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6 Right-Wing Lunacies This Week: I’m Not A Scientist But I’m Going to Wage War On Science Anyway


AlterNet / By Janet Allon

“Carbon dioxide is good for plants, why do we have to limit it?”

1. Gavin McInnes: White liberals love Neil deGrasse Tyson so much he could defecate on them.

Gavin McInnes, ousted founder of Vice, now noted for racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments, obviously has all the right credentials to be invited onto Fox for some sober commentary about important things.

Just kidding. He was invited on the show to spew hateful and vile things and that’s just what he did. In a segment devoted to picking apart an interview with “Cosmos” host Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chris Hayes, McGinnes did not disappoint.

While talking to Hayes, Tyson had the audacity to make a joke, about his “greatest fear” being that intelligent life would steer clear of making contact with Earth because of the signals we unwittingly put out into space — including past TV and radio programs.

Pretty funny, right? Maybe a little science nerdy, but he is a scientist after all.

“I hate this guy,” McInnes blurted out. “I remember hearing Chris Hardwick on a podcast talk about Neil deGrasse Tyson and he was just salivating. White liberal nerds love this guy so much, he could defecate on them like Martin Bashir’s fantasies and they would dance in the streets.”

Little surprise he then segued from not very veiled racism to out-and-out racism saying that Tyson deserved whatever racial profiling he got when he was young because he “looked the part.”

“He talks about things like, ‘when I was young in New York I would get racially profiled when I’d go into stores,’” McInnes said. “Back then he looked like he was in the Warriors. He had a huge afro and a cutoff shirt and New York was a war zone. Sorry, you fit the profile.”

Meaning of course, being black.

2. Virtually every Republican after new EPA rules came out: I’m not a scientist but… here’s a bunch of idiotic stuff I learned in grade school.

The “I’m not a scientist, but” statement of faux humility was the most popular refrain this week in Republican circles, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and press conferences. It was almost always followed by either second-grade level science like, “but carbon dioxide is good for plants, why do we have to limit it?” Or some other nonsensical argument against the new, much needed regulations.

There is, of course, only one retort to, “I’m not a scientist, but ….”

It’s, “That’s right, so shut up and listen to what actual scientists have been saying about this for, like, ever.”

We know, we know. We live in dreamland.

The stupid reactions to Obama’s announced coal restrictions ran the gamut.

You can read about them here.  And here. But if we had to pick a favorite, just on the grounds of moronic immaturity, the prize has to go to this pathetic imbecile:

“Thanks to the Obama administration’s EPA and the new regulations released today, America is poised to become the ‘no pee’ section of the global swimming pool,” said Marita Noon, executive director of some bogus right-wing group called Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy. “Just because we declare that we won’t pee in the pool, won’t stop the others.… We’ll be stuck in our little no-pee section with a crippled economy while the rest of the world will be frolicking in unfettered growth.”

Well now, that is a terrific way of deciding on matters of vital national (and international) interest. C’mon everybody, let’s keep peeing in the pool, until, well, the pool is entirely urine, and no longer any water whatsoever. Or, they catch us, whatever comes last.

3. Glenn Beck: God speaks to me about destroying people’s political careers.

Hoo boy, Glenn Beck piled crazy on top of crazy this week reaching new paroxysms of crazy. First he told listeners to the Blaze that God told him to destroy Van Jones’ White House career. Holy moly. Yahweh himself. “I don’t know how we figured out Van Jones,” Beck said. “I really don’t know how we figured out Van Jones,” he said. “That was really — that was not from man.”

Cue spooky music.

“Because I didn’t even know who he was, and there was two conversations happening in my office. I have two producers talking about Van Jones, and they were getting ready to talk to me about something, and I was talking to another two producers. And as I’m listening and I’m engaged in that, I just hear the name ‘Van Jones,’ and I said to those producers, ‘Stop.’ I turn around and said, ‘What was the name you just said?’ They said, Van Jones.”

Okay, so hearing voices. Makes sense.

4. Brian Kilmeade: Bowe Bergdahl’s father’s beard strikes me as Taliban-ish.

A precondition to being a buffoon is blindness to your own buffoonery, and hypocrisy. And nothing beats the hypocrisy of the Republican response to the release of the American soldier Bowe Bergdahl. Initial cheers and tweets were immediately taken down and the distorted memory of Ronald Reagan as master-hostage-negotiator-with-terrorists has been resurrected. Iran/contra player Oliver North is making the rounds on conservative media, as if anything the convicted perjurer had to say was in the least bit relevant.

But the commentary on the release of Bergdahl from his Taliban captors reached its nadir when the right-wing commentariat decided to make the soldier’s father’s beard an issue. Brian Kilmeade told Fox & Friends that the beard, which Bergdahl’s father had been growing as a symbol of his son’s captivity, made the soldier’s father look like he was in the Taliban.

“I mean, he says he was growing his beard because his son was in captivity,” Kilmeade blathered. “Well, your son’s out now. So if you really don’t — no longer look like a member of the Taliban, you don’t have to look like a member of the Taliban. Are you out of razors?”

So, here’s the deal with long beards. They are copacetic with Fox & Friends as long as you say racist and homophobic things and declare Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, a la Phil Robertson and the Duck Dynasty clan. Otherwise, they’re a no-go. Especially if you speak a word of Arabic. Then you’re obviously in cahoots with suspiciously clean-shaven Obama for the Muslim takeover of America.

5. Ben Carson: Obamacare is worse than 9/11.

It’s hard to top calling Obamacare worse than slavery for crazy and offensive comparison. But neuroscientist-turned-right-wing crackpot Ben Carson has a restless mind. During an interview with the Daily Beast this week, Carson defended his position that Obamacare was sooooooo bad, it was worse than 9/11.

Carson pointed out that he thinks “9/11 is an isolated incident,” and of course, Obamacare is this ongoing catastrophe where millions of previously uninsured people now have access to healthcare.

When his questioner asked repeatedly what had done more harm to America, Obamacare or Osama bin Laden, Carson lost his cool.

Carson: “Will you listen? You have to take a long-term look at something that fundamentally changes the power structure of America. You have to be someone who reads. Who is well read.”

And if you read the same kinds of things Carson does —and believe them—you too can come up with crazily ridiculous comparisons.

6. Elisabeth Hasselbeck cheers on homophobic baker.

Haters gonna hate. Sometimes haters gonna pretend their hating is love. And so the right-wing has taken up the cause of the oh-so principled Colorado baker who courageously refused to sell cakes to same-sex couples. Well, now Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips has been ordered by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission to stop discriminating against people whose sexual preferences are different from his.

Fox Newsian Elisabeth Hasselbeck thinks that freedom is under assault here. Religious freedom, that is. Religious freedom to discriminate against others, as long as that religion is Christian.

“Keep going strong there,” she told the brave baker.

But the brave baker has taken his baking toys and is going home. He won’t bake if it must be for the kind of people he does not wish to eat his cake.

Strike another blow for freedom!

h/t: rawstory

New Home = New Coverage


Dept. of Health & Human Services

Have you moved recently? Even though open enrollment is over, you may still have options to get health coverage for 2014 through a Special Enrollment Period. Certain life events, like changing your place of residence, make you eligible to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace.

Take this short survey – and you’ll be a few clicks away from seeing if you can get 2014 health coverage.

Have a friend or family member who has moved, gotten married, or had a baby? Those are just some of the qualifying life events that make them eligible to enroll. Make sure they know – take a minute to share this message with them:

SHARE THIS
New Address, New Coverage. HealthCare.gov.

Temple University​: The best research money can buy


Temple’s study gives private prisons cover to keep harming our communities.
Temple’s study gives private prisons cover to keep harming our communities.

Tell Temple Pres. Theobald: Investigate now

Tell Temple University Pres. Theobald to investigate now:

Join Us

Two Temple University professors released an inaccurate study praising private prisons without revealing a major conflict of interest — private prisons funded the study.1 Unsurprisingly, the research argued in favor of for-profit imprisonment based on a number of dangerous myths — exactly the kind of inaccuracies that give the industry cover to keep exploiting Black communities for profit.

Private prisons are making a killing off the anti-black racism, abuse, and inhumanity of mass incarceration. In order to stop this shameful industry, we must expose any attempts to bolster its credibility among the public and state officials. Temple has agreed to look into a pending ethics complaint against the study, but it’s been a year and still no investigation.

Tell Temple President Neil Theobald to thoroughly investigate the pending ethics complaint, hold the authors of the study accountable, and create a new policy requiring researchers to reveal corporate funding at all stages of the research publication process. It just takes a moment.

Temple’s study was funded by the nation’s top three private prison companies: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), GEO Group, and Management Training Corp (MTC). When initially released, Professors Simon Hakim and Erwin Blackstone included no information on its private prison funding.2 It was only after advocates filed an ethics complaint that the professors were forced to reveal their funding sources,3 but the damage had already been done. Public opinion had been influenced by a number of editorials by Professors Hakim and Blackstone published in newspapers nationwide, most of which did not mention their private prison funding.4

CCA, the country’s largest private prison company, was established after its founders decided managing prisons was just like “selling cars, or real estate, or hamburgers.”5 Since then, the industry has exploded, with the number of people in private prisons increasing by 1,664%.6 These corrupt companies have played a key role in lobbying for policies that increase imprisonment and worsen today’s mass incarceration crisis, fueled by the discriminatory War On Drugs.7 Due to continued prejudice in the justice system, Black people are the most likely to be incarcerated for profit in abusive private prisons.8 In order to increase profits, for-profit prisons cut costs on key services — meaning lower staffing levels, less training for guards, abysmal health care, and increased rates of violence.9

The Temple Study is dishonest and filled with inaccuracies, which the private prison industry leverages to deflect public outrage around its unethical business practices and human rights violations. Both CCA and GEO Group reference the Temple study in promotional materials as “independent” confirmation of the benefits of private prisons.10 A recent letter published by the ACLU reveals that Hakim and Blackstone’s methodology is deeply flawed.11 Their claims that private prison save states money fail to take into account increased state costs associated with higher recidivism rates found at private prisons, and the fact that companies get to “cherry pick” who they lock up — allowing them to choose healthier, less costly, people.

Temple University has an obligation to enforce its ethics policies and prevent corporations from funding “independent” research in secret. Please ask your friends and family to join in order to increase the power of our voices.

Thanks and Peace,

—Matt, Rashad, Arisha, Lyla, Jamar and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
July 7th, 2014

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.

References

1. “University to review ethics complaint regarding two professors,” The Temple News, 06-13-2014
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3577?t=7&akid=3454.1174326.osp1U6

2. “PLN managing editor’s Temple University ethics complaint profiled,” Prison Legal News, 06-11-2014
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3578?t=9&akid=3454.1174326.osp1U6

3. “Ethics Complaint vs. Professors Hakim and Blackstone,” Human Rights Defense Center, 06-25-2013
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3632?t=11&akid=3454.1174326.osp1U6

4. See reference 2.

5. “The Dirty Thirty: Nothing to Celebrate About 30 Years of Corrections Corporation of America,” Grassroots Leadership, 01-30-2013
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3579?t=13&akid=3454.1174326.osp1U6

6.”The Number of People in Private Prisons Has Grown By 1,664% in the Last 19 Years,” Policy Mic, 01-25-2013
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3580?t=15&akid=3454.1174326.osp1U6

7. “Private Prison Companies Want You Locked Up,” Justice Policy, 06-22-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3581?t=17&akid=3454.1174326.osp1U6

8. “Too Good to be True: Private Prisons in America,” Sentencing Project, 01-2012
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2921?t=19&akid=3454.1174326.osp1U6

9. “The Color of Corporate Corrections, Part II: Contractual Exemptions and the Overrepresentation of People of Color in Private Prisons,” Journal of Radical Criminology, 09-2013
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3582?t=21&akid=3454.1174326.osp1U6

10. “The Case For Private Prisons,” Politico, 02-28-2014
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3625?t=23&akid=3454.1174326.osp1U6

11. “An Open Letter to the Corrections Corporation of America,” ACLU 07-1-2014
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3624?t=25&akid=3454.1174326.osp1U6

States of Denial


By

More Than Half Of Republican Governors Are Climate Deniers

Here’s what we knew: Scientists are as sure of man-made climate change as they are that cigarettes kill. These changes already cause an increasing likelihood of extreme weather, pose dangerous health risks, and carry steep economic costs to taxpayers.

Here’s what we now know: Far too many governors, the people who see the impacts of climate change first hand and should be playing a leading role in their state, deny the climate science and refuse to believe that humans play a role in climate change. A CAP Action news analysis finds that of the 29 current Republican governors in the United States, fifteen — more than half — are climate change deniers. A number of others have made no public statement on climate science, have not taken action to address the issue, or have openly objected to federal safeguards that help blunt the impacts of climate change.

The map below lays this out in plain view (click here to view the interactive version). It categorizes governors into four groups: green for those who both accept climate science and are taking action to fight climate change; orange for those who either accept or haven’t openly denied climate science, but also have yet to take serious action to address climate change; red for those who have failed to take action or openly rejected to federal safeguards to address climate change; and red with stripes for climate deniers.

govmapfull

Here are just a few examples of some of the most backward comments and actions from governors around the country:

  • Indiana: Governor Mike Pence (R). When asked if he accepts climate change science, Pence responded, “I don’t know that that is a resolved issue in science today…just a few years ago we were talking about global warming. We haven’t seen a lot of warming lately. I remember back in the 70’s we were talking about the coming ice age.” Pence also let Indiana’s state-wide energy efficiency program die by refusing to either sign or veto a bill that would end it (by default, the bill to end it became law).
  • Maine: Governor Paul LePage (R). LePage is one of the most outspoken climate deniers, and has said that “scientists are divided on the subject.” He has argued that Maine could potentially benefit from the effects of climate change, vetoed legislation that would help the state prepare for extreme weather, blocked a bipartisan bill to expand solar power, and has attempted to dramatically reduce the state’s renewable energy standards to benefit large corporations.
  • Texas: Governor Rick Perry (R). Perry has repeatedly questioned the science behind climate change — “I think we’re seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists that are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.” Perry, along with energy companies, industry front groups, and other conservative politicians, sued the EPA in an attempt to block the agency from regulating climate pollution. Their argument was that climate science is a hoax.

Instead of cutting carbon pollution and investing in clean energy, the fifteen Republican governors currently ignoring science have taken more than $15 million in campaign contributions from big polluters over the course of the careers. While their governors count the campaign cash, local communities are suffering.

BOTTOM LINE: Despite the overwhelming scientific consensus and the devastating impacts of climate change, more than half of America’s Republican governors are standing with the anti-science members of Congress. These officials, and the others who are dragging their feet on the issue, need to face the facts. The EPA’s Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon pollution from power plants requires state leadership, and the American people — who broadly support the new rules — want them to action.

Like CAP Action on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Celebrate oil savings solutions this Fourth of July


NEW VIDEO
The Military is Leading the Way to Half the Oil

Half the Oil Leadership

This Fourth of July, salute our military’s commitment to developing oil saving technologies that will benefit our nation.

 

We see the costs of oil all around us, from the impacts of storms and droughts exacerbated by climate change to the pain of volatile prices at the pump. And it’s a reality that confronts our military daily: every time the price of a barrel of oil rises by ten dollars, the military spends more than one billion dollars more on oil, and that’s money that can’t be used to protect our service men and women or our national security.

In fact, the U.S. military is the largest user of oil in the world. That’s why the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard are leading the way on investing in oil saving solutions.

Across the United States and around the world, engineers, active-duty service men and women, and veterans are producing non-food based biofuels for aircraft and ships and deploying hybrid and electric vehicle technology on military bases and in the field. That’s good for fighting climate change and for our national security.

To tell the story of how our military is affected by oil and what they are doing about it, the Union of Concerned Scientists partnered with the Truman National Security Project—a group of national security experts who are working to address some of our biggest global challenges. Truman’s Operation Free project raises the voices of military veterans who have seen the costs of our oil use first-hand, and share an unparalleled commitment to making clean energy solutions a reality. We are proud to be partnering with Operation Free to support efficient and clean fuel technologies and policies, and hope you’ll join us in sharing the video that we made to explain what’s possible when we work together.

Watch the video and share this important story on Facebook, Google+ or on Twitter by sharing the tweets below:

* On #4thofJuly, salute our military’s work to cut #oil use. Share @ucsusa & @operationfree video: j.mp/1mFcZP5 #HalftheOil
* The military developed microchips & GPS. Now it’s clean vehicles & fuels. @ucsusa & @operationfree video explains: j.mp/1mFcZP5
* Learn what #electriccars & our military have in common, watch new @ucsusa & @operationfree video: j.mp/1mFcZP5 #HalftheOil

You might be surprised to learn how much progress the military is making on cutting oil use, and what citizens and scientists can do to help make these solutions a reality for all of us.

Read

Sincerely,
Rachel Cohen
Rachel Cohen
National Field Organizer
Clean Vehicles Program
Union of Concerned Scientists