Due Process Was Overrated, Anyway

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out this executive order, which el Presidente signed a few days ago.

Unitary Executive Summary: if Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury determines that you’ve been “threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq” or are likely to, then he just needs to “consult” with the Secretaries of State and Defense (it doesn’t say they have to agree with him, and he can have all your property seized. Also that of your friends and anyone else who helps you, including your defense lawyer (except, of course, if past behavior is anything to go by, you won’t get a lawyer).

Nobody will disagree with the idea that it’s a good idea to seize Al Qaeda assets to prevent those assets from being used to bomb us. But I could’ve sworn that there were already law enforcement agencies in charge of doing just that, and laws allowing them to do it. In fact, I may be misremembering, but I seem to remember a time when warrants were involved. Something about those pesky 4th and 5th amendments or something.

(Note: the 5th amendment only forbids taking private property for public use. There’s nothing in there about seizing your bank account and giving it to one of Cheney’s cronies.)

Remember: they hate us for our freedoms. So if we don’t relinquish our freedoms, the terrorists will have won.

Meanwhile, the sum total of the Post’s coverage seems to consist of a three-paragraph blurb that merely says that this order will be used in the War on Terra (how’s that working out, by the way?), and a passing mention in an op-ed piece.

Linky Love

2+2 = 5 (HT PZ)

The original Laugh-Out-Loud Cats

Mike Wong, the Cheerful Atheist, lists 12 Benefits of Atheism. Like him, I haven’t received my black helicopter yet, but I’m sure it’s in the mail.

The Long D’oh! Man

If you’ve read Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies, you may remember the Long Man, a figure cut into a hillside, inspired by the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, in England.

To promote the new Simpsons movie, a new figure, of Homer Simpson in tighty-whities and holding a doughnut, has been painted on a neighboring field (in water-soluble paint, so it should wash off when it rains).

What’s funnier, though, is the reaction of the local Pagan community:

Ann Bryn-Evans, joint Wessex district manager for The Pagan Federation, said: “It’s very disrespectful and not at all aesthetically pleasing.

“We were hoping for some dry weather but I think I have changed my mind. We’ll be doing some rain magic to bring the rain and wash it away.”

Point 1: Lighten up, dudes. Bitching about this being “disrespectful” makes you look as wacky and unhinged as the Christian nutjobs protesting The Life of Brian and The Last Temptation of Christ.

Point 2: Rain magic? Rain magic?! In case you hadn’t noticed, this is the 21st century. We know what causes rain, and it ain’t rain fairies or however you think it works.

Point 3: The oldest written references to the Cerne Abbas Giant only date back to the 17th century. In a country that’s been continuously inhabited since long before there was even such a thing as the English language, this is the equivalent of last week’s graffiti in the subway. So either this “symbol of ancient spirituality” went unnoticed for thousands of years (including by medieval Christians, not known for their tolerance of pagan symbols), or else this is really an 18th century farmer’s way of telling his neighbor, “I’m gonna beat your skull in, then make you squeal like a pig.”

So please cut out the drama. And next time you’re at Marks & Spencer, pick up a sense of humor.

Fabric Brain Art

The Museum of Scientifically Accurate Fabric Brain Art.

Fabric brain

On one hand, people like this obviously have too much time on their hands. On the other hand, damn, that’s cool!

(HT Neurodudes,
Fresh Brainz.)

Gallery Comments Disabled

I’ve disabled comments in the photo gallery. I’m sorry to do this, but the spammers were just getting too obnoxious, and Gallery‘s crappy captcha just wasn’t keeping them out.

I’m not happy about this, but it was just too much work deleting spam.

Some ID Research Projects

TR Gregory at Genomicron has a list of ten research projects for ID proponents, all having to do with non-coding DNA. An excellent list, and any ID researcher should jump on it, if only to demonstrate that ID is science.

(HT Freshbrainz)

Glances at History

This is from Mark Twain’s Glances at History, part of an unfinished work about the civilization that flourished between the creation of Adam and Noah’s flood..

The introductory paragraph and the bit about Adam at the end serve as a fig leaf to allow Clemens to pretend that he’s not talking about the Philippine-American war. See for yourself how much of it still rings true 100 years later.

Read More

Kent Hovind Tribute

Definitely NSFW. And about as subtle as a hammer to the ‘nads.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEGEl4uHQAU]

(HT PZ)

(Update: Bonus video. The Upright Citizens Brigade have filmed a live-action version of Jack Chick’s classic tract, Big Daddy.)

Jo Hovind Gets Time

The Pensacola News Journal has the news about Jo Hovind’s sentencing:

Jo Hovind, the wife of creationist theme-park owner Kent Hovind, stood solemnly beside her attorney Friday as U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers handed down a sentence of one year and one day in federal prison.

Jo Hovind, 51, also was ordered to pay $8,000 in fines and three years supervision when she is released from prison.

Which I guess brings closure to the Hovind saga. Now, when are we going to see similar indictments against Ken Ham, Pat Robertson, etc?

Debbie Schlussel Tests Poe’s Law

Pop quiz: read the following and try to figure out whether it’s serious, or a parody of right-wing conservatives:

Yale researchers found that male Congressmen with daughters are more likely to vote for “reproductive rights”–the sanitized phrase for abortion: […]

The conclusion they want you to get from this is that pro-life Congressmen are insensitive to women and don’t have contact with any.

But I’d draw a different conclusion: Congressmen who are liberal are more likely to have slutty daughters. And therefore, they are more likely to support abortion for selfish, personal reasons.

Answer: it’s from Debbie Schlussel. I think she’s serious, though obviously it’s really hard to tell.

(HT FSTDT)