tqa | July 31, 2007
Go read what Wilkins has to say about the "soft on terrorism" accusations that get thrown around so casually today. He's an Australian writing about a situation in Australia, but everything he said certainly applies here in the US.
Particularly this bit:
Kevin Andrews also says that critics are soft on terrorism. And here's the nub of the matter. We aren't soft on terrorism - that is a (excuse my French) f---ing [edit mine] stupid thing to say. Does Andrews really believe we critics want a bombing in Sydney? We aren't soft on terrorism, we are hard on rights.
Exactly right.
tqa | July 28, 2007
Over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, Ed Brayton just highlighted a new, dishonest, and despicable attempt at spinning the casualty figures from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This new spin is simple: military deaths under Bush aren't much different than the deaths under Clinton, so why is everyone picking on poor Dubya?
Ed quotes one right-wing blog:
Active duty deaths during Clinton's first four years (1993 - 1996): 4302
Active duty deaths during Bush's first four years (2001 - 2004): 5187
Ed points out a couple of problems with the comparison (it's based on all deaths, not…
tqa | July 26, 2007
Yesterday, my wife and I were talking about current events over dinner. Part of the discussion got a little bit...interesting:
Me: "It looks like some of the families at Fort Lewis are upset with the post CG [commanding general].
Wife: "Oh? What'd he do?"
Me: "It looks like he thinks that the number of memorial services is causing problems, so he decided to just have one big one every month instead of individual services."
Me: "Sorry. Should have waited until you were done chewing."
In all seriousness, though, the incident at Ft. Lewis really did happen, although I did have some of my…
tqa | July 25, 2007
I've been looking at the Ward Churchill case more than I expected. I don't know why, exactly. It might be because Churchill is such a fantastically outrageous character - both in the tone of his published works and in the depths of his academic malfeasance. It might be because of the delicious irony involved. Churchill's misconduct was discovered, after all, as a result of the public hue and cry that came after one of his essays came to light - an essay that Churchill had subtitled, "On the Justice of Roosting Chickens." Mostly, though, I think it's because as I read more of what Churchill…
tqa | July 25, 2007
I'm now living in a state where the Governor thinks that a creationist is just who we need running the schools. Absolutely wonderful. I'd say more, but the Bad Astronomer did a much better job.
tqa | July 25, 2007
A few of you might remember Ward Churchill. He's the University of Colorado professor who caused a stink a few years ago with an essay that compared 9/11 victims in the World Trade Center to Nazis. His remarks generated a surge of demands that he be fired. Yesterday, he finally was - but not for the 9/11 essay. And there's the rub.
Ward Churchill was dismissed for cause by the Board of Regents for academic misconduct that was unearthed when people began to examine his record more closely when the offensive essay came to light. They found repeated cases of academic misconduct, and filed a…
tqa | July 23, 2007
The Fish and Wildlife service announced on Friday that it would review ten endangered species listing decisions that were identified by regional directors as having been inappropriately influenced by former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald. MacDonald, as some of you may recall, was the Deputy Assistant Secretary at Interior who decided that she needed to spend more time with her family shortly after the Interior Inspector General concluded that she acted inappropriately on numerous occasions, and (very) shortly before she was scheduled to testify before a newly hostile…
tqa | July 19, 2007It's rare that I think one of these test results really fits me, but I'm afraid this one does.
Your Score
: Smartass
You are 85% Rational, 57% Extroverted, 57% Brutal, and 71% Arrogant.
You are the Smartass! You are rational, extroverted, brutal, and arrogant. In fact, you could very well be the anti-Christ, as you are almost the exact opposite of everything Jesus was supposed to be. While Jesus says love your enemy, you say love beating the crap out of your enemy. While Jesus raises the dead, you raise hell. While Jesus walks on water, you tend to sink. You probably consider…
tqa | July 19, 2007
It's another day, and Casey "The Energizer Bunny" Luskin is at it again, claiming that ID successfully predicted that "junk DNA" would be found to have a function. He has yet to explain how and why he believes that "Darwinism" somehow stifled research into those areas of the genome, and ignores the fact that scientists routinely use our understanding of evolution, common descent, and natural selection to identify areas of the genome to identify non-coding regions that are likely to have function. He does, however, provide us with an explanation for why he thinks that Intelligent Design…
tqa | July 18, 2007
The answer: massive, monumental, unashamed, unadulterated hypocrisy. The question: name one reason that Congress has an approval rating that's rapidly heading for negative numbers. It's the flipping hypocrisy. It's huge, its taken over the joint, and its on both sides of the aisle.
I'm ranting, if you haven't guessed already, about last night's antics in the Senate. The "we're going to stay up all night to show how naughty the Republicans are being" stunt. It's not like we haven't seen it before - the Republicans did exactly the same thing in 2003 to show how bad the Democrats were for…
tqa | July 18, 2007
I like Chuck Schumer. He's a good New Yorker, with a good New York wit, and that - coupled with the fact that he's often right - makes him one of my favorite politicians to watch. Usually, he manages to come up with a pretty good line, but every now and then he winds up way off. Today seems to be one of those times. He's quoted as saying, regarding Iraq:
"This war in Iraq has veered out of control and a great leader would recognize this and change course," said Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat.
For crying out loud, Chuck, it's not like you need the leadership abilities of a…
tqa | July 17, 2007
In a recent Panda's Thumb comment thread, Pam asked (among other things) about our human species genetic Adam and Eve:
I have been reading for the last few years now, that there is a consensus among the majority, that humans have been genetically traced to a two human ancestory: A genetic "Adam and Eve".
This is a relatively common misconception, and a very understandable one. There have been published studies that have looked at the most recent common mitochondrial DNA ancestor of all humans, and other studies that have looked at the most recent common Y-chromosome ancestor of all…
tqa | July 16, 2007
Back in the middle of last month, I had a few things to say about Casey Luskin (DI flak) and his understanding of so-called junk DNA. It's now the middle of the month again, and Casey is again talking a lot - and understanding very little - about "junk" DNA. Larry Moran has a post up where he tries to educate Casey about the fact that a hell of a lot of DNA is still, at least as far as we know, junk. I'm going to take a look at something a little bit different - one of the methods scientists use to identify areas of "junk" DNA that have important functions. It's a pretty cool way of doing…
tqa | July 14, 2007
...laugh. Or cry. Or both. Or something. I don't know.
Just when it seems like the White House has managed to exhaust the possibilities when it comes to showing their complete and utter lack of regard for American troops, they manage to scrape up something new. The latest entry comes from the aptly named Tony Snow, during yesterday's press briefing:
Q Is the Iraqi government and the Iraqi parliament taking the month of August off?
MR. SNOW: Probably, yes. Just not --
Q They're taking the entire month of August off, before the September deadline?
MR. SNOW: It looks like they may, yes.…
tqa | July 5, 2007
(This is the second part of a continuing saga. Part one can be found here.)
As it turns out, I actually did get a call back from someone at Comcast today - a gentleman from the Houston office called, told me that the corporate offices had asked him to get in touch with me, and proceeded to do a fantastic job of demonstrating that it's possible to be courteous, polite, well-spoken, and totally and completely unhelpful. It seems that Comcast has firmly and irrevocably decided to put a two week moratorium into effect on new internet service in the Houston area so that they can switch former…
tqa | July 5, 2007
Up to this morning, I really thought I'd be able to get some real work done on this blog over the next couple of weeks. We're moving out of the hotel and into the apartment tomorrow (finally), and I had planned to catch up on a lot of the housekeeping around here once I have regular access to things like a desk, a desk chair, my books, and the ability to throw everyone else out of the room I'm working in. Then I called Comcast to set up service.
Tried to call Comcast, I should say.
I called their 1-800-Comcast number on the 3rd, followed the automated prompts, and was routed to a call…
tqa | July 3, 2007
In the comments section of another thread over at Pandas' Thumb, I asked leading ID proponent Paul Nelson to explain why he thinks the differences between humans and chimps represent macroevolution and not microevolution. Dr. Nelson responded to my question. The terms microevolution and macroevolution are so frequently used in the context of creationism, Intelligent Design, and evolution, so I thought it might be a good idea to move the topic to a new thread.
In addition to linking to Paul's comment, I'll also reproduce it in full at the end of this post. That should make it easier for…
tqa | July 3, 2007
I've got CNN on right now, and I'm watching Tony Snow trying to explain to the media exactly why the President's decision to commute the sentence of Scooter Libby wasn't a political decision. It's pretty damn funny, really. The transcript should be up on the White House website shortly. If you want a quick laugh, be sure to check it out.
tqa | July 2, 2007
It's amazing what a difference a few short years can make. Once upon a time, many prominent Republicans believed that perjury was a crime so heinous as to warrant throwing the president out of office. Today, however, we find that many of these same characters believe that any sort of jail sentence is far too harsh a punishment for that very same crime.
There's likely to be stiff competition among leading Republicans for the "biggest tool in the drawer" award over the next news cycle or two, and the final winner probably won't be clear until after the Sunday morning shows are over. At the…
tqa | July 2, 2007
When an anti-evolutionist attempts to publicly "explain" a scientific paper, it usually signals two things: you should read the paper for yourself, and you should not be surprised to find that the creationist "explanation" misrepresents what the paper really says. A new blog post by Paul Nelson is no exception. Nelson, descending from the (relative) intellectual heights of the Discovery Institute to join the crowd at Dembski's Whine Cellar, tells his readers that scientists did not grasp the true point of a 1975 paper because they did not read it all the way through.
The paper in question…