RationalWiki:What is going on in the blogosphere?/July 2009

July 2009
"Intelligent Design", my vestigial tailbone: Wired: 10 Worst Evolutionary Designs Fear the blogosphere! For it wields great power. Socialised medicine? It works, bitches. Lindsay Stewart gives us something we rarely see these days, a paean to Jimmy Carter. What's going on in the US that it takes a Canadian to write something like this, and Carter's own essay on women in the Southern Baptist Convention needs to go to Australia to publish? "God, Guns, Guts, and American Pick-up Trucks." Even Soviet Russian guns. John Avalon provides his opinion and insight on the craziness that is the Birther movement Canadian Cynic on the duties of soldiers. It is a travesty to extradite Army reservists who deserted when they were >gasp!< actually ordered to fight in the Iraq War. But it is, of course, perfectly all right to drum an Army reservist out of the service for refusing his deployment orders, and even to show schadenfreude about it. Canadian Cynic asks the eternal question: Say, aren't WND a bunch of hypocritical douchebags over this whole "birther" thing? The effort to ban gay marriage in Maine raised $340,000, whereas the effort to support it raised $138,000. The catch? $80,000 of the pro-gay marriage campaign comes from Maine residents, while only $400 or the anti-gay marriage funds come from in-state! What is the secret to The Secret? Basically, the power of positive thinking -- aka magical thinking or the law of attraction -- is only beneficial to optimists. How the gay agenda is (not) destroying society Want to be openly gay in the army? Too bad. Want to be openly racist? We're glad to have you.  Tax deniers Ed and Elaine Brown found guilty on all charges. Cue armchair outrage from the "True Patriots" in 3...2...  Should food be a basic human right? Yes! Unfortunately, it transpires that here in the real world, no number of U.N. proclamations can bring one more grain of wheat into existence, and no amount of whining about being offended can make rotten meat fresh again. When internet cranks turn deadly: check out this "where are they now" list of cranks at Bombs, Taxes, and Red Crayons blog. Thunderf00t and Ray Comfort: It's on! <vote poll=blog346 closed="yes">Well, it had to happen eventually... Whacko Jacko did, of course, fake his own death. <vote poll=blog345 closed="yes"> Christian/Republican celebutante babe Heidi Montag spouts off about abortions causing breast cancer, 9/11, Obama, and Teh Mark Of The Beast. Ah, how such weighty intellectuals research their topics. <vote poll=blog344 closed="yes">Wacky Christian cult poised to take over the world, as soon as members stop fornicating. <vote poll=blog343 closed="yes">A New Hampshire couple convicted of tax fraud are on trial for holing up in a compound ringed with explosives. Ed and Elaine Brown vowed to set of a revolution against the US government, or die trying. Their "standoff" was facilitated by internet crank blogs, and fellow "patriots" were recruited to come help build more bombs. Four people have all ready been convicted for aiding and abetting the Browns. Now it is their turn. Follow the trial at Bombs, Taxes, and Red Crayons blog. <vote poll=blog342 closed="yes">The first evolutionist review of Signature in the Cell is not positive.