Stephen Miller, Garbage

AMERICAN CRISIS 2017

Not the original #optoutside message. But, whatever works

Terrorism Fueled by Climate Change? Bill Nye Weighs In

Though I think Nye is on to something here I criticize his assertion the attackers in Paris were Syrian.  Though it looks like some of the attackers spent time in Syria, the alleged masterminds behind the attack were born in Brussels, Belgium. The New York Times has an informative page explaining the known web of terrorists who carried out the Paris attacks.  I've only started to research their origins but it looks like most were radicalized in Belgium.  Anyone have any more info on the connection between Syria and the Paris attacks?

President Obama and Bill Nye Talk Science and Politics

Free Community College in the US?

On Thursday January 8th President Obama announced a proposal to make the first two years of community college free for anyone who is willing to work for it. This plan is marvelous for so many reasons. It will serve to further diversify the workforce, make for a more informed electorate, and drive the economy. Here's hoping for the follow-through.

Coke America

Whenever I see this...



All I can think of is this...

Who runs the Interwebs?

This week's Freakonomics podcast with hosts Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt was so good I had to listen to it twice. A major highlight is Dubner's conversation with NYU internet scholar - Clay Shirky. In my mind Shirky makes soem excellent points about the absurdity of trying to regulate technology before it is born. This is playing out right now on kick-starter as the people who run kickstarter have banned people from offering home-made genetically modified organisms in the wake of the glowing plant project's success. Keep your eyes on this blog as I have glowing plant seeds on the way sometime next spring. I will write about my experience. In the mean time, have a listen to this week's incredibly engaging Freakonomics!

Origins of "Bleeding Heart Liberal"

I was asked today what the definition of a "bleeding heart liberal" is.  I have heard this term referenced thousands of times in political commentary and conversation.  The term can generally understood to mean someone with extreme empathy. It is often used by right-wing political pundits as a disparaging descriptor for a person with unrealistic liberal ideals. But I have never stopped to ponder the etymology of the term.

According to several web-forums and blogs the term was popularized in the 1930's and 40s by a conservative columnist named Francis James Westbrook Pegler.  Pegler was a vehement opponent of the New Deal and Labor Unions. One of his primary targets for political criticism was Eleanor Roosevelt.  The deeper roots of "Bleeding Heart" are said to surround a semi-religious medieval organization called the "Order of the Bleeding Heart" members of which supposedly honored the Virgin Mary and her 'heart pierced with many sorrows.' Though I can not find any solid information about this organization on the internet.

In any case, in the future if I am refered to as a "bleeding heart liberal" I'll take it as a compliment of the highest order. Whenever I hear this term used I automatically think of Jimmy Stewart's character George Bailey in the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life" and I think of my father.   I'll take being compared to the Virgin Mary and Eleanor Roosevelt to a disgraced early 20th century journalist any day.

Cheers to the bleeding-hearts of this world!

Five-year-old boy shoots and kills his little sister

On a little country road on the banks of the Cumberland River in southern Kentucky a five-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his two-year-old sister on Tuesday April 30th, 2013.

The gun was his. He owned it legally. Given to him as a gift "the cricket" is a .22-caliber rifle marketed as "My First Rifle."

This may have been an accident but it certainly should make us stop and think.

When does nostalgia for a bygone era start to cause real problems?

How about when kids start dying!

As if Sandy Hook, Aurora, Columbine, and the hundreds of massacres yet to come were not enough. We have to watch as stories like this one come to pass.

Holding onto the ideals of frontier justice, machismo self-reliance, and the delusion that a well-regulated militia stands a chance against the nuclear arsenal of the Federal government make no sense.

If the "pen is mightier" then get one out and write a real letter on real paper, stick in a real envelope and send it to your congress persons telling them this is the last time you want to read a news story like this.

When is enough enough?

 

Tocqueville on American Democracy

"Lies from the pit of hell" guy won.

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Georgia) is seen in the video below proclaiming evolution, embryology, and the big bang “lies straight from the pit of Hell." AND, he just won reelection in Georgia's 10th congressional district (recently gerrymandered, I might add).

His reelection was not gained without scorn in the national media. As several major news agencies reported over 4,000 of his constituents wrote in "Charles Darwin" on the ballot.

Did his opponent get Nadered by Darwin?

No, sadly Broun would have won despite the shenanigans as he was running unopposed. Though his thumbs are still opposable.

As I am about to move to Georgia to begin a PostDoc at Emory I am frightened by this kind of person being my neighbor. But I hereby take up the challenge to bring the scientific method and reasoned argument with me in full force. I'm sure Georgia is rife with fossils for me to show them.

Watch out Georgia, here comes Tom Paine's Ghost!

Good Morning Hippie!

I woke up this morning to an interesting comment posted here at Tom Paine's Ghost. My old friend Troy decided it was time to let me know how appalling my support for Obama is. Troy is a good guy, a hard worker, a veteran, a family-man and a friend. I have a lot of respect for him and I am glad he has decided to engage in discourse here with us. Troy is mainly responding to a video I posted of the speech Obama delivered to the United Nations just a few weeks after the attacks on the US embassy in Libya. I will re-post his entire comment here and add my rebuttals in this green font as I think of them. Feel free to jump in and add to the conversation. OK, here we go...

Kris, Kris, Kris, for a “Freethinker’s Cove” I’m afraid you check your brain at the door and allow your far-left ideology and infatuation with Obama to rule over reality and reason!

I agree, the first 5-10 minutes of Obama’s speech was admirable and I appreciated listening to the short biographies of the Americans who lost their lives in the service of our country. But he quickly losses me when he starts making excuses for Muslims:

“Let us remember that Muslims have suffered the most at the hands of extremism.”

Really? What about the thousands of Americans who died at the hands of Muslim extremists on 9/11(2,606 people died in New York City in the World Trade Center and on the ground, 125 died at the Pentagon, and 44 people died in Shanksville, PA.) and their family members or the thousands of soldiers who have died from Muslim extremists to give Iraq (4,488 dead US Troops) and Afghanistan (1,957 dead US troops) a fresh start from tyranny and repression. What about the family members of the deceased still suffering from their losses? 

Each and every human life lost in war is deplorable. I am not saying and I don't think Obama is saying that a Muslim mother who loses her son in war suffers any more or less than an American mother who loses her son. Consider this, it has been estimated that anywhere from 28,000 to 42,000 people have lost their lives in Syria alone since the beginning of the civil war there in 2011, LAST YEAR. So lets take the US deaths from 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and add them together = 9,220. Do I think Obama could have used more precise language when saying "that Muslims have suffered the most at the hands of extremism" Yes, I do. And being a bean counter when it comes to human life is a terrible thing to do. Every human life is invaluable, But I hardly consider the statement you quoted as Obama apologizing to moderate Muslims. He was attempting to give the world some perspective on the consequences and geography of terrorism.

Is it really enlightenment and tolerance to make excuses and apologize for these people? I think it is the highest form of enlightenment and tolerance to empathize with any group of people that is different from your own. I agree the Muslim community as a whole suffers from the extremists that use their religion for power. If you agree with this then you agree with what Obama said in the speech to the UN. The moderate Muslim’s in this world have to outnumber the extremists by millions. I don’t see them policing their own nearly enough if ever (What about Turkey? They still belong to NATO, have a strong military, and have a record of using military force against bad neighbors- ex: last week and Syria). Why doesn’t Obama apologize to America about his failed economic policies  or his failure to protect our citizen’s in foreign embassies?

What’s even worse is that the whole video excuse is a farce and a distraction from the fact that the Obama Administration dropped the ball on securing the US Embassy in Libya. I agree with this, just as I agree that the Bush administration dropped the ball on securing the World Trade Center on 9/11 But I am not a conspiracy theorist. I can sit here and complain all day that more was not done to prevent 9/11 but that does not mean I think Bush somehow caused 9/11 to happen, just as I do not think Obama somehow caused the attacks on the US embassy in Benghazi to happen. Terrorism exists and we need to be vigilant. I agree with this stance. Do you really think that a spontaneous riot would conveniently erupt on 9/11 from a video that was posted on the internet back in July? If that is the case Bill Maher’s “Religulous” would have started WWIII sometime in the past few years don’t you think? I don’t remember any backlash from that movie.

Liberalism, progressivism, whatever you want to call it, is zapping all the motivation, inspiration, ingenuity and drive out this country. The Obamaphone Lady in Cleveland, OH is a great example of where this country is heading under the leadership of President Obama:

Four years ago I would never have imagined myself thinking that I wish George W. Bush was still in office, but here I am thinking just that. It is appalling to me to see you idolizing Barack Obama like you do. Kris, where’s the hope and change he promised? Where’s the transparency (Here -transparency.gov) , the honesty and the openness? I have seen nothing but lies, deception and closed doors for the past four years. It is disgusting to me to see the President of the United States let other countries tell us what to do, especially China and Russia, or make excuses for my country in the name of tolerance and good-will. Kris, you’re an intelligent man. Why is it so hard for you to open your eyes and see the wrong this administration is doing to our country? What really has this man done in the past four years as president? (Yes, what has Obama done?) Please don’t answer with he killed Osama…

I tried to be as good as possible, I promise! I just hate to see an old friend wander down the wrong path. I appreciate your concern :) Miss you brother. How is your new family?

Sarah Silverman - Voter ID Fraud Laws are Bullshit

The New Colossus

The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus. As inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty was written in 1883 and read here by Kristopher Hite along the south bank of the Cache de Poudre River in Fort Collins, CO.

Facebook, Family, Politics, and Prejudice

Empty Chair Lynchings

This outrageous image sums up the attitude of an angry segment of anti-Obama voters in the United States.  They say they don't like what he is doing with policy but underneath it they are just plain racist.  This deplorable display of utter ignorance is telling. 

Taken in Austin, Texas this week the photo shows an office chair lynched in the front yard of a man named Bud Johnson. When confronted about this blatantly racist gesture he responded with eloquence:

I don't really give a damn whether it disturbs you or not. You can take [your concerns] and go straight to hell and take Obama with you. I don't give a sh*t. If you don't like it, don't come down my street.

There was a second mock-lynching in Virginia this one made it clear it was a reference to Clint Eastwood's version of Obama as invisible man in empty chair. It had a sign reading "Nobama" printed in read letters.

I do not claim that most Republican share this kind of racist rancor, but these displays just drag the whole anti-Obama crowd into a deeper hole from my perspective.

Source Global Grind's Selena Hill

Not the way it used to be.

Obama and the Young Biologist - Samantha Garvey

During President Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention he mentioned several people who give him hope. One was a high school student doing cutting-edge research in evolutionary biology despite the fact that she lived in a homeless shelter while starting it.

“The young woman I met at a science fair who won national recognition for her biology research while living with her family at a homeless shelter, she gives me hope.”

 Her name is Samantha Garvey and her story gives me hope too.

Obama v. Romney: On Science

In my opinion, the most important debate in this presidential election will not be televised but rather is available RIGHT NOW to read in print at this website - sciencedebate.org Here is an example question and response from each respective candidate in parallel. Climate Change. The Earth’s climate is changing and there is concern about the potentially adverse effects of these changes on life on the planet. What is your position on cap-and-trade, carbon taxes, and other policies proposed to address global climate change—and what steps can we take to improve our ability to tackle challenges like climate change that cross national boundaries?
Barack Obama: Climate change is the one of the biggest issues of this generation, and we have to meet this challenge by driving smart policies that lead to greater growth in clean energy generation and result in a range of economic and social benefits. Since taking office I have established historic standards limiting greenhouse gas emissions from our vehicles for the first time in history. My administration has made unprecedented investments in clean energy, proposed the first-ever carbon pollution limits for new fossil-fuel-fired power plants and reduced carbon emissions within the Federal Government. Since I took office, the U.S. is importing an average of 3 million fewer barrels of oil every day, and our dependence on foreign oil is at a 20-year low. We are also showing international leadership on climate change, reaching historic agreements to set emission limits in unison with all major developed and developing nations. There is still more to be done to address this global problem. I will continue efforts to reduce our dependence on oil and lower our greenhouse gas emissions while creating an economy built to last.		Mitt Romney: I am not a scientist myself, but my best assessment of the data is that the world is getting warmer, that human activity contributes to that warming, and that policymakers should therefore consider the risk of negative consequences. However, there remains a lack of scientific consensus on the issue — on the extent of the warming, the extent of the human contribution, and the severity of the risk — and I believe we must support continued debate and investigation within the scientific community. Ultimately, the science is an input to the public policy decision; it does not dictate a particular policy response. President Obama has taken the view that if global warming is occurring, the American response must be to slash carbon dioxide emissions by imposing enormous costs on the U.S. economy. First he tried a massive cap-and-trade bill that would have devastated U.S. industry. When that approach was rejected by Congress, he declared his intention to pursue the same course on his own and proceeded through his EPA to impose rules that will bankrupt the coal industry. Nowhere along the way has the President indicated what actual results his approach would achieve — and with good reason. The reality is that the problem is called Global Warming, not America Warming. China long ago passed America as the leading emitter of greenhouse gases. Developed world emissions have leveled off while developing world emissions continue to grow rapidly, and developing nations have no interest in accepting economic constraints to change that dynamic. In this context, the primary effect of unilateral action by the U.S. to impose costs on its own emissions will be to shift industrial activity overseas to nations whose industrial processes are more emissions-intensive and less environmentally friendly. That result may make environmentalists feel better, but it will not better the environment. So I oppose steps like a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system that would handicap the American economy and drive manufacturing jobs away, all without actually addressing the underlying problem. Economic growth and technological innovation, not economy-suppressing regulation, is the key to environmental protection in the long run. So I believe we should pursue what I call a “No Regrets” policy — steps that will lead to lower emissions, but that will benefit America regardless of whether the risks of global warming materialize and regardless of whether other nations take effective action. For instance, I support robust government funding for research on efficient, low-emissions technologies that will maintain American leadership in emerging industries. And I believe the federal government must significantly streamline the regulatory framework for the deployment of new energy technologies, including a new wave of investment in nuclear power. These steps will strengthen American industry, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and produce the economically-attractive technologies that developing nations must have access to if they are to achieve the reductions in their own emissions that will be necessary to address what is a global issue.