Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Bush On Global Warming

Bush Calls for Global Emissions Goals – washingtonpost.com
President Bush today outlined what he described as a new initiative to combat global warming, calling on other nations to work with the United States in setting a long-term goal by the end of 2008 for reductions in greenhouse gases.

I’d like to slap Bush across the face right about now. Really hard.

How many years have people been pleading with Bush to take seriously the threat of global warming? Only now — now that he’s likely to go down in history as one of the worst presidents ever — does he start talking about finally doing something to address the problem. Now that his term as president is running out, now that he’s not quite so beholden to all his rich buddies in the oil business, now that the war in Iraq is going so badly — a war that’s all about oil and, by extension, global warming. NOW he wants to work with other nations to combat global warming.

I feel another really hard slap coming on.

Never mind that many other nations are YEARS AHEAD OF THE UNITED STATES on this issue. Has Bush never heard of a little thing called Kyoto Protocol??

Grrrr… Bush is such an asshole!

Slap! Slap! Slap!!

Data360

Wow! What a great web site! Data360 has… uh… DATA about all sorts of things: Crime statistics, public opinion, you name it. A person could spend hours wandering around this site. Consider, for example, this graph showing miles per gallon and greenhouse gas emissions by car. You know how you always thought hummers were a blight upon the landscape? This data proves it.

There are all sorts of other interesting things to see here: data showing that people would rather elect a homosexual for president than an atheist, data showing that the number of people in the US who don’t believe in evolution is quite a bit lower than in pretty much every other industrialized country — except Turkey. We’re a little bit ahead of Turkey on that.

Enjoy!

An Homage

Cognitive Daily: Info-boxes and resistance to science
There’s been lots of commentary online about Paul Bloom and Deena Skolnick Weisberg’s article about why children (and adults) often resist learning scientific information. Deric Bownds gives the money quote from the article:

“Resistance to science will arise in children when scientific claims clash with early emerging, intuitive expectations. This resistance will persist through adulthood if the scientific claims are contested within a society, and it will be especially strong if there is a nonscientific alternative that is rooted in common sense and championed by people who are thought of as reliable and trustworthy.”

I was a fortunate child. My father, despite his many other faults, was interested in science and learning and he had a surprisingly wide range of interests for a guy who was an iron worker. He listened to opera and liked to read and wanted someday to see the pyramids in Egypt. He wasn’t around home much and my parents split up permanently when I was about 11 years old but I think his interest in learning must have rubbed off on my older sister in a positive way because it was she who, more than anyone else in my life, most memorably influenced my enthusiasm for science and learning.

We had a set of Golden Book Encyclopedias that, if I recall correctly, my mom picked up at the grocery store. (It was one of those deals where you could buy one volume each week at a relatively low price.) When I was young and I’d ask my sister (who is five years older) a question about this or that, she’s often say “Well, let’s look it up” and we’d go over to the encyclopedias to see if we couldn’t find the answer. We lived in what was, at that time, a fairly rural area so many of my questions would be about different kinds of plants or animals.

Those encyclopedias got a lot of use! They eventually just fell apart. (I suspect they weren’t all that well-made to begin with.)

At any rate, my point in taking you on this little trip down memory lane is to demonstrate how early influences can shape a person’s entire life. My sister taught me that science provides reliable answers about the world and that those answers are available and understandable if you just go looking for them. (I should also mention that our maternal grandmother was a librarian and, though she died when I was only about 7 or 8 years old, while she lived we made good use of the Crystal Bay library’s resources too.)

I was lucky to have the kind of sister I had. She might read this and feel a little embarrassed about all this praise, but people should hear about the good they’ve done in their lives. Not only did my sister have a hand in making me the smart and interesting (and modest!) person I am today, she also raised four children — all adults now — who are also smart and interesting. And, though it probably goes with saying, my sister is herself exceptionally smart and interesting.

When I began this post I really hadn’t expected to be going on and on like this. I thought I’d just briefly describe the childhood influences that led me to become an adult who trusts science. I guess you just never know when an homage will sneak up on you.

——

I just discovered this related posting on one of the ScienceBlogs about discussing science with kids. If this sort of thing interests you, be sure to read the comments from other people. Not surprisingly, people who are successful at getting kids interested in science are those who aren’t afraid to answer their questions with, “I don’t know. Let’s look it up.”

And here’s another longer post (by the same author) about the same thing. It’s all very interesting and anyone who has children — or spends any amount of time around children — or who plans, at some point in their lives, to spend some time around children — should read and absorb this information. Teach children about science. Teach children to recognize bullshit.

THIS Stephen M. Hunt Is NOT A Moron

Over a year ago I wrote a post entitled “Stephen M. Hunt: Moron”. It was a criticism of a guy (named Stephen M. Hunt, duh) here in Fairfax County, Virginia who was all upset about the positive treatment of homosexuality in the Fairfax school system. Well, you can read the original post and see for yourself. The guy’s a moron.

As it turns out, though, there’s another Stephen M. Hunt — in the UK, it appears — who is unhappy about that blog post title showing up when his name is googled. Interestingly, this sort of thing is becoming more of an issue as my blog is becoming more popular. At any rate, that Stephen M. Hunt has requested a post for clarification, and I’m happy to comply because he seems like a nice enough person.

The Stephen M. Hunt who is most certainly NOT a moron is the one who wrote “An outline explanation of how therapy heals”, published in the European Journal of Psychotherapy Counselling and Health, 2002. He also has a play that’s going to be produced by The Icarus Theatre Collective.

Good luck to you on that, Stephen M. Hunt — playwright and smart person.

The Universe Of The Future

A.D. 100 Billion: Big Bang Goes Bye-Bye: Scientific American
Cosmologists have put themselves in the shoes of their future counterparts by pondering the consequences of dark energy, an enigmatic force discovered in 1998 that seems to be pulling galaxies apart at a steadily increasing clip. Eventually, this accelerating expansion of space will yank galaxies away from each other faster than light can travel between them, leaving our galaxy and its immediate neighbors isolated in a vast darkness.

In the process, all current evidence for the big bang would either vanish or become so diluted as to be imperceptible, says cosmologist Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University, who has studied the idea with Vanderbilt University physicist Robert Scherrer. “It will lead them to the wrong conclusion about what the universe is doing. The universe will look static, and that’s vastly wrong, because the universe is expanding so fast they can’t see it.”

This is all very interesting, but it’s based upon a very unlikely scenario where the intelligent beings of 100 billion years from now are just like today’s humans in their sensory abilities, intellect, and tool-making skill.

Assuming earth still exists in 100 billion years — and at the rate we’re going that’s no sure thing — there’s no way we can even begin to guess what any life on the planet (assuming that still exists) might be like.

If there’s still life, if it’s intelligent, if it is sort of like us in its thirst for knowledge and if it’s been around long enough to have evolved beyond where we’re at right now (a whole bunch of “if”s), then it will probably have a MUCH better understanding of dark matter and dark energy than what we’ve currently got. (And that’s pretty much zero.) SO — who knows what will be happening. It’s fun to speculate but it’s meaningless. There’s just no way to know what “we” might understand in 100 billion years.

Here’s my prediction, though: We’re going to discover that “dark energy” is a manifestation of some of those otherwise undetectable dimensions predicted by string/brane theory.

Remember you read it here first, folks.

The Latin Mass

Pope Considers Return to Latin Mass – washingtonpost.com
The pope’s plans are being welcomed by “traditionalist” Roman Catholics who are still in good standing with Rome. These Catholics simply prefer the Tridentine service over the modern one _ and their numbers are reportedly growing, particularly among the young for whom the old Mass is actually new.

I like the Latin Mass.

When the Mass is always in Latin, a Catholic can go anywhere in the world and still understand the prayers and the rite. It gives a person a sense of belonging — these are my people, no matter where they might live.

It adds to the feeling of the Mass being a special thing when a special language is used. It contributes to the sense of the rite being something outside of ordinary life.

When the priest faces the congregation, it makes the the Mass seem like something that’s done “to” us — when he’s turned facing the same direction as the rest of us, it suggests more strongly that the Mass is being done “for” us — that the priest is our representative.

Remember Their Sacrifice — And Never Forget Who It Was That Sold Their Lives So Cheap

Bush Pays Tribute to Fallen U.S. Troops – washingtonpost.com
“Now, this hallow ground receives a new generation of heroes: men and women who gave their lives in places such as Kabul and Kandahar, Baghdad and Ramadi,” Bush said. “They believed in something larger than themselves. They fought for our country and our country unites to mourn them as one.”

Yes, indeed. They did believe in something larger than themselves — and their patriotism, their desire to serve the greater good, was used in the most obscene kind of way to serve the selfish interests of Bush and his cronies in the oil business.

Iglesias Q&A on the Washington Post Site

David Iglesias on U.S. Attorney Firings, Goodling Testimony – washingtonpost.com
Check out a posting that Harvard Law School did a couple of weeks ago. Prof Fried, I think. He says US Attorneys are like federal judges, we come into our jobs through the political process, but then are required to stay out of politics. Main Justice is more politicized now than it has in the past, but be patient, that will change.

Actually, it was Professor Heymann at Harvard Law School who made the comment about attorneys being like federal judges.

U.S. attorneys are political appointees, as are federal judges, but once in office they have an overriding responsibility to justice in individual cases and to pursue justice without fear of retribution from political operatives of any administration.

You can read the entire article, which does also include comments from Professor Fried, here. It’s worth having a look. Heymann, in particular, is very specific about the kinds of things an Attorney General can and cannot do.

Goodling’s Just Deserts

Officials Describe Interference by Former Gonzales Aide – washingtonpost.com
A 1999 graduate of Regent University law school in Virginia Beach with six months of prosecutorial experience, Goodling was among a small coterie of young aides to Gonzales who were remarkable for their inexperience and autonomy in deciding the fates of seasoned Justice Department lawyers, according to current and former officials who worked with the group.

Goodling has been accused of using a “political loyalty test” in the hiring of new Justice Department lawyers, stalling or blocking the employment of attorneys who were “too liberal”.

I can’t imagine that many people who are at all familiar with Regent Law School could have been too surprised by that. While I doubt law students there are specifically told to do anything improper, it’s very clear that Regent Law School sees itself as an incubator for the fundamentalist Christian conservative leaders of tomorrow. In other words, yes — the wacko nutjobs do want to take over the country and they’ve got their own accredited law school for creating the scary young fascists to do just that.

Eek!

And leave it to George W. Bush and his band of civil-rights-denying bureaucrats to plunk the little thugs into positions of power and influence.

“All I ever wanted to do was serve this president, this administration, this department,” Goodling tearfully told a senior Justice official shortly before she quit, according to a transcript of his interview released by the House committee last night.

Notice that? Not serve our country or our citizens. Not even serve the principle of justice. That’s exactly where the problem lies, my friends. These people either don’t understand or don’t care about the big ideas. Justice. Freedom.

That should worry you. It sure worries me.

Homosexuality In The Animal Kingdom

Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted): Gay Flamingos Raise Born-Again Chick
A pair of flamingos have become proud foster parents after they took an abandoned chick under their wings at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, Great Britain. But this probably doesn’t sound unusual, until you know that the birds, Carlos and Fernando, are two male Greater Flamingos. Despite both being male, they had resorted to stealing eggs from other pairs as they sought to fulfil their desperate desire to start a family of their own.

Carlos and Fernando have been together for six years and are doing a fine job of raising their new chick. I’d love to hear the explanation fundamentalist “Christians” have for this kind of thing. Was it a “lifestyle choice” on the part of these two and the other homosexual flamingo pairs like them?

Read the entire article. It’s interesting how they helped Carlos and Fernando bond with the youngster.