Why can't I have neighbors like this guy?

PZ found rhis by Marcus Brigstock. I like it so now it's here too.

What Justice Looks Like Under GWB

Based on the performance of Alberto Gonzales and some of the key GWB appointees, it is becoming clear that the justice department and the rest of our country's judicial system, from the supreme court down, under this president, have been seriously damaged and corrupted for the purpose of prosecuting political opponents and securing totalitarian power in America. Here is a discussion of the model as it is being tested for roll out in this country.>>

Maybe They'll Find His Head

Here>>

Splat

Via Mark Kleiman:

Employing Hilzoy's massive mind and professional philosophical training to criticize Michael Gerson's ramblings is a little bit like swatting a fly with a tactical nuclear weapon, but, boy oh boy is it fun to watch. By the time she's done, there's nothing left of Gerson but a little spot of grease.

Hilzoy makes an important general point: on some topics, especially technical ones, newspaper editors recognize expertise, somewhat limiting the depth of nonsense they'll allow in print. But on other topics, they act as if all opinions were equally valid. That is an error.

I can only watch and marvel at how little of Gerson remains, just vapor really.

Believe In Jesus, Not Because He Was Real But...

Michael Gerson has done very well for himself. He barely managed to get out of a religious high school and didn't manage to get a degree at the theo institute he "attended" but, none the less, eventually got a good job writing copy for Bush. I suspect Karen Hughes probably got him hooked up in a lot of the places he's been working. But he is a credulous god zealot and I have no respect for anything of his I've ever read including and especially the presidential speeches he generated for G. W. Bush. But how the Washington Post can publish his stuff with a straight face, I'll never understand. In this particularly bad display of logic and knowledge he asserts that folks should believe in god because they will be better off even if god does not exist. Huh? Well I started to jump in the middle of that when I found Mark Kleiman beat me to it and he is much better at tearing Gerson's stupidity apart than I could ever be. Go ye there and enjoy>>

Stupid Terrorist Designed Airplane Parts?

Everything about the recent so called terrorists that tried to set off car bombs in Britain reminds me of the old movie The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Too bad they are still being reported as real terrorists.

But today I saw an article in the NYTimes that says one would be terror suspect worked as an engineer for some airplane company. From what I saw about their dud bombs, I think we should be more worried about the parts he designed that may be flying around in some airliners. Get out the steel umbrellas.

Clinton Did It Too - Oops

The right is screeching that Clinton did it too when talking about Bush letting Libby walk. Libby had the goods on Bush and Cheney and would probably have squealed had he faced prison time. But a new wingnut talking point is that Clinton pardoned Marc Rich - as if two bads make a good.

Let's remember that Rich's case was a tax matter on which legal scholars differed as to the proper tax treatment. But most importantly on the current point is that Scooter Libby was Rich's defense lawyer who argued the case that Rich was not guilty of any wrong doing.

There were hearings then. [Clinton, Feb 18 2001] The case for the pardons was reviewed and advocated not only by my former White House counsel Jack Quinn but also by three distinguished Republican attorneys: Leonard Garment, a former Nixon White House official; William Bradford Reynolds, a former high-ranking official in the Reagan Justice Department; and Lewis Libby, now Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff. . . .

It is also important to note that Clinton waived executive privilege and allowed his aids to testify before congress in the matter of the Rich pardon, with no holds barred. I'll bet Bush won't match that.

The Fearfull

I see a lot of this crap - Christians trying to censor everything they come across in life, especially "to protect their kids". I just let mine go to church and all that stuff. I figured like P Zed, that it was good for their immune system. It was for mine. Here is a link to Pharyngula and the rest of the story is linked from there. The high school chap is my hero. Go>>>

There Is No Limit To The Bush Corruption.

After Scooter got freed I saw something from a few days ago I can't get off my mind. It starts with:

There were many words that you could not stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. Certain numbers were the same way and certain dates and these with the name of the places were all you could say and have them mean anything.

Abstract words such as glory, honour, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates.

Ernest Hemingway

Maybe the best blog entry I've ever read after the jump.>>

Before Genesis

Creationists are always yapping about the big bang theory not telling us anything about what the universe was like before the big bang. I've always wondered instead, what it was like before Genesis. But that question usually just got me in trouble back when I had to go to church so I could eat. I don't give a crap now.

But there may well be testable ideas about the real universe before the big bang after all. Phil @ Bad Astronomy has a good intro to Loop Quantum Gravity and some new ways to looking at the universe. Go thee and read it.>>>

Invisible Sky Daddy; Debunked Again

Hitchens amusingly outclasses Mathews and Sharpton with clear thinking common sense articulation of reality versus mangled myth.