March 23, 2014 by Michael A. Ventrella

Creationists demand equal time

Creationists, upset that Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s “Cosmos” series talks about facts, have demanded “equal time” to argue for their mythology.

In return, I think they should give scientists equal time on the 400 Club and other religious shows. It only makes sense, after all. I further demand that all science professors get equal time during your church service to refute whatever the preacher is saying about creationism. Teach the controversy!

For that matter, let’s not discriminate when it comes to creationism. We must also teach the Hindu version of creationism, which states that we “devolved” from pure consciousness. And the Cherokee creation story, which holds that the earth was created by a water beetle expanding mud to create the flat earth. Or the Egyptian story, wherein the god Ra emerges from a cosmic egg rising out of the water. Or the central African story of Mbombo, who came to feel an intense pain in his stomach, which led to him vomiting up the sun, the moon, and stars.

What’s that? Most of those are myths? They used to be religions but it turns out that no one believes those things any more? How about that.

Next in line to demand equal time are astrologers, alchemists, and the flat earthers, who demand that their vision of the world be taught alongside actual, real things.

Editorial cartoon: Fred not

March 22, 2014 by Michael A. Ventrella

Michigan joins the 21st Century

I love writing these posts! Here’s another Federal court decision striking down a state’s law against gay marriage (or as we like to call it, “marriage”). This time, it’s Michigan.

In the last year, we’ve had decisions in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Meanwhile, Hawaii, New Jersey and Rhode Island have removed the prohibition without a court decision.

This is a great map from Mother Jones that has yet to be updated to include this latest decision

Not one has gone the opposite way. It will be quite difficult for the Supreme Court to rule that all of these cases were wrongly decided when they are unanimous. This is especially true when all of these decisions rely upon and quote the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act to justify their rulings.

The best parts of these decisions have been when the judges point out that the arguments of those who want to deny this basic right are ridiculous. Judge Friedman, in this most recent case, called the witnesses “unbelievable” and called their so-called scientific studies “deeply flawed.” (It should be noted that Judge Friedman is a Republican who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, just in case someone wants to try to argue that this is a political decision instead of a legal one.) “In attempting to define this case as a challenge to ‘the will of the people,’ ” he wrote, “state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people.”

Editorial cartoon: What Paul Ryan meant

March 21, 2014 by Michael A. Ventrella

So what do we do about Putin?

Clearly, we must do something, but what?

Many political pundits are screaming that Obama is not acting strong enough but, as I said weeks ago, no one is making any real suggestions as to what should be done. (I’m not counting Sarah Palin’s suggestion to use nukes; I’m talking about real suggestions from rational people.)

Most military commentators who aren’t just political mouthpieces admit that this would have happened no matter who was in the White House (pointing out properly that Putin invaded Georgia while Bush was President). Still, there are many Americans seem to think that everything in the world is about us. Ask any foreigner and they will tell you that they do not make decisions based on what America thinks any more than we do based on what they think.

Putin is clearly the bad guy here, and simply sending in 007 won’t work this time. (Since whenever I look at Putin, I see Dobby, maybe instead we should send in Harry Potter.)

Economic sanctions are already working on Russia; military action may backfire tremendously (especially since it appears that a majority of those in Crimera actually support Russia in this).

So we’re back to the first question: What should we do?

Editorial cartoon: Score card

March 20, 2014 by Michael A. Ventrella

Fred Phelps is dead

Fred Phelps was a cruel man who believed in an evil hateful god. He would protest the funerals of veterans and try to disrupt them with his “God Hates Fags” signs. He probably did more to help the gay rights movement than anyone else.

He was, however, not a criminal, and he helped bring about some important cases about Freedom of Speech. It is terribly important to protect speech we hate. After all, we don’t need to protect speech we all agree with. It’s the controversial, angry and disruptive speech that needs protecting.

Some people have wished to protest his funeral as well. I hope they do not. Phelps had the right to his opinion no matter how vile. You fight back without stooping to his level.

His son Timothy Phelps apparently responded to one of my blog posts a while ago. You can go here and read the comments and decide for yourself whether it really was him or just some troll. Usually trolls give themselves away by being too over the top, so I wonder…

Anyway, while I certainly do not celebrate his death, I don’t mourn him, either.

Editorial cartoon: Get a clue

March 19, 2014 by Michael A. Ventrella

Bernie Sanders: The new Ralph Nader?

I agree with Bernie Sanders on almost every issue, and think it would be amazing if he were President. It will never happen though, and I’m not naive enough to think that it could.

That doesn’t mean I would object to him running in the primaries. He could move the Democrats to the left and prove that it is possible to do so without alienating voters. While it is true that “the votes are in the middle” and if you run a candidate too far to the left or right you will lose the election, the problem is that politicians are wrong about where the “middle” is. They think it is far more conservative than it is in reality.

A majority of Americans support Obamacare. A majority thinks gay marriage, abortion and marijuana should be legal. A majority supports more gun control. A majority want to raise the minimum wage and do something about campaign finance reform. A majority wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and do not believe that “corporations are people.”

These positions are not radical dreams of the left. They are mainstream. For Democrats to shy away from what a majority of Americans want is ridiculous. Having Senator Sanders in the race might help toughen up the other candidates and bring them away from the center-right and perhaps lure them to the center-left.

The problem is this: For all Sanders has said about wanting to enter the race, I am waiting to hear that he will be running as a Democrat. Because he isn’t one. He’s an Independent Socialist who caucuses with the Democrats.

If there’s one thing we definitely don’t need, it’s another spoiler who will siphon off votes from Democrats and allow a Republican to win the Presidency in 2016.

So here’s hoping his plan is to enter the Democratic primaries and not run as an Independent. Otherwise, we could end up with President Ted Cruz.