Merit-bound Alley

I made a comment on Facebook (join us) last night that I couldn’t think of anything to write, but since Palin had an interview last night, all I had to do was wait for material.

In an interview with BBC, Sarah Palin discusses a potential 2012 run for President:

I’m like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I’m like, don’t let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is.

I’m like, “This can’t possibly be a direct quote!” but BBC is all, “Yeah, it is”, so I was like “Oh. My. God.”

This woman is comedy gold. Keep her on TV, media. For me? Please?

Well, I’ve said since beginning my support of Obama that I would call him on any failures of his administration once I’ve voted him in. I did not expect that chance to possibly come so soon.

Anyone who follows science, medicine, or skeptical blogs has heard the name of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has made for himself quite the reputation of an anti-vaccine and conspiracy kook. Since he put his name in the byline on an article for Rolling Stone magazine where he weaves a dark tale of a covert meeting between world government officials, scientists, and pharma heads who discuss the link between autism and a “host of other neurological disorders” and an ingredient used in some vaccines as a preservative. Instead of discussing the veracity of the information, this evil enclave conspires to hide it from the public! Ridiculous, I know, but Mr. Kennedy apparently believes this hokey story, even though studies of the link between vaccines and autism have proven time and again that there is no link. Mr. Kennedy was widely ridiculed by the scientific and medical community for this little flight of fancy.

Mr. Kennedy then misrepresented CDC documents to make it sound like they were discouraging the removal of Thimerosal from vaccines despite the mountain of evidence linking it to autism (that doesn’t exist, btw).

So, why would any rational person believe this anti-vax bullshit and use underhanded tactics to put this pseudoscience forward? Maybe because he stood to make a fat wad of cash from representing litigants in a vaccine injury case.

He has much to say on the environment, too:

A couple of years ago, he put his name to a book entitled Crimes Against Nature, in whose pages we learn, among many similar revelations, that air pollution is a cause of Down’s Syndrome and that “automakers already have the technology” to make SUVs and minivans get the mileage of passenger cars, but don’t do so because, well, because they’re mean. (source)

Now, I can explain to you that Down’s Syndrome is genetic in nature but I don’t have to, because from my comments, I know the majority of my readers have brains in their heads. Someone may want to explain this wild and completely false claim about environmental affects on neurology to Robert Kennedy Jr. though!

So, we have this guy, anti-science bullshit, dirty pulls, bad environmental science, and possible greed. Why does this even matter? Because Mr. Kennedy may be the next head of the EPA under President Barack Obama.

Now, please note, this is a huge maybe. It is likely that the President-elect will take a closer look at this kook and laugh him right out of the public spotlight. I truly hope so. As a candidate that decried the current administration’s war on science, this would be an inauspicious beginning!

Update: Whenever there’s a news item related to medicine and science, you know Science-based Medicine will say it best!

Anwar Rashid and family fled Clifton Hall, their home for 8 months, and handed it back to the bank because of ghosts. The young family experienced such horrors as tapping, voices, red stains, and ghosts actually taking the forms of their children.

Now, I know what you’re going to say, the taps are the house settling, the voices were people talking or a radio or TV, the red stains were cranberry juice, and the specters taking the form of their children were actually their kids.

However, I was able to find actual video recorded in their mansion of a ghost actually attacking Mr. Rashid. Video is after the break.

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Both Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain have shown startling ignorance and blind loyalty in their reactions to the conflict in South Ossetia.

Sen. Barack Obama delivered a statement from Hawaii about the worsening crisis in Georgia, declaring of Russia’s aggression in the former Soviet republic, “There is no possible justification for these attacks.”

No possible justification except for the fact that Georgia moved into the are first in strikes to clear the area of South Ossetian separatists. I guess since Georgia is an ally, we should ignore the fact that they have once again thumbed their nose at the fragile cease fire in the region. This kind of blind loyalty is completely irresponsible on the world stage, especially at a point where the world opinion of the U.S. is so low. Our politicians should be denigrating Georgia’s lack of political ethics and reconsidering our positive relationship with the hotheaded Sakaashvili.

Like Sen. John McCain, Obama called for “active international engagement” to address the dispute, “including a high-level and neutral international mediator, and a genuine international peacekeeping force — not simply Russian troops.”

Gutterball! The peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia was comprised of Russian, Georgian, and South Ossetian separatists. Either both candidates are completely retarded, or they have to make serious decisions about replacing their foreign policy consultants.

As a bonus, let’s take a look at the media, who made no effort to even report the fact that the conflict was initiated by Georgia in the first few days. How did they end this article about the candidates views on this horrible conflict?

[Obama] sketched out his plans at a 4,000-person rally on the first day:
“I’m going to get a plate lunch. I might go to Zippy’s. I might go to Rainbow Drive-In. I haven’t decided yet. Get some Zip Min. I’m going to go get some shave ice. I’m going to go body surfing at an undisclosed location. I’m going to see my tutu — my grandma — and I’m going to watch my girls play on the beach, and once in a while I might go into the water. But mostly I’m going to watch them.”

“Obama’s presence caused a stir everywhere he showed up,” the paper reported, but one prominent resident wasn’t impressed — Hawaii’s GOP Gov. Linda Lingle. “This is not ‘American Idol,’” the McCain supporter said of the choice facing voters this year, according to the article. “This is making an important decision on who should lead our nation.”

Just cutting journalism Washington Post! Bravo on giving this war the solemn journalism it deserves. Brav-O!

Compliments of the Friendly Atheist, we have the target of the above referenced rage:

As a memorial to the painful, frightening and needless death of Madeline Kara Neumann, the Wisconsin Legislature needs to finally show some gumption, and remove from the statutes its callous exemption sanctifying child homicide in the name of faith. (link)

Wait, what? Surely there can’t be an exemption of homicide in any case! If you thought that, as I did, them you were wrong. From the Wisconson Code defining types of abuse:

EXCEPTION. Nothing in this section may be construed to mean that an individual at risk is abused solely because he or she consistently relies upon treatment by spiritual means through prayer for healing, in lieu of medical care, in accordance with his or her religious tradition.

Are we in the fucking Dark Ages? In what version of reality is it actually okay to let your child die as long as you prayed it didn’t happen? If a child is playing in the road and there’s a truck coming, can the parent pray that the driver swerves, even if the parent is a few yards away? If the child gets hit and killed, is the parent not liable for not trying to get their child out of the road?

At what point is a person’s trust in god not only irresponsible, but criminal? What is the limit of allowance the law can give to theists just because of their religion?

The siblings of Madeline Neumann, the 11-year-old girl left to die while her parents prayed, have been removed from their home while an investigation of the death proceeds. While I think that it’s commendable that these kids, aged 13 to 16, are being moved to safety, there are still some things that concern me.

The parents and social services experts agreed the move would be best for everyone, Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said. The children are staying with other relatives, though they were not in danger, he said.

Some might argue that the possibility of neglect resulting in death is a danger.

“There is no intent. They didn’t want their child to die. They thought what they were doing was the right thing,” he said. “They believed up to the time she stopped breathing she was going to get better. They just thought it was a spiritual attack. They believed if they prayed enough she would get through it.”

Gee, if only there was some kind of charge, like murder, but without intent that could be brought up against these parents-of-the-year.

Everything in my mind and heart screams that these people need to go straight to jail, and that their children deserve a more stable home than they can provide. Let’s hope that the law does not let us down.

Our last look at Expelled showed the early stages of development and the first reviews. In this part, I will discuss more recent misbehavior of these no-accounts and the explosion of coverage shedding light on Expelled crew in both the blogosphere and national news.

Some of the most humorous news with Expelled happened earlier this month at a screening in the Mall of America in Minnesota. Those not familiar with how the screening work, here’s a breakdown: potential viewers go to the Expelled RSVP site, sign up using your full name and also reserve room for guests. You name is put on a list to see the film, and there are no tickets issued for the event. Also of note is the fact that you do not have to name your guests.

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Courtesy of Pharyngula, we have the link to a website of a man who thinks he’s found pre-Cambrian dragons!

For those not in the know, pareidolia is the mental ability to see recognizable shapes in random images. It lets us see the man in the moon, bunnies in clouds, and Jesus in cheese sandwiches. Yum! So, what does pareidolia have to do with dragons? Take a look at the pictures.

No, I’m no geologist, but those dragons look an awful lot like rocks. However, maybe in the Forgotten Realms, they may have been dragon remains. I may have to defer to MB-A consultant and D&D expert Ed T., who will be able to tell us if there are stone dragons in the Monster Manual.

A pair of Wisconsin parents let their daughter slowly die of diabetes while they declined to seek medical treatment in favor of prayer. The parents had this to say about their daughter’s condition:

“We just noticed a tiredness within the past two weeks,” she said. “And then just the day before and that day (she died), it suddenly just went to a more serious situation. We stayed fast in prayer then. We believed that she would recover. We saw signs that to us, it looked like she was recovering.”

Doctors, the people who could have actually saved 11-year-old Madeline Neumann, say that the girl had probably been showing signs of sickness for up to 30 days before she died. Said the murdering parents:

“our lives are in God’s hands. We know we did not do anything criminal. We know we did the best for our daughter we knew how to do.”

Any outright fool knows that you bring sick children to the doctor, or at least give the doctor a call when symptoms of sickness persist. The above statement not only shows that the parents have no understanding of the fatal mistake that they made, but that they take no responsibility for their child’s death and will probably kill again given the chance. The most horrible part of this whole thing is that they will probably get out of any charges because of the religious angle. NEWSFLASH: If you are directly responsible for the death of a child, you are a child murderer.

What gives a more sinister light to this pitiful event is:

Officers went to the home after a relative in California asked police to check on the girl. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

A relative, obviously aware of the situation, didn’t feel that the parents were acting in a responsible way. Chances are that this relative had pleaded with the parents to seek medical attention for their dying daughter, advice that was ultimately ignored.

An hour at the doctors and one intital shot of insulin could have saved this poor girl’s life. A couple shots a day, and she could have led a normal life. Now, due to her parents superstition and failure as responsible guardians, she will never have that chance.

If footballers weren’t thugs, and all religious folk could refrain from using faith as apologetics for bad behavior.

The Steelers have had two incidents of domestic abuse in their team recently. One, Cedric Wilson, who plays… football, I guess , was arrested for punching his girlfriend in a bar last Wednesday. 11 days prior, James Harrison broke down a door, grabbed his gilfriend’s cell phone and broke it as she was trying to dial 911, and then slapped her. Why did he flip out and become a monster? He wanted to have his son baptized, and she didn’t. Pow! Bang! To the moon!

Wilson was released from the team, and Harrison remains. When asked about this apparent double-standard,  team charimn Dan Rooney was quoted to say:

“What Jimmy Harrison was doing and how the incident occurred, what he was trying to do was really well worth it,” Rooney said of Harrison’s initial intent with his son. “He was doing something that was good, wanted to take his son to get baptized where he lived and things like that. She said she didn’t want to do it.”

So, it’s okay to beat up on a woman if there’s religious intent involved. Got it. Good thing this is the first time religion was used to explain violence!

(h/t to skepchick)