Interesting article up on Yahoo! News that highlights the biggest flaw in democratic systems: the voting population. According to research, the average person simply isn’t intelligent enough for democracy to work well. Not surprisingly, a democratic process combined with a largely unintelligent population overwhelmingly tends to produce mediocre results.
I just caught Congressman John Duncan’s recent speech about domestic anti-terrorism spending on YouTube (or if you prefer, you can read the transcript on Duncan’s website). His comments are right on the mark, and it is refreshing to see somebody in our government standing up to speak out against the “security at any cost” mindset that has gripped America.
I was especially intrigued by Duncan’s rant against the TSA’s Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) program. Duncan claimed that a USA Today report asserted that more air marshals have been arrested than the total number of arrests made by air marshals (I was able to locate the article here). Considering that taxpayers are putting up nearly $1 billion every year to pay for the FAMS program, it doesn’t sound like we’re getting a very good deal.
I read some more and discovered that Congressman Duncan has been on a crusade against air marshals for awhile now. In 2009, he delivered a speech on the House floor criticizing the FAMS program for being “useless” and wasteful. Reading his speech, I was shocked to learn that while we have about 4,000 air marshals in service, the entire organization manages to average only 4.2 arrests per year.
Congressman John Fleming (R-La.) apparently doesn’t understand satire. The following update was posted to Fleming’s Facebook page this past Friday:
Came across the following video today and thought I would share. Apparently the school where these interviews took place is located in Olympia, Washington—which makes the responses to the first question especially painful.
(Click here to watch the video on YouTube if the embedded player won’t load.)
Yesterday, the Indiana State Senate passed a bill that allows the teaching of various religions’ origin stories in public school science classes, alongside the scientific theory of evolution.
Senator Dennis Kruse, the bill’s sponsor, has made it clear that his goal with the bill is to encourage the teaching of creationism in science classrooms. Kruse has expressed contempt for evolution, calling it a “Johnny-come-lately” theory.
While the original text of Kruse’s bill specifically mentioned “creation science” (a term banned by the Supreme Court in the 1987 Edwards v. Aguillard case), the bill was later re-written to encompass a variety of religions—including Scientology. Kruse has stated that he is aware that his bill violates the precedent set in the Edwards case and will likely be challenged if it becomes a law. He pointed out that “this is a different Supreme Court” than the one we had in 1987, and he believes that they “could rule differently.”
This guy is a moron on a few levels:
And he would have gotten away with it, if not for his Twitter addiction!
Recently, several media outlets reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had begun monitoring social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. The FBI is also in the process of developing its own internet monitoring platform.
This week, we got one of our first looks at the level of security that we can expect thanks to this type of government internet monitoring.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security agents spotted a message on Twitter written by UK resident Leigh Van Bryan to one of his friends that read: “free this week for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America?” Another of Van Bryan’s tweets read: “3 weeks today, we’re totally in LA pissing people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up!” Based on these messages, DHS agents flagged Van Bryan as a threat.
When Van Bryan arrived at Los Angeles International airport with pal Emily Bunting this week, Homeland Security agents were waiting for them.
Oklahoma Senator Ralph Shortey introduced a bill yesterday that seeks to ban the use of aborted human fetuses in food.
You’re probably thinking: “That’s disgusting and outrageous — I had no idea that aborted human fetuses were being used in my food!” You can rest easy, because Sen. Shortey said that he isn’t actually aware of any companies that are currently engaged in such a practice. Neither is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to FDA spokesperson Pat El-Hinnawy. Tony Lauinger, the director of Oklahoma for Life (one of Oklahoma’s most aggressive anti-abortion groups) also stated that he had never heard of such a thing.
Everyone, including Senator Shortey, seems to be in agreement that nobody is putting human fetuses into our food. So why is the senator trying to introduce new legislation to combat a practice that doesn’t exist?
Apparently, Shortey read something on the internet that convinced him such a measure was necessary. You know… just in case a company might be considering it.
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