You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November, 2005.
Media Matters documents Republican lies about the recent vote in the House:
On both his television and radio show, Fox News host Sean Hannity referred to a congressional resolution calling for the immediate termination of U.S. troop deployment in Iraq as the “Murtha amendment.” But the resolution in question was not sponsored by Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)... his resolution bore little resemblance to the Republican-sponsored measure Hannity was discussing…
Further, Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal.com editor James Taranto falsely wrote that the House of Representatives had voted “on Rep. John Murtha’s proposal for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq.” In fact, only the GOP measure, sponsored by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), reached a vote in the House.
Doesn’t it give you a warm and fuzzy feeling, knowing that corporate media in America is so dedicated to the truth?
Juan Cole has a warning for George W. Bush: “I guarantee you, George, that historians are going to be unkind to you. You went into a major war over a non-existent nuclear weapons program. Presidents’ reputations don’t survive things like that… You are at the helm of the Exxon Valdez and it is headed for the shoals. You can’t afford to daydream about future decades.”
(Hat tip to Pharyngula)
Do our brains predispose us to a belief in God? “Science rules out the most cartoonish versions of God by debunking specific claims about ancient civilizations in North America or the creatio ex nihilo of human life. But it cannot tell us whether there is a force or entity or idea beyond our ken that deserves to be known as God. What we can say is that the universe is a complex place, that events within it often seem to turn out for the best, and that neither of these facts requires an explanation beyond our own skins.”
Peter Daou dismantles ten common pro-war fallacies. This is a sure antidote to much of the Republican flapdoodle currently making the rounds.
GM Roper demonstrates an all-too-common form of right-wing amnesia in a recent post:
Imminent danger? That is something Bush never claimed!
Let’s review a little recent history, shall we, GM? Read the rest of this entry »
Cao is again making clear her contempt for American values:
It’s clear that the ACLU is fighting for the rights of terrorists who in my opinion, should NOT have a right to have “their side” of things heard in court, particularly repeatedly, with appeal after appeal.
Cao overlooks a couple of minor items. First, Jose Padilla has not been convicted, only indicted. There’s this unfortunate little problem: an indictment does not mean that the person indicted is automatically guilty. Second, the American system of justice is predicated on the belief that everyone is entitled to defend themselves in court — and that necessarily requires that their side be heard. Read the rest of this entry »
Is it just me, or are the various European inquests into alleged use of European airports and airbases by the CIA to transfer terror suspects for ‘extraordinary rendition’ receiving precious little US media coverage?
Tell me again about “liberal media bias”...
Denyse O’Leary misses the point. She quotes novelist Michael Crichton as saying:
I take the hard view that science involves the creation of testable hypotheses.
Ms. O’Leary is a big fan of intelligent design. So maybe she can tell us: What testable hypotheses have ever been produced by means of the “theory” of intelligent design?
Maybe she can tell us that. But I won’t hold my breath.
So why is this blog called ThinkingMeat?
Because that’s what we are, essentially, every last one of us. We’re creatures that have evolved the power of thought—maybe not a very well-developed power of thought just yet, but hey… we’re a work in progress. Read the rest of this entry »
What’s the core claim of intelligent design? The so-called Discovery Institute, a lobbying organization bent on pushing ID into American classrooms, states that:
The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection.
What does this mean? Read the rest of this entry »
I tired of Devenir En Gris quickly enough. Regulus has a nice look to it, and the CSS seems logically arranged and amenable to easy modification. I think I’ll stick with it for a while.
It was hardly as exciting as rescuing a hard drive with a pooched Master Boot Record, but I had occasion to use the Knoppix live CD to fix a minor problem with my Ubuntu PC.
I awoke Sunday, turned on the Dell Optiplex, and came back to a warning that the window manager session had lasted less than ten seconds. Not good. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m playing around with themes for the site. Expect chaos for a while.
UPDATE: I’ve settled on Devenir En Gris for the time being. It’s a bit bland for my taste, so as time permits I’ll either adapt it to my liking, or create a custom theme of my own.
Find out more about WordPress themes at the WordPress Codex.
Hi there. I’m Meatbrain, proprietor of ThinkingMeat.net. This is where I’ll be holding forth on whatever topics interest me: science, culture, politics, family, food, you name it. I’ve had a linkdump-type blog for a few years now, but lately I’ve begun to feel the need for a place to do some longer-form writing. Well, here it is, and you’re invited to join in. We’ll discuss and debate and hopefully learn a bit from one another as time goes on.
The site’s only just been set up, so obviously there’s not much here yet. Bear with me. I’m gluing the bits together as fast as I can. If you have something to say that you don’t want to put in a comment, please email me at meatbrain@thinkingmeat.net.
