Why would a "Director of Marketing" have *ANY* input into a college curriculum?

I haven't been around much for quite a while, but I've started reading P.Z. Myer's blog again. He does the usual job of eviscerating the sort of folks who seem to be unclear on the concept of the difference between scientific theory and hypothesis, when I came upon this article:

The fish rots from the head, the tail, and every place in between

Of course, I had to read this, with my jaw hanging open. I then read the linked posts detailing more of the primary sources, which were not as entertaining as Dr. Myer's work, but were equally jaw dropping.

The death of American science is following the same dreary script as had the Muslim world from 600 years ago, unfortunately. When supposedly rational people accept mummery that the world was created in six *human* days (how sacrilegious to impose on an eternal Being our concept of 'day' - but that will be a future post), they expose no concept of eternity.

The little bird of Svithjod

Amazon and Kindle - 1984 reborn - how DRM will kill the eBook reader market

Wow. The ongoing stories about Amazon's incredibly arrogant arbitrary decision to delete books that their Kindle customers had purchased has really provided all opponents of DRM with a solid gold mace to use against DRM in totality. The story evidently began when a publisher complained to Amazon about a copyright dispute over the ownership of Eric Blair's (George Orwell for those of you who are republican idiots - yes I know; I repeated myself) works. So, the publisher said jump, and Amazon promptly went out and deleted the purchased book from a still indeterminate number of Kindles. Including a student who lost his notes and comments on the copy he was using for school.

Eric Blair died in January, 1950 (yes, over 59 years ago). But, his books are still covered by copyright (in the US) until 2044. Yup, for another 35 years. I was a promponent of using electronic books for schools until this story came out. Now, not only am I not going to be buying a Kindle or to tell the truth, any eBook reader. I'll just keep reading dead tree editions, and PDFs of authorized works. I have no problem with compensating authors and their duly designated agents. But, to see something like this (evidently, one of the causes for the ruckus is that Amazon's terms of service for the Kindle do not explicit grant Amazon the right to do this - cue the class action lawsuits) for an author (one of my most admired) who died over ten years before I was born elucidates the total absurdity that copyright has become in the United States.

Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle Devices - NYTimes.com

Doubleplusungood: That Copy Of 1984 On Your Kindle Is Now Gone | Techdirt

Amazon remotely deletes Orwell e-books from Kindles, unpersons reportedly unhappy (update)

For those who are fuzzy about copyrights and the preposterous lengths that they go in the United States, read The Mouse That Ate the Public Domain.

Citi being bailed out in futility; GM being sold down the river

What Robert Reich said. I find it maddening to hear so much from my acquaintances about how the auto industry CEOs flew in private jets (well, those jets are owned by the corporations for the convenience of the execs - ) but not how dumping the heavy industry base will affect the entire US economy. I guess most Americans just didn't pay much attention in economics class. I'm always gobsmacked by the complaining people make about stupid decisions their leaders make, and then hear those same complaining people parrot the Big Corporate Media talking points which reinforce the dissonance. And to hear Fake News Channel talking points about the so-called "high" pay that the US auto industry has -- a lot of that accumulated cost is paying the pensions and health care for retirees and the widows of retirees. Chapter 11 would wipe out those folks' pensions. So, I want to hear from my right-wing zombie acquaintances exactly how would that be made up? Oh, those same acquaintances are opposed to "socialist" universal health care. And they wonder why I'm so dyspeptic around them :-).

Jonathan Cohn in The New Republic debunks the wingnuttery LIE about $70. Cites are located in his article. Look 'em up.



As I've read elsewhere, if I was the CEO of GM, I'd be flying to China right now to sell the company to the Chinese.

A Simple Answer to a Simple Question

Is Barack Obama Muslim? The answer can be found here. Thanks for Matt Yglesias for the link.

Surprise! "Independent Military Analysts" turn out to be Bushevik Regime shills

This story out in Salon and the NYT appears to be a blinding flash of the obvious: the so-called "independent military analysts' have turned out to be anything but. Of course, people: if you retire from an organization, you tend to that corporate point of view. We've paid a terrible price for the moral crimes of these gentry. I'm convinced we need one of Atrios' blogger ethics panels to investigate why the Bushevik regime gets such a free pass from Big Corporate Media, and we desperately need an independent media that holds all government accountable, and disposes of the political pundit class.

And Maureen Dowd? Bitter? Lady, it oozes from every sentence you write. Sorry, but you are one of bitterest persons in existence. To criticize either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama from your particular toadstool is sanctimonious hypocrisy of breathtaking proportions. Just another example of media corruption at its worst. What does this have to do with the "independent military analysts"? Well, the complete right wing corruption of our so-called 'independent' media into parrots for the Fake News Channel and the right wing radio and scum like Drudge must be reversed and corrected. How do we do that? I don't know, but the rigid reinstution of the "Fairness Doctrine" which was disposed of by Ronnie Ray-gun will be the first step.

ABC News and the fury of voters

Well, the voters and citizens have spoken, and I believe put the Big Corporate Media on notice about their ReTHUGlican and Fake News Channel (FNC) bias in commentary. I've just read the LA Times story on view outrage over the contempt that Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos displayed towards the two serious candidates to be the next leader of our country. Seems that even though the Village idiots in Washington DC's cocktail weenie circuit are trying very hard to follow the standard Party line on the election, but us pesky Democratic netroots activists and ordinary voters are paying attention in this election. Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama may be making various stumbles in the run up to the Pennsylvania primary, but the sheer amount of interest their campaigns have generated nationwide makes the prevailing Big Corporate Media narrative, controlled by only five media companies (when did we become Italy?) a little tough.

I suspect we will have to pay close attention to the net neutrality issue in the coming months. Right now, with everyone paying attention to politics (horrors! ordinary citizoyens paying attention to politics! Will the Washington Village recover?) the customary narrative does not play well. When it is only us DFH and the rightwing blowhards paying attention, BCM gets away with it. Now, with a failed occupation of two Islamic countries about to completely blow up in our faces, the economy failing because guess what - we have oil company parasites running our country and notice that the price of a barrel of oil has gone up from $25 a barrel to now over $117 a barrel. Hmmm. Were'nt we supposed to be securing an oil supply with this war (only idiots believed that we invaded for WMDs, and now we're concerned with Iraqi democracy? PLEASE!).

The nonregulated part (thanks, ReTHUGlicans and Ronnie Raygun) financial sector is imploding in front of us, and it's dragging the rest of us completely down with it. With the dollar so weak, US manufacturing should be firing up great guns, 'cause that's always been our strong point, eh? Oops! "Business-friendly" trade policies and so-called 'free trade' agreements (read: rape the American worker) have destroyed our capability to essentially get ourselves out of this mess. Heck, Indiana and Texas are selling their highways to foreign companies for decades in order to get a little cash now.

So, am I bitter? Yes I am, and I like a candidate who will speak to that bitterness. My country is faltering, and the end of the American era is coming nigh, and those zitbrains Gibson and Stephanopoulos are concerned about Reverend Wright? It's time the FCC tore apart BCM and returned it to being news of importance, instead of tabloid gossip.

Expelled Movie full of falsehoods

The movie "Expelled" is creating quite the uproar among those who pay attention to the slithering underground of pseudo-Xtian wanna be authoritarians. I'm always amazed at how the 'ends justify the means' thinking that goes on from those who proudly bleat that they, and only they and those who think like them, are Xtians. PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins have done a great deal of puncturing these balloon headed buffoons, but finding out that the producers of this flick cadged and altered material used in teaching cellular biology. I hope Harvard sues the backers of this film out of existence.

Heh.