Politics
pharyngula | September 15, 2009We've got a fine gang of nuts coming up through the religious ranks right now. There are some real lunatics associated with Sarah Palin: she's linked to her home-town priests, Ed Kalnin and Thomas Muthee, who are linked to Morningstar Ministries and Rick Joyner. These cranks have a plan.
Muthee is an international celebrity for his role in a series of documentary videos, seen by millions worldwide, that claim Christians can reduce crime, murder, traffic accidents, addiction, and environmental degradation by driving out, from cities and towns, demon spirits and accused witches.
I am most…
grrlscientist | September 15, 2009tags: CIGNA, health insurance, medical care, health care, Edward Hanway, denial of care, health care rationing, streaming video
CIGNA Chairman and CEO, Edward Hanway, spends his holidays in a $13 million beach house in New Jersey. Meanwhile, regular Americans are routinely denied coverage for the care they need when they need it most.
Welcome to the American health insurance industry. Instead of helping policyholders attain the health security they need for their families, big insurance companies get rich by denying coverage to patients. Now theyre sending lobbyists to Washington, DC to twist…
revere | September 15, 2009It was only a matter of time before the Right Wing smear machine set its sites on Obama's nominee for Director of OSHA, Dr. David Michaels. And now that time has come. David is a friend and colleague and his name is not a stranger here (and here, here, here and probably other posts as well). His name comes up not because he's my friend but because of his contributions to public health. His PhD is in occupational epidemiology and he's made important contributions in the area of popcorn workers lung (despite the humorous name, it is a deadly disease) and beryllium poisoning. He knows government…
gregladen | September 14, 2009YOU LIE!!!!
Once again, Republicans have been caught at their own game. You all know there was a big shindig in DC on September 12th to protest the blackness of our president, the liberalosity of our congress, the intelligence of the new policies such as Cash for Clunkers and Saving the Economy's Ass and so on.
Well conservative yahoos have been passing around, blogging, twittering, and jerking off to a photograph showing a ZILLION people at the Washington Mall. Clearly this photograph shows the BIGGEST gathering of Amerkan Cit-sins EVAH overwhelmingly indicating that The People ...…
gregladen | September 14, 2009It has been said that civility is an excellent conversation stopper. And it can be, because demanding civility has been a way to control or limit the voice of alterity or the unprivileged. When it comes to Joe Wilson's now-infamous shouted remark at the joint session, the question arises as to whether the tone or style of this act was the important issue, or whether the meaning or content of what he said ... the truth of his "You lie!" ... is what should be focused on. In my view, the answer is: Both, neither, and you are missing the point.
I offer the following:
1) His incivility at this…
ddobbs | September 14, 2009I regret I can't treat at more, um, length, the following weighty matters:
Size Matters; So Do Lies Nate Silver finds that Matt Kibbe, the president of FreedomWorks, speaking of the 9/12 tea party rally in DC, " did the equivalent of telling people that his penis is 53 inches long."
Dr. Nobody Again Questions JAMA Disclosure Policies in which Philip Dawdy and Jonathan Leo, a dangerous combination, butt heads with JAMA
Self-Destruct Button, Activiated! Baucus and Conrad decide maybe Joe Wilson had a point after all. Swine Flu Mystery in Healthy Young Puts Focus on Genetics, Deep Inhaling (…
pharyngula | September 14, 2009Frank Page is a former head of the Southern Baptist Convention (i.e., nuts) and is also now a member of the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. In an interview, he talks about what's going on in that council, and there is actually some good news.
My hope was that there would have been more time for focusing on formulating actual policy recommendations for the president. They keep saying that that's something we'll have more time for in the future. But most of our time so far has been briefings from administration officials about various government programs that are…
j7uy5 | September 14, 2009The SEIU website makes an
href="http://www.seiu.org/2009/09/domestic-violence-victims-have-a-pre-existing-condition.php">astonishing
claim:
But, in DC and nine other states, including Arkansas,
Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming, insurance companies have gone too
far, claiming that "domestic violence victim" is also a pre-existing
condition.
Words cannot describe the sheer inhumanity of this claim. It serves as
yet further proof that our insurance system is broken, destroyed by the
profit-mongering of the very companies…
razib | September 13, 2009U.S. Is Finding Its Role in Business Hard to Unwind:
Between financial rescue missions and the economic stimulus program, government spending accounts for a bigger share of the nation's economy -- 26 percent -- than at any time since World War II. The government is financing 9 out of 10 new mortgages in the United States. If you buy a car from General Motors, you are buying from a company that is 60 percent owned by the government.
If you take out a car loan or run up your credit card, the chances are good that the government is financing both your debt and that of your bank.
And if you buy…
drorzel | September 12, 2009I almost forgot about yesterday's anniversary-- I didn't think of it at all until the fulsome tribute before Thursday night's football game. I actually waffled for a bit about whether to put up the annual moment-of-silence post. It's been eight years, everybody's concerns have shifted to other things, and September 11, 2001 doesn't loom quite as large as it did a few years ago.
I decided to go with it, though, for the same reasons as always. How long will I keep doing this yearly? Probably until this stops making me cry. Gonna be a few years yet...
Screw this depressing stuff. Here's a happy…
ddobbs | September 12, 2009
via youtube.com
As Gooznews (h/t) put it, "This says it all."
My own rant will come later.
Posted via web from David Dobbs's Somatic Marker
jrosenhouse | September 11, 2009By now I assume everyone has heard that South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson heckled President Obama during the latter's big health care speech on Wednesday. When Obama claimed that there was nothing in his bill that would extend health insurance to illegal aliens, the congressman yelled out “You lie!”
By doing so Wilson showed that there are at least three different ways in which he is a jerk. First, there is the sheer, childish rudeness of heckling a President. This is really what it's come to? We can not agree anymore that when the President addresses a joint session of Congress you…
grrlscientist | September 11, 2009
Eight years ago today, I watched 7 WTC (7 World Trade Center) collapse at 17:20 after its structural integrity had been compromised by fires and by the collapse of the nearby north tower due to a terrorist attack by a group of religious wingnuts. These attacks killed 2,603 people in New York City in the towers and on the ground.
grrlscientist | September 11, 2009
[larger view]
Eight years ago today, I watched WTC 1 (the north tower) collapse at 10:28, after it burned for approximately 102 minutes in a fire caused by the impact of United Airlines Flight 11. These attacks killed 2,603 people in New York City in the towers and on the ground.
grrlscientist | September 11, 2009
Eight years ago today, I watched numerous television news reports depicting a smoking hole in the ground, created by a fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed into a corn field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03. The passengers on board engaged in a fight with the hijackers, who then rolled the plane into the ground, killing all 40 passengers and crew. It was likely that the ultimate target of this plane was the United States Capitol.
grrlscientist | September 11, 2009
[larger view]
Eight years ago today, I watched WTC 2 (The south tower) collapse at 09:59, after burning for 56 minutes in a fire caused by the impact of United Airlines Flight 175. These attacks killed 2,603 people in New York City in the towers and on the ground.
grrlscientist | September 11, 2009
Eight years ago today, a group of religion wingnuts flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 09:37, killing 125 people, only 55 of which were military personnel.
pharyngula | September 11, 2009California took such a brave leap last year to protect the purity of marriage by denying it to all of those with matching, instead of complementary, genitali; now John Marcotte wants to take the next logical step, and get an initiative on the California ballot to outlaw divorce. That's an excellent idea; most marriages aren't threatened by homosexuality at all (strangely, though, it's the must fervent fundamentalists who are most tempted by the love that dare not speak its name), but they are at risk from divorce. Nothing would strengthen the institution of marriage more than making a wedding…