RationalWiki:What is going on in the blogosphere?/January 2011

January 2011
Following the success of the hologram power balance sports band...how about a sports band that produces "1100 negative ions a second to improve your sport performance"? Conversation with a Power Sports Band Retailer Pay no attention to the Islamist behind the curtain! The current Middle Eastern protest movements are secular, and besides, the rise of Islamism is the U.S.'s fault. Brian Trent of The Humanist on the U.S.'s "belief culture": "The belief culture thrives on the false principle that all opinions are equal, even those without a shred of factual data, documentation, or reasoned methodology." You say you aren't prepared for the 2012 apocalypse? December 21, 2012, will be here before you know it! Here's a checklist of ten items that every adherent of the Mayan calendar needs to collect. So put on your Blast Boxers, open a can of Tactical Bacon and sharpen your 87-tool Swiss Army Knife. Oh, and don't forget to strap on your Axe Sling (which is also recommended for fending off zombies). [http://www.27bslash6.com/f4s.html customer relations at its best. (read it all)] Johann Hari: Why is it wrong to protect gay children? Quantitative easing explained by someone who knows what he's talking about William Rivers Pitt has some strong words to describe the self-proclaimed "Christians" who have been threatening to bathe the children of Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, in his blood after they murder him. Michele Bachmann and Erik Paulsen are two Minnesota Republicans elected to the House at the same time; Bachmann engages in theatrics while Paulsen is "a workhorse, not a show horse." In comparing these two, experienced voices have a message for Bachmann: Slow and steady wins the race. Utne Reader: "Liberals" were responsible for the rise of political correctness in U.S. universities. (It is rather telling, however, that at least one of the responsible "liberals" believed that the term also applied to Karl Marx.) You are stardust and lightning. How cool is that? William Rivers Pitt: Keith Olbermann was a victim of a right-wing cabal who dominate and control not only MSNBC, but the entire news media. Dubya and the Uranium: Top 10 State of the Union Moments. Prof. Henry A. Giroux theorizes upon yet another "culture": America's Culture of Cruelty. It is "too easy" to suggest that Loughner was just crazy; no, things have to be byzantine, products of "powerful forces" that "seduce" children through violent video games and films, etc. Quantitative easing explained. Choices, choices... Should we build a stealth bomber, or should we build six hospitals? America's military budget, put into perspective <vote poll=blog1303 closed="yes">The Founding Fathers never intended for the Government to provide health care for the people...um... well, except for that time they totally did. <vote poll=blog1302 closed="yes">Weird Homeopathy - The Relationship Between Homeopathic Colour And Astrology. Yes, they are related apparently. By chakras. <vote poll=blog1301 closed="yes">The recently released PlayStation 3 game "Little Big Planet 2" allows players to make their own levels and mini-games, such as ones with the theme of "Kill Obama." <vote poll=blog1300 closed="yes">The 2011 Slantie Awards, for the most biased reporting from right wing "news" sites in 2010. <vote poll=blog1299 closed="yes">Regarding America's vitriolic politics -- "Values do not admit compromise; politics, which is the prudent application of values in pursuit of the common good, requires compromise." <vote poll=blog1298 closed="yes">Prof. Henry A. Giroux has put forth a broad-based call to action against the evils of capitalism neoliberalism market fundamentalism. Yet to follow: the everyman's guide to that crucial component in his plan, the "formative culture." <vote poll=blog1297 closed="yes">Six stories overlooked by the Biased Liberal Corporate Media. <vote poll=blog1296 closed="yes">NSFW due to mature language: Ben Goldacre gives a speech at Nerdstock about placebos, nocebos, and homeopathy. <vote poll=blog1295 closed="yes">Are lesser websites competing with you? Is due process an inconvenience? Why not just ask the government to shut them down? <vote poll=blog1294 closed="yes">The ever-intelligent Orac points out that autism cranks aren't antivaccine. They just think that vaccines are "the biggest and harmful medical mistake ever perpetuated." and that "Dr. Josef Mengele's ghost must have coined the "well baby" visit" because of them. <vote poll=blog1293 closed="yes">So, why was your paper retracted? <vote poll=blog1292 closed="yes">Thom Hartmann: "We the People" did not include corporations; quite the contrary, corporations were heavily restricted for the first 100 years after the U.S.'s creation to ensure they did not amass too much wealth. <vote poll=blog1291 closed="yes">Nadine Dorries: Conservative MP, pro-homeopathy, supporter of blasphemy laws, lying scum. <vote poll=blog1290 closed="yes">A parent of an autistic child writes a positive review of a book about the history of vaccine panics. (The book covers the hysteria involving autism/MMR link cited by Andrew Wakefield.) The reviewer is disappointed that there is still one fundamental moral quandary that most people -- including the book's writer -- fail to examine. "The implicit calculation made when a parent subsequently refuses vaccinations for their child is this: The risk of my child's death is better than the risk of a disability." (BTW, if you're interested in the book, you can find it at ISBN 1439158649.) <vote poll=blog1289 closed="yes">Striffler: Of course Jared Loughner is crazy, but his political "confusion" is by no means unique among others his age. He argues that American culture and media do not encourage political literacy, leading to a generation who are not "citizens" but "consumers," with a tendency toward "muddled" political views.

<vote poll=blog1287 closed="yes">Johann Hari: My grandmother deserved a better ending than this <vote poll=blog1286 closed="yes"> Karl Marx Joel Olson: The history of all hitherto existing society Gabrielle Giffords's shooting is the history of class struggles. That Loughner was crazy doesn't matter; that he was white and middle class does. <vote poll=blog1285 closed="yes">Some left-wingers are now thinking that Hitler was on to something with the propaganda strategy of "simple ideas, repeated often." Others are not quite so sure, being convinced that Antonio Gramsci was on to something instead. They conveniently fail to ask which strategy succeeded. <vote poll=blog1284 closed="yes">Ann Jones, U.N. "gender advisor": Whatever has happened in Afghanistan in the last half-century can be blamed either on Americans (who, it would follow, sent the Soviet Union into the country for the mujahideen to fight) or on men, because all men think about is jockeying for power while all women think about is their children. <vote poll=blog1283 closed="yes">Haitian rebuilding contracts have not gone to Haitian firms, but to U.S. firms, which appear to have scarpered with the money. Might U.S. firms have been chosen because the Haitian firms were all flattened in the earthquake? No, it's obviously because Bush cronies were discriminating against minority-owned companies. <vote poll=blog1282 closed="yes">"'Who I Wanted to Kill Was Every Democrat in the Senate + House': Where the Notion of Right-Wing Political Murder Comes From." (I.e., The Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church shootings of July, 2008.) <vote poll=blog1281 closed="yes">Clog: The ever-predictable Jenny McCarthy weighs in on the Andrew Wakefield scandal. Blog: "Orac" from ScienceBlogs tears her apart in a most spectacular way. <vote poll=blog1280 closed="yes">William Rivers Pitt has a bone to pick with far-right figures, such as the mainstream media: One of their number once promoted the "overheated right-wing" idea of collective guilt, which goes to show that they are all collectively guilty of shooting Gabrielle Giffords. <vote poll=blog1279 closed="yes">The Conservative Constitution of the United States. <vote poll=blog1278 closed="yes">The 2010 “Editing Wikipedia From Inside Parliament” Awards <vote poll=blog1277 closed="yes">A distressing timeline of various rhetoric and tragedies concerning "Second Amendment Solutions" since 2008. From District of Columbia v. Heller to Saturday's horror. (EDIT: This is a (sadly) ongoing project) <vote poll=blog1276 closed="yes">VIDEO: Attempting to blow up asteroids that threaten Earth -- a la Armageddon and Deep Impact -- could be more dangerous than leaving them undisturbed. Attaching rockets to them and pushing them off trajectory would be safer. <vote poll=blog1275 closed="yes">How extensive was Hitler's paranoia? In the months before invading the Soviet Union, the Nazis tried to ruin the reputation of a Finnish businessman and his dog because the man had taken several photographs of the dog parodying the Nazi salute. <vote poll=blog1274 closed="yes">Homeopathy and the UK government - pets are protected, humans aren't. In its infinite wisdom, the UK government has decided that animals should not be allowed to be treated by homeopathy. Of course, it's okay for humans to carry on with the same treatment. <vote poll=blog1273 closed="yes">Eye Candy: The human eye and the Helix Nebula A gratuitous excuse to use some stunning photographs in a blog post. <vote poll=blog1272 closed="yes">Bad Science: [http://www.badscience.net/2010/12/nmt-are-suing-dr-wilmshurst-so-how-trustworthy-are-they/ NMT are suing Dr Wilmshurst. So how trustworthy are this company?] <vote poll=blog1271 closed="yes">The Ivory Tower abstractions of the right. <vote poll=blog1270 closed="yes">Facebook is valued at $50 billion, but is it really worth it? <vote poll=blog1269 closed="yes">Eric Utne: The Great Beast foretold by the prophet Steiner, whose name is Ahriman, or Scientific Materialism, is come among us as a cell phone advertising campaign snake in the grass — [http://www.utne.com/Science-Technology/Eric-Utne-Google-Droid-Singularity.aspx EEK! Transistors! Get 'em off me! Get 'em off!] <vote poll=blog1268 closed="yes">The Independent lambasts scientists for not responding to criticism from the blogosphere. Careful, fellows; there's a creationist in that woodpile. <vote poll=blog1267 closed="yes">How some American politicians view the economic crisis: "We can no longer live in a society where the (unionized) public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots." <vote poll=blog1266 closed="yes">Meet Howard "Buck" McKeon, the California Republican who is set to become chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in the 112th Congress. His military experience? He avoided military service by going on a Mormon mission, then spent 29 years to get a Bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University. His financial experience? He bankrupted his family's western wear company. His qualifications for being chairman? (1) He voted to send our troops to Iraq, naturally.  And (2) he believes that the war in the Middle East is a holy war to protect America, which the Book of Mormon foretold [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/buck-mckeons-mormon-holy_b_804792.html is for us Americans, dammit! (Video included)] <vote poll=blog1265 closed="yes">An artist has painted herself having sex with all the United States presidents, in order. She does not appear to have painted a blue dress on herself in any of them. <vote poll=blog1264 closed="yes">Stanley Fish, forgetting his early American history, gets rather incensed at the notion that free speech should be protected too much, for example by protecting writers' anonymity. <vote poll=blog1263 closed="yes">In addition to raising millions of dollars for breast cancer research, the charitable foundation known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure (which also introduced the pink ribbon as a symbol for breast cancer) has been spending approximately $1 million in donor funds per year to make sure other charities don't use the phrase "for a/the cure" in their names, or use the color pink in conjunction with their fundraising campaigns. <vote poll=blog1262 closed="yes">An attempt to write a non-physicist friendly blog post about physics: How Eddington demonstrated that Einstein was right