Daily Blend: 05/08/13

Sylvia Browne

In case you needed more evidence that “psychics” ^[pictured] are bullshit-peddling vultures.

Vox Day says the whole idea of “warrior women” is totes ridiculous ’cause what woman would stand a chance against a dude, anyway? (Pay absolutely no attention to all these real-life warrior women who became legends for kicking [mostly dude] ass.)

Here’s a collection of 154 common global warming denialist claims and their easy refutations.
(via Pharyngula)

Oh, noes! The awesome Eugenie Scott, scourge of Creationists everywhere as the head of the National Center for Science Education, retires.

And finally, here’s a dog who tries so hard to make that branch into his stick:
(via @radleybalko)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: 04/05/13

Joe Rogan

PZ Myers voices my exact thoughts concerning Sam Harris vs. Glenn Greenwald on “New Atheism” and Islamophobia.

Benevolent sexism in a nutshell: Compliments are nice; applying them to stereotype an entire category of people is less so. (See: “Asians are good at math”, “Blacks are good at sports”, etc.)
(via Pharyngula)

Phil Plait (the Bad Astronomer) isn’t happy with all this anti-vaccination, anti-global warming, anti-Constitution bullshit going around.

Today’s proudly bigoted “comedian”: Joe Rogan. ^[pictured] He’s since continued on Twitter, naturally.

And finally: “Give me a napkin quick. There's a turd floating through the air.” “I didn’t do it. It ain’t one of mine.” — actual astronauts aboard Apollo 10.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: 03/20/13

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

Happy tenth anniversary to the clusterfuck in Iraq and the spoon-fed lies that got the US populace to go along with it.

Another underage victim blamed for being raped by football players. Some people are just fucking sick.

Why is it that so many of those in charge of laws pertaining to computers and the Internet are absolute morons about computers and the Internet? (Though, to be fair, Rep. Gohmert (R-TX) ^[pictured] is usually wrong about everything.)

Another day, another blatantly dishonest global-warming-denying article from a renowned crank in a Daily Mail-associated tabloid.

I’m really embarrassed by fellow progressives’ penchant for nanny statism at times. Is it really that hard to commit to the ideal of personal freedom even if it means allowing people to make unhealthy choices?

Faithlessness is healthy and growing in Canada.

More of that Christian Love^TM, this time in Nova Scotia, Canada.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Jon Stewart

A sad reminder that liberals/progressives can be racist idiots, too.

Is there any climate-change-denialist argument (read: lie) that doesn’t invariably boil down to blatantly cherry-picking data?
(via @BadAstronomer)

While reading this breathtaking(ly bizarre and repugnant) homage to North Korea, try to keep in mind that it is not from The Onion.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

And finally, Jon Stewart ^[pictured] to take three-month hiatus from The Daily Show (which will be babysat by John Oliver) to direct his first feature film.
(via @ebertchicago)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Monday, February 18, 2013

Rhonda McGee

Iowa woman ^[pictured] “arrested and charged with intent to manufacture [crystal] meth” after buying cold medicine for her allergies – without even violating legal limits.
(via @radleybalko)

In case you somehow missed it, Phil Plait has breathless coverage of last Friday’s spectacular Russian meteoric fireball, along with a reassurance that no, the Universe is not out to get us lately (any more than usual, that is).

The Heartland Institute: Still a bunch of lyin’ liars about climate change.
(via @BadAstronomer)

And finally, here be morans. (To be fair, the handrail looks like it broke and slid askew rather than got installed that way.)
(via @RichardWiseman; RT: @pzmyers)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Monday, December 03, 2012 – Sleepless edition

Rick Santorum

The fun thing about trying to forcibly rearrange your sleep schedule is that for a few days, you effectively have no sleep schedule. Oy.

Owners of Mississippi’s only abortion clinic go to court in hopes of preventing its demise.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

Unbelievable: House Oversight Committee flacks lecture vaccine-advocating scientists about all the usual anti-vaccination myths and delusions. Where’s that basic science litmus test for elective office?
(via @BadAstronomer)

Meanwhile, climate change denialists lie their asses off in yet another garbage-packed opinion letter that gets just about every single thing wrong.

Wow: Freethought Blogs’ Ashley Miller was just disowned by her redneck father for dating a Black man. ’Scuse me while I go check my calender.
(via @jennifurret)

And finally, the only thing remotely surprising about Rick Santorum ^[pictured] joining the WorldNetDaily is that it took this long.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Pie chart: Why climate deniers have no scientific credibility

Think what you will of simplified charts, but they do carry a point across with devastating clarity:

A little more detail:

By my definition, 24 of the 13,950 articles, 0.17% or 1 in 581, clearly reject global warming or endorse a cause other than CO2 emissions for observed warming. The list of articles that reject global warming is here. The 24 articles have been cited a total of 113 times over the nearly 21-year period, for an average of close to 5 citations each. That compares to an average of about 19 citations for articles answering to "global warming," for example. Four of the rejecting articles have never been cited; four have citations in the double-digits. The most-cited has 17.

The author also explains why the remaining 99.83% of published peer-reviewed climate articles aren’t just blindly assumed to support the reality of anthropogenic climate change:

I read whatever combination of titles, abstracts, and entire articles was necessary to identify articles that "reject" human-caused global warming. To be classified as rejecting, an article had to clearly and explicitly state that the theory of global warming is false or, as happened in a few cases, that some other process better explains the observed warming. Articles that merely claimed to have found some discrepancy, some minor flaw, some reason for doubt, I did not classify as rejecting global warming. Articles about methods, paleoclimatology, mitigation, adaptation, and effects at least implicitly accept human-caused global warming and were usually obvious from the title alone.

More precious data to keep in your back pocket for the next time some denialist tries to make it sound like there’s any kind of a debate within the scientific community concerning the reality of (almost certainly anthropogenic) climate change. You know, like they do when pretending there’s any real scientific disagreement about the Theory of Evolution. Or that vaccines cause autism. Or that HIV doesn’t lead to AIDS. Or any other bogus idea that flies in the face of any other thoroughly well-established fundamental of the scientific world.

(via Pharyngula)

Daily Blend: Wednesday, November 07, 2012 – The Re-linkening

Consider this a continuation of my previous “wrap-up” post as the dust continues to settle. There’s plenty of good and a smidgeon of bad, so hold onto your butts:

The good —

LGBT: Last night was a major win for equality with same-sex marriage passing by popular vote in three states (and a constitutional ban failing in a fourth), the election of the first-ever openly lesbian senator, and the fall of anti-gay candidates everywhere like flies.

Meanwhile, in the schadenfreude department, Sen. Scott “racist” Brown (R-MA) and Rep. Joe “deadbeat dad” Walsh (R-IL) are both kicked out.

Oh, and Troy, Michigan’s notoriously homophobic mayor, Janice Daniels, is also out on her bigoted ass.
(via Joe. My. God.)

New Hampshire: I wonder how many men feel discomfited now that both state senators, both representatives, and the governor are all women?

Florida: The Sunshine State did particularly well, with voters turning down abortion restrictions, killing a ban on Obamacare’s health insurance mandate, and preventing taxpayer money from going to churches and religious schools. Upholding abortion rights, healthcare reform and secularism all in one – not to shabby for a state renowned for its zaniness.

More good Floridian news: Rep. Allen West (R) will soon be Rep. no longer, possibly as a result of all that crazy shit he’s always spewing.

Atheism: While the only openly atheist Congressperson, Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), lost his seat after decades of serving the progressive community, candidate Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), rumored to be both an atheist and bisexual, is winning, though her opponent isn’t conceding yet.

Drug Laws: Massachusetts approves medicinal marijuana, though a similar initiative fails in Arkansas.

So, all in all, I guess this means those polls weren’t skewed against Republicans after all.
(via Joe. My. God.)

And finally, we can safely say that yes, FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver is (probably) a witch. (Or just very good with statistical analysis. Either way.)

Daily Blend: Saturday, October 27, 2012

Andrew Messina

Interactive map shows details on every single drone strike in Pakistan under the Obama administration. One wonders how many “militants” were actually military-aged male civilians.
(via @ggreenwald)

Horrible: Cherokee County, GA parents call police asking for negotiator to help their suicidal 16-year-old son ^[pictured]. Cops arrive with a tank and a sniper, who then shoots and kills the boy. Parents maintain he never acted aggressively and are planning to sue.
(via @radleybalko)

It’s getting hard to maintain any respect for the good done by the Cato Institute when they go and pull bullshit stunts like this.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Politicians censor inconvenient global warming facts

Those climate scientists are such an inconvenient bunch. There they go, predicting how climate shifts will inevitably cause sea levels to rise, leading to coastal flooding across several U.S. states with grave human and economic implications, with no care at all about how this news affects people and their corporate overlords.

Well, thankfully, politicians are doing something about it. Not about global warming or its effects, that is – about those loudmouth scientists:

Like-minded legislators and state officials in Texas, Virginia and North Carolina — states with their own coastal vulnerabilities — have shown Florida just how to deal with such annoyances. They erase offending words and passages. They made it flat out illegal for state planners and zoning officials to refer to nettlesome scientific findings that might hurt coastal property values.

Last year the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which had commissioned a scientific study of Galveston Bay, excised references to rising sea levels. “You can debate climate warming, but sea level is going up; it’s measured globally, with satellites,” the study’s lead author, John Anderson of Rice University, told reporters. “For them to be so bold as to remove it — they actually omitted whole sentences that mentioned sea level rise.”

Now, one might ask: Why? Why go to such blatantly dishonest lengths to deny the actual science in favor of dwelling in a fantasy world? Well, as a government flack made it quite clear:

A spokesman shrugged off the criticism, noting that the commission had paid for the study (albeit with public funds): “We have the right to make sure it reflects our views.”

As always, I love it when they take all that annoying guesswork and presumption out of it and just flat out lay their ideologically motivated denialism on the table for all to see. “The science says we’re wrong, so fuck science.”

I wonder, though … shouldn’t a government outfit that commissions a study have some sort of a responsibility not to lie to the public whose own money was used to pay for it? Especially since, y’know, it’s about how their homes will eventually be destroyed by the very climate change lawmakers are trying so hard to pretend isn’t really happening.

(via @ClimateHotNews)

Edit (06/18/12 1:57 PM ET) – Rephrased “public when it’s their own money that was used” to “public whose own money was used” for clarity.

Tags: global warming • climate change • Climate Central • FAU Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions • Texas Commission on Environmental Quality • Texas • Virginia • North Carolina • Florida

Report: Only 10% of Americans are climate change denialists

Well, this is interesting. With all the media hysterics and false equivocation about global warming (particularly in the United States), it makes it seem like denialists are something of a majority, or else that the American people in general is evenly split on the issue of whether man-caused climate change is occurring or not. Thankfully, a new report gives me one less reason to mistrust the hoi polloi, as it turns out that contrary to the media spin, those with their heads stuck in the sand are actually a minority in the U.S., and by a wide margin:

Published last month by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, the report (pdf) shows that Americans are far less polarized about global warming than is commonly believed. Among other things, the report also found strong support for government action to address global warming, including support for a revenue neutral carbon tax, regardless of political party preference.

Researchers found that a strong majority of Americans (72%) believe global warming should be a political priority and they want their elected officials to do something about it. An even stronger majority (92%) think that developing clean energy should be a political priority. The survey also showed a majority of Americans think that protecting the environment actually improves economic growth and creates jobs.

So why do Americans have a skewed vision of the public's opinion on global warming? According to Anthony Leiserowitz of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies at Yale University, one of the report's principal investigators, a media bias for controversy combined with an extremely vocal minority of "Dismissers" are the driving forces behind the perceived polarization.

Here’s how the demographics break down:

Daily Blend: Monday, May 07, 2012

Anne Lenhart

Handicapped woman arrested over false fraud suspicions is latest victim in the war on prescription painkillers.
(via @radleybalko)

State Farm, drink giant Diageo and other sponsors start bleeding from the Heartland Institute after its ghoulish global-warming-denying billboard “experiment”.
(via @BadAstronomer & @BadAstronomer)

Your brain on Fox News: No, dinosaurs didn’t fart themselves into extinction.

Man dies some time after being victim of “unwanted cranial ammunition acquisition”.
(via The Agitator)

xkcd does college majors.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: painkillers • prescription painkillers • Anne Lenhart • CVS Pharmacy • pharmacies • Diageo • Heartland Institute • billboards • State Farm • sponsors • Global Warming • global warming denialism • PZ Myers • farts • flatulence • Fox News • sauropods • greenhouse gases • greenhouse effect • William Pace • Guinness World Records • xkcd • college • university • majors

Heartland Institute compares global warming proponents to criminals and terrorists

In which the discredited global-warming-denying conservative “think tank” Heartland Institute presumably took a look at the pantheon of lowly, shameless far-Right demagoguery, scratched its chin, and figured, “Fuck it, let’s show these amateurs how it’s really done”:

That’s not a fake, nor is it a poe. (After all, even satirists have a sense of self-restraint and basic human decency.) Nor is the Unabomber alone in representing global warming believers; other billboards reportedly feature Charles Manson and Fidel Castro, with potential future mascots including Osama bin Laden and James J. Lee (who took hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters in 2010). Because if they believe in something, then it must be wrong, whatever it may be, and anyone else who share the same select beliefs must be wrong. And bad. Very bad. Enough to merit being compared to terrorists and mass murderers. Or something. (Also, they appear to have forgotten about Hitler. ’Cause at this point, why the hell not?)

It’s funny; as much as there is to denounce about this latest horrendous campaign, there’s frankly little that actually needs to be said – though not that it’s prevented approximately half the Internet from collectively blowing a gasket these past few hours (see Phil Plait’s post for a few links of many). And to really clinch the whole thing, get a load of the Heartland Institute’s own shameless rationalizations for pulling such a stunt:

The people who still believe in man-made global warming are mostly on the radical fringe of society. This is why the most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen.

That’s just one snippet from the veritable avalanche of denialist bullshit they call a press release. And after only 24 hours (albeit 24 too many), they’ve decided to pull the plug on this “experiment” with some more written manure [my emphasis]:

Daily Blend: Friday, April 13, 2011

Joe Muto

Where are all the black cats we were promised? I call false advertising.

Well, that was fast: Gawker’s Fox Mole ^[pictured] exposed and fired – and still blowing the whistle.

Debunking more climate change denialist nonsense from 49 former NASA employees (who aren’t climate scientists).
(via Bad Astronomy)

Meanwhile, Vox Day predictably parrots anti-global warming claims without mentioning how that research has been grossly misrepresented.

Roger Ebert reviews Bully.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: The Fox Mole • Gawker • Fox News • Fox News Channel • Joe Muto • Shawn Otto • NASA • National Aeronautics and Space Administration • global warming • climate change • denialists • Middle Ages • Zunli Lu • Medieval Warm Period • Vox Day • Theodore Beale • Bully • Roger Ebert

Daily Blend: Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Peter Gleick

My thoughts on Leaked-Heartland-Anti-Global-Warming-Documents-Gate, in (sorta-)brief: The only (major) objection I would have with what Peter Gleick ^[pictured] did is if he stole someone else’s identity rather than forge a fake one (and I withhold judgment on that matter until I see confirmation either way). Otherwise, I can only support his actions (even though he apologized for his self-called “serious lapse of [his] judgment and ethics”). No laws were broken, no-one was harmed in their persons or rights, and in the end, truth trumps all. Not that it stops Heartland from crying foul, nor the usual denialist suspects from crowing – even after cheerleading for the “Climategate” perpetrators (who actually did break the law, unlike Gleick) only a couple years previously. But then, denialism of any flavor does usually come bundled with weapons-grade hypocrisy.

All in all: No harm or foul (again, as long as Gleick didn’t steal any real person’s identity), the truth won out, and the anti-science liars are whining because someone used (a watered-down version of) the same tactics they so eagerly applaud when used against actual scientists. It’s only sad that Gleick now faces a ruined career for having ostensibly done the right thing.

And with that out of the way, I now present your links:

Dead-child law in 3 … 2 …
(via The Agitator)

Death by denial: A look at the (literally) dying field of HIV/AIDS denialists.
(via The Daily Grail)

Pathetic smear piece in The Telegraph: Richard Dawkins should apologize for having a distant ancestor who owned slaves hundreds of years ago!

• On that subject, Vox Day never misses a shot at making a more pathetic ass of himself than I thought possible.

Oh, Canada: Ontario universities sign ridiculous copyright agreement stipulating that emailing links is equal to photocopying, incurring heavy fees.

Homeowner to armed burglar who just shot him in the head: “F—- you, you son of a bitch, now it's my turn.”
(via @radleybalko)

The march sprint to Idiocracy continues.
(via The Daily Grail)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Michael Truluck • Kris Keys • energy drinks • dead-person laws • HIV/AIDS denialism • Richard Dawkins • The Telegraph • Adam Lusher • Henry Dawkins • Vox Day • Theodore Beale • Canada • universities • Access Copyright • Western University • University of Toronto • burglary • home invasion • Jay Leone • Samuel Cutrufelli • Ultimate Taser Ball • extreme sports • stun guns • Taser

Daily Blend: Monday, January 30, 2012

Excellent essay by Radley Balko on the chilling effect of the war over prescription painkillers on pain patients and the medical community.
(via @radleybalko)

Also, another excellent essay by Adam Gopnik on the U.S.’s vast prison state. (And meanwhile in the Netherlands …)
(via @ggreenwald)

Ed Brayton on the battle of government regulation vs. deregulation (and why the Libertarian idea of a self-correcting “free market” is folly).

Phil Plait rips into climate-change-denying articles in the Wall Street Journal and The Daily Mail.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: prescription painkillers • chronic pain • doctors • opioids • Oxycontin • Percocet • DEA • Drug Enforcement Administration • USA • United States • prison system • Netherlands • Ed Brayton • externalities • Libertarians • free market • regulation • deregulation • The Wall Street Journal • The Daily Mail • David Rose • Phil Plait

Daily Blend: Sunday, January 29, 2012

JT Gaskins

• 17-year-old cancer survivor ^[pictured]: I want to grow my hair to donate to charity. High school: That’s against the rules, so you’re suspended.

• Ho-hum: Yet more anti-global warming claptrap in the Wall Street Journal.

• Art in The Simpsons.
  (via The Agitator)

• Taxonomy of animal horror movies.
  (via @radleybalko)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: JT Gaskins • Madison Academy • cancer • charity • Locks of Love • Peter Gleick • The Wall Street Journal • scientists • The Simpsons • paintings • horror films

Daily Blend: Friday, September 16, 2011

• Dept. of Transportation now wants to ban e-cigarettes on planes for “passenger comfort”.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Texas schools slowly (and hopefully surely?) realize that abstinence-only sex ed doesn’t work.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Canadian “psychic” Nikki ^[pictured] finally accepts Randi’s Million Dollar Challenge. Okay, just kidding – she cowardly backs out after making up phony excuses.

• Spot the fallacies! Vox Day: One physicist denies global warming = scientific consensus is no more.

• Heartbreakingly cute: Ginger-furred seal pup abandoned by the rest of his colony.
  (via @jakiking)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: electronic cigarettes • cigarettes • Department of Transportation • airplanes • sexual education • sex ed • Texas • contraception • Nikki • psychics • Million Dollar Challenge • frauds • Vox Day • Ivar Giaever • physicists • seals

Daily Blend: Saturday, July 30, 2011

Taser MAUL

• Phil Plait blows a gaping hole in recent Forbes climate denialist article.

• Meet MAUL: Taser Intl comes up with a brand new way to shock people at a distance, shotgun-style [pictured].
  (via The Agitator)

• Also, new research reveals Taser Intl’s safety tests were skewed into unreliability. Shocking.
  (via The Agitator)

• WorldNetDaily is shocked – shocked! – that scientists would change their minds after finding new evidence. My friend Diaphanus nails it: “Science can't win with those people. If it changes, it is an unreliable dogma and is no better than those obsolete religions, and therefore is no good. If it stays the same, it is a dogma just like religion, and therefore is no good.”
  (via Diaphanitas)

• Creepy old man with camera in a kids’ park turns out to be grampa taking pics of his grandson.
  (via The Agitator)

• 18 things you need to believe in to be a Republican.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Forbes • Roy Spencer • global warming denialism • Taser International • tasers • MAUL • Archaeopteryx • Xiaotingia zhengi • WorldNetDaily • WND • Pocatello, ID • Republicans • GOP • Iron Knee

Guest post: On Holocaust Denialism

This is a guest post by my good friend Gene Burmington. I wanted to diversify my blog content a little, and we arrived upon the horrible subject of holocaust denialism; I forget whether he offered or I asked, but regardless, here’s what he sent me, in full and unedited, save for a few spelling fixes (because those red underlines bug me). (Obligatory disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in the guest post content are the writer’s and do not necessarily reflect my own. Though, considering I accepted to show this on my blog with my recommendation, they tend to align.)

---

Unidentified painting of internees at a labor camp

Holocaust Revisionism is defined as any definite action to either deny or curb the seriousness of the event everyone understands as the Holocaust.

This is an important thing to bear in mind because there are few events in history that should not be diminished in meaning and scope, and the holocaust is one of them. It is a black mark on history to remind all of us that horror and cruelty is entirely possible even in civilized countries.

Before world war two, Germany was just as industrialized a nation as any other country in Europe. Sure, they were reeling from the consequences of the Great Depression, but overall Germany was held on par with France and Britain as far as sophistication was concerned even despite the fact that there was much blame on Germany for starting the first war.

That aside, yes, this was the proof that not merely lawless countries can perpetrate genocide. Thanks to the wonders and organization of bureaucracy, though, the process of killing people was made much simpler and organised-sort of how we slaughter cattle nowadays, unfortunately.

The problem is that this system of death was so efficient that deniers claim that if the Nazis wanted to kill all the Jews as soon as possible, then there would be none left. By that logic, there was no Holocaust because the Nazis did not do so, so genocide was not their final solution.

I'm sorry to say that this is incorrect; If German bureaucracy was so efficient, it would have all the supplies and fuel that Rommel or Paulus needed and they could keep on pushing the Allies back. Fortunately, Germany only lost because they didn't know how to allocate their resources or how to use them. If Germany had focused on building fighter planes instead of bombers or V-1 rockets, there would be no Battle of Britain and the Nazis would control all the islands of the U.K..

There have been a number of different arguments used by revisionists, but they all fall into the same cache; the Holocaust either didn't happen or wasn't as bad as people portrayed it to be. Here's a question-why are there no revisionists claiming that the Holocaust was WORSE than it was, or claiming that Sudan is perpetrating a modern Holocaust?