Thanks, Fox News!

Who knew I’d ever be grateful to Fox? They ran a pathetic scare story about Air America waging a war against god (they seem to spend the most time reassuring themselves that those atheists are small in numbers), but the useful thing about it is that it did manage to let me know that there is something new called Freethought Radio, with streaming audio. It’s very kind of them to advertise for the godless liberal demographic.

A victim of lies

A few weeks ago in Bio-chem, we learned about fatty acids. We learned that any partially hydrogenated fats/oils are trans fats. If it’s under .5 grams per serving, food companies are privileged to round that number down and boast their food as “Zero Trans Fats.”

This hit home to me this morning. I was eating a General Mills cereal. While the box claimed to have zero trans fat, the ingredients list revealed a dirty secret: partially hydrogenated coconut oil. Nice move GM.

Dear FDA, grow a spine.

I am your rat.

Since we have a few people who seem to like poetry here, I thought you might be amused by some Christian poems. Actually, if you like and respect poetry, you might not want to click through that link—this is poetry like throwing a cat in a woodchipper is music. I’ve included a few small fragments below the fold if you just want a taste.

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Christian-Fascism Awareness Week

David Horowitz (you all remember him, right? Deranged anti-intellectual wanker?) He has declared 22-26 October to be Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, to be represented with talks by such towering intellects as Rick Santorum, Ann Coulter, and Sean Hannity.

Brian Leiter has a complementary suggestion: the week after should be Christian-Fascism Awareness Week.

Now I don’t want to interfere with Horowitz’s effort, which is in the spirit of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan:  "fundamentalism is the enemy of all civilized humanity."  So one week devoted to Islamic fundamentalism seems right; but why not devote the next week to Christian fundamentalism?  The rise of Christian Fascism has gotten some attention lately, but not nearly enough in our "politically correct" culture.  Sure, the Christian Fascists aren’t quite as scary, since they rarely commit terrorist acts (except against abortion service providers); on the other hand, they’re right here in our midst (even in the White House some say), while the Islamic Bogeyman-In-Chief is in a cave somewhere in Pakistan.

I’d suggest that the Christo-Fascists have done far more damage to our country than any Islamo-Fascist — after all, the Islamic hordes haven’t been responsible for stripping away our civil liberties, nor did they force us to spend trillions on a fool’s war, nor did they turn Jesus into Mammon, nor did they replace education and science with ignorance and piety.

I’m all for this suggestion. I’m sure that Santorum, Coulter, Hannity, Dobson, Perkins, Robertson, etc., etc., etc. will all happily join us in fighting this grave threat to American security and freedom, too.

disease

In biochemistry this past week we have been learning about the immune system. This lead me to do a google scholar search on neurobiological diseases. This search turned up a large number of articles on Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s disease, which casused me to form the hypothesis that neurological disorders onset are typically later in life (post 40’s). Is my hypothesis way of mark or is there some truth to it?

Crazier and crazier

Prison doesn’t seem to be helping Kent Hovind face the facts. He has these blog entries where he writes down these little imaginary conversations with god, who tells poor Kent how wonderful he is and how important his suffering is; in the latest, Hovind insists that he’s innocent — of course God agrees — but the real sign of growing insanity is that Satan is now having conversations with him, too.

You have also dared to try to take dinosaurs away from me. I have used dinosaurs for nearly 200 years to teach billions of people that the earth is billions of years old and that God’s Word is not true. Your seminar on dinosaurs strikes at the heart of my kingdom. I intend to destroy both your ministry and your reputation for good. Dinosaurs are especially effective for me to deceive children. You are taking children away from me, so I took yours away from you!

Strangely, instead of sowing doubt and feeding Hovind’s fears, even Satan is confirming his delusions. Funny how that works.

Bachmann: another Republican against poor children

I wouldn’t normally just publish a press release here, but in this case, 1) it’s an important issue, the Republican squashing of the SCHIP bill to reauthorize a health insurance program for poor children, 2) it’s about Michele Bachmann, a truly contemptible creature of the far right wing, and 3) my son Alaric has been working with Americans Against Escalation in Iraq on turning out the opposition to Bachmann — so it’s a good cause, a wretched villain, and a little family connection.

The story is that Cruella deVille Michele Bachmann was one of the conservative drones who voted to let poor children suffer; worse, she afterwards tried to claim that she was actually a supporter of SCHIP, that the bill would have benefitted the wealthy so she really wasn’t trying to hurt poor kids, and that her critics should “bring it on”. The Star Tribune editorialized against her position, and there have been vigils outside her office to try and persuade her to change her vote and override the president’s veto.

The argument that this bill would have advantaged the already rich means Michele Bachmann has joined the ranks of the repellent Republicans who gleefully attack children.

The press release is below the fold.

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