These days I'm reading The God Delusion by my personal jesus, Richard Dawkins. I've watched a lot of video clips of RD on the lecture/book tour circuit, and this very short clip has become my personal favorite. Watch and enjoy.
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Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Sunday, December 30, 2007
The Patriots have their perfect season, just as we all knew they would. The boys came from behind and played a full force second half to win 38-35. Best of all, the '72 Dolphins are even being nice about it:
Don Shula, says "going undefeated during the regular season is a remarkable achievement."
Shula says the Pats "have done a great job concentrating on each week's opponent and not letting any other distractions interrupt that focus. If they go on to complete an undefeated season, I will be the first to congratulate Coach Belichick and the Patriot organization."
Shula was the most prominent of several members of the 72 Dolphins who saluted the perfect Patriots on Saturday.
Miami quarterback Bob Griese issued a statement to congratulate New England on "going undefeated during the regular season" and compliment Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for one of the "greatest seasons ever by an NFL quarterback."
"I hope he [Brady] continues to play at such a high level in the playoffs, and if he does it will be very difficult to beat them the rest of the way," Shula said.
Hello, post-season and Super Bowl XLII.
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Sunday, December 16, 2007
Prof. Scammington is back on YouTube with a cautionary tale of how the Food and Drug Administration stands in the way of lifesaving drugs getting to the people who need them most.
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God's plan for the perfect season unfolded elegantly again this afternoon, as the Patriots put New York gently to sleep with a 20-10 win. Nothing too remarkable about the game, except that it was surprisingly low scoring for New England. The one strange thing that happened was that I suddenly had an intense desire to start wearing Stetson cologne. Weird.
On the other side of the ledger, the Dolphins, famed for their own 1972 perfection, finally ended their pefectly winless season with an amazing 64-yard touchdown pass against the Ravens in overtime. Wayne Huizenga actually cried.
RECORD: Green Bay's elder statesman Brett Favre broke Dan Marino's record of 61,361 passing yards today. Everyone give grandpa Favre a hand!
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Sunday, December 09, 2007
The financial news gurus at Bloomberg took an unfortunate venture into NFL prognostication earlier with a story entitled "Steelers May Join 1985 Dolphins as Spoilers by Beating Patriots." They were, of course, sorely misguided, as the Patriots just smacked down the Steelers in Foxborough with a score of 34-13. It's on to the Jets (3-10) on the 13th.
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Sunday, November 18, 2007
Tom Brady, Randy Moss and the rest of the Patriots continue to dominate like few teams ever have. Tonight they posted their highest score of the season, winning against Buffalo by a crushing 46 points.
Could a perfect season be in the cards?
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Monday, November 05, 2007
Is it just me, or does the name of Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seem like it should be a palindrome, or at least some kind of anagram? It almost looks as it would make vastly more sense when viewed in a mirror's reflection.
As it turns out, there may be something to all of this. Turkey is currently preparing its military to move into Northern Iraq to go after Kurdish rebels attacking government forces from across the border. But is this simple national security on the part of the Turk, or is the Prime Minister, as the anagram has it, "A Cad Eyeing Property"?
I saw beware to U.S. and Iraqi Kurd forces alike.
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Sunday, November 04, 2007
Saturday, November 03, 2007
The Telegraph's list of Top 100 Most Influential conservatives and liberals in U.S. politics is out, and there is much discontent about the choices. Conservative commenters especially seem outraged at the selection of Rudy Giuliani as the #1 conservative. Michael McKiever sets the tone with "Rudy Guliani a conservative!? Have you lost your mind?" Many others object to Rush Limbaugh being only #5 rather than #1.
Some conservative readers are also incensed at the individuals that were left off the list entirely. For the most part, those complaints make sense. How exactly do you assemble a list of influential conservatives that ignores Michael Reagan, Neal Boortz, Walter Williams, Mark Steyn, Ward Connerly, Hugh Hewitt, David Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy and, most insultingly of all, Phyllis Schlafly? Less persuasively, a few readers argued for the inclusion of everone from Dennis Miller and Ted Nugent to Dr. Laura and Elizabeth Dole.
A few of the ranking choices seem entirely off-base, and, one suspects, motivated entirely by a desire to be provocative and infuriating. Chuck Norris, for example, is ranked #71. While Norris is well known for being one of Hollywood's few outspoken conservatives, that hardly makes him more influential than Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Clarence Thomas, Brent Scowcroft, and Pat Buchanan.
The limiting nature of the liberal/conservative dichotomy also resulted is some very strange results. Drew Carey is the 39th most influential conservative in the country? That makes him, according to the list, a more influential conservative leader than Ed Feulner, Karl Rove, Sean Hannity, Robert Novak or even (most hilariously) Wiliam F. Buckley, Jr. Flattering for Drew, perhaps, but wildly misleading to anyone trying to understand American politics.
They pulled a couple amusing stunts along the way as well. Arnold Schwarzenegger comes up near the top of the liberal list - #8. Joe Lieberman ends up being all things to all people, named as both the 47th most influential liberal - edging out Michelle Obama and Al Franken - but also as the 47th most influential conservative, ranking higher that William Kristol, Brit Hume and George Will.
There were also a few unfortunate typos and mistakes. John Dingell's entry, for example, states that he "was first elected in 1995 and has served longer than any other current congressman." Obviously they meant 1955, not 1995. Overall, though, an entertaining survey of the major figures leading in to the 2008 presidential campaign.
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Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The Family Research Council has kindly alerted me to a proposed new hate crime law in the UK. Here's how Tony "A Boy's Best Friend is His Mother" Perkins sees the situation:
British Government Backs 7-Years in Jail for 'Hatred' of Homosexuals
Britain's ruling Labo[u]r Party government has announced plans to introduce a new "hate crimes" law that would result in jail terms of up to seven years (more than the average penalty for rape) for "incitement to hatred" against homosexuals. The law is not limited to people who commit violent acts or incite violence, but the Justice Ministry claims the law "would not prohibit criticism of gay, lesbian and bisexual people" -- as long as it done in a "temperate way," said one homosexual activist. What constitutes "hatred" or "invective" as opposed to "temperate" speech is in the eye of the beholder.
That's pretty standard language for FRC, but what I find interesting is the Times' description of the law (emphasis added):
Under the proposal it would be considered a crime to incite hatred against homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and heterosexual people. Mr Straw said: “It is a measure of how far we have come as a society in the past ten years that we are now appalled by hatred and invective directed at people on the basis of their sexuality. It is time for the law to recognise this.”
Well, that's certainly some comprehensive legislation. It will, one assumes, remain legal to incite hatred against someone based on socioeconomic status or choice of football club. This also raises the hope that London's roving gangs of heterosexual-bashing gay thugs will finally be reigned in, giving straight Britons the peace of mind they've so desperately sought over the years.
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