Daily Archives: January 25, 2007

Peter Freyne vs. Lymphoma

From Freyne Land:

Saw the doc at UHC as soon as possible upon returning to Beautiful Burlap. Didn’t get my doc, the one who brought me back from double pneumonia in 1995, but others on his team. (In, fact, my old doc, age 43, called me two days ago to tell me he’s ceasing his medical practice.)

Anyway, it’s been bing-bam-boom after that. Quickly to blood tests and a CAT scan and biopsy and the discovery of a lymphoma – a cancerous tumor. Just like that. The oncologist, the one who specializes in this sort of stuff, looks me in the eye and calls it “75-80 percent” curable.

Hang in there and kick its ass, Peter. We need ya.

More Christianist Stupidity

A few weeks ago, I let you know about a dimwitted Christianist named Frosty Hardison in Washington state who got his panties in a wad when his daughter was shown Al Gore’s global warming documentary, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, because “The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn’t in the DVD.” Yeah, dumb, I know.
Sadly, it’s not over, because the science teacher was disciplined for not alerting parents that their student would be viewing something ‘controversial’. Well, the good news is that there’s been a backlash

Members of the school board say they have been bombarded by thousands of e-mails and phone calls, many of them hurtful and obscene, accusing them of scientific ignorance, pandering to religion and imposing prior restraint on free speech….

In public comments at the board meeting, several riled-up Federal Way residents argued that “An Inconvenient Truth” was, indeed, scientifically true and that saying otherwise is “deliberate obfuscation.”

These residents derisively compared the search for “balance” in the global-warming issue to decades of phony claims by cigarette companies about the lack of “proof” that smoking is harmful to human health.

Yep, it’s all about ‘balance’, I guess. Just look at those mountains of tangible evidence the Holocaust deniers use, right? Good luck on that one…

His daughter’s science teacher, meanwhile, said she is struggling to find authoritative articles to counter the information in the Gore documentary.

“The only thing I have found so far is an article in Newsweek called ‘The Cooling World,’ ” Walls said.

It was written 37 years ago.

I think it was Dawkins who said, ‘Every one is entitled to their own opinion. They’re not entitled to their own set of facts.’ This case is a classic example of how this man (Hardiman) should be publicly ridiculed  because of the crap he’s slinging. There’s no way around it. Meanwhile, say goodbye to the glaciers in the Alps.

I’ve mentioned it before. We constantly hear when parents got up in arms when their kids are taught science in school that contradicts their fairytale beliefs about what really happened. Ed Brayton, over at ‘Dispatches from the Cultural Wars’, when speaking of this ‘parents always know best’ phenomenon, nails it on the head:

But legal issues are not decided on what taxpayers like or dislike, nor should they be. If you put up for a vote what should be taught in public schools, the results would be frightening. And why should such a thing be put to a vote? Why would we give credence to someone to make a judgment on what ought to be taught in a science classroom if they know little or nothing about science? We don’t put medical diagnoses up for a vote of the public, nor do we take straw polls to decide what is wrong when our car doesn’t work, we defer to the judgment of those trained in medicine or auto mechanics because they have a far better chance of actually knowing what they’re talking about.

The same is true in matters of science or history or mathematics, which just like auto mechanics or medicine require a good deal of study and expertise in order to be understood. Asking the general public to decide what ought to be taught in a class in which the vast majority of them would have a vanishingly small chance of passing a mid-term exam is as absurd as asking the janitors at the hospital the best course of treatment for a herniated disk; they simply do not have the knowledge required to make an informed choice.

And so the battle rages on.

BREAKING: BUSH UNDER INVESTIGATION

The corruption has burst forth, like pus from an infected boil. The existence of taped conversations apparently reveals Bush has taken almost 280 thousand dollars in cash and other gifts, and a US District Attorney is investigating.
This could be the Big One.
Details on the jump.

The U.S. District Attorney’s office in San Diego has issued grand jury subpoenas to multiple witnesses in the probe since October, requiring them to appear before federal investigators.

Ah, the haggis is in the fire now, Bush.

Bush has said that he and his family did nothing wrong in regard to the allegations of receiving extra benefits. Bush has not talked to federal investigators in the extortion probe.

Well, of course he said he did nothing wrong. Has he ever admitted to any sort of mistake? Not that I know of.

Here, then, is the meat and drink of the thing:

SAN DIEGO – A federal investigation into extortion claims by New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush and his family has revealed the existence of taped conversations that could confirm Bush took cash and gifts while he was playing football for the University of Southern California.
Lloyd Lake, an investor in a failed sports marketing agency which attempted to launch with Bush as its first client, is the subject of a grand jury probe into the extortion claims. The agency – called New Era Sports & Entertainment – was founded by Lake and San Diego businessman Michael Michaels. Lake told Yahoo! Sports in August 2006 that he contributed a portion of the cash and gifts allegedly given to Bush and his family as part of an agreement to represent the then-USC running back when he signed an NFL contract.

My goodness. These people are supposed to be ROLE MODELS. What do we say to the CHILDREN? Dear God, what do we say?
I realize this is not a sports blog, but I just thought you should know.
SHAME on you, Mr. Bush.

Peter Welch Finally Holds The President Accountable

Today I was asked, “Did you see Peter Welch and the President at The State of the Union Address last night?”

I answered that I had not.

After Bush’s speech was finished last night I turned off the TV. I didn’t watch as he walked out of the House Chamber through “Photo-Op Alley” while Republican Members mugged him for photographs.

But then I caught this news story about a Republican Congresswoman who was so excited to see the President last night that she held onto him in “Photo-Op Alley” for a full 30 seconds:

  Early Wednesday morning, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS showed video of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s exchange with President Bush Tuesday night. The video shows Bachmann grabbing onto and holding the president for almost 30 seconds.

  Within hours, that video was blasted all over the Internet and viewed almost 250,000 times before the lunch hour. It was linked on national news Web sites and blogs across the country, a New York Times blogger even wrote about the story.

But guess who is COMPETING with that crazy Republican Congresswoman for the President’s attention?

Why none other than Vermont freshman Congressman Peter Welch!

Check out the video for yourself.http://www.kstp.com/…

That’s Peter. Grinning like a schoolboy and getting a back slap from the President.

Peter has finally held the President accountable for something.

An autograph.