For our readers down under, and all over

It struck me today, going through comments and posts, that we have a healthy international contingent at the big Z, and for those participants, the daily twists and turns of US politics may seem bewildering. Or at least a bit fuzzy; understandable, especially if you aren’t directly affected by them and don’t follow the insane drama 24/7. You all have my eternal envy if you fall into the latter category. Australia seems to have a strong skeptic community, plus they speak English! So, in the spirit of turn-about is fair play, I did a virtual walk-about through the political landscape down under. [Read more…]

Paul Ryan discovers Ayn Rand was an atheist .. Oh Noes!

Back in 2009, Paul Ryan, GOP reptilian baby eating loser who wants to end Medicare and send the surplus to his zillionaire cronies, loved himself some Ayn Rand. Saying “Ayn Rand, more than anybody else, did a fantastic job explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism, and that, to me, is what matters most.” You know already what happened, don’t ya? [Read more…]

Teacher fired by Catholic school for getting pregnant the ‘wrong way’

The Roman Catholic Church loves them some babies, babies from incest, babies from rape, babies from unmarried consenting adults, doesn’t matter. They’re all good. But their view on parents is whacked out. For example, when a teacher and her husband turned to in vitro fertilization, the church canned her despite exemplary performance. Not sure how this will play out legally, because it turns out churches get a special pass on discrimination unavailable to any other employer: [Read more…]

Charles “Chuck” Colson passes away at 80

The born-again mastermind behind Nixon’s dirty tricks, Charles Colson, has died. He was 80 years old. Colson was serving time for a break-in and burglary of Daniel Ellsberg, one of the many people populating Nixon’s secret enemy’s list (Which Colson helped write), when he came to Jesus and went on to a sort of second life as a spokesperson for the evangelical right: [Read more…]

The Republican brain … on science


The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science — and Reality by Chris Mooney
Publisher Wiley; available on Kindle

During the darkest days of the Bush era, science writer Chris Mooney made a big splash in the publishing world with his first book detailing the Republican war on science. This month his newest effort, what could be nicknamed the Republican brain on science, hit the shelves. In it you will find Mooney is a stickler for detail, always important in any book on science, especially one with a bold title. But this is no clinical read, the book is a blast right off the bat, framing the main subject marvelously in the juiciest claims and tastier bits of conservative pseudoscientific lore readers here have come to lovingly know and ridicule. [Read more…]

Us anti-science liberals have been taken to task by a brave anonymous emailer

Given the current anti-science jubilee going on among wingnut foot soldiers on the orders of their ignorant field commanders, you wouldn’t think they’d make a fuss about science. But you’d be wrong. One bold, fearless, anonymous member of the Keyboard Komanndos is mad as hell and they’re not gonna take it anymore! [Read more…]