Climate & Climate Politics
- March Came In Like A Lamb, Went Out Like A Globally Warmed Lion On Steroids Who Smashed 15,000 Heat Records | ThinkProgress
- More than 15,000 Records Broken in US’ Warmest March on Record | Use Celsias.com – reduce global °Celsius
- Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich’s Stunning Comments: ‘I Believe There Is A Problem’ With Our Climate | ThinkProgress
Politics
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pull support from ALEC | The Raw Story
- » Recapping The Day’s Top News: Liberal Values
Rick Santorum pulled out today. That’s the closest he’ll ever come to anything which sounds like birth control.
- James O’Keefe Shows Everyone Just How Hard Voter Fraud Is | Mother Jones
- The Paradoxical Centrist Bias of the Political Left
The latest psychological research cited by Chris Mooney suggest that liberals and conservatives have a particular inclination toward different psychological traits. Conservatives tend to be more dogmatic and intolerant of ambiguity, whereas a liberal, in the words of Jonathan Chait, “is somebody who won’t even take his own side in an argument.” All of which means that the intentionally provocative title to Mooney’s book, “The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science – and Reality” may particularly niggle at someone more prone to value even-handedness, objectivity and viewing questions from other people’s perspectives–e.g., a liberal!
If some liberals are more predisposed to resist the premise they have a superior way of thinking (Mooney actually states both liberal and conservative approaches are often complimentary, and each comes with its own advantages and disadvantages), they will naturally want to find a counter example of liberal ideological blindness. But maybe such compulsive centrists should look a little closer to home.
In truth, there is one particular bit of liberal dogma that aids on the conservative disinterest in facts: centrism.
This liberal ideal – which Paul Krugman aptly describes as “The Cult of Centrism”– insists that to be right, one must see all sides, and give all views equal weight. It is similar to science in that it believes reality can best be ascertained by letting advocates of different sides battle it out, and the view most able to withstand challenges is the most “true” one. Usually, the liberal assumes, the truth is somewhere in between.
- Paul Ryan really is an incredible piece of work | The Zingularity
- On Chris Christie’s Corporate Welfare moves:
- Corporate Welfare In New Jersey: Chris Christie’s Dubious Growth Strategy
- NYT Examines Chris Christie’s Corporate Welfare Machine : CJR
- Christie Gives New Jersey Firms Tax Breaks for Short Moves – NYTimes.com
- Report Disputes Christie’s Reason for Halting Tunnel Project in 2010 – NYTimes.com
- The Maddow Blog – Christie’s problems worsen in New Jersey
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Religion
- Pat Robertson — Demon Hunter | Video Cafe
After Pat Robertson’s statement last week that homosexuality is “related to demonic possession,” Media Matters put together a mash up of some of the other things Robertson has called demonic over the years.
Televangelist Pat Robertson recently made headlines for suggesting that homosexuality may be driven by “demonic possession.” In recent years, Robertson has labeled a wide (and frequently bizarre) range of things as demonic, including: feng shui, yoga, karate, horoscopes,Twilight, paintings of Buddha, television shows about ghosts, Halloween, psychics, young girls levitating their friends at sleepovers, and (sometimes) adopted children from other countries.
More details and transcripts of some of the original clips at the link above. I got a kick out of the first comment in response to their post and thought I’d share it here:
Seriously Pat, it’s more effective if you hold snakes while you do this. Big poisonous ones (with the sacs removed of course).
Some might argue that it’s demonic to fleece the old, the scared, and the stupid – not me, but some might. . .
- Dawkins/Pell on Q&A | Pharyngula
It’s about to be a long weekend of triumphant atheism in Australia, and Richard Dawkins set things up by sacrificing that idiot, George Pell, on the altar of reason. The whole debate is now online.
I was really unimpressed with most of the audience’s questions, and even less impressed with Pell. Pell threw in Atheist Hitler at about 11 minutes in, and some smug audience member exhibited his confusion about atheism and agnosticism at 14 minutes. Also, the guy at 21 minutes with a video embarrassed all Australians, I think.
It’s a good warmup for the rest of the week, though.
- Showdown in Oz: Dawkins vs. Cardinal George Pell « Why Evolution Is True
- Dawkins on his debate with Archbishop Pell « Why Evolution Is True—