Arizona ranked #11 for income growth among the states in 2006, but dropped to dead last in 2007, primarily due to the fact that so many jobs in the state have been dependent upon real estate. Note that one economist quoted in the cited article expressed skepticism about this result, and attributes it instead to an overestimate of Arizona population growth by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
An NPR story on a Hawaiian botanist’s lawsuit against CERN to try to prevent the Large Hadron Collider from being turned on for fear that it will destroy the earth. This is worth listening to in order to hear Rudy Rucker read from one of his novels, Spaceland. Historical Comments Eamon Knight (2008-04-06): There's a James Hogan (spit) novel uses the same idea (only in that case it was a pulsed-implosion fusion reactor). ...
Wesley Elsberry has been in an extended exchange with Kevin Miller, co-writer of “Expelled,” in which Miller makes it clear that he’s unwilling to look at or attempt to address any actual evidence. Instead, he falls back on supporting postmodernist claims that everything is subject to interpretation. But he doesn’t give any reasons to support his purported interpretation, and ultimately descends into namecalling. Historical Comments Eamon Knight (2008-04-06): The reductio absurdum of fundamentalist absolutism: citing post-modern relativism in their defense.It is to laugh. ...
Atheist Rob Sherman was at the Illinois General Assembly to argue against Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s unconstitutional grant of $1,000,000 to the Pilgrim Baptist Church when this exchange took place between him and Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago): Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy — it’s tragic — when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school. ...
Movies.go.com is another site that now lists “Expelled” with an April 18 release date, and includes a poll on how good you think the movie is likely to be. With 474 votes, the ratings are: A - Sizzlin’: 11% B - Cool: 1% C - Decent: 1% D - DVD-only: 2% F - Vile: 85% Gridman (2008-04-05): I didn't vote until after you posted the link to the vote and it saids there were only 467 votes after I voted...More expelled trickery? :-)Still 85% vile, though... ...
A bill in the Arizona legislature to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage (which failed via initiative petition in 2006, being rejected by voters) died in the state House after it was similarly amended to ban domestic partner benefits. That’s the same reason the initiative, Proposition 107, failed. Historical Comments Tim and Louie (2008-04-07): Hurray!!! Finally some good news for us minority LGBT Arizonans! A far cry from other states' progress on LGBT equality, but progress nonetheless. ...
Felix Salmon at Portfolio.com offers an interesting review of “Expelled” from a non-scientist. Robert McHenry at the Encyclopedia Brittanica looks at some of the arguments of “Expelled." And you can find more information at the NCSE’s “Expelled Exposed” web page.
Mike Gravel has dropped out of the Democratic Party process and joined the Libertarian Party process seeking its nomination for president. Here’s his latest, uh, “campaign video”… (Via Huffington Post.) Historical Comments Michael Norton (2008-04-05): Wow. That looks very slickly produced--except for his voice overs. Those look like they were done using home equipment. ...
A 37-page October 23, 2001 memo by John Yoo titled “Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States” stated that the Fourth Amendment’s prohibitions on unreasonable searches and seizures did not apply to U.S. military operations on U.S. soil in the name of defending against terrorism. The existence of this memo, which has not itself been released, was made public on Tuesday when a March 14, 2003 memo was released, which stated in a footnote that “Our office recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations." On Wednesday, the Bush administration indicated that it has disavowed the view of the October 23, 2001 memo. The March 14, 2003 memo, also by Yoo, was obtained by the ACLU as part of a Freedom of Information Act request. That memo asserts that the President has the right to authorize torture in violation of criminal law: If a government defendant were to harm an enemy combatant during an interrogation in a manner that might arguably violate a criminal prohibition, he would be doing so in order to prevent further attacks on the United States by the al Qaeda terrorist network. … In that case, we believe that he could argue that the executive branch’s constitutional authority to protect the nation from attack justified his actions.The fact that Bush wasn’t impeached and convicted years ago for high crimes and misdemeanors is astounding to me. (Hat tip to Dave Palmer on the SKEPTIC list–I’ve not been reading TPM lately.) ...
Science Blogger (and 2007 Arizona Professor of the Year) John Lynch signed up for the Tempe screening of “Expelled” which was supposed to occur at 7 p.m. last night. He received an email on April 2 telling him that it had been cancelled. But it wasn’t cancelled–it was just moved to 6 p.m. (as Lynch had been informed in an earlier email), and went on at Arizona Mills Mall as planned. Apparently the producers just decided to screen out some of the prospective attendees by lying to them, and professors who win awards for the excellence of their teaching are considered undesirables. Lynch noted that others were cc’d on both of the notices he received, and that while those with email addresses containing names like “boughtbythecross,” “homeschoolma,” and “covenant-dad” apparently didn’t receive the bogus cancellation notice. Lynch’s post has links to some comments containing reports of the event from those who still managed to attend. UPDATE: In Louisville, Kentucky, they also claimed that a screening was cancelled, but a screening for students and staff at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary did take place on the appointed date, and the schedule of events shows the screening as having taken place. Again, “undesirables” were screened out and not informed of the change in venue.