):

David Gorski has some case histories of the price of anti-vaccine nuttery. It’s also worth noting that Science Based Medicine is back, running on a new and improved server.

All this biomedical woo comes at a cost. For instance, in one message Mary listed the monthly cost: $2,800 to $3,500 for IVIG, plus $500 for supplements and chelation therapy. But that’s just money. It’s always possible to get more money, even after pouring it down the rathole of quackery. What is not possible to take back the discomfort, fear, and pain that Saul was forced to endure for no potential benefit. Indeed, Mary even appears at certain points to have recognized this:

Sometimes I feel like a mad scientist and my poor kid is my guinea pig.

Putting Faith in its Place

Another great video from Qualia Soup.

Funny, but at the conclusion I had a suspicion that more Christians would be open to that last challenge than Muslims. Or at least fewer Christians would be inclined to saw someone’s head off over it. At any rate, it’s great food for thought.

“This isn’t a football game.”

I hope I live long enough to again see a U. S. President who is actually on our side. The one we have clearly isn’t.

Reporter: What kind of sanctions, at all, would have bite with Iran?

Obama: This isn’t a football game, I’m not interested in victory, but solving the problem. . . . My expectation is that we’re going to explore with our allies . . . a wide range of options . . . should Iran decline to engage in ways that are responsible. (emphasis added)

No, you’re right, Dear Leader. It isn’t a football game. It’s a war, Mr. President. You are the commander in chief. Victory is your frakking job. You are hopelessly naive, irresponsibly dishonest, incandescently stupid, or some combination of the three if the words “I’m not interested in victory” actually passed your lips.

I swear. This guy makes Neville Chamberlain look like Douglas MacArthur.

Doodle Do!

The Very Model of a Modern Major General

Michael Yon’s dispatch on his fight with the British Ministry of Defense can be summed up as: British soldiers are great. British leaders, not so much.

I had a specific incident with this British Media Ops Major.

The Major and I were driving in Camp Bastion around midday when it was very hot.  A British soldier ran by wearing a rucksack. He was drenched in sweat under the blazing, dusty desert.  I smiled because it’s great to see so many soldiers who work and train hard. Yet the Major cut fun at the soldier, saying he was dumb to be running in that heat.  I nearly growled at the Major, but instead asked if he ever goes into combat.  The answer was no. And, in fact, the Major does not leave the safety of Camp Bastion.

That a military officer would share a foul word about a combat soldier who was prepping for battle was offensive.  Especially an officer who lives in an air-conditioned tent with a refrigerator stocked with chilled soft drinks.  Just outside his tent are nice hot and cold showers.  Five minutes away is a little Pizza Hut trailer, a coffee shop, stores, and a cookhouse.

This very Major had earned a foul reputation among his own kind for spending too much time on his Facebook page. I personally saw him being gratuitously rude to correspondents.  Some correspondents—all were British—complained to me that when they wanted to interview senior British officers, they were told by this Major to submit written questions.  The Major said they would receive videotaped answers that they could edit as if they were talking with the interviewee.  (Presumably, senior British officers are avoiding the tough questions, such as, “So, when do you plan to send enough helicopters?”)

Child Abuse

Isn’t it comforting to know that your child is likely under the sway of Obamabots all day at school?

Beyond creepy. And, if you’re an Obamabot who sees nothing wrong here, just ask yourself how you’d feel if your kids were being taught a chant in praise of Dubya.

I’d bet folding money that these kids don’t score very well on reading, writing, and math.

Europe, Explained

Lawfare

Michael Yon emailed a link to an amicus brief in Maqaleh v. Gates.

How sad is it that we have so many clueless and traitorous lawmakers and judges that our soldiers have to open a second front at the bench?

The term useful idiot doesn’t begin to cover it.

Will ACORN Shoot Itself in the Foot?

One lawyer thinks maybe yes. He lays out five reasons why, then summarizes:

In short, Learned Hand once said that he feared a lawsuit more than death or taxes. With good lawyering from the defendants (which I’m sure their (sic) going to get), ACORN is about to find out what Hand meant. ACORN has very little to gain and a lot to lose.

Update:

This lawyer points out that the open conference room door, plus the presence of the ACORN droid’s pen and paper, means the Maryland statute wasn’t violated in any case and says the sute should be “summarily dismissed and ACORN should cease its dishonorable recrimination.”

Yeah, but… Not before discovery, please!