Mark at Sting of Reason may have the graph to illustrate the Dunning-Kruger Effect perfectly:
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal for March 8, 2011, via Sting of Reason
Original here, at Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.
Does that pretty well nail Dunning-Kruger, or what?
2 Comments | 
Cartoons, Dunning-Kruger Effect, Politics, Rampant stupidity | Tagged: Cartoons, Dunning-Kruger Effect, Politics, Rampant stupidity | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Cover of "The Gilded Age," a novel by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner published in 1873. Image courtesy of the Center for Mark Twain Studies, Elmira College.
You know why it was called the Gilded Age, right?
Santayana’s Ghost keeps telling me the Republicans don’t know why. Republicans as a rule do not read Mark Twain, so it’s a cinch they’ve never read Mark Twain plus Charles Dudley Warner.
Mark Twain, who wrote the novel, The Gilded Age, with Charles Dudley Warner. Twain wrote of the Republican Manifesto earlier: "What is the chief end of man?--to get rich. In what way? -- dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must." Image from Mark Twain House, Hartford, Connecticut, via PBS
Still, don’t you recall with some fondness the Eisenhower, Nixon and Ford years, when Republicans at least pretended not to be grand misanthropes? Do you remember that? Nixon tried to make nicey-nice with conservationists and environmentalists, expanding the National Parks and creating the Environmental Protection Agency (fitting, since the environmental movement had been born among and from wealthy and smart Republicans); even after killing the air traffic controllers union, Ronald Reagan enjoyed easy camradary with Teamsters, and to some degree, even with the heads of the AFL-CIO. Reagan encouraged and signed a jobs training bill, and signed our first home health care law, making it possible for people to go home to die, where they ironically lived much longer than in hospitals, but at much reduced cost to Medicare.
Forget those days. Forget that human compassion. Today’s conservatives don’t have time for the wimpiness of Ronald Reagan.
Did you see the full list of proposed agency cuts the Republicans tried to pin on the 2011 appropriations bill, H.R. 1?
Here’s the entire list, from OMB Watch: OMB_Watch-HR1_Policy_Riders (April 7, 2011). I’m sure OMB Watch has a bias, but the descriptions of the cuts are so balanced and neutral that they may hide some of the more unscrupulous, Scroogey actions.
In consumer protection, for example, Republicans inexplicably oppose the creation of watchdogs to prevent another housing bubble — are Republicans protecting criminals here?
Prohibits the Federal Reserve from transferring more than $80 million to the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, Sec. 1517
Prohibits funds for a government sponsored “consumer products complaints database,” Sec. 4046.
No one to prevent new crimes, and no collecting of information to warn consumers of dangerous products. Wonderful.
Prohibits funds to take any action to effect or implement the disestablishment, closure or realignment of the US Joint Forces Command. Sec. 4020
No, no, don’t want the Pentagon to save money — heaven knows, wasting money at the Pentagon is flag-waving patriotism — so let’s ban the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, from making changes that save money. It’s in the Bible that this must be done, I’m sure.
Prohibits funds for implementing a provision specific to the State of Texas in the “Education Job Fund.” Sec. 4051
After claiming he wouldn’t accept “bailouts” from the federal government, Texas Gov. Rick Perry accepted money from Congress to prevent the loss of teaching jobs — but then threw the money into a different pot, so teachers were not protected. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, amended the last appropriation bill to say that Texas can’t take money from the teachers — but the Republicans want to allow Perry to take the money, and keep it from the teachers, again. It’s the old playground game where the big kids play keep away from a little kid. It’s vicious, of course, and should be criminal — but the older kids have a lot of fun.
Prohibits funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program or the State Energy Program. Sec. 1434
Let the poor people freeze in the dark — they all vote Democratic, anyway. But wait! Tea Partiers, fresh from the Mad Hatter’s, say that global warming will take care of the poor people! No need for weatherization.
Prohibits funding for various environmental projects in California. Sec. 1475
Prohibits funding for a climate change czar in the White House. Sec. 1535
Prohibits funding for EPA efforts to regulate greenhouse gases. Sec. 1746
Oh, well, maybe there isn’t any global warming. Yeah, this is contrary to what the Republicans said about warming keeping the poor from needing weatherization — but they’re just poor people, the Republicans say. Let ’em get a job! (Where? Not the problem of Republicans; Republicans identified that the poor need to get a job, and that should be the limit of federal action . . .).
This morning on CBS, New York Sen. Charles Schumer said he would not list cuts until he sees a final copy of the bill. Probably wise — but it’s also almost a cinch that almost all of the cuts will be mean-spirited, worthy of Ebenezer Scrooge before his conversion, and damaging to the U.S. people and the U.S. economy.
What in the hell is going on in Washington?
Tip of the old scrub brush to Jean Detjen, protecting the nation from being over-run by Canadians up there in the north, in Wisconsin.
1 Comment | Gilded Age, Government, History, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Santayana's ghost, U.S. Congress | Tagged: Budget, Budget Cuts, Gilded Age, Government, H.R. 1, History, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Santayana's ghost, Scrooge | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Apparently they think that “fix the economy” means something more akin to “fix your dog” than increase jobs.
If you’re unemployed, or facing layoff, you will be happy to know how the Republicans have your back. Or, happy to know they’re doing something behind your back. Or they’re trying to put you flat on your back. Or something.
2 Comments | 100 Milestone Documents of U.S. History, Patriotism, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Republican Party | Tagged: Patriotism, Politics, Rampang Stupidity, Republican Party | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
David Roberts at the online Grist site has a toilet that will solve Rand Paul’s problem, as Paul let slip at a Senate hearing earlier this week. A couple of interesting videos accompanied Roberts’ article:
And this one, which makes me happy we didn’t have this toilet when our kids were toddlers, and at war with each other, or just happy to study hydraulics with frequent flushes, frequently with stuff that shouldn’t be flushed:
Bill Scher, also at Grist, did the shopping earlier that Rand Paul appears unable to do — there are several toilets available to solve Paul’s problem, many of them made in America.
Almost three years ago we replaced the three toilets in our home with two Toto models and one Kohler, all low-flow, water miser editions. They work fine. (We also shopped our local area, and found prices considerably below those listed, at several different outlets.) Kohler, in fact, enlists the help of a fetching plumber named Jo. She steps into a well-appointed bathroom and invites you to test Kohler’s toilets — you pick something in the bathroom, and she flushes it. Bye bye, rubber duckie. So long, handtowel. Four bottles of shampoo at once.
Click image to test Kohler toilets [Update, August 2012: Alas, Kohler seems to have deactivated the interactive site.] [BUT, see update below.]
Kohler, clearly, had someone with Sen. Paul’s, er, um, problem, in mind!
So, Rand Paul no longer has a reason to be full of s—. It’s time he vote to endorse saving energy, as appliance and lightbulb manufacturers have done. Why is Paul so opposed to American business anyway?
Update: The Trophy Wife™ suggested somebody stage a showdown, or flush off between Jo the Plumber and Sen. Rand Paul. Jo the Plumber could see how well the Republican budget whacks flush away . . . “H.R. 1: Flushes cleanly! 382 pages gone! Appropriately disposed of! What do you want to flush next?”
Perhaps someone adept at editing flash videos could make that happen . . .
Update, May 2020: Fortunately, Kohler did a video of their interactive ad, and that still exists. I admit I enjoyed pointing to odd objects in the game, which Jo the Plumber then dutifully flushed. Video gives you an idea of what the toilet can handle, enough to handle Rand Paul and Donald Trump together, probably.
12 Comments | Conservation, Energy, Environmental protection, Government, Humor, Rampant stupidity, U.S. Senate, War on Smart | Tagged: Conservation, Energy, Environmental protection, Government, Humor, Light Bulbs, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Rand Paul, Regulation, Tea Party, Toilets, U.S. Senate, War on Smart | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
In what must be one of the most bizarre but informative exchanges we’ve ever heard from a Tea Partier, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul reveals what bugs so many Tea Partiers. His toilets don’t work, and haven’t for 20 years.
That’s not supposed to be a straight line for a gag.
You can’t get the information from just listening to him, however — you have to have some additional facts so you can read between the lines.
From this exchange at the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, we learn:
Oy.
Let’s go to the video:
Can somebody get Rand Paul a competent plumber? Can somebody show him how to use Google or Bing or Yahoo! to shop for good toilets and good plumbers? The nation needs Paul to return to sanity, decency, and sanitation.
[Update: Paul could learn about efficient, U.S.-built toilets, here.]
Am I wrong to think Paul is making an attack on wise conservation in general? Why?
Paul’s smug, self-satisfied invincibility of incompetence and learned helplessness is appalling. (Take that, Protein Wisdom; it’s just you, Jeff G. — everybody else sees Ms. Morgan as composed against Paul’s overweening smugness.)
Can somebody explain this to me: This moment of extreme embarrassment to Sen. Paul is posted by his office at his YouTube site. What were they thinking?
Somebody give a medal to Energy’s Deputy Assistant Secretary Kathleen Morgan for not teeing off on the guy. Letting him twist in the wind is good enough.
By the way, the bill Paul complains about? The manufacturers agreed to the standards voluntarily, and have already agreed to comply — the bill adds no regulations they say they cannot meet; Hogan’s statement noted:
S.398 codifies agreements that were negotiated, signed, and promoted by a cross-section of stakeholders representing consumer advocacy groups, manufacturers, manufacturer trade associations, and energy efficiency advocacy organizations, all of whom support this bill. The negotiated consensus agreements would establish energy conservation standards for 14 products, several of which are in the midst of DOE’s ongoing standards and test procedure rulemakings.
Also constipated:
Resources, good information:
“The law that they are taking to the airwaves to condemn was signed by that notorious tree-hugger George W. Bush (and voted for by 54 congressional Republicans). Because its energy-efficiency standards can’t be met by tungsten-based incandescent lightbulbs, 100-watt bulbs will be obsolete come Jan. 1, with the rest phased out by 2014.
Incandescent bulbs waste about 90 percent of the energy that goes into them, much of it in generating more heat than light (a lot like this debate).
By contrast, alternative lightbulbs are far more energy-efficient. Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) use about a quarter of the energy of traditional lightbulbs and last 10 times longer. Halogen and LED lightbulbs also save significant amounts of energy.
13 Comments | Conservation, Economics, Energy, Environmental protection, Government, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Regulation, U.S. Senate, War on Smart | Tagged: Abortion, Conservation, economy, EPA, Government, Light Bulbs, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Rand Paul, Regulation, Senate Energy Committee, Toilets, War on Smart | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
In the Nixon era there was the great bumper-sticker response to William Safire’s line spoken by Spiro Agnew about how the “silent majority” supported Nixon, and not anti-Vietnam war protesters:
Same thing applies to hard-head conservatives and tea-partiers who assume they have God on their sides and so do not need to pay attention to anyone else.
Latest incarnation: Anchor Rising, who send to spam even milquetoast comments that don’t cheer their heresies and blasphemies against the nation.
Is this really so offensive? I said:
People who wish to label things “socialist” do it because they think the word pejorative, not because they understand it, and certainly not because what they label is socialist. By von Mises and von Hayek’s definitions, the U.S. government isn’t socialist at all — no production quotas, no significant control of wages or prices. We do have some regulation of industry, but no nationalization — not even defense quotas any more. Since Eisenhower, we have pushed farther and farther from socialism, and our economy has tanked a couple of times as a result.
We could use some more socialism, a decent safety net for the poor, ill, old, and uneducated. It’s the sort of safety net George Washington would have approved of — and it’s not really socialism.
The questions we should be asking are, “Is this the right thing to do?” “Is this the best way to do it?” “How can we pay for this?”
Labeling things socialist, and then quibbling about the misdefinition, only drives us deeper into the mire.
I got this response:
Thank you for commenting.
Your comment has been junked as inappropriate or spam; if you believe you’ve received this message in error, please contact the administrator. adm
Oh, skroom. A reaction that swift suggests no gray matter involved in the decision process. It’s worse than “press 2 for Spanish.”
How many conservatives actually can dance on the head of a pin? Isn’t that pinhead cannibalism or something?
That anchor ain’t rising, and it’s dragging Rhode Island down with it.
16 Comments | Politics, Rampant stupidity | Tagged: Rant | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
A cartoon from Jon Wilkins at the Santa Fe Institute, no less.
Dunning-Kruger Effect by jonfwilkins
(Yeah, I know — it’s not big. Click the image, go see a bigger version at Wilkins’s site.)
Wilkins added:
Kruger, J., & Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77 (6), 1121-1134 DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121
Earlier and other flotsam in Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub:
Tip of the old scrub brush to Jason G. Goldman at The Thoughtful Animal.
3 Comments | Cartoons, Dunning-Kruger Effect, psychology, Rampant stupidity, Research, Science | Tagged: Cartoons, Dunning-Kruger Effect, Jon Wilkins, psychology, Rampant stupidity, Research, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Be sure to see the story in the New York Times today. Obama administration “Race to the Top” money went to states who proposed to replace principals in failing schools. A problem in the strategy threatens the program: Not enough qualified people exist to replace all the “bad” ones.
Wrong-headed education “reformers” keep talking about “firing the bad ones,” teachers, administrators, or janitors. Without significantly raising the pay for teachers, without greatly increasing the number of teachers and administrators in the pipeline from teaching colleges or any other source, reformers can’t attract anyone better qualified than the people they wish to replace.
President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan took questions from a 6th grade class at Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia, January 18, 2010 – photo credit unknown
Maybe, just maybe, it’s time these reformers took a step back and did some study, perhaps from the quality gurus, Deming and Juran and Crosby, or from the heights of championship performance, in basketball, football, soccer, sailing (try the America Cup), horse racing or politics: No one can use firing as a chief tool to turn an organization around, nor to lead any organization to a championship. Threatening people’s jobs does not motivate them, nor make the jobs attractive to others.
How can we tell the fire-the-teachers-and-principals group is on the wrong track? See the article:
“To think that the same leader with a bit more money is going to accomplish tremendous change is misguided,” said Tim Cawley, a managing director at the Academy for Urban School Leadership, a nonprofit group that began leading turnaround efforts in Chicago when Mr. Duncan was the superintendent there.
“This idea of a light-touch turnaround is going to sully the whole effort,” Mr. Cawley added.
Tell that to Steve Jobs, who turned Apple around. Tell it to Jack Welch, the tough-guy boss from GE (who had his own peccadilloes about firing, but who emphasized hiring and pay, at least, as the way to create a succession plan for the vacancies). Tell it to any CEO who turned around his organization without falling on his own sword.
Any competent quality consultant would have foreseen this problem: Nobody wants to train for a job with little future, less money to do the job right, little authority to get the job done, and the sole promise that the exit door is always open.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan should know better, intuitively. He used to play basketball, professionally. Surely he knows something about team building and team turnarounds. What caused his astounding, expensive amnesia?
Part of the issue identified in the article is training:
Because leading schools out of chronic failure is harder than managing a successful school — often requiring more creative problem-solving abilities and stronger leadership, among other skills — the supply of principals capable of doing the work is tiny.
Most of the nation’s 1,200 schools, colleges and departments of education do offer school leadership training. “But only a tiny percentage really prepare leaders for school turnaround,” said Arthur Levine, a former president of Teachers College who wrote a 2005 study of principal training.
That only contributes to the larger problem, that people in the positions are, often, the best ones for the job already; firing them damages turnaround efforts.
In Chicago, federal money is financing an overhaul of Phillips Academy High School. Mr. Cawley’s nonprofit trained Phillips’s new principal, Terrance Little, by having him work alongside mentor principals experienced at school makeovers.
“If we’re talking about turning around 700 schools, I don’t think you can find 700 principals who are capable of taking on the challenge of this work,” Mr. Little said. “If you could, why would we have this many failing schools?”
Education’s problems are many. Few of the problems are the result of the person at the chalkboard in the classroom. Firing teachers won’t help. W. Edwards Deming claimed that 85% of the problems that plague front-line employees, like teachers, are management-caused. Firing their bosses won’t solve those problems, either, but will just push the problems around. (What? “Deck chairs?” “Titanic?” What are you talking about?)
Did you hear? Texas plans to cut state funding to all education by at least 25% for next year, due to Gov. Rick Perry’s $25 billion deficit, which he worked so hard to conceal during last year’s election campaign.
Santayana’s Ghost just dropped by to remind us, suitably the day after Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday anniversary, of the Report of the Commission on Excellence in Education, the report that saved Reagan’s presidency and got him a second term:
Our nation is at risk. The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity. If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament. History is not kind to idlers.
When do we get political leaders who will swim against that tide instead of trying to surf it?
Dan Wasserman, Boston Globe
See a small collection of Dan Wasserman’s cartoons on Race to the Top, here.
22 Comments | Business, Education, Education quality, Education reform, Education spending, Motivation, No Child Left Behind Act, Public education, Race to the Top, Rampant stupidity, Teacher Pay, Teachers, Teaching | Tagged: Arne Duncan, Business, Education, Education reform, Excellence in Education Report, Motivation, No Child Left Behind, Principals, Race to the Top, Rampant stupidity, Santayana's ghost, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
I get interesting, if not exclusive, e-mail:
Dear Ed,
Even if you haven’t heard, it probably won’t surprise you: Following a weekend in which she tested the “Presidential waters” in Iowa (and rewrote American history to virtually omit slavery), Congresswoman Michele Bachmann delivered her own response to President Obama’s State of the Union address last night to a national Tea Party audience.
Even with Bachmann working harder than ever to increase her own fame, and push the agenda of her wealthiest supporters, last night’s speech was more than a little strange.
And as expected, she repeated many of her usual false claims, including:
• Falsely claiming that 16,500 IRS agents would be hired to be “in charge” of the new health care law. (This was debunked a year ago. FactCheck.org said it, “stems from a partisan analysis based on guesswork and false assumptions, and compounded by outright misrepresentation.”)
• Falsely claiming that President Obama and the White House “promised” the Recovery Act would keep unemployment below 8%. (PolitiFact.com calls this ‘barely true’, and has given Bachmann seven ‘false’ and six ‘pants on fire’ ratings for other statements she’s made.)
Michele Bachmann is wrong on the facts, and wrong on the issues.
Bachmann’s cuts to education would devastate Minnesota’s workforce, her cuts to transportation would wreck our infrastructure, and her tax loopholes reward all the wrong economic behavior.
By repealing health care reform, Congresswoman Bachmann would let health insurance companies deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions, add as much as $230 billion to the deficit, take health insurance away from tens of thousands of Minnesota families and raise costs for almost everyone else.
It’s clear that in 2011 and beyond, Republicans and Democrats are going to have to speak honestly about the challenges we face and work together to deliver the results Minnesotans deserve.
We need honest debate, and civil discourse. We need to speak up. We need to get active, and stay active. It will be our voices, our energy, and our commitment that leads America forward.
After all, as President Obama himself said last night, we’ll move forward together – or not at all.
Sincerely,
Tarryl Clark
PS Keep in touch on our Facebook page here, and let us know what you thought of Congresswoman Bachmann’s speech.
More:
7 Comments | Elections, History, Politics, Rampant stupidity | Tagged: Elections, History, Michele Bachmann, Minnesota, Politics, Rampang Stupidity, Tarryl Clark | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
All that talk about secession, and nullification, and states’ rights? Matthews calls it for what it is.
Maybe we should say he calls it out for what it is.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
It’s time to stop the talk of tearing our nation apart. If you’ve been talking this smack, stop it.
Santayana’s Ghost keeps a wary eye on all such discussion.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Mike Heath sitting in for Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars.
9 Comments | Civil War, Dissent, History, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Santayana's ghost, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Chris Matthews, Civil War, Constitution, Dissent, Hardball, History, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Secession | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Somebody linked over to Red State. What a creepy site.
First, it looks like those old ’50s school films about the creeping “Red Menace,” the way they paint every state Commie Red (no, I know they’re not conscious commies, but let’s call the color what it is). It’s as if they have no knowledge of history over there, and they’ve never noticed. It’s pretty clear that they have no desire nor need for white and blue, even to make “red, white and blue.”
If you have it on vinyl, you know what we mean.
Second, they brook no dissent at all. Their terms of use (no open discussion) show the Red Staters get to decide whether you’re with the Red State Big Brother program — and if for any reason they decide you’re not toeing the party line, you’re vanquished. No appeals. “It’s not really an echo chamber, it’s unison singing.”
Third, there is the astonishing sucking sound where brains of skeptics should be. Pick the stupid side of almost any issue, and it’s represented in spades there. On the sciency front, for example, Red Staters have no use nor knowledge of Darwin, they think the warming temperatures of the climate are faked, probably by unholy, non-Red Stater weathermen, and they are convinced that the UN and others are using malaria for “population control” — so they favor massive amounts of DDT.
Remember Mr. Urquhart, the Delaware Tea Partier who, by the grace of God, lost the race for the state’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and his claim that “separation of church and state” was Hitler’s idea? Urquhart appears to drift in the mainstream at Red State.
Try it. Pick an issue, do a search at Red State to see if they don’t favor the stupid side, and see whether any real facts can get in. Even the news that shows their positions wrong, say their position against more stimulus, they’ll spin to say it’s the other guy’s fault.
God save us. It’s a new Red to fear, the new Red Scare.
18 Comments | Climate change, climate_change, Creationism, DDT, Freedom - Economic, Freedom - Political, Global warming, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Red Scare | Tagged: Creationism, DDT, freedom, Global warming, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Red State | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
First, read and laugh with this: “Jesus removed from Texas Bibles”
The Texas Board of Education announced Monday that it will order new Bibles for Texas schools that remove all references to Jesus on the grounds that his teachings are “too liberal” for the classroom. The changes will likely impact Bibles sold throughout the U.S. because Texas buys more Bibles than any other state.
The board approved the changes in a 10 to 5 party-line vote with unanimous support from Republicans. Dr. Don McLeroy, a dentist and leader of the board’s conservative faction, said the changes were approved without any input from theologians, in keeping with the board’s practice of editing schoolbooks on its own and ignoring experts.
“I know there’s folks who will say we in Texas have no business teaching religion in the classroom, well frankly a bunch of ignorant zealots like us have no business meddling with textbooks either but that’s didn’t stop us from doing so,” McLeroy said. “Here in the republic of Texas we don’t give a lick what the rest of the country thinks, unless of course we need federal money or help with stuff like hurricanes.”
Quotes from Don McLeroy are a little creepy, no? You know it’s parody — isn’t it? — and yet the quotes and tone just ring so . . . true.
It’s a parody, right? Isn’t it? This can’t be accurate, right?
Oh. My. Cthulu. Look at this: “Blessed are the conservative in Bible translation.”
The project, an online effort to create a Bible suitable for contemporary conservative sensibilities, claims Jesus’ quote is a disputed addition abetted by liberal biblical scholars, even if it appears in some form in almost every translation of the Bible.
The project’s authors argue that contemporary scholars have inserted liberal views and ahistorical passages into the Bible, turning Jesus into little more than a well-meaning social worker with a store of watered-down platitudes.
“Professors are the most liberal group of people in the world, and it’s professors who are doing the popular modern translations of the Bible,” said Andy Schlafly, founder of Conservapedia.com, the project’s online home.
Wait. That’s got to be a parody, right? No?
That’s not parody? “Andy Schlafly” really exists, and despite his appearing to be so stupid as to have to be reminded to breathe, he’s complaining about Jesus’s liberal views?
Gods forgive them For Christ’s sake, God, stop them now, for they know nothing. They know NOTHING.
You can be sure that, were Glenn Beck still alive today, he’d be out there to complain about people like Schlafly “rewriting the words of the founders.”
Tip of the old scrub brush to Kathryn, whose friend observed of Andy Schlafly, “This just goes to show you that the shit doesn’t fall very far from the bat.” The line has already been copyrighted, but feel free to use it in pursuit of enlightenment, education, and human rights.
12 Comments | Education, History Revisionism, Hoaxes, Parody, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Religion, War on Education | Tagged: Andy Schlafly, Bat Guano Psychic Pathology, Conservapedia, Education, Parody, Politics, Radical Religion, Rampant stupidity, Religion, Religious Extremists | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Pastor Joe Leavell, recently a frequent bather in Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub, reports on the crazy — it doesn’t involve burning anybody’s scripture, but it’s pretty offensive.
Not sure if you heard about the first army chaplain to have been killed since the 70s, but he was killed on Aug. 30th in Afghanistan. Several pastors I know knew him as a personal dear friend – a true American hero who loved God, loved the troops he served, and gave his life going above and beyond to be with them.
Guess who will be there protesting his funeral? Westboro Baptist Church – protesting the funeral of a Baptist chaplain! The only way it ties in to this discussion is the “should factor”, but I’m sorry – I just had to voice that this sort of stuff is so disgraceful and makes me so upset – especially when our soldiers are dying to give them the freedom to protest at their funerals! :-( For shame!
Here’s the news article:
kktv.com/military/headlines/102406419.html
At KKTV’s site the story is very short; here it is the complete article:
Posted: 9:54 PM Sep 7, 2010
Reporter: KKTV News
Email Address: news@kktv.comA controversial Baptist Church group from Kansas says they’ll be in Southern Colorado to protest at a funeral for an army chaplain who was killed in Afghanistan.
Captain Dale Goetz died August 30 in Afghanistan. He’s the first army chaplain to die in combat since 1970.
A funeral has been set for Thursday at Fort Carson, and that’s where the Westboro Baptist Church says they’ll be as well to protest.
Members of the church have repeatedly protested the acceptance of homosexuals by picketing at the funerals of fallen soldiers.
It’s very controversial move.
11 News is asking what do you think about the planned demonstration? We’d like to hear from you. Just comment on this story on the 11 news Facebook page or here on kktv.com.
Time Magazine’s blog carries more details of Pastor Goetz’s life and an interesting tribute to the value of military chaplains in war.
He [Goetz] acknowledged that Muslim concerns over what they perceive as a degenerate Western culture can drive some Muslims toward terror. “As Americans we repudiate the practice of the terrorist,” he said. “Though I disagree with their practice, I do understand their complaints against western society.” Goetz wondered if Americans are devoted to something so much that they would willingly die for it. “Our love for freedom is worth dying for,” he concluded, “and many have gone before us to preserve this freedom.”Read more: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/09/03/army-chaplain-dale-goetz-rip/#ixzz0z25p1eqN
(South Dakota will fly flags at half-staff today, September 9, in Goetz’s honor. See also the post at Urban Grounds.)
Early in the U.S. involvement in World War II Americans had to put up with those factions who had argued that the U.S. should intervene on Germany’s side in Europe. But I don’t recall that the pro-Germany groups kept up their protests much after Germany declared war on the U.S. In the long arc of the history of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, America’s longest-ever wars, does a sense of history and honor smack the crazies in Christian pulpits in the head to make them think?
Our Constitution’s strength proves itself over and over, as courts have ruled that Westboro Baptist has the right to make these protests. Their continued exercise of that right is a testament against the lack of a national education system and against the virtue of religion in the failure of common decency of the tiny band of protesters. Al Queada draws strength from the protests of the Westboro crew, and al Quaeda draws recruits from the actions of the Florida band who plans to burn scriptures.
Walt Kelly’s Pogo observed, “We has met the enemy, and he is us.”
Update: You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried: The Westboro Baptist group is angry that their burning of a Qur’an many months ago didn’t get them more attention. I am reminded that James Earl Ray and Timothy McVeigh both expressed disappointment that their work didn’t get more attention and sympathetic action, too.
2 Comments | Dissent, Flag etiquette, Free speech, History, Iraq, Rampant stupidity, Religion, U.S. Constitution, veterans, War | Tagged: Dale Goetz, Dissent, Flag etiquette, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Iraq, Military, Rampant stupidity, Religion, U.S. Constitution, veterans, War | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
In 1954, the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints told Douglas Stringfellow that, for the sake of honesty, he had to end his run for Congress.
Is there any sense still in Salt Lake City? Have they been listening to Glenn Beck, lately?
Tip of the old scrub brush to MediaMatters and Crooks and Liars.
1 Comment | Accuracy, Political Smear, Politics, Rampant stupidity | Tagged: Accuracy, Glenn Beck, Political Smear, Politics, Rampant stupidity | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
What would the police make of such a threat?
Bug Girl lifts the tent flap to show us just a little of what it’s like to be a teacher of evolution, including mysterious threats made on notes left under windshield wipers.
At least, I think it’s a threat. (“If you teach evolution, I’ll make you giggle till you choke!”)
I figure that note came from the sort of person who would pray for this to happen to a good professor of biology.
(Do you think the note writer was trying to say something about the sheets upon which Bug Girl’s parents frolicked?)
4 Comments | Biology, Creationism, Education, Evolution, Humor, Rampant stupidity, Science, Teachers, Teaching | Tagged: Biology, Bug Girl, Creationism, Education, Evolution, Humor, Rampant stupidity, Religion, Science, Teaching, Threats from Students | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
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Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
