Links With Your Coffee - Thursday
- Weekly Ezine for Democrats
- O'Reilly vs. Stewart Part 1
O'Reilly vs. Stewart Part 2 - The Limits of Atheism
- Faith Healing
Faith healing is based on belief and is about as far as you can get from science-based medicine, but it is not exempt from science. If it really worked, science would be able to document its cures and would be the only reliable way to validate its effectiveness. Miraculous cures continue to be reported on a regular basis: what are we to make of them? In the Healing Rooms Ministry of Bethel Church in Redding, California, people regularly claim to be healed of cancer, broken bones, multiple sclerosis and many other ailments. Page after page of testimonials of cures are listed on their website. Are these cures real? If not, what is going on?
- Bacon and eggs could help pregnant women boost their baby's intelligence
According to Britain's Daily Mail newspaper:
The traditional English breakfast is not normally associated with good health. But scientists have found that eating a plate of bacon and eggs could help pregnant women boost the intelligence of their unborn child. Women are usually given a list of foods to avoid during pregnancy and it is well documented that a pregnant woman's diet can affect her unborn baby. But the new study suggests that a chemical in pork products and eggs can help the baby's growing brain to develop. Scientists at the University of North Carolina have discovered that the micronutrient, called choline, is vital in helping babies in the womb develop parts of their brains linked to memory and recall.
Before you run out to Denny's for a Grand Slam breakfast, read the rest of the article:
Comments
re: the limits of atheism:
did you post the right video? why did i just sit thru 8+ minutes of that whiney old bastard? did you mean to post dawkin's reply, perhaps? i kept waiting for dawkins to get up kick the ex-bishop's ass.
Re: O'Reilly vs. Stewart
I was surprised when Jon failed to respond to O'Reilly's "proof" the Fox is tough on Republicans: John McCain wouldn't come on and Dick Cheney wouldn't come on - ostensibly, according to O'Reilly, it was because they though Fox would be too tough on them.
Why did Jon let that go unchallenged? There is no way for him (Jon) to know either whether that was why they said they wouldn't go on (already very unlikely) or whether that was the real reason they decided not to go on even if they said it was. There are lots of other reasons for them not to go on Fox. What voter who didn't already drink Bush's Koolaid could have watched Brit Hume (figuratively) fellate Bush and think that he had actually been interviewed in anything other than a propaganda piece? Likewise, if Cheney and McCain go on Fox and get creampuff interviews, who does it convince that they've 'answered tough questions'? Cheney's much smarter than that; he knows it is much more effective to go on Meet the Press and discuss bogus stories he's managed to get planted in the NY Times.
I watched the Stewart visit yesterday, then watched it again after Norm posted it while I putzed around the kitchen. I left the video running, so after the Stewart video ran out a few segments of Fox n Friends ran. Although they try to hide it, they are clearly hostile to concepts that don't fit the republican conservative ideal, or anyone that considers alternate views.
One of the segments was the beady-eyed blonde interviewing women about the ad that features Tim Tebow. It looked like a scene straight from the set of Stepford Wives.
It's entirely possible that Stewart did challenge O'Reilly on a number of things but we just didn't get to see it due to editing. Notice how each segment ended with what O'Reilly would probably have considered a "zinger".
Also, how transparent is it that O'Reilly seems to think (or at least is trying to get his audience to think) that the political spectrum of this country is made up of those who love Obama and those who hate him? When Stewart said there were things he liked and a things he didn't, O'Reilly basically said he was the only one.
Hardly.
I suspect most of Stewart's audience, and definitely most of the people I know personally, feel the same way as Stewart does. The idea that this country is made up only of people that tow one or the other of the party lines is one of the things that makes both our media and our political system so disgusting to me sometimes. And Fox exploits that more than any other "news" organization I have ever seen. And I love Stewart for calling them out on it.
More than MSNBC?
Fox.com published the whole 42-minute interview. Here's a comparison if you wanna look at it. I saw the complete interview. It was pretty entertaining. O'Reilly is a cunning bastard and Jon likes him too much, I think.
Jon likes everyone too much. He obviously hates playing the bad-guy. He always pulls his punches... which is sometimes the right thing to do (and it can be effective; a gentle poke from Stewart and Crossfire went down like a house of cards.) But on the other hand, sometimes you just need to keep on pounding something until it turns to goo. Sometimes you need to sink your teeth in and not let go. Jon can't do that... but obviously a lot of conservatives can, like whiney kids that wear the responsible adults down with sheer unrelenting repetition.
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