Politics
pharyngula | September 3, 2008This is a terrifying video. It's Sarah Palin going on and on in front of her Assembly of God church, talking about the war in Iraq as "a task that is from God", promising the congregants the gift of prophecy, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus…it ought to make any rational human being ill.
But that's not the scary part. The truly frightening prospect, and the thing that we must not forget lest we underestimate Palin, is that huge numbers of people in this country will find that blithering speech uplifting and wonderful. We atheists view it with alarmed horror, that an idiot like that could be considered…
pharyngula | September 2, 2008I told you that Roy Zimmerman had a new topical song about Sarah Palin…and here it is:
drorzel | September 2, 2008Comedy Central is re-playing Friday's episodes of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, which includes Stephen Colbert's interview with Lori Lippman Brown of the Secular Coalition for America. It's interesting to see that she doesn't really fare any better than any of the religious nutjobs he's had on in his various interview segments, in more or less the same way:
I doubt there's really any way to not look somewhat silly, given his whack-job act and good video editing, but it's always a little surprising just how unprepared a lot of his interview subjects are. You'd think they'd have some…
illconsidered | September 2, 2008Okay, when I first heard this about McCain's VP pick, Sarah Palin:
I figured it was just an unscripted blunder by a marginal participant. But now I see this:
After I stopped laughing, I realized it is actually going to be one of their wingnut talking points. Sarah Palin knows about foreign policy because she lives close to Russia! Could you be any more ridiculous?
Now excuse me, I am going to go put a few particle physics texts under my pillow so I can solve the mystery of Dark Matter in the morning....
[h/t to Dispatches from the Culture War]
gregladen | September 2, 2008GOP's Secret Internal Talking Points For Delegates About Palin Family are HERE. So if you are with the GOP and don't have these, better have a look. Otherwise, STAY AWAY THIS IS SECRET.
Futures Trading in Palin's Likely withdraw from the VEEP sweepstakes have started, details here.
But don't worry, it's OK. She's ready to lead. She has made several important decisions. See, like this:
gregladen | September 2, 2008"It is true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could abort every black baby in this country..."
Republican Secretary of Education William Bennet, 1985 to 1988
Hat tip: Javier,who tells me that this video is "from the same guy who did the Expelled/astrology parody."
gregladen | September 2, 2008Of course, I agree with Barack Obama as well as my colleagues on scienceblogs that people's families should be off limits in campaigns. Thus, discussion of Sarah Palin's unwed young daughter getting knocked up out of wedlock is totally irrelevant. As PZ puts it, we should instead focus on Sarah Palin's utter disregard for individual liberties and basic human rights and stuff like that.
I also believe that it is in appropriate for religious leaders to capitalize on disasters by claiming that their particular version of Gawd Almighty is busy smiting gay people, uppity women, or whatever.…
drorzel | September 2, 2008Everybody's favorite local troll left a comment in yesterday's links dump about the scandal surrounding Sarah Palin's daughter. It was remarkably coherent for an "Uncle Al" post, and actually bordered on funny.
If you look at it now, though, you'll find it's undergone lossy compression. I dithered about this for a while, and then decided that I find the whole topic sufficiently loathesome that I'm not going to support talking about it in any way.
Yes, I'm aware that, were she a Democrat, this news would've given Rush Limbaugh a stiffy visible from space, and the wingnut-o-sphere would be so…
pharyngula | September 2, 2008Why? Because that is the day of the Pulpit Initiative, when brave and idiotic right wing preachers will defy the IRS and lose their tax exemptions.
The Pulpit Initiative
Reclaiming pastors' constitutional right to speak Truth from the pulpit
On Sunday, September 28, 2008, we are seeking pastors who will preach from the pulpit a sermon that addresses the candidates for government office in light of the truth of Scripture. The sermon is intended to challenge the Internal Revenue Code's restrictions by specifically opposing candidates for office that do not align themselves and their positions…
j7uy5 | September 2, 2008Within the past year, public sentiment has shifted. It has
been changing slowly, but steadily. Sometime in the past
year, it
reached the crossover point. Now there is a simple majority
who think that religious groups should stay out of politics.
From the Pew
Research Center for the People & the Press
class="l">:
alt="" title="click"
src="http://people-press.org/reports/images/445-1.gif"
border="0" height="288" width="285">
href="http://people-press.org/report/445/religion-politics">More
Americans Question Religion's Role In Politics
Some Social Conservative…
clock | September 1, 2008General election is in two months. Both campaigns are in a frenzy. Media is covering it full speed. Even low-information voters are slowly starting to pay attention. At this point, every word every candidate says is analyzed and over-analyzed and can potentially be disastrous if the opposing side spins it in their TV ads. This is not the time to venture into unnecessary topics. Caution is the key.
Nobody who cherishes reason, logic, empiricism and rationality is crazy to vote for the train wreck that is the McCain/Palin ticket. Such people are going to vote for Obama even if they think…
pharyngula | September 1, 2008Events are off to a great start at the RNC: Amy Goodman, host of the TV/radio program Democracy Now! and a well-known activist for peace and human rights, has been arrested in St Paul by our power-mad authoritarian servants of the Rethuglican Party. Apparently, she was defending two radio producers who were being arrested on the charge of "suspicion of rioting", which sounds dubious right there. She has been charged with "conspiracy to incite a riot".
She's a well-known peace activist, people. Non-violence and all that. And now the cops are claiming that she is working to incite riots? Be…
clock | September 1, 2008Focused--The Sequel:
Another week, another Frank Luntz/AARP focus group of undecided voters--this one in Minneapolis and with some bad news for John McCain: they don't like the choice of Sarah Palin for vice president.
Afterwards Luntz, good Republican that he is, made the case that Palin could win all these people back with a good convention speech, but that seemed far-fetched to me. They really saw this pick as a gimmick--and one that reflected badly on John McCain's judgment.
clock | September 1, 2008When Republican delegates check-in to their hotel rooms in St. Paul this week, they will receive a "thank you" message on their televisions. An ad called "Thanks For The Memories," produced by Campaign for America's Future, will broadcast unforgettable moments from the last eight years that conservatives wish the country would forget.
With Hurricane Gustav on the nation's mind, the ad reminds viewers of the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina. It also highlights skyrocketing gas prices, soaring home foreclosures, the infamous "mission accomplished" banner and tells conservatives, "You've…
gregladen | September 1, 2008This gives a reasonable idea of what it is like to get tear gassed:
Why is this important? Remember this:
In my view, which may not be popular, when the Ohio National Guard shot dead four kids, at least one of which was, by the way, a passer-by unrelated to the demonstration, and all of whom were running away, you, me, the Saint Paul Police, the Republicans, and everybody else in this country lost the right to get indignant about a few anarchists breaking a window at Macy's or roughing up a Fox News Van. Anybody got a problem with that?
gregladen | September 1, 2008 Anarchists, clashing. Macy's, St. Paul Police, and Fox News suffered attacks by anarchists wearing clothing that did not match, facial scarves, and silly goggles. There were at least two different fronts to this attack, one along the designated protesters parade route, where the anarchists broke a large window at Macy's, and another in a nearby neighborhood, where anarchists attempted to stop buses coming into the security area. In the latter case, horse mounted police used rubber bullets and pepper spray, and at least one anarchist was kicked in the head by a horse. Which is kinda…
stoat | September 1, 2008Not Michael, sadly, but Sarah. Just my opinion, briefly: I know nothing about her (just like everyone else) but it seems transparently obvious that she has been chosen ins a hurry to hoover up the Hillary-ites; ie, she is a gimmick (independently of whatever virtues she may possess) not a real choice; and that this is likely to unravel badly (starting now?).
Everyone else has noticed that this blows the lack-of-political-experience stuff up; so I won't mention it :-)
CIP offers good advice.