State of the Union Watch Party

Looking for a place to watch tonight's State of the Union Address among like-minded, passionate, Pittsburgh progressives? Here's the party for you:

People for Peduto State of the Union Watch Party
When: Tuesday, February 12, 2013, 6:00 – 8:00 PM for Phone Banking, 8:30 PM for Watch Party
Where: 200 North Highland Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 (map)

And, if your so minded, show up early to phone bank for Peduto for Mayor.

Join ONE BILLION RISING on V-Day!

TRIGGER WARNING: violence, abuse.

ONE IN THREE WOMEN ON THE PLANET WILL BE RAPED OR BEATEN IN HER LIFETIME.*

ONE BILLION WOMEN VIOLATED IS AN ATROCITY

ONE BILLION WOMEN DANCING IS A REVOLUTION

Pittburgh's event will also be in memory of Ka'Sandra Wade, the young, Pittsburgh woman who was killed by her ex-partner on New Year's Eve and whose death has raised a call for better procedures by the police.

One Billion Rising Pittsburgh
When: Thursday, February 14, 2013 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST
Where: Market Square, 23 Market Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 (map)
Hosts: New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Justice and Friends
Pittsburgh Website: Here
Facebook Event Page: Here
Sign up on the National Site for the Pittsburgh Event: Here

 *2003 UNIFEM report entitled "Not A Minute More: Ending Violence Against Women," or 2008, the UNITE To End Violence Against Women Campaign, initiated by UN Secretary-General's Office

Happy Darwin Day, Everybody!

Today, had he been blessed with Terah's longevity, Charles Darwin would have been 203 years old today.

But alas, he passed in 1882 - though given 3 more years than what's promised in Psalm 90:10.

In his honor, I'd like to turn your attention to a piece of legislation now sitting with the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee in the great state of Missouri.

The bill (HB 291), called the "Missouri Standard Science Act" and it:

...requires the equal treatment of science instruction regarding evolution and intelligent design.

Yea, it's 2013 and we're still talking about this.

From Mother Jones:

Late last month, Rick Brattin, a Republican state representative in Missouri, introduced a bill that would require that intelligent design and "destiny" get the same educational treatment and textbook space in Missouri schools as the theory of evolution. Brattin insists that his bill has nothing to do with religion—it's all in the name of science.

See that?  All in the name of science!

Here's what Republican Representative Rick is proposing.  First he defines evolution:

a theory of the origin of life and its ascent by naturalistic means. The first simple life was developed from basic elements and simple molecules through the mechanisms of random combinations, naturally occurring molecular structures, other naturalistic means, and millions of years. From the first simple life, all subsequent species developed through the mechanisms of random variation, mutation, natural selection, adaptation, segregation, other naturalistic means, and millions of years. The theory is illustrated by the evolutionary phylogenic tree. Theory philosophically demands only naturalistic causes and denies the operation of any intelligence, supernatural event, God or theistic figure in the initial or subsequent development of life

And then intelligent design:

a hypothesis that the complex form and function observed in biological structures are the result of intelligence and, by inference, that the origin of biological life and the diversity of all original species on earth are the result of intelligence. Since the inception of each original species, genetic material has been lost, inherited, exchanged, mutated, and recombined to result in limited variation. Naturalistic mechanisms do not provide a means for making life from simple molecules or making sufficient new genetic material to cause ascent from microscopic organisms to large life forms. The hypothesis does not address the time or sequence of life's appearance on earth, time or formation of the fossil record, and time or method of species extinction. The hypothesis does not require the identity of intelligence responsible for earth's biology but requires any proposed identity of that intelligence to be verifiable by present-day observation or experimentation.

He then sets the educational criteria:

Notwithstanding any other law, any introductory science course taught at any public institution of higher education in this state, including material concerning physics, chemistry, biology, health, physiology, genetics, astronomy, cosmology, geology, paleontology, anthropology, ecology, climatology, or other science topics, shall be standard science.

So what's "standard science"? Brattin gives us his definition:

...knowledge disclosed in a truthful and objective manner and the physical universe without any preconceived philosophical demands concerning origin or destiny. Knowledge is based upon verified empirical data obtained through observation and experimentation and serves as the factual basis for formulae, events, processes, principles, and laws and may be a component of theory, hypothesis, conjecture and extrapolation. Knowledge growth as a result of human endeavor serves as the foundation for the continuous reevaluation of theory, hypothesis, conjecture, and extrapolation to determine their correctness based on supporting or conflicting verified empirical data.

He then breaks down "Scientific law", "Scientific Theory" and "Hypothesis."

• Law: a statement describing specific phenomena about the physical universe which has been verified by observation or experimentation and has no exceptions of verified empirical data. The statement may be described by formula
• Theory: an inferred explanation of incompletely understood phenomena about the physical universe based on limited knowledge, whose components are data, logic, and faith-based philosophy. The inferred explanation may be proven, mostly proven, partially proven, unproven or false and may be based on data which is supportive, inconsistent, conflicting, incomplete, or inaccurate. The inferred explanation may be described as a scientific theoretical model
• Hypothesis: a scientific theory reflecting a minority of scientific opinion which may lack acceptance because it is a new idea, contains faulty logic, lacks supporting data, has significant amounts of conflicting data, or is philosophically unpopular. One person may develop and propose a hypothesis

The problem with these criteria is that nothing can be expected to ever have "no exceptions of verified data."  Everything is "incompletely understood" because all empirical data is, by definition, limited.

So everything is a theory and thus:

If scientific theory concerning biological origin is taught in a course of study, biological evolution and biological intelligent design shall be taught.

Because, you know, all "theories" are equally incomplete and so equally valid.

Feel free to peruse Kitzmiller v. Dover School District to understand why Intelligent Design is nothing but creationism - and therefore an unconstitutional intrusion of state-mandated religion into science.

Of course Rick Brattin is a Republican.  And of course most Republicans are creationists.

If we're a nation in decline, this has to be one of the reasons: the stubborn, faith-based resistance from reason that's taken hold of too many Americans.

Happy Darwin Day, everybody!

Santorum 2013!

 

Santorum for Pope!

It will get him out of the U.S. and his policies only slightly more conservative than that of the current Vatican.

The Trib - Not Just Crazie Anymore But Alex Jones Crazie

I never thought I'd see this day.

In all my few years of tracking and deconstructing Teh Crazie on the Tribune-Review's editorial board, I never thought I'd see them go thoroughly conspiracy theory crazie like they have today:

Your federal government keeps buying lots — and lots — of gun ammunition. It previously said the purchases were part of the normal restocking process for government law-enforcement stuff. Now there's word that it's bought another 21.6 million rounds. And as Paul Watson, writing at Infowars.com, ciphers it, and calculating how many rounds have been used in recent U.S. wars, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “has now acquired enough bullets to wage 30 years of war.” And the feds really wonder why God-fearing and liberty-loving Americans have been buying guns in record numbers?

The important point of the braintrust's paragraph is the sourcing of infowars.com.  And actually the name of the website isn't exactly "infowars" is it?  It's actually:


And who's Alex Jones?

This is Alex Jones:


And Alex Jones' Infowars is where the the braintrust gets its story about the DHS buying up all those bullets. This piece, specifically:

The Department of Homeland Security is set to purchase a further 21.6 million rounds of ammunition to add to the 1.6 billion bullets it has already obtained over the course of the last 10 months alone, figures which have stoked concerns that the federal agency is preparing for civil unrest.

Teh paranoid crazie further feeds teh paranoid crazie.  Arm yourselves, patriotic citizens!  The DHS is preparing for civil unrest!  And you know who that means!  From infowars:

The federal agency’s primary concern is now centered around thwarting “homegrown terrorism,” but information produced and used by the DHS to train its personnel routinely equates conservative political ideology with domestic extremism.

And infowars can't even get the facts straight on this point.  Take their first example of how the DHS "equates conservative political ideology with domestic extremism":

A study funded by the Department of Homeland Security that was leaked last year characterizes Americans who are “suspicious of centralized federal authority,” and “reverent of individual liberty” as “extreme right-wing” terrorists.

When you push through the link and actually make it to the study, you'll find this on the very first page:

Current articles and postings on the Internet have mischaracterized the conclusions of the START report “Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970 to 2008,” which was released in January. To be clear, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) does not classify individuals as terrorists or extremists based on ideological perspectives. START and the Global Terrorism Database, on which the Report is based, defines terrorism and terrorist attacks as "the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation.” [Emphasis in original.]

And then:

First, at no point has any START study defined persons "suspicious of centralized federal authority" and "reverent of individual liberty" as terrorists. Instead, we assigned ideological classifications only to groups that have already carried out completed or attempted terrorist attacks. [Emphasis in original.]

So the report first defines terrorist as someone who uses or threatens to use violence for political gain then classifies all those terrorists according to their political ideologies - not the other way around.  Infowars got it completely wrong.

And this is where the braintrust got its info for today's page.

But what about those bullets?

This isn't the first time this "bullets for an upcoming Civil unrest" story has appeared on the outskirts of reality that Infowars inhabits.  Take this from CNN last September:

Praise the Internet and pass the ammunition: the blogosphere is roiling with conspiracy theories over a Social Security Administration shopping list for 174,000 hollow-point bullets. Depending on whom you believe, police who protect Social Security Administration officers are either preparing for impending financial doom by purchasing lethal ammo to put down rioting citizens, or they're just making a standard purchase of ammunition for a federal police agency.

It all began last month when the agency, which is primarily responsible for distributing benefits to the disabled and retired people, posted an announcement seeking bids for 174,000 hollow-point bullets.

Why? cried some bloggers.

Infowars, a website operated by right-wing talk show host Alex Jones, wanted to know if the agency was preparing for "civil unrest."

"Social Security welfare is estimated to keep around 40 per cent of senior citizens out of poverty. Should the tap run dry in the aftermath of an economic collapse which the Federal Reserve has already told top banks to prepare for, domestic disorder could ensue if people are refused their benefits," it said in a post.

A post also written by Paul Watson, by the way.  And according to CNN, even that one wasn't new:

Conspiracy theorists had previously speculated that a purchase of hollow-point bullets by the Department of Homeland Security was similarly meant to quell impending riots. A few years ago, theorists similarly questioned why the Federal Emergency Management Agency was stockpiling body bags and other supplies, suggesting the agency was preparing for civil collapse.

But there is an explanation:

In the face of the furor, the Social Security Administration's public affairs shop -- which spends most of its time issuing releases about speeding disability decisions or looking up benefits information -- issued a statement explaining that its 295 agents need the bullets for target practice and to protect the agency's 66 offices across the nation.

"These investigators have full law enforcement authority, including executing search warrants and making arrests," the agency said in an August post. "Our investigators are similar to your state or local police officers. They use traditional investigative techniques, and they are armed when on official duty."

And:

Investigators "use this ammunition during their mandatory quarterly firearms qualifications and other training sessions, to ensure agent and public safety," the administration added.

Let's run the numbers.

174,000 bullets divided by 295 agents makes an average of about 590 bullets per agent.  If they train for quarterly qualifications, that's about 150 bullets per agent per quarterly qualification.

Hardly out of the question for training, doncha think?

But to the infowars and the conspiracy theorists, it could only have meant one thing: THEY'RE PREPARING FOR CIVIL UNREST!!!

And this is the information source Scaife's braintrust trusted enough to quote this morning.

They got teh crazie far deeper than I thought.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy!

Recent Corbett headlines:

Gov. Tom Corbett approval numbers worst in F&M poll history

Sandusky Scandal Might Take Down Governor Too

Announcement

WEATHER PERMITTING
I've been invited to be on "NightTalk: Get to the Point" tonight on PCNC.

Chris Potter will be hosting and I'll be on a panel with Ruth Ann Dailey of the P-G and Ulish Carter of The New Pittsburgh Courier.

Again, weather permitting.

Now I gotta go study.