I’m fine with this. But first, remove all politicization of science funding. All of it. Stem cells anyone?

Or, at least, that’s what I assume she means when she asks “Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders?”

Equating her recent book with the quarter-million or so cables among US embassies and the state department, she is known to have tweeted:

Inexplicable: I recently won in court to stop my book “America by Heart” from being leaked,but US Govt can’t stop Wikileaks’ treasonous act?

And imagine, we actually passed by an opportunity to have Sarah Palin in the White House!

Much more here.

That’s the Wikileaks guy.

Believe it or not, there’s a poll! The act makes it a crime ” To convey information with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies. This was punishable by death or by imprisonment for not more than 30 years or both, or to convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies when the United States is at war, to cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or to willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States. This was punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 fine or by imprisonment for not more than 20 years or both.”*

The poll is here. So far, it looks like he’s cooked, 380 to 167.

The Berry Go Round Plant Carnival is up and it’s an especially good one. Don’t miss it!

Hillary Clinton on Wikileaks

The first day of the Minnesota Recount is going badly, following my expectations perfectly. Story here.

Speaking Out on International Gay Rights.

video below the fold
Continue reading Shimon Schocken’s rides of hope →

And I don’t refer here to his humor, his lifestyle, or even his hair.

Leslie Nielsen never produced an original piece of humor in his life. All of his jokes were stolen from my friend Karl and me, from stuff we did back in middle school. But, I do have to give Nielsen credit for getting that garbage produced so others could enjoy it.

Continue reading Leslie Nielsen is Dead →

Not:
Continue reading Sunday Prayer →

Have you ever noticed that everyone else’s house or apartment is cleaner than yours?

That’s because your arrival is usually expected, and a certain amount of cleaning up happens before you get there. So, you experience everyone else’s home cleaned up but your own crib just the way it is.

Like China. Before everybody came over to China for the Olympics, they cleaned up their air and some other stuff. I’m not sure how they managed it. When the Olympics were in Greece, about a month or so before people started to arrive, the Greek Army showed up in Athens and surrounding communities and shot every dog they found, dragging the carcases off to who knows where. Or at least, that’s what I’m told by a reliable source on the scene. Athens has (well, had) a lot of stray dogs running around and apparently the Greek authorities thought this to be a little third-world, so they got rid of them.

And now, still years before the Olympics in Rio, authorities are cleaning house. The police and army have driven all the drug dealers into one neighborhood, killed a few of them, and are prepared to move into the “hillside slum” and do them all in, apparently along with any innocent bystanders who may be in the vicinity. It’s actually a three way stand-off at this point: The Rio police, the drug traffickers, and the international Human Rights community who is urging the authorities to avoid a massacre of the innocents.

It looks like there will be, though we can certainly hope not. And, if there is, it will be interesting to see how the international community responds. Will it be OK to attend the Olympics in Rio if, say, five or six innocent bystanders are killed during a major police action to arrest a few dozen bad guys? What about a dozen innocent bystanders? A hundred? Will it depend on how bad the bad guys are? Will it depend on how many innocent bystanders are killed by bad guy bullets vs. police bullets? Will it depend on how much TV time the funerals of the babies and others get? Is it in the interest of the Olympic Committee to a) clean up Rio and then quiet down the protests or b) avoid a human rights fiasco even if the slums stay semi-criminalized?

This makes me wonder what else is going on in Rio. This is probably not a mystery, just something I don’t know about: Is there an effort to clean up Rio as a disease party palace? What if there’s an outbreak of some nasty influenza that starts here, just before the Olympic Games? Will people avoid the Olympics if they are preceded or accompanied by a Rio Flu? Will the separation that I think is already planned between the population at large in this very densely populated city and the Olympic goers become more overt when they have to say to the visiting hordes “Don’t worry, none of our people will be let near you”?

Continue reading Blame it on Rio →

The videos are below the fold to avoid flash freakout on your computer.

The question: Is Religion a Force for Good in the World?

The Pre Debate poll of the audience said no, it is not:

PRO: 22% CON:57%
UNDECIDED:21%
And 75% of those polled said they’d be willing to change their mind.

After the debate, the results of a second poll were:

POST-DEBATE
PRO: 32% CON: 68%

So, Blair: 0 Hitchens: 1

Continue reading The Hitchens Blair Debate →

hat tip: Julia

A re-enactment:

Thanksgiving is in some ways the best holiday because it is all about … gravy. But when you dig a little you find racism and religiosity and other icky stuff. Here’s an example of what can go wrong: