Category Archives: Connections

*Now* the truth comes out

I’ve wondered why the Trophy Fiancé® wants me to go to the gym, and until now I just assumed that it was over concern for my health and fitness, both of which could be better.

But now I *know* why she wants me to go.

Who’da thunk it? Religiosity implies racism

A meta-study of 55 independent studies has shown that there is a proportional relationship between the level of religiosity within a community in the U.S. and the level of racism within that community.

From the abstract (the full paper is available here):

  • Other races might be treated as out-groups because religion is practiced largely within race, because training in a religious in-group identity promotes general ethnocentrism, and because different others appear to be in competition for resources.
  • Religious racism is tied to basic life values of social conformity and respect for tradition. In support, individuals who were religious for reasons of conformity and tradition expressed racism that declined in recent years with the decreased societal acceptance of overt racial discrimination.
  • The authors failed to find that racial tolerance arises from humanitarian values, consistent with the idea that religious humanitarianism is largely expressed to in-group members.

This one ought to raise a few eyebrows:

  • Only religious agnostics were racially tolerant.

NOM NOM NOM. It’s getting 8 up.

The National Organization for Marriage, a collection of religious zealots and homophobes unparalleled in wingnuttery, is now complaining about yet something else concerning the Proposition 8 trial currently in session in California:

Judge Vaughn Walker

The judge is gay.

Predictably, the NOM folks are bleating “unfair!”

I’m particularly struck by NOM’s claim that, by the time the proposed video feed for the trial was cancelled (due to Supreme Court dictate),

“the supporters of Prop 8 had already lost two-thirds of their expert witnesses who feared retaliation from the publicity.”

Retaliation for what? from whom? Could it be that these “expert witnesses” feared that their testimony would be picked apart in cross-examination? Is it possible that they didn’t want to look like the fools they would most certainly appear to be if the trial were broadcast and their “expert testimony” shown to be nothing more than reflections of religious bigotry? What happened to the courage of your convictions? I saw no fear from those who were testifying for the other side, despite centuries of retaliation for coming out of the closet or supporting those that have chosen to do so.

So…

By extension, if a gay judge cannot render an unbiased decision in this matter, the same would be true for a straight judge. Or a Mormon, or a Catholic, or a Muslim, or a Christian fundamentalist judge.

Grumblings from the original American curmudgeon

I haven’t any right to criticise books, and I don’t do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticise Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Everytime I read ‘Pride and Prejudice’ I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.

- Samuel Clemens, in a letter to Joseph Twichell, 13 September 1898

eHarmony–harmonious now?

eHarmony, that witless collection of fundies who discriminates against gay applicants, created a parallel website called Compatible Partners last year to settle a lawsuit brought by Eric McKinley, who claimed that the company regularly rejected gay applicants.

Now a second lawsuit has forced the company to merge the two sites into one, claiming that discrimination was still ongoing. Eww, the straights now have to mix with the gays.

eHarmony is owned by Xtian fundies with ties to Focus on the Family and other unsavory types. Not only does eHarmony discriminate against gays, they also reject people who admit to non-vanilla sexual preferences.

Can you say “conflict of interest”?

Bill Gates, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has donated many millions of dollars to the fight against AIDS, particularly in third-world countries.

In a recent interview, Gates expounds upon the proposed law that the Ugandan government is considering:

“There’s a tendency to think in the U.S. just because a law says something that it’s a big deal. In Africa if you want to talk about how to save lives, it’s not just laws that count. There’s a stigma no matter what that law says, for sex workers, men having sex with men, that’s always been a problem for AIDS. It relates to groups that aren’t that visible. AIDS itself is subject to incredible stigma. Open involvement is a helpful thing. I wouldn’t overly focus on that. In terms of how many people are dying in Africa, it’s not about the law on the books; it’s about getting the message out and the new tools.” (emphasis mine)

It is already illegal to perform homosexual acts in Uganda, but the proposed law would dictate

  • death for gays who HIV positive
  • 3 years of prison for anyone who witnesses homosexual activity that doesn’t report it to law enforcement
  • 7 years of prison for anyone who supports or promotes homosexuality
  • life imprisonment for committing a homosexual act

Just what the hell should we focus on, Bill? That sounds like a pretty goddamned big deal to me.

P.S. Microsoft has a “big deal” going with the Ugandan government. Sounds like Bill doesn’t want to upset any apple carts. Or multi-million dollar deals.

Three views of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“As we celebrate his legacy, I’m reminded that his message is rooted in ideals and principles that the Republican Party has advocated since its inception. Today, our Party and the nation honors Dr. King’s dream by continuing his fight–the fight for all Americans to have an equal chance at the American Dream.”–Michael Steele, chairman, Republican National Committee

“He fought for liberty and equality because he knew they were God-given and he knew no government should be empowered to thwart our freedom.”–Sarah Palin, ex-governor of Alaska and fervent anti-health care reform campaigner

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”–Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thanks to Think Progress for this one.

A fable

Once upon a time, man did not ride horse.

Horse was a proud, fleet creature who shunned all but his own kind. Man was a tool-builder who had made weapons and fire.

Man and horse were both plagued by predators, particularly the wolf. Man had spears and arrowheads, but could not outrun the wolf. The horse had speed and could avoid the wolf, but had no weapons with which to defend its young.

One day horse came up to man and said, “Let us cooperate. I will lend you my speed by allowing you to ride on my back. You will wield your weapons and vanquish our enemy the wolf. Together we will make a safer world to live in.”

Man agreed. He jumped onto horse’s back, spear and bow in hand, and together they easily killed the wolf.

Horse sighed a happy sigh and said, “We have done well! You may climb off of me now.”

Man grabbed the reins, applied spurs to horse’s flank, and said, “The hell you say. Giddyup, dobbin.“

(I think I first read this in a Bob Heinlein novel, but I can’t remember. In any event, I can’t take credit for it.)

One step forward, one step back

Yesterday Maine voters chose to discriminate against an estimated 10% of the state’s citizens by repealing the law giving gay people the right to marry each other. Imagine having to get the permission of half of 536,000 people in order to marry the person you love.

Maine voters also chose to allow the sale of marijuana for medical purposes. Imagine how long racial desegregation of schools in Alabama and Mississippi would have taken in the 1960s if it had been put to a popular vote.

There’s a reason why the U.S. employs representative government instead of a pure democracy.

I’ve always been a big believer in social change by evolution rather than by revolution. You cannot healthily force social change; attempts to do so often lead to totalitarianism. In the latter case above, we’ve evolved one small step toward legalizing the use of a substance with no known toxicity effects and proven medical benefits. In the former, evolution still has a long way to go.

That being said, I begin to understand why revolutionaries tire of waiting.

The poor pay for it

The poor in America pay the highest rates for:

1) loans (The poor are a “bad risk”, so banks won’t loan, and other loans–from paycheck cashing places and other less formal means–are at usury rates.)

2) transportation (Buses and taxis cost far more per mile than using a car.)

3) food (Since transportion is dear, and most poor don’t live within walking distance of discount grocery stores, they eat fast food and grocery shop at expensive convenience stores.)

4) medical services (ER is usually the best they can do, and most don’t have insurance)

5) birth (These costs are less obvious and more insidious–very little pre-natal care, no post-natal care, poor nutrition, minimal or no education, etc. In many ways, this one is more costly than the other 5 combined.)

Are we alone?

Years ago I read a book called Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe.

The authors, Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee, put forth the idea that intelligent life–indeed, all life above the level of a single cell–may be vanishingly rare in our universe. Ward and Brownlee argue that the combinations of physical situations and significant astronomical events necessary for complex life to develop are very likely to be vanishingly rare (much in contradiction to the popular Drake/Sagan formula).

The book not only puts forth this most interesting notion; it also contains pithy, concise descriptions of earth-centric geology, astronomy, biochemistry, and other branches of science, and binds them in prose that reminded me pleasantly of that wonderful BBC series Connections by science historian James Burke. It would make a great textbook for teachers/homeschooling parents looking for a connection-based flavor of teaching science.

Why do I mention this book? The idea that intelligent life is rare, or perhaps unique to humanity, resonates strongly within me. The notion that our race may have the unique gift of tool-bearing sentience in all of existence gives me frissons of fear and exaltation at the same time. And it gives new, rather ominous important to the preservation of our race and to expansion off this planet. (Think: we have all of our eggs in one basket right now.)

Who does he think he is? Abraham Lincoln?

President Barack Obama has decided to extend America’s suspension of habeus corpus indefinitely.

Let me say that again, because (in the words of George Carlin) that sounds moderately important.

Habeus corpus continues to be suspended. A legal writ that is considered one of the bedrocks of western law, habeus corpus requires that a prisoner detained by a lawful authority appear before an impartial judge, and requires that authority to produce legal proof that the prisoner is not being detained illegally.

It has not been in force in America, the so-called “land of liberty”, since President Shrub Bush suspended it post-9/11. The Patriot Act continued the suspension, and now President Obama (remember “Change”? “Hope”?) intends to continue that suspension despite Congressional objection.

Abraham Lincoln suspended habeus corpus in Maryland and portions of other states to “fight sedition against the union” (although it was mostly used to arrest and hold newspaper editors who wrote editorials critical of the Union), and Ulysses Grant used it in South Carolina to fight the KKK.

Those suspensions were for limited times and in limited areas. Obama’s suspension affects the entire country.

So, if you piss off the feds, you could be held in a prison indefinitely. Without counsel. Without visitors. Without access to the outside world. Without access to a judge or jury. In America.

Think about that. And reflect on a bit of history.

P.S. Oh, and thank you, New York Times, for running this horrifying story on page 23 while its front page was graced with the pressing news about a rich Russian wanting to buy an NBA team. Ben Bradlee is likely spinning rapidly in his grave right now.