Whooping (Cough)! There it is!

What happened in Los Angeles when a vaccination ordinance was submitted to a popular referendum is typical of what would happen anywhere under the same circumstances. The ordinance was rejected, and smallpox spread through the town. - H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, pg.57

Outbreaks of Whooping Cough (Pertussis) occasionally occur in America. Back in June California had an 5 deaths and 910 cases attributed to the highly contagious disease. The 5 deaths in June were infants of Latino parents and, most likely, had no access or inclination to seek out Health care and Vaccinations.

However, what we are witnessing today is a spread beyond the normal expected areas, as evidenced by the outbreak of 20 cases in two schools in the fabulous North Shore school districts in Wilmette and Winnetka. And thanks to the Anti-Vaccination Mob being moneyed is not a protection.

The Anti-Vaccination Mob has succeeded in reviving and strengthening vanquished diseases. And while the current Mob gained traction from the completely false and dishonestly written 1998 British Paper by the wholly discredited Dr. Andrew Wakefield in which he blamed Autism cases on vaccinations, a large part of the blame for the recent anti-vaccination movement is due to the steadily anti-science narrative, most often championed by Republican Party.

Most scientific theories have negative consequences for Republican Political Power, as such, those theories must be destroyed. But, ignorance doesn't merely belong to Republicans. Celebrities, most famously Jenny McCarthy, and liberals Bill Maher and Robert Kennedy Jr, immune to normal lives have thrown themselves behind the movement. The Anti-Vaccination Movement crosses political affiliation because it is based on the sloppy thinking, which is the natural state of the human brain. The Scientific Method isn't natural and had to be invented to overcome the human predilection to falsely ascribe patterns where they are none and to engage in fallacious post hoc ergo propter hoc thinking.

Many of the techniques used by the Anti-Vaccinators were garnered from the Anti-Evolutionists. I recommend going over the Science Blog Respectful Insolence by ORAC who examines and dissects the various and numerous Anti-Vaccination proponents who are engaging in propaganda, distortions, pseudoscience and outright lies.

Lt Gov Jason Plummer (R-IL), Flintstones Biology on the curriculum

Ginnungagap was so vast that it extended forever in every direction. There was nothing within the yawning void of Ginnungagap that any human thought could comprehend. Only the Gods knew the secret of Ginnungagap- it was not empty.

The only Creation Mythology that is true are the Norse-Teutonic Legends. I know they are true because that is my faith and True Creationism - Norse Creationism- must be taught in Illinois Public Schools alongside Evolution.

By just substituting the laughably false bible and judeo-christo-islamo myths for the above you have the stance of Illinois Republican Lieutenant Governor candidate Jason Plummer.

Plummer said he believed local school officials should be able to determine whether to teach creationism in schools. Simon said local school districts should not be able to opt to teach creationism, saying it was an issue of "separation of church and state."

Plummer said he believes in creationism.

Asked if he believed that the world was created in six days and the earth is 10,000 years old, Plummer said: "My philosophical beliefs and my life is based on my faith, and my faith is rooted in my Christian faith."

If local school boards wanted to teach that; First jesus came and he created the loaves and the dinosaurs and then he handed George Washington the Constitution when god ordained America as a white, christian, heteronormative promised land Plummer would be Okay with that.

Of course, what Plummer really wanted to do is send out the conservative code speak and move on but, fortunately, America has enough interested scientists and lay persons who do not want christian ignorance foisted on another generation of Americans as "knowledge".

I saw Leslie Marmon Silko give an interview lecture at the University of Chicago over the weekend. She's fascinating but I don't want her creation myths taught in Biology or Anthropology class either.

The Republicans are suceeding again in getting Americans to vote against their own economic self-interest by feeding them the same panoply of Racism, Religious bigotry and pseudo-scientific ignorance.

Only evil rotten anti-human legislation can come from the electing of polluted Republicans.

Science Jokes

"This bizarre incident has given them their Yuri..." - Kevin Costner's, No Way Out

Guess what else is a joke? "Climate-Gate".

According to the AP the stolen University of East Anglia emails do not purport to show Wild-eyed Lying Scientists concocting a Great Big Conspiracy to create Climate change.

The 1,073 e-mails examined by the AP show that scientists harbored private doubts, however slight and fleeting, even as they told the world they were certain about climate change. However, the exchanges don't undercut the vast body of evidence showing the world is warming because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

But, the Fox News led Terrorists on the Right and the Anti-Human, Anti-Science, Anti-Education Republicans don't care they have a staggering supposed controversy (their Yuri...) which even when debunked and repeatedly shown to be a lie will only serve to strengthen the resolve of the nose-breathing teabaggers who hate humanity and have been conditioned by the Republican Party to hate science and learning...

And yes I am aware that in the film No Way Out, Costner is, in fact, a Soviet Agent (just like Orly Taitz) thus leading to the possible conclusion that Global Warming is not true. Which is a possibility, I am not 100% certain that Man-made Climate Change is occurring, and am willing to look at evidence to the contrary, unlike the conservatives, their Republican fondlers and the Right Wing Terrorists. They have absolute certainty their positions concerning every issue are infallible. And because they start out with their conclusions they engage in thievery, deception and blatant intellectual dishonesty in order to ensure the "evidence" they acquire conforms to their preconceived ignorance.

And what I do know is that the Bush/Cheney Regime allowed companies to flout pollution laws because violently stupid Republicans like Michele Bachmann believe the planet to have been saved already and that the earth and it's inhabitants exist for the sole purpose of providing the Republican Party with money and luxury...