Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

The death of 100 million Americans began this week with a roar in our rugged Rocky Mountains. There, two mountain lions infected with bubonic plague were found. They were already dead… as if they were meant to be found that way, by our most valuable class of citizens: Scientists with extensive technical expertise.

Consider this: If those two dead mountain lions with bubonic plauge were found by accident, then how many must be roaming around across America now, with fangs bared, just ill enough to wander into town and just strong enough to draw blood upon attacking human beings?

A lot, that’s how many, and that’s a big number!

You know what a synonym for animal is? Fiend. Fiend! This is, by definition, a fiendish plot.

Now just who would engage in a fiendish plot to spread a biological weapon like bubonic plague across the United States? The terrorists, that’s who. Clearly, this is a purposeful attack on the USA by terrorists, using infected cougars with open sores and bloody fangs to create a new plague, a Black Death to sweep across the lower 48 and Alaska.

Think about this: The last time the Black Death hit humanity, it killed about one third of everyone living in Europe and Asia. Surely, it death rate will be the same this time around, if it hasn’t gotten even worse. That’s 100 million Americans who are going to die, at a minimum.

We have seen the beginning of the death of America as we know it!

The decision to go to war in Iraq, approved of by some American politicians, was one of the stupidest moves in modern American history. It wasn’t just a wrong decision, it was a horribly bad decision. This decision has needlessly hurt the country and the world.

Here are the names of some 2008 presidential candidates. Here are their positions on the Iraq war in 2002-2003:

(If someone could help me figure out where Richardson and Vilsack stood on Iraq in 2002 and 2003, I’d appreciate it.)

To those who opposed the war in Iraq in the first place, we should grant the benefit of the doubt the next time an important issue comes along.

To those who waffled on the war in Iraq, we should offer our outstretched hand but be ready to run. We should listen very carefully to what these people say and don’t say.

To those who supported the war in Iraq, we should say, “You got the biggest decision of your career dead wrong. Why should we ever, ever trust your judgment again?”

If you’re having a faith-based campaign for President, it should be no problem to fail miserably as governor of a large state and yet continue to harbor presidential aspirations. This is the path charted by George Pataki, who leaves Albany this year as one of the most unpopular governors in New York State history. Pataki is so unpopular that he didn’t even try to run for re-election this year. What’s a Pataki to do? Run for President, of course!

Pataki is one unsavory character. In his attempts to gain right wing support for a campaign for President in 2008, Pataki took many radical steps, such as vetoing legislation that would have improved access to the morning after pill as a form of emergency contraception. Pataki claimed that if he didn’t veto the legislation, teenagers across New York State might come to harm. To harm from what? Harm from not getting pregnant while still in high school? The veto was given after pressure from right wing religious groups, whom Pataki apparently regards as part of his political base.

Now it appears that Pataki’s long political maneuvering was all for naught. The Republican base doesn’t seem interested in supporting Pataki’s campaign for President anyway. Apparently, just being from New York State is reason enough not to get Republican support.

Jeff Kramer of the Syracuse Post Standard lampoons George Pataki’s rapidly sinking presidential fortunes of the Pataki for President idea in an article entitled, Support for Pataki in Iowa up in smoke. The new Republican Party chairman in New York State, Joseph Mondello, refuses to support the Pataki for President campaign.

On the blogfront, Hoffman’s Hearsay advises Pataki, “Don’t bother man, just ride off into the sunset like a good boy.” The Rock Town Blog comments, “Rumors of New York State Governor George Pataki’s larger ambitions are nothing new and have swirled for years. The real news would be if he actually had a chance.”

From the way it’s looking so far, I’d guess that George Pataki will drop out of the presidential race before he even gets the chance to throw his hat in. However, self-delusion has always been one of Pataki’s dominant personality traints, so keep an eye out for Pataki, just in case.

Right wingers are down low, low down. How low down? How down low? They’re lower down than prairie dogs. In fact, they’re so low down that they’ve been using their power over the federal government to mess with prairie dogs.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald at the United States Fish and Wildlife Service was recently caught doctoring scientific papers so as to make it appear that endangered species in fact were not in need of protection.

Here’s what the Union of Concerned Scientists has to say about how MacDonald messed with the prairie dogs:

“Documents show that MacDonald directly tampered with a scientific determination by FWS biologists that the white-tailed prairie dog could warrant Endangered Species Act protection, and further, prevented the agency from fully reviewing the animal’s status. Handwritten and Microsoft Word “track changes” edits show MacDonald herself eliminated or disregarded information from the draft finding that would have led to a positive determination, while declaring that further study is necessary. She also changed scientific conclusions, and even added erroneous scientific information that confused the distinct white-tailed and black-tailed prairie dog colonies. Accompanying emails indicate MacDonald ordered the finding to be changed from positive to negative.”

Julir MacDonald’s predatory practices were not restricted to the attacks on prairie dogs. Read more of the report from the Union Concerned Scientists to see what other critters Julie MacDonald went after.

It isn’t just here in the United States that the Religious Right is trying to keep the evidence for the evolution of species through natural selection hidden. In Kenya, leaders of Pentacostal Christian churches are starting a campaign to pressure the National Museums of Kenya to remove fossils of ancient hominids from public view because the existence of those fossils contradicts the claims about the supernatural origin of life on Earth proposed in the book that forms the basis of Christian religion.

The fossils include not only Homo erectus, a human species that predated Homo sapiens, but Australopithecus anamensis as well. Australopithecines are categorized in a separate genus than humans because they have a combination of traits that seem to be like those of the ancestors we share with chimpanzees and bonobos and those that are distinctive of humanity. One or more of the australopithecine species is likely to be a human ancestor, though australopithecines were not quite human themselves.

Looking at fossils of extinct species like Homo erectus and Australopithecus anamensis, as well as the many other ancient hominid species that have been discovered and can be seen in museums and research institutions around the world, one phrase comes easily to mind: “Missing link”. That phrase comes to mind, but it isn’t exactly accurate. After all, these links between ancient ape-human common ancestors aren’t really missing, are they? No, in spite of what Creationists like the Kenyan Pentacostals claim, those links have been found, and can be seen quite clearly in places like that museum in Nairobi.

How embarrassing for the Creationists.

Even more embarrassing is the reaction of the Kenyan Creationists. Confronted with clear evidence that their religious beliefs are not literally accurate, the Creationists have not adapted their beliefs to fit with reality. Instead, they are trying to cover up the evidence. They’re demanding that those fossils of extinct hominids from Kenya be hidden from public view, so that people won’t be able to see the truth.

From Kansas to Kenya, Creationists are working hard to replace information with ignorance, converting schools into seminaries and museums into mythological exhibitions. Seminaries and displays of mythology ought to be allowed in their own places, but those of us who prefer to be able to access information that has not been filtered by religious censors ought to be able to find what we’re looking for.

I just got myself a wafflemaker. A simple, basic wafflemaker. It’s fast, it’s hard to screw up, it’s easy to clean up, and it makes delicious waffles. My question is this: why do people make fun of wafflemakers when they are so great?

A fascinating piece of scientific research was announced today, though most people overlooked it, just as people on a boat in the middle of the ocean might not notice a tsunami rolling underneath their feet. Well, ignore this story at your own peril!

It turns out that 8,000 years ago, a big piece of Mount Etna fell off into the ocean and caused a gigantic tsunami to shoot across the Mediterranean Sea. This tsunami was over 130 feet tall. To understand how tall that is, imagine stacking 520 standard-sized salt shakers, one on top of another. That’s how high the ancient watery wall of death was.

What the scientists in the study decided not to publish is the fact that most of Mount Etna remains above sea level, but could drop into the ocean at any second, given the right circumstances. Such an event would create a tsunami that would make the ancient wave of destruction look like a mere ripple, and destroy European civilization south of the Alps!

Given such destruction, the European Union would surely fall apart, and the United States would have no serious rivals in its quest for world domination. Thus, a one world government would not be far behind.

Is it any wonder, then, that tidal wave monitoring equipment in the Mediterranean is not calibrated to report the scale of such a catastrophe? Why, it’s almost as if someone wants this disaster to take place, without any possibility for people to try to escape the waves.

Who is planning this attack against Europe anyway? Could it be, perhaps, the Knights of Malta, who just so happen to be promoting an “independent” candidate for President of the United States in 2008? The coincidences are too great to dismiss.