Blog Jones

By now, you have no doubt heard that President Bush has issued the first veto of his presidency. He decided that first bill important enough to veto was the McCain-Feingold anti-free speech bill the massive, $400 billion drug entitlement program the Patriot Act a bill designed to fund medical research.

So, instead of being used for research that could cure conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, nerve damage, MS, and Parkinson’s Disase, thousands of frozen embryos will instead be flushed down the toilet, destroyed to no one’s benefit. Good going there, Prez. Thanks.

Now, in fairness, all he did was prevent Congress from spending money on the issue. There’s no ban on private embryonic stem cell research.

But still, Bush waited six years to issue a veto, overlooking both major violations of our civil liberties and massive government waste of our tax dollars, and he when he finally does get around the exercising his veto power, he uses it to prevent funding of potentially life-saving research.

That about sums up our President. Better luck next time!

Blogged with Flock

I’m glad that I didn’t grow up in Seattle. I managed to avoid some of their ridiculous attempts to indoctrinate kids with racist teachings. Let me show you what I mean. The public school system defines cultural racism as follows, with the more egregious parts of the definition in bold:

Those aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to white people and whiteness, and devalue, stereotype, and label people of color as ‘other,’ different, less than, or render them invisible. Examples of these norms include defining white skin tones as nude or flesh colored, having a future time orientation, emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology, defining one form of English as standard, and identifying only Whites as great writers or composers

Now, I happened to take a couple of international business classes, and one of the things we learned about was Hofstede’s Model for defining cultures. This model rates countries on five basic cultural indicators: Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity, Long-Term Orientation, Individualism/Collectivism. Seattle public schools, in their definition of cultural racism, demonstrates that they themselves are culturally racist: They rate having a future time orientation and individualism as somehow inferior to their alternatives.

Happily, however, this incident has generated enough press to get the school to pull down the definition from their website. Hopefully, all the attention will cause the school board to reevaluate their choice of leaders for their schools.

If you’re interested in finding out more, such as how this incident is an argument for school choice, check out these links from Samizdata.net.

One of the most compelling arguments of the anti-illegal immgration camp always been that illegals don’t pay taxes and that they drain services like our welfare system and our hospitals. In fact this is the one argument that seriously gave me pause about supporting open borders.

But according to this article from Reason Magazine, more than 2/3 of illegal immigrants pay taxes. Illegals have been disqualified from welfare, Medicare, and most other services. “The only services that illegals can still get are emergency medical care and K-12 education.”

So, what’s the problem?

(Via Dean Esmay)

It is with great dismay that I observe the rise of modern-day anti-scientists who seem determined to push our society back into the Dark Ages. Distressingly, these attacks against knowledge are often cloaked in the robes of religion.

Take, for example, the case of Robert Sungenis. This guy is a modern-day geocentrist and author of a 1,000 page book called “Galileo Was Wrong.”

According to the Sun-Herald article linked above, he is convinced, due to verses from the Bible, that the earth does not move around the sun. He tries to explain away evidence to the contrary, claiming that there is no proof that the earth revolves around the sun.

But what about Foucault’s famous pendulum? Its plane of oscillation revolves every 24 hours, showing the rotation of the planet. If the Earth didn’t rotate, it wouldn’t oscillate.

Nope, Sungenis said: There just may be some other force propelling it, such as the pull of stars.

If you’re really determined, you can always find some way to explain away any piece of evidence thrown at you.

The man’s website, FixedEarth.com, only serves to further prove his lack of credibility. He uses terms like “the Copernican Counterfeit” and “occult mathematics” as well as a writing/design style that is vaguely reminiscent of the famous Time Cube guy (warning: terrible web design, profanity, raving lunacy).

The point is this: Science needs to be based on evidence, not religious dogma. Quoting the article again, “As Galileo famously quoted 16th century Cardinal Caesar Baronius, ‘The Bible was written to show us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.’”

Neither the Bible nor any other religious work have any place in the realm of science. I say again, base your science on the objective evidence, not on any religious text.

If your interpretation of the Bible is right, then it will stand up to the evidence. If it isn’t, then you need to fix your interpretation of the Bible.

Carefully and objectively crossexamine the evidence. Research. Test your theories against opposing theories. But whatever you do, don’t throw out scientific evidence because it disagrees with your worldview. That isn’t faith, it’s ignorance.

(Via Newsvine)

This is interesting; a guy by the name of Matt Dubay is suing to avoid having to pay child support in a suit that the National Center for Men calls “Roe v. Wade for Men.”

According to the story:

The suit addresses the issue of male reproductive rights, contending that lack of such rights violates the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause.

The gist of the argument: If a pregnant woman can choose among abortion, adoption or raising a child, a man involved in an unintended pregnancy should have the choice of declining the financial responsibilities of fatherhood.
…
“There’s such a spectrum of choice that women have — it’s her body, her pregnancy and she has the ultimate right to make decisions,” said Mel Feit, director of the men’s center. “I’m trying to find a way for a man also to have some say over decisions that affect his life profoundly.”
…
Dubay says he has been ordered to pay $500 a month in child support for a girl born last year to his ex-girlfriend. He contends that the woman knew he didn’t want to have a child with her and assured him repeatedly that — because of a physical condition — she could not get pregnant.
…
Feit doesn’t advocate an unlimited fatherhood opt-out; he proposes a brief period in which a man, after learning of an unintended pregnancy, could decline parental responsibilities if the relationship was one in which neither partner had desired a child.

“If the woman changes her mind and wants the child, she should be responsible,” Feit said. “If she can’t take care of the child, adoption is a good alternative.”

It’s an interesting case. Of course, if the couple were married, this would be much less of a problem. And, of course, abortion is almost always the wrong answer. (I say almost because I think you can justify abortion in cases where the life of the mother is at stake. It’s sort of a self-defense measure.)

But as I understand the law–IANAL^*–the mother seems to be the only one who has the right to give the baby up for adoption, and the father has no say in it. That seems inequitable.

If there is going to be similar responsibility–that of caring for the child–then there should be a corresponding similarity in control. If the mother wants to give up the baby, she can; if the father wants to give up the baby, he should be able to as well.

^* IANAL means “I am not a lawyer”

KMOV, the CBS affiliate in Missouri, reports that the Legislature is considering declaring Christianity the official “majority” religion.

The resolution would recognize “a Christian god,” and it would not protect minority religions, but “protect the majority’s right to express their religious beliefs.

The resolution also recognizes that, “a greater power exists,” and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, “justified recognition.”

I cannot believe this. How do these people get elected?

I don’t think you should be allowed to take a public office until you read the United States Constitution at least once. Ammendment 1 is pretty clear on the topic of official state religions. (Lest you think that this prohibition applies only to the US Congress, recall that the Supreme Court decided in Gitlow v. New York that the Bill of rights also applied to the individual states.)

Leaving aside the blatant illegality of the bill, consider it from a religious perspective: When did Christ ever say that Christians should use the government to suppress opposing religions?

This is utter nonsense.

A terrorist has bombed a Shiite shrine in Iraq. This kind of thing is why I don’t think there will ever be peace in the Middle East.

Before:

After:

On the other hand, maybe there is hope after all.

Muslims across the Middle East – Sunnis and Shiites alike – largely ignored sectarian divides today to unite in condemnation of the the bombing that destroyed of the golden dome that graced one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines.

You know how conservatives are all the time asking why, if Islam is a peaceful religion, Islamic leaders don’t condemn terrorism and violence?

Read this story:

“Islam says it’s all right to demonstrate but not to resort to violence. This must stop,” said senior cleric Mohammed Usman, a member of the Ulama Council — Afghanistan’s top Islamic organization. “We condemn the cartoons but this does not justify violence. These rioters are defaming the name of Islam.”

What more do you want?

In doing a bit of research, I discovered the scstatehouse.net website that lets you search for current SC state legislation by bill number. I typed in random number and found the controversial and dramatic SC Senate Bill #333:

A SENATE RESOLUTION

TO EXPRESS THE CONGRATULATIONS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA TO MS. ESSIE SHEALY OF COLUMBIA ON THE OCCASION OF HER FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY ON FEBRUARY 5, 2005, AND TO WISH HER MANY MORE YEARS OF HAPPINESS.

Whereas, Ms. Essie Shealy of Columbia was born on February 5, 1955, in Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and

Whereas, she is the daughter of Janie Merrill of Lexington, SC, has two brothers; Eddie and Ben; and

Whereas, Ms. Shealy attended school at the Babcock Center and graduated from Airport High School in 1976; and

Whereas, for many years she has attended Camp Hope on the campus of Clemson University and looks forward every summer to seeing her many friends there; and

Whereas, Ms. Shealy is an active member of the Special Education Sunday School Class at First Baptist Church in Columbia where she is also a member of the Hand Bell Choir; and

Whereas, known for her dedication to the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, she attends almost every women’s basketball and women’s volleyball home games and is well known among the Senate as being the world’s largest Gamecock fan; and

Whereas, Ms. Shealy began work in the South Carolina Senate on January 19, 1985 and for 20 years has been a loyal employee and friend to all, keeping her colleagues up to date on each other’s births, deaths, engagements, and marriages; and

Whereas, Essie’s friendly smile and cheerful personality are things that can always be counted on to brighten our days, and her kindness to everyone should be an example for all; and

Whereas, not only is she a devoted daughter, sister, aunt, and friend, she is also a exemplary citizen of South Carolina who has been extraordinary in taking on life’s challenges; and

Whereas, the members of the Senate are pleased to pause to recognize Essie Shealy on her fiftieth birthday so that they may express their high regard and deep appreciation for this outstanding public servant. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate:

That the members of the Senate of the State of South Carolina, by this resolution, express their congratulations to Ms. Essie Shealy on the occasion of her fiftieth birthday on February 5, 2005, and wish her many more years of happiness.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Ms. Essie Shealy.

Well, that was nice of them. How much are we paying these people?

On the other hand, passing resolutions costs no money, while substantial projects cost lots of money. So, more congratulations all around!

UPDATE: As often happens when I don’t take the time to investigate properly, I probably overstated the case. My bad. Eugene Volokh points out why.

It’s still pretty unsettling, but not quite the civil rights violation I thought.
–
One of the key principles of our government is that all citizens have the right to know what laws apply to them. How else can you have due process of the law?

How can you say “ignorance of the law is no excuse” when the government deliberately hides the law from you?

Apparently, however, there are in the United States of America secret laws.

According to Kevin Drum, “John Gilmore is suing the government because he doesn’t think he should be required to show ID before boarding a commercial flight.” The law that requires this action is one of these “secret laws.”

Quoting News.com:

The Bush administration…claims that the ID requirement is necessary for security but has refused to identify any actual regulation requiring it.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals seemed skeptical of the Bush administration’s defense of secret laws and regulations but stopped short of suggesting that such a rule would be necessarily unconstitutional.

“How do we know there’s an order?” Judge Thomas Nelson asked. “Because you said there was?”

….The Justice Department has said it could identify the secret law under seal, which would be available to the 9th Circuit but not necessarily Gilmore’s lawyers. But any public description would not be permitted, the department said.

Excuse me?

The Justice Department is preventing the public from knowing what the laws are? Furthermore, it’s preventing Gilmore from defending himself by preventing his lawyers from knowing what law he may or may not have violated?

And this is coming from the “Justice” Department?

What other “secret laws” are we under? Am I going to go to jail for violating a “secret law”? Perhaps put there by secret police and tried in a secret court using secret evidence?

Are you sure this is still the freest nation on earth?

Let’s hope that the courts rule this unconstitutional. If they fail, my confidence in the American justice system will be severely shaken.

Skepticism Seems to Erode Europeans’ Faith in Rice - New York Times.

Problems with this headline:

1. Weak verb choice–”seems to erode” instead of the stronger “erodes”
2. Poor choice of nouns: Skepticism is roughly the same thing as a lack of faith; both terms are vague and abstract.

Of course, the story isn’t much better. It’s badly biased; since it’s marked “International,” not “Op-Ed,” I assume its supposed to be a hard-news story. Quotes like “Did anybody believe her on this continent, aroused as rarely before by a raft of reports about secret prisons, C.I.A. flights, allegations of torture and of ‘renditions,’ or transfers, of prisoners to third countries so they can be tortured there?” and “Parsing through the speech, Mr. Tyrie pointed out example after example where, he said, Ms. Rice was using surgically precise language to obfuscate and distract” tend to give it away.

And the NYTimes is the country’s top newspaper? Tsk.

Anyways, I’d reword the headline as:
“European Leaders Doubt Rice’s Testimony”

Anything with an active, strong verb and good, concrete nouns.

According to a site called the “Center for Defense Information,” during the Cold War, the secret code that would have been used to launch nuclear missiles at Russia was:

00000000

*cough*

Well.

Apparently, the Strategic Air Command “remained far less concerned about unauthorized launches than about the potential of these safeguards to interfere with the implementation of wartime launch orders.” So they made sure that all the missiles used an easy to remember code.

That’s a little scary.

(Via Digg)

I just found a great presentation from Lawrence Lessig that explains what’s wrong with perpetual copyright, software patents, and other injustices of our intellectual property law. Worth your while.

Donate to the Electronic Freedom Foundation.

The Gideons are no longer allowed to distribute free bibles in Anderson School District 2. The School Board says they’re not legally allowed to encourage or discourage religion (separation of church and state and all that).

Why are they making the change now? Some parent complained about it. If it weren’t for that one parent, they’d probably still be doing it.

Upstate Gideon member Morris Locke said he’s disappointed.

“For many years now, we’ve been able to go into District 2, give students in fifth grade a copy of God’s word.” he said. “We don’t have prayer, we don’t read any scriptures. We just make the Bible available to students who’d like to have them.”

…

OK, so you’ve been shut out of the schools. You’re going to stay shut out of the schools, too. That’s a dead end. Don’t pursue it.

Instead, you need to find some other place where kids congregate to give them free Bibles. Arcades, parks, etc.

Then, if you’re shooed away from there, why not go door-to-door offering free Bibles?

If you’re turned away from apartments with no solicitation signs, why not mail copies to each apartment?

If your goal is to get Bibles into the as many hands as possible, then you’ve still got options, if you’re willing to take them.

That said:

“I feel with all my heart that our religious freedom is being taken away little by little, step by step,” Rev. Arnold Hiette said.

…

I get so sick of this. We are not losing our religious liberties. I mean, look at your President!! Not only that, but look at the fact that he’s appointing two Supreme Court justices! (But you’ll still complain about the “liberal courts” until the day you die)

You can still go door-to-door and witness. You can speak freely about Christ, or whatever else you want to talk about. You can own and read Bibles, in dozens of translations. No one will draw a gun on you if you pray. What right, exactly, has been taken from you?!!

At the same meeting, the school board also banned open prayer at school, but said that moments of silence are allowed.

Note who made this decision: The school board. Not the courts. Not the legislature. Just some petty, low-level government officials over-reacting to one parent’s complaint.

These are people that the parents put into office. If they don’t like it, they can vote them out in the next election.

Note also that a government-run school is not the same as your house. Banning kids from praying out loud for their food at lunch is not the same as the Spanish Inquisition.

Don’t cry wolf here. The government has not infringed your right to religion; save the alarm for when the government really is trying to take away your rights.

The BBC reports today that George W. Bush allegedly claimed to have received orders from God to invade Afganistan and Iraq.

President George W. Bush told Palestinian ministers that God had told him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq - and create a Palestinian State, a new BBC series reveals.

In Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, a major three-part series on BBC TWO (at 9.00pm on Monday 10, Monday 17 and Monday 24 October), Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister, and Nabil Shaath, his Foreign Minister, describe their first meeting with President Bush in June 2003.

Nabil Shaath says: “President Bush said to all of us: ‘I’m driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, “George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.” And I did, and then God would tell me, “George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq %u2026″ And I did. And now, again, I feel God’s words coming to me, “Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.” And by God I’m gonna do it.’”

Abu Mazen was at the same meeting and recounts how President Bush told him: “I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state.”

And here I thought we went to Iraq to clean up some WMD’s.

If what Nabil Shaath says is true, if P. Bush said that, then we’ve got a lunatic in the White House. I wonder which country the voices in his head will tell him to invade next?

UPDATE: The BBC has backed off of the story, and the White House denies the allegations. Thank’s to commenter Jay C for the link.

You ever read something that, although you hadn’t thought about it before, makes total sense? Boileryard Clarke did that for me today.

Ray Nagin is the mayor of New Orleans. In the past two or three days he has been the loudest (and most profane) voice in the country criticizing government agencies for their slow reaction to the disaster in his city. But a question is starting to pop up that kind of informs itself on what we all know about human nature; the best way to deflect blame is to blame somebody else.

So why didn’t the Mayor of New Orleans realize that tens of thousands of his citizens did not have transportation out of town, were essentially stranded, and do something to organize some kind of transportation for at least somebody?

Did he not understand the demographics of his own city?

After telling everyone to get out, serving people who had transportation of their own right nicely, he booked and left his “constituency” stranded. What, exactly, did he expect these people to do? Walk?

Well he’s not exactly Rudy Guliani is he? He sounds more like a street musician who just woke up from a drunk… man.

He is quoted as saying “Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get it here to New Orleans… I need reinforcements. I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man. Now get off your ***** and fix this. Let’s do something and let’s fix the biggest ****** crisis in the history of this country.” A great idea - but where was it a week ago?

Aren’t there busses in New Orleans? Do trains come in and out of the city? With long lines of cars trailing out of the city before Katrina hit, did it ever occur to him to think about people who didn’t have cars and use his own resources to get people out before the hurricaine hit? Brains are resources too, don’t you think?

How is it that now he has this great idea about what the federal government is supposed to do to fix the mess he left his own city in, but when he was busy scrambling around trying to save his own neck he just plain forgot about the sick and the needy and the poor and the hospitals? Why didn’t the mayor figure out a way to evacuate the hospitals?

There’s more; go read it.

Hurricane Katrina is going to cost us a lot of money. Not only will it do immeasurable damage to New Orleans proper, but it’s going to wreak havoc with our refineries, which are already overtaxed: According to Hugh Hewitt:

Lousiana has 17 active refineries, producing about 16% of America’s fuel.

Total American refinery capacity utilization was at 93% in 2004.

American refineries are now operating at 97% capacity, processing 17 million barrels of oil a day (American consumes 20.6 million barrels of oil a day.)

If Katrina takes refinery capacity off-line, the effect at the pump will be immediate. Ther [sic] is no more capacity available to up output within the counry. Shortfalls will have to be made up from imported gasoline suppliers. They are unlikely to be moved by complaints of gauging from American congressmen.

Ouch.

* AT 1137 AM CDT…WIDESPREAD FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE
PARISHES ALONG THE SOUTH SHORE OF LAKE PONCHARTRAIN IN THE GREATER
NEW ORLEANS AREA…AS WELL AS IN PORTIONS OF PLAQUEMINES PARISH.
THIS CONTINUES TO BE AN EXTREMELY LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. THOSE
SEEKING REFUGE IN ATTICS AND ROOF-TOPS ARE STRONGLY URGED TO TAKE
THE NECESSARY TOOLS FOR SURVIVAL. FOR EXAMPLE…THOSE GOING INTO
ATTICS SHOULD TRY TO TAKE AN AXE OR HATCHET WITH THEM SO THEY CAN
CUT THEIR WAY ONTO THE ROOF TO AVOID DROWNING SHOULD RISING FLOOD
WATERS CONTINUE TO RISE INTO THE ATTIC.

From CBS News, via Catallarchy:

Hawaii will begin enforcing a cap on the wholesale price of gasoline next week, hoping to curb the sting of the nation’s highest gas costs.

The limit would be the first time a state has capped the price of gasoline–a move critics warn could lead to supply shortages.

But many Hawaii residents are just looking for some relief from soaring costs.

If you set prices artificially low, then demand will–not might, will–outstrip supply and you will, almost certainly, have supply shortages. It’s time for the legislature of Hawaii to take a basic economics course.

Another painful lesson learned,
this time courtesy of the U.S. Mint: A woman found ten priceless 1993
Double Eagle gold coins among the possessions of her late father. When
she turned them into the mint to be verified as authentic, they
confiscated them from her, claiming that the coins were “taken from the
Mint “‘in an unlawful manner’” in the mid-1930s and now were
“‘recovered.’”

Although they (according to the woman’s lawyer) have no proof of theft,
the Mint is sure that they are illegal because “the
445,500 coins minted in 1933 were never put into circulation because
the nation went off the gold standard. All the coins were ordered
melted down, but a handful are believed to have survived, including two
handed over to the Smithsonian Institution.”

When the woman discovered the coins, she and her son notified the Mint,
which asked to authenticate the coins, which then stole them after
doing so. Mint officials say that they told her “from the beginning
that the coins would not be returned because they were the government’s
property.”

What I can’t figure out is the Mint’s motivation here: Why not just
give the woman her coins back? What’s the harm? They have no plans to
sell the things, and they’ve melted down (!!!!) other such coins that
they’ve stolen in the past. Why won’t the bureaucrats just leave well
enough alone?

(Via Hugh
Hewitt, who finally has an RSS feed now.)

I mentioned the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision a couple months ago; the short version is that, according to the Court, local officials know how to develop your land better than you do. If you happen to be living on some prime real estate that the local government wants, it has the power to throw you off of your land, burn your house, and build a Wal-Mart on the ashes.

Now, from the “adding insult to injury” department (with my emphasis):

This is an absolutely despicable decision on the part of New London. I’m shocked that the homeowners haven’t exercised their Second Ammendment rights yet….