Drowning the Taxpayer in Debt: Priceless

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Thanos

Drowning the Taxpayer in Debt: Priceless

There are some things your tax dollars shouldn’t buy…

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Leaves

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Thanos

leaves

Leaves

Leaves taken in deep twilight from a distance, I used asa 200 setting and a two second exposure to get enough light.

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Monckton Fabricates Data

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Thanos

Monckton Fabricates Data

Following up on an earlier post on Lord Monckton’s anti-AGW campaign it turns out that he’s playing fast and loose with data, and apparently making things up. The sordid details can be found at RealClimate. What’s his defense going to be? That he was only trying to make the chart look good?

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Why Darwin Matters: Evolution, Intelligent Design and the Battle for Science and Religion

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Thanos

Why Darwin Matters: Evolution, Intelligent Design and the Battle for Science and Religion

Michael Shermer on why Darwin matters in this lecture at the Division of Biological Sciences and the Helen Edison Lecture Series at the University of California, San Diego.

UPDATE: It’s really a disservice to put up such a great lecture without also pointing you to the book Michael is talking about, so apologies for not doing this originally. Michael Shermer : Why Darwin Matters


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Say it Ain’t So Sherriff Joe

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Thanos

Say it Ain’t So Sherriff Joe

This is a follow up to my earlier article on Sherriff Joe Arpaio and the controversies surrounding him. He appears to have some sewer maggot supporters, like neo-nazi Vito Lombardi and his White Nationalist friends. Neo Nazis tend to be narcissistic  and love to get photo ops with politicians. Wise politicians have someone vette who gets those photo ops and more importantly, who doesn’t, so they don’t get caught with politician stalker scum like Kyle Bristow, Don Black, and the like. Here you see that Sherriff Joe not only got snapped with a Neo nazi, but it was also proudly posted at Stormfront.

Conservatives take note: If the only people you can get to show up for counter demos are nutballs, it’s better not to counter protest.

*** Warning**** Video footage of WN’s and Neo Nazis. This is disgusting.

If you watch the videos at the Flaming Basterd links you will also see another camera view of this at 4:48 in, and the WN filmer earlier mumbling about how it’s too bad you can’t shoot (suspected) Obama supporters.

So Joe, say it ain’t so…. ( but so far there’s just been a short statement that the Sherriff can’t control who shows up at demonstrations. True, but a short sentence in that statement condemning white nationalism would serve better to disassociate yourself from these miserable mewling pukes. I waited a few days to post this in case there were more statements forthcoming, but I haven’t seen it if it’s out there.)

The bottom line is that his constituents love him and he’s not really in danger of becoming unelected – he does his main job well even with the occasional grandstanding. He doesn’t need scum like this to stay in office, and he should take the step to completely disavow them because he won’t be losing a thing by doing so.

Update: Vito says he wants deportations… here’s one for him.

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Kasey in the Curtains Again

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Thanos

Kasey in the Curtains Again

kasey-curtains

Kasey likes to hide under the curtains so she can dash out to chase birds in the yard with them all unaware of her being there.

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Pelosi Prevaricates

Posted on May 9, 2009 by Thanos

Pelosi Prevaricates

Forty briefings: those squawking the loudest about enhanced interrogation techniques knew about it. If President Bush is a war criminal for this then so is Speaker Pelosi. See the video below where the  hypocrisy abounds:

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Moon Through Clouds

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Thanos

Moon Through Clouds

moon-050809

Here’s tonight’s moon with thin clouds obscuring. The clouds were really pretty, and I would have liked to get them as well but could not because it would have taken a time exposure and they were moving too fast for that. I upped the output brightness and contrast so you can see the thin bands of cloud. Below is the updated and improved equivalent to the camera used along with the lens used. The resolution of the photo is greatly reduced for the website, and it’s cropped down to 1200 as all photos I post are.

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[amazon-product]B0012YA85A[/amazon-product][amazon-product]B0007Y794O[/amazon-product]

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Dump the Dentist

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Thanos

Dump the Dentist

Don McLeroy, Dentist, Discovery Institute shill, and Chairman of the Texas State Board of education is under fire and likely out of a job. He’s a Governor Rick Perry appointee, but the legislature still has to confirm. So far they haven’t done so even though these are usually fly through appointments. If they don’t by June 1st that will be it for the Dentist.

State Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, chairman of the Senate Nominations Committee, declared McLeroy’s confirmation dead in the water. If so, Gov. Rick Perry will have to look to the other nine Republicans on the 15-member elected board for a new board chair.

It will be interesting to see who Perry’s next appointee to the Texas State Board of Creationist Indoctrination is. Read more here.

H/T: The Sensuous Curmudgeon

Previous Lunacy in Texas

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Pundit Puddingheads Pimp Pandemic Paranoia

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Thanos

Pundit Puddingheads Pimp Pandemic Paranoia

You always hate it when radio and talk pundits willingly feed ammunition to our enemies – when media matters can publish just the facts and Joe Scarborough can lay you low with a comment you know you are treading too far into the land of extreme paranoia. Sorry for the media matters video, but it’s all just factual sound bites.

Marshaling nativist fears and  extreme wing paranoia during times of crisis is counterproductive if there is a real emergency. Doing that when there isn’t must have a motive, and it demonstrates the desperate ploy of populist fear. The Republican party is better than that, or at least I hope they are. It’s notable that Boortz is Libertarian, and Savage is a nutcase.

The facts: the Flu will go pandemic, but it was bought here and elsewhere by tourists and truckers, not illegal immigrants. The Flu is mild in symptoms at present, but it could evolve into something nastier in the future.

If you wanted to attack the US with a bioterror weapon, you wouldn’t start in Mexico, you would start in a few of the hotels around Ohare field, MCI, Dallas, and etc. to make it spread further before detection. Starting in Mexico would probably eventually get it here, but with lots of forewarning and easy means to quarantine or stop the flow. So why would you do something so stupid if you were a terrorist?

If you are worried about vectors across the border keep in mind that even if all immigration were stopped from all countries, that same flu would still get here by crossing the borders with avian and animal vectors.

Boortz and Savage: Get a clue if you are going to pretend to educate your audience.

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