The Post Below is Hard News…

…for most of America, since according to various recent surveys (Washington Times, Gallup, Pew Research):

• While only 39% of Americans believe in evolution, and only 36% believe in anthropogenic global warming…
• Nearly as many (34%) believe in ghosts and UFOs.

The Things We Have to Get Straight

I just finished reading “Idiot America,” a book that scathingly attacks what seems to be an anti-intellectual, anti-academic bias now rampant in America.  I have to admit, it is interesting: when did being a genuine expert on a topic become a liability?  Sheesh. An important part of our problem is a backlash against science.  The book begins with a description of the Creation Museum, which features exhibits proposing that dinosaurs and men existed on earth at the same time, and that Noah put dinosaurs on the ark (they fit because they were babies).  And it gets worse from there.

Let us, as thinking people with actual working gray matter, not fall for such nonsense.  People of faith do not have to adopt raw stupidity — we do not have to set aside our brains when we enter the chapel.  We have thoughts.  And that’s okay.

I thought I’d get down a few things, scientific or otherwise, which are simply true.

1. Evolution happened, and happens.  It is “true” in the sense that scientific theories are true: it has great explanatory and predictive value.  I think it’s worth mentioning here the thing about scientific theories: some in Idiot America feel that, because a thing is labeled “theory,” then there is lots of room for attacking it.  But, well, nope: pretty much everything in science is a theory.  Gravity is a theory.  Evolution, like gravity, is a theory that has gained almost universal acceptance among serious scientists because it has been immensely accurate over time at showing us what happened, what is happening, and at predicting what will happen.
2. Creationism is not science.  Saying that is not the same thing as saying, “God did not create the universe.”  He very well may have.  I believe that He did.  But creationism is not science, because it doesn’t present any theory that can be empirically tested.  You can believe that the earth was created by God, or that He directed its creation.  You can even know it deep in your bones.  But you can’t present anyone with any empirical way to test it, and therefore it is not science.  Teaching it in a public school classroom is ridiculous.
3. While we’re at the intersection of religion and science: The vast majority of gay people are born that way.  Let’s stop niggling about this.  You know it’s true, and I know it’s true.  I have no idea what this fact means for the tenets of your religion or mine. But it’s the truth — in fact it is obviously the truth, and we should deal with issues relating to gay people with that knowledge squarely in our sights.
4. The earth is in an alarming warming trend, and there is a very good chance that fossil fuels caused it. Who cares, ultimately, if the proposition that humans caused global warming is provably true, or if it just looks like that with 80% certainty?  I don’t think it’s easy to predict what global warming means, except that it might be bad and almost certainly will be wrenchingly different — and that means that we should take our best guess as to what we can do about it, and do it.

I don’t think that any of the above necessarily settles all related matters of public policy — we can still debate whether gay marriage is advisable, we can still discuss whether to put a pipeline in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, etc.  I have my opinions, but they’re not automatically Golden Nuggets of Truth ™.  But if we start discussing those matters by denying fundamental facts, we’ll never get to the right place.

Why I Want Leaders to be Educated

It’s simple: because I just got through listening to Glenn Beck (I know, here we go again), and I was struck by this insight: from grade school through high school, you learn how to read.  In college you learn how to read.

The emphasis above is important: it’s the difference between being able to quickly and accurately ingest the words, and being able to understand what you’ve read.

Beck talks about having read various books and documents, and I don’t doubt that he has read the pages.  But he clearly hasn’t understood them.

And that is why I want leaders, including opinion leaders like Beck, to be educated.

Prosecuting Terrorists in NYC

How odd.  House Minority Leader John Boehner says:

The Obama Administration’s irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York City puts the interests of liberal special interest groups before the safety and security of the American people. The possibility that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found ‘not guilty’ due to some legal technicality just blocks from Ground Zero should give every American pause.

I, on the other hand, trust our laws and our system of government to reach the right conclusion.  Which of us is being patriotic?  Which of us is standing up for America?

Here is Where I Begin Banging my Head on my Table

Meb Keflezighi became this weekend the first American to win the New York City Marathon.  Which is pretty cool.

But not, apparently, cool enough for some sports guy from CNBC named Darren Rovell, who said it was a little hollow because Keflezighi wasn’t born here.  He emigrated with his parents from Eritrea 22 years ago, when he was a 12-year-old, but that’s not good enough for Rovell.  Because he’s an idiot.

 

Paying for EVERYTHING

Let me completely butcher the sacred cow: the U.S. spends waaaaaay too much on the military.  So much, in fact, that if we were to carve the military back just a bit we’d be in much better financial shape.  Just ask yourself if the following seem necessary:

• The United States accounts for 47% of the world’s total military spending.
• The U.S. outspends the next 15 countries…combined (That’s China, Russia, Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, India, Brazil, Italy, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, and The Netherlands).
• Did you notice that the list above is comprised primarily of allies of the U.S., who presumably serve to limit our need to spend more?
• As I’ve noted before: if you had spent a million dollars a day since the time Jesus walked the earth, you would still not have spent as much money as we’ve spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
• If you include spending on our current military, on our past military, and on the wars, you’re now talking about over half of the U.S. budget.

Now, I don’t want you to walk out on me entirely, so let me be clear: I’m not anti-military.  I’m just saying: if I were CEO of this country’s budget, the first thing I’d do is look to see what I could cut out of defense without significantly harming our ability to defend ourselves… and I’m sure that I could find a lot.  A lot.  A small percentage of a huge number is a really big number.

Simply put: spending more than the next 15 countries combined is overkill.  It just is.  It’s as though we’ve built a house and installed a huge gate, a moat filled with crocodiles, security cameras covering every square inch, a top-of-the-line alarm system with flashing lights and sirens, and we’re employing an armed guard for every nine feet of perimeter, 24 hours a day.  Do I feel safe?  Yes.  Could I feel just as safe with a lot less?  Also yes.

It’d be like finding your entire mortgage in the couch cushions.  Just a little effort would pay for everything.

That’s all I’m sayin’.

Free Speech

Minuteman leader John Gilchrist was recently disinvited to speak at a Harvard forum.  This came after a woman with close ties to him, Shawna Forde, was arrested for murder in a botched home invasion designed to “fund” their group.  One of the victims was a 9-year-old girl.

Gilchrist has bellowed about “free speech” after his removal from the Harvard forum.  But here’s the thing about free speech, Mr. Gilchrist: it gives you the right to speak your mind, which you’ve done all over the airwaves, and which you’re welcome to do on a street corner or to your neighbors.  It does not guarantee you the right to speak at a private forum at a private university.  They get to pretty much choose whomever they want, and apparently you’re not it.

Little factoid I thought might be worth pointing out.

Short Version of Why I Support a Public Option

…because as long as your healthcare and mine are controlled by companies whose fundamental motive is to limit our access to healthcare, then no amount of fiddling around on the edges will make things any better and costs will continue to rise twice as fast as inflation.

My wife, who runs HR at a tech company here, was thrilled to discover that her company’s insurance costs only rose 15% this year, so long as she cuts some benefits.  Isn’t there something wrong with being happy about that result?

Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize

A few observations:

• What, precisely, is President Obama’s accomplishment? Simple: the re-establishment of American moral authority in the world, and re-instituting America as the world’s best hope for peace.
• Is that an accomplishment worthy of the Nobel Prize? Well, umm…I probably wouldn’t have done it.  But of course it doesn’t matter what we think.  The fact is, the Nobel Prize Committee thought so.
• Who makes the decision? A committee of five people chosen by the Norwegian Parliament.  They are almost always former Norwegian politicians.

Importantly, here is what the Nobel Peace Prize is not:

• Partisan.  It has nothing whatsoever to do with Republican/Democrat/conservative/liberal agendas.  It’s five guys chosen by the Parliament of Norway.  Period.
• Affected by the U.S. press and its presumed “liberal bias.” These guys aren’t listening to MSNBC.  Or Fox, for that matter.

Look, no matter what you think of President Obama, this is a proud moment for the U.S.  At its essence it is an acknowledgment of how important America is on the world stage.  That’s a good thing, right?

A final note that I just cannot help but say: Rush Limbaugh threw a fit, in which he called Obama a “worldwide joke” and a “laughingstock.”  After the president had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  I’m sure that even someone with Limbaugh’s limited education can see that the data set simply does not fit the hypothesis there.