Doggycide Roundup: 04/06/13

Rocko the German shepherd

It seems I forgot all about last week’s post. Mea culpa. Consider it a little reprieve, which ends … now.

Fresno, CA (uncertain date): Officers and a police dog chasing a domestic abuse suspect trespass into private yard, then shoot & kill Huera the resident pitbull when she naturally attacks the intruders.
(via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

Greenfield, CA (uncertain date): Kids torment Rocko the German shepherd ^[pictured] in his backyard. Rocko gets angry, breaks out and chases kids away without attacking or injuring anyone, then returns home. Police arrive, shoot & kill Rocko in his yard.
(via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

Chicago, IL (03/20/13): Middle-of-the-night no-knock drug raid results in Lokey the pitbull mix being shot & killed after barking and approaching the violent intruders. Owner maintains Lokey wasn’t aggressive.
(via @radleybalko)

Concord, CA (03/22/13): Police entering a homeless camp allegedly attacked by a “pitbull terrier”, shoot & injure the animal. Dog flees before being brought to a vet; current status unknown.
(via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

Regina, Saskatchewan, CA (03/23/13): Police follow their K9 into a private yard with a chained pitbull; K9 and pitbull fight; officers fail to separate them, so they shoot & kill the pitbull.
(via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

Auburn, WA (03/28/13): Officer investigating vandalism claim approaches home, allegedly gets attacked by Lala the pitbull who “jumped out of a window” and “growled” at him, then shoots & kills her.
(via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

And finally, a palate cleanser: Another police department (this one in Arvada, CO) to receive additional dog behavior training to try and curb animal shootings.
(via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

Statistics:
Shootings: 6 · Victims: 6 · Deceased: 5 · Survivors: 1 · Power Breeds* (dogs stereotypically maligned as “aggressive”: pitbulls, rottweilers, dobermans, etc.): 5

Another Venn diagram of irrational nonsense

Just two weeks after Crispian Jago gave us the Venn Diagram of Irrational Nonsense (a variant of Jago’s Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense, which itself recently got upgraded), Imgur user dehydrationstation now presents an even more detailed and comprehensive version with “An Organized Collection of Irrational Nonsense” (previous versions here):

[full size (1024×1024)]

There’s something reassuring to the fact that no matter how wide the variety of ways these bollocks can be classified, Scientology will always have its spot of (dis)honor right in the middle of it all.

(via Friendly Atheist)

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.

Federal judge strikes down age limits for morning-after pill

It’s once again up to the courts to inject a little sense into what should be an open-and-shut affair:

A federal judge ruled Friday that the government must make the most common morning-after pill available over the counter for all ages, instead of requiring a prescription for girls 16 and younger. In his ruling, he also accused the federal government of “bad faith” in dealing with the requests to make the pill universally available, and said its actions had been politically motivated.

The decision, on a fraught and politically controversial subject, comes after a decade-long fight over who should have access to the pill and under what circumstances. And it counteracts an unprecedented move by the Obama administration’s Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, who in 2011 overruled a recommendation by the Food and Drug Administration to make the pill available for all ages without a prescription.

In a decision in a lawsuit filed by advocates, the judge, Edward R. Korman of Federal District Court, ruled that the government’s refusal to lift restrictions on access to the pill was “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable.”

Judge Korman ordered the F.D.A. to lift any age and sale restrictions on the pill, Plan B One-Step, and its generic versions, within 30 days.

It still boggles the mind that Secretary Sebelius ruled against the FDA’s previous recommendation at all. But then, maybe I’m just used to living in a country where sense and reason prevail over some (usually religiously-rooted) prudish delusion that all those sweet little youths wouldn’t possibly engage in any naughty playtime together behind their parents’ backs, so why would they need access to birth control, anyway?

Hell, I’m such an unabashed desecrator of “traditional values” that I’d like to see all forms of birth control made available over-the-counter for all ages, and free of cost to boot. I’d even do the same with abortifacients, albeit with an added screening process, even though they aren’t remotely akin to contraception. (Not that the usual ignorant wankers care the slightest about such details.)

(via Joe. My. God.)

Ancient Peruvian mountain ice undone in two decades

Whoulda thunk it: Those conspiracy-mongering scientists are so influential with their all their “climate change”-talk that they’ve even got the weather around the globe going along with their crazy warnings:

Glacial ice in the Peruvian Andes that took at least 1,600 years to form has melted in just 25 years, scientists reported Thursday, the latest indication that the recent spike in global temperatures has thrown the natural world out of balance.

The evidence comes from a remarkable find at the margins of the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru, the world’s largest tropical ice sheet. Rapid melting there in the modern era is uncovering plants that were locked in a deep freeze when the glacier advanced many thousands of years ago.

[…]

Global warming, which scientists say is being caused primarily by the human release of greenhouse gases, is having its largest effects at high latitudes and high altitudes. Sitting at high elevation in the tropics, the Quelccaya ice cap appears to be extremely sensitive to the temperature changes, several scientists said.

[…]

Throughout the Andes, glaciers are now melting so rapidly that scientists have grown deeply concerned about water supplies for the people living there. Glacial meltwater is essential for helping Andean communities get through the dry season.

In the short run, the melting is producing an increase of water supplies and feeding population growth in major cities of the Andes, the experts said. But as the glaciers continue shrinking, trouble almost certainly looms.

Douglas R. Hardy, a University of Massachusetts researcher who works in the region, said, “How much time do we have before 50 percent of Lima’s or La Paz’s water resources are gone?”

Over a millennium’s worth of accumulation undone in a few short years? Impending water shortages that threaten millions of people? Bah, it’s all just a hoax from all those alarmists and lying scientists and whatnot. No need to actually do anything at all. Everything’s just fine. After all, would corporations lie to you?

(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

Roger Ebert passes away

Well, fuck:

(Chicago Sun-Times)

Particularly upsetting (at least for his readers, amongst which I include myself) is how this news comes barely two days after he announced a temporary “leave of presence” as a new recurrence of cancer was forcing him to scale back his workload. He was even excited at the prospect of finally being able to indulge in a dream of his by reviewing only the movies he wanted to review. The man was forever an optimist.

Quoth PZ Myers: Goddamn motherfucking cancer.

And so departs the world’s most famous film critic, an uncommonly talented writer, an accomplished blogger (I’d never demean him with the label of “pundit”) and a profound and evocative thinker. He was also active in the social sphere, being a vocal supporter of equality and a proud liberal through and through (often to the vapid ire of wingnuts, so you know he was doing something right).

Of particular relevance to me, he was a noted defender of the Theory of Evolution and a large part of the process that introduced me to skepticism and atheism in the first place when I came across his timeless deconstruction of Ben Stein’s Creationist/ID propaganda flick, Expelled. (You can even see my [embarrassingly naive and amateurish] comment from way back when I still believed Evolutionary Theory and Intelligent Design were compatible. Though, in my defense, I was young(er), I was only a quasi-IDist out of ignorance – but of course, who isn’t? – and it didn’t last long).

But above all, Roger Ebert was a staunch humanist (even though he dodged the label of “atheist” as many agnostics do) who always strove to find the best in our fickle little world, and to ameliorate the grittier parts of it. But in simpler terms, he was just a fundamentally good and compassionate man whose ethos can be summarized by this timeless quote of his (which may as well be the motto of liberalism, itself): “I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.”

Farewell, ol’ chap. We were lucky to have you for as long as we did.

Georgia students fight for school’s first desegregated prom

Scenes from a post-racial America, specifically in Rochelle, Georgia:

Stephanie and Keela are white and Mareshia and Quanesha are black. They're seniors at Wilcox County High School, a school that has never held an integrated prom during its existence.

"There's a white prom and there's an integrated prom," said Keela.

The rule is strictly enforced, any race other than Caucasian wouldn't dare to attend the white prom.

"They would probably have the police come out there and escort them off the premises," said Keela.

That was the case just last year as a biracial student was turned away by police. It's been that way for as long as anyone can remember and it doesn't stop at prom. Homecoming is also segregated. Normally, there would be a court for each race, but for the first time the school decided to elect only one homecoming court, Quanesha won. But there were still two separate dances.

[…]

There will still be two proms this year. Neither proms are financed by or allowed to take place at Wilcox County High School. The students said that when they pushed for one prom, the school offered a resolution to permit an integrated prom that would allow all students to attend but not stop segregated proms.

Well, that’s odd. I just checked, and indeed, I didn’t somehow wake up in the early 1900s this morning.

Luckily, the students are paving the way for progress, though they’re finding it much harder than it should be in 20-fucking-13 to get a government-sponsored, publicly funded institution to drop the whole segregation thing [EDIT: 04/07/13 12:32 PM ET – I just realized my error: The proms aren’t school-sponsored, but are private-funded events organized by the community, instead, which is the only reason this shit is legal]:

So the girls are taking matters into their own hands.

"If we don't change it nobody else will," said Keela.

They're part of a group of students organizing a prom for everyone to attend, called the "Integrated Prom", but everyone is not fond of the idea.

"I put up posters for the "Integrated Prom" and we've had people ripping them down at the school," said Keela.

The group says they will continue to make progress even though there doesn't seem to be much motivation to change.

"We need to stick with the tradition," Quanesha said mockingly. "This is a traditional thing we don't need to change and stuff like that, but why? No one can answer my question.

"Exactly," responded Keela. "They think nothing's broken so don't fix it."

It remains to be seen whether the people of Wilcox County will remain steadfast in their pro-segregationist beliefs now that the media and Internet are about to bring a little more scrutiny upon their bigoted heads than they’re used to.

The world is a disturbing place sometimes.

(via Wonkette)

The wages of political expediency for equality

On the one hand, does this chart represent a core problem with US politics (if not democratic governance in general) by illustrating the cravenness exhibited by the ruling class as they bend over backwards and disregard their own stated principles to appeal to the whims of their voter bases in the naked hopes of gaining support for reelection (particularly when juxtaposed with public support for the same)? Of course:

On the other hand, it’s also fucking awesome how far the drive for equal rights has taken the US political climate.

There may be hope for democracy yet.

(via Joe. My. God.)

Daily Blend: 04/02/13

Dr. Deandre Poole

So, I guess that should read “exemplary teacher ^[pictured] threatened by student after asking class to step on piece of paper with Jesus’s name in harmless exercise on cultural sensitivity”. And he’s been receiving death threats from those ever-lovin’ Christians, of course.

I was in kinda-sorta-loose agreement with Sam Harris right until he says “[t]here is no such thing as Islamophobia” and that “[it] is a term of propaganda”. Now that’s how you shipwreck an argument, folks. (If he wants to contest the conflation of genuine criticism with bigotry, he should stress that ‘Islamophobia’ only applies to the latter, not that it isn’t actually a thing.)

Reality: Hoaxer dude calls domestic violence counseling line with phony abuse story, repeatedly refuses offered assistance to find free shelter or contact authorities. MRAs: “Abused man ‘denied help’”!

Public Policy Polling does conspiracy theories, reveals an average 10–15% of Americans are effin’ nuts. Not sure why “Bush lied about Iraqi WMDs” is counted as a myth, though.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

And finally, it’s getting almost impossible to tell when Vox Day is being either seriously or facetiously stupid.

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

A little comparison between the two vaccine camps

Herein is a tale of two sides in the vaccine manufactroversy. On the one hand, we have the reality-based camp, which just got renewed confirmation via yet another study:

A new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics Friday may put [worried parents] at ease. Researchers found no association between autism and the number of vaccines a child gets in one day or during the first two years of the current vaccine schedule.

The research was led by Dr. Frank DeStefano, director of the Immunization Safety Office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Together with two colleagues, DeStefano and his team collected data on 256 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 752 children who did not have autism. The children were all born between 1994 and 1999 and were all continuously enrolled in one of three managed-care organizations through their second birthday.

The researchers not only counted how many vaccines a child was given, they also counted how many antigens within the vaccines children were exposed to over three different time periods: birth to 3 months, birth to 7 months and during the first two years. They also calculated the maximum number of antigens a child would receive over the course of a single day.

[…]

"When we compared those roughly 250 children with ASD and the roughly 750 children who did not have ASD, we found their antigen exposure, however measured, were the same," said DeStefano. “There was no association between antigenic exposure and the development of autism."

The researchers also found no association between antigenic exposure and ASD.

And on the other hand, we have anti-vaccinationist fear-monger David Kirby, lying about a vaccine-related court case at (where else?) The Huffington Post. Orac reports in his wonderfully thorough (if long-winded) fashion:

Alternately: “Obama almost accidentally cleans up news media”

Now this would’ve made for one awesome April Fools: “White House Accidentally Orders Drone Strike on Fox News Headquarters”:

On Thursday, at approximately 2:37 AM, members of the Joint Chiefs alerted President Obama that the Drone Strike System or DSS had activated and that several fully armed drones had been sent to deal with an “immediate threat to national security”. The President, realizing the system’s mistake was able to abort the attack just seconds before missiles would have destroyed the headquarters for the conservative media outlet.

Surprisingly, the strike was not the fault of a programming error. The DSS monitors more than 10,000 specific threat characteristics to determine if an immediate response is necessary. If the system deems that the threat is imminent and that immediate action is vital to protect the nation, it will preemptively launch a strike. “DSS worked the way it was supposed to”, states Chief Engineer Chip Boolean. “Fox hit over 90% of the key threat characteristics created by the Department of Defense.” Some of the threat characteristics picked up by the system included direct threats to the President of the United States, supporting hate groups, perpetuating racism and spreading untruthful propaganda to facilitate public disharmony. Concluded Boolean, “Once Fox hit 9,000 of the 10,000 threat characteristics, the system engaged. Fox News runs 24-hours a day so, DSS saw the threat as imminent and acted accordingly. I would like to clarify that contrary to speculation, one of the threat characteristics was not the canceling of Joss Whedon’s brilliant TV show Firefly in 2002.”

It’s only too bad the original at Free Wood Press has apparently been taken down as of this writing.

Headline of the Day: Sins come in threes

(IrishCentral)

(via The Daily Grail)