NOOOOOOO!

There’s another billboard in Minnesota, asking if we’re missing a recent American president.

i-36926332e55cab84ce910da6d05ffac9-bush_billboard.jpeg

No.

I look forward to the day he dies, so I can plan a trip to Texas to piss on his grave. I much prefer the alternative billboards, but even they fail to my required standard of measured vitriol for this scumbag.

There is a poll to answer the question.

Are you missing George Bush?

A billboard has appeared in Minnesota, showing a picture of George Bush and asking: ‘Missing me yet?’ Is it time to start feeling nostalgic about the Bush era?

31.3% Yes. We miss his firm resolve
68.7% No. You’re joking, right?

30% yes? Unbelievable. Bush was a catastrophe for our country, and several others.

Dutch poll needs a little help

Dutch creationists have put up a foolish little poll — surprise them with a little adjustment.

Hoe is het leven op aarde ontstaan? (How did life arise on Earth?)

God schiep het leven in zes dagen (God created life in six days)
69.4%
Door Evolutie (By Evolution)
20.7%
Door Spontane Generatie (By Spontaneous Generation)
5%
God stuurde de evolutie (By god-directed evolution)
4.1%

God schiep het leven in langere tijd (God created life some time)
0.8%

Er is een intelligente ontwerper maar onbekend wie (There is an unknown intelligent designer)
0%

I don’t know which way I want this poll to go

Some guy named Gerard Alexander has an opinion piece in the Washington Post titled “Why are liberals so condescending?” I will say one thing in its favor: it gets to its point quickly and clearly in the first few sentences.

Every political community includes some members who insist that their side has all the answers and that their adversaries are idiots. But American liberals, to a degree far surpassing conservatives, appear committed to the proposition that their views are correct, self-evident, and based on fact and reason, while conservative positions are not just wrong but illegitimate, ideological and unworthy of serious consideration.

Unfortunately, it’s downhill from there. He does demonstrate nicely that many liberals do categorize many conservatives as idiots, but he doesn’t seem capable of addressing the question of why they think that. It’s mostly a lot of waa-waa about the tone and how this attitude is an obstacle to politics.

He doesn’t consider the obvious explanation that many conservatives are amazing idiots pursuing idiotic policies.

Seriously. Sarah Palin.
Conservatives defending Palin’s stupidities. Republican candidates for the presidency who are certain that the earth is only 6000 years old. A Republican party dominated by the religious right.

Years ago, I would have considered Alexander to have a good point: that on some policies, such as economics, conservatives had something to contribute. But then they elected Reagan and Bush and the crowd of clowns in congress, and any claim to being a serious political party went out the window. They are the silly party now, and where they do the most damage is when pompous wankers demand that we treat them seriously simply because they are the conservative party we’ve got. No, we shouldn’t: we should laugh them out of office until they come up with candidates who aren’t stupid shills.

So I’m divided on the poll accompanying the article.

Who is more condescending?

They’re both impossible 12%
Conservatives 22%
Liberals 66%

It’s really just an attempt to tar liberals with another insult — ironic for an article that is so condescendingly disparaging liberal tone — but it’s also true. We are more condescending. Because most conservatives are so deserving of condescension.

It’s like a poll, sorta kinda

On facebook, you can vote for a concept by joining a fan group…and right now, there is a group called “We can find 1000000 people who believe in evolution before June.” I think they can; they’re approaching the 10% mark right now. Just follow the link and click on the “Become a fan” button.

Don’t get all pedantic and academic over the word “believe,” either. We know that the nature of our belief in evolution is very different than the creationists belief in their god: we have a provisional, non-dogmatic acceptance of the overwhelming evidence for a powerful theory. It’s just that that phrase is ponderous and pretentious when “belief” is a simple English shortcut to the meaning.

Aww, we broke their poll

It was a particularly silly poll that asked if the bible was the divinely inspired word of god, and we very quickly ran the answer up to a definitive “NO”, so the poll owners did something predictable: they closed it.

Survey suspended temporarily.

We appear to have been the victims of a hacking attempt to stuff the ballot box.

We are investigating. Your patience is appreciated.

Uh, there was no hacking. It was an open poll. We visited the site and clicked on the buttons, just like it said we should and could. The only problem was that their poll didn’t arrive at the answer they site owners wanted, so they rejected the answer.

That tells you everything you need to know about these polls.

Poll needs more godless input

And this is just the place to muster it! I can see one problem in it, though: the creators of this ridiculous poll have cunningly split the good answers into two, so we have a double challenge: we should run up both the first and fourth answers to outnumber the other two.

The Bible: God’s Word or pious myth?

9% The Bible is a book of myth and is of human origin

77% The Bible is inspired by God in all its parts

5% The Bible is partially inspired by God and partially uninspired

2% The Bible is untrustworthy and irrelevant

6% Don’t know

I wish they’d done a little consolidation. The bible is a book of pious myths created by humans, and is untrustworthy and irrelevant. Ready, set, pharyngulate!