Nice one, Phil!

If Newton were born today, he wouldn’t be a creationist. He’d be a cosmologist.

House protects public broadcasting

The House on Wednesday evening overwhelmingly rejected President Bush’s plan to eliminate the $420 million federal subsidy for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The 357-72 vote demonstrated the enduring political strength of public broadcasting. The outcome was never in doubt, unlike a fight two years ago when Republicans tried but failed to slash public broadcasting subsidies.

So far, anyway. Never underestimate the will of the Republicans to work against good things.

Whatcha doing tomorrow? Stop by the Minnesota Atheists Summer Picnic.

I may stop by. Usually I find atheists to be incredibly smart, funny and genuine people. I pretty much think that the more atheists we have, the better. I totally believe in your right to believe in silly, ancient mythologies. I don’t think it is correlated in the slightest with morality. Yes, religious institutions do a lot of good in the world, but they also do a lot of bad. On balance, I think that we would be better off without it.

You’ll note, perhaps, that this post is listed under politics. That is because the important part about this stuff is not what you do in the privacy of your room or your church. It’s what you do in the public space, with our laws and our elections.

This is what bothers people like Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers and myself: the notion that religious ideas are supposed to be “respected” in arguments about politics or science. I do respect your right to your religion. I do not respect your right to introduce completely subjective mythologies into the debate. Nor do I approve of litmus tests for electoral candidates based on these completely subjective mythologies.

Religion would be fine except that it teaches us that all completely unjustified beliefs should be respected and accepted. They shouldn’t be. What internal rationales you use to reach your opinions is your business, but when it comes to the public debate arguments will all be held to the same scrutiny. Religious ones do not get a free pass.

So throw down those chains of silly superstitions and come have a hotdog.

micadelic completely fucked up and said:

And while I’m here… Bush just commuted Scooter Libby’s sentence. Good for him, that’s the first good thing he’s done in a while by my reckoning. That’s a little “amnesty” that I can live with.

First of all, let me take on the “Clinton pardoned Marc Rich” bullshit. When Clinton did that, I was appalled. The Right Wing, of course, went completely nuts. No one though that was a good thing. Let me repeat: I was appalled. I thought it was a horrible decision by Clinton and shady as hell. So, apparently, did the Republicans.

Now we have a similar situation AND MY VIEWS HAVE NOT CHANGED. I think that Bush’s interference with this case is absolutely appalling and shady as hell. The White House (read: Cheney) basically said: “Go on boys, lie your ass off and if you get caught we’ll just pardon you!”.

So, the Righties should be justifiably appalled at this situation, right? I mean, law and order and high crimes and all of that, right?

Fuck no. Instead they defend Bush, claim that the crime is minor and the punishment too harsh. Yet, they impeached Clinton for the same thing.

This is my core point: the Right are a bunch of pussies who flip-flop on the issues so that they are always right, no matter what, and the Left always wrong. Impeachable if it is our guy, no big deal if it is their guy.

What a bunch of ridiculous crap. There is exactly one reason why Bush interfered on Libby’s behalf — cronyism.

Ann Coulter is a very articulate spokeswoman for the conservative view

Why, I agree entirely! The fag-hating, women-hating, xenophobic, Daddy’s money, war-monger, theocrat, red-neck, gun-carrying racists known as the GOP are perfectly represented by Ms. Coulter.

Seriously, if you think Ann Coulter accurately represents your views, you are a hopeless, ignorant fucktard.

How can they say that perjury and obstruction of justice are technicalities when, during the Lewinsky affair, they declared that “perjury and obstruction of justice are high crimes and misdemeanours” (Senator Bill Frist) and that “perjury and obstruction of justice are crimes against the state” (Senator Sam Brownback)?

The fucking Republicans impeached Clinton for the same offense that Scooter Libby committed.

So which is it, guys? No big deal or an impeachable offense?

Bush is protecting the perhaps criminal actions of his administration. No big deal.

It’s time.

The Republicans, and some Democrats and probably lots of you keep fixating on this word “amnesty” in regards to the immigration debate.

The problem is, there is reality to deal with. Some 12 million illegal immigrants are in this country right now. Like Harry Reid said, no matter what we call it, they are going to be here tomorrow, the next day, next year and next decade. It is virtually impossible to round up and deport 12 million people, both for logistical reasons and for humanitarian reasons.

So get over it. You can talk about “law breakers” and “amnesty” all you want but it doesn’t get us one bit closer to having a rational policy towards dealing with this problem.

Let me ask you: why would someone leave their family, risk the cruelty of the criminals who facilitate illegal border crossing, risk arrest and imprisonment by the US and, if they are successful entering this country, live in constant fear of being caught, arrested, imprisoned and deported.

What would it take for you to do that? I know what it would take for me. It would take me considering it the only option to keep my family fed. If your children were starving, would it be immoral for you to steal food for them? Is it really immoral for these people to seek a better life across the border?

One thing we could do is ease our legal immigration policies. We could also work to build up Mexico’s economy instead of paying slave wages for products produced there. In many ways, amnesty is a great idea. Let’s get people to come forward, confess, pay their dues and get on a path to citizenship. Mexican immigrants are wonderful people in almost all cases (just like all people are wonderful people in almost all cases). They serve in our military, they work hard, they are lawful, family-oriented and moral people.

The problem IS NOT that “law breakers” are invading our country. It’s the fact that our country has done a piss poor job of partnering with Mexico to build their economy. Mexico is a disaster. People are coming here out of desperation. The correct response is not to build ridiculously expense walls and herd people up into concentration camps. The correct response is to find a political and economic solution to the core problem. Oddly, this is what Bush has been trying to do. He and I roughly agree on this issue.

It looks like at least the President is still in the executive branch. How do we know? Because he is hiding behind executive privilege again.

With their traditional candor they say:

“With respect, it is with much regret that we are forced down this unfortunate path which we sought to avoid by finding grounds for mutual accommodation,” White House counsel Fred Fielding said in a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. “We had hoped this matter could conclude with your committees receiving information in lieu of having to invoke executive privilege. Instead, we are at this conclusion.”

Got that? Let me paraphrase:

We were hoping to evade public scrutiny and hide our blood-thirsty political agenda through other means but, because the Congress is being so thorough and professional in its investigation, we have no other choice but to be fall back on the same childish, untrue and retarded excuse we’ve used in the past.

Cast in the best light, this administration is incompetent. Cast in the most realistic light, they are liars who consider themselves above the law and above accountability to the American people.

I’m not sure how any rational person could think Dick Cheney is anything other than a complete scumbag.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the latest:

The Office of the Vice President has asserted that it is not an “entity within the executive branch” and hence is not subject to presidential executive orders. Waxman writes, “To my knowledge, this was the first time in the nearly 30-year history of the Information Security Oversight Office that a request for access to conduct a security inspection was denied by a White House office.”

C’mon. All you Right-wing bastards can shut the hell up about Clinton and how he parsed language and got blowjobs. Cheney is trying to destroy America.