This Weekend On Sirius 116

They Might Be Giants' live production of "Here Comes Science."

Recoil In Horror

Glenn Beck is the voice of the resistance. And he is a horror.



I have plenty of problems with idolizing any President of the United States. I had the same problems when Republicans did it to Bush the Younger. When I questioned their policies in Afghanistan and their grossly optimistic invasion strategy in Iraq, I was called anti-American, anti-patriotic, anti-military, and pro-defeat. As an atheist, I have been called worse by both sides. But this tirade is indicative of the modern Republican party, ruled now by the fetishists of the Christian moral authoritarians. No matter what the Democratic Party does from here on, it will be blamed on two groups: atheists and gays. We are their bete noir, their Michael Myers slashing their "rights" (read: Christian exceptionalism) through countless fantasy-narratives of invented persecution.

Prepare For Fundie Christian Protestations

President Obama in Turkey today:

I've said before that one of the great strengths of the United States is, although as I mentioned we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.

I can't wait to find out how the Christers are going to twist, misquote, and generally take umbrage at such an enlightened statement about an Enlightenment-founded government.

So Much Done In So Little Time

The Phoenix lander has died. But it enriched our species, and its successes should be celebrated.

Phoenix's preliminary science accomplishments advance the goal of studying whether the Martian arctic environment has ever been favorable for microbes. Additional findings include documenting a mildly alkaline soil environment unlike any found by earlier Mars missions; finding small concentrations of salts that could be nutrients for life; discovering perchlorate salt, which has implications for ice and soil properties; and finding calcium carbonate, a marker of effects of liquid water.

Phoenix findings also support the goal of learning the history of water on Mars. These findings include excavating soil above the ice table, revealing at least two distinct types of ice deposits; observing snow descending from clouds; providing a mission-long weather record, with data on temperature, pressure, humidity and wind; observations of haze, clouds, frost and whirlwinds; and coordinating with NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to perform simultaneous ground and orbital observations of Martian weather.

Until we meet again, dear friend...

Your Gods Seem So Small...

Hubble got a picture of an extra-Solar planet. An alleged Jewish messiah's walking on water, a mythical dictating fiery shrubbery, and ambiguous prophesied horrors are comparatively unimpressive.

Seeing is not believing.

Ah, Mr. Jefferson

As I get ready for next school year, I'm going to make sure I work this one in as part of my work for the forces of good - "Nation's third president compiled the four Gospels into a single text without miracles that ends with Jesus' burial rather than the resurrection." - (article, the text)

There's hope for Europe (and Bromide, the recent Maoist convert)

Political correctness is killing our freedoms
Telegraph.co.uk

Europe's citizens must be on their guard against political correctness and moralising politicians, says the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.

The former Portuguese premier and centre-Right politician is concerned that freedom can be the loser in European culture wars over climate change, cheap air travel, Islam and free speech.

"We should be aware of people who, sometimes for good reasons, try to establish what I call private moral codes, for this or that, be it climate change, religious behaviour or any kind of social behaviour," he says.

Mr Barroso, a former Maoist student firebrand who fought against the Portuguese dictatorship in the early 1970s, still regards himself as a freedom fighter, even when the calls for bans or restrictions are in a worthy cause, such as global warming or respect for Muslim communities.
...
But Mr Barroso backs the right to offend.

Read it all.