Politics
pharyngula | November 7, 2006Now look what you've done, O American Religion. Even thoughtful people like Shelley are getting fed up with you.
Regardless of how this vote goes this week, we can no longer ignore the elephant sitting in the corner that is religious influence on politics and government. People are not always going to be able to complacently have their 'faith' and their 'science', because in too many cases belief in one denies the existence of the other. Members of a church may have to consider challenging the precepts of the church, and individual churches challenge their association with a larger body.…
oracknows | November 7, 2006The polls are now open where I live. Don't forget to get out there and vote!
Too bad we don't have a candidate like the one in the video to vote for. At least he's honest. Heck, if any candidate ran a campaign like the one in the video above, I might even vote for him! As it is now, for Senate I have the choice between a Republican tool and a totally corrupt Democrat.
oracknows | November 6, 2006OK, I wasn't planning on writing on the whole Haggard imbroglio again. (Famous last words, eh?) Then, via Andrew Sullivan, I came across this little post by a blogging evangelical pastor from Seattle named Mark Driscoll:
Most pastors I know do not have satisfying, free, sexual conversations and liberties with their wives. At the risk of being even more widely despised than I currently am, I will lean over the plate and take one for the team on this. It is not uncommon to meet pastors' wives who really let themselves go; they sometimes feel that because their husband is a pastor, he is…
jlynch | November 6, 2006It's election time here in the US and we need a new Congress -- here's why:
1. Congress set a record for the fewest number of days worked -- 218 between the House and Senate combined. [Link]
2. The Senate voted down a measure that urged the administration to start a phased redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq by the end of 2006. [Link]
3. Congress failed to raise the minimum wage, leaving it at its lowest inflation-adjusted level since 1955. [Link]
4. Congress gave itself a two percent pay raise. [Link]
5. There were 15,832 earmarks totaling $71 billion in 2006. (In 1994, there were 4,…
jlynch | November 6, 2006Another reason why the Republican Party are lead by scum. Appears the rats will try anything to avoid being kicked to the curb. I doubt very much that the DoJ will do anything.
pharyngula | November 6, 2006Put a little Streisand on the CD player, and then visit Sadly, No! for some pictorial motivation to get out and vote for the right people tomorrow. It's inspiring!
clock | November 6, 2006If you are in Chapel Hill (Orange County) NC and want to know how to vote on some races you did not pay much attention to, consult Concerned Citizen and Orange Politics. The debates in the comments at OP are quite informative as the candidates themselves tend to show up often.
For the broader Triangle area, check out the Independent and Exile on Jones Street.
For races across North Carolina, go for info to BlueNC
clock | November 6, 2006Bring your cell-phone with you (if you have one). Bring your camera (if you have one). Bring family or friends along to serve as each others' witnesses in case something happens.
And if you notice anything wrong with the way elections are going or your vote is counted? What do you do?
You need to respond immediately. Take a picture or a movie of the offense (discreetly if deemed neccessary). Then, you need to respond loudly enough that everyone in the building hears about it. Immediately complain to the election officials and do not back down until the problem is resolved. Inform…
grrlscientist | November 6, 2006It appears that the writers of The Simpsons are writing more astute political analysis than has the main stream media. To see more about what I am talking about, you can watch a streaming clip from last night's episode of The Simpsons below the fold.
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tags: The Simpsons, streaming video, political opinion
clock | November 6, 2006From today's Quotes of the Day:
Tomorrow is election day in the US. At the table where I read, there is a stack of brochures proclaiming that each and every candidate is intelligent, honest, caring, devoted, hard working, well groomed, and straining at the bit to serve me and my community. Plus a few that say that the other guy is lying. My problem is that, with the two-party system, you only get to vote against one candidate in each race.
Our elections are free, it's in the results where eventually we pay.
- Bill Stern
In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the…
clock | November 6, 2006Betsy recorded two sleazy robocalls up in New Hampshire. This should be on every TV and radio station tonight and in the morning!
drorzel | November 6, 2006I'm officially about three "Ask a ScienceBlogger" questions behind, but I didn't want to pass this one up completely:
What's the most important local political race to you this year (as a citizen, as a scientist)?
It's tough to say, because the answer is either "all of them" or "none of them." I thought about writing a voter guide a la Scalzi, but the truth is, my voting this year is entirely determined by a simple algorithm:
I will not vote for the Republican candidate for any office, so long as the current leadership of the national party holds power.
It's as simple as that. I don't care…
j7uy5 | November 6, 2006
href="http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20061104/cleisure/cleisure1.html">Elevating
trivia over substance
published: Saturday | November 4, 2006
There is a deepening triviality in the conduct of American politics,
which should be a matter of great concern to the citizens of the United
States. In this process, form trumps substance and minor side issues
are often the subject of long and tedious debate while fundamental
matters get shunted to the sidelines. It is a kind of politics that
finds congruence and context in this growing American notion of
'infotainment' and well-suited…
purepedantry | November 5, 2006George Will summarizes the races of interest in the upcoming election:
Four years ago all eight Mountain West states -- Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming -- had Republican governors. If Democrat Bill Ritter wins Colorado's governorship, Democrats will hold five of eight governorships in the Mountain West, which in the 1990s was even more reliably Republican than the South. In 2004 a change of a total of 63,508 votes in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico would have given those states' 19 electoral votes and the presidency to John Kerry. No wonder the…
pharyngula | November 5, 2006Don't answer that question. Dr Charles explains how I feel about Hussein's death sentence—it doesn't make sense to respond to brutality with more brutality.
grrlscientist | November 5, 2006Speaking of unacceptable losses, this cited story (below the fold) describes how Bush and his squadron of flying monkeys blatantly betrayed our nation and our military by not sending enough troops to Iraq to do the job properly. Further, this cited story continues on to reveal that there was little chance that a replacement government could be successful in Iraq, especially if it is perceived by the Iraqi peoples as weak, a puppet, or out-of-step with prevailing regional governments.
The U.S. government conducted a series of secret war games in 1999 that anticipated an invasion of Iraq…
hrynyshyn | November 5, 2006Anyone who's spent even a modest amount of time and effort investigating the battle over the teaching of intelligent design creationism in the country's classrooms will recognize the argument that an understanding of evolution is essential to a decent science education, let alone a degree in biology. And so it is.
But many of the same proponents of banishing creationist clap-trap from public schools, myself included, often extend that argument beyond science into the wider cultural and economic spheres. And there things get a little muddy.
A proper understanding of evolution is the…
grrlscientist | November 5, 2006
Our neighbor Bob Gildner.
Image: Gazette/Amy Allan.
Bob Gildner from northern Delaware county has been protesting the war in Iraq for years. In an effort to give people a mental image of how many soldiers have been killed in this war, Bob has painted a blood red star on his property for every life lost.
"I started painting stars on my barn last summer," he said. There are 1,660 blue stars on the white 45-by-60 pole barn with "WMD?" (weapons of mass destruction) painted at the top of the barn. The front of the barn was filled with stars, so Gildner started making signs for his yard and…
pharyngula | November 5, 2006Don't ever claim that the little people can't influence the course of government. Don't assume that you need "credentials" or "knowledge" in order to make a difference. Read the inspiring story of the Unruhs and the South Dakota abortion ban.
Leslee Unruh, a person with no legislative or medical qualifications, drafts a law governing the medical care of female patients in South Dakota. She is also the the chief of the pro-ban campaign.
Alan Unruh, Leslee Unruh's husband, a chiropractor, sits on the South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortions, and is tasked with studying and evaluating medical…