Politicorn

Thoughts on politics, pop culture, and the rest from the heartland of the country

[politicorn]

Vaccines

I was trying to think of something to say about the anti-vaccine movement, about how it irritates me that the same people who yell at Republicans to listen to the science behind climate change reject the science behind vaccines, or that Republicans tell us "freedom" should allow people not vaccinate their kids and thus bring back preventable and nearly eradicated diseases, or how parents who are vaccinated themselves refuse to vaccinate their kids and thus only the kids have to suffer... ugh... Pardon me while I wipe the froth off my mouth. 

But I can't say it better than Penn & Teller did...

FYI - a little NSFW

[politicorn]

TelePrompt-Her

One of the joys (or sorrows, depending on your perspective) of being from Iowa is the seemingly constant presence of presidential candidates. Recently, Steve King, the congressman with the strange obsession with cantaloupe-calves, hosted something called the "Freedom Summit." Among the speakers was former Alaskan governor, former vice-presidential candidate, former Wasilla, AK mayor, and current... something... Sarah Palin.

The rambling nature of the speech has been attributed to the teleprompter malfunctioning. It's true, a lot of people would stumble in this situation. But most people have not mocked the president and his use of a teleprompter the way Palin has...

It should be noted that Palin's difficulty with speaking of the cuff is nothing new. Jon Stewart had referred to her speaking as word salad years ago. But for whatever reason, this is now news. It would be easy to isolate certain parts of the speech and point out the various oddities. But it's really better to just see it. Also, this website already did it... 

[politicorn]

Sen. Jim Inhofe and the Dodo

According to Sen. Jim Inhofe, the new chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, man is incapable of changing the climate. This is a step further than saying man has not caused global warming, a common belief among his peers... he says man cannot change the climate, via carbon emissions or anything else, because only God can change the climate.

I am not a biblical scholar and I do know where it says that climate is something only God can change. If a US Senator tells me it says that, I guess I should trust him. But I do question why it would only be climate that we can't change.

I do know that the bible says God created all the animals. One thing that man has found himself pretty good at doing is wiping out entire species of animals, such as everyone's favorite extinct animal, the dodo. It is clearly not the case that only God can get rid of them. (But on the topic of playing God, since we were able to clone a sheep, we might be able to bring our dodo friend back to life.) So logic would tell us, just because the Bible tells us God created something, doesn't mean man can't ruin it.

I guess my point to Jim Inhofe, who I assume will read this, is why is the climate singled out as the one thing that man cannot change? I'm guessing the dodo would like to know.

[politicorn]

Sub-prime Car Loans?

I was listening to NPR's "On Point" on the way to work this morning. The discussion was involving the recent surge in sub-prime auto lending and the possibility of a sub-prime auto loan bubble. This is similar to the sub-prime mortgage lending... sort of, except houses don't generally lose their value the second they're purchased. I say generally because I'm guessing there were a few people in 2008 who signed their closing documents the day before the market crashed. Since it worked so well for the housing market, it would only make sense to push high interest sub-prime auto loans.

But doesn't the idea of a sub-prime car loan bubble bursting and bringing down the economy seem a little ridiculous. Could the car salesman actually bring down the US economy? Dumber things have happened. Let us not forget that Pets.com almost brought the country its knees. So America, meet your doom...