Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Be a wild strawberry.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Wait, what?

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Open Thread: On Short Political Memories, and the Mistreatment of Barnyard Animals

Open Thread: On Short Political Memories, and the Mistreatment of Barnyard Animals

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(To which another tweeter replied: But not the pig’s.)

Sure, the whole #baeofpigs twitter feed (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23baeofpigs&src=tyah) is entertaining. And of course Foreign Policy would go all earnest about it (http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/21/what-piggate-really-says-about-the-state-of-british-politics/):

… Lord Ashcroft, pollster and political guru in his own right, knows as well as anyone else what this will do. This is not a playful aside in a fun little unauthorized biography that he’s putting together as a hobby with his journalist pal; this is a carefully targeted, focused attack designed to wreak career havoc upon, and cause huge personal embarrassment for, a man whom Ashcroft sees as disloyal or as having stepped out of line. And here, I think, is something much bigger and more interesting than the details of Cameron’s vivid indiscretion; here is a rare public example of how power is wielded by Britain’s elite, of how control is exerted over those they wish to manipulate, and of how those groomed for success from a young age can be destroyed should they be seen to diverge from the steps they’re told to dance.

Initiation ceremonies or “hazing” rituals — often of a painful, humiliating, transgressive, or sexual nature — are a well-documented part of the culture of many organizations run by and for young men, especially those in positions of privilege or at elite institutions… The ritualized, sexually grotesque nature of Cameron’s initiation sets it apart somewhat, of course; but what’s also different about this kind of ritual in elite circles is the calculation behind it, the power and control it affords, and the self-perpetuating network of influence it creates. Consider this scenario: At elite institutions, those earmarked — by wealth, title, connections — for future leadership roles are forced, as impressionable young people, to carry out humiliating acts in order to gain acceptance by an in-group. That same in-group will, over the course of their lives, help advance their careers massively in ways both overt and covert; membership in that group essentially secures their success in life. The cost of entry, paid by all members of the group, is participation in humiliating acts which will forever wed them to the group. Because should they later act in a way contrary to the group’s interests or desires, their indiscretions can be brought back to destroy their careers or personal lives…

… This system is self-sustaining and decentralized. It’s in the interest of people in the group to promote the careers of their fellow group members, precisely because they have control through their knowledge of that person’s transgressive acts; similarly, it’s in the interest of that person to promote the careers of the other members for the same reason. It’s a community of mutual self-interest and reliance, bonded together by a Mexican standoff over embarrassing private information. The structure survives and is passed down to successive generations of elite young men precisely because it is self-policing, self-sustaining, and remarkably effective…

*cough*Skull&Bones*cough*

But I’m a little surprised I haven’t seen any references to The Most Famous LBJ Story, as cited by Kevin Drum back in 2012 (http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/04/if-youre-denying-youre-losing):

… As the old saying goes, If you’re explaining, you’re losing. Or, more pungently, there’s the (possibly true!) story about LBJ spreading a rumor that his opponent was a pig-fucker. Aide: “Lyndon, you know he doesn’t do that!” Johnson: “I know. I just want to make him deny it.” If you’re denying, you’re losing…

**********
Now that I’ve ruined all the East Coasters’ dinners, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

144Comments

  1. 1.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    If Trump were caught with a pig and his pants down, his poll numbers would probably go up.

    I haven’t seen any polls, but in Republican-dog-bites-man news…

    Greg Sargent ‏@ ThePlumLineGS 31m31 minutes ago
    And right on cue, Carson’s fundraising spikes:

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    Probably going to be making BLTs for dinner, actually.*

    *No pigs were harmed in the making of …hrrmmm…

  3. 3.

    Derelict

    We have ratf’ers, they have pigf’ers. And it’s all about the unwritten, unspoken, every gentleman knows rules for obtaining and maintaining power.

  4. 4.

    Corner Stone

    ISTM that there has to be some element of truth to this whole thing. But at this point, it doesn’t matter anymore. Deny the story or stay stumm, this one’s going to hurt.

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    It’s a community of mutual self-interest and reliance, bonded together by a Mexican standoff over embarrassing private information.

    Kind of like the murder of Caesar? They all had to take a turn?

  6. 6.

    piratedan

    it’s amazing that one of the leading scientists of his age (Darwin) and someone that helped immensely in the field of medicine is decried by Carson as being an agent of Satan.

    How can anyone can continue to vote for these invisible sky-buddy snake oil merchants is beyond me, tribal affiliation be damned, these fucking people shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions for us all from anything regarding what the speed limits are to deciding foreign policy.

    They want to feel martyred and persecuted, when their positions are mocked, fuck ’em. Let them salve their bruised feelings in alcohol like the rest of us…..

  8. 8.

    TriassicSands

    If Trump were caught with a pig and his pants down, his poll numbers would probably go up.

    I’m sure it would be the “most beautiful” pig in existence. And probably the smartest. And richest. Nothing but the best for DT. (Hmm, I’d not thought about his initials before. Appropriate.)

  9. 9.

    jl

    @piratedan: I am not a clinical person or a biologist, but from what I know, it is simply impossible to do any original basic or applied bioligical science without a good knowledge of evolutionary theory, or techniques based on the assumption that evolution is true, and we understand some of the basic mechanisms.

    If Carson compared Darwin to the devil, he is nuts.

  11. 11.

    Linda Featheringill

    Poor piggies.

    Since no porcine creature would willingly engage in carnal knowledge of a human, then technically the term should be “pig-raper”.

  14. 14.

    Oatler.

    A pig is a jolly companion,
    Boar, sow, barrow, or gilt-
    A pig is a pal, who’ll boost your morale,
    Though mountains may topple and tilt.
    When they’ve blackballed, bamboozled, and burned you,
    When they’ve turned on you, Tory and Whig,
    Though you may be thrown over by Tabby or Rover,
    You’ll never go wrong with a pig, a pig,
    You’ll never go wrong with a pig!

    T Pynchon

  15. 15.

    piratedan

    @jl: my bad, he (Carson) stated that Darwin was influenced by Satan when he developed the theory of evolution. A difference from what I originally posted, but nevertheless, just as batshit crazy.

  17. 17.

    gratuitous

    I’m glad you mentioned, if only obliquely, Skull & Bones, the exclusive Yale club. We can probably also include the fine fellows of Bohemian Grove as another enclave of the powerful the bonds of which are reinforced by shared rituals of humiliation. Diderot may need some updating.

  18. 18.

    catclub

    @Oatler.:
    In the woods,
    deep down damp,
    Piggie feet stomp, Piggie feet stamp,
    Waddle, snuffle, dig, dig, dig.
    Piggety, PIGGETY, PIGGETY, PIG!

  19. 19.

    Germy Shoemangler

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Researchers have uncovered a new species of plant-eating dinosaur in Alaska, according to a report published Tuesday.

    The animal was a variety of hadrosaur, a duck-billed dinosaur that roamed in herds, said Pat Druckenmiller, earth sciences curator at the University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks.

    Northern Alaska likely was once covered by forest in a warmer climate. The dinosaur lived in darkness for months and probably experienced snow, researchers said.

    The fossils were found in rock deposited 69 million years ago.

  20. 20.

    jl

    @piratedan: I’ve asked before, and will ask again, Darwin got some of his inspiration from geologists, the original scientific Enlightenment Satanists who wanted to eliminate God from their explanations of why we see what we see. How come the early geologists get a pass?

    Satanist geologists started questioning a 4,000 year old earth, and using fossils to date geological strata before Darwin.

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    Hi Anne Laurie, a belated “Welcome back!” Good to see you again.

    . Or, more pungently, there’s the (possibly true!) story about LBJ spreading a rumor that his opponent was a pig-fucker. Aide: “Lyndon, you know he doesn’t do that!” Johnson: “I know. I just want to make him deny it.” If you’re denying, you’re losing…

    An offshoot of this is “Is it irresponsible to speculate? etc.”

  25. 25.

    Davis X. Machina

    Clinton announces opposition to XL pipleline.

    Luckily she doesn’t mean it. And she’s going to bomb Iran.

    See how crafty she is? She buries a major story on climate on the same day no one’s talking about the climate because the papers are full of the arrival in town of a world famous climate-change activist instead.

  26. 26.

    justawriter

    Seriously, the ad right below this post was for a McDonalds Pulled Pork Sandwich.

    Contextual Advertising Fail

  27. 27.

    Calouste

    @jl: Early geologists get a pass because the Creationists found their boogieman in Darwin and sticking to that. What I’ve always found interesting is that Creationists get all het up about evolution, where the theory of evolution in itself is not incompatible with young earth creationism. Their god could have created Earth 6000 years ago with a certain diversity of species after which evolution did it’s job and we ended up with what we have today. The theory of evolution can’t tell you if what we have to day came from a diverse population 6000 years ago, or less diverse population 100,000 or millions of years ago. Which of course just goes to show that the whole Creationist crap is just that, crap.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    The dinosaur lived in darkness for months and probably experienced snow, researchers said.

    And then it pokes its head up, and if it sees its own shadow, we get 6 more weeks months years of Sarah Palin?

  29. 29.

    Snarkworth

    Pig? (meh.) Dead pig? (yawn.) What would really doom the PM would be SAME-SEX piggery-pokery.

    Was there lipstick on the pig?

  34. 34.

    bemused

    Don’t pigs, alive or dead, have really sharp teeth? If this was an actual hazing ritual, it was not only one of the most disgusting I’ve ever read of but incredibly stupid. Much too much alcohol has to involved.

    I doubt Brits have more sex scandals than other countries but they sure have some doozies.

  35. 35.

    Brachiator

    @jl:

    I’ve asked before, and will ask again, Darwin got some of his inspiration from geologists, the original scientific Enlightenment Satanists who wanted to eliminate God from their explanations of why we see what we see. How come the early geologists get a pass?

    There is not a well-known geologist strongly associated with evolution. And there are religious folk who think that the young earth fantasy and the supposed “fact” of Noah’s Ark negates geology.

    Meanwhile, a famous Darwin letter just came up for auction, containing this question and strong reply:

    Darwin’s letter is a reply to a young barrister named Francis McDermott, who wrote on November 23, 1880 with a very unusual request: “… My reason in writing to you therefore is to ask you to give me a Yes or No to the question Do you believe in the New Testament.” McDermott continues by promising not to publicize Darwin’s reply in the “theological papers.”

    The next day Darwin responded. He wasn’t brusque but he was to the point and left no doubt about his beliefs, stating: “Dear Sir, I am sorry to have to inform you that I do not believe in the Bible as a divine revelation & therefore not in Jesus Christ as the son of God. Yours faithfully.”

    Had Darwin been giving a speech, he would have dropped the microphone.

    cbsnews.com/news/darwin-letter-i-do-not-believe-in-the-bible/

    Darwin’s response does not give creationists and the strongly religious any wiggle room.

  36. 36.

    PurpleGirl

    @jl: Probably because the geologists weren’t specifically concerned with man and his origins. It’s easier to ignore them. Darwin, on the other hand, was specifically studying mankind and its origins and pathways.

  38. 38.

    Redshift

    @Calouste: Actually, Darwin is considered to some extent the father of modern geology as well as the father of modern biology. At the time, it was believed that the Earth was pretty much unchanging (except for the Flood, possibly.) And yet there were fossils of sea creatures on the tops of mountains. On the voyage of the Beagle, Darwin actually got to experience an earthquake and saw in the aftermath that part of the coastline had been raised up by (IIRC) about thirty feet. If that could happen, then mountains could be created by a succession of such events, and the fossil sea creatures were there because it had once been seabed, not because they had been deposited by the Flood.

    So while we’re fortunate that the creationists don’t remember it, even if they did, Darwin would be their bogeyman.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    @Calouste:

    eir god could have created Earth 6000 years ago with a certain diversity of species after which evolution did it’s job and we ended up with what we have today. The theory of evolution can’t tell you if what we have to day came from a diverse population 6000 years ago, or less diverse population 100,000 or millions of years ago

    Hmm. Not sure that is correct. That is, I think the theory will tell you that the change in diversity in 6000 would not be significant (other than the change caused by human actions).

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Germy Shoemangler: Unless the DaVinci code has it entirely wrong for the sake of story telling, Darwin is in a crypt in some large church in London. Or at least, that’s what I remember.

  41. 41.

    Snarkworth

    May I humbly ask what “awaiting moderation” means? How long does it take? Why would a relatively clean discussion of pigs throw a comment into moderation?

  43. 43.

    Thoughtful Today

    A couple for the Hillary supporters:

    “Hillary Clinton: I Oppose the Keystone XL Pipeline.”

    also:

    CNN 9/17 – 9/19 329 RV

    Hillary 42
    Bernie 24
    Biden 22

    CNN had a previous outlier of a poll with Sanders within 10 points of Hillary, even a huge Bernie fan like me thought that was … an outlier ;)

    Hillary’s maintained a consistent 20 point lead over her Democratic rivals for a month that has been very difficult to dent.

  44. 44.

    Mark B.

    I would like to announce now that I have never had sex with any barnyard animals, alive or dead. At least as far as I know, there were some pretty wild parties in college, and I got pretty drunk ….

  46. 46.

    Redshift

    @PurpleGirl: I have a theory that it’s also because the debate over evolution was going on at the same time as the origin of many of what are now fundamentalist sects. They were against it when they were founded, so it’s part of their tribal identity, and they can’t abandon it no matter how bizarrely antiquated the controversy seems to everyone else.

  53. 53.

    scav

    @Baud: I’m not sure the original theory has over much to say about speed, especially when they’d not worked out mechanisms yet. They knew it would take time, which is why the older earth geological evidence was necessary but beyond that? Not that I’m finding a half-hearted kick-start by God world theory convincing. I’m just wrestling with trying to think back into the pre-DNA etc. evolution headset.

  55. 55.

    ET

    The problem of revealing this is if someone that was inside and knows starts blabing about others just as a way to stir the pot or use it as an opportunity get revenge on someone. Opening the door even to punish is risky. In the days where the elites controlled the newspapers and then TV that was a relatively safe risk. But the Internet isn’t the same thing and it is also anonymous.

  58. 58.

    Cervantes

    @bemused:

    I doubt Brits have more sex scandals than other countries but they sure have some doozies.

    I wouldn’t call this one a “sex scandal.”

  59. 59.

    Sloane Ranger

    @bemused: And most involve Tories! “Serious” people, however, are ignoring or declaring irrevelant all things drug related and porcine to ask when exactly did Cameron find out about Ashcroft’s non-dom tax status and did he lie about it? No.10, sensably, remains stum.
    (From mobile phone.)

  67. 67.

    Gvg

    That this is about control makes a lot more sense to me. so what did he do that made this enemy? what has he actually said? What proof is there? Does this mean he could have nothing to lose and start telling other guys secrets?
    Actually while disgusting I have thought since the pig was dead, it didn’t actually hurt anyone or break any laws so really who cares after the first shock goes away?it’s not rape or animal cruelty. initiation ceremony means it’s not actually what he likes…I’d be more concerned with banning a frat which pushed this as their common sense would soon lead to dumb danger not to mention blackmail. have to admit blackmail is not one of the dangers I had previously realized was part of the frat hazing problem.

  69. 69.

    Calouste

    @bemused: I remember one promising young Tory (of course!) MP was found dead in his London apartment, dressed in lady’s underwear with a plastic bag over his head.

  75. 75.

    Mandalay

    Traitor Petraeus is baaaack, and spewing drivel to a fawning Senate Armed Services Committee:

    The problems in Syria cannot quickly be resolved, but the United States can take actions that will make a difference, the retired general said.

    “We could, for example, tell Assad that the use of barrel bombs must end. And that if they continue, we will stop the Syrian Air Force from flying,” he said. “We have that capability.”

    Good luck with that asshole….

    Russian forces appear to be expanding their military presence in Syria through the development of two additional bases, according to new satellite imagery viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

    The expansion near the Mediterranean coast is the latest sign Russia is preparing to inject its military forces into the country’s 4½-year war, creating new challenges for the U.S.-led coalition trying to force President Bashar al-Assad from power and defeat Islamic State militants.

  77. 77.

    Mike in NC

    @Omnes Omnibus: One night in Halifax I got blitzed drinking free samples of Screech from the hotel bar.

    Wife said, “I’ve never seen you like this!” as I collapsed on the bed.

  78. 78.

    Peale

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    “I think the mutual blackmail threat theory is way overblown fwiw.”

    Hmmm. That’s the kind of statement someone with someone to hide might make…I wonder what rituals the Wisconsin Bar Association hazes it’s new recruits with…

  82. 82.

    agorabum

    I’ve dwelled among the humans. Their entire culture is built around their penises. It’s funny to say they are small, it’s funny to say they are big. I’ve been at parties where humans have held bottles, pencils and thermoses in front of themselves and called out, ‘Hey, look at me! I’m Mr. So-And-So Dick! I’ve got such-and-such for a penis!’ I never saw it fail to get a laugh.
    -Werner Herzog (through Rick and Morty)
    I would say briefly joking around with a butchered pigs head is gross, but nowhere near actually having sex with a pig is.
    Cameron’s position on austerity was far more harmful than any youthful debauchery.

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    It’s not reform, it’s rescission, and a shout-out to laissez-faire as entrenched policy.

    Most of the regulations former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) wants to repeal as president are environmental rules from President Obama.
     
    Putting them in a list of “the most onerous Obama rules and regulations,” Bush said Tuesday that he would repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) carbon rules for power plants, waters of the United States rule and coal ash disposal rule.
     
    The regulations from the Dodd-Frank banking law and the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rule are also on the list. Source

    Different link, same story, included this telling tidbit:

    CROWDS: More than 100 at Gravy’s Diner and about 80 at the country club. Bush met around a table with 14 farmers and local business people at the farm in Gladbrook.
     
    REACTIONS: Attendees were polite but noncommittal at Bush’s event in Cedar Falls, and his calls for regulatory reform were met with nods of approval in Gladbrook. He was received much more enthusiastically at the country club, where he got a standing ovation when he walked in the door.

  87. 87.

    Mandalay

    @Baud:

    You don’t remember the BetrayUs ads that got MoveOn in trouble?

    It’s nothing to do with that. If you feel inclined you could invest ten seconds in looking up the definition of the word “traitor”, and then try to make the case that Petraeus isn’t a traitor. Good luck with that.

  88. 88.

    Thoughtful Today

    So…

    Bush v. Trump on who’s least worst?

    My bet’s on Bush but predicting Trump’ism has been a losing hand.

  89. 89.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Calouste: “Evolution” to them means “we came from monkeys by accident rather than from God on purpose.” That’s why not believing in it matters so much to them.

  92. 92.

    Thoughtful Today

    Mind you,

    Even a week ago I would have bet Trump would be ‘less evil’ compared to J.Bush….

    But I’m not so sure this week….

  94. 94.

    MomSense

    @piratedan:

    I missed this. He said what? Darwin was an agent of Satan? Unbefuckinglievable. Has he ever prescribed antibiotics?

    I don’t even know what to say. This Republican spectacle is a disgrace.

  96. 96.

    NotMax

    Kee-rist on a cracker, what a nothingburger. It would be news if any or all of the three didn’t endorse him.

    As Pope Francis arrives in the U.S. for his first visit, Jeb Bush is touting endorsements from three former U.S. ambassadors to the Holy See.
     
    The three — who all served under George W. Bush — will serve as national co-chairs of Catholics for Jeb, his campaign says.… Source

  97. 97.

    Roger Moore

    @Calouste:

    Their god could have created Earth 6000 years ago with a certain diversity of species after which evolution did it’s job and we ended up with what we have today. The theory of evolution can’t tell you if what we have to day came from a diverse population 6000 years ago, or less diverse population 100,000 or millions of years ago.

    You don’t want to go down that path for a few reasons. For one thing, when people talk about “The Theory of Evolution”, they’re talking about the whole kit and caboodle- that every living thing on Earth evolved from a common ancestor billions of years ago- not just the mechanistic part. That’s hard to deny if you accept the basic mechanistic stuff because the other evidence, both classic morphological evidence and newer DNA evidence, says that things have been evolving for billions of years. For the Earth to be young but evolution still to be happening, you have to accept that God created the Earth with living things cleverly created to deceive us into believing that they evolved. I think it’s easier just to pretend that evolution as a whole is a bunch of bunk.

  98. 98.

    Peale

    @Cervantes: It is. I mean, we all did things in our youth that are best left unsaid as adults. But it is funny because it is so outrageous. “Haven’t we all put our peni!ses in pigs from time to time when we were young? It’s time to move on.”

  103. 103.

    MomSense

    @Steeplejack:

    Same for me. I did almost purchase a VW TDI two days before the recall but thankfully I ended up working late and couldn’t make it to the dealership. Even though I’ve cleaned my cache/cookies/history VWs are stalking me wherever I go on the intertoobz.

  107. 107.

    benw

    On the one hand, this could be vicious political retaliation, I don’t really know enough about British politics to comment.

    One the other hand, “if you don’t want people to call you a pig fucker, don’t stick your dick in a dead pig” as my old granddad always used to say.

  109. 109.

    divF

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    My mother’s from Newfoundland. There was a family reunion a while ago in St. John’s, during which the adult relatives from the States were called upon to Drink the Screech and Kiss the Cod. Of the two, the Screech was far worse.

    ETA: cod cheeks (which are actually the tongues) are quite the delicacy.

  110. 110.

    Roger Moore

    @scav:

    I’m not sure the original theory has over much to say about speed, especially when they’d not worked out mechanisms yet.

    They knew it would have to be very slow. If you assume that historical geological processes happened at the same rate as current ones, you could work out things like approximate sedimentation rates and realize that rock formations took millions of years to lay down. By seeing how much fossils changed from the bottom to the top, you could get an idea of how slow evolution is. It’s not like what we can do today with radioisotope dating and molecular clocks, but they knew that evolution would have taken tens to hundreds of millions of years to go from fish to modern mammals. That’s why Lord Kelvin’s estimates of the age of the Earth as only 20 to 100 million years were considered a big blow to evolution.

  111. 111.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Thoughtful Today: You do understand that RM is explaining the existing system and making suggestions as to how someone could navigate it, right? He is not, and no one here is, suggesting that the current system is the best of all possible worlds. Most here would probably argue that a world in which the ACA exists is an improvement over the previous system.

  114. 114.

    Davis X. Machina

    @divF:

    ETA: cod cheeks (which are actually the tongues) are quite the delicacy.

    Sold for years as ‘scallops’, as were circles punched from skate wings.

  117. 117.

    Tony J

    Well this is one of those ‘pleasant surprise’ things they talk about.

    Ta-Nehisi Coates is going to be writing Marvel’s new ongoing Black Panther series.

    I… did not see that coming.

  122. 122.

    Roger Moore

    @efgoldman:

    Shorter: gravity and relativity are “theories” too.

    I would say that it’s more of evolution being a Kuhnian paradigm or one of Lakatos’s research programs. As a scientist, you adopt the whole thing as a chunk rather than picking and choosing parts of it.

  123. 123.

    ThresherK, a bit of a stickler

    SPOILER ALERT!!!

    Currently on Jeopardy! a contestant answered “What are butterflies?” to a clue about watching certain insects in a town in Mexico. I said “What are Monarch butterflies?” while seated at home. Alex Trebek responded to the contestant, “Yes, Monarch butterflies.”

    Hey, what the hell was going on there? This is grown-up Jeopardy!, not the middle-school kids’ edition.

  124. 124.

    ThresherK

    SPOILER ALERT!!!

    For all us sticklers: currently on Jeopardy! a contestant answered “What are butterflies?” to a clue about watching certain insects in a town in Mexico. I said “What are Monarch butterflies?” while seated at home. Alex Trebek responded to the contestant, “Yes, Monarch butterflies.”

    Hey, what the hell was going on there? This is grown-up Jeopardy!, not the middle-school kids’ edition.

  125. 125.

    Cervantes

    @MomSense:

    Darwin was a Unitarian.

    Indeed.

    An anthem, based on his favorite part of the Bible, Proverbs 3:13-17, was composed for his funeral:

    Happy is the man that findeth Wisdom, and getteth understanding.

    She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

    Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor.

    Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

    I used to sing it with Stephen Jay Gould.

  126. 126.

    PurpleGirl

    I don’t like the framing of “believing in evolution.” I accept the concept of evolution; that is that an organism can change over time, for large values of time. Also, I think that the idiots do not understand the use of the word “theory” as opposed to hypothesis. A scientific concept begins as an hypothesis, and then after research and study, if/when positive evidence is there, the concept becomes a theory.

  127. 127.

    NotMax

    @MomSense

    A blessing he didn’t go the Alex Portnoy route and utilize liver.

    Making liver wisecracks is a task-and-a-half (after beating to death the obvious references to “organ”).

    Bile Be With You in Apple Blossom Time

    Just lays there like a beached flounder.

  128. 128.

    Eric U.

    @MomSense: in one of his most useful blog outings Matt Yglesias cautioned about the fragility of VW clutches. I’ve suffered through a car with an undersized clutch, and I’m not in the mood to do it again. It’s not like they don’t understand how they work, it’s just that it’s cheaper to use a tranny that isn’t quite up to the task.

  129. 129.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Calouste: Before Darwin, the beginnings of modern geology were definitely causing problems for the young-earth creationism of the time. Philip Henry Gosse wrote a book called Omphalos that proposed that the Earth had been created whole with the false appearance of great age. He thought he’d solved the problem for all time, and was disappointed that people didn’t go for it. But the argument isn’t satisfying to anyone: they want there to be evidence that they’re right, not just an argument that they’re right regardless of evidence to the contrary.

    Part of the problem is that it sounds like God is pulling a deceptive trick. Gosse, in fact, didn’t think that way; he thought that all processes in nature were inherently cyclic, and therefore necessarily showed signs of an infinite progression of previous cycles, but God had to put them in motion somewhere. But that was a little too subtle for most of his potential audience (and it’s not true anyway).

  130. 130.

    Anne Laurie

    efgoldman at #25 — It’s a kludge, I’m accessing the blog through a proxy site — which is why I can’t post pictures, or use the link-button, so you get hand-pasted links instead. But it’s better than no access at all, so I surely HOPE it’ll keep working, at least for a while!

    General query, Verizon Fios says their route into the Balloon-Juice server keeps timing out, so it’s a server problem; nothing on the BJ end is blocking the server; our home router stubbornly refuses to release/reset its ISP address, which might (but probably not) resolve the issue. After three separate long chats, a Verizon tech clued me into the proxy website, so there’s that. During my five-day hiatus, we rebooted our router — twice — and turned it off overnight, none of which had any effect. I can’t reach BJ on the available browsers here (Pale Moon, IE) but the Spousal Unit has no trouble reaching it from his office in Cambridge. Any of you tech geniuses have an idea, by all means share!

  134. 134.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Redshift: The thing is, creationism pretty much went away as a mainstream thing by the middle of the 20th century, and then it came back. Darwin is more politically controversial now than he was in 1950.

    The revival was part of the religious right’s culture war that started in the late 1970s or so. I think it’s really a symbolic stand-in for all the other stuff these people don’t like: feminism, racial integration, the end of teacher-led prayer in public schools, and so forth. I’m assuming Carson isn’t down on integration, but that was part of the roots of the whole thing.

  135. 135.

    Anne Laurie

    Omnes Omnibus:

    Did Cole ban you?

    He says not — yes, I asked!

    (And given how hard the rest of the FPers had to work to fill in the gaps, he’d be a damned fool if he did… )

  136. 136.

    Steeplejack

    @efgoldman:

    With the new season I’m suffering DVR overload, so The Muppets got bumped down to “watch it later on demand.” Let us know if it’s good.

  137. 137.

    Cervantes

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The revival [of Creationism] was part of the religious right’s culture war that started in the late 1970s or so.

    I’d trace the revival back to the publication of The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris in the early ’60s.

  138. 138.

    Jeffro

    @Tony J: We’ll call it a win(TNC)-win(Marvel)-win(fanboys)…did I miss anyone?

    Someone be sure to send Bobo a copy of issue #1 (variant chrome cover edition)

  139. 139.

    Cervantes

    @Peale:

    I mean, we all did things in our youth that are best left unsaid as adults. But it is funny because it is so outrageous.

    Perhaps … but, as the kids say these days, cheap shot is cheap.

  140. 140.

    Dan

    @divF: I’ve been Screeched-in as well! It’s god-awful, but there’s a part of me (I’m guessing the 25% from my Newfie grandma) that actually kinda likes the taste of Screech.

  141. 141.

    Sad_Dem

    @Calouste: If you argue with geology, you’re arguing with a rock. But if you argue with evolution, you’re arguing with the guy who explains it. It’s easier to argue with a man than with a rock.

  142. 142.

    Sad_Dem

    @FlipYrWhig: True. The megachurch preachers are all about God’s special plan for you. No accidents! Everything has a purpose! And other things Jesus didn’t say because he was not concerned about how the power of positive thinking helps you succeed in business. Real preachers will admit that maybe God’s utterly unspecial plan for you is failure, followed by Hell.

  143. 143.

    Space Oddity

    Actually, there’s some doubts about the Cameron-pig story–there’s no evidence he was ever a member of the Piers Gaveston Society, for a start. (Indeed, one member has denied that he was, AND that this was ever a Piers Gaveston initiation ritual.) From what I gather, Lord Ashcroft started flinging doody against the wall PRIOR to the election (holding off publication until afterwards because, after all, loyal Tory), convinced that when it hit it would be landing on the reputation of a ruined ex-PM.

    That it is connecting to a triumphant still-PM is what convinces me that we have yet to see the sequel to this tale, which will involve Lord Ashcroft’s life becoming most unpleasant…

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