Archives 2008

Reminder: Pulpit Initiative Today

For those who weren’t paying attention, today’s the day of the
Alliance Defense Fund’s
Pulpit Freedom Sunday,
in which pastors are protesting the fact that their churches’
tax-exempt status comes with strings attached, namely rules against
endorsing political candidates, same as any other non-profit
organization.

From what I’ve seen, the news coverage is mostly unsympathetic. The
Post’s On Faith column has a
guest post
in which the author tries to defend this act of civil disobedience,
and gets smacked down in the comments.

So it looks as though most people recognize that the participating
churches are trying to have their cake and eat it too, and can cry me
a tax-exempt river.

It’s Amazing What Passes for Persecution These Days

According to
this story
in the Post, the Virginia police superintendent issued a directive
saying that police chaplains have to conduct non-denominational
services, i.e., not invoke Jesus’ name. This is in response to a
federal court ruling about prayers before city council meetings.

Del. Charles W. Carrico Sr. (R-Grayson), a former state trooper, said he is organizing an online petition to get the State Police to reverse its decision. Carrico said he will submit a bill to overturn the action when the General Assembly returns in January.

“Col. Flaherty needs to abandon this attack on Christianity,” he said.

So as I read this, troopers can practice whichever religion they like
in private. They can pray on the job, if it doesn’t affect their job
performance. Troopers who are also chaplains can also perform
religious services on the taxpayer’s dime. But when a line is drawn,
saying that they have to include non-Christian theists while on the
job, suddenly it’s an attack on Christianity.

Perhaps they’d like to call the EMTs to bring a waahmbulance.

Regulation

By newly-enacted federal law, everyone on the blagotubes has to write
a post about the ongoing financial meltdown before civilization (and
the Internet) collapses, so here’s mine. Of course, since I wouldn’t
know a 401(k) from a 386zx, take my uninformed ramblings with a big
rock of salt.

I’ve compared
free market capitalism to natural selection
before. They’re both powerful forces that work surprisingly well and
often come up with unexpected solutions to problems. I can
metaphorically (and in many neighborhoods, literally) stand on a city
street waving a $20 bill and shout “I’m bored/thirsty/lost!” and
someone will come along and fix that problem for me, whether by
offering me a Coke, a taxi ride, or acts that would make Larry Flynt
blush.

It works because it matches up people who want something (stuff) with
people who want something else (money), and rewarding those who do it
best. But what happens when the interests of the people who want stuff
and those of the people who want money aren’t aligned?

Read More

Wanted: Calendar Feature

PDAs have solved or simplified a lot of the problems I used to have
before I started carrying around a backup brain. But there’s one type
of reminder that they still can’t deal with: “do X under when Y
happens”. E.g., “Return Paul’s book next time I see him” or “Look up
Janice if I’m ever in London.”

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Front-Loading: I Do Not Think It Means What You Think

One of the ID creationists’ favorite words is “front-loading”. From
context, I gather that it means that the output of an algorithm is
inherent in the algorithm itself. In other words, if you write a
detailed program that calculates the square root of 16, then that’s
just a long-winded way of having it print “4”. You could have saved
yourself a lot of time by just having it print “4” in the first place.

Front-loading comes up in two arguments: 1) evolutionary algorithms do
not demonstrate that evolution works, because the solution is hidden
in the code, and 2) the fact that complex organs exist is evidence of
the unfolding of God’s an unspecified intelligent
designer’s plan; the appearance of limbs and organs in the fossil
record is part of the unfolding of God’s the
designer’s plan and was front-loaded at creation some
unspecified point in the distant past.

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Skin Conductance and Political Affiliation

Ed Yong has an
article
up at
Not Exactly Rocket Science
about a researcher who found a correlation between involuntary startle
responses and support for various political/social programs:

When we’re suddenly confronted with a shocking image, our skin becomes moist and we blink strongly. These actions are automatic and unintentional; they happen without conscious thought. So it may come as a surprise that they can also predict some of our most seemingly considered beliefs – our political attitudes.

According to a new American study, the stronger these responses, the more likely people are to support the Iraq War, Biblical truth, the Patriot Act and greater defence budgets. Conversely, people who show weaker “startle reflexes” are more likely to support foreign aid, immigration, gay marriage and abortion rights.

He calls the connection surprising, but I’m not so sure.

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Christian Persecution

This
is fucked up:

GHUMUSAR UDAYAGIRI, India — Babita Nayak was cooking lunch for her pregnant sister when a mob of Hindu extremists wielding swords, hammers and long sticks rampaged through their village, chanting “India is for Hindus! Convert or leave!”

The gist of this depressing article is that Hindu fundies are killing
Christians, burning their homes, destroying their churches, and
driving them into refugee camps.

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Monday Playlist
  1. I Am the Rain, Assemblage 23
  2. I Am You, Depeche Mode
  3. I Am Your Robot, Elton John
  4. I Am Not Your Gameboy, Freezepop
  5. I Am the Resurrection, The Stone Roses
  6. I Am Your Conscience, Leæther Strip
  7. Hello, I Am Your Heart, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
  8. I Am the Walrus, The Beatles
  9. I Am Not Your Broom, They Might Be Giants
  10. I Am a Grocery Bag, They Might Be Giants
  11. I Am A Human Head, They Might Be Giants
  12. I Am Legend, White Zombie
  13. I Am the Fly, Wire
  14. I Am the Audience, XTC
CNN Missing the Point on Pulpit Initiative

Background: the
Alliance Defense Fund,
a right-wing religious group, is backing the
Pulpit Initiative,
in which, on Sep. 28, 2008, a bunch of pastors will give sermons
directly endorsing specific political candidates. They’re hoping to be
sued, and to use the suit to overturn the law against churches
directly endorsing candidates.

CNN’s Rick Sanchez hosted a “he-said, he-said” exchange about this:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9vsNx5ooBU&hl=en&fs=1]

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An Ethical Question

The Daily Show’s already mostly made the same point, so I may as well put out here something that’s been rattling around my brain for a while.

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