What Widespread Belief Is More Irrational Than Creationism?*

Mrs. Forester sent me the above picture. I haven't laughed so hard in a while. Then again I'm clinically depressed and the Forester family has long had a Darwin Fish on the back of our car.

(If our car were red, it would look like this:)
Don't get me wrong. I'm not against spirituality either-- far from it. But there's something about creationists that's plain ol' nuts. Here's a quote from a stem cell research "article" on Creation Wiki:

The fact that embryonic stem cell research requires the murder of a human has become a major concern for Christians.

Requires the murder of a human? Requires? Murder? Human? These folks say little or nothing when these cute lil' blastocysts pass their freshness date and are tossed in the dumpster. Just don't you try to ease the suffering of your fellow man. **sigh**

Look, I can do crazy with the best of them. However, to match crazy with crazy is a complete waste of time. Lord knows I've tried. It's because I'm only mostly crazy.

Creationists are entirely crazy.

-AF

*Barack Obama is a Muslim wins hands down.

No Plane For You!

President Obama puts the hammer down on Citigroup's jet deal.

President Obama. I do so love the sound of those words.

-AF

Lie. Obstruct. Lie. Repeat.

When they're not obstructin', they're a lyin'...House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) can't stop lying about the CBO's non-partisan stimulus package eval (CBO stuff here & here). He did it last week. Cantor's at it again this week even though the target of his original lie has been removed.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is dutifully following misguided Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) into the abyss. From the AP:

Hours earlier, according to officials who were present at a GOP meeting, none of the Republicans in attendance spoke up in disagreement when urged to oppose the legislation by their leaders. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the party's leader, and Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second in command, said they wanted "100 percent" opposition to the measure, which they argue includes billions in wasteful spending, these officials said.

Good luck with that. We are hemorrhaging jobs, small businesses are dropping faster than flies, homes are being ditched/foreclosed at an unprecedented rate, Wall Street is an absolute catastrophe and we haven't even seen the beginning of the end of this mayhem! Really. We haven't.

Over the past eight years the GOP has exposed itself as an unmitigated fraud. If Boehner & co. are convinced that these methods will be an effective way to rebuild the Republican Party, they've got another thing coming. I'm wicked cynical but I'm certain America won't stand for this. The 2010 Congressional elections will bear me out. So keep up the good work fellas.

It's not like our very nation's at stake or anything.

-AF

Do You Feel Used, Rep. Tiahrt (R-KS)?

Very. Nice. Ride.

Earlier this month Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas) had a "no corporate jet" provision tossed from the Troubled Assets Relief Program Reform and Accountability Act of 2009. At that time Tiahrt described the jet ban to The Wichita Eagle thusly:

"That is a bad signal for Kansas (and) a bad signal for the industry. This sends the wrong message that you cannot use a productivity tool like corporate aircraft. It says you can't use modern technology."

Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas) didn't want to risk layoffs at the Canadian-owned Bombardier Business Aircraft factory in his district. By now Tiahrt should have known these bailed-out banks are always one step ahead in their fucking of the American people. Oh-so-predictably, Citigroup then turned around and blew $50 mill on a French jet.

Do you feel used, Todd (R-Kansas)? I know I sure do. Not just by CitiGroup either.

If you had done your homework job Rep. Tiahrt (R-Kansas), you'd know that there was no reasonable expectation these banks would buy American. You'd have learned over the last ten years Citi had bought only French-made Dassault Falcon 900 EXs. Then, maybe then, you'd have thought to ensure that any such planes bought by banks receiving TARP cash would be required to buy American-built planes.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Think Progress has the lowdown.

-AF

P.S. I first moved to NYC almost 18 years ago and opened an account with Citibank. I can testify that they are the absolute worst in every possible way.

Who Knew?

Rahm Emaneul is a former ballet dancer.

-AF

I'm So Glad I Don't Live On Butt Hole Road

Those English sure have some funny names for places.

-AF

Funny How Loser's Good Ideas Suddenly Become Winner's Bad Ones

McCain was the top sponsor of 2005's The Community Broadband Act. A program to give tax breaks to companies increasing broadband access to rural communities was the nucleus of his 2008 Presidential campaign's technology platform. McCain now sez it's a wasteful part of the stimulus package since it "will take years."

It's a bad idea now only because McCain is unable to take credit for it & he has nothing to gain from its passage.

-AF

"You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It)"*

or Straight Outta MIDEM: Ten Years On, The Music Industry Goes All Napster?

It used to make me cry but now this shit just makes me laugh. Every year music company big wigs from around the world get together to literally save their world. With worldwide music sales plummeting and iTunes sales flat, The NY Times reports from Cannes that "The Industry" pins its hopes on unlimited "free" access to millions of songs to save their sinking ship.

OK, so nothing's "free" here. The cost is added on to yer cell phone or broadband bill. Sounds simple enough. I'm left with any number of unanswered questions:

1. How much is this "free" service?
2. Will consumers embrace any cell/broadband bill increase, for what is in essence a luxury, during the greatest worldwide economic catastrosphe ever?
3. Which record companies are participants?
4. How are the proceeds split amongst participants i.e. a flat rate split for each or split according to percentage of total tunes downloaded or something else?
   
5. What is the projected average cost per song to the consumer?
6. What is the projected revenue per song for the record company?
7. What is the projected total yearly net profit from this service?
8. How much revenue does each record company project receiving?
9. Does this make it easier for us to get more, and more rare, songs for less?
10. Will this kill iTunes for which we still pay a buck a cut?
    

Feargal Sharkey's beaucoup punk rock bona fides aside, I cannot grasp how this gambit will save the day. The music industry has proven time and time again that its stupidity is surpassed only by its greed.

Blah! After a major Blogger crash, it's taken me most of this week to get this far so...
Next up: How we came to be hear here.

-AF
*1979 single by genius No. Irish pop-punkers The Undertones featuring a young Feargal Shockey on vox. Highly recommended. Much loved.

I feel an Uncle Anacher's Punk Rock Tales coming on.

London Flies US Flag For Obama Inauguration

I've been at a loss to add anything to the hyper-extensive coverage of Barack Obama's inauguration. The news that the City of London raised the Stars & Stripes over City Hall gave this admitted Anglophile a double shot of pride. My ancestor was the Town Clerk of London in the reign of Henry V & Henry VI and Founder of The City of London School.

-AF
(HT: Scott Horton)

It's The End Of The World As We Know It

Three more horsemen of the economic apocalypse?

In the "if it plays out properly, and that is a big if, this should be eventually good in the tear-down-a-structurally-compromised-M. C. Escher-of-a-high-rise-to-erect-practical-home" department: The End of Banking as We Know It

In the meantime, we foot the banks' bill. So if you were seething with bailout rage before, your head will now explode: Bailout Is a No-Strings Windfall to Banks, if Not to Borrowers

I don't pretend understand the financially rarified air of the hedge fund manager. But I'd love it if stories like this would do away with the practice of short selling: Hedge Funds, Unhinged

By my count this brings the horsemen of the economic apocalypse running total up to about 27.

-AF