onegoodmove

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California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot.

Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George.

Outside the courthouse, gay marriage supporters cried a

Posted by Norm at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)

• Sheldon: The Daily Comic Strip by Dave Kellett
• George Who??? » Mad Kane's Political Madness


• Olbermann: Mr. President, the war isn't about you - Countdown with Keith Olbermann- msnbc.com


• Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Huge Victory in Student Speech Case

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Edwards to Endorse Obama - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina who bowed out of the presidential race in January, is expected to endorse Senator Barack Obama at a rally being held here tonight.

Officials announced the news shortly after Mr. Obama landed here late this afternoon. The campaign has timed the announcement to coincide with the start of the major evening newscasts, which would have otherwise focused on Senator Hillary Clinton

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• 'Richard Dawkins discusses Einstein's new letters' by Richard Dawkins, BBC Radio Scotland - RichardDawkins.net


• Language Log » Crazies winLickety Split


• The Satirical Political Report A Sneak Peek Behind-the-Scenes of the Hamas Superdelegates


• Power On Self Test: What The Bible Says About Flying Saucers - Boing Boing Gadgets(tip to Red)


• Dem beats Republican in a race that may predict November -


• Benefits of bedtime reading | News | guardian.co.uk Books


• Clay Shirky at Web 2.0 Expo SF 2008 (tip to Steven)


• 13 Year Old Steals Dad's Credit Card to Buy Hookers(tip to pedantsareus) They save the best till last.


• Welcome to Bitter Films(tip to Geoff)
• Chess, psychoanalysis, evolutionary psychology and the nature of pseudoscience


• President Apostate? - New York Times


• Language Log » Grammar for white people


• Did he really say that? - Fact Checker


• KR Blog » Blog Archive » Baseball Poetics


• Portrayal of George W. Bush in international advertisements | creativebits (tip to Andrew


• Hillary's Downfall from JamesAdomian(video)

Posted by Norm at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (36)

This week's book for you is brought to you by Gypsy Sister the book is Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk a writer with a wonderfully twisted mind.

And the winner is, omarakavinnie. Congratulations! Please send me your mailing name and address.

We'll take all requests for the book left in the comments during the next 24 hours or so and then use a random number generator to determine the winners. You can enter for one book or the other but not both, so please specify the book you want. I'll then ship the book at my expense to the winners. The offer is limited to residents of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Our apologies to our good friends in other countries but the cost of shipments to other destinations is simply too high.

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After big win, Clinton vows to push forward

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• Scientists Know Better Than You--Even When They're Wrong: Scientific American

  . . . you take scientists at their word, human-induced climate change is well underway, evolution accounts for the diversity of life on Earth and vaccines do not cause autism. But the collective expertise of thousands of researchers barely registers with global warming skeptics, creationist movie producers and distrustful parents. Why is scientific authority under fire from so many corners? Sociologist Harry Collins thinks part of the answer lies in a misunderstanding of expertise itself.



• Sciencedebate 2008

  A new poll (charts, pdf, 3.1mb) shows that 85% of U.S. adults agree that the presidential candidates should participate in a debate on how science can be used to tackle America’s major challenges. The poll found no difference between Democrats and Republicans on this question. A majority (84%) also agree that scientific innovations are improving our standard of living.
  
  The poll, commissioned by Research!America and ScienceDebate2008.com and conducted by Harris Interactive®, shows that 56% strongly agree and 29% somewhat agree that the presidential candidates should participate in a debate to discuss key problems facing the United States, such as health care, climate change and energy, and how science can help tackle them.
  
  “This topic has been virtually ignored by the candidates, but this poll shows that Americans of all walks know how important science and technology are to our health and way of life,” said Shawn Lawrence Otto, CEO of Science Debate 2008. “We’ve heard a lot about lapel pins and preachers. But tackling the big science challenges is critical to our children’s future – to the future of the country and the future of the planet. Americans want to know that candidates take these issues seriously, and the candidates have a responsibility to let voters know what they think.”

  
  


• The Stupidity of Dignity

  Romantics and Greens tend to idealize the natural and demonize technology. Traditionalists and conservatives by temperament distrust radical change. Egalitarians worry about an arms race in enhancement techniques. And anyone is likely to have a "yuck" response when contemplating unprecedented manipulations of our biology. The President's Council has become a forum for the airing of this disquiet, and the concept of "dignity" a rubric for expounding on it. This collection of essays is the culmination of a long effort by the Council to place dignity at the center of bioethics. The general feeling is that, even if a new technology would improve life and health and decrease suffering and waste, it might have to be rejected, or even outlawed, if it affronted human dignity.



• The New Paternalism - ChronicleReview.com


• Universal Health Care or John Care


• Respectful Insolence: Bill Clinton brings the stupid home on autism

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Albert Einstein, pictured in 1953.

Photograph: Ruth Orkin/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear | Science | The Guardian

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." So said Albert Einstein, and his famous aphorism has been the source of endless debate between believers and non-believers wanting to claim the greatest scientist of the 20th century as their own.

A little known letter written by him, however, may help to settle the argument - or at least provoke further controversy about his views.

Due to be auctioned this week in London after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, the document leaves no doubt that the theoretical physicist was no supporter of religious beliefs, which he regarded as "childish superstitions".

Einstein penned the letter on January 3 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. The letter went on public sale a year later and has remained in private hands ever since.

In the letter, he states: "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."

Einstein, who was Jewish and who declined an offer to be the state of Israel's second president, also rejected the idea that the Jews are God's favoured people.

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

(Via By The Fault.)

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Bill discusses how politicians 'work the refs' and other media matters.

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Okay, I get it. By popular request Bill O'Reilly losing it.

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• The Upside of Being Knocked Around - Barack Obama - New York Times
• Obama Endorses Lieberman for Senate - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime

  Why would the candidate who has made his case for being president in large part because of his judgment on the war support one of biggest supporters of that war. Is this change we can believe in? I'd say it's politics as usual, and it belies the claims of those who believe he represents change.

  update: I see many of you figured out that this is a story from a couple of years ago. I posted it to make the point that little is accomplished by rehasing the same old arguments. I posted it in response to the Hillary bashing that goes on to justify any position that Barack embraces. And even though I've acknowledged that it is highly likely Barack will be the Democratic candidate many of you seem intent on drugging up more anti-Hillary garbage in response to any analysis of Barack's postions on the issues. Hillary's view on such issues is largely irrelevant at this point. So please address the issues as Democrats who want a voice in determining what direction our country will take if we are fortunate enough to elect our party's candidate in November. We should try to influence Barack to modify views he holds that are at odds with our own. I've moved on from the possibility of a Clinton presidency. What I haven't done is to blindly fall in line behind any position Barack Obama chooses to adopt. I'll continue to point out weaknesses with the expectation that he'll pay attention, and modify his position. So if you'll stop telling me why you think Hillary is worse I'll not post items on why she is better. That question is mute.

• Why the Next President Needs a Powerful Science Adviser: Scientific American

  In the wake of the near panic over the launch of Sputnik in 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed James Killian, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to become the first special assistant to the president for science and technology. Ever since, the relationship between the nation's chief executive and the White House's resident authority on nuclear fission, the workings of DNA and the greenhouse effect, among an array of topics, has had its highs and lows.

• 5 Myths on Who's Really 'Pro-Israel'
• MetaxuCafé

  Then Lopate asked a couple questions solicited on index cards from the audience; the first question, asking the writers to describe their writing methods, got only boos from the audience because of its banality, and I was delighted to see Richard Ford yell out "Next question!" Before they moved on, though, Eco, looking inordinately pleased with himself, explained his writing method -- he starts on the left side of the page and works his way over to the right. This got a laugh.

• Skeptic's Circle #86: A Bitch of an Edition « The Skepbitch
• RealClearPolitics - Articles - Obama Needs a History Lesson

  In defending his stated intent to meet with America's enemies without preconditions, Sen. Obama said: "I trust the American people to understand that it is not weakness, but wisdom to talk not just to our friends, but to our enemies, like Roosevelt did, and Kennedy did, and Truman did." That he made this statement, and that it passed without comment by the journalists covering his speech indicates either breathtaking ignorance of history on the part of both, or deceit.

• 8 reasons why this is the dumbest generation - Boston.com
• The Tuskegee Experiment, Part II - Fact Checker
• The Satirical Political Report Nervous Democratic Leaders Weigh Giving Nomination to 'Generic Democrat'

Posted by Norm at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (35)