Ethics

I just read this email this morning, which has to win a prize for the best Nigerian 419 scam I’ve ever seen: Reply-To: [email protected] From: “Mrs. Mary S. Derrick”[email protected] Subject: Stop Contacting those people !!! Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:43:50 +0100 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 To: undisclosed-recipients:; X-NetStation-Status: PASS Attn: My Dear, I am Mrs Mary Susan Derrick, I am a US citizen, 48 years Old. I reside here in New Braunfels Texas. My residential address is as follows. 108 Crockett Court. Apt 303, New Braunfels Texas, United States, am thinking of relocating since I am now rich. I am one of those that took part in the Compensation in Nigeria many years ago and they refused to pay me, I had paid over $20,000 while in the US, trying to get my payment all to no avail. So I decided to travel down to Nigeria with all my compensation documents, And I was directed to meet Mr. Henshaw I. Anderson, who is the member of COMPENSATION AWARD COMMITTEE, and I contacted him and he explained everything to me. He said whoever is contacting us through emails are fake. He took me to the paying bank for the claim of my Compensation payment. Right now I am the most happiest woman on earth because I have received my compensation funds of $1,500,000.00 Moreover, Mr Henshaw I. Anderson, showed me the full information of those that are yet to receive their payments and I saw your name as one of the beneficiaries, and your email address, that is why I decided to email you to stop dealing with those people, they are not with your fund, they are only making money out of you. I will advise you to contact Mr. Henshaw I. Anderson You have to contact him directly on this information below. COMPENSATION AWARD HOUSE Name : Mr. Henshaw I. Anderson Email: [email protected] Phone: +234 802 739 4935 You really have to stop dealing with those people that are contacting you and telling you that your fund is with them, it is not in anyway with them, they are only taking advantage of you and they will dry you up until you have nothing. The only money I paid after I met Mr. Henshaw I. Anderson was just $580 for the paper works, take note of that. Once again stop contacting those people, I will advise you to contact Mr Henshaw I. Anderson so that he can help you to Deliver your fund instead of dealing with those liars that will be turning you around asking for different kind of money to complete your transaction. Thank You and Be Blessed. Mrs. Mary Susan Derrick.She’s being so honest about those other Nigerian scammers that ripped her off, so surely she must be honest about this compensation fund. The sad thing is that those who have been ripped off multiple times already will probably fall for this one, too. ...

So much for change. ABC News: The Obama Administration today announced that it would keep the same position as the Bush Administration in the lawsuit Mohamed et al v Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. The case involves five men who claim to have been victims of extraordinary rendition — including current Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed, another plaintiff in jail in Egypt, one in jail in Morocco, and two now free. They sued a San Jose Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen Dataplan, accusing the flight-planning company of aiding the CIA in flying them to other countries and secret CIA camps where they were tortured. ...

Radley Balko, guest-blogging at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, describes three police officers, asking whether each has engaged in egregious enough conduct to be fired: One, Shoving a 71-year-old Walmart greeter to the ground and, when another customer came to assist, shoving that customer through a glass door?Two, How about three DWI incidents within a one-year span, including one in which the officer ran a roadblock, then had to be tasered, pepper-sprayed, and wrestled to the ground; another in which he hit another car, then left the scene of the accident; and another in which he fell asleep in his cruiser in front of a school, while in drive, with his foot resting on the brake?Three, How about an officer with an otherwise stellar record, who has a reputation in the department for honesty, but who became an outspoken critic of the war on drugs, and on one occasion declined to arrest a man after finding a single marijuana plant growing outside the man’s home?Can you guess which of these officers lost their jobs for the described conduct? Read Balko’s post to find out. ...

Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars points out an account of a 15-year-old kidnapped from his grandmother’s house at the request of his parents, and taken to the Utah Boys Ranch, then run by Utah Senator Chris Buttars. Apparently the mind-control treatment didn’t take, and he started the Utah Boys Ranch Network to expose the abuse. DFV (2009-02-19): Sorry to bother you, but...This is now Feb. 19th - why can't I find ONE DAMNED THING on the Mormon Gulag in major papers, TV, blogs, etc. after January? E.G.: was West Ridge Academy's license renewed? Why wasn't any of this covered by mainstream media?Dan [email protected] ...

The creationist video I was filmed for, Creation Ministries International’s “Facing the Fire,” a documentary about the 1988 creation/evolution debate between Ian Plimer and Duane Gish, is available on YouTube in four parts (and embedded below). I first appear around 4:34 in the first segment, at 1:06 in the second, at 1:04 in the third, and at the very beginning of the fourth segment. I described my experience being filmed and reasons for appearing in this documentary here, my reaction to the result here (which includes links to critiques of Gish), and you can find the articles I refer to in the documentary here: “Some Failures of Organized Skepticism," The Arizona Skeptic vol. 3, no. 1, January 1990, pp. 2-5. “How Not to Argue with Creationists," Creation/Evolution vol. 11, issue XXIX, Winter 1991-92, pp. 9-21. “How Not to Respond to Criticism: Barry Price Compounds His Errors," talkorigins.org FAQ, 1993. “Criticisms from an Obscure Corner of the World," review of Plimer’s Telling Lies for God. Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: Part 4: ...

Greta Christina writes a list of “nine tips for believers who want to reach out” to atheists: 1: Familiarize yourself with the common myths and misconceptions about atheists – and don’t perpetuate them. 2: Familiarize yourself with what it’s like to be an atheist, both in the U.S. and in the rest of the world. 3: Find common ground. 4: Speak out against anti-atheist bigotry and other forms of religious intolerance. 5: Be inclusive of atheists. 6: Don’t divide and conquer, and don’t try to take away our anger. 8: Do not – repeat, DO NOT – talk about “fundamentalist atheists." 9: Be aware of how religious belief gives you a place of mainstream and privilege.Read her article for the details.

Last Sunday, Rick Warren recorded a video for his congregation in which he denies ever comparing gay marriages to incest or pedophilia: I have been accused of equating gay partnerships with incest and pedophila. Now, of course as members of Saddleback Church, you know I believe no such thing, I never have. You’ve never once heard me in thirty years talk that way about that.But Rachel Maddow shows that he made exactly that comparison: I’m opposed to having a brother and sister be together and call that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that a marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage. Q. Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married? Oh, I do!Rick Warren has been caught lying, in addition to being anti-gay and anti-evolution. He should ask to be taken off the agenda for the inauguration, and if he doesn’t, Barack Obama should just withdraw his invitation to speak. ...

The cases continue to mount–when police officers come to search property and they are confronted by dogs, they often shoot and kill them, even if they are puppies. A Milwaukee resident whose Labrador-Springer Spaniel mix was killed by police in 2004 has filed a lawsuit against the city, and she requested a list of every dog killed by city policy for the last nine years. There were 434–a dead dog every seven and a half days, and that’s just one city. In Oklahoma, a police officer pulled into a driveway to ask a woman for directions, and when the woman’s Wheaton Terrier came bounding toward him, he shot and killed it. The police refused to do anything about the woman’s complaint, and tried to pay her off to shut her up when she let them know that her security cameras had captured the incident. She also sued. Radley Balko at The Agitator has been doing a great job of collecting and reporting on cases of unwarranted police killings of dogs. His latest summary of cases, from which the above two cases were taken, is his 16th “puppycide” blog post.

The award appears to be well-deserved. (Hat tip to Schtacky.) Historical Comments Hume's Ghost (2008-12-20): He deserves it, but to be fair, there would be no contest if they gave it to the person who flat out misinforms the most. That would be Sean Hannity's idol Rush Limbaugh - and he would win every single year he's on the air. The amount of idiocy across a spectrum of subjects he is able to disseminate on a sentence to sentence basis is staggering. ...

Newsweek reports some interesting tidbits from behind the scenes of the election process in both the McCain and Obama campaigns: Both the McCain and Obama campaigns had computers compromised by “a foreign entity or organization [which] sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps’ policy positions.” And that entity was successful in collecting such data, apparently. Palin’s shopping spree was more extensive and expensive than has previously been reported: “While publicly supporting Palin, McCain’s top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards.” The spending was allegedly tens of thousands of dollars more than reported. McCain rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and although she wanted to speak in Phoenix along with McCain for his concession speech, this was vetoed by McCain’s campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt.The Secret Service reported “a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied."Palin attacked Obama about his connection to William Ayers before the campaign had finalized its plan about that issue–McCain had not given his approval, and a top advisor was resisting it.Hillary Clinton was on much better terms with McCain than with Obama, and McCain feared that Hillary Clinton would be named as Obama’s VP, and was glad when he chose Biden.There are lots of other interesting bits in the article, as well.