Comments by rod-the-farmer

301. Tyrannosaurus rex protein proves dinosaurs evolved into birds

Comment #169728 by rod-the-farmer on April 26, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Ok, Buddha and Tagred, thanks. I think. What I am missing is some sort of idea as to how some un-named person or measurement determines that the confidence level of their inter-relation approaches 1.0 or 100 %. Is it DNA comparison ? And while I dimly recognise some of the Latin names, what the heck is Raja ? Is there a more expanded version of this chart, complete with a legend or some explanation of the terms and the various "taxa" ? A book is probably more than I am going to chase down. I see that chart as open season for fundies, since the confidence level is not explained in any way at all. It may well be understood by those whose field of expertise encompasses it, but for the rest of us, and in particular the fundies, we need a simple, clear explanation. Feel free to direct me and others to a different site, as perhaps not all those watching this article may be interested in the gory details.

302. Tyrannosaurus rex protein proves dinosaurs evolved into birds

Comment #169424 by rod-the-farmer on April 26, 2008 at 4:15 am

For those who are bird enthusiasts, there is a nice web site

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/

which has lots of info about birds, especially their various calls. Very useful trying to identify that which you have seen or heard. I recommend you bookmark it. Last time I looked they did not have the T-rex, but then that was a while ago. I suspect there are periodic updates, and we may see something new soon. I will write to my contact there and ask.

303. Humans nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago, study says

Comment #169038 by rod-the-farmer on April 25, 2008 at 2:22 pm

I liked the Spencer Wells program so much I bought the video ! BUT......I would really like to see a video we can all watch on YouTube or maybe on Nova TV, showing just how the analysis of the DNA collected around the world, has been turned into logical conclusions. I would buy THAT video too. I think there is some real meat there, waiting for public revelation, to help convince the fundies, that people like Wells have real science on their side. Something we can ALL see and agree with. This sort of stuff may be available already. But I would expect to hear about it by now. Anyone seen anything ? I agree with Richard D. that we need people out there making science popular, and understandable by the masses who take little interest in science. I just pulled one of my astronomy books off the shelf in my personal library, and find it pre-dates the launch of the Hubble. Yet it still makes fascinating reading (I read a LOT - almost anything). The more we can make science exciting stuff, the better chance we have to keep the fundies a marginal segment of society. Dog, I wish I were a science teacher. Mr. Passion, that's me. OK, history too.

304. Student's 'Be Happy, Not Gay' t-shirt ok

Comment #169009 by rod-the-farmer on April 25, 2008 at 2:08 pm

Many years ago the bank I dealt with back then had a "casual Fridays" tradition. One of those Fridays I went in to find my regular teller wearing a t-shirt that said something across the front in a language I did not recognise, possibly Hungarian. I asked what it meant, and she said "You mean you can't read (whatever language it was) ?" So I responded "No, can I try Braille ?" She blushed, and the teller next to her said "That was pretty good, you should let him."

305. Tyrannosaurus rex protein proves dinosaurs evolved into birds

Comment #168946 by rod-the-farmer on April 25, 2008 at 1:24 pm

I agree, truly neat stuff. However, I went to the cladogram mentioned in Comment #9, by Angels on a Pinhead, to see if I could understand the science a bit more. Nope. I must be dumb, but so are several of the people posting there as well. Is there anyone watching this site who could explain that cladogram to us non-techie types ?

306. In His Name We Pray, Ramen

Comment #168325 by rod-the-farmer on April 25, 2008 at 2:43 am

OK, another scientific article, this one on how T-Rex is a distant relative of chickens.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/24/tech/main4044053.shtml

307. Ben Stein Vs. Sputtering Atheists

Comment #167265 by rod-the-farmer on April 23, 2008 at 7:39 pm

Expelled is, according to this link, among the top 10 in box office this past week. Released in over 1,000 theatres, it brought in over $3M.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080421/32048_\'Expelled\'_Explodes_into_Top_10_Box_Office.htm

So, if I do the math, 3 million divided by 1000 theatres, then divided again by 5 days (one week, near enough) works out to about $600 per day, on average. No idea what ticket prices are, but suppose they are $10.....that makes 60 people saw the movie each day. Figure on maybe 6 showings per day, that makes 10 people each time, all very rough estimates, of course. I dunno if any savvy theatre manager is going to get excited about 10 people in his Expelled show, compared to whatever box office receipts show up with the other films he/she has to choose from. But maybe they showed it only twice, and the tickets were $5, which would make it more interesting.

308. Anti-evolution bill clears another hurdle

Comment #166627 by rod-the-farmer on April 23, 2008 at 10:52 am

Well, you heard it here first. I just this moment got a phone call from a sales person describing a "free" travel voucher for a Florida vacation. I said "Thanks, but we would never vacation in Florida." The shocked sales rep asked why, and I said it was because of the recent vote by the Florida state government to take evolution out of the schools, and replace it with the bible. (I know, I exaggerated, so sue me. The opportunity was too good to miss.) Therefore neither I nor my friends and family would vacation in Florida until these nutcases were voted out. THEN the sales rep said he thought taking evolution out of the schools was a GOOD idea !!! At that point I said "Well, you won't be seeing me vacation in Florida". Hee hee hee.

309. Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital

Comment #166617 by rod-the-farmer on April 23, 2008 at 10:46 am

Great name for a rock group....The Penis Snatchers.... we couldn't make this stuff up.

310. Judge orders La. school district to stop Bible giveaways

Comment #166610 by rod-the-farmer on April 23, 2008 at 10:41 am

Imagine the fuss if the local mosque dropped by with a box of Korans, "which the students do NOT have to take", although they are outside the principals office. Or maybe we should ask a local chapter of the Atheist Church to drop off free copies of something affordable....maybe we could ask Readers Digest to do a Condensed Books version of The God Delusion. You didn't know there was a local chapter ? Not to worry, any motivated individual will do.

311. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #166211 by rod-the-farmer on April 23, 2008 at 2:22 am

I agree with Styrer....unimpressive on both sides. And then this

Blaise Pascal, whose famous wager runs: "You cannot lose by professing belief in God - if He does not exist you lose nothing, and if He does exist, you will be rewarded in the afterlife."

Was Pascal an authority on the afterlife ? News to me. What I have read is that if you didn't believe DURING your life, no amount of good deeds will get you into heaven. Otherwise, we could all just do good things, and avoid the houses of worship, and the five times a day stuff. That's how the priests keep you in thrall. You HAVE to attend, and believe. Sorry. Not this bunny. Keep your creepy, grasping little hands off me and my child. If he decides as an adult to join your club, so be it. But until then, I will encourage rationality. Somewhere around the house I think I have a can of "Priest Off".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEHUzNWnh5M

312. Mecca should become core to measure time zones: scholars

Comment #165664 by rod-the-farmer on April 22, 2008 at 2:25 am

In fairness, I should remind listeners of an article right here on RD.net, quoting a professor Hoodbhoy at a university in Islamabad, Pakistan. You can find it under Science: Physics & Chemistry. Science and Islam, or something like that.

He makes the point that English is the major language of science and technology these days. For countries whose native tongue is not English, one indicator of their level of technology is the number of scientific books that are translated into the local language. Then he drops the bomb. In the last 1,000 years, the entire muslim world has translated about the same number of science books as Spain does in one year. Talk about off-scale.

One can hardly blame muslims because SOME of them are essentially illiterate in science, if they have no material in their local language with which to educate themselves. And let's face it......for someone who has no access to books on science, the distorted views we see on the web about a flat earth etc. in Arabic, will be much easier to find. Lately there was even a comment that a lot of the Iraqi fighters cannot read at all. Accurate science, especially if it appears to contradict the Koran, may well be invisible.

313. Pope's Views on Science Invoke Spirited Debate

Comment #165660 by rod-the-farmer on April 22, 2008 at 2:05 am

I agree with those who say he looks creepy. And as for

In a speech written earlier this year, the pope put his views about science into an analogy: "The tree of knowledge is fed through spiritual roots," he wrote, "and without those it will wither and die."

does this not sound like Mitt Romney or whoever it was who said in the U.S. election campaign that "religion needs freedom, and freedom needs religion" ???

If he had said "is SOMETIMES fed", or "is OFTEN fed" he might have a point. But to imply ALWAYS causes me to despair. Did you see the pictures of two nuns preparing for his visit, and looking at a cell phone ? Wow. Mind control.

Thanks goodness Darth Rat has no control over me.

314. If God Is Dead, Who Gets His House?

Comment #165658 by rod-the-farmer on April 22, 2008 at 1:51 am

An atheist church ? Count me out. One of the most attractive parts of disbelief for me was freeing up an hour or more of time every Sunday. Time better spent on hobbies, household chores, etc. Some of that time, I do admit, I have spent listening to music inspired by religion. Like Richard Dawkins, I do enjoy immensely things like Handels Messiah. But I would not attend religious services to hear it. An atheist church ? Aaaack. Sounds like dogma coming. Big trouble, right here in River CIty.

315. Mecca should become core to measure time zones: scholars

Comment #165569 by rod-the-farmer on April 21, 2008 at 5:16 pm

I thought a true Pastafarian would want the time zone to be centred in Parma, not in Rome. As for the backwards watch invented by a muslim, my first thought was that you could not make this stuff up. If someone here at RD had, he/she would be laughed at. However, if the watch that runs backwards had a date function, that showed the date as 1400 AD, now THAT would make sense.

316. Ben Stein Vs. Sputtering Atheists

Comment #165000 by rod-the-farmer on April 20, 2008 at 11:22 pm

Interesting thing...if you click on the link at the top, and go to the original article on Yahoo, the names of people like Sternberg are themselves links. Open THESE, and you get Google searches on them, having been mentioned in articles about the Expelled movie. You will be please to see that many if not most of them are highly critical of the Expelled movie.

You can fool some of the people all the time, or all of the people some of the time. But you can't fool ALL of the people ALL of the time.

P.T. Barnum ?

317. Lizards Undergo Rapid Evolution After Introduction To A New Home

Comment #164977 by rod-the-farmer on April 20, 2008 at 10:50 pm

Good story. I bet the ID types will say "But you didn't observe this happening, you didn't watch each lizard every hour of the day, did you !"

Ah well. No mention of how many generations it took.

318. Religion is 'the new social evil'

Comment #164975 by rod-the-farmer on April 20, 2008 at 10:43 pm

Anyone else having trouble opening the PDF files with the source material for this survey ? And another thing, whenever I see a survey reported, it includes much more detail than I saw here. Things like

The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

But also things like

How the people were approached ? e.g. by telephone

Where were these people located ? It did not say, but based on the source, most probably only in the UK, and maybe even tighter than that, i.e. England.

If the source data was only those who responded to a web advert, that will likely skew the answers considerably. Word of mouth among some groups will cause extremely high levels of response if the topic is controversial, at least to them. You need random selection, or the survey may be meaningless.

319. Interviews with Richard Dawkins and Michael Shermer

Comment #164416 by rod-the-farmer on April 20, 2008 at 8:27 am

To Layla Nasreddin

I am not sure I understood your response, but it sounds like you have not "come out" to very many of your friends etc. I must admit I am becoming more tempted every time I see a muslim woman wearing a headscarf, to ask, almost in a whisper, "Are you taking chemo ? There is a good place over on Main St. that has nice wigs for people who have lost their hair due to cancer." Or maybe "I'm so sorry that you have leprosy. But there are modern treatments these days that can help."

I watched a clip recently of Richard meeting in what might have been Cairo, with a muslim convert from the U.S. Richard seemed to think he could get a new perspective on the muslim way of thinking, from someone who was familiar in detail with the western way of life. I think he had to give up after a fruitless attempt to get anything approaching logic and reason from the neo-muslim, who harangued RD about "allowing women to bare their bodies with immodest clothing" (or some such idea). Richard tried to point out that he did not "allow" these women to do any such thing, they chose for themselves - he had no power to order what clothing they wore. I am more & more convinced what is required is an Islamic Reformation, and I despair of this happening. What little I read of it has not made me think there are Islamic scholars equivalent to Martin Luther waiting reveal themselves.

320. Interviews with Richard Dawkins and Michael Shermer

Comment #164321 by rod-the-farmer on April 20, 2008 at 3:47 am

While I am always interested to read about individuals who have abandoned their faith, no matter which version, I would be MUCH more interested to hear of the reaction of their family, friends, priests, colleagues at school or work, etc. I was raised a Protestant in Canada, and when I told my stepmother (Dad had remarried a Catholic a few years after the death of my mother) that I no longer believed in dog, she said I as "crazy". "People who don't believe in dog are crazy". But that was about it. No pressure to revert, no snide remarks that I can remember, no other reaction. But I suspect there are many out there whose experience is much more unpleasant.

321. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #163789 by rod-the-farmer on April 19, 2008 at 3:09 am

On ABC News web site today, there was a story about a xian school founder and possibly indecent proposal made to a parent of a child. Digging into the story, there was a link to a link to the following, a story about the Ted Haggard scandal a while ago. At the very END of this clip was an interview with Joyce Meyer, a prominent televangelist. Very interesting to watch. She blinks constantly. I seem to remember that excessive blinking is possibly symptomatic of guilt. Lying for jebus ?

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2631461

322. Sexpelled: No Intercourse Allowed

Comment #163109 by rod-the-farmer on April 18, 2008 at 2:18 am

Can we offer this video to all the theatres who have signed on to show Expelled ? Free, of course. And the idea of sending copies to all the supporters of ID and Expelled is terrific. Is anyone co-ordinating that ? Or is mass emailing by anyone and everyone even better ? I worry about missing some of them, rather than over-loading the inbaskets of many.

323. Yoko Ono, Filmmakers Caught in 'Expelled' Flap

Comment #162586 by rod-the-farmer on April 17, 2008 at 5:18 am

Re comment 162445 by irate_atheist

The movie is set to open Friday on 1,000 screens, and to close on 999 on Saturday.

As I have said before,

I am reminded of an interchange between Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw. Apparently Shaw once sent a note to Churchill that his new play was opening on Friday, and he had left two tickets for Churchill, saying, "Bring a friend, if you have one." Churchill responded that he was unable to come to the opening night, "but will come the second night, if you have one."

324. Evolution fray attracts top scientist

Comment #162299 by rod-the-farmer on April 16, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Can a Florida resident please post the email & phone number for the Governor, and the head of the state tourism department. I for one will send a note and call asap to say that due to their backwards education moves in recent days, I will no longer be visiting their state for vacations. I will also advise my friends, family and neighbours to do the same.

That should fixem.

325. Teacher Expelled Over Religion

Comment #161674 by rod-the-farmer on April 15, 2008 at 1:50 pm

I note that the person who actually forced Ms. Comer out, has a degree in political science (there's that word again) yet no background in education, and worked for President Bush in Texas. Good thing I am not a Texas resident or I would be all over this like a rash.

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20080410&name=Bizarro

Thanks to Dan Piraro for the above. Somewhat relevant.

326. Teacher Expelled Over Religion

Comment #161642 by rod-the-farmer on April 15, 2008 at 1:18 pm

Yes, is this not old news, with a new YouTube video ? I thought we all got fired up about this back in November 2007, and applied pressure where we thought appropriate. IS there some new news here ?

327. Richard Dawkins' secular army must be stopped. God is behind some of our greatest art

Comment #160413 by rod-the-farmer on April 14, 2008 at 3:56 am

The author of this article describes Dawkins as

the scientist who has declared himself the champion of secularism

???

Perhaps Richard might have agreed if someone suggested he was A champion (one of many), but I will bet serious money he never claimed himself as THE champion. Any takers ?

I am tempted to write an article on a subject I know little about, and send it in. It seems fairly certain the Guardian will print it, possibly for lack of anything else to fill a space. Are there really so few qualified writers in the UK they will accept stuff like this ? Where is the editor who agreed to accept this ? And please tell us Mark Ravenhill was not PAID for such a load of fertiliser....

328. 'Expelled' ripped off Harvard's 'Inner Life of the Cell' animation

Comment #160061 by rod-the-farmer on April 13, 2008 at 3:25 pm

Sunday 13 April at 1835 on The Military Channel, I just saw an TV advert for "Expelled". Ben Stein raises his hand in the back of an "evolution" class, and ask "Where did life originate from ?" Then he is shown outside the principals' office, beside another student, who asks "How come you are here ?" The response "Because I made a movie". "Wow, must be some movie".

Opening soon, at a theatre near you. If they resolve the copyright issue, and if any theatre agrees to host it.

329. The Art of Creating Controversy Where None Existed

Comment #159875 by rod-the-farmer on April 13, 2008 at 10:00 am

I suppose one tactic we rationalists could try is to ask the YEC people for equal time so we could teach the controversy - evolution etc. - in their home turf, the mega or not-so mega churches. While I am personally willing to have a go locally, I am a scientific generalist, NOT a degree holding expert in any one subject. I DO have lots of experience speaking in front of audiences.

It bet a slide & video presentation is either already available that would do what we need, or one could be assembled quickly. Probably various individual chapters, from which one could select those most appropriate for the audience. Suggestions please ? Anyone ? Anyone ? Buehler ? I would be willing to help.

Has any made this challenge to YEC's and others of similar beliefs ? I mean, other than someone at the level of the Four Horsemen ? What was the result ? There are not enough of them to go around, so it will be up to us foot soldiers to do some of the heavy lifting.

330. Ancient serpent shows its leg

Comment #159771 by rod-the-farmer on April 13, 2008 at 5:07 am

Creationist response....

And where are the FOUR-legged snakes ? Bah humbug. We are still missing transitional fossils.

(sarcasm off)

331. Expelled producers accused of copyright infringement

Comment #158849 by rod-the-farmer on April 11, 2008 at 5:48 am

I can imagine several possible legal outcomes.

(1) The movie makers remove the copied section. Problem solved, unless the owners want damages.

(2) The movie makers offer to buy a license so they can continue to use it. XVIVO agrees to a sum. Problem solved.

(3) The movie makers offer to buy a license so they can continue to use it. XVIVO refuses, no matter what fee is offered. Likelihood approaches 100%, IMHO.

(4) The movie makers do not have a license, for whatever reason, and continue to use the copied section. Now XVIVO can sue for financial damages against whatever revenue the film generated.

Disclaimer on: I am not a lawyer, this is just my thinking. disclaimer off.

332. Iowa county board gives initial OK for ghost hunters to investigate asylum

Comment #158512 by rod-the-farmer on April 10, 2008 at 4:27 pm

This just in, permission to hunt for ghosts is withdrawn

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=4624584

333. The simple falsehood at the heart of Expelled

Comment #158313 by rod-the-farmer on April 10, 2008 at 10:21 am

If I might be so bold as to suggest an additional cause of death (besides weather, predators, etc.) that would be stupidity. Uncommon in plants, but more & more common as you move up the intelligence scale.

See the aptly named Darwin Awards

http://www.darwinawards.com/

334. Biologists Take Evolution Beyond Darwin Way Beyond

Comment #158086 by rod-the-farmer on April 10, 2008 at 4:03 am

Oh, here we go !!! A transitional fossil - a snake with legs !!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7339508.stm

Funny enough, found in the area of the world where the bible was written. Poetic justice, I say.

335. Reviews of Expelled

Comment #158054 by rod-the-farmer on April 10, 2008 at 3:08 am

In scrolling through some of the links in this article, I found the following

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=15-answers-to-creationist

on the Scientific American web site. Not bad. Perhaps quite useful as a source most people would recognise as among the most reputable.

336. In search of the God particle

Comment #157533 by rod-the-farmer on April 9, 2008 at 8:34 am

Oh, no......a lawsuit has been filed to prevent the Large Hadron Collider from starting up.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080405/black_hole_080405/20080405?hub=Specials

337. Richard Dawkins on The Big Questions

Comment #157410 by rod-the-farmer on April 9, 2008 at 4:21 am

Richard is Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science , although I think I did read his term has expired. In this role, we need more than one person, I suggest. The comments of some members of the panel & audience reveal a much larger need for basic science knowledge, even in a country with standards of education as high as the UK. Perhaps a campaign among the wealthier members of society, in multiple countries, to fund similar positions. I was struck by the question posed when Paula Kirby interviewed Richard, by the teacher who asked how to promote rational thinking in his class. We need to address this in schools, and I don't have current experience in my local school system to suggest which course should cover this topic. History ? Science ? I think if we can educate students in the habit of rational thinking, to question dogma of any type, and to search out the truth, it will pay huge dividends as these young people become adults.

338. Hitchens vs. Hitchens

Comment #157328 by rod-the-farmer on April 8, 2008 at 11:33 pm

Riveting. I stayed up until 0230 to watch the entire thing. I am certainly glad we have Christopher Hitchens on our side in the debate over atheism. He would be a nasty opponent on the other side.

339. Get out of here, atheists!

Comment #156521 by rod-the-farmer on April 7, 2008 at 6:13 pm

Here is the latest on the issue of a Canadian MP who made anti-gay remarks some 17 years ago, which were taped as part of a celebration of some sort, and the tape came to light in recent days.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/04/07/harper-lukiwski.html

The member in question apologised profusely, and IMO, sincerely. Who among us could stand scrutiny of things we said 17 years ago ?

340. Richard Dawkins: 'Growth in creationist beliefs a problem for schools'

Comment #156259 by rod-the-farmer on April 7, 2008 at 7:46 am

I fear I must take issue with statement in the article that

the belief, which states that the Earth did not evolve following the big bang but was instead created by God

This implies a direct connection between evolution and the big bang. (Plus they left out abiogenesis, AND that it was LIFE that evolved, not the Earth itself.) I don't believe any such connection has been made by biologists OR cosmologists. Conflation of the two makes it easier for the religious nutters to paint all of science as anti-religion. I suggest we need to correct this impression, whenever it surfaces, in either debating partners, or in the media interviews.

Whenever I discuss the big bang theory with anyone, I use the analogy of a few aerial still photos of a crowd leaving a sports stadium. You cannot SEE movement, but by comparing the two photos it certainly looks like most of the individuals are moving away from the building, and fanning out. That is what we see when we look at the universe - everything is moving away from each other, in 3D. The only conclusion we can draw is that at some time long ago, the universe was compressed together and something "blew" it apart.

I also agree with bad wolf that calling us Darwinists is neither good nor true. After all, we don't call ourselves Copernicans. The helio-centric theory has long since been proved. And Darwins' ideas back then have seen some updating in 150 years. More, and better evidence.

341. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #156247 by rod-the-farmer on April 7, 2008 at 7:32 am

Latest news, courtesy of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC)

The Dutch Court has refused to grant an injunction against the Fitna film

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/04/07/fitna-ban.html

342. Russell T Davies: Return of the (tea) Time Lord

Comment #155963 by rod-the-farmer on April 6, 2008 at 12:36 pm

Satanburiedfossils said in comment 155922

This isn't the first time Richard Dawkins has made a guest appearance in Science Fiction.

You may recall that recently he appeared in the movie "Expelled".

Actually, I think the correct description for that work of art should be NON-science fiction

343. Anti-gay Okla. lawmaker attracts 1,000 backers

Comment #155838 by rod-the-farmer on April 6, 2008 at 3:49 am

This just in.....breaking news.....CBS News has removed all references to Sally Kern from their web site. ABC news still has them. My guess is that someone objected on her behalf, using copyright as the excuse. Anyone here know the true reason ?

344. Upside-down church sculpture on hit list

Comment #155837 by rod-the-farmer on April 6, 2008 at 3:38 am

How about some local "comment" that would not damage the statue, yet express the feelings of some/many. Get one of those very large plastic garbage bins, cut it open vertically, down one side, right to the bottom, and open out the bottom enough that it could be placed around the spire, sitting on the ground. The image is then of a church being tossed into the garbage, spire first. THAT should provoke more controversy. Yet it could be easily removed, no damage is done, and all at a cost well under $100

345. Anti-gay Okla. lawmaker attracts 1,000 backers

Comment #155027 by rod-the-farmer on April 4, 2008 at 4:53 am

Could we have someone from Oklahoma locate the Democratic Party offices, to determine

(a) who will run against Sally Kern in the next election (she was apparently un-opposed last time)

(b) when is the next election OK voters will have a chance to replace her

(c) where we could send donations to her opposition

The best response that could be made to dumb people like Sally is to have her Wikipedia entry show "was trounced when she ran for re-election after the outcry over her anti-gay remarks".

346. Anti-gay Okla. lawmaker attracts 1,000 backers

Comment #154923 by rod-the-farmer on April 4, 2008 at 1:41 am

Here is a very recent story from Canada, about a federal Member of Parliament from Saskatchewan, who was found to have uttered anti-gay comments many years ago. A 17-year old tape surfaced with his words. He was forced to apologise. I don't think it is going to cause him to lose his job, but the next election will be worth watching. I guess being 1400 miles north of Oklahoma makes a difference.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2008/04/03/lukiwski-video.html

347. Upside-down church sculpture on hit list

Comment #154677 by rod-the-farmer on April 3, 2008 at 3:02 pm

Hmmm. Titled, A device to root out evil". Hmm. I suppose one could assume that it is the church that is being used to literally root out the evil in the ground. It would be hard to display that thought with the church right side up. Not sure I can reliably claim this is anti-church. Has anyone asked the sculptor what he intended to say here ? Why is it only partially finished ? Why is the steeple the most finished part ? Is THAT some sort of statement as well ? Modern art is always controversial, no matter where it sits on public property.

348. CEAI Action Alert for Science Teachers

Comment #154345 by rod-the-farmer on April 3, 2008 at 5:59 am

Re Steve Zara in comment # 33 Comment #154273,