stcynic
Posts by this author
September 13, 2005
Perhaps I awarded September's Robert O'Brien Trophy too soon, before I became aware of "Dr" Don Boys and this breathtakingly bad piece of anti-evolution agitprop. Even by creationist standards, this is a ridiculous article, chock full of unsourced "quotes" and lots of rhetoric, but virtually no…
September 13, 2005
I just watched this fascinating exchange between Arlen Specter and John Roberts in the hearings. I don't have an actual transcript, however, so this is paraphrased. Specter began by asking Roberts if he recognized that there is a right to privacy in the Constitution, noting a 1981 memo that Roberts…
September 13, 2005
Well, day one is in the books. It consisted mostly of each member of the committee attempting to feign erudition while reading a script no doubt lovingly prepared by one of their staffers. The opening statements of each of the judiciary committee members has the primary purpose of allowing the…
September 13, 2005
Just because I think this picture is absolutely hilarious:
September 13, 2005
Mike Brown has resigned as director of FEMA, and here's what cracks me up about the whole thing. When he was relieved of his duties in New Orleans the other day, DHS director Michael Chertoff said at the press conference that he was being sent back to Washington because other threats exist around…
September 12, 2005
The hearings on the nomination of John Roberts as Chief Justice began at noon today. I've watched a few of the opening statements from the judiciary committee members and found much to laugh at. I'm hoping the full text of those remarks will be available in the next couple days so I can go over…
September 12, 2005
The NY Times has a pretty cool resource available on their website. It has the first chapters of hundreds of books that they have reviewed, split into fiction and non-fiction categories. Great way to get a gist of the book and whether you'd want to buy it.
September 12, 2005
FEMA is of course not the only agency to screw things up in handling the hurricane. Here's a great example of Gov. Blanco screwing up royally:
In emergencies like natural disasters it's normal for states to suspend this requirement and offer temporary reciprocity with the other 49 states,…
September 10, 2005
Even a stopped watch is right twice a day, right? Here's one I fully agree with the Worldnutdaily on. A Canadian minister named Stephen Boissoin has been brought up on charges before the Human Rights Commission of Alberta, his home province, because he submitted a letter to a newspaper condemning…
September 10, 2005
While the White House scrambles like mad to cover its butt and avoid any and all questions about what went wrong in the response to Katrina, at least some Republicans are breaking the party line talking points and saying what is obviously true, that the response at the Federal level was appalling…
September 10, 2005
Over the last year or so, Jon Rowe has written a series of posts about the founding fathers and religion, a subject which has always fascinated me and that I've written on a lot as well. In the course of that series of posts, Jon has evoked the notion of "theistic rationalism", an excellent…
September 10, 2005
I haven't written much on the little brouhaha between Genie Scott of the NCSE and Larry Caldwell, a creationist parent in California who, it seems, threatens to sue everyone. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he threatens to sue me for saying he threatens to sue people a lot. Genie had written an…
September 9, 2005
Food, clothing and shelter are generally listed as the three necessities of life. Close behind those three, in my view, is music. If I was forced to choose between being blind and deaf, I would choose blindness. That's how difficult it is to imagine living in a world without music. And in the…
September 9, 2005
My friend Henry Neufeld, head of the Pacesetter's Bible Institute in Florida, now has his own blog. Anyone interesting in the intersection of science and religion will want to read it. Henry is a Hebrew scholar with a longtime interest in science and just a generally fascinating guy.
September 9, 2005
Sometimes I feel like I should send Joseph Farah, founder of the Worldnutdaily, a gift. The webmag he founded is such a fountain of sheer stupidity that he makes my job here so much easier. Virtually every day, I could find ample fodder for this blog just by clicking on his page. And now that he…
September 9, 2005
Paul Campos has an article in the New Republic (registration required, but available on bugmenot) about FEMA director Mike Brown. I've written before, as have many others, about Brown's complete lack of qualifications for that position, which he got only because his former college roommate hired…
September 9, 2005
It's funny, just the other day as I saw a report on the US Open on Sportscenter, I thought about the fact that I never watch tennis anymore. When I was a kid, we would always spend the 4th of July at our cottage and we had a tradition of watching Wimbledon on Sunday morning. This was in the days of…
September 8, 2005
If you're like me, you love the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. And you're gonna love this clip especially. Follow this link and click on "Meet the F**ckers". It's a hilarious take on the government's response to Katrina that ends with Larry King asking Celine Dion if she has anything to sing to…
September 8, 2005
Wow, if this is true there needs to be a major investigation. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is circulating internal memos from Mobil, Chevron and Texaco that shows that these major oil companies worked to limit refinery capacity in order to drive up the price of gasoline and…
September 8, 2005
The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, publishers of the horrid bible curriculum that I've discussed so much recently, has scheduled a press conference in Washington tomorrow to defend its curriculum against Mike Chancey's scathing criticisms. Their press release announcing the…
September 8, 2005
Well you knew that Hal Lindsey couldn't stop himself from jumping in to join the wingnuts' parade of stupidity on the hurricane. And you knew that the Worldnutdaily would be the ones to publish it. Here he is, in all his glory:
But I believe there is another essential point being missed. Since…
September 8, 2005
This story is absolutely unreal to me. While President Bush is telling "Brownie" (FEMA director Mike Brown) that he's "doing a great job", here's what FEMA is actually doing with 1400 firefighters who volunteered to go to the areas ravaged by the hurricanes to help rescue victims:
Not long after…
September 7, 2005
My partner-in-blogging Jason Kuznicki is now Dr. Jason Kuznicki. He successfully defended his dissertation and completed his doctorate in history from Johns Hopkins University. He is now demanding to be called His Royal Highness, Master of All He Surveys, but I'm sticking with "Grand Poobah".…
September 7, 2005
Not content to allow the raving moonbats of Christianity to have all the attention, a group of Jewish moonbats have decided to throw their tinfoil hats into the ring and make their case. Their argument? The hurricane was sent by God as punishment for our support of the Israeli pullout from Gaza.…
September 7, 2005
California's legislature became the first in the nation yesterday to pass a bill allowing gays to get married. Not just civil unions, but actual marriage. Unfortunately, it looks like Ahnold is going to veto the bill. The only thing that could prevent that veto from lowering my opinion of him is…
September 7, 2005
I rarely do these blog memes, but I saw this one at Noonan's place and thought it would be amusing. You take the top 100 songs from the year you graduated high school (1985 for me) and pick out the ones that wouldn't make you instantly change the radio station if they came on. Here's the list:
1.…
September 6, 2005
The Worldnutdaily has this piece by Greg Laurie giving the usual "the end is near" screed that we hear after every major disaster. Laurie is a regular WND contributor and is the pastor of one of the largest churches in America, Harvest Christian Fellowship. So naturally, he can be relied upon to…
September 6, 2005
Disasters do bring the whackos out of the woodwork. I've already cited a few of them, but how about these guys? I can't get my head wrapped around this kind of reasoning. Here's the first one:
Chuck Kelley is president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, with facilities located near the…
September 6, 2005
A commenter on In The Agora pointed out that Judge Garza is not actually from New Orleans, but from Texas. His office is in Texas, he himself is from Texas, but the 5th Circuit that he sits on is headquartered in New Orleans. Edith Clement, on the other hand, is a judge on the same circuit but she…
September 6, 2005
Jonathan Bunch informs me that Dissent magazine has an interesting debate between three prominent constitutional scholars that they've made available on the web for free. Mark Tushnet, a contributor to Jack Balkin's blog and con law prof at Georgetown, takes the position that judicial review - the…