Hillary is getting dirty(cubed)

Nevada was Hillary dirty³:

1. Dirty
2. Dirty
3. Dirty
   

Good news is, Obama probably still won more delegates.

Atheist aphorisms

Below the fold I've assembled some good short quotes and aphorisms in general for bumper stickers and T-shirts relating to religion and science.

Top Fifty Atheist T-Shirt and Bumper Sticker Aphorisms

1. Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers
2. Honk If Your Religious Beliefs Make You An Asshole
3. Intelligent Design Makes My Monkey Cry
4. Too Stupid to Understand Science? Try Religion.
5. There's A REASON Why Atheists Don't Fly Planes Into Buildings
6. "Worship Me or I Will Torture You Forever. Have a Nice Day."­ God.
7. God Doesn't Kill People. People Who Believe in God Kill People.
8. If There is No God, Then What Makes the Next Kleenex Pop Up?
9. He's Dead. It's Been 2,000 years. He's Not Coming Back. Get OVER It Already!
10. "All religion is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry." Edgar Allen Poe.
11. Viva La Evolución!
12. Actually, If You Look It Up, The Winter Solstice Is The Reason For The Season
13. I Wouldn't Trust Your God Even If He Did Exist
14. Cheeses Is Lard. Argue With THAT If You Can.
15. People Who Don't Want Their Beliefs Laughed at Shouldn't Have Such Funny Beliefs
16. Jesus is Coming? Don't Swallow That.
17. Threatening Children With Hell Is FUN!
18. GOD - APPLY DIRECTLY TO FOREHEAD!
19. Jesus Told Me Republicans SUCK
20. God + Whacky Tobacky = Platypus
21. God Doesn't Exist. So, I Guess That Means No One Loves You.
22. When the Rapture Comes, We'll Get Our Country Back!
23. Q. How Do We Know the Holy Ghost Was Catholic? A. He Used the Rhythm Method Instead of a Condom.
24. You Say "Heretic" Like It Was a BAD Thing
25. I Love Christians. They Taste Like Chicken.
26. Science: It Works, Bitches.
27. "Intelligent Design" Helping Stupid People Feel Smart Since 1987
28. I Found God Between The Sheets
29. I Gave Up Superstitious Mumbo Jumbo For Lent
30. My Flying Monkey Can Beat Up Your Guardian Angel
31. Every Time You Play With Yourself, God Kills a Kitten
32. If God Wanted People to Believe in Him, Then Why Did He Invent Logic?
33. Praying Is Politically Correct Schizophrenia
34. ALL Americans Are African Americans
35. I Forget - Which Day Did God Make All The Fossils?
36. I Was An Atheist Until The Hindus Convinced Me That I Was God
37. The Spanish Inquisition: The Original Faith-based Initiative
38. If we were made in his image, when why aren't humans invisible too?
39. JESUS SAVES....You From Thinking For Yourself
40. How Can You Disbelieve in Evolution If You Can't Even Define It?
41. Q. How Can You Tell That Your God is Man-made? A. If He Hates All the Same People You Do.
42. Every Time You See a Rainbow, God is Having Gay Sex
43. I Went to Public School in Kansas and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt and a Poor Understanding of the Scientific Method.
44. WWJD = We Won. Jesus Died.
45. The Family That Prays Together is Brainwashing the Children
46. Oh, Look, Honey Another Pro-lifer For War
47. Another Godless Atheist for Peace and World Harmony
48. God is Unavailable Right Now. Can I Help You?
49. "When Lip Service to Some Mysterious Deity Permits Bestiality on Wednesday and Absolution on Sundays, Cash Me Out." Frank Sinatra.
50. No Gods. No Mullets.

The following I pulled from the comments section:

1. What schools need is a moment of science.
2. The last time we mixed politics and religion, people got burned at the stake.
3. "The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." (Treaty with Tripoli, June 7, 1797)
4. "I cherish everyone's right to their religious beliefs, no matter how comical." Herman Melville
5. Don't pray in my school, and I won't think in your church.
6. Apes evolved from creationists
7. If we're all God's children, then what makes Jesus so special?
8. Jesus saves! The rest of us use credit cards.
9. Militant Agnostic: I don't know, AND NEITHER DO YOU!
10. Born right the first time, thanks!
11. Reality > Belief
12. There's a Sucker born every minute, but the real money is made from those Born Again.

And from here:

1. "If you talk to God, you are praying. If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia." Thomas Szasz
2. "Beware the man of one book." St. Thomas Aquinas
   
3. "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." Bertrand Russell
4. "Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich." Napoleon
5. "Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet." Napoleon
   
6. "The ink of the scholar is holier than the blood of the martyr." Prophet Muhammad
7. "Which is it, is man one of God's blunders or is God one of man's?" Nietzsche
8. "Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful." Nietzsche
9. "In Christianity, neither morality nor religion comes into contact with reality at any point." Nietzsche
10. "If god created us in his image we have certainly returned the compliment." Voltaire
11. "It is hard to free fools from chains they revere." Voltaire
    
12. "Men who believe absurdities will commit atrocities." Voltaire
13. "The first clergyman was the first rascal who met the first fool." Voltaire
14. "In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty." Thomas Jefferson
15. "If you understand everything, you must be misinformed." Japanese proverb
16. "The believer is happy; the doubter is wise." Hungarian proverb
17. "Religion is not merely the opium of the masses; it's the cyanide." Tom Robbins
18. "Nothing overshadows truth so much as authority." Leon B. Alberti
    
19. "To use the term blind faith, is to use an adjective needlessly." Julian Ruck
20. "Nothing brings people together more, than mutual hatred." Henry Rollins
21. "The church tries to save sinners, but science seeks to stop their manufacture." Elbert Hubbard
22. "Heresy is a cradle; orthodoxy a coffin." Robert G. Ingersoll
23. "Beliefs are what divide people. Doubt unites them." Peter Ustinov
24. "The death of dogma is the birth of morality." Immanuel Kant
25. "If you would be a real seeker after truth...doubt, as far as possible, all things." Descartes
    

Nice.

The GOP & race

If the muck of Ron Paul's racist nonsense isn't a clear enough demonstration of the fundamental differences between the GOP & the party with a black man and a woman as its frontrunners, then perhaps Mike Huckabee's support of the Confederacy is (and don't forget his lovely and telling rant about aligning the Constitution with "the Word of the Living God.") Or, maybe the right wing's reaction to this...whatever recent example you choose, the GOP has a race image problem, if not a race problem.

Science Debate 2008

This is probably old news to some/most, but I wanted to highlight the Science Debate 2008 site and cause, as it's definitely in line with my reasoning for my YouTube question and the link to firstfreedomfirst's "Sound Science" ad.

Here's a nice argument from an op-ed in the Wichita Eagle that I think summarizes the issues well:

Presidential race needs science debate

Science and technology are central to many of America's most pressing challenges and controversies: Climate change. Energy independence. Stem cell research. Nuclear proliferation. And on and on.

You wouldn't know that, though, by listening to the presidential debates so far.

If these questions do come up, they're often swiftly dispatched with a boilerplate answer or two.

Too often, science is pushed to the sidelines of presidential debates to make way for presumably weightier topics, such as whether Hillary Clinton is really likable or whether Dennis Kucinich saw a UFO.

In one forum, Mike Huckabee responded to a question about a proposed Mars mission by suggesting that Clinton should be the first passenger.

OK. But can we get serious for a moment?

The next president faces difficult, historic decisions in science and technology that will shape our country's future for decades to come.

That's why voters should support a bipartisan effort now gaining steam to hold a presidential science debate.

A grassroots group called Science Debate 2008 is pushing for a televised debate sometime after the Feb. 5 primaries to plumb the candidates' views on energy and the environment, technological and scientific innovation, and medicine.

Organizers say the purpose is simply to acknowledge the overriding importance of science and technology to our nation's prosperity and future.

That future is hardly assured.

A recent report from the National Academies of Science, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," reported that the "scientific and technological building blocks critical to our economic leadership are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength."

Just a few examples:

• The United States is now a net importer of high-technology products.

• In 2003, American 15-year-olds ranked 24th out of 40 countries in an examination of students' ability to use mathematical skills to solve real-world problems.

• China and India are leaving the United States behind in producing new engineering doctorates.

For the most part, the candidates have offered few specifics about science policy or they've dodged the questions altogether.

Why? Because science isn't one of the issues the bases of either party are fired up about right now. And candidates aren't always eager to talk about these complex issues.

No one expects them to be experts on nuclear physics or the intricacies of evolutionary theory. But voters deserve to know whether a candidate has some scientific literacy, is comfortable discussing and evaluating technological issues, and employs good science and standards of evidence in decision-making.

Among the questions that could be asked at a debate:

Is it realistic for the United States to achieve energy independence? How do we get there?

What is the government's role in fostering innovation and the new generation of alternative energy technology?

How can our schools better prepare students to compete in science and mathematics?

Should creationism and intelligent design be taught in our schools?

How do you assess the evidence for climate change, and are specific measures needed to control greenhouse gases?

What is the future of NASA's manned space program?

How can we continue to attract the world's best and brightest scientists to study and live here?

Democrats charge that under President Bush, scientists' advice has been censored and politicized. Is that true? If so, what would you do to restore the integrity of science?

Americans deserve clear, specific answers to these and a host of other questions.

Admittedly, a science debate will be difficult to pull off amid the tight election-year schedule. Don't expect the candidates to jump at the opportunity. But a growing number of leading science organizations, university presidents, business leaders and politicians are endorsing the idea.

The timing is right for citizens to make a difference.

To get involved, check out the group's Web site at sciencedebate2008.com and sign the petition. At the very least, let the candidates and media know you want a more meaningful discussion of science policy.

We can't afford not to talk about science and innovation. America's future depends on it.

Randy Scholfield is an Eagle editorial writer. His column appears on Fridays. Reach him at 316-268-6545 or rscholfield@wichitaeagle.com.

Indeed.

Raking the coals

If the original exposé or the last batch of Ron Paul's racist muck wasn't enough for you, TNR has dug up (and raked) more. Especially important are the newsletter's authorship excerpts at the bottom of the article.

I wonder how much this will affect his poll numbers. Obviously, no one thinks he was going to be president whether this came out or not, so it's more interesting as pure social analysis to see how his supporters' minds function to attempt to justify this.

The "high negatives" and "electability" cards are real issues

Barack still has the best favorability/unfavorability ratings of the three front-runners:

CNN's latest has McCain 54-29 (+25), Obama 55-28 (+27), and HRC at 53-39 (+14).

Also, on "electabililty": Democrats think Hillary is more electable than Barack, 47-35 (6 for Edwards, 12 had no opinion). I suspect those numbers will continue to change after Edwards drops out and as the GOP machine cranks up on "Hillarycare" and &c.

Ron Paul & racism

Although I mentioned on 1/2/08 some of the Neo-Confederate nonsense that Paul spouted on MTP with Russert, I didn't think it would get this bad: newsletters dug up by TNR that are just plain disgusting that have Paul's name on them. Now, his campaign has of course denied association between itself and the newsletters that went out under his name (which itself raises a lot of questions -- how could he be unaware of these newsletters, given they went out for a decade under his name and contained some inflammatory stuff?), but the dissociation isn't as strong as it seems:

Some responses came from more conventional libertarians who found ways to justify Paul’s writings and the acceptance of contributions from people such as Don Black. By finding excuses for Paul’s acts, these so-called libertarians help blur the line which has separated such racism and anti-Semitism as attitudes which have been considered unacceptable in our society. A campaign which started with well-deserved opposition to the Iraq war has turned into one where the main freedom they are defending is the freedom to discriminate and oppress.

What is also remarkable is that upon closer examination Paul’s views are far better characterized as social conservativism with extreme support for states’ rights as opposed to libertarianism. Despite his reputation as a libertarian, Paul is actually hostile towards First Amendment rights where they conflict with his other views. As I’ve previously noted, Paul has incorrectly claimed that, “The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers.” He has also supported keeping “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, has co-sponsored the school prayer amendment, and supported keeping the Ten Commandments on a courthouse lawn. Paul has both criticized secularism and claimed that the Founding Fathers envisioned a Christian America. Ron Paul’s version of the Constitution is contradicted in the writings of the founding fathers, many court decisions, and in the view of most historians.

Ron Paul was interviewed by Reason following the publication of the article in The New Republic. Dismissing this all as “old stuff” or “political stuff” is no more reassuring than the statements that the material in Paul’s newsletters was written by someone else. Jim Crow laws and the Holocaust are also “old stuff” but this doesn’t make them something which should just be ignored.

Libertarians have no excuse accepting this half-ass as their man; he is obviously a poor representation of libertarian philosophy, some call him a "doughface liberatarian." His version of morality is quite skewed.

Morality article in NYT Magazine by Pinker

Steven Pinker has an amazing article in the NYT Magazine on morality. Go see for yourself.

Hillary the uniter

...of the GOP:

Her electability problems couldn't be more plain: to win in November, Democrats must do better with college-educated men and with independents, the two groups where Obama is strongest and Hillary is weakest. Then there's the slight problem of hatred for the Clintons being the only thing the fractious GOP base can agree on this year. Sadly for her supporters, Hillary is indeed as much of a unifier as Obama—but of Republicans.

Sounds familiar, eh? As I've said, I think Obama's ethics reform, transparency and integrity in government actions are one of my greatest motivators to vote for him. Also, I just think that Hillary faces a serious challenge with her consistently high negatives, (55% unfavorability in Rasmussen Reports) in getting GOP crossovers and independents; Republican voters are most comfortable with Obama, and he thus faces no such problem. The "electability" card, then, makes more sense with him than with her...

At the risk of engaging in the never-ending political "narrative," people from my generation seem more cynical towards "insiders" in politics, and the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton dynasty really turns us off. The question is how extensive this effect is across demographics. We'll know on Feb. 5th, I guess.

Less writing

Posting has been slow and probably boring. Here's an update on the personal side.

I always hesitate to say that I am going to stop writing entirely for some period of time, because that never seems to pan out, but it just seems that I have naturally written less as a result of my new job, and that it doesn't have to be a mandate for me. So, we'll see what happens, but I'm pretty sure that I won't be posting as much as time goes on. One nice thing is that, with my contract up for renewal in a few months, I can then consider (afterwards) making my site public again. That is certainly preferable, albeit risky, to me on several levels, given the nature of private schools, parents with huge endowments/influences, and my penchant for offensive rants on here.

We'll see...