Donna,

” That said, I must have filled their desire (”need”?) to raise a child since they didn’t give me back to the orphanage. Isn’t choice a beautiful thing, Alan? ”

Certainly your parent’s choice was.

Perhaps I read things that are really not there, but you seem to be a fairly angry person.

I believe that we are all products of our experiences. My child hood could have easily produced your anti establishment outlook, but had an opposite effect.

I am particularly curious about where your economic views came from. Since I work with a few people who are as violently against Christianity as you, I can guess that part. Like you they voted for Obama but are turning against him over his over spending.

This is standard troll fare: Ad hominems, strawmen, and projection, along with a heaping pile of unexamined privilege.

Perhaps I read things that are really not there, but you seem to be a fairly angry person.

So? People get angry. Anger is a predictable human response to a real or perceived offense or harm. The teabag rallies are full of rage-ful people who are incensed that a black man is President. They are also finding out that their white skin won’t protect them from the systematic looting of the middle class by corporate elites but they refuse to put the blame where it lies and instead lash out at “liberals” or other convenient scapegoats. Alan is clearly a bitterly angry man but he, being a member of a privileged group, believes himself to be uniquely entitled, not only to his anger, but to the ability to express his anger without being instantly dismissed or marginalized. He’s certainly justified in feeling that way since politicians and the MSM have been doling out cheap flattery to guys like him from time immemorial. On the other hand, members of non-privileged groups – women, gays, minorities – are expected to conduct themselves with quiet dignity at all times, regardless of how shabbily they are treated or how outrageously they’ve been insulted. Anger is so unseemly, to someone like Alan, when it’s coming from a person he doesn’t perceive to be entitled to it.

I believe that we are all products of our experiences. My child hood could have easily produced your anti establishment outlook, but had an opposite effect.

I suppose that incoherent bit of illogic was meant to insinuate that I had a bad childhood and it damaged me. Alan’s attempt to denigrate and marginalize me is amusing in that he lets it slip that he is pro-establishment. This is useful because right wingers sometimes like to pretend that they are the iconoclasts, valiantly struggling against the powerful twin edifices of liberalism and political correctness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Alan is all about protecting the status quo, because it tells him flattering things about himself while picking his pockets. Sad, but true.

I am particularly curious about where your economic views came from. Since I work with a few people who are as violently against Christianity as you, I can guess that part. Like you they voted for Obama but are turning against him over his over spending.

He’s not curious at all. This is strawmen and faux-victim theatrics. Amazing how every wingnut now has co-workers who voted for Obama but have turned against him because of a sudden concern over government spending. Kinda like how every one of them has a “friend in Canada” who had a horrible experience with their health care system. Alan considers anyone who objects to having religious beliefs imposed on them as “violently against Christianity” so it’s hard to even take him seriously. However, I do feel it’s important to rebut people like Alan, forcefully and often, on the internets and especially in real life. Recognize their third rate psychological tricks for what they are and do not let them derail you.

And Alan, please, try harder.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Dear Saddleback Family,

THIS IS AN URGENT LETTER unlike any I’ve written in 30 years. Please read all of it and get back to me in the next 48 hours.

I have thrilling news to share with you below but first some seriously bad news:

With 10% of our church family out of work due to the recession, our expenses in caring for our community in 2009 rose dramatically while our income stagnated. Still, with wise management, we’ve stayed close to our budget all year. Then… this last weekend the bottom dropped out.

On the last weekend of 2009, our total offerings were less than half of what we normally receive – leaving us $900,000 in the red for the year, unless you help make up the difference today and tomorrow.

Everyone say it with me now…..awwwwwww.

Sure Rick, I’ll send you money. I’ll get right on it. Oh wait, I forgot, I gave to PFLAG instead. I urge my readers to join me by not giving to Prop Hate supporter Warren and instead giving to the LGBT cause of your choice.

If I don’t post again today, let me just wish everyone (even you trolls) a happy and prosperous New Year.

It’s a great idea and I certainly would not want to be excluded from “one of the largest-ever social change events on the web” on account of I’m a sociable gal who wants change. When I was thinking about what I wanted to blog about and surfing the tubez for inspiration I came across this review of a book that came out last summer, Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future by science jounalist Chris Mooney and researcher Sheril Kirshenbaum. Reviewer Mark Maximov specifically mentioned our very own Sen. Sylvia Allen, who became a youtube sensation recently.

Last month, at an Arizona state senate hearing, a Republican legislator named Sylvia Allen casually tossed off a statistic that, if true, would unravel the last 200 years of painstaking progress in geological research.

Speaking on a proposal for a new uranium mine, she asserted matter-of-factly that “the Earth’s been here 6,000 years, long before anybody had environmental laws, and somehow it hasn’t been done away with.” The hearing was videotaped, and a clip of her remark was posted on the Internet, exposing her ignorance of basic science to a predictable chorus of mockery and disdain. None of which, of course, has the slightest chance of causing Allen, or other believers of the so-called young Earth hypothesis, to change their minds.

Visitor Konfused Kancer commented to my Tuesday Energy Blog inquiring what relevance Sylvia Allen’s belief that the Earth is 6000 years old has to the development of solar energy in our state. It’s actually a fair question on its face if, like Kancer, you don’t understand the context in which Allen expressed her belief and the long history of resistance to science by religious conservatives. The reason it matters that Sylvia Allen subscribes to a Young Earth theory where environmental policy is concerned is self-evident in what she said. She views science as a threat to her belief system the scientific community as hostile to people like her. Her statement at the hearing was no mere accidental expression of ignorance. It was a shout out in solidarity with others who adhere to the same literal interpretation of Scripture as she does. I’m fairly sure she knew exactly what she was doing.

It cannot be emphasized enough: Sen. Allen may not be scientifically literate, but she’s no dummy and no shrinking violet. What was her response to the chorus of mockery? Did Sylvia Allen hide in shame or backpedal on her contention that the world is 6000 years old? Not hardly. Last month she convened a panel of global warming skeptics at the State Senate for a hearing to allow them to “debunk” climate change. That’s how Sylvia rolls. She is not to be misunderestimated. And this is precisely what the authors of Unscientific America and others who want to increase popular interest in science want us to understand.

It’s an argument that’s been gaining currency lately. In their prologue, the authors thank filmmaker Randy Olson, whose 2006 documentary, Flock of Dodos, made the same case. Like Olson, they think the scientific community’s typical response to public displays of ignorance—the extreme version of which they dub the “you’re an idiot” model of engagement—has been counterproductive: “The scientist ceases to be a friendly instructor and becomes a condescending detractor and belittler.” Which is, of course, no way to win friends and influence people.

Mocking Sylvia Allen may provide hours of entertainment but it’s only going to drive her further into the comforting arms of her church and Exxon shills. She, and many others like her, will continue to interpret science and concern for the environment as a repudiation of religious conservatives and their values. More importantly to us in Arizona, it’s not going to help a scientifically literate candidate of either party defeat Allen at the polls, nor is it going expedite investment in solar and other sustainable energies in our state. As Maximov reminds us:

If the authors’ contention is true, that roughly 46 percent of Americans agree with the statement “God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so,” and this percentage hasn’t changed since pollsters started asking the question in 1982, any new strategy of public engagement is worth trying.

Since the aim of Blog Action Day is to spark discussion, what are some insights you guys have on effective public engagement about science and environmental issues?

Yikes.

Didn’t take long to find out he’s a Birther. Quelle surprise.

This is an exchange Dr. Downing forwarded me from today’s article about how 1 in 4 Phoenicians is uninsured.

(Ted Downing) One would hope that Senators Kyl and McCain read the front page of their home newspapers. Are they so comfortable in their seats that they can ignore the fact it is their state that is among the most at risk? Within ten years, we will have two young, Democratic senators, thanks to this issue.

(respondent) You are a government slave willing to turn over your life to a government bureaucrat. You are unworthy of calling yourself an American and you dishonor the men who died to keep you free. You are a yellow traitor, pure and simple. Pack your bags and get out of my nation you miserable, (expletive) piece of (expletive).

I doubt very much that the Republic would print that statement as a letter so why are they allowing anonymous people to post venomous and borderline threatening crap like that? They’re a newspaper, not a blog. and as such their standards should be higher than ours or Sonoran Alliance’s. I know they have moderators but it’s got to be very difficult to catch every inappropriate comment in the sheer volume that come in. I admit to being guilty of having more than one account there but today I went back to posting under my real name, with my picture. You may not agree with or like everything I say but I’m going to say it under my own name.

What do you guys think? Should they require a name and address to post comments?

So without further ado, I hereby retract the part of my statement where I said that Jason Rose’s staffers are monitoring and spamming blogs on behalf of a client who is a political candidate. I mean, what was I thinking? Seriously, why on earth would a public relations and communications firm being doing something like that? Especially since it touts it’s ability to “create buzz” on it’s website? Again, what ever possessed me to think that a PR firm would be tracking blogs and websites and responding to them to make sure it got their client’s message out on the internets? Why, that’s utterly unheard of!

And as for the stuff about the SCA, please allow me to clarify that it’s a RUMOR that Jason Rose is the person who dreamed up the creepy disgusting smears against Dan Saban and Tim Nelson. Just a rumor, folks. It’s like when you watch FOX News and they do that “some are saying” thing. I bet Jason likes FOX News.

Speaking of retractions, I demand that local right wing blogs retract every statement they’ve made suggesting that President Obama is not a citizen. I think Jason should join me in that, on account of he’s on the side of truth and fairness and whatnot.

So I’ve got just one thing I’d like to say to any of Jason Rose’s folks who may be reading this:

Your boss is a pendejo. Please feel free to pass that memo along to him.

Why is it so abhorrent to democrats that Republican concerns be heard? Why no comment on how Obama supporters are being given professional signs and instructions to drown out those who oppose socialized medicine? Why are we nutjobs because we oppose this? What about the left-wing protestors who protested under Bush with lots and lots of violence? I’m tired of the hypocrisy from the left.

I could launch into a lengthy explanation, but why should I when Tom Tomorrow illustrates it so perfectly?

Click here for a bigger image.

HORNE CRITICAL OF WORSHIPFUL TONE EXPECTED OF SCHOOL CHILDREN LISTENING TO OBAMA’S SPEECH
PHOENIX

(Thursday, September 3, 2009) — State School Superintendent Tom Horne has raised questions about a White House effort to have students in schools watch a speech on the web, and react to it according to a curriculum provided by the White House. A copy of the White House communication is attached to this press release.

Horne stated: “An important part of educating students is to teach them to read and listen critically. The White House materials call for a worshipful, rather than critical approach to this speech. For example, the White House communication calls for the students to have “notable quotes excerpted (and posted in large print on the board),” and for the students to discuss “How will he inspire us,” among other things. There is nothing in these White House materials about approaching the speech critically, or engaging in any critical thinking whatsoever, but only adopting a reverent approach to everything they are being told.”

Horne added: “In general, in keeping with good education practice, students should be taught to read and think critically about statements coming from politicians and historical figures.”

I did some googling about speeches Horne has made to students in our state. Just as I thought, not only has our illustrious Superintendent of Public Ed given talks to students, he saw fit to use the schools as campaign stops when the 2006 general election cycle was in full swing. Horne made a whirlwind tour of several AZ public schools on Sep. 21, 2006. That’s right, less than 6 weeks prior to the election.

“I’m Tom Horne,” he told them, “I’m in charge of 1,800 schools.” They nodded fiercely when Horne asked them if they had good teachers and they answered in unison when he asked them to promise to thank their parents for being involved in their education. Parent involvement is a staple of the model.

In addition to the blatant way he was shilling for reelection, Horne was also promoting Character Counts, an initiative to encourage adult involvement with students to keep them in school and off drugs. Character Counts was a pet project of President GW Bush, who proclaimed a week for it in 2006, and subsequent years.

America’s strength is found in the spirit and character of our people. During National Character Counts Week, we renew our commitment to instilling values in our young people and to encouraging all Americans to remember the importance of good character.

As the primary teachers and examples of character, parents help create a more compassionate and decent society. And as individuals, we all have an obligation to help our children become responsible citizens and realize their full potential. By demonstrating values such as integrity, courage, honesty, and patriotism, all Americans can help our children develop strength and character.

Countless individuals throughout our country demonstrate character by volunteering their time and energy to help neighbors in need. The men and women of our Armed Forces set an example of character by bravely putting the security of our Nation before their own lives. We also see character in the family members, teachers, coaches, and other dedicated individuals whose hearts are invested in the future of our children.

Our changing world requires virtues that sustain our democracy, make self-government possible, and help build a more hopeful future. National Character Counts Week is an opportunity to recognize the depth of America’s character and appreciate those who pass on our values to future generations.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 15 through October 21, 2006, as National Character Counts Week. I call upon public officials, educators, librarians, parents, students, and all Americans to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.

GEORGE W. BUSH

So where was Tom’s call for students to think critically about that? Hmm?

Then there’s our own Superintendent of Public Ed, Tom Horne, who sent round this totally non-partisan missive to school officials:

“An important part of educating students is to teach them to read and listen critically,” Horne said in the email. “The White House materials call for a worshipful, rather than critical approach to this speech.”

Which, you know, would be fine for Tom to say if he were Randy Pullen. Stupid and wrong, but consistent with what you’d expect from a political operative. I guess it’s too much to expect the elected official in charge of the schools not to succumb to the urge to use his position to intimate that the Muslim Communist Kenyan Usurper wants to shoot liberal ju ju rays into the minds of your innocent babes and make them want single payer health care and to join ACORN and whatnot. Yeah, I guess it’s too much to ask. I suppose it’s also too much to ask that local school districts don’t give in to teabaggers demanding that the Kenyan Usurper be banned from talking to the students. That would be awful nice of them since he’s, you know, the actual President of the United States and all.

As it is, President Obama merely wants to encourage kids to study hard and stay in school. Of course, if he really wanted to promote his pet economic policies it’s not like there isn’t precedent for that:

Today, to a degree never before seen in human history, one nation, the United States, has become the model to be followed and imitated by the rest of the world. But America’s world leadership goes well beyond the tide toward democracy. We also find that more countries than ever before are following America’s revolutionary economic message of free enterprise, low taxes, and open world trade. These days, whenever I see foreign leaders, they tell me about their plans for reducing taxes, and other economic reforms that they are using, copying what we have done here in our country.

I wonder if they realize that this vision of economic freedom, the freedom to work, to create and produce, to own and use property without the interference of the state, was central to the American Revolution, when the American colonists rebelled against a whole web of economic restrictions, taxes and barriers to free trade. The message at the Boston Tea Party — have you studied yet in history about the Boston Tea Party, where because of a tax they went down and dumped the tea in the Harbor. Well, that was America’s original tax revolt, and it was the fruits of our labor — it belonged to us and not to the state. And that truth is fundamental to both liberty and prosperity.

That was none other than President Ronald Reagan, addressing middle school students in 1988. IOKIYAR.