Goldmine

That's Hullabaloo today.

First, Digby posted a speech by AFL-CIO president Richard Tumka, delivered at Harvard. A must-read for anyone who wants to see the "debate" between the teabaggers and rational people clearly.

Second, Tristero has an excellent post on why ID is bad science and bad theology. Tristero touches on a point that's one of my favorites:

Here are two real world examples of the meaninglessness of the question of God's existence for the evolution debate. Exhibit A: Kenneth Miller. Exhibit B: PZ Myers. Both are first-rate scientists and thinkers whose expertise in evolutionary theory is beyond dispute. For one, Miller, God exists. For the other, Myers, God doesn't. Anyone who agrees with PZ and thinks Miller is an intellectual lightweight by being both Catholic and an evolutiionary biologist needs only to read his testimony in the Kitzmiller trial; Miller knows exactly what he's talking about, and is far more knowledgeable and nuanced about it than just about anyone around. LIkewise, anyone who agrees with Miller and thinks PZ is cold-hearted and soulless needs only to read the truly astonishing posts on biological science and evolution available on Pharyngula to understand that this is someone who confronts the natural world with a highly developed sense of amazement, awe, and wonder. (And on a personal level, if you're lucky enough to spend some time with PZ Myers (and you're not a creationist), you'll soon realize that he is a very kind soul. Or, as he may prefer, very kind person. Whatever.)

That's pretty much akin to the christianist idea that only those who believe in (their version of) god can be moral. As I think I've said before, I'm not a Christian of any stripe, and I'll hold my moral values up against those of any Catholic bishop or Republican Senator (or Mike Huckabee*) any time.

It's not only Hullabaloo,though. McJoan has this post at Daily Kos on the comments of a veteran of the company in the "Collateral Murder" video. He deserves a read and some serious thought.

Also at Kos is Angry Mouse's dissertation on sex in America. It's a fun (and sometimes funny) read, particularly things like this:

Feminists have long fought amongst themselves about this very issue, with Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin arguing that all heterosexual sex is, by its very nature, rape. Camille Paglia, on the other far end of the spectrum, argued that when a woman goes to a man’s home, she’s asking for sex.

I have long recognized that Camille Paglia is a buffoon. I hadn't realized that MacKinnon and Dworkin were also vying for the title.

* Why Mike Huckabee? you may ask. Remember, he's the one who released a convicted rapist/murderer because of political pressure from the man's friends, even though the man was clearly guilty -- and the rapist/murderer went out and raped and murdered some more. It's easy to see what counts in Huckabee's world, and it ain't women or the American system of justice. Or children.