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

April 2011
Johann Hari skewers Trumperism. 91% of Americans would support a socialist distribution of wealthwhen they don't know that's what they're voting for [http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/dear-ben-i-have-question A whole hour of FedSpeak. Oh boy!] Keynes vs. Hayek rap battle - take two! What role does global warming play in tornado activity? Why libertarians are (by definition) selfish, immoral or stupid Changes as Scienceblogs is bought out by National Geographic? PZ Myers and Ed Brayton wonder if they'd have to become "family friendly". Is bad decision making and risk taking a consequence of evolution? Bad decision making and the framing effect With President Obama's birth certificate, Klansman Trump reminds blacks they will never be American

An account from one of the "disappeared" in Argentina during the 1970s. Breaking news: 4/27/11 - Obama finally releases his long-form birth certificate. 3D is a scam designed to part you and your money. Well, duh. Thom Hartmann on how companies law has changed since 1873: Back then, corporations had to divulge all their business plans and make all their documents available to the legislature. "Wikipedia has a 'macaca' problem": Apparently a paper from an anthropologist studying the Congo is not an authoritative source for the statement that "macaca" was used as a racial slur there. Conservapedia is linked to as an example of craziness. Walker: Texas Plagiarist The GOP plan to "reform" health care? Gut it. That's the end result of a proposed federal spending cap and Paul Ryan's Path to "Prosperity." <vote poll=blog1465 closed="yes">Apparently, "modern" Catholics don't believe in there was a revived cadaver... so, what was Thomas putting his hands in? <vote poll=blog1464 closed="yes">The politics of voter fraud. <vote poll=blog1463 closed="yes">Superstitious China <vote poll=blog1462 closed="yes">Bill Nye was booed in Texas back in 2006 for claiming that the moon does not generate its own light. No one remembered this until the local newspaper pulled an Andy and burned the evidence. <vote poll=blog1461 closed="yes">Five Myths about the Separation of church and state in America. <vote poll=blog1460 closed="yes">The Smoking Gun has examined the philanthropy of Donald Trump. Their findings: He may be America's stingiest billionaire.  (He isn't even the largest contributor to the charitable foundation that bears his name!) <vote poll=blog1459 closed="yes">Warmist enviro-nuts are out-lobbying energy interests...oh wait, no they're not. <vote poll=blog1458 closed="yes">The science of why we don't believe in science. <vote poll=blog1457 closed="yes">People for the American Way release a thorough profile on pseudohistorian David Barton, just in case you didn't know he was a crank already. <vote poll=blog1456 closed="yes">Literary theory or conspiracy theory? <vote poll=blog1455 closed="yes">The BBC asks: "Is Cuba's Party Congress just a rubber-stamp exercise?" One hopes the intention was ironic. <vote poll=blog1454 closed="yes">Commentary on how Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is planning to create "more Benton Harbors", cities taken over by the state government and ruled by a Gauleiter an Emergency Financial Manager who can effectively fire the sitting government. <vote poll=blog1453 closed="yes">This Week In Fake Presidential Candidates <vote poll=blog1452 closed="yes">Teabaggers turn out en masse in embarrassingly small numbers to prove that [http://wonkette.com/443275/nobamas-cant-make-signs-photos-from-nycs-teabagger-rally they have no idea when Tax Day 2011 is and that they still can't make banners for shit. Or spell.] <vote poll=blog1451 closed="yes">Roger Ebert on the new Atlas Shrugged film: "The most anticlimactic non-event since Geraldo Rivera broke into Al Capone’s vault. ★" <vote poll=blog1450 closed="yes">From HuffPo: The pink toenails ad "showed real family values -- not the contrived kind put forth by social conservatives." <vote poll=blog1449 closed="yes">The film of Atlas Shrugged is going to win in every way possible. Tim Cain notes that (a) it's being distributed by the same company that did Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (b) it's going to a very small number of odd, out-of-the-way cinemas (c) there's no critics' screening, always a mark of quality. <vote poll=blog1448 closed="yes">The "abortion as black genocide" narrative hits the big time: Since Arizona passed its "anti-discrimination" abortion bill, the Family Research Council has jumped on the bandwagon. Alas, A Blog has a collection of videos tracing the roots of this campaign. <vote poll=blog1447 closed="yes">Joe Scarborough on Donald Trump: "When your political rhetoric shocks a man who believes the rise of the Antichrist could be ushered in by President Barack Obama’s agenda, it might be time to refocus your communications strategy." <vote poll=blog1446 closed="yes">Website: "Pick a Year to Begin THE END" -- A rather thorough (yet probably still far from complete) list of apocalyptic predictions. (According to various predictions, the world will end sometime between 4990 BCE and 4,500,000 CE.) <vote poll=blog1445 closed="yes">Fear the steady drumbeat of The Homosexual Agenda!, as 'they' succeed in convincing a huge 3.5% of the US population to be teh gayzorz or bisexualzorz. <vote poll=blog1444 closed="yes">Mark Oppenheimer: PBS has gone downhill due to 1990s-era political threats from Newt Gingrich's Congress. <vote poll=blog1443 closed="yes">An interesting take on the motives of the Tea Party. Discusses how fiscal conservatism is cherished by some because it's about exclusion. <vote poll=blog1442 closed="yes">So you think Rebecca Black's Friday is the worst song ever made? How about the Christian version, Sunday? <vote poll=blog1441 closed="yes">Tim Minchin's Storm is finally released. <vote poll=blog1440 closed="yes">How Ayn Rand ruined my childhood. <vote poll=blog1439 closed="yes" closed="yes">Greenwald rides again, with a post deconstructing the Democrats via the case of Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

<vote poll=blog1438 closed="yes">Over 900,000 killed by Chernobyl, birth defects all over Russia: the anti-nuclear movement does itself a great disservice by misleading the world with false claims about the effect of radiation. <vote poll=blog1437 closed="yes">Infographic: The GOP war against the youth vote. <vote poll=blog1436 closed="yes">Glenn Greenwald on Terry Jones, free speech, and unending war. <vote poll=blog1435 closed="yes">Roger Ebert ponders... well, everything. <vote poll=blog1434 closed="yes">Richard Adams, Guardian blogger: "This Republican crop of candidates is a veritable "Who's that?" of American politics". <vote poll=blog1433 closed="yes">Sam Harris on the Koran burning: "When will moderate Islam stand up to its Fundamentalist wing?". <vote poll=blog1432 closed="yes">Before people slime public school teachers as "glorified babysitters," perhaps they should remember that teaching isn't all they do at school. <vote poll=blog1431 closed="yes">The James Randi Foundation announces the 5 bullshitting winners of the annual Pigasus Awards. <vote poll=blog1430 closed="yes">Christopher Hitchens makes a rousing defence of the King James Bible. <vote poll=blog1429 closed="yes">Misinformation and Facts about Secularism and Religion <vote poll=blog1428 closed="yes">Johann Hari: [http://johannhari.com//2011/04/01/how-to-turn-ed-miliband-into-a-winner? How to turn Ed Miliband into a winner] - how politicians should communicate effectively with people. <vote poll=blog1427 closed="yes">Meteorites, the LIFE Project and the Outer Space Treaty of 1967