scramblings

And more.

I did it. I actually went out and saw Ben Stein’s Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, the documentary that accuses scientists of silencing critics of evolution. I saw Expelled last Saturday, the day after it was released, and I was able to count five people in the theater.

I’m not going to go into much detail here; people with more time than myself have already answered each and every claim made in the film. However, I would like to point out my biggest complaint about Expelled: they never explained why intelligence design is science in the first place. In fact, this alleged science is presented to the audience as nothing but a clever intuition. The sequence of events literally goes as follows:

1. A couple of scientists lost their jobs after mentioning intelligent design (a lie, by the way)
2. The cell is really, really complex. Therefore we’ll never find a natural explanation. Cut to a long (possibly stolen) journey through the cell expected to sell blatant argument from incredulity.
3. Scientists are suppressing and excluding people who think the complexity of the cell means there is some kind of supernatural power “out there,” kind of like Nazis.
4. By the way, Hitler was inspired by the theory of natural selection. Cut to stock footage of Nazi concentration camps.

Perhaps as incoherent and intellectually vacuous as the entire ID movement. Scientists do not take intelligent design seriously because intelligent design doesn’t take science seriously. They’re going to have to do some research and create some relevant, repeatable experiments to establish their assertion - one that barely counts as a hypothesis - if they want any credibility.

Ben Stein would like you to think ID is the little guy getting pushed around by “big science.” However, in all its actions and lack thereof, the little guy shows no intention of even getting along with “big science.” Here the little guy puts up a thin facade - one the collapses with the slightest touch of investigation - all while his radical agenda of backwardness and social reconstruction is obvious for anyone with eyes.

This is why the Democratic party irks me.

You could have asked anyone. We had this election three months ago. After eight years of Bush, voters were ready for change. And now this race has gotten so bitter nearly a third of you would rather vote for John McCain than the other Democratic candidate. Shame on you.

This campaign has been about character since the beginning. Everyone knows Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have nearly identical positions on the issues. A third of you so-called Democrats prefer four more years of Bush to someone who shares your ideas and opinions. I’m admittedly no fan of Hillary Clinton, but I will do everything in my power to help her win should she get the nomination.

We still can do this. Polls show both Hillary and Barack leading McCain. The Republicans can’t beat us but we can certainly hand them the election. America is ready to move forward so let’s wrap up this primary peacefully and get it together.

Hillary Clinton is not going to win. We’ve known for over a month that it’s extremely unlikely for her to catch up in either elected delegates or the popular vote. A Clinton victory would mean going against the will of the American people - a mistake the Democratic party can’t afford to make.

Most recently, Barack Obama shook off the toughest week in his campaign. He came out of the Reverend Wright mess maintaining his lead over Clinton. The Clinton family is throwing everything they have at him and it’s not working. Understanding these unlikely odds, a high-ranking Clinton advisor gives Hillary a 5% chance of winning the nomination. Five percent! Five freaking percent.

Why is she doing this? Would she really rather see another four years of Bush than an Obama presidency? As Clinton continues her campaign of lies and distraction, McCain has gotten a free pass. She has destroyed the Clinton name as she continues a campaign of selfishness, power and obsession. Hillary Clinton is dividing the party as if she’s campaigning for John McCain. And for nothing but greed and five percent.

Jack White has done some crazy shit. Prided playing one-note shows in Canada, possibly marrying his sister and going through phases of wearing nothing but white, red and black, he surprised the media and fans alike by releasing a follow-up to The Raconteurs’ highly successful first album, Broken Boy Soldiers, without any notice.

Available today, Consolers of the Lonely follows the latest trend in the music industry. More and more artists are cutting out the companies and getting the music directly to their fans. In the footsteps Radiohead and Trent Reznor with their “pay what you think it’s worth” experiment, such an abrupt release doesn’t give reviewers any advantage over the listeners - an interesting idea.

I was expecting a lot from The Raconteurs sophomore release. The crazy offstage is mirrored in the crazy onstage; Broken Boy Soldiers is one of my all-time favorite recordings. With these heavy expectations, I enjoyed Consolers. I remember being more impressed after hearing the first album but that may be because the only changes between the two aren’t much more than a fiddle and the occasional femme backup. Consolers of the Lonely is a solid piece; dark, powerful and bluesy enough to remind me why The Racontuers is not only Jack White, but modern rock at its best.

I wake up on my first day of spring break to find over a foot of snow. Again.

So now I return to the comforts beneath my blanket as I continue to pwn n00bs in Halo, still snickering at what just might be the greatest moment of irony ever.

Over the past week or so, what’s best described as insane comments made by Barack Obama’s minister have been brought into the limelight. Clips of Jeremiah Wright ferociously taking aim at the government forced us to question Barack’s judgment and character. Today in Philadelphia he took the opportunity to not only denounce Wright’s rhetoric, but to properly address the issue of race. Barack Obama was given a chance to define his candidacy and he succeeded.

I’m pleased to say I watched the entire speech, and I strongly urge everyone else to do the same. It’s about 40 minutes long, but I fear much of the message will be lost in the cable news media of sound-bite analysis.

Eloquent and candid as ever, he says.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

Or we can change. We can abandon the politics of fear, distraction and cynicism and make these elections about things that actually matter.

Rather than ignoring the situation, Barack has brought it out into the open. A bold move that really separates him from Hillary Clinton. Instead of running away from these issues, Barack used them to promote his solutions and presiding message of hope. The candidacy of Barack Obama, most gloriously manifest in this speech, is ready to bring about the change America needs.

I’m not sure what I think about Keith Olbermann as an objective reporter, but as a political observer he is spot on. Watch as he tears Senator Clinton a new one.

I found this little cartoon browsing around WordPress.com. Dumbfounded and amazed by the fallacious idiocy comparable only to Ray Comfort and his Way of the Master ministries, I really wanted to just leave it alone and let the video speak for itself. But as someone with an interest in the subject, I see people honestly believe this nonsense too often to spare it from the destructive power of critical examination.

There’s a lot said, but these appear to be the core arguments.

1. Macro-evolution, or the scientific reality of common descent is an exaggeration of known science.
2. If you believe in evolution, you also believe we all came from a rock. You believe these things because you don’t want to be held accountable for your actions.
3. The missing link is still missing. All transitional fossils have been “proven false.”
4. Scientists have found organic material on dinosaur fossils, hence falsifying the old earth model
5. Christians believe in salvation through grace and faith, ain’t that special?
6. You’re going to die, so why not open your mind, soften your heart, stop eating babies and accept Jesus as your lord and savior lest you make the “biggest mistake in your eternal existence!!!“

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Voters,

Even Rush Limbaugh understands that Hillary’s continued candidacy is hurting our chances in November. The Republicans have their nominee, and he’s already out campaigning. John McCain has a head start, so unless you really want another four years of the disaster we call the Bush administration, it’s time to get organized.

The truth of the matter is that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton aren’t that different. You can argue about the semantics of their healthcare plans, but in the end, an Obama White House isn’t going to be very different than a Clinton White House. However, a McCain White House is going to be a lot like a Bush White House. So let’s find common ground here. Vote for the candidate with the momentum. Vote for the candidate with the appeal. Vote for the candidate who can beat John McCain. This candidate is Barack Obama.

Polls have shown time after time that Americans hate Hillary Clinton. Sure, she’s not the baby-eating socialist they want us to believe, but there are still a lot of people who would never vote for her. In fact, Hillary’s nomination would only energize the far-right dissatisfied with Mr. McCain and ostracize the unaffiliated voters who see her as an out of control liberal.

Barack Obama has won over ten elections in a row. He’s getting positive media attention. He should be the nominee. Your support for Hillary Clinton is prolonging this primary process, distracting us from the general election. So go out and vote for the candidate who can win on the macro scale. Even the Republicans understand a vote for Hillary is a vote for McCain is a vote for Bush. Hillary Clinton cannot bring about the change we’re begging for. Obama can. Make Barack Obama the nominee.