tvashtarkatena

Ok, you get points for that one. That was funny.

OK, most Americans are country bumpkins, that's not news. Are you suggesting this a good thing that should continue, Bill, or do you actually know WHAT you're suggesting?

defeatism is a hallmark of liberalism Really? Where were you during the last Governor's race? My team alone got 136 infrequent Democrats to the polls; people that otherwise probably wouldn't have bothered. As you may recall, Gregoire won by 129 votes. How did your get-out-the-vote team do? Oh, and I'll be out there again this time, covering 3 precincts. How about you, Winner?

I was aching, breaking down The bluest guy the blues had found You came, you gave me Butter Pecan You let me ramble on and on When we walked down the street My heart you would steal With Ewoks on T.V. I knew it was real Clumsy royalty and speech pathology You found me all alone I found myself a Blarney Stone And Sara, you take my blues away Every night I cuddle up with you And Sara, you take my blues away I love you forever and ever and ever I do I love it when you­re dreaming deep Curled up in a ball asleep Warm and good and made of love You're just what I've been dreaming of When we walked down the street My heart you would steal With Ewoks on T.V. I knew it was real Clumsy royalty and speech pathology You found me all alone I found myself a Blarney Stone And Sara, you take my blues away Every night I cuddle up with you And Sara, you take my blues away I love you forever and ever I do Oh, and Sara, you take my blues away Every night I cuddle up with you And Sara, you take my blues away I love you forever and ever and ever I do

Oh, hey, AKA. How many scientists have you worked with or know personally? And please give us a bibliography of peer reviewed books or periodicals you've read by practicing scientists? As a POST GRAD, it's gotta be a huge list. You seem to know so much about scientists, cuz, you know, they're all pretty much the same, I just thought I'd ask.

Now THAT sounds more like the scientists I know.

Here's a thought. Maybe God made his followers in his own image; the rest of us evolved like normal creatures. In that case, one would assume God has a bad perm and a trailer full of kids sporting mullets.

please define this 'knowledge of science' thing. most scientists i've hung around with claimed not to 'know' very much. AKA's a guy with a big mouth but no experience with the professional practice of science, so don't expect much of an coherent answer. He doesn't actually understand the theory of evolution, biology, or any other aspect of the discussion that might make his participation even halfway interesting or relevant. When you get tired of his ID Playbook generalities and cliches and actually call him out on his lack of knowledge, the little pussy predictably starts whining about being persecuted by the pompous and rude elitists who JUST WON'T DEIGN TO SPEAK TO HIM AT HIS LEVEL; the required response for one who just can't stay in the kitchen during an actual debate of any real substance. This is the standard floor show for ID types, kind of like seeing the Spokane High School's production of "Cats" for the 1000th time, most of whom just don't have the background to absorb even the plainest explanation of what evolution, or science for that matter, really is. Boring, and pointless.

This is my favorite whine from these totalitiarian shitbags. Go ahead, have your fucking mongoloid kid, don't marry a faggot, and homeschool your kids with prayer every five minutes all you want. After all, this is America. Just don't prescribe, by law, to the rest of us what children we must have, who we can and can't marry, and what fucking kooky cult bullshit our kids have to listen in the public schools that, by law, we all pay for, and who gets to listen in to our private conversations. If you want krazy, be krazy. As for us, no thanks. If you don't like higher taxes, fine. Vote Democrat, cause they spend WAY less money and the economy does better. If your talking about tolerance, then shut the fuck up about the GOP, the party has been trying for decades to impose a Christian lifestyle on the rest of us for decades. We don't want it, and we won't put up with it.

I kin hep. I've set 'em up before.

Baby hair with a woman's eyes I can feel you're watching in the night All alone with me and we're waiting for the sunlight When I feel cold, you warm me And when I feel I can't go on, you come and hold me It's you... And me forever Sara Smile Won't you smile a while for me Sara If you feel like leaving you know you can go But why don't you stay until tomorrow? If you want to be free, you know, all you got to do is say so And when you feel cold, I'll warm you And when you feel you can't go on, I'll come and hold you It's you... And me forever Sara Smile Won't you smile a while for me

You don't need any reason to say everything. You don't need reason to say anything.

You fooled me there.

Um, America's getting the ass kicking. I couldn't be having a better time myself, but thanks for asking, Bill.

Jumaring race.

Anything may be said for any reason. You may quote me on that.

Ah, the young. So in need of approval, so obsessed when they don't receive it.

Theories stand until they fail repeatable testing. That's what 'knowing' something means in science. I didn't think I'd have to define this for anyone here. I assumed it was common, gradeschool type stuff, but I guess I was wrong.

One may speculate on God's true temperment, but one can never know his plans. For example, God may will that Obama be elected to fuck his devout followers. Then, to fuck the liberals, God may have Obama fuck up royally, which could lead to a fundamentalist kook to be elected next time, pleasing his followers, followed by nuclear or climate related annihilation caused by the kook, which would not. This God already made America the most powerful country on earth, which has really fucked the world up for quite some time, so things are already on the right track. There's really only one commandment in this new theosophy: If you think God's on your side, you're gonna get fucked.

During the ID trial in PA, the ID folks' strongest scientific witness presented a molecular diagram of a flagellum, which rotates like a propeller to propel the organism. Truly a remarkable structure; basically a tiny electric motor. His argument was that if any part was missing, the thing wouldn't work; how could it have evolved? Why would nature come up with a simpler version (missing parts) that didn't do anything? Which sounded great, until the evolutionists presented a molecular diagram of the exact same structure, missing one key component so that the whip no longer rotated. It didn't have to; it was an injector for the organism that causes malaria. No rotation required. Apparently, the ID scientist was unaware of it. Oops. That peer review will get you every time. And that's the difference between myths like ID, which are not tested and peer reviewed, and therefore are simply a matter of personal faith, and science. Scientific theories must withstand testing or they do not survive. Myths, protected from scutiny as they are by their adoring followership who, after all, have not interest in counterargument, can go on forever.

One of my recent climbing partners, an Econ professor, recounted my favorite argument for ID, as told by one of his more religious acquaintances. It involved a banana. A banana fits perfectly in the human hand. It's almost a perfect food for humans (great for hangovers, with all that potassium). It comes in its own container, which keeps it fresh until it's ready to be eaten. Clearly, proof of intelligent design. A banana. Nuff said there.

Creationists have relied on using incomplete scientific sounding 'soundbite' arguments, neglecting, of course, the counter arguments that handily discredit them. This kind of filtering to a rapt, believing audience is an old trick, but it's not science. Within the followership, critical thinking is non-existent, so true peer review simply doesn't happen. It's nothing more than a self-reinforcing call and response cycle that unravels immediately when subjected to true scientific peer review involving 'outsiders', ie, the general scientific community.

Creationism also requires either a) an ignorance of the science available or b) an almost herculean disbelief of the science available. Every creationist I've conversed with fell within group 'a'. Even the pro-ID scientists who acted as witnesses during the PA trial were woefully unaware of much of the science that had been done on the subject...at their own peril. Every one of their arguments were blown out of the water by their pro-evolutionist colleagues. It was sad and pathetic to see these researchers, who'd clung to and defended their highly filtered arguments so fiercely, so easily and completely dismantled in such a public way. Their typical behavior after cross examination was to sit quietly, dumbfounded, with nothing much more to say.

Presidential elections are cultural street theatre; a form of non-violent tribal warfare, not a debate about the issues. The issues really don't matter much. Rush Limbaugh had it right when he said that Americans are not an intellectual lot. What matters is who you perceive your friends and enemies to be. Is the guy in the cowboy hat one of us or one of them? Americans respond positively to perceived 'strength'. Palin scores points because she stands by her convictions. Those convictions are utter disasters, dishonest, even unConstitutional and therefore un-American, but nonetheless she proclaims them as proudly as ever. Bush is a fucking moron, but half of America bought into his self confidence, regardless of the disastrous direction he'd taken the country in after his first four years. We respond this way because, individually, by and large, we are weak, and a weak people require a strong leader. We're overfed, over comfy, and weak minded with regards to history and the world around us. We're all too willing to buy into a variety of myths, both religious and secular, but none having anything to do with reality or where the world is headed. And we've developed the greatest sense of entitlement in the world. In a sense, we're children with a very large (but shrinking) allowance. If we were stronger individually, we'd want someone to do our bidding; more of a glorified factotum. Personally, I want a weak president, and a weak federal government. The federal government has long since ceased to serve us well. It has placed an overly expensive military ill fitted for true national defense on our collective backs, burdened us with a tremendous debt that has given us nothing in return, attempted to quash various state level experiments in drug policy, healthcare, education, marital right, infrastructure development, and environmental policy, and reduced the level of political debate to a comic book strip. It's leadership of late has been a fucking sad joke. A predictable few of you will immediately jump on the "universal health care...hypocrit!" bandwagon, but a weak federal government does not mean no federal government. It means dismantling much of our unneeded and overly expensive military heroin addiction, the cessation of interfering in states rights issues that are not in violation of the U.S. constitution and a return to more local control, the cessation of federal farm subsidies of all kinds, a rollback of federal attacks on our constitutional rights, and the ending of stupid, expensive foreign adventures. The federal government should continue what it (can be) good at: some of which include strong environmental and financial regulation, ensuring health care for all, upholding the constitution, and establishing policies to address global issues such as climate change that cannot be entirely resolved at the state or local level. Right now, America is getting a well deserved ass kicking; militarily, economically, and with regards to our international influence. The country has been practically begging for it; some of us have been voting for this outcome every step of the way, primarily out of sense of entitlement to power, for decades. Well, the power America once had is largely gone now, so perhaps it's time to try some new myths on for size.