Ethics

Watch in the video below as Michelle Malkin claims that conservatives have not engaged in any ad hominem or unwarranted attacks on Barack Obama’s wife Michelle, even as Fox News places a caption below her, referring to Michelle Obama as “Obama’s baby mama,” a slang term which the Urban Dictionary defines as: The mother of your child(ren), whom you did not marry and with whom you are not currently involved.” “Basically a woman you had a child or children with who you didn’t marry and are no longer involved with. Usually associated with hoodrats and trailer park b***hes.” “Like herpes, it won’t go away!!!!!” The always despicable, dishonest, sleazy, and inflammatory Michelle Malkin responded to this by trying to defend it as entirely unobjectionable, which John Scalzi vividly rebuts in his “Fox News Would Like To Take a Moment to Remind You That the Obamas Are As Black As Satan’s Festering, Baby-Eating Soul." Fox has merely admitted that the caption showed “poor judgment." (Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars.) ...

STATE OF OREGON PROCLAMATION OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR WHEREAS: Application of reason offers a hope for developing and implementing intelligent, humane, and ethical interactions among people; and WHEREAS: Philosophies of reason were emphasized when writing the Constitution of the United States of America and those of its several states; and WHEREAS: Most citizens value reason and seek to apply it in making decisions and resolving problems in their lives; and WHEREAS: Educational programs emphasize acquisition of reasoning skills in preparing for one's future. NOW, THEREFORE: I, Theodore R. Kulongoski, Governor of the State of Oregon, hereby proclaim June 21, 2008 to be A Day of Reason in Oregon and encourage all Oregonians to join in this observance. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I hereunto set my hand and cause the Great Seal of the State of Oregon to be affixed. Done at the Capitol in the City of Salem in the State of Oregon on the day, May 29, 2008. Theodore R. Kulongoski, Governor Bill Bradbury, Secretary of State(Via Serene Journal.) Historical Comments Danny Boy, FCD (2008-06-14): Great, and it coincides with World Humanist Day! Cheers! ...

Although his last attempt to introduce articles of impeachment (for Cheney) failed, on Monday, June 9, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced 35 new articles of impeachment for President George W. Bush. There’s no support from the Democratic leadership, of course. The mainstream media seems to be almost completely ignoring this. Two days later, a news.google.com search for “Kucinich impeachment” gives only the Village Voice in results. UPDATE: Looks like the Arizona Republic covered it today, as did CNN. ...

The Access Research Network, a young-earth creationist organization formerly known as Students for Origins Research, states the following in its description of a DVD it sells of the 2003 debate on the resurrection of Jesus between Antony Flew and Gary Habermas, a professor at Liberty University: Dr. Habermas holds an M.A. in philosophical theology from the University of Detroit; a D.D. in theology from Emmanuel College, Oxford; and Ph.D. in history and philosophy of religion from Michigan Sate [sic] University.The D.D. in theology from Emmanuel College, Oxford is also mentioned in the description of Habermas on a website advertising the DVD “Jesus: Fact or Fiction." It shows up in his bio for a talk he gave at First Family Church in Overland Park, Kansas. There’s a slight problem with a doctorate of divinity in theology from Emmanuel College, Oxford–there is no such college at Oxford. This same false claim is made in the Wikipedia article for Gary Habermas, with a link from “Emmanuel College” to the Wikipedia entry for Emmanuel College at Cambridge University, not Oxford. (Emmanuel College at Cambridge does have a “sister college” at Oxford, but its name is Exeter College.) Habermas’s current online resume lists no D.D. degree at all. So what’s the story? Is this Habermas’s error, or someone else’s? And what kind of error is it? If Habermas has a D.D. degree from a UK school, why doesn’t his current resume list it? (Hat tip to Roger Stanyard, who pointed this out in a comment at RichardDawkins.net last year.) I once exchanged some letters with Gary Habermas, beginning with a critique I wrote of the first edition of the book on immortality that he co-wrote with J.P. Moreland. I don’t believe anything in my critique was accounted for in the second edition of their book; the second edition still includes this false statement about psychic detective Peter Hurkos, even though I pointed them to critical material: “In carefully documented situations, Hurkos demonstrated very precise knowledge of cases as famous as the stolen Stone of Scone…and the Boston Strangler murders.” Even if they rejected my criticism, shouldn’t a matter of simple honesty to their readers have demanded that they include a reference to the existence of published rebuttals? ...

James J. Buchanan of the Christ Life Church in Tempe, Arizona, is accused of defrauding 30-40 people out of over $5 million over the last ten years. He claimed to be a financial planner, and took many people’s life’s savings, as well as money from the church. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office says it’s hard to tell where the money went, but it appears that he used some of it to pay off early investors in classic Ponzi scheme style, and spent the rest on himself. His scheme collapsed this March, after he refused to provide documentation to show where one investor’s money was, and that investor refused a payoff to stay quiet and went to the police. (A previous discussion of religious affinity fraud on the increase, at the Secular Outpost.) UPDATE (11 February 2012): Also see “Affinity fraud: Fleecing the flock” from The Economist, January 28, 2012.

Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars tells how Dinesh D’Souza wrote an article in the 1980s about conservatives taking money from Rev. Sun Myung Moon, but then when he took money from Moon himself in 2007, denied that he knew anything about Moon.

Conservative “family values” Republican Congressman Vito Fossella (R-NY) was arrested on DUI charges on May 1, 2008, and released to the custody of retired Air Force Lt. Col. Laura Fay. He originally claimed that he had been driving to pick up his sick daughter, then revised his story the next day to claim he was going to visit a sick friend. During his press conference, he refused to deny that he had previously driven under the influence of alcohol. In fact, he had been having an extramarital affair with Fay for years, and had fathered an illegitimate child with her, which he admitted on May 8 after days of denials. He had essentially been living a double life, with his wife in New York City and with Fay and their now 3-year-old daughter in Washington, D.C. Fossella has a lesbian sister, with whom he cut off all contact, and refuses to attend any family events if she is present with her partner. Some “family values." His Wikipedia page lists several other controversies regarding the Congressman, including financial misconduct. No doubt more will be found as his record is scrutinized further. (Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars and Wikipedia.)

Dennis Avery and the Heartland Institute issued a list of “500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares” earlier this week. DeSmogBlog contacted 122 of the people on the list that they found email addresses for, and received replies from 45 of them within 24 hours, indicating that they did not agree to be on such a list and felt that the Heartland Institute had misrepresented their views. Here are some of the quoted responses: ...

In an interview in Christianity Today: I believe God created the heavens and the earth, and it doesn’t scare me when scientists say that can’t be proved. I couldn’t give a [profanity] whether a person calls himself a scientist. Science has covered itself with glory, morally, in my time. Scientists were the people in Germany telling Hitler that it was a good idea to kill all the Jews. Scientists told Stalin it was a good idea to wipe out the middle-class peasants. Scientists told Mao Tse-Tung it was fine to kill 50,000,000 people in order to further the revolution.In an interview on the Trinity Broadcasting Network with Paul Crouch, Jr. (video is available if you follow the link): Stein: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers [i.e. biologist P.Z. Myers], talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed … that was horrifying beyond words, and that’s where science — in my opinion, this is just an opinion — that’s where science leads you. Crouch: That’s right. Stein: …Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people. Crouch: Good word, good word.Note that he offers no qualifiers. He doesn’t say science must be complemented with ethics. He doesn’t say that science (like any knowledge of truths about the universe) may have negative as well as positive consequences. He simply says that science leads to mass murder. If Stein really believes this, then he must be a genuine opponent of the practice of science, and his promotion of “Expelled” can be seen as an aspect of that anti-scientific attitude, despite the fact that he certainly takes personal advantage of many of the positive contributions of science. If he doesn’t genuinely believe it, then he’s not only engaging in a defamatory slur against scientists, he’s also dishonest. Either way, he’s demonstrated that he is a despicable character. And some people claim not to understand why scientists are angered by this film and its creators. Others on this subject: John Lynch at Stranger Fruit Larry Moran at The Sandwalk P.Z. Myers at Pharyngula Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars ...

John Lynch points to an essay by Dennis Durst on “Evangelical Engagements with Eugenics, 1900-1940." Historical Comments Ktisophilos (2008-05-05): You can point to an essay; I can point to a book: Christine Rosen, Preaching Genetics: Religious Leaders and the American Eugenics Movement, Oxford University Press, New York, 2004. As one review stated:"Christine Rosen argues that religious leaders pursued eugenics precisely when they moved away from traditional religious tenets. The liberals and modernists—those who challenged their churches to embrace modernity—became the eugenics movement’s most enthusiastic supporters. Their participation played an important part in the success of the American eugenics movement." ...