Rush Limbaugh Comments on Roman Polanski Controversy

Pfft, Science, in an effort to stay on top of all political and cultural news, recently contacted many prominent media members to get comments on the ongoing situation involving Roman Polanski.

We just received this comment via email from our good friend, Rush Limbaugh:

"THIS IS THE PROBLEM OF A LIBERAL, SOCIALIST SOCIETY LIKE FRANCE. IT'S OKAY TO ANALLY RAPE A YOUNG GIRL IF YOU MAKE GOOD MOVIES! ART IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN LIFE! IS THIS THE DIRECTION YOU WANT COMRADE OBAMA TAKING US?"

Reflections on Health Care Reform

I remember as a teenager my now late step-father saying matter-of-factly that he thought in the future America would go to socialized medicine. He didn’t say it with any particular glee or disdain, nor paranoia that government run health care meant that suddenly we'd be living in 1984 or Logan's Run. I'm not sure; perhaps he looked at Medicare and thought government run medicine wasn't so horrifying. Apparently he thought this was simply a way government would keep insurance companies from driving costs out of hand and as a way that government could make sure more people had a safety net for their health.

The thing is my step-father was one of the officers for the local VFW (he was drafted and served in the Vietnam War). He wasn’t a fan of the flight to Canada thing. I remember on several occasions him saying, "America, love it or leave it," in response to news clips where people burned the flag. He voted for Bush at least once and probably the second time too. He was the guy who ordered a steak instead of salad, who went hunting and fishing on weekends.

I can’t know if my step-dad would have voted for President Obama. I doubt it. I think John McCain - and the fact Senator McCain has at times been a thorn in the side of his own party because he cares more about issues than party loyalty - was my step-dad's type of candidate.

But this veteran of the Vietnam war and small town, family man would not have been a part of the insinuations I'm seeing that the President is a no-good commie and so are you if you agree that our country should come up with a (not particularly socialist) way to provide affordable health care to those who don't have it.

I don't know that my step-dad would have supported the details of the current health care bill. But he would not have resorted to namecalling or forwarding emails that rely on hot-button words like "socialist" and "communist" to turn an earnest debate into the sad spectacle it has become.

Cleaning Up Our Own: Elementary School Song About Obama

A video has come out about an elementary school in New Jersey where kids were singing an original song about Barack Obama during Black History Month last year. The school has sparked controversy about indoctrinating kids with politics. More disturbing is the song sucks. I mean there's the typical garbage tht plagues elementary school music performances, and then there's this!

In the spirit of keeping other leftists honest, let it be known I'm the first to say schools teaching songs about specific political candidates is best avoided. I mean I don't know if this is quite on par with obstructing health care reform to score political capital against a President. Nor is it on par with, say, using fear about who is American and who is un-American to manipulate the country into going to war. But I'll grant kids should be given a pass from songs about anyone who is engaged in running for the Presidency.

Having been a teacher myself, I understanding how difficult it is to always be alert to things that may offend certain parents. So I'll steady my trigger finger and at least consider the possibility that the music teacher might have just made a poor decision and the agenda wasn't to brainwash kids so they'd talk their parents into voting for Obama. But I still have to say, 'C'mon. What were you thinking? Even if it was Black History Month?!'

Now that we've called out our own, let's hope the favor is returned with such issues as religious groups keeping their faith limited to Sunday service and before-school Bible meetings, and out of the actual public school day.

Or alternatively, perhaps some righties at a tea party will check their own when they see someone at a rally with a sign reading "youth in asia." Maybe they'll remember the spirit of cleaning up your own and tell the sign bearer, "Dude, if you don't know how to spell euthanasia, then you clearly don't know what the f@*# you're talking about. Stop embarrassing our movement."

M*A*S*H and Ravenloft

Ravenloft came up recently in my game group. At some point, someone mentioned the concept of characters who originate from the normal fantasy worlds getting trapped into Ravenloft.

I always forget about that aspect of the plane of dread...well, not forget so much as neglect, I suppose. I've always thought of Ravenloft as the center of a campaign, as opposed to just a break from a regular campaign. That's not to criticize any group that thinks taking a field trip from Forgotten Realms to get a taste of horror isn't fun or legitimate. And, of course, you can always make the visit to Ravenloft a permanent one.

I think any especially moody setting only shines if it's given full treatment. As the adventure of the week, I think a lot of the point would be missed and would feel more like if the cast of, say, M*A*S*H did a brooding horror episode arc. It would still be cool but not as cool as a show that consistently had the brooding horror tone.

NPR Liberal Bias

I realized today National Public Radio IS as liberal as all the people say when they dismiss it as a mouthpiece for the leftwing. For instance, I was listening today and they had an author on who was French, who had a French accent and everything!

There Are No Transitional Fossils

I can't tell you how often the argument "there are no transitional fossils" comes up in my discussions of evolution vs. Creationism. For me, most of these discussions are friendly exchanges of ideas between friends. There isn't the name calling and sensationalized presupposition of motive that you find on, say, an internet message board. Thankfully! I really don't enjoy spending my time in angry debate - or being the target of it - when instead two people with different views can have a beer and dig into how humans came to be.

The photo I'm presenting may not be new to someone well versed in evolutionary science, but it is a well laid out progression of hominid skull fossils. I find the photo useful in demonstrating proof to the frustrating claim that "there are no transition fossils."

I provide a link to the text for more information on the photo here.

Georgia State Senator Gail Buckner Jabs Georgia, Should Move to Canada

There is a minor story floating around about a guy who beat up a Black mother at a Cracker Barrel in Georgia after nearly hitting the woman's daughter with the restaurant's door and yelling some racial slurs. The assault has led to some talk among state lawmakers to consider pushing for a Georgia Hate Crime Law.

State Senator Gail Buckner said, "It's past time, but there again, Georgia seems to be kind of at the end of coming on board with things that are of a progressive mode."

The people of Georgia should be outraged that the Senator would say this! How is this different than when President Obama admitted he thinks America has been arrogant? (See text of a related email below.)

Is there any other way to interpret Senator Buckner's (or President Obama's) statement in any other light than one that proves her true colors? Clearly she hates America, is embarrassed of her country, thinks this country sucks, and therefore should move to Canada!!!



This is an email I received recently. The world thanks the U.S. soldiers who died on foreign battlefields. But this hardly means that everything the U.S. has done since the 40s is immune to criticism. Obama wasn't saying the U.S. sucks - and I don't think the brunt of Europe was either - rather that there is room for us to take a less arrogant attitude about certain things. These sort of reactionary mass emails usually have a straw-man take on things.

From: Michael
Subject: ARE WE ARROGANT?

Thank God that someone has taken the time to put this together – and remind them that nearly 300,000 of our war dead were repatriated after the wars.

Families, at their own very considerable expense, brought the bodies of their sons and daughters home throughout the 50’s and 60’s – so the numbers represented, while they are sobering, reflect less than 25% of the total number of Americans who gave their lives in defense of Europeans who thereafter judged them most unkindly.

Our President has called us arrogant; he has shamed us and cowed us before the world. Our President has apologized for the exceptionality we Americans never wanted; he has bowed before Muslim kings, but allows those that bend their knees before Christ to be vilified and branded as radicals. When Europe’s ruling elite call Americans arrogant, remind them that the only claims to any foreign land the American Soldier has ever made are represented below:

In alphabetical order, just in Europe, note this:

1. The American Cemetery at Aisne-Marne, France . A total of 2289 of our military dead.

We Apologize?

2. The American Cemetery at Ardennes, Belgium . A total of 5329 of our dead.

We are arrogant?

3. The American Cemetery at Brittany, France. A total of 4410 of our military dead.

Excuse me?

4. Brookwood , England American Cemetery. A total of 468 of our dead.
5. Cambridge , England . 3812 of our military dead.
6. Epinal , France American Cemetery. A total of 5525 of our Military dead.
7. Flanders Field, Belgium . A total of 368 of our military graves.
8. Florence , Italy. A total of 4402 of our military dead.
9. Henri-Chapelle , Belgium . A total of 7992 of our military dead.
10. Lorraine , France. A total of 10,489 of our military dead.
11. Luxembourg , Luxembourg . A total of 5076 of our military dead.
12. Meuse-Argonne. A total of 14,246 of our military dead.
13. Netherlands , Netherlands . A total of 8301 of our military dead.
14. Normandy, France . A total of 9387 of our military dead.
15. Oise-Aisne, France . A total of 6012 of our military dead.
16. Rhone, France. A total of 861 of our military dead.
17. Sicily, Italy. A total of 7861 of our military dead.
18. Somme, France . A total of 1844 of our military dead.
19. St. Mihiel, France . A total of 4153 of our military dead.
20. Suresnes, France . a total of 1541 of our military dead.

Apologize to no one. Remind those of our sacrifice and don't confuse arrogance with leadership. As Americans, let's all look forward to the next elections - to find a President who doesn't think we need to be ashamed.

thez0rk and Wester Formerly Debate Sinatra's Tolerance in Late Life

Today an epic conversation broke out between thez0rk and Wester with regard to an alleged comment that Frank Sinatra made years ago. In this comment Sinatra said he found the new rock 'n roll and behavior of Elvis to be disdainful or something like that.

We can see where Sinatra was coming from. "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock" marked the beginning of the end of social mores and was certainly not the championing of wholesome, big city values that the hit number "New York, New York" is.

Wester immediately drew a line in the sand, making an uncompromising defense of Sinatra's tolerance in later life, stating, "Considering [Sinatra] later worked with guys like Bono, I imagine he shed this old-timer view at some point after the 50-60s."

Thez0rk, convinced of the contrary, retorted, "Well, keep in mind, he didn't work with Bono. They may have done a duet but they weren't in the studio at the same time."

Wester then made the mistake of relying on a memory. "I'm pretty sure I saw footage of the two together back when. Though it was a long time ago so maybe not." It's possible Wester remembers seeing a fake Frank Sinatra and fake Bono from the Saturday Night Live sketch parodying these duets.

Thez0rk then pulled out the big guns and produced the proof backing his statement about Sinatra's duets, linking to Wikipedia:

It received mixed critical notices, with complaints stemming from Phil Ramone's style of production and a lack of personal collaboration, since the guest singers were not physically present with Sinatra but instead were singing along to his pre-recorded vocal parts over a telecommunications link.

Wester retreated to a more compromising position. "Either way, I suspect he loosened up about his views of what made a rocker excessively decadent at some point after the Elvis comment."

But thez0rk wasn't ready to compromise yet. "I doubt sinatra gave much of a rat's ass one way or the other. He wasn't in the studio with the people and his manager probably picked 'em out."

At that point, Wester decided he would lay low until he was able to obtain a Necroscope to speak with Sinatra and get the word directly from the horse's mouth as to whether or not Sinatra came to be okay with rocker types later in life.

We will report back once we speak to Sinatra's remains...

Where's the Outrage for Politicians Who Won't Vote for ANY Health Care Reform?

In recent weeks we've seen the spectacle surrounding healthcare reform bill H.R. 3200. There has been a lot of chaos. We've seen uninformed townspeople showing up at Congressional town hall meetings shouting down their Congressmen. We've seen a loon with a picture of Obama made to look like Hitler. We watched the President clear up some of the vicious rumors out there but not lay out details. We've seen an elderly gent say, "Keep government out of my medicare." We've heard someone say they heard a story about someone in Canada who couldn't get treated for an emergency for 6 months - well, I heard a story about someone who says they saw a strange light at night...third hand investigation makes piss poor evidence.

There's also been some earnest debate, but more often than not we've followed the TV cameras around cranks.

The thing is it should be expected we are seeing a lot of chaos; I still think the moments of moronic zealotry is shameful. But this is a complicated subject. Most people I hang out with don't know that much more about the nuances of health care expenditures (on a national level) than they know about the mathematic equations governing planetary mechanics. What we do know is the average family spends 15% to 30% of it's takehome pay on health insurance. And the U.S. annual budget goes primarily to defense and health care. Every responsible Senator and Congressman of any party has noted that health insurance costs have increased drastically in recent years and that national health care programs will require more and more money to sustain the current level of spending when the baby boomers all retire.

So my question is where is the outrage for these resistors who are dead set against ANY sort of health care reform plan? I'm not talking about your local Congressmen who thinks we need to work out some kinks in the current bill. I'm talking about the guys who are content to sabotage any effort to improve the status quo. These guys deserve to be tarred and feathered (metaphorically).

Or at the least town hall attendees need to go after these cherry pickers as vigorously as they are going after the people who are trying to actually fix things. The people saying "No" to EVERYTHING and aren't offering any ideas except for the status quo sure as hell shouldn't be rewarded for sitting around and playing the socialism card!

"Only God Can Change the Earth's Temperature, Not Al Gore"

This Labor Day weekend musicians including Ted Nugent and Hank Williams, Jr., as well as FOX star Sean Hannity, headed a rally in West Virginia.

While I can certainly understand the plight of coal workers who see a bill that limits carbon dioxide omissions threatening, this statement from organizer, Massey Energy's CEO, Don Blankenship, makes it hard to take things seriously, "Only God can change the Earth's temperature, not Al Gore...Global warming is pure make-believe."

I think global warming (and cooling) are evidenced trends in Earth's history. I presume Blankenship is talking about human involvement in global warming. Let's forego a lengthy conversation about climatology that frankly very few people have any background in to talk about with any authorirty and focus on the part that "only God can change the Earth's temperature."

Huh, and here I thought God stayed out of things like the Holocaust, killer tsunamis and whether or not humans spew pollution into the atmosphere.

Wingnut Parents: My Kid Ain't Listening to that Socialist Darkie

I'm hearing reports that President Obama will be giving a pep talk to students across the nation next Tuesday. He is expected to say what President Bush said in a similar message to students: each of you is responsible for your own education, so figure out what you want to do and work hard.

Well, some are fearful of this.

Steve Russell, a state rep from Oklahoma, couldn't resist the tyrant analogy: "As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education — it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality. This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

Florida GOP Chair Jim Greer got in on the action too. “As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology … I do not support using our children as tools to spread liberal propaganda. The address scheduled for September 8, 2009, does not allow for healthy debate on the President’s agenda, but rather obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with our President’s initiatives or be ostracized by their teachers and classmates…Now that school is back in session, President Obama has turned to American’s children to spread his liberal lies, indoctrinating American’s youngest children before they have a chance to decide for themselves.”

According to some schools, the phones are ringing off the hooks with concerned parents.

We heard from a parent of our own who was concerned about the sort of parents who'd hold their child from school on Tuesday. " They should keep track of those families that opt out their kids and put them on a registry. This way we all feel a bit safer knowing who they are and where they live!"

Here's a good link if you want to know more.