Sententia questions from Sandefur

1. Why does evolution matter at all? And really, that's two questions.

a. First, is it important as a scientific matter, at the level of research? I've heard that the theory of evolution has some application to diseases. Is this true? Is Darwin considered a great scientist by modern scientists?

b. Is there something particularly appalling about evolution ignorance that doesn't apply to ignorance about, say, the War of Independence? Why do pro-evolutionists get so angry about the prospect that kids won't know about Darwin if the other people got their way? Surely, kids are ignorant about a lot of important things, are they not?

2. How could anyone's religion possibly be threatened by the theory of evolution? I'm genuinely baffled here as well. Surely, if one believes that God is almighty, and if one believes that God created man, then God could create man however the heck he liked. Is the objection to the theory of evolution merely that it contradicts the literal 7 days and 7 nights bible creation story? Or are non-literalists offended by evolution in some other way?

These questions are framed in tone and with contextual signifiers that make them appear to be flippant and satirically rhetorical. And therein lies the substance of the entire discussion. To write such an assinine sentence as "I'm genuinely baffled here as well" openly disdains and trivializes the discourse with the apparent intent to dysphemically ridicule members of religious groups as well as express disdain and contempt for furtherance of the whole issue. Why?

The author is clearly not interested in generating serious ongoing philosophical engagement on the topic of belief. Nor is the author willing to risk a lengthy critique of the lack of hermeneutically sound principles upon which our 21st century scientific methodologies are premised. And it is entirely unlike the author wishes to open lines of questioning about the semiotic constructs of terms like "theory," "ignorance," "create," and so forth.

These questions are too easy to respond to flippantly and malodorously. They are intended to be so, in that the nature of "what matters," and what matters to whom when, are offered not for response but for crass showmanship. What does really matter? Ultimately not very much if you are not beholden to one's self interests and private property and pursuit of economic power. And that is the rub here; the underlying essence of all of this, and that is why it is all too sad.

Vidistine nuper imagines moventes bonas?

so there is this new commercial for the American Red Cross about donating blood. on the surface that seems okay. But!!!! the whole premise is that it is too difficult to work towards protecting and saving the environment of the earth so don't do that, just donate blood. imagine that, coming from the wife of the president as executive director of the ARC. What a bunch of stupid fascists. well not so stupid, considering how many people will gobble that premise up and accept the idea that when given the choice save a few fellow citizens rather than do anything to make the whole of the planet, and all of its species safer and healthier for everyone.

is it really Howdy Doody time, Buffalo Bob??

Arses meus id comedit

It did too, really!! Preparing as i am to get back on the road after being offline and away from all news for two seven weeks, i am amazed how little has changed in the chaotic world. The US bribes Oz to support a separate climate agreement w/ China and India claiming that "it" wants to help reduce greeen house emissions; all of this of course is total BS. Nowhere in the proposed agreement is the US emissions mentioned. Why is that? Well it turns out that one round trip airflight from NY to Paris and back is equal to the same quantity of catastrophic carbon release as the power produced by Staten Island needs for one hour. Where are we going to reduce?? Yes we will sell China and India some technological designs they can engineer and build in their countries, eventually selling them back to us and ever more increasing the trade deficits. But ultimately Oz gets screwed because it is the first continent that will fully feel the impact of rising sea levels, rapid loss of Ozone protections, dramatic increase in more violent and unpredictable weather. And since all that will take place in the Southern Hemisphere the US will enjoy the freedom to blame the problems on those Asian neighbors. Coupled w/ the new Energy bill and CAFTA the US can create a massive planetary pollution zone, complete with extra subsidies to move the worst of the pollution just south across the border while increasing the use of fossil fuel burning at home through increased transportation and power production. Peak Oil you ask?? Not for us, just for everyone else. Well as long as we can keep our military operational enough to control the flow of energy resources to us. Ain't we clever???

Pilámaya. Mázashkanshkan tónakca hwo?

Holy Sheit batman. I haven't been here in almost two months. Damn! What the hell have i been doing???

Oh yeah. The road, the long and winding road, down the road again thinking thoughts, off on another very long strange trip. All to the good and away from the bad? Well not sufficiently away from it i guess.

So, part of this tour required i hang with my business partners who have a certain sado-maso streak that emboldens them to listen to right wing talk radio just to prove to themselves that it is all white noise. I unfortunately cannot make that distinction, and force them, through open and loud critique of nearly everything that is being said, to put on music. Alas to no avail, as shortly again later, those hideous ugly lying voices in the box return.

The newest pair to have leaped headlong across the line of factual reality are a couple of guys named Armstrong and Getty. In years past they were relatively benign chatters with a penchant for the comical aspects of CA politics and freakish Hollywood behaviors. But evidently since the rise and now falling of the Arnold, they have set their goals on the Big Time. They are verbally actively competing for a spot on Fox News TV; and to do so they have taken the mantra of the constant fabrication and lie to ever further extremes.

The classic sign of this trauma is the immediate denial of a statement that was made no less than one minute earlier. Quick denial seems to be the hallmark of this bunch--O'Reilly, Hannity, Stein, Bozell, Coulter, etc. Thus these two CA yahoos want in on the trademark riff. One of them will say something really bastardly about a liberal entity or thought, claiming some factual position. They take a call that asks if they just said such and such, and they immediately say: "No, I didn't say that at all!" and hang up on the caller.

You have to love the schtick in some ways i gather; white noise being the operative mantra. I suspect if Media Matters spent some time pouring over the transcripts of the shows they would find inaccuracies, lies, deceptions and distortions equal to, and maybe greater than, the national role models to which these flakes wish to propitiate themselves. Supplicating bigotted liars are too common and too frequent now to warrant much attention. I was just peevish about it because these two have access to such a large audience in CA. And people, as they are want in their own muddled denying self inflicted ignorance, tend to accept and believe it.

It would be so much nicer a world, if this pair of idiots took themselves out and leaped off that Golden Bridge, holding one another's hands and shouting "We Repent" all the way to splashdown.