Many people probably don’t know I started smoking again a couple of months ago, after a break of more than 5 years. I mention it now as a way to add shame as an additional motivation to quit again. Last time I needed patches to wean myself off nicotine, hopefully this time I can do without (although I am feeling crazy anxious right now).
(original image sourced from here)
If you haven’t heard of the alleged documentary film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, it’s basically a slimy turd of a propaganda piece designed to sell the ideas that:
a) Evolution (or "Darwinism") is an outmoded theory being unfairly promoted by atheistic biologists who refuse to accept evidence that life and its complexity can be attributed to an intelligent designer, and
b) Evolution/Darwinism is a philosophy which leads to things like mass-murder, genocide, eugenics etc.
The star of the show is Ben Stein, an intellectual luminary whose credits include being a speech writer for disgraced former president Richard M Nixon, starring as the droning teacher in the 1980s classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and hosting some shit game/reality shows such as Win Ben Stein’s Money and America’s Most Smartest Model.
Until now I assumed he was just another anti-science nutjob who failed to understand that intellectual freedom does not include the right to be paid to teach bullshit at an educational institution. But hearing some of the things he says in this YouTube compilation I realize he is in fact quite horribly stupid, and more ignorant than the average 13 year old when it comes to science.
To clarify my position on stupid: there is nothing inherently evil about it per se… I harbour no ill will toward the stupid in general, except where they exercise their stupid in a detrimental way, and Stein’s attempt to rouse the heaving masses of latent stupidity against the scientific "establishment" is a very good example of what I consider beyond stupid and well into very fucking evil territory.
Some of the stupid things Stein appears to believe about the Theory of Darwinism (he believes these things enough to spout them in TV interviews and press conferences)
It’s kind of ironic that Stein is the host of America’s Most Smartest Model, where he plays the sneering intellectual tripping up models with trivial questions like "what is the square root of 144?"– The ignorance of the pretty boys and girls he mocks will never do the kind of damage that his own much more potent and willful stupidity might under the guise of intellectual freedom.
I finally got an about and contact link back on here, currently appearing in the page header with subscribe and search options as well (previously in the sidebar on the front page only). Apologies to people who have previously had to leave general enquiries in the comments on random posts, you can now send me private random messages whenever you like!
Hillary Clinton is annoying me and I don’t even live in the US. Theories that she is attempting to sabotage the Democrats’ election chances if she can’t win the nomination are starting to seem less far-fetched (the logic being that she can try again in four years after a disastrous McCain first term).
Just recently she decided to call Obama elitist since he refers to the bitterness and frustration of certain working class people. Speaking as someone who had to put up with a conservative government who took to labelling underpaid left-leaning secondary school teachers as elitist, this marks her as a total bitch in my books; it’s mere pandering to the anti-intellectual crowd, most of whom who wouldn’t vote Democrat anyway, and it also makes no sense for one mega rich presidential candidate to refer to another in this way– Pot… Kettle. etc.
PS I wish there could be some kind of representation for "the rest of the world" when you elect your presidents/administrations over there, because every fucked up Decision they make cause problems for us non-citizens as well, and a truly democratic leadership should be elected by ALL those whose lives they directly affect (including prisoners and convicted felons). How about 1 vote for every 100 foreigners? That would give the rest of the world the democratic power of about 40 million Americans– is that so much to ask?
Boo me for not updating for so long… I’ve been very busy which is one poor excuse (it really doesn’t take so long to bang out a post), but also I’ve been spending time with a certain someone, a certain female someone, and there is not a whole lot more I’m really comfortable saying on the topic apart from that she is rather nice. And cute. And ummm… significantly younger than me, so I simultaneously feel older by comparison and younger by association… It’s all good :)
So now I’m wracking my brain for other things that have been on my mind which I can blurt out for your reading pleasure, and all I have are bits and pieces… which will follow shortly in separate entries since I’ve realized that posts covering multiple topics tend to discourage comments.
But I am enjoying his company. I like cats but am not ready to adopt one of my own, since I can’t really say where I’m going to be more than a year ahead of time, and cat ownership can be a super humungous pain when you want to move. Buddy, as I call him, because he is my buddy, turned up over the Easter weekend, and has been hanging around ever since–perhaps because he is always hungry and I feed him tuna and smoked chicken. He has a collar but no tag, so I guess someone is probably worried about him somewhere. But should I snub him and assume he will find his way home?