In Search Of Giants

While watching the “In Search Of Giants” show, I found something disturbing. The show accuses scientists of sweeping the evidence that giants existed under the rug because it “refutes the theory of evolution.” What part of random do these lunkheads not understand? Proving that giants, even ones with double rows of teeth, roamed the earth at the same time as our ancestors does not harm the theory of evolution any more than the evidence showing that humanoids and Neanderthals roamed the earth at the same time our ancestors did. What would be far more damaging to the theory of evolution would be proof of a nice neat linear progression leading directly to God's most magnificent creature, us.

I will submit to you that if someone was trying to hide evidence of the existence of giants, it was not done by anyone trying to protect a scientific theory; not unless that person was incredibly ignorant of the very theory he was trying to protect. One of the most difficult tasks for any historian is the task of ascribing a motive for any given action. I would be as irresponsible as the people on that show if I said that a person who believes in creationism is far more likely to have hidden the evidence.

It is much better stick to the what and where. Leave the conjecture to someone else,  Content yourself with finding the evidence to prove the existence of the giants! Doing that should be dramatic enough to draw  the viewers.

Idiot's Delight:

How are the Republicans celebrating their mid-term victory? Apparently they are celebrating by playing the political equivalent of idiots delight. The rules are quite simple: first you defund President Obama's executive order regarding immigration, regardless of the fact that nothing in the order requires any funding. This, I guess, pleases the idiots who make up the Republican base without causing harm to others; not a bad deal when you think about it. The other thing you do is file an expensive and frivolous law suit against President Obama regarding the Affordable Care Act. Given the fact that we now have the most politicized and worst Supreme Court in our history, this suit does have the potential to be harmful! I am, however, trying to demonstrate some optimism about this suit by saying that even the five injustices of our Supreme Court would not stoop to ruling illegal the sort of executive order that has been issued by every President since WWII.

I might add here that there is no fact the Republicans will not ignore or lie about. Ronald Reagan was the President who granted undocumented immigrants amnesty, and both Reagan and G. H. W. Bush used executive orders to prevent the deportation of undocumented immigrants. So did Reagan and G. H. W. Bush violate the Constitution? And what the hell is it about the executive order regarding immigrants that would prevent Republicans from passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill, other than the fact that they feel so insulted by the order that they are going to pick up their toys and go home? Picking up their toys and going home seems to be what Republicans do best.  I wish I had a job that required so little time in the work place.

No Saber-Tooth Tigers!

What makes more sense: passing a law that prohibits anyone from keeping a saber-tooth tiger as a pet or passing a law that prohibits the replacement of our current laws with sharia law? Strictly form a legal standpoint keeping a saber-tooth tiger as a pet is viable whereas replacing our current laws with sharia law is not. Keeping a saber-tooth tiger as a pet does not violate the first amendment or any of the other amendments to our constitution. Replacing our laws with sharia law, on the other hand, violates the first amendment and several other amendments to our constitution. In other words, sharia law could not survive the scrutiny of any appellate court. It poses no more of a threat than saber-tooth tigers do. Yet here we have Newt Gingrich advocating the passage of a law to prohibit replacing our current laws with sharia law. If Mr. Gingrich succeeded in passing such a law, he could wait several years and claim that it worked because no one replaced our laws with sharia law. If I succeeded in passing a law prohibiting anyone from keeping a saber-tooth tiger as a pet, I could also wait several years and say the prohibition worked because no one resurrected one of those creatures to keep as a pet.

I know this is not a political blog, but I cannot ignore Mr. Gingrich’s inadvertent satire. This man was once the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was considered the leader of the Republican Party and its leading intellectual. Is he really that ignorant about our constitution and judicial review? I hope so. If that is not the reason he is advocating such an absurd law, I will have to conclude that he is arrogant enough to think he can sell the American people legislative snake oil. This means he is insulting our educational system and/or the retention level of anyone who successfully completed a seventh grade civics course. Is he so bereft of any thoughts about how we might deal with our real problems that he has to drum up such an obviously phony issue? Is he cynical enough to think we are so ignorant and gullible that we will thank him for saving us from such an imaginary threat?

Maybe he is trying to appeal to low information voters, but what he is advocating is so ludicrous that it falls well below the lowest common denominator. It is almost as if he is mocking irrational fears. Could that be what he is doing? Is he trying to compete with Stephen Colbert or John Stewart? Is he doing a parody of a right wing demagogue? Frankly, I do not think he is that bright or that funny. Better leave the comedy to the professionals, Newt. Believe me, you are no Pat Paulsen!

This was first published in macsbackporch.foxtail-farms on Sept. 22, 2010.  The reason why I am posting again is to remind people of how absurd the Republicans are and how vicious they became under Gingrich's leadership.  I want to remind people of the impeachment of Bill Clinton. I want to remind the voters of when partisan interests became more important to Republicans than the interests of this nation.  Elections have consequences and the consequences of the last election could be dire!

Who?

Who is more idiotic the person who is stupid enough to believe that Fox News actually reports news or the person who is stupid enough to stay home and let the Fox dolts decide the outcome of important elections?

Beyond Stupid

I knew the most crucial of the mid-term elections were being held in places that are politically challenged to say the least, but I must admit that I am absolutely shocked by how incredibly absurd the results were. I am really amused by the pundits now twisting themselves into pretzels in an effort to find some message in those results. Here is a news flash: there is no message. There simply is no rational reason for what the voters just did. Understanding how stupid the voters were requires a look in the rear view mirror to see the behavior they just rewarded.

The Injustices Republican Presidents have appointed to the Supreme Court have given us the most politicized and worst court in the history of our nation. It truly is the court of the rich and powerful, by the rich and powerful, and for the rich and powerful. It is little wonder that the people of this nation think our justice system is stacked against them. Furthermore, George W. Bush started an unnecessary war that has now destabilized a large and important part of the world. He also turned a federal surplus into a huge deficit and crashed our economy. The voters quite understandably reacted to this by electing Barack Obama President and giving the Democratic Party control of both houses of Congress.

The Republicans responded this huge political defeat by misusing the filibuster in the Senate to make the government is dysfunctional as possible. Their goal was to make President Obama fail regardless how much that might hurt the country. In spite this, the Democrats still managed to pass a few bills that helped the economy grow. The pace of recovery, however, was painfully slow, in large part because of the road blocks set up by the Republican Party. And how did the voters react to this? Well, in five states they actually took their frustration out on the Democrats by electing extreme right wing Republican governors. The voters also rewarded the Republican tactics of obstruction in congress by giving the Republicans control of the House of Representatives.

The right wing governors then slashed taxes for the rich, cut funding for public education and other vital services, and deprived thousands of people medical care by turning down federal money to expand Medicaid. Drunk with power, the Republicans in the House of Representatives soon turned their congress into the least productive in the history of our nation. I would argue that it is also the most destructive because the Republicans actually shut down our government and damaged the full faith and credit of the United States by threatening to default on the payment of our debts.

In spite of the fact that most of the states with extreme right wing Republican governors are less well off than the people of neighboring states, the voters have now rewarded those incompetent governors by reelecting them.  They have also made our economic recovery less likely by giving the Republicans control of the Senate.  In every recent mid-term election the voters have rewarded bad behavior and failed policies by increasing the power of the Republican Party.  The guy who said voters are not stupid, they are just too preoccupied with their daily struggles to follow politics is dead wrong.  Saying that is like saying that the guy who wants to repeal social security so he can buy more lottery tickets to provide for his retirement is not stupid, he is just too preoccupied with his daily struggles to find out how social security works.   What the voters did in this election is as stupid as giving your dog a treat for shitting on your couch!

If I sound like I am panicking it is because I am. I am scared to death that Ron White is correct when he says “you can't fix stupid!” I am also afraid that our democracy might be too fragile to survive such stupidity. I want to yell at the top of my lungs:

“WAKE THE FUCK UP! THE BILLIONAIRES, THE SUPREME COURT, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ARE WAGING A WAR AGAINST TO MIDDLE CLASS! CLOSING YOUR EYES TO THAT WAR IS ALLOWING THEM TO TURN THE AMERICAN DREAM INTO A MERE FANTASY!"