Two Bits of the News

1. How to be a liberal moron.
This Slate article is the type of condescending BS that hurts liberals in the out here in the middle. Some choice quotes:

But after watching The Million Dollar Recipe, Bravo's documentary about the 2004 Pillsbury Bake-Off, I have come to suspect that for much of Middle America, the great ameliorator is canned dough.

Nice job, Lady. In one sentence you managed to tell us that you watch Bravo (home of Queer Eye), that you revel in not knowing about "Middle America," and that you think "middle Americans" believe everything is better with processed food. Thanks for hurting America.

Among the finalists—each of whom had his or her recipe selected from tens of thousands of submissions—there is a truly diverse range of socially conservative white Americans.

I didn't watch this program that she is reviewing, but is it really possible that she could tell the political beliefs of people she saw in a baking documentary? Amazing powers, Deducto!

There are a couple other gems in there. The point: Condescension = bad.

2. Kansas hates their Uncle Monkey.

According to CNN, Kansas will be holding some sort of mock trial/policy debate to see if evolution should be taught in the public schools.

The interesting part about this to me is that "[m]any prominent U.S. scientific groups have denounced the debate as founded on fallacy and have promised to boycott the hearings."

What the hell people?

This ties right into luthering among the left. Look, we can't just sit back and say we're right all the time, even when we are right. Boycotting this hurts Kansans. Science needs an advocate at this 'trial' but the scientific community refuses to participate. Screw that. If they are going to attack science, fight fucking back.

So, Mr. Pedro Irigonegaray, who will be evolution's counsel at the trial deserves a lot of respect.

And so does Sue Gamble, a member of the Kansas board holding the hearings, because she tells it like it is:

"I think it is a desire by a minority... to establish a theocracy, both within Kansas and growing to a national level," Gamble said.

One final note: speaking of scary mock trials: Abraham Lincoln was in a recently found to be a war criminal at a trial at Liberty University. Liberty University is Jerry Falwell's fundamentalist* Baptist school located in Lynchburg, VA.

*They happily call themselves fundamentalists. I'm not trying to insult anyone.