Yikes, this is an image to spark nightmares. Remember the little fly squeaking, "help me, help me" at the end of the horror movie, The Fly (the original, not the remake)? And it's Palin!
I just have to reassure myself…this time, the flies wrested the swatter out of her hands, and shooed her back to Alaska.
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A very unique date in history is fast approaching. Indeed, if you're Christian and religious, you probably already know what it is.
6/6/06.
The Date of the Beast. (OK, you have to ignore the "0" to get "666," the Number of the Beast, but everyone seems to be paying little attention to that little…
tags: Palin-Couric interview, Sarah Palin, Katie Couric, Palin Foreign Policy experience, streaming video
Apparently, during an interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin made a mockery of herself as a vice presidential candidate, as a governor of the state of Alaska, and as a woman. I have a video (…
It's almost not worth the bother of taking another swipe at Sarah Palin's anti-intellectual bigotry this late in a game that's pretty much over. I mean, the coverage of her speech in Asheville, N.C., last night couldn't find anything newsworthy to mention beyond her decision to eschew the $150,000…
I remember it as clearly as if it was yesterday, even though it happened years ago, even before you were born. I screamed silently, pinned on my back by the massive weight of a cotton blanket, legs frozen, the dark lights flickering as the human-like form approached, its arms raised in front like…
Is the Republican operative going to reprocess the flyswatter?
Maybe now that Obama will be president, the U.S. can begin to catch up with nations like Japan which actually care about science and properly fund researchers. For example, here's some great new stem cell research. http://forthesakeofscience.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/japanese-researcher…
Okay, I'll stop linking to my blog for awhile.
And fuck Palin.
Why is it that scientists are often portrayed with an erlenmeyer
or a test tube, which is ALWAYS filled with a brightly colored
liquid? The chemistry and biochemistry labs I've seen rarely
have such things (the liquids are almost always transparent
or they're milky white). Bright green ?!?
Something weird going on in Alaska. Lowest voter turnout in Alaska history. By over 11%. Diebold in charge.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/what-in-hell-happened-in-alaska…
Enjoy.
Pierre, this particular scientist is actually being targetted for having a green liquid in his flask. Palin saw this and presumed he was one of those go-green hippies.
That particular one has a tie on. Unless someone's giving a talk to distinguished visitors (or he has slipped to some mainly-management position), no scientist I know wears a tie.
He wouldn't be a scientist without the flask of brightly coloured flask, he'd just be some old guy in a white coat.
But the fly looks like Ben Stein!
I really meant to say "flask of brightly coloured flask", of course. That's what the flask always has, a smaller flask that makes it look like the bigger flask is full of something, but yet won't spill when you have to make the dash for it (as we know scientists are wont to do).
That's Shrubbie stealing back the Beastmojo. Not only does his magic backpack help him* in debates, it also allows him to shrink his size and to fly. Palin would rather nobody have the Beastmojo than to not have it herself.
Seriously, though, I wonder if McCain wants to kill Palin.
*Such as it was, way back then. He didn't really need help as he had the Beastmojo. Only McCain/Palin could fuck up the Beastmojo.
I just hope she isn't brought back in 2012, as I've heard talked about. The religious right loves her, and a pairing with Mike Huckabee would send them into rapture quicker than you can say Armageddon. Granted, that might tear the Republican party in two, which would be fun to watch...
And that, good sir, is why they will never be accepted by decent society.
@Michael Hawkins #2:
At least *somebody* gets to do stem cell research. My lovely state decided that globs of cells are more important than the quality of life for actual human beings.
*SIGH!*
Does she shoot the moose to get at the flies that attend it?
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Thank goodness that scientists don't wear ties. With all that anti-science from the last few months, we could have used them to hang ourselves.
The McCain campaign is currently spending all the free time they now have throwing her squarely under the bus.
I'm sure there is a good portion of the GOP clapping about this behind closed doors.
FWIW, I remember recently when our own blue party in Canada finally got in charge. The red party had many more terms in office over the countrys history, helped largely to the fear of life in the country going to crap if the blue party ever won. "Soldiers. In the streets. With guns" was how one of the red party's ads put it. And the red party kept power out of a false fear for the alternative.
But a few years ago, our country got so sick of the red party, that the blue party gained office. It wasn't the massive butt kicking success enjoyed by the US blue party recently, but it was enough to get some long ignored issues taken care of, while the red party wanders around in the wilderness looking for a new leader and a new strategy.
And in the US, the blue party has control of the Senate and of the House, with its candidate getting two votes seats for each one that the red party got.
Given the rate her followers are breeding, she'll be president by 2020 at the latest. Enjoy your fleeting victory.
By that logic, we should see britney spears / lindsay lohan ticket in 2011.
They'll lose of course not understanding that the actual election is in 2012.
Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM (Quite the title),
Yes, it has been very interesting to watch. I'm having a hard to believing an adult could not know that Africa is a continent and not a country, but if anybody could, Governor Palin would be it.
The Republican Party has got to be a mess right now. Especially since it seems likely that Palin was selected as a running mate by some very important party members. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/27/081027fa_fact_mayer
What if she does come back? If not her what about someone who represents the same ideas comes? I think about the "wedge strategy" of the creationists. It is very similar to the ideas of Patrick Buchanan in his book, Day of Reckoning. He proposes a solution to resolve the cultural war questions in the following manner:
1. Republicanism - elected representatives not judges should decide these things.
2. Federalism - the states not the federal government should decide these things.
3. Localism - "decisions are best taken by the smallest unit of government able to decide and implement them."
4. Participatory democracy - voters should decide these issues by initiative and referenda.
I think we need to formulate new questions to deal with these things because they are. For example, the National Right to Life group frames their anti-abortion stance in the guise of women's health. They point out the "hidden truth's" of how all the various abortion techniques is that they present serious risks to the mother's life and many times can cause death.
In this case, presenting real medical evidence is necessary but is it enough to take on that argument? If transitional fossils have not been enough on the evolution vs. creation front hasn't I doubt any facts about any of these questions is enough.
Just to kick off some ideas on reformulating our questions:
Who can better decide about my body and life, the government, the church or me? Aren't we a country of strong willed individuals who hold personal freedoms / liberties very dear? Doesn't our country have a long tradition of despising discrimination?
I would also say we should hammer the point of how it is the secular base of our constitution that best defends all the religious beliefs. Would a Catholic mom really want her children being taught about theological questions of creation and morals by a Muslim, or a Jehovah's Witness?
Sorry for rambling on so long, but I am interested in hearing everyone's views.
@#13
The number of states allowing stem cell research has increased in this past election.
http://www.mlive.com/elections/index.ssf/2008/11/michigan_voters_approv…
"Red party" sounds like they're left wing. Fancy how the colour coding differs in US.
Nightmares PZ?! Really?!
You give Palin waaaaayyyy too much credit. My bet would be that she's not "sophisticated" enough to even effectively use a fly-swatter.
OMFG! I swear I was going to say that the fly looked like Ben Stein but #8 Coturnix already did!!!
Oh come on... give Sarah Palin a break.
Anyone could have made the mistake that Africa was a country and not know it was a continent.
"I'll get ya 'gotcha' scientist"
#23
I worded it that way to be less confusing, since up here, the "blue party" represents the Conservative government. Their support for the military is limited to ensuring that they finally get subs that don't leak and aircraft which don't crash, though. (Our military still uses helicopters which are over 40 years old, and require 3 hours of maintenance for each hour of flight, as one example.)
I KNOW I'm going to have nightmares from that poster. I swear I can hear that fucking voice of hers with that damn accent: "Come here now you little atheist you! I'll swat the heck out of you, YOU BETCHA!!" It makes me feel like I have ants crawling over me.
I can't imagine how I would have felt had this pinhead actually been on the winning ticket. I really can't.
1. Palin is really stupid. She couldn't even find Africa on a map, didn't know what NAFTA was, or realize that Africa was a continent of dozens of countries.
2. As many noticed, she never gave many interviews or press conferences. The campaign was clearly terrified of letting her off her leash without a few minders.
She was however, clever enough to take the GOP credit cards and run up a few hundred thousand bucks worth of clothing bills. In many places in the USA, one could buy a house for what she spent at Neiman Marcus.
Check out the complete lyrics to "Sarah Palin Eyes" from Unscrewing the Inscrutable's Jim Downey:
(Sung to the tune "Betty Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes)
She's in Reagan's mold
McCain's big surprise
She won't be undersold
She's got Sarah Palin eyes
She'll turn her bullshit on you
You won't get to think twice
She's the Right Wing show
She's got Sarah Palin eyes
And she'll sleaze you
She'll unease you
If you're left she'll just displease you
She's atrocious and she knows
Just what it takes to make the kooks gush
She'll get a Wingnut Nobel Prize
She's got Sarah Palin eyes
(... more ...)
Also: Someone -- several someones -- go over to UTI and volunteer to host the Carnival of the Godless.
HidariMak
"I worded it that way to be less confusing"
I'm not seeing what people could have been confused about.
There wasn't any consistent US-party color coding before 2000 -- a lot of the older maps have Democrats = red, Republicans = blue. So the association Democrats = blue, Republicans = red is something of a historical accident.
When did being (even remotely) intelligent become antithetical to the GOP platform?
That was a bet that did not pay off.
Yeah, we do resemble that observation.
The dye is used to make the flask show up. Otherwise, it is hard to photograph/draw glassware.
Additional art:
Palin the Creationist, ridin' a dino!
http://www.drawger.com/zinasaunders/?section=gallery&gallery_id=705&ima…
Full gallery of Palin-McCain art:
http://www.drawger.com/zinasaunders/?section=gallery&gallery_id=705
What's that big game she shot? What's the only book in her library? And so on.
A poll asks if Palin should run for president in 2012, and the result is a resounding no:
http://www.polls.newsvine.com/_question/2008/11/06/2080601-do-you-think…
and LOTS of scientists (such as geologists and most physicists) do not wear white lab coats, either. My normal attire when teaching is T-shirts and jeans or shorts. But I do realize that the white lab coat is a stereotypical symbol of the scientist, and so used in editorial cartoons all the time.
Personally, if I never hear Palin's name again, it will still be way too soon.
@ Ken:
The argument for abortion rights is very simple. (I never understood how the right to privacy became the front for it.)
If the state tells a woman that she can't have an abortion (or for that matter, that she has to have one, a la China) it is telling her that her body doesn't belong to her. In English, we have a word for a person whose body doesn't belong to them: that person is a slave; in this case a slave of the state. Slavery is forbidden by (at least) the 13th amendment. QED.
That would make the Bill of Rights a dead letter as well, IMO: what does all that crap about freedom of speech, freedom of the press, etc. mean if you're not allowed to control your own bodily functions, for crying out loud?
I wish people would stop considering this a "women's issue." Since 1920, at least, women have been citizens just like men: there's no way the principle of slavery embodied in anti-abortion laws could be limited to women only. "First they came for the Jews...."
I am a (sometimes) proud citizen of Washington , the first state to legalize abortion, in 1970. Best political bumper-sticker ever: "Don't Labor Under a Misconception--Vote for Proposition 20!"
I think you dodged a bullet in more ways than one. I've just been reading about patronage and cronyism in Palin's Alaska.
Or us....
There are several very solid arguments for abortion rights.
1. Making abortion illegal is tantamount to slavery (explained above). And of course the flip side of no abortion is forced abortion.
2. Assume that the fetus is a person. You are not required to lend your body to the life support of another.
3. You are not required to risk your life for the sake of another. Legal abortion is safer than childbirth. Q.E.D.
4. The U.S. "right to privacy" may be equivalent to Point 1: you have the right to control your own body. A decision is best made by the people most affected.
5. Making abortion illegal doesn't stop it -- it just kills women.
And no, it doesn't work to tell people that there's no evidence that abortion causes cancer and that good studies of abortion show that the main psychological reaction is relief. Because they won't believe you. It's all about controlling other people. They won't even believe you if they have to have abortions or take their daughters for one -- because THEY are DIFFERENT from the all-purpose imaginary slut that they want to control. THEY have REASONS. They even go back to picketing afterwards.
Maybe instead of "do you support a ban on abortion" the question should be clearer: "Do you support forcing pregnancy (danger), childbirth (pain), and parenthood (responsibility) on unwilling participants?"
They managed to make her not look like Tina Fey. Impressive.
You underestimate Palin. She has courted right-wing Washington DC insiders, hired an east-coast PR firm to promote her, and hired Ted Stevens' DC lawyer to advise her on how to nail her $27 million US in earmarked funds for Wasilia AK (population 6700). Ignorant and stubborn, sure. But she's also moderately intelligent and very power-hungry. And she doesn't think experience is important; that shows in her own appointments of inexperienced and underqualified campaign donors to positions in Alaska. So she may be one of those "unskilled and unaware of it" people who is so incompetent for a task that they don't even realize it.
My... what lucid and intelligent criticism of policies and positions.
If the state tells a woman that she can't have an abortion (or for that matter, that she has to have one, a la China) it is telling her that her body doesn't belong to her. In English, we have a word for a person whose body doesn't belong to them: that person is a slave; in this case a slave of the state. Slavery is forbidden by (at least) the 13th amendment. QED.
No court would make a decision based on such ridiculous word games. Your first two sentences each grossly stretch the meaning of words to reach a desired, but obviously false, conclusion. The definition of slavery is "The state of one bound in servitude as the property of a slaveholder or household" -- that (along with indentured servitude) is what is forbidden by the 13th amendment; banning abortions is not.
I never understood how the right to privacy became the front for it.
As I recently noted elsewhere, "I don't understand X" is not an argument against X. The right to clip your toenails when you want is a privacy right (regulating it would certainly not amount to enslavement). Likewise with the right to have an abortion (which is greatly limited under Roe v. Wade).
You are not required to risk your life for the sake of another. Legal abortion is safer than childbirth. Q.E.D.
Swerving to avoid a child who runs into the street is riskier than driving over them, so driving over them is ok. QED? No, of course not, because the claim that "You are not required to risk your life for the sake of another" is not true in every case; it depends on the level of risk and whether the action involved is active (e.g., driving over someone, having an abortion) or passive (e.g., standing on a riverbank watching a person drown).
There are good arguments for abortion rights, but these sorts of silly, tendentious arguments aren't among them and don't help the cause.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Sarah-Palin-Thought-Africa-…
Spare a thought for Tina Fey. With that ditzy clown Palin gone, she's lost a great source of comedy.
But think how many votes went to Obama thanks to her brilliant lampooning of the idiot Sarah Palin. We should all be very thankful to Tina Fey.
truth machine said:
I categorically deny that this is a "ridiculous word game." Suggest another word for such complete legal control over your most personal actions or behavior, by another person or the State. Yeah, I didn't think so.
Walton, it looks far better if you don't just paste an URL - use the a tag and put your link in context and I might know what I'm clicking on and why.
Looks like this ia big news on the Bill O'Reilly show :
"McCain staffers savaging Palin" :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1KvgwTrpQE
This is FUN !
I categorically deny that this is a "ridiculous word game."
Bully for you.
Suggest another word for such complete legal control over your most personal actions or behavior, by another person or the State. Yeah, I didn't think so.
Do you have any idea how stupid that false dichotomy is? Just because something can't be described in a single word doesn't mean that your single word describes it.
Well, by the looks of it, Palin will be back again 2012. Like the Olympics, but far scarier. But everything about her paleonthological person hasn't been bad. She has inspired a whole new generation to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus.
no scientist I know wears a tie.
This began simply as another aspect of scientists' above-average rationality. The tie serves no purpose, is uncomfortable, and wastes up to 30 seconds per day in tying and removing it. Of course, now that fewer scientists actually wear white coats, tielessness, like the beard, has become a mark of professional status for the male scientist.
HidariMak@17,
But aren't your "red" and "blue" parties the correct way round ideologically, in contrast to those of the USA?(OK, I know this is an oversimplification, your real red party would be the NDP insofar as you have one.)
Scientists may not often wear ties, but some guys at the Cavendish did prove that tie knots are equivalent to persistent random walks on a triangular lattice, categorising the known tie knots and discovering several new ones. Look for "The eighty-five ways to tie a tie."
The scientist is a decoy. Hundreds of botflies are laying eggs in her back.
Come on, let's stop with this nonsense ! Palin got her 2 months of fame, and that's the furthest she'll ever get...
The republican party is a failed party, it will have to reform itself, I don't expect it only consists of nutcases and they know very well that demographic trends are what they are, and if they want to have the slightest chance to beat Obama in 2012 or beat the dems in 2016, it won't be with an ultra-conservative ignorant nutcase as candidate.
In response to Lurkbot's slavery argument:
If the state tells a 18 year old woman that she can't drink alcoholic beverages, it is telling her that her body doesn't belong to her. In English, we have a word for a person whose body doesn't belong to them: that person is a slave; in this case a slave of the state. Slavery is forbidden by (at least) the 13th amendment. QED.
So, does that mean that everyone under the age of 21 is a slave in the United States? According to Lurkbot's logic it certainly appears so.
Their only hope at this point is that the Dems don't do a good job over the next four years. They might keep Palin, but she's going to need a lot of work to get her in a position where she won't be detrimental to the cause. Still, they got GWB to a point where almost half the country voted for him the first time; it couldn't be any harder with Caribou Barbie.
As many commenters have already noted Sarah Palin thought that Africa was a country and couldn't name all the countries in North America.
I think everyone knew that she wasn't the sharpest penny in the fountain, but WTF !?!?1! These are basic questions they teach you in elementary school. This woman could very well have been next in line after a 72 year old cancer survivor. This is just frightening. She makes George W. Bush like professor.
The fact that someone that dumb thought she could handle being president isn't the saddest part. After all, reason isn't her strong point. But how can McCain and all his aides actually choose someone so ignorant to be his VP? How can they, after discovering that she completely lacked the necessary skills for her potential future post, not make sure everyone who can vote was aware of this?
The only explanation is they put party before country and that's borderline treason. It's more treasonous than having a weird ass preacher. It's more treasonous than sitting on a board with some guy who did bad things 40 years ago. It's more treasonous than wanting to "spread the wealth".
It's not as treasonous however as being close to a party that wants Alaska to cede from the US. It's not as treasonous as honoring the flag of people who fought to keep slavery, actually ceded from the US, and then launched a war that crippled both sides.
Representative Bachmann, if you actually want to investigate who hates America most maybe you should start with the people who in recent years have done the most harm to her, namely your party.
You may want to check your favorite news sources. Currently the McCain campaign and Republican mouth piece Fox News are doing their best to bury her as far under the mountain as is possible.
Why are you even talking about Palin? Its over.
Now what?
If Obama doesn't stop this spriral into a depression he will be a one termer...at the very least we are in a stall that could lead to a three year recession cycle.
I don't want him to be a Jimmy Carter one termer.
The dems have to act NOW...they have the house and the senate, Obama could rally them NOW!
How many decisions does a president truly make on his or her own anyway? I mean, seriously; GWB didn't seem bright enough to put pants on without help. I don't think relative cluelessness is going to prevent Palin from getting the nomination again.
Remember, this is a country where the majority of people don't seem to want someone smarter or better-educated than themselves taking the top job. They want someone 'nice' or with whom they 'share values' (i.e. says they believe in jesus) or 'could have a beer with'.
Maybe in the past yes, but not as evidenced by three days ago...
That could of course be a fleeting phenomenon.
Palin who??
What Wowbagger said. Gov. Palin has demonstrated that
she has the skills required for success in politics. It
would reassure those of us here if our leaders would give
props to science & rationality, but remember what Adlai
Stevenson said about intelligent voters: there aren't
enough of them.
I sincerely hope - for both the US and the rest of the world - that you're right, and that the US public have realised that it's better to have the smart, educated, composed, rational guy making in charge of the people making the decisions.
But it wasn't like Obama won by a landslide; I don't know how much it'd take to get those who swung 'left' to swing back again.
Before the last election there was a documentary on tv here in Australia; one of our journalists was interviewing people about who they were going to vote for. The one I distinctly remember was a farmer (or grazier, since I think he raised animals) who was the typical honest, hardworking, midwest-USA type - and he looked straight at the camera and said, 'well, when it comes down to it, it's about Jesus.'
I was stunned. There are any number of real issues at stake that need to be considered before choosing who you should vote for, and he's worried about Jesus?
Few things have frightened me more.
No but its the biggest margin for a democrat in a very very long time. It is a mandate no matter what Bob Novak wants to say.
But after a little thought, you are probably correct in that the whole "have a beer" thing still exists more than I'd like to think it does. It's unfortunate that people's memories are so stunted, as that was one of the biggest reasons I heard for voting for Bush in 2000. 2004 was all about fear.
So, does that mean that everyone under the age of 21 is a slave in the United States? According to Lurkbot's logic it certainly appears so.
Consider "such complete legal control over your most personal actions or behavior, by another person or the State". Why would someone characterize a ban on abortions in such a way other than so as to call it slavery? There's not a shred of intellectual honesty in such an argument.
Given the rate her followers are breeding, she'll be president by 2020 at the latest.
Ah, but given the rate at which D. melanogaster breeds, she'll face some formidable opposition.
" ... well, when it comes down to it, it's about Jesus."
If there's one pernicious idea I wish we could banish from the planet, it's this one: That if someone stands up and shouts at full volume that he's a Christian, it means that he's a nice and honest guy.
But it wasn't like Obama won by a landslide
It was an electoral vote landslide, which counts because campaigning is based on electoral votes. And in years past all the pundits were saying that a 6% spread was unreachable in such a polarized nation.
And here's something to consider: in 2004, Kerry won every city with a population of over 100,000, regardless of location. No doubt Obama reached much deeper.
But don't forget demographic trends in this country !
The only category where the GOP did better than the dems were the people above 65 yold. Well, a signifcant portion will be dead in 4 years, and in 8 years...
Second, registered GOPs are going down, election after election. Dems are going up.
Third, religiosity is going down, secularism is going up.
These might all be slow trends, but none of them are in favour of the GOP if it remains hooked on the same ultra-conservative strategy. It's irremediable, they will have to find another way, it just won't get any better for them if they stick to that same failed strategy.
(Already noted at #8 & #25 but...)
NO-NO-NO!!!
Don't Stop Her! She's About To Swat Ben Stien!!!
@61: drink laws are no more slavery than, say, the prohibition on theft or murder. The issue with _forcing a woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term_ is that it's requiring that woman to use her body and its organs as life-support for what is, bluntly, a parasite growing within her. If the law required me to donate blood every month whether I want to or not, that would be unjust, an enslavement, and I could quite legitimately object to state vampirism. Requiring a woman to perform the far more demanding donation of her bodily resources in an unwanted pregnancy is far worse.
I'm sure I'll be corrected on this but...
It's more demanding that woman can't stop using their bodies for an unwanted pregnancy than demanding that they use it for one.
@78: true, in the sense that legislation _requiring women to get pregnant_ would be even worse. Look for that in Sarah Palin's campaign platform in 2012. But telling woman that they cannot excise an unwanted cellular mass from their body is still pretty bad.
And yes, I'm being deliberately provocatively blunt in picking my biological terms as I hope it'll provoke some thought about how much sentimentality we shroud pregnancy in. Maybe I should just go all-out with a pregnancy/cancer analogy. A music-hall piece entitled Sentimental Tumor?
okay, I'll stop now.
if the unfair coverage is not sexism i don't know what is?
democrats = hypocrites extraordinaire.
-former dem
dave
I can't find what in this post you might be referring to. mind pointing it out?
Dave @ #80, apparently you don't. You should replace "democrats" with "political machinery". You don't really think the Rs are all for truth, justice and apple pie now, do you?
Is it just me or does the fly look like Ben Stien.
I think the best joke in that image is that he is a fruit-fly-scientist. Maybe the scientist fruit flies do wear lab coats more than we do? After all, he works in Paris, France I-kid-you-not...
What was unfair and what was sexist about pointing out what was obvious to anyone with half a brain, that she was an ignorant fool ?
Oh but I know, another ignorant fool can't tell an ignorant fool when he sees one. It's impossible. That's why the necessary conclusion for them is that the press is biased against Palin, and all those who criticize Palin are sexist and elitist.
Did you even listen to her interview with Couric ? Now, what excuses will you make for that one ? Oh, but that doesn't count, does it ?
There's no shortage of sexism in the world. Criticising a VP nominee for NOT KNOWING ANYTHING is not sexism. Ye gods- couldn't name a newspaper she reads; couldn't name any Supreme Court decision except Roe v Wade.
Slightly OT, but... Orac has a post up and a link to where you can weigh in with the Obama transition team on the "rumor" that he is considering RFK Jr. as the head of the EPA.
RFK Jr. has already shown he has a problem digesting evidence based science and preferring psuedo-science. The head of the EPA needs to be able to understand the difference.
The green liquid is just refrigerant/anti-freeze, but it belongs in the lines of a condenser/cold trap not an erlenmeyer flask... Or it could be wonderflonium (do not bounce!)
I have two reasons for wearing my lab coat: cold days in the lab (ironically mostly during summer when the AC is on too high and I'm dressed for summer), and changing the pump oil on my mass spec.
And if anyone doubted that certain sectors of the media lean solidly to the right, the fact that none of this was shared with the voting public BEFORE the election says it all.
mayhempix @ #26: Oh come on... give Sarah Palin a break.
Anyone could have made the mistake that Africa was a country and not know it was a continent.
If that is the case, you seriously need to reform your educational system. This is right up there with the former Swedish secretary of foreign affairs, Laila Freivalds, who didn't know what Thailand was when she was interviewed right after the tsunami disaster, and president Gerald Ford who in 1976 claimed that the Soviet Union didn't have any influence in Eastern Europe. In order to govern, you'll at least need to have your kindergarten degree in order...
What a brilliant artist. I like Palin as a librarian where all the books are the same. (No prizes for guessing what!).
http://www.drawger.com/zinasaunders/?section=gallery&gallery_id=705&ima…
Yes, Palin is getting criticized from all directions. But numerous right wing bloggers worship her, and are intending to fight back, making enemies lists, identifying every last RINO and hoping to get Limbaugh join them in their frenzy.
The main difference in style between Republicans and Democrats is that the Republicans, ever since Reagan, usually insist on an all-or-nothing no-prisoners approach and the Democrats are willing to negotiate and compromise, whatever is pragmatic. Thus Democrats helped Reagan with his tax cuts, but Republicans shut down the budget under Clinton.
It's going to be real sweet watching the nuts apply their unthinking dogmatism against each other this time around, instead of against the American people.
I thought the fly-scientist looked like Ben Stein, too.
The Eighty-Five Ways to Tie a Tie is indeed a great book. I have a copy somewhere.
Scientists themselves only wear ties in Half-Life, and even then they complain about it.
But... Joe Biden is bald!
owlmirror @36 and Timelord @91:
Yeah, that artwork by Zina Saunders is really incredible, capturing the subjects' personalities as well as their physical features and expressions.
I don't know who would want that particular series on their walls, though. Not McCain/Palin fans, nor most of us who are creeped out by that duo, either. A historical museum might be a good place for those. Or maybe the Obamas could add them to the decor when they move into the White House, and donate them to a museum when Obama is done with his second term.
Swerving to avoid an obstacle is not necessarily more dangerous. It might even be safer. You also have the option of braking in a straight line. In contrast, WHO figures put childbirth about 12 times more likely to kill a woman than legal abortion and 100 times more likely to require major abdominal surgery. It's not a minor difference. So I repeat, making someone bear a child instead of having an abortion that they want is forcing them to run an unnecessary risk. It's contrary to common law and practice.
(the liquids are almost always transparent
or they're milky white). Bright green ?!?
Pierre, baby, he didn't add water to his absinthe yet!
#40 I wish people would stop considering this a "women's issue."
Can someone please explain to me how this isn't a "women's issue" since men aren't the ones getting pregnant?
&
#78
It's more demanding that woman can't stop using their bodies for an unwanted pregnancy than demanding that they use it for one.
WTF? I've read this 3 times now and I still don't understand what your saying. ?
Also one more thing I've heard that Bush had been trying to get some kind of law passed which would consider condoms and birth control as a form of abortion. Does anyone know whether this is true or not and if so can you point me in the right direction to read more up on it? Thanks!
Gladly. It's just me being pedantic.
Banning abortion is not forcing woman to get pregnant with unwanted pregnancies. It's keeping them from having the ability to deal with an unwanted pregnancy.
Which was an answer to Stephen Wells in #77
It's not requiring women to get pregnant just removing some of their options if they do.
Like I said, purely pedantic.
Have not heard that, but it would have exactly zero chance of passing in my opinion.
Stephen Wells @77: The issue with [a ban on abortion] is that it's requiring that woman to use her body and its organs as life-support for what is, bluntly, a parasite growing within her.
Sorry Mr. Wells, but that is wrong. While the fetus is physiologically parasitic, it is not a parasite since by biological definition a parasite is different species than its host.
Doug @101, (1) a correction that doesn't change the sense of the sentence being corrected is pointless, i.e. replacing "parasite" with "physiologically parasitic [organism]" (2) Stephen in his next comment clarified his purpose: "And yes, I'm being deliberately provocatively blunt in picking my biological terms as I hope it'll provoke some thought about how much sentimentality we shroud pregnancy in."
By the way, "while" in your post should be "though" (unless you think that fetuses cease being functionally parasitic at some stage).
#99 Rev. BigDumbChimp- Ok thanks for clearing that up for me. I must admit it was very late when I read that last night and my brain was beginning to turn to mush. LOL.
Also
#100 I found some articles on it last night but I didn't find whether it actually went through or had any kind of serious consideration being given to it.
http://thesop.org/index.php?article=12780
http://www.thelangreport.com/insights-and-observations/contraception-is…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/16/bush-administration-tryin_n_11…