Onion Week in Review: Nation Trying, OK?

"I think if you get down into where [Santorum's] been discussing it on the merits and demerits of contraception…that’s a moral issue. [...] We talked about that in college endlessly, but I think you move into an area where people don’t understand yet and where it’s beyond the political realm."

Such silly people, not understanding.

HappyWarrior Fri, Feb 24, 2012 5:51:42pm

re: #3 Lidane

Haha. Poetic justice:

[Embedded content]

This is the delegate for the area where I went to college. I happily worked for his opponent doing some canvassing. Gave him a good run for his money but came up short.

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 5:54:00pm

re: #8 jaunte

Pat Buchanan thinks the Republicans have gone too far on birth control:

Such silly people, not understanding.

YET.

That's what jumped out at me earlier.

Santorum is just ahead of his time.

HappyWarrior Fri, Feb 24, 2012 5:55:42pm

re: #8 jaunte

Pat Buchanan thinks the Republicans have gone too far on birth control:

Such silly people, not understanding.

Yeah Pat we don't understand fascism.

b_sharp Fri, Feb 24, 2012 5:59:14pm

Vagina, vagina, vagina.

Waiting.

No lightning. No meteor. No earthquake.
OK, why is it bad to say vagina?

Or do bad things only happen to the GOP?

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:00:50pm

Just because:

Supreme Court avoids talking about God in school

Interestingly phrased article title, for a story which is just summarizes that the judiciary deals within its own legal framework of prior decisions and the Constitution.

b_sharp Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:02:35pm

re: #13 freetoken

Just because:

Supreme Court avoids talking about God in school

Interestingly phrased article title, for a story which is just summarizes that the judiciary deals within its own legal framework of prior decisions and the Constitution.

Propaganda.

Or you can label it as an indirect lie.

jaunte Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:03:52pm

The GOP's war on women continues:
Wisconsin GOP Goes After Equal Pay for Equal Work

Late in the evening, on February 22, the Wisconsin Legislature turned back the clock gutting key provisions of Wisconsin's Equal Pay Enforcement Act (Act 20).
....
According to the Wisconsin Alliance for Women's Health, Act 20 sought "to secure equal pay for the thousands of working families who are denied fair pay due to wage discrimination based on race and gender." Specifically, the act was intended to deter employers from discriminating by opening an avenue to bring discrimination cases in state court with stiff penalties. Previously, victims were required to pursue lengthy administrative remedies through a state agency. SB 202 removed the compensatory and punitive damages for violations of Act 20, leaving it a toothless tiger.

jaunte Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:06:12pm

Wisconsin SB 202 was authored by Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend)

Sen. Grothman is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). He is a member of the ALEC Education Task Force and ALEC's International Relations Task Force.

ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills.
[Link: www.sourcewatch.org...]

Lidane Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:07:09pm

It's Friday night and I refuse to let the GOP's idiocy bring me down:

Youtube Video

Stanghazi Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:07:14pm

see ya later, unless the ipad works.

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:09:00pm

re: #14 Grumpy, Not Sneezy

Propaganda.

Or you can label it as an indirect lie.

I took it as just and editor's attempt to grab some attention from the War-On-Christians crowd.

jaunte Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:09:37pm

White nationalist group plans Duluth rally

A member of the Supreme White Alliance said the group plans to hold a white pride rally in Duluth next month in protest of an anti-racism campaign that has sparked controversy.
....
The rally date has been posted on the SWA’s website. According to the site, the group is for the preservation of the white race. It only allows white men as members, though women can be part of an auxiliary group.

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:14:22pm

We can't let a day go by without yet another letter-to-the-editor published somewhere in this great land, informing us of the truth:

Creationism and science

Exposing public school students to the creationist view of origins doesn't strike me as being an effort to promote religion. If students are going to be taught about origins, why should they not be given all sides on the issue?

Many object that creationism is not science. Since scientific facts and evidence are offered in support of creationism, one cannot rightly claim that creationism is unscientific. And contrary to common belief, creation science does make predictions, and certain tenets of creationism are testable.

If students are permitted to learn about the fossil record and why it supports creationism rather than evolution, how does that undermine science education? If students are permitted to hear about Einstein's theory of relativity, which tells us that space, time, matter and energy all have a finite beginning [it does?] (as the biblical creation account declares), how does that endanger the scientific enterprise?

People who reject evolution are often wrongly accused of being anti-science. There are many scientists who reject evolution. Are they anti -science, too? If naturalistic evolution were a clearly established scientific fact, no scientist would reject it.

According to Dr. Hugh Ross, an astrophysicis and author, there is a mounting "body of scientific evidence that confirms the accuracy and reliability of the first 11 chapters of the Bible."

All truth is God's truth. The Bible reveals truth, and science reveals truth. When correctly interpreted, the Bible and the facts of nature agree. And that's as it should be, because God is the author of both.

Hehe, nothing quite like quoting a well known creationist to prove that creationism is science.

This is America.

Interesting Times Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:14:26pm

re: #19 freetoken

On another note, here's a thought-provoking (if depressing) comment on a SkepticalScience thread:

...But there is a basic premise in your thinking that may not be obvious. That our societies will always be able to respond to these threats even though the threats are fundamentally likely to undermine the capacity of our societies. Since the nature of the threat is multi-generational and even multi-century, the assumption is that the capacity of our society to use the resources and knowledge we have will not be undermmined by the very threat we face over very long time scales.

Consider things like, famine becomes pandemic in much of the world. What are the psychological impacts of this on each new generation growing up? How does it shape their emotional makeup. What does a world of perpetual violence do to peoples IQ, Emotional self-control, sense of civility. What happens when education levels for the mass of the population drop because the teachers can't work full time because they are growing food for their family, and protecting it from marauders?

What happens when famines in China lead to its breakup and several key provinces eventually fall under the control of mafia like warlords. Provinces that are the major sources of Rare-Earth elements that drive much of our modern world - Indium, Hafnium, Niobium...

What happens when starving countries actually turn completely pirate and disrupt world trade routes. What happens when refugee flows reach 100's of millions? How well do the target/host countries survive?

Then ask the question, with so many assaults like these and more happening to the functioning of our societies, how long before that DVD disk that contains your family happy snaps, or course notes on the science of Protein-Folding, is unreadable because you DVD drive is dead and you can't replace it because the rare earths aren't available, the electricity supply is erratic anyway so you are re-learning candle making and the only real use for that disk is to sit your beer mug on because you are learning beer making as well.

The best quote I have ever read about the fragility of societies wasn't intended as that at all. It was from a book about neuro-plasticity in the brain. 'Civilisation is only ever 1 generation deep'. Because all it takes is one generation that are not adequately trained, educated and developed into civilised people, and civilisation has ended.

We may focus on what 'we' can do to fight these threats such as AGW. But we far too easily slip into thinking that AGW doesn't reciprocate the attention. The principle impact of AGW may well be the damage it causes to the psychological make up of our descendents.

Some hold-outs and bastions of knowledge will remain of course. But that knowledge is useless without the capacities of a well functioning, civilised, intelligent, educated and ultimately capable society to deploy that knowledge. We in the West have no experience or conception of what a world without these things looks like. Ask the people of Afghanistan, Somalia, New Guinea. They could probably teach us a bit about the limits of what can be achieved.

Agree with the premise, esp. the bolded portions? Is civilization really only "one generation deep"?

b_sharp Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:14:55pm

re: #20 jaunte

White nationalist group plans Duluth rally

Why should the white race be preserved when it isn't pure anything to begin with? A (insert name here) race is impossible to differentiate from the rest of humanity using any kind of realistic metric. Maybe they should campaign to preserve neanderthals.

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:18:55pm

re: #22 Interesting Times

You're probably just one of those people that our future leader Newt warned us about, who want to prevent us from drilling our own oil:

Youtube Video

What have you against God's America?

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:22:10pm

re: #22 Interesting Times

BTW, the whole issue of complexity of society was given much attention with the popularization of Tainter's work. Yes, complexity is a two edged sword, bringing about both redundancy as well as occasions of massive collapses.

I contend that the whole system is too chaotic to predict accurately, thus I can't tell you what life will be like in a 1000 years. But, I do agree that it is unlikely we'll be able to read our DVD disks from today by the time this century ends, and we run a real risk of all of our electronically stored knowledge disappearing catastrophically ("catastrophe" here meaning over a period of a couple of generations.)

Holidays are Family Fun Time Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:26:15pm

Have a great evening all?

Interesting Times Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:26:49pm

re: #25 freetoken

...and we run a real risk of all of our electronically stored knowledge disappearing catastrophically ("catastrophe" here meaning over a period of a couple of generations.)

We desperately need a "knowledge" equivalent of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Have no idea what form it should take, though...

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:28:56pm

re: #27 Interesting Times

We desperately need a "knowledge" equivalent of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Have no idea what form it should take, though...

Clay tablets.

They seem durable.

Linden Arden Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:29:45pm

Incredible. Watching Rachel and had no idea about the insane stuff Santorum said about the Dutch. Little Ricky is out of his gourd.

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:32:29pm

re: #29 Linden Arden

Incredible. Watching Rachel and had no idea about the insane stuff Santorum said about the Dutch. Little Ricky is out of his gourd.

The Dutch gave us New Amsterdam.

We know it today by the Anglicized name: New York.

New York is the evul capital of librulizm.

Thus the Dutch are evul.

Decatur Deb Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:34:22pm

re: #27 Interesting Times

We desperately need a "knowledge" equivalent of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Have no idea what form it should take, though...

re: #28 freetoken

Clay tablets.

They seem durable.

The need to produce multi-millenial warning signs on high-level nuclear waste storage sites led to some interesting study of long-term information transmission. There were Sci-Am articles around in the '80s IIRC. Can't hang here at the moment.

Also check out "Clock of the Long Now" for some perspectives.

b_sharp Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:35:16pm

re: #30 freetoken

The Dutch gave us New Amsterdam.

We know it today by the Anglicized name: New York.

New York is the evul capital of librulizm.

Thus the Dutch are evul.

And a Dutch oven isn't even a real oven.

jamesfirecat Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:39:24pm

re: #27 Interesting Times

We desperately need a "knowledge" equivalent of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Have no idea what form it should take, though...

///Well clearly some steps must be taken to make sure the porn is preserved....

Killgore Trout Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:40:03pm

Chavez flies to Cuba for urgent tumor removal
Sean Penn not expected to survive the procedure.

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:40:25pm

re: #31 Decatur Deb

The need to produce multi-millenial warning signs ...

After the tsunami last year, did you catch the story from Japan of the discovery of stone markers warning of previous high-water levels (from previous tsunamis), some centuries old?

Few heeded the advice.

Japan's tsunami-hit towns forgot warnings from ancestors

Modern sea walls failed to protect coastal towns from Japan's destructive tsunami last month. But in the hamlet of Aneyoshi, a single centuries-old tablet saved the day.

"High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants," the stone slab reads. "Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build any homes below this point."
It was advice the dozen or so households of Aneyoshi heeded, and their homes emerged unscathed from a disaster that flattened low-lying communities elsewhere and killed thousands along Japan's northeastern shore.

Hundreds of such markers dot the coastline, some more than 600 years old. Collectively they form a crude warning system for Japan, whose long coasts along major fault lines have made it a repeated target of earthquakes and tsunamis over the centuries.

The markers don't all indicate where it's safe to build. Some simply stand -- or stood, until they were washed away by the tsunami -- as daily reminders of the risk. "If an earthquake comes, beware of tsunamis," reads one. In the bustle of modern life, many forgot.

[...]

jamesfirecat Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:41:11pm

re: #30 freetoken

The Dutch gave us New Amsterdam.

We know it today by the Anglicized name: New York.

New York is the evul capital of librulizm.

Thus the Dutch are evul.

///Windmill Watching... Rembrandt Loving, Prostitute Tolerating, Daisy Picking bastards!

---Nigel Powers

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:41:14pm

"In the bustle of modern life, many forgot."

Good line for our society's tombstone.

jamesfirecat Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:42:07pm

re: #37 freetoken

"In the bustle of modern life, many forgot."

Good line for our society's tombstone.

So it goes.

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:45:10pm

Jezebel sarcastic headline of the day:

Texas Sensibly Rejects Federal Funding That Would Provide Poor Women Medical Care

jamesfirecat Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:46:02pm

Watching Maddow right now, wow our (Maryland's) Governor is awesome!

Charleston Chew Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:46:26pm

re: #3 Lidane

Haha. Poetic justice:

[Embedded content]

In the spirit of that story, some Prince:

Youtube Video

A Man for all Seasons Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:48:08pm

Hi Lizards!

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:49:57pm

Money speaks louder than anything else:

Fourteen House Democrats Join 207 Republicans On Anti-Climate Letter

FOURTEEN COAL-ABOVE-CLIMATE DEMOCRATS
Jason Altmire (D-PA) John Barrow (D-GA)
Sanford Bishop (D-GA) Dan Boren (D-OK)
Ben Chandler(D-KY) Jerry Costello (D-IL)
Mark Critz (D-PA) Tim Holden (D-PA)
Larry Kissell (D-NC) Jim Matheson (D-UT)
Mike McIntyre (D-NC) Collin Peterson (D-MN)
Nick Rahall (D-WV) Mike Ross (D-AR)

Of these 14:

–Ten are members of the conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. The energy sector has been a huge financial backer of the Blue Dog political action committee — the coalition’s shared fundraising apparatus.

–Seven of those ten are part of the Blue Dog Energy Task Force. That nine-member group claims works to “promote responsible, diverse domestic energy production, increased energy efficiency, greater use of natural gas, renewable energy, electric transmission, and research and development on advanced energy technologies.”

–Except for Kissell, all of them voted last year to block climate action last year. Thirteen voted last year for HR 910, which would have permanently eliminated the EPA’s power to limit greenhouse pollution by legislatively denying the scientific threat of global warming.

Interesting Times Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:50:37pm

re: #39 freetoken

Jezebel sarcastic headline of the day:

Texas Sensibly Rejects Federal Funding That Would Provide Poor Women Medical Care

Good time to learn about how this will affect people on a personal level, from LGF member and Texas resident moderatelyradicalliberal.

Bubblehead II Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:53:25pm

Night Lizards. May the Deity of Your Choice Smile Down Upon You.

Youtube Video

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:56:48pm

WWRD? (What Would Rick Do?)

Simple, early blood test tells fetal health, replacing intrusive tests

Raising the prospect of a world without birth defects, a Stanford-created blood test that can detect Down syndrome and two other major genetic defects very early in a woman's pregnancy will be available next week.

The simple blood test spares women the risk and heartache of later and more invasive tests like amniocentesis.

[...]

But... to get to the "world without birth defects" means that positive test would require... well, you know.

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 6:59:02pm

More in that article:

"It's a game changer," said Stanford University law professor Hank Greely, who studies the legal and ethical implications of emerging technologies. The controversy over abortion "is about to be hit by a tsunami of new science."

There are two converging trends, Greely said. "We've got politicians running for president who are really trying to whack away at reproductive rights at a time when the science is about to vastly expand the information that parents have about their fetus."

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:01:47pm

Continuing:

"But if it's a search-and-destroy mission, where the baby is aborted, we are not in favor of it," said Cecelia Cody, administrative director of California Right to Life in Walnut Creek. "I don't think the world is a better place without these babies. It's getting close to Nazi eugenics, isn't it, to decide who lives? If a baby is shown to have a cleft palate, do they die?"

"It is difficult to know how people will act on this information," said Michael Katz, medical director of the March of Dimes.
Although the tests "are no longer experimental ... it is the future. Soon all the other tests will be secondary."

BongCrodny Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:04:18pm

re: #12 Grumpy, Not Sneezy

Vagina, vagina, vagina.

Or do bad things only happen to from the GOP?

FTFY

BongCrodny Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:08:12pm

re: #43 freetoken

Money speaks louder than anything else:

Fourteen House Democrats Join 207 Republicans On Anti-Climate Letter

Because clean coal is the bestest idea in the universe!

Gus Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:15:35pm

re: #1 Grumpy, Not Sneezy

A nice calming black screen.

Same here. D'oh!

austin_blue Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:16:30pm

re: #20 jaunte

White nationalist group plans Duluth rally

Hey hey hey! What makes *them* Supreme, huh? I mean, is THAT White Alliance better than all the others?

I think ALL of the various White Alliances and fellow travelers across the oceans, the mountains, and the fruited plains should get together and, exercising their Second Amendment rights, really determine who is Supreme. Soon.

Interesting Times Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:17:02pm

re: #46 freetoken

WWRD? (What Would Rick Do?)

Simple, early blood test tells fetal health, replacing intrusive tests

But... to get to the "world without birth defects" means that positive test would require... well, you know.

I wonder what would happen to the abortion debate if a viable, effective artificial womb were created.

Gus Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:26:16pm

I'm glad that it seems like the majority of Christians in America don't take to such a dysfunctional interpretation* of Christianity as does Rick Santorum.

That's a compliment.

*Some could argue its frequency.

freetoken Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:26:28pm

re: #53 Interesting Times

I wonder what would happen to the abortion debate if a viable, effective artificial womb were created.

Even just plain ol' genetic engineering of humans.

They cry and scream about stem cells already. Unwilling to accept that a cell is a cell is just a cell, I doubt if any of the SoCons could ever accept as "human" someone grown in an artificial womb.

compound_Idaho Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:28:21pm

re: #46 freetoken

WWRD? (What Would Rick Do?)

Simple, early blood test tells fetal health, replacing intrusive tests

But... to get to the "world without birth defects" means that positive test would require... well, you know.

to get to the "world without birth defects" we will also have to struggle with what constitutes a "defect". Many cases for the most part will be clear cut. Others will not.

austin_blue Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:31:06pm

re: #22 Interesting Times

On another note, here's a thought-provoking (if depressing) comment on a SkepticalScience thread:

Agree with the premise, esp. the bolded portions? Is civilization really only "one generation deep"?

Here's an old English song:

In 1649 to St. George's Hill
A ragged band they called the diggers came to show the people's will
They defied the landlords
They defied the laws
They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs

We come in peace they said to dig and sow
We come to work the lands in common and to make the waste grounds grow
This Earth divided we will make whole so it will be a common treasury for all

The sin of property we do disdain
No man has any right to buy and sell the Earth for private gain
By theft and murder they took the land
Now everywhere the walls spring up at their command
They make the laws to chain us well
The clergy dazzle us with heaven or they damn us into hell
We will no worship the God they serve
The God of greed who feed the rich while poor men starve

We work we eat together
We need no swords
We will not bow to the masters or pay rent to the lords
We are free men, though we are poor
You diggers all stand up for glory stand up now

From the men of property the orders came
They sent the hired men and troopers to wipe out the diggers claim
Tear down their cottages, destroy their corn
They were dispersed but still the vision lingers on
You Poor take courage you rich take care
This Earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share
All things in common, all people one
We come in peace the orders came to cut them down

How is that different from Syria today? I think "civilization" in much of the world is a veneer much shallower than one generation.

BrainSurfer Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:42:18pm

Back on the board....WTF?
Charles giving us humor?
I don't need no stinkin' humor. I want incoming, you infidels.

SanFranciscoZionist Fri, Feb 24, 2012 7:46:58pm

re: #52 austin_blue

Hey hey hey! What makes *them* Supreme, huh? I mean, is THAT White Alliance better than all the others?

I think ALL of the various White Alliances and fellow travelers across the oceans, the mountains, and the fruited plains should get together and, exercising their Second Amendment rights, really determine who is Supreme. Soon.

There once were two cats from Kilkenny,
Who thought that two cats was one too many.

Achilles Tang Fri, Feb 24, 2012 8:17:08pm

re: #27 Interesting Times

We desperately need a "knowledge" equivalent of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Have no idea what form it should take, though...

Stone tablets?

jamesfirecat Fri, Feb 24, 2012 8:17:59pm

re: #58 BrainSurfer

Back on the board...WTF?
Charles giving us humor?
I don't need no stinkin' humor. I want incoming, you infidels.

All right then, incoming PONIES! welcome to the weekend relax and have fun!

BrainSurfer Fri, Feb 24, 2012 8:52:56pm

re: #61 jamesfirecat

Thanks, and same to you, and...oh man... just checked the PONIES....my mind went numb. Hope to recover soon for more fun tomorrow. Cheers!

Spy Mode Auto

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