Ha!, I posted the reference to this cartoon @ 171 on the “this is how we will lose” post. Damn, it says it all! The more I look at that cartoon and all that it entails and portends, the more worry I get. Let’s get together and keep that moron out of the white house!
Louissays
Lago, you lot tried that once before and look how that turned out. You started with Thomas Jefferson and ended up with George Bush. Any system, no matter how perfect, tends toward shitty over time.
I say go for the Etch-a-Sketch approach. Pick up your government, shake vigorously until it goes blank, start again.
That’s what democracy is for.
Louis
T_U_Tsays
Lago yes, you can, come to europe, but WITHOUT those monsters
“I say go for the Etch-a-Sketch approach. Pick up your government, shake vigorously until it goes blank, start again.” – Louis, #7
I worked in downtown DC in the 1970s/1980s. My personal observation as a Federal employee was that the newly elected political appointees knew only that the previous gang of idiots had totally messed things up, and all the new folks had to do was turn everything upside down, scrape the crap off and fix everything.
Four years later the other party would win and exactly the same thing would happen all over again. I saw that cycle repeated a few times.
Since then I have had equal respect for both political parties. ( 0 = 0 )
McCain and Palin don’t have to convince the RNC, they have to convince the swing voters in the key states. How are they going to do that with a backwoods agenda?
Lago: Thing is people try it from time to time but there are always already people living wherever they go and it rarely ends well.
This is why it’s it’s time to terraform Mars.
skyottersays
i’ll come out and admit it. i like Sarah … as our Governor. so i’d like to keep her here, please
uh … pretty please?
Quiet_Desperationsays
This is why it’s it’s time to terraform Mars.
The Moon wouldn’t be *that* much harder. It’s closer to Earth, and we could keep an eye on the Earther loons. The observation scopes would be continuously slaved to the targeting computers for the interplanetary missile banks. Should the theocratic groundhuggers get any uppity ideas, we’d need to be ready with speedy discouragement.
alexsays
Can’t we just leave and make our own nation?
what, and leave america for the lunatics?
ThirdMonkeysays
The last couple of days I have had to actively suppress panic attacks at the thought of the Republicans winning this election.
Not only would it be disastrous for the country, but would prove definitively that democracy has failed and that human beings are incapable of self-governance.
As for just leaving this world to the loons…
Why not? If we get all non-crazy scientists, engineers and like minded business people (we will need money after all) how long would it really take to develop the tech to extend our lives (perhaps even get rid of this insistance on remaining organic) and leave this damn, doomed world to the religiots?
designsodasays
Frightening stuff.
Who is the cartoonist? I can’t quite read the small letters under the cartoon.
Richard Harrissays
Her voice has an unpleasant tone to it, a tone that suggests she’s got her head up her … nahhh, she’d be gurgling then. But she does talk out of her ass. What a feckin’ nutjob of an edjit she is.
Revulosays
“Can’t we just leave and make our own nation?”
I kind of like that Oceania idea…or something.
*sighs wistfully and checks her country on NationStates*
factlikesays
Can’t we just leave and make our own nation?
Who knew that Sarah Palin’s husband read Pharyngula?
Quiet_Desperationsays
Why not? If we get all non-crazy scientists, engineers and like minded business people (we will need money after all) how long would it really take to develop the tech to extend our lives (perhaps even get rid of this insistance on remaining organic) and leave this damn, doomed world to the religiots?
We’d need to convince some serious billionaires, like the guy in the movie Contact.
First and foremost you need to pursue new propulsion technology. Getting out of the Earth’s gravity well is the big ticket item on any space effort. It’s direct war against the laws of physics. Everything else is an engineering problem. The $cost per kilogram is the main parameter to attack, and not just to LEO, but something that can get people, parts and cargo to a L4 or L5.
You also need a launch system that can’t be easily opposed by a government that might decide a space brain drain is not acceptable. That rules out anything like a space elevator because of land requirements and airspace concerns. Something with sails and lasers, perhaps. Mass drivers, maybe?
Goody! A political post, now I get to mostly agree with most of you folks instead of arguing fruitlessly about the utter peaks of metaphysical perplexity for a change. OK, here’s my take on some dings about Sarah Palin:
Sarah may or may not have been a member of the Alaskan Independence Party (we’ve heard contradictory things) but her husband surely was, and she approvingly addressed their conventions a few times. They want to have a vote on Alaskan independence, and despise the federal government. Wikipedia: The Alaskan Independence Party quotes founder Joe Vogler as stating “I’m an Alaskan, not an American. I’ve got no use for America or her damned institutions.” (Hah, her “Reverend Wright” I note the irony that Pravda (yes, it’s still around!) supports Alaskan independence! Heh, Alaska: American’s South Ossetia, or Abkhazia? The latter even sounds similar … Maybe call the new “nation” Ablaskia? (We could say, it “ablated” off the USA?) Better, maybe the Russians will help defend newly “independent” Alaska? Maybe a case of mixed loyalties would come up for the new VP or President as the case may be …
But even worse and weirder is Palin’s offbeat church’s attitude towards Jews. It is ironically the honestly logical implication of the idea that only believers in Christ’s divinity are “saved” and beloved by God, so her pastor says God punishes Jews with terror attacks etc. for not believing in Jesus. Brad DeLong (check him out at http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/09/i-am-confused.html) wonders of the irony of that, after McCain first wanting Joe Lieberman for a cute bi-partisan ticket (and someone told him “No” – who had that veto power?)
Quiet_Desperationsays
I kind of like that Oceania idea…or something.
Well, that was the problem the originators of the project ran into: there is no something. Pretty much every square foot of land is spoken for by someone (and in some cases, more than one someone). The ocean is all that is left. I think they picked an area of Costa Rica that hasn’t seen a major storm in recorded history. It’s entirely workable… for a price. The idea was to turn it into a Libertarian paradise and create an attractive haven for big corporate players. They could put their home offices there.
I was thinking if someone tried to revive the concept, they could go more in the direction of a data haven, a la Neal Stephenson. A country whose entire economy is based on information and the trading and protection of data.
tsgsays
I worked in downtown DC in the 1970s/1980s. My personal observation as a Federal employee was that the newly elected political appointees knew only that the previous gang of idiots had totally messed things up, and all the new folks had to do was turn everything upside down, scrape the crap off and fix everything.
Four years later the other party would win and exactly the same thing would happen all over again. I saw that cycle repeated a few times.
Since then I have had equal respect for both political parties. ( 0 = 0 )
“Change” is when the American public votes in the group of people they voted out the last time they wanted change.
From her speech, I think Sarah Palin would do quite well in a James Bond movie.
She’d be the rich evil super villain in her “rustic” mansion on some beautiful mountainside in Alaska. Her mansion would have several miles of concrete corridors under it, filled with her doomsday machine and henchmen.
She’d capture Bond, and hold him helpless as she throws the switch that activates her doomsday machine.
“Do you actually expect me to VOTE for you Sarah?”
“No,” she answers coldly. “I expect you to DIE, Mr. Bond.”
Dluxsays
#21 “You also need a launch system that can’t be easily opposed by a government that might decide a space brain drain is not acceptable. That rules out anything like a space elevator because of land requirements and airspace concerns. Something with sails and lasers, perhaps. Mass drivers, maybe?”
Mass Drivers?!? You want to kill everyone before even getting started?
(I’m a veteran Boston driver from the Big Dig era. Just remember that f=ma and react accordingly.)
Rahnesays
YAY STUPID REPUBLICANS. Y’ALL GONNA GET A LESSON IN EVOLUTION BY GOING EXTINCT IF YOU KEEP THIS UP.
Holbachsays
designsoda @ 17
The cartoonist is TONY AUTH. He is well known for topical comments that appeal to we rationalists.
Quiet_Desperationsays
Mass Drivers?!? You want to kill everyone before even getting started?
Well these wouldn’t be weaponized mass drivers intended to destroy a target. :) A properly designed driver should be able to dial in any g-force you want. Mass drivers for manned launches are an old concept. A dual system might work. One to orbit then another to L4/5.
I’m a veteran Boston driver from the Big Dig era.
I’ll have to fly into Logan next year for work. Are there still gigantic slabs of death falling off the roof of the tunnels?
Qwertysays
Neil B @ #24 –
Interesting take. Maybe the Russians will offer all Alaskans Russian passports as well.
The Russians can take Alaska; we can then make Puerto Rico a state and we won’t have to change our flag!
Ericsays
I haven’t heard about any book-burning in the news. What did she try and burn? I want to add it to my collection.
Epinephrinesays
Can’t we just leave and make our own nation?
Come up to Canada! Serves two purposes – we get an influx of rational thinkers, practically ensuring that we don’t follow the theocracy trend, and you get to avoid all the theocracy building down there. And we’ll have generations of intelligent rational people, pushing the boundaries of science while enjoying good beer and poutine!
Ericsays
Oops, correction – for #33 replace “burn” with “ban.”
Quiet_Desperationsays
From her speech, I think Sarah Palin would do quite well in a James Bond movie.
She’d have to change her name to something more suggestive. Don’t worry, I won’t go there. Actually, I fancy her as more of an anime villianess for some reason. When she gains control after McCain’s heart shuts down in despair, she reveals her Evangelical superweapon that shoots Hello Kitty Baby Jesus mind control bombs at all the filthy infidels.
But she will ultimately be undone by a team consisting of a teenage boy with spiky hair, a girl magician with attitude, and a cute robot with an annoying voice.
I would also recommend changing “try and” to “try to.”
Patriciasays
Wa-Hoo!!! I was right about that twit Cindy McEvil McShame in the MUSTARD dress. Huffington Post had the fashion ‘experts’ over at Vanity Fair price Laura Bush’s out fit, and Cindy’s – fasten your seat belts folk… over $300,000! Oh yeah, that’s gonna win the female voters over. HA!
My favorite line from Palins feel good fest – What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a Pitbull? Lipstick!
She’s just blinding us with brilliance.
Troysays
Colonizing a continental shelf or antarctica would be roughly a million times more doable than Mars.
The problem with “let’s have a revolution” here in the states is that we no longer have the enlightened politicians of the 18th century, for historical reasons that I need not get into here.
Instead, this country is ~20% Bircher, ~15% Focus on the Family, 30% Rush/Savage-listening, 15% Knights of Columbus. . . (there is significant overlaps here but in all there’s a 40% powerbloc). Factor in the 30% apathetic, that leaves the liberal caucus outgunned 2:1.
tonysays
Launch System?
Get an island somewhere near the equator: four energy sources: geothermal, wind, wave & solar.
Use that to charge your storage cells.
Use stored energy to power gigawatt lasers for ‘steam rockets’.
The lasers and the energy storage are the two stumbling blocks – nothing that R&D can’t solve.
The propulsion material is freely available.
Without the lasers & steam rockets – aerospikes for hi-mach launch vehicles – get a very fast aircraft high enough – then launch from there into LEO (with a hydrogen fueled rocket – again – the propulsion material is all around you on the island, and you leverage the same primary energy resources to generate). This is *almost* the SS1 & SS2 strategy.
It’s possible. If it happens soon enough I want four seats please (myself & my family).
ElevatedStevesays
Why not? If we get all non-crazy scientists, engineers and like minded business people (we will need money after all) how long would it really take to develop the tech to extend our lives (perhaps even get rid of this insistance on remaining organic) and leave this damn, doomed world to the religiots?
Let’s just remember to take the phone sanitizers with us :)
Ouchimoosays
Can we say THIRD WORLD COUNTRY?
Quiet Desperationsays
I was right about that twit Cindy McEvil McShame in the MUSTARD dress.
In the drawing room with the pistol?
Huffington Post had the fashion ‘experts’ over at Vanity Fair price Laura Bush’s out fit, and Cindy’s – fasten your seat belts folk… over $300,000!
For that much I expect it have a built in jet pack, body armor and a multitude of retractable edged weapons.
What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a Pitbull? Lipstick!
Pitbulls wear lipstick? Huh.
JSWsays
Something with sails and lasers, perhaps.
Space sharks!
ThirdMonkeysays
Antarctica! That’s an awesome idea!
As the religiot, global warming denier nut-jobs continue to pollute, Antarctica will eventually become down-right tropical.
Thepeteysays
why not send the neocons to the moon so they can be closer to their sky faerie???
She’d have to change her name to something more suggestive.
Naw – she’s the villain. She doesn’t get the suggestive name. Besides, she’s the wrong age bracket.
The suggestive name would go to her gorgeous 20-something niece, who seems sympathetic with Bond at first, but later betrays him and is killed through her own greed.
McCain would be cast as the slightly demented henchman who would do anything for his boss. He’d be biomechanically enhanced, and would die when Bond pulls the plug on him.
This thing almost writes itself. Best of all, we could still recast the whole thing in Anime and make a second box-office killing.
Quiet_Desperationsays
Space sharks!
No, that’s what we use to keep the Evangelical Earth Empire in line. Well, when they aren’t butting heads with the Islamosphere, Neo-Scientologists and the Popetron (the renegade AI that took over the Vatican ,and enslaved all the Catholics with genetically engineered brain slugs.)
Don Smith, FCDsays
Eric@33,
I heard that she, as mayor, tried to get the city librarian fired for not removing some books from the library shelves. The townspeople revolted and that didn’t happen. I don’t know what books she was trying to ban, though.
I’m pretty sure every bit of Antarctica is claimed as some country or others sovereign territory.
Although winning a war with Norway may be easier than colonizing Mars.
khopssays
Epinephrine @ 34
*whines* but Canada is cooold :( Although if we abandon the US to the fundies it will probably only them 5 years before they turn Canada tropical.
Sign me up!
Quiet_Desperationsays
Antarctica! That’s an awesome idea!
You’d have to deal with the ancient alien city of madness. It calls out. It calls.
What? You thought H.P. Lovecraft wrote fiction? Pfft!
Oh, and the penguins. They are rabidly territorial and can shoot poisonous spines from their soft, fluffy bellies. Yeah, they didn’t show *that* in March Of The Penguins which was a total snow job and PR propaganda for birds.
Heh heh… snow job…
Patriciasays
By gawd Quiet D. thats a good question. Pitbulls in Oregon go Revlon free. How about it someone from Alaska? Do your Pitbulls and female Sasquatches wear lipstick? Quivering with excitment mind’s want to know!
Quiet_Desperationsays
Although winning a war with Norway may be easier than colonizing Mars.
You need something obscure enough that McCain can’t find it on a map and declare war on it.
Quiet_Desperationsays
Do your Pitbulls and female Sasquatches wear lipstick?
Colonizing a continental shelf or Antarctica would be roughly a million times more doable than Mars.
I dunno why we are talking about leaving. There was a lot of talk about a Christian secession a while back. To South Carolina, I believe.
Instead of leaving, I think we should support their secession. Help them build a wall for “protection” too. And set up some sort of foreign policy that allows immigration between us and them, so that the non-religious can leave, and the religious can enter.
I figure that in less than a decade of religion-based medicine, their nation will succumb to plague.
But not to South Carolina. I like the countryside there. Maybe South Dakota is available?
Patriciasays
I vote for Iceland. Last year I the ‘heard the rumor’ that Iceland officially declared it’s self to be a pagan nation. Norway *sob* still has a catholic monarchy. And if the Norway festival in Junction City is any example of the folk there, it’s godsoaked lunatics too. At least the pagans don’t come around bashing on your door to announce you’ve been sentenced to hellfire.
You need something obscure enough that McCain can’t find it on a map and declare war on it.
Epinephrine already covered that one, QD. It’s called Canada.
Having said that, have any of you considered the Earth floor of the space elevator could be located on Oceania? No land disputes to worry about, and if you outfit everyone with water wings you’ll cut down on fatalities should the cable snap or the Otis guys go on strike or something.
Rey Foxsays
“You need something obscure enough that McCain can’t find it on a map and declare war on it.”
How about one of his houses?
Bostoniansays
I’d just like to point out, PZ, that you accidentally gave this post the category “Humor.” There’s nothing funny about this comic at all: it belongs firmly in Politics (and maybe Horror?).
In fact there’s not even any exaggerated or ironic caricature happening in that pane: those placards are literal statements of her policy positions. And those line drawings at the bottom are real Republicans.
Uncle frogysays
Well I did not listen to very much of her speech last night I just could not and not fall into a rage of irrationality.
Just what I expected she is a republican and name calling and wishful thinking, statements that do not match objective reality, since prez Ron they have been talking about some different reality then the one that I live in. It has been and still is perception , belief over reality. They will try to tell a “good story” one that makes them look good regardless of the facts rather like the toy adds we see on Saturday morning TV. The question is will it work again?
As to the idea of starting a new country or even settling a “new planet” to get away from the crazies that worked well when our forbears left their home countries to come here no crazies here. I am not willing to go any where, I am not going quietly, this is my home planet I come out of the processes here, I was born and educated in this country.
Democracy is not a thing or a goal it is the process that “We The People” reject some great authority and decide amongst
ourselves how we shall be governed. If not today then tomorrow or the day after that.
Further if not here if “we” persist in ignoring reality here in the U.S. then we will fall from world power and influence. The center of the movement toward democracy will move somewhere else but make no mistake the ideas set down in our Declaration of Independence though some what specific to a time and place are universal. They address the fact that it is all based on an agreement between all the people involved. We have reached the place where the whole world is now clearly involved together and we will all have to make agreements on how we are to proceed. We are all in this together-!!
Patricia: It’s a Lutheran monarchy (I’m not sure what bearing this has on anything, but I’m a compulsive fact-checker)
Uncle frogysays
Well I did not listen to very much of her speech last night I just could not and not fall into a rage of irrationality.
Just what I expected she is a republican and name calling and wishful thinking, statements that do not match objective reality, since prez Ron they have been talking about some different reality then the one that I live in. It has been and still is perception , belief over reality. They will try to tell a “good story” one that makes them look good regardless of the facts rather like the toy adds we see on Saturday morning TV. The question is will it work again?
As to the idea of starting a new country or even settling a “new planet” to get away from the crazies that worked well when our forbears left their home countries to come here no crazies here. I am not willing to go any where, I am not going quietly, this is my home planet I come out of the processes here, I was born and educated in this country.
Democracy is not a thing or a goal it is the process that “We The People” reject some great authority and decide amongst
ourselves how we shall be governed. If not today then tomorrow or the day after that.
Further if not here if “we” persist in ignoring reality here in the U.S. then we will fall from world power and influence. The center of the movement toward democracy will move somewhere else but make no mistake the ideas set down in our Declaration of Independence though some what specific to a time and place are universal. They address the fact that it is all based on an agreement between all the people involved. We have reached the place where the whole world is now clearly involved together and we will all have to make agreements on how we are to proceed. We are all in this together-!!
Bill Dauphinsays
Calladus:
She’d capture Bond, and hold him helpless as she throws the switch that activates her doomsday machine.
“Do you actually expect me to VOTE for you Sarah?”
“No,” she answers coldly. “I expect you to DIE, Mr. Bond.”
You do realize the scene you’re quoting involved a laser beam creeping slowly toward Bond’s crotch, don’t you? Let’s not be bringing up the sexist stuff again, shall we? [People, I keeed because I loooove!]
Space sharks!
Actually, we can probably only get mutated space bass… but at least they’ll be perturbed.
Quiet_Desperationsays
Having said that, have any of you considered the Earth floor of the space elevator could be located on Oceania?
Not really. Oceania floats. A space elevator needs to be grounded in bedrock, which is even harder to reach out at sea. It’s definitely a mountain top thing.
Longtime Lurkersays
At least the pagans don’t come around bashing on your door to announce you’ve been sentenced to hellfire.
They may, however, decide to give you the “blood eagle” treatment:
Sorry about the Wikipedia link, but it’s quicker than poring over a half-dozen sagas!
Microzealoussays
I second the motion by Uncle grogy. We cannot just slink away from these bullies and go to some utopia. Take a deep breath, get angry and determined, and push back. Tell your friends, neighbors and strangers who you are going to vote for. Make a donation to the campaigns, put on bumper stickers and get informed. And remember, the fundies and reactionaries don’t really believe what they say – they only want to intimidate. Let’s quit the hand-wringing and denial, and stand up loud and proud.
ThirdMonkeysays
Quiet_D “space elevator needs to be grounded in bedrock”
Not so. The planet-side anchor only needs to be more massive than the space-side anchor. Current plans involve a floating anchor platform positioned along the equator. By being mobile it allows some ability to move the tether to avoid space debris. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
drifty driftwoodsays
WHY does EVERYONE keep insisting she reminds them exactly of Diana on the old “V” miniseries from 1983, and that when we’re not looking she eats rodents whole and that she has a lizard face beenath her skin!? I wish people would stop pointing the Diana similarities out because that kind of comparison does not help solve anything.
Stop saying she is Diana on the old “V” miniseries!! Enough with the Diana comparisons, people!
Quiet_Desperationsays
@ThirdMonkey: Er, I’m still not sure I want my *country* to be a space elevator anchor. The question “What could *possibly* go wrong?” occurs to me. :-) Personally, I think laser launch systems hold the most immediate promise.
Besides, Oceania and space were competing solutions.
Leaving for somewhere else is an awfully attractive idea.
It’s nice to think about having a rational conversation with a scientist or whatever. (I’m not a scientist unless a historian and writer is considered a scientist.)
Even so, I would feel like a coward if I packed up and took off. My family has been working to get the word on these freaks out. DIL has been talking with her fellow professors. The college-age kids have been working within their widespread social networks to shake people up and spread the word. The high school age kids are doing what they can in the face of a molasses-like lethargy in their school.
I am working all the contacts I can to spread the facts about what these people are and what they are attempting to engineer.
We’re doing what we can. I just hope it will be some help.
Tulsesays
The sad thing is that Republicans wouldn’t see the comic as objectionable — they could use it themselves…
There are only two directions we can go this election – backward or forward. With this selection, the Republican party gives us both directions – either back to the Dark Ages or forward to Armageddon.
Holbachsays
Patricia @ 57
Matt Heath @ 62 is correct in Norway having a Lutheran monarchy, and the percentage of the Lutheran religion is listed at currently 85.7%, with the rabid christians at 4.5%, and other/nonreligious listed at 8.0%, and which I am assuming definitely includes atheists. I am cognizant of Norwegian statistics because I have always stated that if I were ever to leave our great country, I would move to New Zealand or Norway, the decision dependent on future events. New Zealand has a 31% nonreligious figure. Norway is a quality Scandinavian country and any thoughts of living there would not be hazardous or regretful. I can say the same would apply to New zealand, in spite of Roy Comfort and recent bullshit hashed here on Pharyngula. Both countries are almost similiar in topography and geography with fjords, lakes, islands, mountains, and just astounding natural beauty. Which to choose when the propitious time for a move arrives?
Africasays
I find the republican show an inspiration. I live in South Africa, where crime levels are attrocious, corruption is rife and we have an offical unemployment rate of 26% – because the other unemployed 20% dont try to look for work anymore. I regularly feel like I want to emmigrate from South Africa but then when seeing the blatant lies and stupid comments made throughout the campaign (by candidates, media and supporters), I realize that our politicians arent that much worse…..
Patriciasays
Darn! I was wrong.
What country was I thinking of…must be all the twirling. My brain is spun.
JerryFLAsays
I just read that Dobson gave his endorsement to McCain:
“If I went into the polling booth today, I would pull the lever for John McCain,” he said. In a new radio broadcast to hundreds of Christian stations that air his show, Dobson calls Palin a “genuine reformer” and “deeply committed Christian.”
Perhaps the rumors that McCain traded his VP pick for a few of those ‘base’ votes are true after all.
Skweesays
Wait… banning books? That one scares me more than the others. Anyone got a link?
Peter Vesuwallasays
Well, to be fair, none of the stuff in the cartoon actually came out during the speech. The scariest part for me is the thunderous applause she got when she suggested terrorism suspects don’t need to be read their rights.
And boy, did it seem like a lot of Republicans are against the idea of proper arrest procedures. Wasn’t this the same crowd that a decade ago were referring to the ATF as “jack-booted thugs,”?
Toddsays
Can’t we just leave and make our own nation?
How about we just stay and repair this one until it’s the symbol of democracy it once was.
Holbachsays
Skwee @ 79
There doesn’t seem to be any concrete evidence for the “Ban Books” banner, and it may be the cartoonists levity to lend seriousness to the obvious slates, but it begs the situation and question, “What’s Next?”, and so should be considered possible and serious.
ThirdMonkeysays
@Quite_D #70 “play on The Third Man”
No… My name is a play on “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.
It’s a stretch and perhaps a bit childish, but here it goes:
Instead of hiding from “evil” the third monkey looks and listens, facing the world as it is, yet is not corrupted.
skyottersays
TIME has a little background on the book banning issue. while mayor of Wasilla, Palin inquired whether there was a procedure for banning books because, apparantly, some voters were calling for it. there are conflicting stories whether a librarian was fired, or just threatened with firing, for not playing along. but community outrage ended the matter, and the issue was dropped. specifics aren’t available because, to my knowledge, there are no actual specifics to make available: it’s not like Palin produced a list of books that she wanted to ban, and she’s never brought the issue up again
sounds to me like she was just a newbie mayor trying to make a minority of voters happy without realizing the full extent of what she was proposing, and the majority of voters corrected her before it got anywhere (YMMV of course)
How about we just stay and repair this one until it’s the symbol of democracy it once was.
Well, it seems 40% of the populace wants to redefine what “democracy” and “liberty” mean.
Also, there have been periods in United States history which saw events like the kind a McCain-Palin ticket might take us. There was serious ugliess during the Red Scare, during the surge of the American (Nativist) Party, during the riots and fighting in settling Kansas. Perhaps the 1970s and 1980s are the interval that’s singular.
It’s sad to think we might be returning to less progressive times. I have the feeling, however, that world events, economic and otherwise, might mitigate excessive craziness, unless we get into a bomb lobbing contest with someone.
frogsays
Todd: How about we just stay and repair this one until it’s the symbol of democracy it once was.
When? 1975-1976?
JJRsays
@ 80# above
>>And boy, did it seem like a lot of Republicans are against the idea of proper arrest procedures. Wasn’t this the same crowd that a decade ago were referring to the ATF as “jack-booted thugs,”?<<
Oh they still do. And I do sort of agree that the AFT is constitutionally questionable and engaging in roguish "mission creep" to justify its own existence. I belong to both the NRA *and* the ACLU. Partisan Republicans can't understand why.
Apparently the Rightwing is ok with JBTs, so long as they only oppress brown people with funny sounding last names.
That's "defending democracy"
When same said JBTs come knocking at their door, it's Fascism.
Actually it's Fascism either way, but anyway...
Most conservative gun owners will rally around McCain/Palin, thanks to Palin coming onto the ticket.
They're ecstatic about Palin.
On the other hand, I'm a left-liberal gun owner and can't bring myself to vote for either major party, for a whole host of reasons.
All the Green Party platform really says is along the lines of "preserve the Gun Control Act of 1968", which is a compromise I can live with for now.
And I'm enough of a fatalist to know McCain/Palin will at least win Texas no matter what I do.
hjesays
This is why it’s it’s time to terraform Mars.
It would be interesting if the next major human migration is driven by a desire to flee persecution by the uber-religious.
Sign me up, I’ve ready to leave.
Bill Dauphinsays
it’s not like Palin produced a list of books that she wanted to ban, and she’s never brought the issue up again
The mere fact that she (apparently) even seriously entertained the idea is sufficiently chilling to me.
skyottersays
The mere fact that she (apparently) even seriously entertained the idea is sufficiently chilling to me.
agreed. please don’t think i was trying to *defend* her actions
Wouldn’t be much of a choice for me… The kiwis speak English. How’s your Norwegian?
Holbachsays
Patricia @ 77
No, just that great stuff by Leon Redbone is twirling in your head, at the expense of almost everything else. Heck, I’m going over to YouTube and indulge some more and come back later.
#10: Tony Sidaway McCain and Palin don’t have to convince the RNC, they have to convince the swing voters in the key states. How are they going to do that with a backwoods agenda?
They’ll do it with a backwoods agenda.
It seems like it worked just fine for Bush.
Holbachsays
Nentuaby @ 92
Ah, if my choice turned out to be Norway, I would apply for citizenship, and most astutely learn Norwegian, as I do not expect Norway to post signs in English for my ease. I would gladly adapt to Norwegian ways and customs, and once citizenship is gained, I would consider myself Norwegian, and not Norwegian-American , a dual nationality that tends to prevail disingenuously here in America. I would not lose my english language and can still converse in it as I know the Norwegians speak it as a second language. But I will learn Norwegian and read and write it as well in deference to the citizens of a cultured country. I have always believed and maintained that if you move to a country and become a citizen, then you should adopt its language and culture. With regard to Norway, I would feel honored to be allowed to become a citizen of this quality country and would be grateful to assimilate as a good citizen.
«bønez_brigade»says
As already mentioned, if only Palin had mentioned the topics in that cartoon. She spewed plenty of trash talk and I-did-this-&-that, but I heard very little (if any) we’ll-accomplish-this-&-that. Bring on the (canned) debates!
KiwiInOzsays
Can I suggest we coin the phrase Palindrone, because whichever way you look at it, backwards or forwards, whatever she is saying is all the same.
bipolar2says
** The people, Ben Frankllin, are poised to destroy the Republic **
Lieberman, McCain and Palin are small human beings, intellectually and morally. But like G. W. Bush, they are all the more dangerous for their dull wits and lack of humane values.
McCain’s calculated cynicism in selecting ultra-right Palin reveals his lack of judgment and his frivolous nature. He’s no “maverick”. He’s mentally unstable.
Palin’s religious delusions are ideological madness. Her fundie xianity is a toxic ersatz for policy, domestic and foreign. She is but one aspect of McCain’s death wish for America. As minister for suppression of homeland deviance, Palin becomes dictator of morals and values, while McCain plays dictator of external affairs — without perpetual war the empire will collapse.
McCain capitulated to the death impulse of dominionists who now control his party. They want to destroy the Constitution and create a theocratic state. They aim to speed a supposed vengeful return of a mythological being by inciting a nuclear Armageddon in the Middle East as a welcome-home party.
That’s the Lieberman connection. He’s not a mere flack; he’s vital to a new holocaust. As “good will” ambassador to Israel’s ultra-conservatives, he’ll do his damnedest to direct God’s holy sword of Israel towards a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Bush-McCain’s nuclear war by proxy is already set at its “fail-safe” points on US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf.
Now, the choice is stark. Keep McCain’s finger off the nuclear trigger. Keep Lieberman from inflaming Israel’s right-wing. Keep Palin from becoming a domionist rising star.
Obama offers more than hope. He may be able to save the Republic and the peace of the world. And, you thought Star Wars was fiction.
bipolar2
Juliansays
Instead of bemoaning the possibility of a Republican victory and brain-storming about how we can run from this country, why don’t you take that inventiveness and passion you are exhibited here and put it into volunteering for the Obama campaign or drumming up support for his campaign privately?
I think some of you are joking about moving out of the US because of the shocking and appalling lack of intelligence in your leadership and electorate. Just the fact that it is possible that the Republicans could win again after 8 years of BY FAR the worst president in the history of the US, with a ticket that is anti-reason and anti-science… just give it up. Your country cannot be salvaged, it’s past the tipping point.
You should seriously consider moving to Canada and stop joking about it. If you are worried about the climate, move to Vancouver.
J Dubsays
Holbach, another good reason for choosing Norway or New Zealand is that there’s no brown people, am I right?
Bill Dauphinsays
I know I’m going to regret dipping into this can of worms, but…
Holbach, another good reason for choosing Norway or New Zealand is that there’s no brown people, am I right?
Assuming by “brown” you mean “native,” as is often the case in racist rhetoric, I can’t help wondering if something untoward has become of the Maori?
Keanussays
You’ve already been told the cartoonist is Tony Auth by Holbach at #30, but I have the pleasure of enjoying his cartoons two or three times as week. He’s the cartoonist for the Philadelphia inquirer which last year let go or demoted several top notch columnist, replacing them with some narrow minded bigots who should be writing for the Republican Party blog, given their total lack of objectivity an inability to relate a coherent idea. But the new publishers kept Auth, thank goodness. He’s enough to justify a subscription to the paper.
Malcolmsays
Holbach,
Two other things that NZ has in her favour: Penguins, and a Prime Minister (at least until November) who has publicly stated that she is atheist.
hjesays
“You should seriously consider moving to Canada …”
Canada, that’s so 20th century. China’s the future. Sure progress toward personal liberty is extremely slow, but they are moving in that direction–quite unlike former superpowers US and Russia.
When the Large Hadron Collider turns on shortly, it will be just be more evidence how America’s leadership in the sciences is beginning to slip away. I’m much more worried about a stable black hole of ignorance being formed in America than a planet-eating one popping out of the LHC.
Holbachsays
J Dub @ 105
Are you ignorant of geography or just needling? The native Maori of New Zealand are brown skinned, of Polynesian origin and have been there long before white people arrived. My attraction for New Zealand is because it is a beautiful country, has a high standard of living and an equitable climate, at least on the North Island, and along the eastern coast of the South Island. New Zealand is my first choice to migrate to, mainly because they speak english and have that culture. I have never considered the Maori as an impediment for not wanting to move there, and their culture is an old and interesting one. My second choice to live would be Norway, a country that has no indigenous brown skinned natives because of it’s arctic and subarctic climate. Brown skinned people only originated in tropical climes and I have an inkling that you know where they are. I could have just as well moved to Sweden or Finland; Iceland is too cold and isolated. No doubt you are referring to my earlier posts inferring a racist bent. Your comment is just too stupid to enlarge upon and I’ll not bother to pick you apart genetically to which you seem to allude to. This is so obvious that it is worth the blatant remark: If you put an “m” in your last name, and together with your first name spelled out, it would reveal “Just Dumb”.
J Dubsays
Ah crap, I forgot about the Maori. Do they speak English?
Crudely Wrottsays
With luck the time until the elections will go quickly and maybe we could then get balk to talking about interesting stuff again, like biology and chemistry and the way things work in the real world. All these stretched truths and shrill assertions are wearing me a bit thin.
There is probably more social inertia than mere posing and posturing can counteract. I hope.
E Pluribus Unum, y’all.
Holbachsays
Keanus @ 107
Thanks for the info on Tony Auth. He is my second favorite after Pat Oliphant. I check the bank of cartoons at The New York Times online, first with Oliphant, with the little penguin named “Punk”, and then Tony Auth. They are usually funny and topical! Cartoons are a legitimate art and I hope they never lose that status or topicality. I’m sure you remember “Pogo” by Walt Kelly, which sad to say neither are with us, Walt having died in 1973, and “Pogo” soon after. From the mouths of Okefenokee Swamp denizens came some telling and poignant observations on their human counterparts as expressed by savy animals. Sure do miss this cartoon strip and managed to save a few of the best. Of course one of the most famous with the conservation bent to it, is of Pogo and Porky Pine sitting at the edge of the swamp which is just jammed with the detritus of human trash, and Pogo says; “We have met the enemy, and he is us”. Classic stuff, gone with classy people.
The Cheerful Nihilistsays
What do you get when you take the “l” out of “Palin”?
What America will be in for the next 4 years if the GOP wins.
Holbachsays
Malcolm @ 108
Of course I knew about the New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark announcing that she is an atheist. It would be an honor to shake her hand and offer my complete admiration. A related fact: New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the vote. Shows how much advanced New Zealand was in this important matter, even granting it long before the United States. You know, it just freaking amazes me that denying females the vote sounds so primitive and mind wrangling, and yet New Zealand had the presence of mind and determination to correct this stupid idea. Shame on Switzerland for granting women the vote just within a few years.
And Penguins are my favorite aquatic birds! Fascinating guys, from the Gentoo to the Emperors and Kings. There are several colonies off the southern coast of the South Island
and Stewart Island. Forget what species they are.
Geordi, I really don’t think we’ve “quite” reached the tipping point but we’re damned close. I should imagine that everyone has their own personal tipping point or several more likely.
For example, repealing the 1st amendment or portion thereof and to making Christianity the religion of the realm. Or making it illegal to desecrate a “frakking cracker” or criticizing anyone’s faith.
The above are pretty obvious. I’m curious what WOULD it take for all of you to reach your personal tipping point? What would the minimum be for you to really emigrate?
Secondly, how much of a brain drain would it take to truly cripple science in this country? Science isn’t truly crippled yet but it has been winged by the shots from our Christian Jihad.
KiwiInOzsays
Ah, Holbach, you are making me homesick. Although I have to say that the West Coast of the South Island is a great place to live – wildlife, forests, alps, glaciers, lakes, wild seas, small population etc etc. Oh, I suppose that there is also the rain. But I sure have missed that since moving to Australia.
The other penguins that you may be thinking of are Fiordland crested penguins and yellow eyed penguins.
J Dub *cough* wanker *cough*. Yes the Maori speak English. Yes many Maori and an increasing number of pakeha (non Maori) also speak Te reo, the Maori language. Arohanui kekerengu. And I am sure that many Maori also speak German, Spanish, Chinese or Norwegian. They are people, just like anyone else.
Holbachsays
KiwiInOz @ 117
Yeah, I know what you mean, sort of. I pine to live there, whereas you pine to get back there. I’m not going to bug you over why you left that beautiful country and your chances of returning, but if I had to live in Australia and wanted something that approximated New Zealand, then I would choose Tasmania, another beautiful island. So is Sri Lanka for that matter, but the Tamils and Sinhalese are making that paradise difficult to live in.
I am an ART DECO lover, and just crazy over that style from the 1920′ and 1930’s, and know and have seen pictures, films, and articles on Napier and Hastings which were leveled by an earthquake in the early 1930’s and rebuilt in the Art Deco style! Wow, that is great! I have a book that I have read twice now, and it only whets my desire to see New Zealand or live there before I croak. The book is “SLIPPING INTO PARADISE: WHY I LIVE IN NEW ZEALAND” by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson. Ah well.
If any of you posters here are New Zealanders, don’t think that conditions are better elsewhere and make the mistake of leaving your beautiful country. It is unique and worth staying. Take this from someone who is knowledgeable and is envious of New Zealand.
pcarinisays
Can’t we just leave and make our own nation?
Only if we hide the keys to the nukes first.
J Dubsays
All right, I’m giving up on the sarcasm. I was rubbed the wrong way by the “English first”, you-must-assimilate comments. That’s all I was trying to get across. I’m aware that the Maori are people.
scootersays
anybody listening to this shit?
where’s the Crash McPlane blog?
KiwiInOzsays
J Dub – You are not the first person to have left the sarcasm tags off your message. So I apologise for calling you a wanker, even if, statistically speaking, you probably are. I also apologise for saying “much love little black cockroach” in Maori. :-)
Patriciasays
JDub – This isn’t a good time to insinuate Holbach is a racist. The Ilk are ready for fresh troll and you just dumped the first smelly pile.
hjesays
More fun with fundies:
//Think Progress notes that McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds was on MSNBC proudly noting that Todd Palin is a stay-at-home-dad. McCain supporter John Hagee has something to say about that. “You’re too lazy to work and support your children. I’m talking about men. You call yourself Mr. Mom. God calls you a bum. St. Paul says you are worse than an infidel. Let me look you right in the eye and tell you that hell is your future home if all you do is sit on your backside and let your wife support you in your life.”//
Jasonsays
The Republican National Convention…
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villiany.
RamblinDudesays
I just realized who Palin reminded me of when she was putting down Obama’s community service: The Vancome Lady from Mad TV!
Azkyrothsays
I still think she’s more of a cross between Phyllis Schlafly and Britney Spears…
Your links are not links, even though they look like links.
I’ve had this same thing happen to me. Make sure you have closed quotation marks around the URL in the href tag:
<a href=“[full URL text]“>[Link text]</a>
william e embasays
To the fellow who couldn’t read the small print at the bottom of the cartoon, it says “9-4-08 The Philadelphia Inquirer Universal Press Syndicate”. Tony Auth’s signature itself is on the right side of the cartoon.
Auth manages to piss off Catholics with some regularity. See http://firetonyauth.blogspot.com and smile. Google around and you’ll find similar complaints.
Toddsays
Todd: How about we just stay and repair this one until it’s the symbol of democracy it once was.
Frog: When? 1975-1976?
I’d settle for the time when anyone, even an enemy combatant, still had the right of habeas corpus. I’d also settle for a time when toture was not defined as “enhanced interrogation techniques.”
US democracy is not, and will never be, perfect. Yet, the government, and military in particular, have traditionally held torture as bad and due process as integral to our moral philosophy. Why? Because in the event our troops were captured by the enemy we could apply political and social pressure on the enemy to treat our troops humanely, as that is what we were doing with their troops. I say this as a retired Air Force officer concerned for the well being of our men and women in uniform.
By engaging in practices outside the scope permitted by international law the US has lost the moral high ground as an advocate for human rights. When we condemn China for human rights abuses they simply turn to Gitmo and say, “You have no right to admonish us.” Which they do. And you know what? They are right. So I do not hold some arbitrary date as the goal for which to aim any more than I advocate leaving a country because times are tough. We’re not a theocracy or dictatorship yet – but we will be if we adopt the tactics of those regimes. We can’t allow those people who think “We the people” means “we the majority” to continue to undermine the very document that made the US a symbol of democracy for many years. Yes, symbols are just shadows of reality but at least they cast a shadow; how are we to navigate when the shadow is gone?
ryansays
Today’s Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic is amazing
ryan: Today’s Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic is amazing
Yes, it is a good one.
: )
«bønez_brigade»says
@132 & 133,
Huzzah! SMBC = lulz^23
And SMBC has 100’s more that rawk.
tussays
war is peace; ignorance is strength; freedom is slavery
Malcolmsays
The other penguins that you may be thinking of are Fiordland crested penguins and yellow eyed penguins.
We have yellow eyed penguins here in Dunedin, and there are little blues in Oamaru. There are also rock hoppers sightly further south. We also have the world’s only colony of Royal Albatross to nest within city limits.
A related fact: New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the vote. Shows how much advanced New Zealand was in this important matter, even granting it long before the United States.
New Zealand was the world’s first modern democracy. You can’t really call yourself democratic without universal suffrage. In school I learnt about the suffragette movement in the US and England, then the teacher just said that New Zealand women had already had the vote in NZ for years before it even started.
And speaking of Te Reo, Every newscaster in NZ starts their evening news bulletin with the words “Kia ora, good evening.”
markosays
Contemplating the style in which that comic is drawn — what is she holding in her hands? McCain’s balls?
Can’t we just leave and make our own nation?
I thought the one sign said “trash creationism,” but I was wrong. It says, “Teach creationism.”
Leave it to a cartoonist to sum up the whole thing succinctly and honestly.
If this knocks Orac’s autism thing off the “most active” list will they rename this website “PalinBlogs”?
On TV someone commented that Palin was an opponent of global warming. Which sounded good to me, until I realized they meant that she denied it.
Really, even Bush accepts that anthropogenic global warming is happening, he just doesn’t want to do anything about it.
Glen D
http://behefails.wordpress.com
GOOOOOO!!!!!
THEOCRACY!!!!!!
Ha!, I posted the reference to this cartoon @ 171 on the “this is how we will lose” post. Damn, it says it all! The more I look at that cartoon and all that it entails and portends, the more worry I get. Let’s get together and keep that moron out of the white house!
Lago, you lot tried that once before and look how that turned out. You started with Thomas Jefferson and ended up with George Bush. Any system, no matter how perfect, tends toward shitty over time.
I say go for the Etch-a-Sketch approach. Pick up your government, shake vigorously until it goes blank, start again.
That’s what democracy is for.
Louis
Lago yes, you can, come to europe, but WITHOUT those monsters
“I say go for the Etch-a-Sketch approach. Pick up your government, shake vigorously until it goes blank, start again.” – Louis, #7
I worked in downtown DC in the 1970s/1980s. My personal observation as a Federal employee was that the newly elected political appointees knew only that the previous gang of idiots had totally messed things up, and all the new folks had to do was turn everything upside down, scrape the crap off and fix everything.
Four years later the other party would win and exactly the same thing would happen all over again. I saw that cycle repeated a few times.
Since then I have had equal respect for both political parties. ( 0 = 0 )
McCain and Palin don’t have to convince the RNC, they have to convince the swing voters in the key states. How are they going to do that with a backwoods agenda?
Can’t we just leave and make our own nation?
You could restart this one: http://www.oceania.org/
If you don’t fancy a life at sea (sort of), there’s always the LaGrange points. Always been partial to L5 myself. L4 just seems so low rent.
Lago: Thing is people try it from time to time but there are always already people living wherever they go and it rarely ends well.
This is why it’s it’s time to terraform Mars.
i’ll come out and admit it. i like Sarah … as our Governor. so i’d like to keep her here, please
uh … pretty please?
This is why it’s it’s time to terraform Mars.
The Moon wouldn’t be *that* much harder. It’s closer to Earth, and we could keep an eye on the Earther loons. The observation scopes would be continuously slaved to the targeting computers for the interplanetary missile banks. Should the theocratic groundhuggers get any uppity ideas, we’d need to be ready with speedy discouragement.
what, and leave america for the lunatics?
The last couple of days I have had to actively suppress panic attacks at the thought of the Republicans winning this election.
Not only would it be disastrous for the country, but would prove definitively that democracy has failed and that human beings are incapable of self-governance.
As for just leaving this world to the loons…
Why not? If we get all non-crazy scientists, engineers and like minded business people (we will need money after all) how long would it really take to develop the tech to extend our lives (perhaps even get rid of this insistance on remaining organic) and leave this damn, doomed world to the religiots?
Frightening stuff.
Who is the cartoonist? I can’t quite read the small letters under the cartoon.
Her voice has an unpleasant tone to it, a tone that suggests she’s got her head up her … nahhh, she’d be gurgling then. But she does talk out of her ass. What a feckin’ nutjob of an edjit she is.
“Can’t we just leave and make our own nation?”
I kind of like that Oceania idea…or something.
*sighs wistfully and checks her country on NationStates*
Who knew that Sarah Palin’s husband read Pharyngula?
Why not? If we get all non-crazy scientists, engineers and like minded business people (we will need money after all) how long would it really take to develop the tech to extend our lives (perhaps even get rid of this insistance on remaining organic) and leave this damn, doomed world to the religiots?
We’d need to convince some serious billionaires, like the guy in the movie Contact.
First and foremost you need to pursue new propulsion technology. Getting out of the Earth’s gravity well is the big ticket item on any space effort. It’s direct war against the laws of physics. Everything else is an engineering problem. The $cost per kilogram is the main parameter to attack, and not just to LEO, but something that can get people, parts and cargo to a L4 or L5.
You also need a launch system that can’t be easily opposed by a government that might decide a space brain drain is not acceptable. That rules out anything like a space elevator because of land requirements and airspace concerns. Something with sails and lasers, perhaps. Mass drivers, maybe?
Is anyone really surprised by this?
Thread over. factlike wins
Goody! A political post, now I get to mostly agree with most of you folks instead of arguing fruitlessly about the utter peaks of metaphysical perplexity for a change. OK, here’s my take on some dings about Sarah Palin:
Sarah may or may not have been a member of the Alaskan Independence Party (we’ve heard contradictory things) but her husband surely was, and she approvingly addressed their conventions a few times. They want to have a vote on Alaskan independence, and despise the federal government. Wikipedia: The Alaskan Independence Party quotes founder Joe Vogler as stating “I’m an Alaskan, not an American. I’ve got no use for America or her damned institutions.” (Hah, her “Reverend Wright” I note the irony that Pravda (yes, it’s still around!) supports Alaskan independence! Heh, Alaska: American’s South Ossetia, or Abkhazia? The latter even sounds similar … Maybe call the new “nation” Ablaskia? (We could say, it “ablated” off the USA?) Better, maybe the Russians will help defend newly “independent” Alaska? Maybe a case of mixed loyalties would come up for the new VP or President as the case may be …
But even worse and weirder is Palin’s offbeat church’s attitude towards Jews. It is ironically the honestly logical implication of the idea that only believers in Christ’s divinity are “saved” and beloved by God, so her pastor says God punishes Jews with terror attacks etc. for not believing in Jesus. Brad DeLong (check him out at http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/09/i-am-confused.html) wonders of the irony of that, after McCain first wanting Joe Lieberman for a cute bi-partisan ticket (and someone told him “No” – who had that veto power?)
I kind of like that Oceania idea…or something.
Well, that was the problem the originators of the project ran into: there is no something. Pretty much every square foot of land is spoken for by someone (and in some cases, more than one someone). The ocean is all that is left. I think they picked an area of Costa Rica that hasn’t seen a major storm in recorded history. It’s entirely workable… for a price. The idea was to turn it into a Libertarian paradise and create an attractive haven for big corporate players. They could put their home offices there.
I was thinking if someone tried to revive the concept, they could go more in the direction of a data haven, a la Neal Stephenson. A country whose entire economy is based on information and the trading and protection of data.
“Change” is when the American public votes in the group of people they voted out the last time they wanted change.
From her speech, I think Sarah Palin would do quite well in a James Bond movie.
She’d be the rich evil super villain in her “rustic” mansion on some beautiful mountainside in Alaska. Her mansion would have several miles of concrete corridors under it, filled with her doomsday machine and henchmen.
She’d capture Bond, and hold him helpless as she throws the switch that activates her doomsday machine.
“Do you actually expect me to VOTE for you Sarah?”
“No,” she answers coldly. “I expect you to DIE, Mr. Bond.”
#21 “You also need a launch system that can’t be easily opposed by a government that might decide a space brain drain is not acceptable. That rules out anything like a space elevator because of land requirements and airspace concerns. Something with sails and lasers, perhaps. Mass drivers, maybe?”
Mass Drivers?!? You want to kill everyone before even getting started?
(I’m a veteran Boston driver from the Big Dig era. Just remember that f=ma and react accordingly.)
YAY STUPID REPUBLICANS. Y’ALL GONNA GET A LESSON IN EVOLUTION BY GOING EXTINCT IF YOU KEEP THIS UP.
designsoda @ 17
The cartoonist is TONY AUTH. He is well known for topical comments that appeal to we rationalists.
Mass Drivers?!? You want to kill everyone before even getting started?
Well these wouldn’t be weaponized mass drivers intended to destroy a target. :) A properly designed driver should be able to dial in any g-force you want. Mass drivers for manned launches are an old concept. A dual system might work. One to orbit then another to L4/5.
I’m a veteran Boston driver from the Big Dig era.
I’ll have to fly into Logan next year for work. Are there still gigantic slabs of death falling off the roof of the tunnels?
Neil B @ #24 –
Interesting take. Maybe the Russians will offer all Alaskans Russian passports as well.
The Russians can take Alaska; we can then make Puerto Rico a state and we won’t have to change our flag!
I haven’t heard about any book-burning in the news. What did she try and burn? I want to add it to my collection.
Come up to Canada! Serves two purposes – we get an influx of rational thinkers, practically ensuring that we don’t follow the theocracy trend, and you get to avoid all the theocracy building down there. And we’ll have generations of intelligent rational people, pushing the boundaries of science while enjoying good beer and poutine!
Oops, correction – for #33 replace “burn” with “ban.”
From her speech, I think Sarah Palin would do quite well in a James Bond movie.
She’d have to change her name to something more suggestive. Don’t worry, I won’t go there. Actually, I fancy her as more of an anime villianess for some reason. When she gains control after McCain’s heart shuts down in despair, she reveals her Evangelical superweapon that shoots Hello Kitty Baby Jesus mind control bombs at all the filthy infidels.
But she will ultimately be undone by a team consisting of a teenage boy with spiky hair, a girl magician with attitude, and a cute robot with an annoying voice.
#35:
I would also recommend changing “try and” to “try to.”
Wa-Hoo!!! I was right about that twit Cindy McEvil McShame in the MUSTARD dress. Huffington Post had the fashion ‘experts’ over at Vanity Fair price Laura Bush’s out fit, and Cindy’s – fasten your seat belts folk… over $300,000! Oh yeah, that’s gonna win the female voters over. HA!
My favorite line from Palins feel good fest – What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a Pitbull? Lipstick!
She’s just blinding us with brilliance.
Colonizing a continental shelf or antarctica would be roughly a million times more doable than Mars.
The problem with “let’s have a revolution” here in the states is that we no longer have the enlightened politicians of the 18th century, for historical reasons that I need not get into here.
Instead, this country is ~20% Bircher, ~15% Focus on the Family, 30% Rush/Savage-listening, 15% Knights of Columbus. . . (there is significant overlaps here but in all there’s a 40% powerbloc). Factor in the 30% apathetic, that leaves the liberal caucus outgunned 2:1.
Launch System?
Get an island somewhere near the equator: four energy sources: geothermal, wind, wave & solar.
Use that to charge your storage cells.
Use stored energy to power gigawatt lasers for ‘steam rockets’.
The lasers and the energy storage are the two stumbling blocks – nothing that R&D can’t solve.
The propulsion material is freely available.
Without the lasers & steam rockets – aerospikes for hi-mach launch vehicles – get a very fast aircraft high enough – then launch from there into LEO (with a hydrogen fueled rocket – again – the propulsion material is all around you on the island, and you leverage the same primary energy resources to generate). This is *almost* the SS1 & SS2 strategy.
It’s possible. If it happens soon enough I want four seats please (myself & my family).
Why not? If we get all non-crazy scientists, engineers and like minded business people (we will need money after all) how long would it really take to develop the tech to extend our lives (perhaps even get rid of this insistance on remaining organic) and leave this damn, doomed world to the religiots?
Let’s just remember to take the phone sanitizers with us :)
Can we say THIRD WORLD COUNTRY?
I was right about that twit Cindy McEvil McShame in the MUSTARD dress.
In the drawing room with the pistol?
Huffington Post had the fashion ‘experts’ over at Vanity Fair price Laura Bush’s out fit, and Cindy’s – fasten your seat belts folk… over $300,000!
For that much I expect it have a built in jet pack, body armor and a multitude of retractable edged weapons.
What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a Pitbull? Lipstick!
Pitbulls wear lipstick? Huh.
Space sharks!
Antarctica! That’s an awesome idea!
As the religiot, global warming denier nut-jobs continue to pollute, Antarctica will eventually become down-right tropical.
why not send the neocons to the moon so they can be closer to their sky faerie???
Naw – she’s the villain. She doesn’t get the suggestive name. Besides, she’s the wrong age bracket.
The suggestive name would go to her gorgeous 20-something niece, who seems sympathetic with Bond at first, but later betrays him and is killed through her own greed.
McCain would be cast as the slightly demented henchman who would do anything for his boss. He’d be biomechanically enhanced, and would die when Bond pulls the plug on him.
This thing almost writes itself. Best of all, we could still recast the whole thing in Anime and make a second box-office killing.
Space sharks!
No, that’s what we use to keep the Evangelical Earth Empire in line. Well, when they aren’t butting heads with the Islamosphere, Neo-Scientologists and the Popetron (the renegade AI that took over the Vatican ,and enslaved all the Catholics with genetically engineered brain slugs.)
Eric@33,
I heard that she, as mayor, tried to get the city librarian fired for not removing some books from the library shelves. The townspeople revolted and that didn’t happen. I don’t know what books she was trying to ban, though.
I’m pretty sure every bit of Antarctica is claimed as some country or others sovereign territory.
Although winning a war with Norway may be easier than colonizing Mars.
Epinephrine @ 34
*whines* but Canada is cooold :( Although if we abandon the US to the fundies it will probably only them 5 years before they turn Canada tropical.
Sign me up!
Antarctica! That’s an awesome idea!
You’d have to deal with the ancient alien city of madness. It calls out. It calls.
What? You thought H.P. Lovecraft wrote fiction? Pfft!
Oh, and the penguins. They are rabidly territorial and can shoot poisonous spines from their soft, fluffy bellies. Yeah, they didn’t show *that* in March Of The Penguins which was a total snow job and PR propaganda for birds.
Heh heh… snow job…
By gawd Quiet D. thats a good question. Pitbulls in Oregon go Revlon free. How about it someone from Alaska? Do your Pitbulls and female Sasquatches wear lipstick? Quivering with excitment mind’s want to know!
Although winning a war with Norway may be easier than colonizing Mars.
You need something obscure enough that McCain can’t find it on a map and declare war on it.
Do your Pitbulls and female Sasquatches wear lipstick?
No, just hoodies.
http://www.badrap.org/rescue/img/candy_pink.gif
I dunno why we are talking about leaving. There was a lot of talk about a Christian secession a while back. To South Carolina, I believe.
Instead of leaving, I think we should support their secession. Help them build a wall for “protection” too. And set up some sort of foreign policy that allows immigration between us and them, so that the non-religious can leave, and the religious can enter.
I figure that in less than a decade of religion-based medicine, their nation will succumb to plague.
But not to South Carolina. I like the countryside there. Maybe South Dakota is available?
I vote for Iceland. Last year I the ‘heard the rumor’ that Iceland officially declared it’s self to be a pagan nation. Norway *sob* still has a catholic monarchy. And if the Norway festival in Junction City is any example of the folk there, it’s godsoaked lunatics too. At least the pagans don’t come around bashing on your door to announce you’ve been sentenced to hellfire.
Epinephrine already covered that one, QD. It’s called Canada.
Having said that, have any of you considered the Earth floor of the space elevator could be located on Oceania? No land disputes to worry about, and if you outfit everyone with water wings you’ll cut down on fatalities should the cable snap or the Otis guys go on strike or something.
“You need something obscure enough that McCain can’t find it on a map and declare war on it.”
How about one of his houses?
I’d just like to point out, PZ, that you accidentally gave this post the category “Humor.” There’s nothing funny about this comic at all: it belongs firmly in Politics (and maybe Horror?).
In fact there’s not even any exaggerated or ironic caricature happening in that pane: those placards are literal statements of her policy positions. And those line drawings at the bottom are real Republicans.
Well I did not listen to very much of her speech last night I just could not and not fall into a rage of irrationality.
Just what I expected she is a republican and name calling and wishful thinking, statements that do not match objective reality, since prez Ron they have been talking about some different reality then the one that I live in. It has been and still is perception , belief over reality. They will try to tell a “good story” one that makes them look good regardless of the facts rather like the toy adds we see on Saturday morning TV. The question is will it work again?
As to the idea of starting a new country or even settling a “new planet” to get away from the crazies that worked well when our forbears left their home countries to come here no crazies here. I am not willing to go any where, I am not going quietly, this is my home planet I come out of the processes here, I was born and educated in this country.
Democracy is not a thing or a goal it is the process that “We The People” reject some great authority and decide amongst
ourselves how we shall be governed. If not today then tomorrow or the day after that.
Further if not here if “we” persist in ignoring reality here in the U.S. then we will fall from world power and influence. The center of the movement toward democracy will move somewhere else but make no mistake the ideas set down in our Declaration of Independence though some what specific to a time and place are universal. They address the fact that it is all based on an agreement between all the people involved. We have reached the place where the whole world is now clearly involved together and we will all have to make agreements on how we are to proceed. We are all in this together-!!
Patricia: It’s a Lutheran monarchy (I’m not sure what bearing this has on anything, but I’m a compulsive fact-checker)
Well I did not listen to very much of her speech last night I just could not and not fall into a rage of irrationality.
Just what I expected she is a republican and name calling and wishful thinking, statements that do not match objective reality, since prez Ron they have been talking about some different reality then the one that I live in. It has been and still is perception , belief over reality. They will try to tell a “good story” one that makes them look good regardless of the facts rather like the toy adds we see on Saturday morning TV. The question is will it work again?
As to the idea of starting a new country or even settling a “new planet” to get away from the crazies that worked well when our forbears left their home countries to come here no crazies here. I am not willing to go any where, I am not going quietly, this is my home planet I come out of the processes here, I was born and educated in this country.
Democracy is not a thing or a goal it is the process that “We The People” reject some great authority and decide amongst
ourselves how we shall be governed. If not today then tomorrow or the day after that.
Further if not here if “we” persist in ignoring reality here in the U.S. then we will fall from world power and influence. The center of the movement toward democracy will move somewhere else but make no mistake the ideas set down in our Declaration of Independence though some what specific to a time and place are universal. They address the fact that it is all based on an agreement between all the people involved. We have reached the place where the whole world is now clearly involved together and we will all have to make agreements on how we are to proceed. We are all in this together-!!
Calladus:
You do realize the scene you’re quoting involved a laser beam creeping slowly toward Bond’s crotch, don’t you? Let’s not be bringing up the sexist stuff again, shall we? [People, I keeed because I loooove!]
Actually, we can probably only get mutated space bass… but at least they’ll be perturbed.
Having said that, have any of you considered the Earth floor of the space elevator could be located on Oceania?
Not really. Oceania floats. A space elevator needs to be grounded in bedrock, which is even harder to reach out at sea. It’s definitely a mountain top thing.
At least the pagans don’t come around bashing on your door to announce you’ve been sentenced to hellfire.
They may, however, decide to give you the “blood eagle” treatment:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_eagle
Sorry about the Wikipedia link, but it’s quicker than poring over a half-dozen sagas!
I second the motion by Uncle grogy. We cannot just slink away from these bullies and go to some utopia. Take a deep breath, get angry and determined, and push back. Tell your friends, neighbors and strangers who you are going to vote for. Make a donation to the campaigns, put on bumper stickers and get informed. And remember, the fundies and reactionaries don’t really believe what they say – they only want to intimidate. Let’s quit the hand-wringing and denial, and stand up loud and proud.
Quiet_D “space elevator needs to be grounded in bedrock”
Not so. The planet-side anchor only needs to be more massive than the space-side anchor. Current plans involve a floating anchor platform positioned along the equator. By being mobile it allows some ability to move the tether to avoid space debris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
WHY does EVERYONE keep insisting she reminds them exactly of Diana on the old “V” miniseries from 1983, and that when we’re not looking she eats rodents whole and that she has a lizard face beenath her skin!? I wish people would stop pointing the Diana similarities out because that kind of comparison does not help solve anything.
Stop saying she is Diana on the old “V” miniseries!! Enough with the Diana comparisons, people!
@ThirdMonkey: Er, I’m still not sure I want my *country* to be a space elevator anchor. The question “What could *possibly* go wrong?” occurs to me. :-) Personally, I think laser launch systems hold the most immediate promise.
Besides, Oceania and space were competing solutions.
Is your handle a reference to The Third Man?
@ #69
More Lydia than Diana, I’d think.
No, I’m not a nerd, why do you ask?
Leaving for somewhere else is an awfully attractive idea.
It’s nice to think about having a rational conversation with a scientist or whatever. (I’m not a scientist unless a historian and writer is considered a scientist.)
Even so, I would feel like a coward if I packed up and took off. My family has been working to get the word on these freaks out. DIL has been talking with her fellow professors. The college-age kids have been working within their widespread social networks to shake people up and spread the word. The high school age kids are doing what they can in the face of a molasses-like lethargy in their school.
I am working all the contacts I can to spread the facts about what these people are and what they are attempting to engineer.
We’re doing what we can. I just hope it will be some help.
The sad thing is that Republicans wouldn’t see the comic as objectionable — they could use it themselves…
There are only two directions we can go this election – backward or forward. With this selection, the Republican party gives us both directions – either back to the Dark Ages or forward to Armageddon.
Patricia @ 57
Matt Heath @ 62 is correct in Norway having a Lutheran monarchy, and the percentage of the Lutheran religion is listed at currently 85.7%, with the rabid christians at 4.5%, and other/nonreligious listed at 8.0%, and which I am assuming definitely includes atheists. I am cognizant of Norwegian statistics because I have always stated that if I were ever to leave our great country, I would move to New Zealand or Norway, the decision dependent on future events. New Zealand has a 31% nonreligious figure. Norway is a quality Scandinavian country and any thoughts of living there would not be hazardous or regretful. I can say the same would apply to New zealand, in spite of Roy Comfort and recent bullshit hashed here on Pharyngula. Both countries are almost similiar in topography and geography with fjords, lakes, islands, mountains, and just astounding natural beauty. Which to choose when the propitious time for a move arrives?
I find the republican show an inspiration. I live in South Africa, where crime levels are attrocious, corruption is rife and we have an offical unemployment rate of 26% – because the other unemployed 20% dont try to look for work anymore. I regularly feel like I want to emmigrate from South Africa but then when seeing the blatant lies and stupid comments made throughout the campaign (by candidates, media and supporters), I realize that our politicians arent that much worse…..
Darn! I was wrong.
What country was I thinking of…must be all the twirling. My brain is spun.
I just read that Dobson gave his endorsement to McCain:
“If I went into the polling booth today, I would pull the lever for John McCain,” he said. In a new radio broadcast to hundreds of Christian stations that air his show, Dobson calls Palin a “genuine reformer” and “deeply committed Christian.”
Perhaps the rumors that McCain traded his VP pick for a few of those ‘base’ votes are true after all.
Wait… banning books? That one scares me more than the others. Anyone got a link?
Well, to be fair, none of the stuff in the cartoon actually came out during the speech. The scariest part for me is the thunderous applause she got when she suggested terrorism suspects don’t need to be read their rights.
And boy, did it seem like a lot of Republicans are against the idea of proper arrest procedures. Wasn’t this the same crowd that a decade ago were referring to the ATF as “jack-booted thugs,”?
Can’t we just leave and make our own nation?
How about we just stay and repair this one until it’s the symbol of democracy it once was.
Skwee @ 79
There doesn’t seem to be any concrete evidence for the “Ban Books” banner, and it may be the cartoonists levity to lend seriousness to the obvious slates, but it begs the situation and question, “What’s Next?”, and so should be considered possible and serious.
@Quite_D #70 “play on The Third Man”
No… My name is a play on “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.
It’s a stretch and perhaps a bit childish, but here it goes:
Instead of hiding from “evil” the third monkey looks and listens, facing the world as it is, yet is not corrupted.
TIME has a little background on the book banning issue. while mayor of Wasilla, Palin inquired whether there was a procedure for banning books because, apparantly, some voters were calling for it. there are conflicting stories whether a librarian was fired, or just threatened with firing, for not playing along. but community outrage ended the matter, and the issue was dropped. specifics aren’t available because, to my knowledge, there are no actual specifics to make available: it’s not like Palin produced a list of books that she wanted to ban, and she’s never brought the issue up again
sounds to me like she was just a newbie mayor trying to make a minority of voters happy without realizing the full extent of what she was proposing, and the majority of voters corrected her before it got anywhere (YMMV of course)
How about we just stay and repair this one until it’s the symbol of democracy it once was.
Well, it seems 40% of the populace wants to redefine what “democracy” and “liberty” mean.
Also, there have been periods in United States history which saw events like the kind a McCain-Palin ticket might take us. There was serious ugliess during the Red Scare, during the surge of the American (Nativist) Party, during the riots and fighting in settling Kansas. Perhaps the 1970s and 1980s are the interval that’s singular.
It’s sad to think we might be returning to less progressive times. I have the feeling, however, that world events, economic and otherwise, might mitigate excessive craziness, unless we get into a bomb lobbing contest with someone.
Todd: How about we just stay and repair this one until it’s the symbol of democracy it once was.
When? 1975-1976?
@ 80# above
>>And boy, did it seem like a lot of Republicans are against the idea of proper arrest procedures. Wasn’t this the same crowd that a decade ago were referring to the ATF as “jack-booted thugs,”?<< Oh they still do. And I do sort of agree that the AFT is constitutionally questionable and engaging in roguish "mission creep" to justify its own existence. I belong to both the NRA *and* the ACLU. Partisan Republicans can't understand why. Apparently the Rightwing is ok with JBTs, so long as they only oppress brown people with funny sounding last names. That's "defending democracy" When same said JBTs come knocking at their door, it's Fascism. Actually it's Fascism either way, but anyway... Most conservative gun owners will rally around McCain/Palin, thanks to Palin coming onto the ticket. They're ecstatic about Palin. On the other hand, I'm a left-liberal gun owner and can't bring myself to vote for either major party, for a whole host of reasons. All the Green Party platform really says is along the lines of "preserve the Gun Control Act of 1968", which is a compromise I can live with for now. And I'm enough of a fatalist to know McCain/Palin will at least win Texas no matter what I do.
This is why it’s it’s time to terraform Mars.
It would be interesting if the next major human migration is driven by a desire to flee persecution by the uber-religious.
Sign me up, I’ve ready to leave.
The mere fact that she (apparently) even seriously entertained the idea is sufficiently chilling to me.
agreed. please don’t think i was trying to *defend* her actions
http://www.npr.org/blogs/visibleman/2008/09/your_pocket_guide_to_speaking_1.html
A lovely guide to Palin speak.
I bet there will be more.
Holbach :
Wouldn’t be much of a choice for me… The kiwis speak English. How’s your Norwegian?
Patricia @ 77
No, just that great stuff by Leon Redbone is twirling in your head, at the expense of almost everything else. Heck, I’m going over to YouTube and indulge some more and come back later.
LOL! Great cartoon.
Heads up.
http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/about-sarah-palin-a-letter-from-anne-kilkenny/741/
#10: Tony Sidaway
McCain and Palin don’t have to convince the RNC, they have to convince the swing voters in the key states. How are they going to do that with a backwoods agenda?
They’ll do it with a backwoods agenda.
It seems like it worked just fine for Bush.
Nentuaby @ 92
Ah, if my choice turned out to be Norway, I would apply for citizenship, and most astutely learn Norwegian, as I do not expect Norway to post signs in English for my ease. I would gladly adapt to Norwegian ways and customs, and once citizenship is gained, I would consider myself Norwegian, and not Norwegian-American , a dual nationality that tends to prevail disingenuously here in America. I would not lose my english language and can still converse in it as I know the Norwegians speak it as a second language. But I will learn Norwegian and read and write it as well in deference to the citizens of a cultured country. I have always believed and maintained that if you move to a country and become a citizen, then you should adopt its language and culture. With regard to Norway, I would feel honored to be allowed to become a citizen of this quality country and would be grateful to assimilate as a good citizen.
As already mentioned, if only Palin had mentioned the topics in that cartoon. She spewed plenty of trash talk and I-did-this-&-that, but I heard very little (if any) we’ll-accomplish-this-&-that. Bring on the (canned) debates!
Can I suggest we coin the phrase Palindrone, because whichever way you look at it, backwards or forwards, whatever she is saying is all the same.
** The people, Ben Frankllin, are poised to destroy the Republic **
Lieberman, McCain and Palin are small human beings, intellectually and morally. But like G. W. Bush, they are all the more dangerous for their dull wits and lack of humane values.
McCain’s calculated cynicism in selecting ultra-right Palin reveals his lack of judgment and his frivolous nature. He’s no “maverick”. He’s mentally unstable.
Palin’s religious delusions are ideological madness. Her fundie xianity is a toxic ersatz for policy, domestic and foreign. She is but one aspect of McCain’s death wish for America. As minister for suppression of homeland deviance, Palin becomes dictator of morals and values, while McCain plays dictator of external affairs — without perpetual war the empire will collapse.
McCain capitulated to the death impulse of dominionists who now control his party. They want to destroy the Constitution and create a theocratic state. They aim to speed a supposed vengeful return of a mythological being by inciting a nuclear Armageddon in the Middle East as a welcome-home party.
That’s the Lieberman connection. He’s not a mere flack; he’s vital to a new holocaust. As “good will” ambassador to Israel’s ultra-conservatives, he’ll do his damnedest to direct God’s holy sword of Israel towards a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Bush-McCain’s nuclear war by proxy is already set at its “fail-safe” points on US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf.
Now, the choice is stark. Keep McCain’s finger off the nuclear trigger. Keep Lieberman from inflaming Israel’s right-wing. Keep Palin from becoming a domionist rising star.
Obama offers more than hope. He may be able to save the Republic and the peace of the world. And, you thought Star Wars was fiction.
bipolar2
Instead of bemoaning the possibility of a Republican victory and brain-storming about how we can run from this country, why don’t you take that inventiveness and passion you are exhibited here and put it into volunteering for the Obama campaign or drumming up support for his campaign privately?
When is Palin going to start saying “We have always been at war with Eastasia”?
Caption: “So this is how Liberty dies, with thunderous applause.”
I think some of you are joking about moving out of the US because of the shocking and appalling lack of intelligence in your leadership and electorate. Just the fact that it is possible that the Republicans could win again after 8 years of BY FAR the worst president in the history of the US, with a ticket that is anti-reason and anti-science… just give it up. Your country cannot be salvaged, it’s past the tipping point.
You should seriously consider moving to Canada and stop joking about it. If you are worried about the climate, move to Vancouver.
Holbach, another good reason for choosing Norway or New Zealand is that there’s no brown people, am I right?
I know I’m going to regret dipping into this can of worms, but…
Assuming by “brown” you mean “native,” as is often the case in racist rhetoric, I can’t help wondering if something untoward has become of the Maori?
You’ve already been told the cartoonist is Tony Auth by Holbach at #30, but I have the pleasure of enjoying his cartoons two or three times as week. He’s the cartoonist for the Philadelphia inquirer which last year let go or demoted several top notch columnist, replacing them with some narrow minded bigots who should be writing for the Republican Party blog, given their total lack of objectivity an inability to relate a coherent idea. But the new publishers kept Auth, thank goodness. He’s enough to justify a subscription to the paper.
Holbach,
Two other things that NZ has in her favour: Penguins, and a Prime Minister (at least until November) who has publicly stated that she is atheist.
“You should seriously consider moving to Canada …”
Canada, that’s so 20th century. China’s the future. Sure progress toward personal liberty is extremely slow, but they are moving in that direction–quite unlike former superpowers US and Russia.
When the Large Hadron Collider turns on shortly, it will be just be more evidence how America’s leadership in the sciences is beginning to slip away. I’m much more worried about a stable black hole of ignorance being formed in America than a planet-eating one popping out of the LHC.
J Dub @ 105
Are you ignorant of geography or just needling? The native Maori of New Zealand are brown skinned, of Polynesian origin and have been there long before white people arrived. My attraction for New Zealand is because it is a beautiful country, has a high standard of living and an equitable climate, at least on the North Island, and along the eastern coast of the South Island. New Zealand is my first choice to migrate to, mainly because they speak english and have that culture. I have never considered the Maori as an impediment for not wanting to move there, and their culture is an old and interesting one. My second choice to live would be Norway, a country that has no indigenous brown skinned natives because of it’s arctic and subarctic climate. Brown skinned people only originated in tropical climes and I have an inkling that you know where they are. I could have just as well moved to Sweden or Finland; Iceland is too cold and isolated. No doubt you are referring to my earlier posts inferring a racist bent. Your comment is just too stupid to enlarge upon and I’ll not bother to pick you apart genetically to which you seem to allude to. This is so obvious that it is worth the blatant remark: If you put an “m” in your last name, and together with your first name spelled out, it would reveal “Just Dumb”.
Ah crap, I forgot about the Maori. Do they speak English?
With luck the time until the elections will go quickly and maybe we could then get balk to talking about interesting stuff again, like biology and chemistry and the way things work in the real world. All these stretched truths and shrill assertions are wearing me a bit thin.
There is probably more social inertia than mere posing and posturing can counteract. I hope.
E Pluribus Unum, y’all.
Keanus @ 107
Thanks for the info on Tony Auth. He is my second favorite after Pat Oliphant. I check the bank of cartoons at The New York Times online, first with Oliphant, with the little penguin named “Punk”, and then Tony Auth. They are usually funny and topical! Cartoons are a legitimate art and I hope they never lose that status or topicality. I’m sure you remember “Pogo” by Walt Kelly, which sad to say neither are with us, Walt having died in 1973, and “Pogo” soon after. From the mouths of Okefenokee Swamp denizens came some telling and poignant observations on their human counterparts as expressed by savy animals. Sure do miss this cartoon strip and managed to save a few of the best. Of course one of the most famous with the conservation bent to it, is of Pogo and Porky Pine sitting at the edge of the swamp which is just jammed with the detritus of human trash, and Pogo says; “We have met the enemy, and he is us”. Classic stuff, gone with classy people.
What do you get when you take the “l” out of “Palin”?
What America will be in for the next 4 years if the GOP wins.
Malcolm @ 108
Of course I knew about the New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark announcing that she is an atheist. It would be an honor to shake her hand and offer my complete admiration. A related fact: New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the vote. Shows how much advanced New Zealand was in this important matter, even granting it long before the United States. You know, it just freaking amazes me that denying females the vote sounds so primitive and mind wrangling, and yet New Zealand had the presence of mind and determination to correct this stupid idea. Shame on Switzerland for granting women the vote just within a few years.
And Penguins are my favorite aquatic birds! Fascinating guys, from the Gentoo to the Emperors and Kings. There are several colonies off the southern coast of the South Island
and Stewart Island. Forget what species they are.
Geordi, I really don’t think we’ve “quite” reached the tipping point but we’re damned close. I should imagine that everyone has their own personal tipping point or several more likely.
For example, repealing the 1st amendment or portion thereof and to making Christianity the religion of the realm. Or making it illegal to desecrate a “frakking cracker” or criticizing anyone’s faith.
The above are pretty obvious. I’m curious what WOULD it take for all of you to reach your personal tipping point? What would the minimum be for you to really emigrate?
Secondly, how much of a brain drain would it take to truly cripple science in this country? Science isn’t truly crippled yet but it has been winged by the shots from our Christian Jihad.
Ah, Holbach, you are making me homesick. Although I have to say that the West Coast of the South Island is a great place to live – wildlife, forests, alps, glaciers, lakes, wild seas, small population etc etc. Oh, I suppose that there is also the rain. But I sure have missed that since moving to Australia.
The other penguins that you may be thinking of are Fiordland crested penguins and yellow eyed penguins.
J Dub *cough* wanker *cough*. Yes the Maori speak English. Yes many Maori and an increasing number of pakeha (non Maori) also speak Te reo, the Maori language. Arohanui kekerengu. And I am sure that many Maori also speak German, Spanish, Chinese or Norwegian. They are people, just like anyone else.
KiwiInOz @ 117
Yeah, I know what you mean, sort of. I pine to live there, whereas you pine to get back there. I’m not going to bug you over why you left that beautiful country and your chances of returning, but if I had to live in Australia and wanted something that approximated New Zealand, then I would choose Tasmania, another beautiful island. So is Sri Lanka for that matter, but the Tamils and Sinhalese are making that paradise difficult to live in.
I am an ART DECO lover, and just crazy over that style from the 1920′ and 1930’s, and know and have seen pictures, films, and articles on Napier and Hastings which were leveled by an earthquake in the early 1930’s and rebuilt in the Art Deco style! Wow, that is great! I have a book that I have read twice now, and it only whets my desire to see New Zealand or live there before I croak. The book is “SLIPPING INTO PARADISE: WHY I LIVE IN NEW ZEALAND” by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson. Ah well.
If any of you posters here are New Zealanders, don’t think that conditions are better elsewhere and make the mistake of leaving your beautiful country. It is unique and worth staying. Take this from someone who is knowledgeable and is envious of New Zealand.
Only if we hide the keys to the nukes first.
All right, I’m giving up on the sarcasm. I was rubbed the wrong way by the “English first”, you-must-assimilate comments. That’s all I was trying to get across. I’m aware that the Maori are people.
anybody listening to this shit?
where’s the Crash McPlane blog?
J Dub – You are not the first person to have left the sarcasm tags off your message. So I apologise for calling you a wanker, even if, statistically speaking, you probably are. I also apologise for saying “much love little black cockroach” in Maori. :-)
JDub – This isn’t a good time to insinuate Holbach is a racist. The Ilk are ready for fresh troll and you just dumped the first smelly pile.
More fun with fundies:
//Think Progress notes that McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds was on MSNBC proudly noting that Todd Palin is a stay-at-home-dad. McCain supporter John Hagee has something to say about that. “You’re too lazy to work and support your children. I’m talking about men. You call yourself Mr. Mom. God calls you a bum. St. Paul says you are worse than an infidel. Let me look you right in the eye and tell you that hell is your future home if all you do is sit on your backside and let your wife support you in your life.”//
The Republican National Convention…
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villiany.
I just realized who Palin reminded me of when she was putting down Obama’s community service: The Vancome Lady from Mad TV!
I still think she’s more of a cross between Phyllis Schlafly and Britney Spears…
Re: Palin and book banning attempts
Article from Time
Librarian and Information Science News
LA Times
Boston Herald
There’s more but I figure by now you’re already crying.
Liesele (@128):
Your links are not links, even though they look like links.
I’ve had this same thing happen to me. Make sure you have closed quotation marks around the URL in the href tag:
<a href=“[full URL text]“>[Link text]</a>
To the fellow who couldn’t read the small print at the bottom of the cartoon, it says “9-4-08 The Philadelphia Inquirer Universal Press Syndicate”. Tony Auth’s signature itself is on the right side of the cartoon.
You can catch up with his recent editorial cartoons athttp://gocomics.com/tonyauth .
Auth manages to piss off Catholics with some regularity. Seehttp://firetonyauth.blogspot.com and smile. Google around and you’ll find similar complaints.
Todd: How about we just stay and repair this one until it’s the symbol of democracy it once was.
Frog: When? 1975-1976?
I’d settle for the time when anyone, even an enemy combatant, still had the right of habeas corpus. I’d also settle for a time when toture was not defined as “enhanced interrogation techniques.”
US democracy is not, and will never be, perfect. Yet, the government, and military in particular, have traditionally held torture as bad and due process as integral to our moral philosophy. Why? Because in the event our troops were captured by the enemy we could apply political and social pressure on the enemy to treat our troops humanely, as that is what we were doing with their troops. I say this as a retired Air Force officer concerned for the well being of our men and women in uniform.
By engaging in practices outside the scope permitted by international law the US has lost the moral high ground as an advocate for human rights. When we condemn China for human rights abuses they simply turn to Gitmo and say, “You have no right to admonish us.” Which they do. And you know what? They are right. So I do not hold some arbitrary date as the goal for which to aim any more than I advocate leaving a country because times are tough. We’re not a theocracy or dictatorship yet – but we will be if we adopt the tactics of those regimes. We can’t allow those people who think “We the people” means “we the majority” to continue to undermine the very document that made the US a symbol of democracy for many years. Yes, symbols are just shadows of reality but at least they cast a shadow; how are we to navigate when the shadow is gone?
Today’s Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic is amazing
http://www.yityat.com/smbc/20080905.gif
It’s a daily comic and it’s full of awesome pro-science, anti-stupid jokes, you’d probably like them.
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1276
ryan: Today’s Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic is amazing
Yes, it is a good one.
: )
@132 & 133,
Huzzah! SMBC = lulz^23
And SMBC has 100’s more that rawk.
war is peace; ignorance is strength; freedom is slavery
We have yellow eyed penguins here in Dunedin, and there are little blues in Oamaru. There are also rock hoppers sightly further south. We also have the world’s only colony of Royal Albatross to nest within city limits.
New Zealand was the world’s first modern democracy. You can’t really call yourself democratic without universal suffrage. In school I learnt about the suffragette movement in the US and England, then the teacher just said that New Zealand women had already had the vote in NZ for years before it even started.
And speaking of Te Reo, Every newscaster in NZ starts their evening news bulletin with the words “Kia ora, good evening.”
Contemplating the style in which that comic is drawn — what is she holding in her hands? McCain’s balls?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-wilson/sarah-palins-churches-and_b_124611.html