Seems like a fun read! Dwight Garner’s review in the NYTimes:
Charles Seife is a pop historian who writes about mathematics and science, but his abiding theme, the topic that makes his heart leap like one of Jules Feiffer’s dancers in the springtime, is human credulity…
Mr. Seife’s new book, “Virtual Unreality,” is about how digital untruths spread like contagion across our laptops and smartphones. The author is unusually qualified to write on this subject, and not merely because his surname is nearly an anagram for “selfie.”
A professor of journalism at New York University, Mr. Seife is a battle-scarred veteran of the new info wars. When Wired magazine wanted to investigate the ethical lapses of its contributor Jonah Lehrer, for example, it turned to Mr. Seife, whose report pinned Mr. Lehrer, wriggling, to the plagiarism specimen board.
Mr. Seife has also been targeted, unsuccessfully, by the conservative sting artist James O’Keefe. “O’Keefe and Lehrer”: the title of hell’s own news hour…
Mr. Seife worries about how easily fringe ideas find purchase on the Internet, where previously they’d have perished from lack of oxygen. He writes about how the South African government was persuaded by H.I.V.-denialist websites to forgo providing essential antiretroviral drugs to those who were sick. He writes: “Three hundred thousand deaths might be the most extreme consequence of a Google search gone wrong.” …
Despite his many dire warnings, Mr. Seife hasn’t given us a soggy litany of complaints. For one thing, he’s very often quite surreally funny. “Like the mythical oozlum bird,” he writes, “Wikipedia seems to have the ability to fly around in ever decreasing circles until it flies right up its own rectum.”
For another, he finds much more to like than dislike about the web. He puts his central concern this way: “Digital information gives power to the people, but it gives even more to those who prey upon us.” …
***********
Apart from remembering that on the Internet anybody you think you know might actually be a dog, what’s on the agenda for the day?
Baud
Is that another digital untruth that the Internet is supposed to now spread?
OzarkHillbilly
Woofwoofwoofwoof woof woof…. I mean, enjoying the weather: 76 degrees and sunny.
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: How can it be sunny in the Ozarks when it’s still dark in Florida? ;-)
raven
@Betty Cracker: No kiddin!
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
No Rick Scott.
raven
Arthur is going to trash the 4th at Hatteras.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Yeah, looks like a nasty piece of work already. I sure hope nothing blows up in the Gulf this summer. The water seems much warmer than usual.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: A day without Rick Scott is like… Niiiicccceee…..
PurpleGirl
OT: Just heard on NY1 that Jamie Dimon has throat cancer. “Entirely curable, will keep working while he undergoes chemo and surgery.” Karma maybe?
Baud
@PurpleGirl:
No. Cancer is never karma.
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: It seems like some states are having this competition to find out who is the strangest governor. Maine’s Paul LePage has them beat by a mile with his confabbing with “sovereign citizens” who blithely speculate about executing the leaders of the Maine legislature. I wonder if Rick Voldemort could top that… hope we don’t find out.
Speaking of Florida, a suit against the state’s ban on marriage equality goes before a judge here in Miami today. I still think we’ll be one of the last states to go for it.
OzarkHillbilly
@PurpleGirl: Karma would be him cured but penniless and a pariah in the world of finance.
@Baud: It’s just bad luck.
PurpleGirl
Macy’s is doing the fireworks show on the East River (sic) this year. However, instead of firing them up in the 40s, they are having them done down by the Brooklyn Bridge. I have a gigantic sad. When they are done up in the 40s, I have sight lines from my terrace and can see the higher displays. There are buildings blocking my view of the Brooklyn Bridge. (Rain tomorrow is karma??? for blocking my view of fireworks???)
East River is not really a river; technically it is an estuary and connects Long Island Sound to the harbor
ETA #1: 1776 will be shown on TCM on the 4th at 1:30 PM.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby: Missouri, sad to say, is out of the running. Jay Nixon is a Democrat.
JPL
Does anyone have special 4th plans. I can see the local fireworks from my backyard so plan on doing that with friends.
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: Hey, that’s my line!
PurpleGirl
@Baud: I don’t wish him the worst in terms of the cancer. I just threw that thought out to the BJ commentariat. I’ve known several people who had throat cancer and they lost their vocal folds and had to have holes in their throats.
I agree with OzarkHillbilly that true karma would be him penniless, or maybe not penniless but maybe back in the Queens neighborhood where he grew up living just on the average Social Security of $1200 a month.
PurpleGirl
@JPL: See my comment at #13. Plans include watching 1776 during the afternoon. Listening to Macy’s fireworks….. Not sure what else yet.
Baud
@PurpleGirl:
Let us pray.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby: Originality is just undiscovered plagiarism, or as Picasso said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” ;-)
BillinGlendaleCA
Morning Joe had a poll saying Obama is the worst President since WWII and a majority of voters think the country would be better off if Willard Romney won in 2012.
Mustang Bobby
@JPL: Doing a car show for the holiday with my Canadian-built 1988 Pontiac station wagon at a nice venue on the western edge of Miami.
Then instead of going to see the fireworks at the historic Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, I’m going to the opening night of the Miami 1-Acts Festival because they’re doing one of my plays.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: I’m throwing some ribs and a brisket on the smoker for the 4th. We’ve got relatives incoming with side dishes. Our pyromaniac neighbors generally provide the show, and if we feel like it, we can go to the beach and see the city fireworks in the distance, but we rarely bother with that.
JPL
@PurpleGirl: Since the fireworks are fairly close, I always pray for rain. The dog does not like the booms.
Mustang Bobby
@BillinGlendaleCA: Where was the poll sample taken from, Ted Cruz’s ass?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mustang Bobby: Quinnipiac, Registered Voters, June 24-30, MOE +/- 2.6%.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: Just the usual: Ignoring it.
gene108
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Name one good thing Obama’s done that is mentioned in the media? Just one. I can’t think of anything. Therefore clearly the worst President ever, because all you hear are negative things about him in the media.
BillinGlendaleCA
@gene108: That’s right, Obama’s not done anything; with the Congress passing all those bills and all.
/snark
max
Morning Joe had a poll saying Obama is the worst President since WWII and a majority of voters think the country would be better off if Willard Romney won in 2012.
Every second-term administration, right about this time in midterm campaign season, is made of unpopular. If I remember correctly, Reagan, Bush & Clinton were all really actually going to be removed from office.
Some time thereafter (third year), the momentum would ‘shift’ and everyone would be going on about how the President is ‘back’.
And then, the beat sweeteners start getting written in preparation for the next dramatic world-changing presidency. And also to make sure the usual suspects can get right with the ‘opinions on shape of earth differ’ zeitgeist.
max
[‘{yawn}’]
JPL
@gene108: I miss the olden days when the media couldn’t criticize the president because our brave men were fighting overseas.
In fairness, the media does mention every time the President plays golf.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@PurpleGirl:
Hopefully it will be the full version. I’m rather fond of “Cool Considerate Men”
PurpleGirl
@Mustang Bobby: Congratulations on your play being performed.
@JPL: Between today and Friday, I have to talk to my neighbors because they have a dog who barks a little each day. I do fear what he will sound like Friday night. And if I have to hear 20 minutes of barking and not see the fireworks, I won’t be happy.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Those voters will have another chance to elect Romney in 2016.
PurpleGirl
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: The last few times TCM has shown it, they have used the full version.
Phylllis
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: I think they make a point of it being the restored version. That and ‘Molasses and Rum to Slaves’ may be my two favorite songs.
debbie
@JPL:
Every time I hear someone bitching about Obama playing golf, I think back to this:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blbushsegway.htm
Apples and oranges, I suppose.
PurpleGirl
@Phylllis: “Triangle Trade” is not an easy song to listen to but I do like hearing John Cullum perform it. I like almost all the songs, each for different reasons. I like the stage of Martha Jefferson’s (Blythe Danner) “He Plays the Violin” and John and Abigail Adams’ letters to each other. “Cool Considerate Men” is a good set piece that does cover the ideology quite well.
WaterGirl
@Mustang Bobby: I saw your comment the other day after your first rehearsal. As another commenter said, you sound like an actor’s and director’s dream.
Very happy for you!
WaterGirl
@JPL: Decades ago I was dumb enough to bring my cocker spaniel to the park for the fireworks. What was I thinking?!?!?
I love fireworks and she loved crowds, but I wasn’t thinking about how loud the fireworks can be. Poor thing, I had to spend the whole night with my hands covering her ears.
OzarkHillbilly
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
Well, at least it got delivered***
Letter written in Maine 83 years ago delivered
*** I am a big defender of the USPS, it is just short of a miracle they are able to accomplish what they do every day. UPS, Fed-EX, or anyone else would have just thrown it away.
Mustang Bobby
@WaterGirl: Thanks!
raven
@WaterGirl: When Raven was alive we went to St George Island for Labor Day. They had a drought that summer so the cancelled the 4th fireworks and had them that weekend. We had a spot on the beach overlooking the bay and he Raven was hilarious. He’d hide his head under his big cocker paws and peek ever so slightly when the big one’s would burst. We tell that story every year.
JPL
@raven: Moxie would just shake for hours. This will be the first year with Finch so it will be interesting to see how he reacts. Thunder doesn’t bother him, so I’m hoping it won’t be a problem.
David Koch
@Baud: that’s no joke, I’m convinced he’s running. especially with Walker and Christie heading to prison and Jeb blowing his changes by saying illegal immigration is an “act of love”
Wall Street knows the two Ricks (Perry/Man on Dog), Baby Doc, and Cruz would lose 45 states. They could turn to Kasich but he’s really boring. So by the process of elimination, they’re gonna bring Mitt back for a 3rd try. He tan, he’s rested, he has car elevators.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
That sounds like a description of most of us. If anyone in the world of finance knew my views of their world, I would most definitely be a pariah.
MomSense
@JPL:
Going to spend the 4th with my kids, their girlfriends, and my extended family and friends at the annual 4th of July party. I’m really looking forward to kayaking on the lake and communing with the loons of the feathered variety.
raven
@JPL: They moved the Athens fireworks from a few blocks away way out to the mall so it should be better but the neighborhood morons will try to make up for it.
Matt McIrvin
@max:
Not actually true:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/presidential-job-approval-center.aspx
Clinton had 60% job approval at this point. Reagan, almost the same. Their second-term scandals had not yet popped and were just about to.
George W. Bush was doing only slightly worse than Obama on this precise day, but it was because of an upward fluctuation; he’d already had lower excursions.
The unique thing about Obama’s popularity is that it has actually been unusually flat for a President, probably because ideological polarization has become so partisan. Under normal conditions, basically strong Democrats like him, strong Republicans hate him and there’s a relatively small swing segment of the population. He had a fairly short honeymoon period, sank down to around 40% approval around 2011, climbed back up above 50% with the effort of a successful reelection campaign (that part tracks every other modern two-term presidency pretty closely), and now is back down to around 40%.
I doubt it’s ever going to be far out of that 40-50 band again, unless there’s some gigantic disaster that puts him in late George W. Bush territory. For maybe a little under half of the US population, the hate cake is baked. Obviously the 2016 Democratic nominee is going to have to deal with that, though I think Obama’s skills as a campaigner are such that running away from him would be a big mistake.
Mustang Bobby
@raven: Sam, who was a Cairn terrier-like mix (think Toto with floppy ears; his picture is on my blog banner), was never bothered by thunder or fireworks. When we lived in Albuquerque he did notice hot-air balloons flying overhead, something that also sets off some dogs, but loud noises never bothered him. His hearing was fine, too; he could hear my partner coming down the street in his car and waited by the door for him.
When we took him to the 4th of July in the backyard of some friends where they had some major artillery, the rest of the dogs beat a hasty retreat, but Sam flopped under the picnic table and went to sleep.
rikyrah
On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received one of the pens.
http://youtu.be/Bygv9u1G6Xo
JPL
@Mustang Bobby: Nice!
raven
@Mustang Bobby: Cool!
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: Yep, and a real education for the likes of him.
rikyrah
SCOTUS: Ruling Applies Broadly To Contraception Coverage
AP – July 1, 2014, 12:03 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday confirmed that its decision a day earlier extending religious rights to closely held corporations applies broadly to the contraceptive coverage requirement in the new health care law, not just the handful of methods the justices considered in their ruling.
The justices did not comment in leaving in place lower court rulings in favor of businesses that object to covering all 20 methods of government-approved contraception.
Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby Inc. and a Pennsylvania furniture maker won their court challenges Monday in which they refused to pay for two emergency contraceptive pills and two intrauterine devices.
Tuesday’s orders apply to companies owned by Catholics who oppose all contraception. Cases involving Colorado-based Hercules Industries Inc., Illinois-based Korte & Luitjohan Contractors Inc. and Indiana-based Grote Industries Inc. were awaiting action pending resolution of the Hobby Lobby case.
They are among roughly 50 lawsuits from profit-seeking corporations that object to the contraceptive coverage requirement in their health plans for employees. Contraception is among a range of preventive services that must be included in the health plans, at no extra cost to workers.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/scotus-says-hobby-lobby-ruling-applies-broadly?utm_content=buffer3c4f1&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
rikyrah
@SpeakerBoehner
Follow
Retweet to thank Pres Bill Clinton for signing into law the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, upheld by #SupremeCourt. #HobbyLobby
11:28 AM – 1 Jul 2014
WereBear
@PurpleGirl: I can’t get behind misfortune being Karma because perfectly lovely people also get hit with such rotten luck, too.
This would tend to undercut compassionate feelings among the humans, and I avoid that with serious diligence.
beltane
@rikyrah: Thank you. I have seen too many comments from centrist-types, all men coincidentally, saying that the Hobby Lobby ruling is a very narrow one and that we women are being shrill and hysterical by reading too much into it. It’s truly amazing how accepting people are over the concept that women are kindasorta human, but not nearly as human as Christian bigots.
Xantar
@rikyrah:
But I was assured that this was a “narrow” ruling with very limited scope! No judicial activism here, no sirree. Balls and strikes!
Emma
@beltane: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the next man (thank God, not in this forum) that tells me the anti-Union ruling is more important, gets the traditional “kick in the nuts and roundhouse to the jaw when they bend over” maneuver.
WereBear
Yep. Separates the true feminists from the Nice Guys™
PurpleGirl
@beltane: Feminism is the radical idea that women are people. How bad is it that we have to keep coming back to that — that thinking women are people is a radical idea.
WereBear
We got a Thundershirt for James Bond but shortly after we found another help for his senile anxiety issues.
However, we do plan to try it out on Quivery-Jelly-Tristan, who really gets scared with booms.
His luck to be rescued by people who live two blocks from 3-times-a-year fireworks.
ecks
Just gnawin’ my chew toy, and hoping I get taken for the walkies that has more nice fire hydrants.Mad that they put a pink bow on my head last night – it so made me look like a bitch.
WereBear
@Emma: Seconds!
Though, actually, the anti-union thing was also anti-woman. But they never bring that up.
debbie
@Emma:
Ah, now that ruling.Not only has the Court condoned religious suppression of the lesser masses, they’ve now also justified scabs’ mooching.
WereBear
In other news, I’m sitting in your Dunkin Donuts, using your WiFi (gamer smile.)
Good news re our trip to Albany to see Teh Specialist: Outback Steakhouse has a gluten free menu and we had a great time there. Picked up matching Fender Fedoras (completing our outfits at an upcoming Theme Wedding) at Guitar Center, where Mr WereBear exercised the self-control of a demi-god in the classical guitar room.
Bad news: Teh Specialist (and the whole point of going) was a giant lime-green Jerk (mass like a black hole, people!) He came up with FOUR different reasons for my symptoms that I had documented and personal evidence could not be so, but he was far more interested in writing an expensive prescription and/or giving me an expensive referral for something that would do no good, and in half the cases, be actively detrimental to my condition.
He almost threw me out of the office, after breaking down and ordering a boatload of tests that are for my condition which he says I do not have. I’m all WTF?
Mr WereBear, brought up to date in the waiting room, had to be physically restrained from going in there and creating an incident. But we’re going to be all strongly-worded-letter on his stupid misogynistic BE-hind, fer certain. To his office manager, the insurance company, and both my present doctors, who thought I was finally getting some help (gamer smile.)
AND Red Roof has sucky WiFi. As an IT pro, I know why and I’ll tell them so. So it’s really good news for Red Roof.
Ash Can
@rikyrah:
@beltane:
et al.:
I’m still gobsmacked over how the Inquisition Tribunal went out of its way to stress that the decision was directed only at contraceptives used by women, and designed only for the benefit of certain Christian sects over all other sects and religions. I’m not sure how much clearer they could make their agenda other than by coming to work in camouflage priest vestments and brandishing AK-47s, and gleefully setting fire to a US flag and a copy of the Constitution on the front steps of the Supreme Court Building.
Cassidy
@beltane: My cousin did one of those complaining about the lack of respect for viewpoints and whatnot.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: What a great day that was!
gian
@debbie:
I think of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TCm9788Tb5g
“now watch this drive”
gian
@WereBear:
the anti-union one is the long game to suck money from any political opposition – which in turn leads to more regulation of women, so it’s the chronic problem while the hobby lobby one is acute.
Scalia is 78 and looks like he should be counseled in public with the occasional air horn from behind, just to get his attention before talking politely about how he’s going to hell
PurpleGirl
@WereBear: That video of Sam is 100% pure LOL kitty fun.
Emma
@debbie: It was truly a banner day at SCOTUS.
Belafon
@rikyrah: Like this group would have needed the RFRA. They would have created personhood for corporations without it. The original law limited what companies could do to people. The only way the big 5 got personhood out of it was to read an alternate version of it and the Constitution. You know, originalism.
catclub
@gene108: This. If those polled were asked what he has done that is bad, why do I think Benghazi would erupt out of their mouths.
GM is alive (and killing people with its faulty cars!) and Osama Bin Laden is dead.
The economy did not burn up and collapse in 2009.
ACA passed. And is working.
We are out of Iraq and getting out of Afghanistan.
The stockmarket is at all time highs.
WaterGirl
@raven: Hide his head and peek out to see. That is hilarious and very sweet. Raven sounds like one of those once in a lifetime dogs.
MomSense
@beltane:
Funny how those words “shrill” and “hysterical” are always used about women. Also too, “overly sensitive” or just “sensitive”.
Villago Delenda Est
@BillinGlendaleCA: They keep finding only members of the 27% to poll for those things.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: No loons in your family, of the non-feathered variety?
raven
@WaterGirl: This was that weekend outside of an antique joint in Apilachicola.
raven
@WaterGirl: And here he is waiting for the stick as I fish.
catclub
@PurpleGirl: Well, I think about the fourth time they stood the cat up, the cat should have swatted them. …. Unfortunately, its legs did not work.
dexwood
@JPL:
We’ll be staying home with a highly medicated dog, Dexter, a sweet and loving beast, who is a gun shot survivor and extremely afraid of fireworks. Since we live in a town filled with people who start setting them off on July 1st and continue to do so until about the 7th or 8th, well, the poor guy is in for a rough few days. If you have the BJ calendar, that’s him, lower right hand corner for June.
On the other hand, the 4th is the 39th anniversary of the night I met my wife. I must have done something right.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
Ha!! That is why I had to specify which type of loons I was looking forward to seeing! Actually my family is all sorts of wonderfully loony! There will be lots of dancing, singing, soccer playing, swimming–unless it is storming and then there will be lots of cutthroat board and card games.
WaterGirl
@WereBear: He sounds despicable, so sorry you didn’t find a partner to help figure this out.
t am looking for good news here, somewhere. Does the sentence above mean that you were able to brow-beat him into ordering the tests YOU think you should have to confirm/deny your self-diagnosis? If so, yay for you!
The Moar You Know
First Fourth without my dog of 16 years. Last year I had to lift her up into the bed – it had been a few years since she could jump up there – but she was happy to be there.
They work their way into your heart and never leave, dammit.
Suffern ACE
@BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah. Bush had the same polls regarding Kerry. The answer of course is, so what? its not like you get a chance to redo the election. It’s also great to know that everyone loves Reagan. But he’s still dead as far as I can tell.
WaterGirl
@raven: I almost feel like I’m there with you guys at the ocean. Beautiful place, great companion. (good boy!) Can’t ask for more than that.
Love that they put up the Guard Dog sign just for him. :-)
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Sign me up!
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@beltane:
The argument that’s pissing me off at this particular moment is people proclaiming ‘oh, the ruling didn’t ban contraception, it just means you don’t get your employer to pay it off for you’. Fuck you, the employer wasn’t expected to dedicate part of the company budget specifically to contraception. It’s part of a goddamn insurance package that just so happens to cover contraceptives under the umbrella of what an be underwritten. It’s the fucking employer’s business to say what an employee can and can’t have covered under insurance specifically?
Fuck all, people, I mean…
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@max: In my uninformed opinion that poll is simpler than that; push pull by the Neocons who are outraged Obama isn’t rushing into the Ukraine, Syria and Iraq. Those are the only things that have changed in the last half year and the economy is gradually getting better.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
Anytime you want to visit!!
WereBear
@WaterGirl: Mr WereBear pointed that out. :) he says I scared him into it!
Whether intellectually or the promise my eyes made to scorch where he sat, I’ll take it.
WaterGirl
@WereBear:
Dr. Asshole, note to self: Do not fuck with WereBear.
Edit: When do you get the results? Sorry you will have to see or speak with him to get the results, but at least you get the tests, and that’s what really counts.
Suffern ACE
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Its a fairly standard poll that Quinepiac puts out. But it isn’t detailed enough. Gas prices are higher and no one gets raises so the economy will be viewed as sucking. Any by now, everyone has forgotten what Romney ran on and I have to tell you, if he had won, those policies would have been unpopular. But we can imagine Romney enacting policies that would make us happy.
schrodinger's cat
Why does Hobby Lobby’s religious freedom get to triumph mine? How can they decide what medications I take. Can this ruling be used like Jujitsu against the God botherers? The conservatives seem to make up legal doctrine out of thin air, why not our side. What do the lawyers of BJ think?
Villago Delenda Est
@Suffern ACE: Everyone loves Reagan so much that his grave site is monitored on a 24/7 basis to deter people from righteously pissing on his grave.
japa21
@Suffern ACE: Actually, if Romney had won, I expect that some form of immigration reform would have passed, infrastructure spending would have passed, and a few other things we would have liked. After all, the GOP is only against deficit spending if Dems do it.
OTOH, a whole lot of things we wouldn’t like would also have happened, basically involving the death of thousands of people.
Villago Delenda Est
@schrodinger’s cat: Because their faith is the only one true faith, and yours is false.
That’s why
What we’re doing here is setting up a replay of the Reformation/Counter-Reformation and all the bloodshed that it contained.
beltane
@japa21: The GOP base was going to be virulently opposed to immigration reform no matter what the party of the president. If their idol GWB couldn’t pass immigration reform, neither could Romney.
trollhattan
@PurpleGirl:
Issuing carts at the local Walmart entrance would do.
Villago Delenda Est
I have to wonder if the big polling firms are in the process of repeating history. In 1948, they predicted Dewey would defeat Truman based on telephone polling that didn’t take into account who had phones in their homes. Nowadays, they’re calling landlines when landlines skew older and likely less approving of Obama vs. young and mobile and unwilling to talk to pollsters.
NonyNony
@schrodinger’s cat:
You can try, but given that Alito’s ruling basically said “Catholic Doctrine on birth control is the law of the land, but other religions don’t matter fuck all if they have religious concerns about health issues” I don’t see how you’re going to do it. They’ve blatantly said that a certain class of health issues as governed by a papal encyclical written in 1968 are governed by this ruling and nothing else.
I suppose that if you could find something in the required preventative care for men that would be covered by that Papal encyclical you could try it, but I’m not seeing anything. (The encyclical says “no birth control” and since male birth control is not required to be covered there’s no issue there). You could try to come up with your own – like a Quaker trying to opt-out of paying income tax because they don’t want to spend money on the military – but I imagine it would get smacked down in a 9-0 ruling – with 5 in the majority saying “we specifically said that that ruling was about the Papal Encyclical promulgated by Pope Paul VI so shut up and go away you heretic” and the other 4 joining in a concurrence saying “see our previous rulings on this, and here’s how the majority is being hypocritical yet again”.
What you want to find is something that the evangelicals love but Catholics hate. That would be a nice wedge. Unfortunately the evangelicals in this country have decided to take their marching orders on “what it means to be a Christian” from the Vatican in the past few decades. Which is really fucking weird for anyone older than probably 20 or so years old.
catclub
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
and why does the government have a say in what those insurance packages cover? Because the business is getting a large tax deduction on it.
So to summarize: Hobby Lobby does not want the government subsidized insurance that it helps to provide to its employees, in lieu of salary, to provide contraception services for those employees who wish to use them. Also, providing those services is probably a zero or negative cost to the insurance companies, in comparison with pregnancy and childbirth costs.
And the supreme court ignores any costs to third parties, such as the employees, who might be affected by its RFRA ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby.
gah.
catclub
@schrodinger’s cat:
You don’t have 5 votes in the Supreme Court.
beltane
From now on, I will have to seek out information regarding a corporation’s religious affiliation because I don’t want my money going to evil people with evil beliefs. Secular corporations might want to identify themselves with an “Our religion is fairness” logo.
Betty Cracker
@Suffern ACE:
It’s not just perception; the economy DOES suck for millions of people.
schrodinger's cat
How many children do the God bothering Five have?
gene108
@schrodinger’s cat:
I await the day a Muslim business owner fires a cashier for bringing a bacon-egg-and-cheese McMuffin to work, because bacon is against his religion.
Amir Khalid
If anyone’s curious, or keen to test the cast iron their stomach is made of, Katie Couric interviewed David Bobo at
a handicrafts conventionthe Aspen Ideas Festival.Per the text summary, David Bobo deals with the negativity in his comments section by assigning a staffer to read it. I admire his courage as much as I do his deep intellect and graceful prose.
⚽️ Martin
Anyone who has gotten over their USA loss and wondering how to watch Tim Howard more often, he’s keeper for Everton FC, and you can catch pretty much all (guessing next year to be all) of their games on NBC Sports Network. He also does commentary for some of the games that he’s not playing in and he’s pretty good at that too. Everton finished a respectable 5th in the league last year. Well, better than that, every team that finishes ahead of ManU as they did restores a little hope for humanity. He’s a big part of why I’m an Everton fan.
Season starts mid-August.
schrodinger's cat
@Amir Khalid: That would have been perfect DougJ bait before his semi retirement from BJ FPer status.
Amir Khalid
@Villago Delenda Est:
Isn’t there some law or regulation that makes it difficult to call cell-phone users for polling purposes?
beltane
@gene108: Perhaps a Muslim business owner with infidel employees can refuse to pay for health insurance that covers treatment for heart conditions under the scientifically invalid (but arguably religiously sound) belief that these conditions are caused by eating pork. Same thing could apply with any medical conditions resulting from a failure to circumcise.
Cacti
@Ash Can:
Yup.
It’s the Bush v. Gore of free exercise cases. The Supreme Court enacted an establishment of religion by judicial fiat. Papal teaching on birth control is the law of the United States. By mentioning blood transfusions, they more or less told unorthodox religions like Jehovah’s Witnesses that they can get fucked if they want to try for the same level of privilege.
beltane
@Cacti: The Catholic justices have, at the very least, made a compelling case for grilling judicial nominees on their religious beliefs rather than their purported positions on legal matters.
schrodinger's cat
@Amir Khalid: Most cellphone users will not answer the phone, if it is from a number they don’t recognize. When I had a land line, I had Caller ID and did the same thing. I am not sure who willingly takes times and answers the questions honestly.
ETA: I don’t know how they correct for the sampling error in this case.
beltane
@schrodinger’s cat: I always screen my calls, always. An opinion pollster of some kind kept calling my landline last week and I was like “Yeah, like I really have time to sit here and talk to you.”
schrodinger's cat
Google tells me that Alito has only two children. Contraception for me but not for thee.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cacti: The only upside to this case is that it is a statutory interpretation case and a decent Congress could fix it very quickly.
schrodinger's cat
BTW has anyone checked Andrew Sullivan’s blog lately? I tried the other day and it made my computer freeze. I wonder what is going on?
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
Ok, apparently FYWP doesn’t like me trying to paraphrase Shakespeare, since my last two attempted replies went down the drain without even telling me they’re stuck in moderation.
beltane
@schrodinger’s cat: His bitter personality is its own very special form of contraception. His wife reportedly suffers from sudden-onset headaches having no known cause.
beltane
@Omnes Omnibus: T
Great, you’ve pushed me from depression to despair.
Belafon
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: Who were you replying to?
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Belafon:
Omnes Omnibus’ post here.
Fair Economist
I think the plagiarism standards are getting out of hand. The standard being raised here seems to be every sentence, every concept, every phrasing, has to be unique. In the Jonah Lehrer “self-plagiarism” example, the complaint seems to be about:
in “Are Emotions Prophetic”
versus:
in “How Should We Make Hard Decisions?”
That is *not* a problem. There’s an essential purpose to stock phrases and concepts; they let you fit new information into your existing mental map. These two writings are about two different experiments addressing the same issue and it’s absolutely appropriate to re-use small parts when referring to the same concept. Frankly, I think it would have been fine to use exactly the same language. It’s a ridiculous waste to demand that everybody writing about the interaction of emotions and decisionmaking come up with a completely different way of same the same dang thing. On top of that, if this is considered “too similar”, I’m not even sure it’s *possible* for there to be enough different ways to say something differently to have a vigorous multiblog discussion of an issue.
I’m aware Lehrer has more substantive problems, but this is too strict. And this is cited as the *example* of bad self-plagiarism. Are the others even milder?
schrodinger's cat
@beltane: I am surprised that he even found a woman to marry him. Of course, women like The Thinking Housewife also exist, so perhaps not all that surprising.
Belafon
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: It ate my attempt to reply to that one as well.
It’s happened before. In another post, you could not respond to someone’s comments. I believe it was mike with a mic.
gene108
@japa21:
Thought this in 2010, but seeing what Republican governors have done at the state level, with Republican majorities or super-majorities in their respective state legislatures, I do not believe Republicans will bother with infrastructure spending.
They will gut the Federal government, like they have done to state and local governments.
And has been mentioned, Republicans in Congress killed immigration reform when Bush, Jr. tried to pass it.
Amir Khalid
I wonder if this special glass for drinking Coke also works for Coke Light, or Pepsi, or Royal Crown …
ETA: or 7-Up, or Dr Pepper, or Canada Dry …
Omnes Omnibus
@beltane: Why? Do you really think it is possible to elect again a Congress with a Democratic majority? That is all that is needed.
WaterGirl
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: Yeah, that’s the thing. Omnes now suffers from the Yutsano syndrome, as does MikeJ. Replies get eaten unless you add a space or change their nym in some way.
For instance, I change MikeJ to Mike J, and it works fine. For Omnes Omnibus, you could just use Omnes.
The Moar You Know
@Villago Delenda Est: I very much doubt it; additionally, Q-Pac usually tends to have a Democratic bias. I don’t like the results of the poll but given who ran it I’m willing to accept that it is probably accurate.
Between the spy/intel branch, legislative branch and the judicial branch, it’s pretty easy to feel as though Dems are getting their lunch money stolen every day by a bully and nobody’s doing jack shit about it. I don’t think that’s an unjustified feeling, by the way, but that’s just my personal opinion.
The anger over that sentiment is going to get taken out on the guy at the top. That’s inevitable. In a year those numbers will quite likely be a lot different.
WaterGirl
@Omnes : Are you missing a “not” by any chance?
Betty Cracker
@Amir Khalid: In addition to what others have noted (caller ID makes it easier to screen calls), I think pollsters / mobile users may also worry about running up charges; not everyone has unlimited minutes. I have both a mobile and a landline, and I get polling calls occasionally on the landline but never the mobile.
I always participate for two reasons: 1) I’m interested in finding out what they’re polling for and how they phrase the questions, and 2) I figure random calls in Florida will net a disproportionately large number of deranged people, so I want to bolster the sane respondent pool (flattering myself that I am a part of that).
Omnes Omnibus
O@WaterGirl: Yes, I am.
@Omnes Omnibus: Should be “do you think that it is not possible….”
jeffreyw
@schrodinger’s cat: Lately, I see marketers are spoofing the caller ID, I got a call from a number that was the same area code, and prefix as my number, and the first three of the last four digits matched mine, last digit was mine plus 4. I thought it might be a neighbor so I answered. Silly me.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker:
In Florida, sure. Just kidding BC, with DougJ in totebagger hell, you are my favoritest front pager.
beltane
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s not only possible, it is almost certain to happen at some point in the future. However, just the fact that a major human rights issue like this will now be political football, with the policy changing every time the House changes, is distressing enough. This Supreme Court has inflicted severe damage on this country, and it will take more than a term or two of a Democratic controlled Congress to cure that damage.
catclub
There were some web video ads earlier this year that some calamity with the US currency was going to happen July 1. It seems to have gone off with no calamity.
beltane
@catclub: Maybe they really meant their was going to be a soccer calamity.
IdahoFlaneuse
@catclub: Pity that we can’t deny tax deductions for policies that don’t cover contraceptives. Wouldn’t hurt the churches or non-profits since they don’t pay taxes, but it would be a pain to the for profit entities.
BlueDWarrior
I think the poll represents that everyone feels the country is just ‘wrong’. Everything that is happening is ‘wrong’ and we have no idea how to fix it. No matter who we elect nothing gets fixed. If anything it just gets worse.
I’m honestly distressed because this is when truly insane people get control of the government, when the electorate starts flailing wildly because they cannot rationalize why things wont work right.
Like how Governor LePage got elected in Maine.
PurpleGirl
@Betty Cracker: I usually answer polls. One reason I do it is to not just hear how the questions are being framed but who they have hired to conduct the poll. I’ve found several times that the poll taker has an accent that changes the framing of the question, or they aren’t well-educated and they not only mispronounce names but they don’t know the political names themselves. One recent poll taker was trying to pronounce diBlasio and had a terrible time of it. I just said, “you mean New York City Mayor Bill diBlasio?” This also goes for a number of past Republicans — many poll takers couldn’t pronounce Pataki or Guiliani either.
I often have fun teaching the poll taker some history and politics, explaining the question to them.
ETA: It would nice if the polling companies hired better prepared people by paying them more.
WaterGirl
I plan on calling the corporate offices of Hobby Lobby every single time I purchase something from Michael’s or Jo-Ann Fabrics. (405) 745-1100
Hello, I am calling to let you know that I just purchased 48.00 worth of photo frames at Michael’s. I no longer shop at Hobby Lobby because…
Hello I am calling to let you know that I just purchased… and I no longer shop at Hobby Lobby because…
JustRuss
@japa21:
I doubt it. We’d have seen massive tax cuts, because of course they fix everything, and I can’t even imagine the shape our country would be in today. We think of trickle-down as a cynical joke, but to most conservatives it’s dogma, and if it’s not working it means you haven’t cut taxes–and entitlements-enough.
PurpleGirl
@WaterGirl: Closest Hobby Lobby to me will be opening soon and are 20.23 miles away in New Jersey. They have two other stores in southern NJ, but again they are quite far for someone who doesn’t drive.
WaterGirl
@PurpleGirl: They don’t have to know where you life and that you might not have purchased from Hobby Lobby anyway. I wish everyone would call.
I am so angry about this that I could spit. But even more than that, I feel really depressed in response to the Hobby Lobby ruling, and the more details I hear the more depressing it is.
Paul in KY
@WaterGirl: I think it should be called ‘PaulinKYitis’ as I was the 1st to comment on why I could not reply to a MIKEJ post.
the Conster
@catclub:
July 1 currency collapse. It’s all a grift. Shocking, I know.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@BlueDWarrior:
And lost in it all is how historically contrarian and obstructive this Congress is, how it has been transparently trying to not let Obama have anything whatsoever. I know the President has the whole ‘the buck stops here’ problem, but at the same time, Congress is at barrel scraping low approval…but it’s the President who’s the worst ever and responsible for it being so awful and horrible with his massive tyranny and everything. Bleh.
WaterGirl
@Paul in KY:Are you sure you don’t want to rethink that? Surely a positive person like you would want to reserve your 15 minutes of fame for something more positive?
Origuy
Hobby Lobby wasn’t the only company suing; Eden Foods, a “natural foods” supplier, also doesn’t want to pay for contraceptives. They’re getting a lot of flack on their Facebook page.
tazj
I think if you want to feel a little better about that presidential ratings poll, Steve Benen at the Maddow Blog has a good explanation as to why Obama was ranked as the worst president. It seems Democrats were more divided in their pick of the worst president but Republicans mainly chose Obama.
Yes, don’t ever expect there to be any lawsuit on behalf of any other religion refusing certain coverage to succeed. Because of course, those lawsuits would be entirely silly. Those lawsuits would actually affect public health.
Matt McIrvin
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: It’s worse than that. As one of the amicus briefs pointed out, the company could have opted out of providing insurance entirely, just paid off the (smaller) penalty as per the ACA, and let employees get (very likely) subsidized insurance on the exchanges.
But because they do provide insurance, their employees are locked out of subsidies: they get a worse deal than they would otherwise for buying the kind of insurance they want.
The ACA is designed to nudge people into getting employer-provided plans if they have the opportunity. But the opposite side of the coin is that the employer plans have to meet certain standards. The effect of Hobby Lobby is that some people get nudged by the ACA into buying plans that don’t give them the coverage they actually need, because of their employers’ religious preferences.
Matt McIrvin
@tazj: “Best”/”worst-president-ever” polls are always ridiculously biased toward current or recent presidents, and are dominated by people barking about their partisan identification by naming the most recent president of either party. They’re garbage.
Matt McIrvin
…About landline poll bias, people have been speculating about that for years, but aggregators like Silver and Sam Wang didn’t see it causing any great trouble in the last few election cycles (that is, if it exists, the pollsters are adequately compensating for it somehow).
I wouldn’t worry too much about one poll. As I said above, everything else I’ve seen suggests that Obama’s general popularity is at a low, but it’s a flat sort of low similar to where he was dragging along through the summer of 2011, and it doesn’t really look to me like he’s cratering into late-GWB territory. I was worried about that a few months ago.
One difference is that back in 2011, I recall liberals being a lot more pissed at him than they are now. I think now it’s more that he’s being liberal and the center just doesn’t like it. Also, they’re scared about the Middle East; one thing that does worry me is that we’re going to have a few more rounds of foreign-policy elections that drive voters back to dumb Republican bluster about bombing everybody. When people get scared about scary foreign terrorists, they get more Republican whether it makes any sense or not.
liberal
One important reason why Obama’s numbers aren’t higher is that the economy sucks.
Now, it’s quite reasonable to make excuses for that (Republican obstructionism, a growing tendency starting with the1990-ish recession to have long, weak recoveries), but the fact is that in terms of employment/pop ratio, we’ve made very little progress in the last few years. That’s going to reflect itself in bad poll numbers.
Betty Cracker
@liberal: I think you’re right, and it would be a huge mistake for Dems to engage in happy talk about the shitty economy, which is shitty.
waspuppet
I won’t hold it against Seife, of course, whose premise seems interesting. But holy mother of fuck is that a terrible sentence.
David Koch
Of course.
Old say, herding Dems is like herding cats. While the pugs all line up like sheep.
And then Dems have multiple choices: some are gonna love JFK vs LBJ. Some are gonna love Truman, etc.
While repukes have only one choice, as they’ve built a monotheism around Ronnie.