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Thiel Apologists Still Having a Hard Time

Using the civil courts as an instrument of private vengeance rather than to compensate or punish injuries corrupts the legal system. Doing so in secret deprives the public and the jury of the knowledge which would create some self-correcting mechanism to limit such abuse. It’s as simple as that. Comparing this to lawsuits brought by… Continue reading Thiel Apologists Still Having a Hard Time

12 bad reasons for rejecting scientific studies

One of the best posts on false skepticism I’ve seen in a very long time. Worth a read.

Maher did it again

Bill Maher has been raked over the coals on his irrational, anti-scientific attitude towards vaccines; his own guests have scorned his views on his own show; he’s been confronted repeatedly with the evidence and the rebuttals. He’s got to know by now that there is no rational justification for claiming that vaccines or thimerosal cause autism, or that the drug companies are profiting hugely by including poisons in their vaccines (which makes no sense, even if you do believe in greedy pharmaceutical mega-corporations).

So what does he do? He invites anti-vax crank extraordinaire, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to sit around and commiserate with one another about how they’re called cranks and liars for merely denying the scientific consensus.

Maher wants it both ways. He want to be just an comedian and also a serious public intellectual. The last one to pull that off was Mark Twain and he is no Samuel Clemens.

When The Economist blamed Irish peasants for starving to death

its extraordinary blindness to how real life economic power relations work is reminiscent of the magazine’s beginnings in the 19th century, when it fulminated at the very idea that the British government should do anything about the Irish famine that was happening on its doorstep. After all, it was the peasants’ own fault that they were starving.

Laissez faire is often used as an excuse to blame victim.

Robert Reich: Why Anyone Should Care that Bill O’Reilly Calls Me A Communist

robertreich:

Bill O’Reilly, the tumescent personality of Fox News, said on his Friday show “Robert Reich is a communist who secretly adores Karl Marx.” (This came after Fox News’ Neil Cavoto called me a “sanctimonious twit” for suggesting the rich should pay more in taxes.)

O’Reilly’s accusation is odd, to…

Welcome to the 2011 Salon Hack List

The Salon Hack List is a list of our least favorite political commentators, newspaper columnists, political news show hosts, and constant cable news presences, ranked roughly (but only roughly) in order of awfulness and then described rudely. Criteria for inclusion included being wrong about literally everything, shameless sycophancy, appearing on “Morning Joe” and being “Morning Joe.”

Who are the liberal birthers?

41 percent of Republicans say Obama was definitely or probably born in another country. Why do so many Americans believe such a silly thing? And why are Republicans so much more likely to believe it? From Poll: 41 percent of Republicans think Obama wasn’t born in America – Birthers – Salon.com If the media does… Continue reading Who are the liberal birthers?

The Newsman Of The Millennials

by Chris Bodenner (Hat tip: GOOD) From: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/07/the-newsman-of-the-millennials.html

propaganda pundits

Worth watching. This is clear evidence that this administration was running tax payer funded covert propaganda campaign on US soil in clear violation of US law. Screw impeachment, it’s time for a war crimes tribunal.

re-framing the US Attorney scandal

In a scripted moment of imperial bravado, President Bush held a press conference yesterday to address the scandal over his Attorney General having lied to Congress. Why this sudden move? In a word: framing. FRAMESHOP by Jeffrey Feldman An excellent discussion of how this administration is trying to change the way the US Attorney scandal… Continue reading re-framing the US Attorney scandal