World News Korner

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Courtesy of Rolling Stone:

Sarah Palin, ably staying in character in her new role as a professional media ambulance-chaser, was one of the first to rush to Robertson's defense. She posted a photo of herself with the Robertsons and tweeted the following:

"Free speech is endangered species; those "intolerants" hatin' & taking on Duck Dynasty patriarch for voicing personal opinion take on us all"

Conservatives have always had trouble grasping the difference between public censorship and private enterprise. With a few exceptions, like whistleblower laws and National Labor Relations Board protections against being fired for off-site discussions about work conditions (exceptions that, in almost every case, conservatives bitterly opposed), there is no legal or constitutional right to free speech on private property.

You can be fired for calling your boss a dick, and you can just as easily be let go by a profit-seeking media company for imperiling its relationship with advertisers. And incidentally, this is the way true conservatives, and especially true hardcore speech advocates, have always wanted it.

Could you imagine the uproar if someone passed a law saying that Martin Bashir couldn't be bounced from a broadcast job for saying Sarah Palin was a good candidate to have feces shoved in her mouth? Now that would be censorship.

Remember, nobody heard a peep from Sarah Palin about free speech after that episode.

Yeah funny how tight lipped she was about free speech and the 1st Amendment while MSNBC was flooded with calls for Bashir's head.

Palin's inability to grasp the difference between a first-amendment violation and corporate calculation is amazing because she literally just published a book on the subject. Her newly-released War-on-Christmas diatribe, Good Tidings and Great Joy, is all about the efforts by evil Jesus-hating atheists to sue the Christmas out of our public lives. (It's one of the funniest things ever written, by the way. I would write a review but I don't think I could make it all the way to the end without a cardiac episode).

In writing this new book, Palin presumably spent the whole of the last year or so staring right at the issue of what may be said on private property versus what may be said on public property – the difference between putting up a nativity scene in front of a courthouse and putting one up on your lawn. Yet as this latest controversy shows, the underlying issue is still a total blur to her.

Of course, Palin has a long history of getting things not just wrong, but exactly wrong. In the book, for instance, she describes buying her husband Todd "a nice, needed powerful gun" in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings and resulting anti-gun fervor. She described this warm act as a "small act of civil disobedience" that was "fun."

Essential EVERYTHING that Sarah Palin says, tweets, or has written for her in a book or on Facebook, is in some way objectionable. However since she has no actual employer to kick her to the curb, there is rarely a noticeable consequence.

Though considering the dismal sales of this most recent book perhaps she finally is being censored by the only people left who even care about what she says, the rapidly dwindling, pathetically slow learning, Palin-bots.

Sarah Palin will NEVER stop saying ignorant things. The only question is how soon will she be saying them to an empty room?

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Courtesy of Reuters:

A panel of experts has rejected concerns by religious conservatives in Texas that a high school biology textbook contained factual errors about evolution and a state board approved the book on Wednesday for use in public schools.

The debate over the Pearson Biology textbook was the latest episode of a lengthy battle by evangelicals in Texas to insert Christian and Biblical teachings into public school textbooks.

Two years ago, conservatives pushed for changes in history textbooks, including one that would have downplayed Thomas Jefferson's role in American history for his support of the separation of church and state. That effort was unsuccessful.

The second-most populous U.S. state, Texas influences textbook selections for schools nationwide.

In the case of the biology book, an unidentified volunteer reviewer complained to the Texas State Board of Education that it presents evolution as scientific fact rather than a theory, which conflicts with the creation story written in the Book of Genesis in the Bible.

The reviewer concluded that the text, which includes lessons on natural selection and the Earth's cooling process, are errors that needed to be corrected by publisher Pearson Education, one of the nation's largest producers of school textbooks and a unit of Pearson Plc.

The opinion caused the board to delay approval of the textbook and appoint a three-member panel of science experts to analyze the book's lessons and report any factual mistakes.

"The professors didn't recommend any changes so the book is now approved," Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe said in an email. "Schools can purchase it this spring for use in the fall."

So to be clear this book had to be subjected to scrutiny by three scientists before it could be adopted as a science textbook because there was ONE reviewer who was upset that the science in a SCIENCE book conflicted with the mythology taught in a RELIGIOUS book.

Is anybody else waiting for a white rabbit to come hoping by?

What did this idiot think was going to happen? Did he think that the scientists were suddenly going to slap themselves on the forehead, and say "Hey, this Bible really does contain actual science that conflicts with the centuries of scientific research we have been relying on, and really brings into question the conclusions of hundreds of biologists, anthropologists, and paleontologists?"

Well they do believe in miracles, so maybe.

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I have heard several political pundits saying that this movie humanizes Mitt, and if the American public had seen something like it before the election it might have improved his chances.

Nuh uh.

When his son said that the country may think of him as a laughingstock that is very true. We did.

And no movie that shows him sleeping on a plane or demonstrating doubt in his candidacy had any chance of changing that.

I mean the man is not smart enough to take off his shirt before ironing it.

And he wanted to run our country?

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Courtesy of Harris Interactive:

A new Harris Poll finds that while a strong majority (74%) of U.S. adults do believe in God, this belief is in decline when compared to previous years as just over four in five (82%) expressed a belief in God in 2005, 2007 and 2009. Also, while majorities also believe in miracles (72%, down from 79% in 2005), heaven (68%, down from 75%), that Jesus is God or the Son of God (68%, down from 72%), the resurrection of Jesus Christ (65%, down from 70%), the survival of the soul after death (64%, down from 69%), the devil, hell (both at 58%, down from 62%) and the Virgin birth (57%, down from 60%), these are all down from previous Harris Polls.

Belief in Darwin's theory of evolution, however, while well below levels recorded for belief in God, miracles and heaven, is up in comparison to 2005 findings (47%, up from 42%).

The survey also finds that 42% of Americans believe in ghosts, 36% each believe in creationism and UFOs, 29% believe in astrology, 26% believe in witches and 24% believe in reincarnation - that they were once another person. (I find it somewhat hysterical that there are more people who believe in ghosts than believe in creationism.)

Turning to the political spectrum, Democrats and Independents show similar levels of belief in most of the tested concepts, with Republicans consistently more likely than either group to express belief in those concepts aligned with the Judeo-Christian belief system; Republicans are less likely than either group to express belief in Darwin's theory of evolution (36% Republicans, 52% Democrats, 51% Independents).

In a separate line of questioning, focused on Americans' degree of certainty that there is or is not a God, two-thirds of Americans (68%) indicate being either absolutely or somewhat certain that there is a God, while 54% specify being absolutely certain; these figures represent drops of 11 and 12 percentage points, respectively, from 2003 testing, where combined certainty was at 79% and absolute certainty was at 66%.

Meanwhile, combined belief that there is no God (16%) and uncertainty as to whether or not there is a God (also 16%) are both up from 2003 findings (when these levels were 9% and 12%, respectively).

Just under half of Americans believe that all or most of the Old Testament (49%) and the New Testament (48%) are the "Word of God," representing declines of six percentage points each from 2008 findings. (I continue to be stunned that so many people have so much faith in this book when just about every careful examination of its contents reveals problems with translation, with historical accuracy, and with made of locations and characters. And that is WITHOUT throwing in the whole idea that the people who wrote it were divinely inspired.)

Just under two in ten Americans (19%) describe themselves are "very" religious, with an additional four in ten (40%) describing themselves as "somewhat" religious (40%, down from 49% in 2007). Nearly one-fourth of Americans (23%) identify themselves as "not at all" religious - a figure that has nearly doubled since 2007, when it was at 12%.

Progress is on the side of the rational, however I cannot help but be a little impatient in waiting for the rest of the country to catch up to where I have been for almost five decades.

In my opinion this country will never truly have the opportunity to be great until we remove the fundamentalist element that permeates our politics and places constraints on women's control over their bodies, gay rights, the teaching of science, and public education.

By the way this article contained many more fascinating statistics, and I suggest that all of you click the link at the top to read more.



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Courtesy of the constitutionally confused clown's Facebook page:

Free speech is an endangered species. Those “intolerants” hatin’ and taking on the Duck Dynasty patriarch for voicing his personal opinion are taking on all of us.

I'm sorry "all of us" are in agreement that homosexuality is a "sin?" That being gay is the same as engaging in bestiality? (“Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.")

And nobody infringed on the Duck Dipshit's rights to free speech either.

The 1st Amendment is to protect free speech from being infringed by the government, NOT a cable news network trying to protect their viewer base.

What a moron!

Update: Geraldo Rivera and the Fox and Friends couch of stupidity are also upset about Phil Robertson's suspension.

Update 2: I just visited the Lunatic from Lake Lucille's Facebook page and found this as the top comment:

You people defending this man are ignorant goddamned fools. This is a lifelong South Carolinian calling out all you bigots. Stop participating in my world. Just sit and watch Duck Dynasty, get fat, don't vote, don't breed, just die!

Well SOMEBODY is certainly not manning the barricades this morning.

Update 3: Betty Bowers weighs in.

@SarahPalinUSA I need your help in locating your tweet supporting Martin Bashir's right to free speech. TIA! #DuckDynasty

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) December 19, 2013

Excellent point!

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Courtesy of TPM:

First, there was a Festivus pole.

Then on Monday the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics group placed a "Flying Spaghetti Monster" among the holiday displays inside Wisconsin's Capitol.

Any group that submits an application to Capitol police can erect a display in accordance with the First Amendment ban on state establishment of religion, according to the Associated Press.

The student group's "pastafarian" deity was represented in the rotunda by a poster that proclaims the monster "boiled for your sins!"

"This is the problem of allowing religious symbols to be displayed in government buildings," the student group wrote on its website. "When the State decided to turn the Capitol into an open forum, they opened the floodgates which the Flying Spaghetti Monster just sailed through. We would much prefer to keep government buildings free from all religious (and irreligious) messages, but if it must be "anything goes," we hope everyone takes advantage of this opportunity to advertise their own viewpoints - no matter how silly."

I ma beginning to think that the Wisconsin State Capital is the place to go this holiday season.

I mean after all where else can you get a taste for the depth of the religious diversity present in these United States?

Well besides Oklahoma that is.

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