The calls for “civility” in our political discourse are missing the point.  First off, what is being decried is not “rhetoric” because rhetoric is intended to persuade, whereas the extreme statements that are being thrown out there are what some of the authors at The Moderate Voice like to refer to as “red meat” intended to “fire up the base” (a side note, one throws meat to distract carnivores from something else… what is being pulled here??). I’d be happy if the statements...

I have been planning on writing on this subject for a while, and the statement issued by Sarah Palin regarding the tempest swirling around the terrorist act in Tucson, Arizona, provides the last bit of incentive. Former Governor Palin used the phrase “blood libel” in her statement, making me wonder why, in something that was supposedly responding to the condemnation of the violent imagery and phrases used in right-wing language, the word “blood” was invoked so soon after the shedding of so...

This seems apropos of the moment:

According to several sources, Aretha Franklin has pancreatic cancer. Her music has added a lot of happiness to the world, it is sad if she is as ill as the report implies.

I see that the recent episode of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” stirred up a bit of controversy, along the lines of what I wondered about last week (if not exactly what I was asking about).  My colleague here at The Moderate Voice, Joe Windish, has rounded up some of the commentary. On a more productive and educational bent, though, is the episode of “Mythbusters” tonight, which features an appearance by President Obama. The contrast presented between the television appearances by Governor...

Although I think far too many electrons have been sacrificed in discussing the phenomenon known as Sarah Palin, a situation is coming down the pike that perhaps merits a few glucose molecules being burned to think about. Personally, I’ve tried to avoid the furor surrounding Governor Palin, but since I watch the Science Channel and the Discovery Channel more than almost all other stations combined (yes, I’m a geek, but I have an excuse, I’m a Physicist), I’ve been inundated with promos for...

Although it appears he had a full, long life, it is still sad when one of the people who helped us land on the moon passes. John G. Gavin Jr., who rode herd over the immensely complex design, construction and testing of the first vehicle to visit the moon— a task that included anticipating 400 different landing surfaces, from ice to boulders to dust to potholes — died on Saturday in Amherst, Mass. He was 90. … As director of the lunar module program for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation,...

When innumeracy like this is displayed by a writer for The New York Times (please note, emphasis added for later discussion): These modification programs encourage lenders to reduce mortgage payments, so that each borrower’s housing payments (including principal, interest, taxes and insurance) are no more than 31 percent of the borrower’s gross income. The payments are to be reduced for five years or to whenever the mortgage is paid off (whichever comes first). The amount of the payment reduction...

Oops: Gizmodo: Google Tool May Have Wrong Polling Place Locations for Hundreds of Thousands of Voters The takeaway: Pundits may bemoan the lack of voter participation in our elections. But the problems with the Google tool’s data simply underline the fact that, even in this hyperconnected era, data about polling places across the country is still not kept in a single, standardized location, which undermines the efforts of companies like Google to create tools that make it simple and easy for...

I was looking for new stories covering the death of Dan Schorr, a well-respected journalist. On the MSNBC.com web site, the story on his career was listed under the “Entertainment” section. Dan Schorr was definitely NOT an entertainer, but apparently journalism now falls under that heading according to at least one editor.

…but I can’t help but ask, WTF????? From a tweet by Representative Jack Kimble (CA-R; Twitter page here: RepJackKimble): There’s a war going on between traditional America and those who would like to take Christ out of The 4th of July Excuse me? Is it that the time for the whining about the so-called “War on Christmas” too far away, or is this the loony right-wing version of Christmas in July? While a “Creator” is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence,...

Guess who built the world’s longest dam?

With inadvertent but very apropos timing, The New Scientist published an article on research showing how the weather in Europe is affected by solar activity: Quiet sun puts Europe on ice 14 April 2010 by Stuart Clark Magazine issue 2756. BRACE yourself for more winters like the last one, northern Europe. Freezing conditions could become more likely: winter temperatures may even plummet to depths last seen at the end of the 17th century, a time known as the Little Ice Age. That’s the message...

Although other issues have become the focus of the manufactured tempests of both new and old media, that does not mean that there is no fallout from previous hyperbolic storms. The Dot Earth Blog at NYTimes.com has a post on the report from a committee of experts recommended by the Royal Society inquiring into the climate change research at the University of East Anglia, where emails and other files were released five months ago giving climate change skeptics what they thought was smoking gun proof...

In light of the not so recent end of the George W. Bush administration, it is worth evaluating the value of a high IQ versus the ability to make rational, fact-based decisions. I found this article very enlightening: Clever fools: Why a high IQ doesn’t mean you’re smart It is something worth thinking about. — Cross-posted between Random Fate and The Moderate Voice. — Technorati : IQ, intelligence Del.icio.us : IQ, intelligence Zooomr : IQ, intelligence Flickr : IQ,...

This MSNBC.com headline certainly won’t help the feeling that many Americans have that the wealthy get taken care of and the rest are left to hang: Amid shortage, big NYC firms get swine vaccine Rules allow company docs to request vaccine, distribute to high-risk groups NEW YORK – Some of New York City’s largest employers – including Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and big universities – have started receiving doses of the much-in-demand swine flu vaccine for their...

The specific problems we face cannot be solved using the same patterns of thought that were used to create them. -Albert Einstein — Cross-posted between Random Fate and The Moderate Voice. — Technorati : Albert Einstein, quotes Del.icio.us : Albert Einstein, quotes Zooomr : Albert Einstein, quotes Flickr : Albert Einstein, quotes

Every time I think there are limits to stupidity, I discover there apparently are not. From CNN.com: Police received a call Friday night that two men with hooded sweatshirts and painted faces had tried to break into a man’s home in Carroll, Iowa. When police stopped a vehicle matching the caller’s description blocks away, they were stunned by the men’s disguises. There were no ski masks or stockings pulled over their heads; instead, Matthew Allan McNelly, 23, and Joey Lee Miller,...

The wages of sin are unreported. -Unknown — Cross-posted between Random Fate and The Moderate Voice. — Technorati : quotes Del.icio.us : quotes Zooomr : quotes Flickr : quotes

I ran across an interesting article about AT&T and Google Voice. I received an invitation to use Google Voice, and I find it very useful. It rings several phones when my Google Voice phone number is called, allowing me to give that number to a select few whom I want to be able to contact me anywhere. The article covers a dispute between AT&T and Google, and in involves the FCC. Regulation of the phone system isn’t straightforward in reconciling public good with private enterprise. Here...