On teddy bears and nutcases

Мишка Тэд (Teddy bear)
Originally uploaded by a_saprykin

By now (sorry I'm having a hard time keeping this blog up to date), you've heard about the British ex-pat teacher in Sudan who was detained for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Mohammed. She managed get spirited away from the North African country in time to avoid a public lashing, or worse, possible execution. Now I may spend a lot of time in this space calling attention to religious lunacy in this country, but we can't even begin to hold a candle to the Muslims.

So, I've decided that, in defense of free expression worldwide, if I ever one day become a pet owner (be it a dog, cat, fish, whatever) I will name it Mohammed. But why even stop there? Hell, I may even get Mohammed tatoo'd on my arm. Wouldn't that be cool? Doing that may prevent me from getting taxi service in the city, though. Probably wouldn't be able to get kafta anymore either.

Here's a question. Why is it ok to name your son Mohammed, but not a teddy bear? I guess I should walk to my local mosque and learn the difference.

The hypocrisy of this whole affair is from "moderate" Muslims. It's just incomprehensible that you have mobs forming in the streets calling for this teacher's death, yet you see no such demonstrations against people who would willing (and do) kill innocent people in exchange for the wishful fantasy of an eternity with 72 virgins. Or what about that Saudi woman who received 200 lashes for being in a car with another man to whom she wasn't married nor related? Oh, and did I mention she was raped! I can't go on, so I'll turn this over to someone else. Read on.

Good journalism

We live in a country right now that has been deeply divided over cultural issues. It's only made worse when our politicians seeking office fall over themselves to prove who is the most religious. With that in mind, it is up to the responsibility of journalists, as active participants in this war of ideas, to stand up and defend what's right. Read on. It's refreshing.

Here are two great editorials defending science education. The first is from the Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal, critiquing the tax-exempt creation museum in Boone County, Kentucky.

"The obstruction of scientific information is nothing new in the history of fundamentalist theology. What is new is the way this organization is using the power of radio (AIG is broadcast over 850 radio stations), the Internet and, now, a pseudo-natural history museum to convince well-meaning, hard-working people that science is not to be trusted, that the theory of evolution is evil and that belief in scientific theories of our creation leads to barbaric behaviors."

The second is from the New York Times earlier this week regarding the attempts of member of the Texas Board of Education to push intelligent design into the classroom.

Stockhausen

German composer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, died today at , 78. Stockhausen has long been credited as being one of the original experimenter and founders of electronic music.

Here's an art piece of his work. Trippy.

Torture is bad

If I may put it bluntly.

Please read on if you haven't been following this story...

We have for quite some time suspected that our government had broken international law and authorized and conducted torture of detainees. Well this week our CIA came out and said that a collection of videos, intended to be used as key evidence, were in fact destroyed back in 2005.

Often I stand in awe of just how insane our government is. This is just nuts. What kind of banana republic do we live in? But you can't help but think that these people really are that cynical.

I honestly find it difficult to articulate just how appalling this is. May as leave it up to someone else:

"But there are several critical and revealing premises behind it. The first is that the United States has effectively withdrawn from the Geneva Conventions. To say that the president can waive them at any time if he sees fit is to say that the United States is not bound by its treaty obligations. The second is that the president is not bound by any law or treaty governing the laws of warfare. Bush and Cheney won't say this because if they did, the jig would be up. The Constitution is extremely clear that the laws of warfare are determined by the Congress, not the president. So it's up to the Beltway Boys to defend the suspension of the rule of law and the legalization of torture as executive prerogatives, in violation of the Constitution. Hey: we're at war. The Constitution is now optional."

read on...

Awesome

...I'm f@#$-ing speachless.

Fundie two step

Presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, says he can say what he wants (which I don't fundamentally object to), but you can't question him. This is a problem when what he says is moronic. Watch and stand in awe of the bullshit. Commentary below:



Paused at 25 sec - You know what, Mike. It does matter what you think about evolution. No, you're not writing an 8th grade science book (thank goodness), but as president you have the power to appoint federal judges who may very well author rulings on what gets taught in public schools. So, the question to you is, are you going to support science eduction with real science or are you going to tip your hat to first century superstition? It's a legitimate question.

Paused at 41 sec - I wonder how people who say things like, "In the Bible it says, 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.'" are able to function in their daily lives. How can anyone be that incurious? Furthermore, is this what you want? A president who can't ask questions? What gets me about these fundamentalist Christians is that the idea that life evolved "by accident" is somehow too horrible to even consider. If only he could take the time to understand what "by accident" really means. Like, a series of random biological mutations caused by climate changes, global catastrophes, cosmic rays, etc., that nature selected based on an organism's ability to adapt and survive in its environment. This includes everything from humans and birds to the AIDS virus and that mold in your shower.

Paused at 1:20 - Huckabee assures us that as president we, as a country, will have a president who believes in god and believes that this god created all things. Whoopie. And that benefits us, how?

Paused at 1:30 - Urgh! Why are people applauding? My worst fear is that 40% of the country is eating this bullshit up the way I dive into a plate of buffalo wings while watching football.

End at 2:14 - Huck goes on to say that what important is that he (his god) did it (create life, the Earth, blah, blah, blah) and he doesn't know nor care how, but he's knows he did it. The sensible question here is, "Well, Mike, how do you know? Do you have any evidence for this hypothesis?" Of course, no religious person ever bothers test this, because no good test could possibly prove (or disprove for that matter) this. What he can do is, open a book about biology, or look under a microscope and examine the DNA of various species, or study our fossil record, or open his brain.

It's time to stop people who make ridiculous claims from holding positions of responsibility in our society. There's no difference between Mike Huckabee, and someone who thinks Elvis is still alive. Also, it's unacceptable to project piety upon other people because of your faith, and then act like it's rude for people to then ask embarrassing questions about what exactly you believe. Mormon candidate, Mitt Romney does this, and he's a well-connected high-ranking member of a cult of Christians who think Native Americans are a lost tribe of Israel and was officially a racist organization up until 1978. But god forbid we should ask questions.

Inexcusable stupidity

This is not the first time I have blogged about this very very stupid (and that's putting it mildly) woman, but here is The View co-host showing a galling lack of knowledge about ancient history. "There were always Christians"? "Jesus came first"? Goddamn!

Again, this is the worst kind of ignorance. It's the willful, knowing, and proud kind. And it's insulting to women to have someone this stupid spewing such ignorance in this forum. Wow is all I have to say. And shame on ABC. Yes, girls. You too can pass on you education and any dreams of being America's next great inventor, and be a affable airhead and get paid tons of money to say stupid shit on tv. Hell, I'll do what she does for a fraction of what she gets paid.

Chiptunes Buzz

blip festival at eyebeam
Originally uploaded by seanaes

Last Thursday I went to the first night of the Blip Festival here in New York. For those of you not familiar with Chiptunes, America's paper, The New York Times, has a rather flattering write up of the artform.

In a nutshell, people have taken the trouble to dismantle their old gaming consoles (Game Boys, Nintendos, Ataris), and have transformed them into music machines. Sound strange? Well, let me tell you there's a whole scene behind the music. These guys are literally touring the world jamming out on stage with a mixer and a Game Boy.

The other thing I think is pretty cool about this is that it's spawned a whole D.I.Y. scene. Check out Make Magazine where readers submit their own write ups on their own home-built electronics projects. How ingenious! A magazine dedicated to creativity promoting a new generation of scientists and engineers. Badly needed.

Holy crap! A politician giving a straight answer to a complicated problem!

What novelty in this day and age. Here's Republican maverick presidential candidate, Ron Paul, talking sense on medical marijuana and the drug wars.



Now, contrast that with Sen Clinton's response, and you have my reasoning for him being the only Republican who would get my vote. Unfortunately, he'll never make it out of the primaries because he does this thing when he speaks. It's called MAKING SENSE. When will America be ready for this?

In case you're missing 60 lbs of weed

You might want to check in with the Florida Highway Patrol, Tampa Dept. Obviously this delivery didn't make it to Ricky Williams in time.