Science

Trying To Decipher The “Republican” Brain: Crazy, Lacking In Reality And Ethics

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Republicans used to be a reputable major political party, and have a lot to be proud of in their history of 158 years.

But there is little to be proud of in 2012, as Republicans seem to have lost their minds, their ethics, their morality, their ability to understand reality!

How else to explain the following:

A vast majority of Republicans believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya, is a Muslim, is a Socialist, a Fascist, a Communist, and wishes to destroy America.

The deficit issue began with Barack Obama, ignoring $2 trillion investment in failed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and $1.3 trillion in tax cuts to the top two percent of the population under George W. Bush.

The Federal budget can be balanced with only program cuts, not tax increases ever again.

Global warming is a hoax, and evolution is just a theory, and God will always protect all of us from harm from the climate, and mankind walked the earth alongside dinosaurs.

Iraq caused September 11, and we found Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.

Since there is no body, how do we know that Osama Bin Laden was really killed by US Navy Seals?

Contraception is evil, and knowledge to adolescents about sex is evil, and it is all a plot to promote gay sex and abortions.

All Hispanics and Latinos are illegal immigrants, and they are all criminal elements that must be deported en masse.

Barack Obama is easily the most corrupt President we have ever had in American history, including Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush.

The collapse of Wall Street in 2008 was due to too much regulation, and was caused by Democrats and liberals.

The entire New Deal and Great Society is unconstitutional, and needs to be repealed, and return us to the days of states rights, instead of a powerful national government.

America was designed to be a theocracy, and we are a Christian Republic, and if we follow Jesus Christ, we will be just fine.

Science is atheism, and should be dismissed as propaganda to turn America away from God and Jesus Christ.

The list goes on, but this is enough to tell any sane person that the GOP has gone amuck in its craziness about the real world we live in!

Rush Limbaugh’s Attack On Government, Media, Academia, And Science: The Promotion Of “Know Nothingism”!

Ronald 4 Comments

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, the largest, in all ways, of windbags, who loves to divide America, on the road to further enrichment of his massive fortune, is at it again, but what else is new?

Limbaugh now claims that America has four enemies within its midst: the federal government, the news media, the academic community, and the field of science!

Limbaugh has no problem with the hypocrisy of organized religion; the corruption of Wall Street and the massive corporate influence; the massive rise in the national debt under George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and others in the past three decades; and the tremendous costs of constant warfare overseas in the past decade, and its effect on military personnel’s physical and mental health.

Limbaugh is disturbed if the government does anything to deal with the disaster visited upon the middle class and the poor by the events of the past decade. He is also upset that the news media have the gall to expose the evils and problems that exist, due to the deleterious influence of the Republicans in the past ten years. Of course, academia is seen as evil because it actually promotes knowledge, learning, interpretation, analysis, thinking–all characteristics which Rush Limbaugh lacks! And rather than look at science as something to be respected, instead Rush promotes corporate greed which undermines the future of our environment and planet long term.

Rush Limbaugh is an extremely obscene individual who revels in promotion of ignorance, prejudice, narrow mindedness and hatred, and is only out for his own aggrandizement! When will his audience wake up and realize the truth, and that he has no concern for those who listen to him, except to glorify his own ego and enhance his own fortune?

Will people ever learn and see the truth? One would hope so!

Two Prestigious Scholars Blame The Republican Party For The Stalemate In The 112th Congress

Ronald 5 Comments

Two well known scholars, Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman J. Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, have recently published a book and authored articles criticizing the Republican Party for the stalemate in the 112th Congress.

The Republican Party is blamed for its refusal to hold members of their party in Congress accountable for their wild statements; is seen as totally against compromise; refuses to accept facts, evidence and science; lacks respect for the legitimacy of the opposition party and its members; and is so far outside the mainstream as to be alarming for any hope of accomplishment of any goals or programs!

The two people most responsible for this extremism are former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Grover Norquist of the Americans for Tax Reform. But also the filibuster has been abused in the Senate, and prevented many executive branch appointments from being confirmed, both in the government agencies and in the court system.

The reaction to Roe V. Wade after 1973 mobilized social conservatives, while the tax revolt in California in 1978 mobilized anti tax activists. Also, the South turned conservative Republican after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s; and the rise of conservative talk radio, and the growing impact of Fox News on cable, also had a great impact on what has become a growing stalemate and gridlock.

Health care reform, climate change, economic recovery, deficits, and debt issues have become a chasm between the two major political parties. Polarization has become the norm, and is a dangerous trend which may continue, if the voters again send a confusing message of a divided Congress in the 2012 Congressional elections. The Tea Party movement, if it grows, will further create conflict at a time when we need negotiation and compromise!

This assessment is extremely worrisome, as it means that our national government may be totally paralyzed, when we need true statesmen in both parties dealing with our important national agenda!

Mitt Romney: The “Gutless Wonder” With No Principles!

Ronald 3 Comments

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has been described as colorless, dull, boring, plastic, stiff, and as a chameleon who changes his views to fit the audience or the pressure group. With a reputation as a “flip flopper”, Romney has managed to change his views on every subject imaginable, making one wonder who is the REAL Romney, as one book is entitled!

But now that he is the presumptive nominee, he is rewriting history, claiming he had been supportive of the idea of going into a foreign nation to hunt down Osama Bin Laden, as Barack Obama, and interestingly, former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani, had endorsed as far back as 2007.

Now his aide tells us that Romney was the one to support saving General Motors and the auto industry, and that Obama picked up his idea, another total falsehood!

Mitt Romney also had the nerve to say yesterday that he wishes to help the poor and the middle class, when he said just the exact opposite a few months ago. But now he claims that Barack Obama wants to take from the poor to give to the wealthy! What in the world does he mean by that assertion, which makes absolutely no sense in reality? This is a man who exudes wealth and privilege, and total lack of concern about the poor and the middle class, and seems to think just by making a statement, that it wipes out his past statements and actions, what his own aide called an “etch a sketch”!

Mitt Romney has no scruples, ethics, or morals apparently, as for a man who claims to be a “good Mormon”, one would think he would not lie as regularly as Mitt Romney does!

And he has now also shown cowardice, that he is a “gutless wonder”, in forcing the resignation of a gay conservative foreign policy spokesman to please the religious right bigots. Does that mean he will have a test for all administration employees that no one who is gay will be part of his government? It is well known that many Republicans speak anti gay rhetoric but have gay employees or aides. Why cannot Romney promote diversity and tolerance, a crucial test of his character and principles, which obviously he lacks in massive amounts!

Mitt Romney proves more than ever by his actions and words that he is unfit to be our President, as his record now shows that he is all of the following, in no special order:

Anti Women
Anti Hispanic-Latinos
Anti Labor
Anti Gay
Anti Science
Anti Environment
Anti Poor
Anti Health Care Reform
Anti Social Safety Net
Anti Education Opportunity

Mitt Romney should be ashamed for demonstrating he is a man with no principles, a “gutless wonder”!

Earth Day, The Environment, And Republicans From TR And Nixon To James Inhofe And Mitt Romney!

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The Republican Party under Theodore Roosevelt a century ago promoted conservation and growth of national parks.

The Republican Party under Richard Nixon promoted the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, and expanded on the air and water pollution legislation of Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson.

The Republican Party under Ronald Reagan, despite his wish to destroy the Environmental Protection Agency, and having a terrible record on the environment, possibly the worst of modern times, actually came to realize the dangers of global warming, which became part of the national security agenda in 1985 and after.

The Republican Party under George H. W. Bush, and then Democrat Bill Clinton, continued to deal with the issue of global warming.

It seems clear that once Al Gore, an environmental champion before, during, and after serving as Vice President under Bill Clinton, lost the Presidential Election of 2000 in the Supreme Court, it became the clarion call of those who would deny global warming and climate change, to push against any such crusade, and to condemn environmentalists on principle, much of it based on fake science promoted by right wing Evangelical Christians, with their leading champion being Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, but certainly joined by others in the Republican Party in both houses of Congress.

So we have even Mitt Romney now straddling the fence, refusing to take a strong stand on the environment, global warming, and climate change, and about to give a commencement speech next month at the late Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in Virginia, where denial of environmental crisis, and even of evolution, runs rampant.

Look how far the GOP has fallen from the time of TR and Nixon to the present–a true national tragedy playing itself out, and certain to have a negative impact on the future of this country and the planet!

No Time For Ignorance Or Narrow Mindedness In the Presidency Or Vice Presidency!

Ronald 1 Comment

The candidacy of Sarah Palin for Vice President introduced the factor of total ignorance and lack of knowledge of the Alaska Governor in 2008.

We cannot afford another Sarah Palin running for either Vice President or President. We also cannot afford any candidate who would advocate or believe the following ideas:

Anyone who denies the significance of science; anyone who allows religion to be the dominant factor in his or her judgments; anyone who does not have a basic knowledge of our government and history; anyone who believes that it is fine to deny people the right to vote on flimsy grounds; anyone who promotes veiled racism and nativism; anyone who believes we should go back to the 18th century concept of the world; anyone who denies the dangers to the environment; anyone who advocates women going back to the 1950s and earlier; anyone who believes that hard won labor rights should be taken away; anyone who advocates keeping 50 million Americans from having basic health care; and anyone who believes that a college education should not be a goal to promote among young people–anyone who advocates or believes these eleven points—should not be allowed to become our President if we wish to look to the future, rather than go back to our checkered past!

Mississippi And Alabama Continue Their Bad Reputation From The 1960s

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Mississippi and Alabama vote tomorrow in the Republican Presidential primaries, and as we focus on the two states with the worst reputation possible fifty years ago, one has to wonder has anything changed?

The answer is NO, although now the majority of citizens of those two states vote Republican, rather than for the Democratic Party.

But all that happened is that the whites of those states switched, based on the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson, from the Democrats to the Republicans, as the Republicans gave up their Reconstruction image of being pro African American rights, and therefore, inherited the segregationists of the 1960s.

Sure, African American involvement in the politics of those two Deep South states has multiplied, but still those states are dominated by the old racism and segregationist mentality of the 1960s! They remain among the poorest states of the union, both black and white citizens.

Now, those states are working to make it harder for minorities to vote, leading to court cases. Also, discrimination against immigrants of Hispanic ancestry is in full swing, particularly so in Alabama.

And a majority in a poll believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim, while at the same time, NOT believing in evolution, but instead the Bible creationist theory. So they do not believe in science, but believe in a Lord who discriminates based on race and nationality!

What can one say except throw their hands up in frustration and exasperation at the ignorance and narrow mindedness of these two states, whose reputation remains in the bottom ten of our 50 states, and very close to the bottom, if not the bottom!

Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe: The Ultimate Environmental Enemy, Based On The Bible!

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Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma is the greatest critic of the environmental movement in America, bar none.

A leading global warming-climate change denier, Inhofe has just come out with a new book in which he refers to the Bible as his proof that there is no climate change or global warming crisis, because God is in charge, and would not do any such harm.

Completely ignoring the role of science, Inhofe has made it his mission in the US Senate to do everything he can to prevent any government action on environmental issues, and his impact has helped to undermine any attempts to cooperate with other nations on the issue, or to allow our government to plan strategy on the issue.

In the future, when environmental change does occur, we will look back on Inhofe as an ostrich with his head in the sand, but since he will have passed from the scene, he will not feel the effects of climate change and global warming, but will be blamed for having helped to prevent effective action on the issue.

For that, he will be condemned in history!

Major Landmark In Education: Over 30% Of Americans Over 25 Have Bachelor’s Degree

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For the first time in American history, over 30% of Americans over the age of 25 have a four year bachelor’s degree from a college or university.

As of last March, 30.4% of Americans have a bachelor’s degree, and 10.9% have a graduate degree.

Women are nearly equal in attainment of bachelor’s and graduate degrees for the first time, and will soon surpass men in attainment of college degrees.

Asian Americans remain the most educated in our society, with 50.3% having bachelor’s degrees, and 19.5% having graduate degrees.

Whites have 34% with undergraduate degrees; African Americans 19.9%; and Hispanics 14.1%.

Somewhat surprisingly, science and engineering degrees are the largest fields with college degrees on the bachelor’s level, reaching 34.9% of the total of all degrees. The percentage of women in these fields is up to 45.9% among the age group 25-39. And more such majors are found on the east coast in the District of Columbia and Maryland, and on the west coast in California and Washington. The lowest percentage in this field are found in Southern and Great Plains states.

It is better for the long range future of America that more of the population is attending and graduating with a college degree. And it is not only for economic reasons, but also, a better educated citizenry is good for improving one’s life and the understanding of the world we live in!

Rick Santorum On The Rampage: Attacking Public Education, The Environment, And Prenatal Care

Ronald 3 Comments

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is on the rampage, ranting and raving like a maniac, and making many mainstream Republicans roll their eyes as they see the chances of their party disintegrating for November.

Santorum yesterday, while campaigning in Ohio, attacked public education, saying it is outmoded, and should not be controlled or operated by national or state governments, but instead privatized. The fact that we have had public schools since the 1820s is ignored, as he calls such an idea “antiquated” and “anachronistic”! He calls public schools “factories”, and says that local school boards and parents should control the educational system, even though the historical record does not show that to have been done very well in the past! The idea that parents, who in many cases have no knowledge or understanding of educational curriculum, should control what is taught, is as dangerous as to let patients tell doctors how to do their job, or clients to tall attorneys how to conduct cases in court! It is also a great way to distort history and science, teaching a distorted view of the past, and allowing religion to become part of science in relation to evolution and climate change, already being promoted in many states dominated by the Christian Right.

Santorum also attacked those he says are following a false theology, such as Barack Obama, who feel that the earth comes before human beings, and that radical environmentalists want to prevent mankind from utilizing the earth, and therefore endangering the future prosperity of America. Teddy Roosevelt would turn over in his grave at such an assertion!

Santorum also accused those who promote prenatal care, including amniocentesis, of setting out to abort disabled children, preventing their birth. There is no evidence of such a claim, but it is interesting that Rick Santorum, as with other Republicans, constantly calls for cuts in Medicaid, the major program to help the disabled with health care. So Santorum is totally hypocritical on this matter.

The man is displaying all of his instability, weirdness, craziness, and lunacy, which will destroy his ability to attract educated voters, women, independents, moderate Democrats, and those who believe that religion should not be part of government policy, who want separation of church and state.

The more he rants and raves, the more the Republican Party is on the road to total defeat in November, so keep it coming, Rick!