Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Milo in trouble after interview emerges with him defending pedophilia. When you build a career out of being a contrarian I guess you're bound to slip up eventually and advocate for some truly nasty positions.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/02/19/video-surfaces-of-milo-yiannopoulos-defending-pedophilia-acu-board-reportedly-not-consulted-on-cpac-invite/

[iam416]

Is NAMBLA still an acceptable "alternative lifestyle" organization?

[iam416]

Good study on gerrymandering. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jowei/gerrymandering.pdf

Rs gerrymander slightly better -- picking up 5 seats through gerrymandering vs the Ds picking up 3. Of course, the Rs control more states. They also note a bump for Ds from preclearance voting rights laws.

There is another study coming out -- well, according to a panelist on CNN (show on the partisan divide including segment about gerrymandering) -- anyway, this guy said the partisan districts -- the districts that are "safe" is far more a result of "self-gerrymandering" -- people choosing to living with with like-minded people. He made the point you'd actually have to a lot of gerrymandering to created balanced districts. Anyway, I look forward to reading his efforts.

As a footnote, it was a really good show by Smerconish on Friday night. 4 or 5 pretty good topics and good guests. The gerrymandering folks were pushing back against Smerconish who started to change his mind a bit as the segment progressed. They ended up agreeing that the heavy partisanship is exacerbated by the primaries where a handful of people vote and they're tailor-made for extreme candidates. They started batting around the idea of the 'top 2' primary California is using or doing away with the primary altogether. I'd like to see the top 2 thing in action some more and see what results you get from it. But, I'd rather see 2 same-party choices in the general -- one nutjob and one more moderate -- than one nutjob vs the opposing party sacrificial lamb. In California, e.g., there was no need for the Rs to spend a dollar running for the Senate. None. Why not give the entire electorate 2 choices of varying liberal degree? And why not do it when turnout is way better?

[Jeff Buchanan]

...... Fundamentalism is a belief in the literal truth of the Bible, the "hey, if the Bible said Jonah ate the whale, I'd believe it..." school.

Christian Fundamentalism is a reaction to theological liberalism and cultural modernism. I believe your view of it is somewhat narrow.

The Mother Jones article is the first time I've read anything detailed about Devos. It's clear to me that the foundations the Devos family is either directly or indirectly involved with are absolutely advancing positions associated with the definition I provided above.

But, I was at UM when the SDS was taking shape (the Port Huron Declaration(s), Tom Hayden, and all that) and I assure you we targeted the education system as a way of changing society. That attack is now bearing fruit, dammit.

I'd disagree with you with regard to the SDS having any sort of major impact on advancing a liberal or progressive agenda or that the SDS was somehow responsible for the bastion of liberalism/progressivism that higher education in the US was and still is.

The hostility toward common core is because it allegedly teaches progressivism to the exclusion of any other belief system.

...... allegedly is the operative word. I know that you are familiar with and understand the post trial implications of the Scope's Trial. Even now, I don't think the argument is completely settled with regard to public education but I find it disquieting that an individual decidedly in the Christian Fundamentalist camp is running the US DOE.

I happen to think it is the duty of a national government to indoctrinate children of its country in the myths and traditions of the country. That used to be called citizenship.

I knew it as Civics and we have different views about "the duty of national government" to "indoctrinate" children in any way. Moreover, teaching either citizenship as you named it or civics as I did in elementary and HS should have little to do with teaching myths and traditions and a lot more to do with teaching US history, the US Constitution, the law and how the three branches of US government function.

[Da Geezer]

Good study on gerrymandering. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jowei/gerrymandering.pdf

The February 20, 2017 edition of National Review also has an article on gerrymandering. I seems to less pervasive than I originally thought.

[Da Geezer]

Jeff: I looked it up too, but saying "Christian Fundamentalism is a reaction to theological liberalism and cultural modernism..." doesn't say what it is. It is a literal interpretation of the Bible.

Fundamentalism usually has a religious connotation that indicates unwavering attachment to a set of irreducible beliefs.[1] However, fundamentalism has come to be applied to a tendency among certain groups—mainly, though not exclusively, in religion—that is characterized by a markedly strict literalism as it is applied to certain specific scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, and a strong sense of the importance of maintaining ingroup and outgroup distinctions.

Jeff, if you accept that Betsy is "decidedly in the Christian Fundamentalist camp" without any evidence, and then go on to lament her being Sec of Ed, can't you see that your utterly incorrect predicate assures an utterly incorrect result? Betsy is not a fundamentalist at all. I was trained in the same doctrine using the same material she used, and I can tell you that she doesn't believe the world was created in 7 days. In fact, she believes there are two separate creation myths in the Bible (in the Hebrew tradition) that tell "why" and not "how". The "why/how" distinction is the difference between religion and science.

Also, teaching myth and tradition is not in conflict with Civics at all. They are part of the same thing. Teaching that little Georgie Washington "did it with his little hatchet" is part and parcel with teaching youngsters about the greatness of the man. I might add that this mythmaking is the reason kids are not taught that Washington was the richest President in the history of the US; because income inequality is not part of the myth, and certainly not part of American exceptionalism.

[Whitley]

This will probably surprise a few in this thread, but I don't have a problem with teaching religion in public schools. BUT I would say that if you are going to teach religion in the public school system then you must teach about the 2 major Eastern religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) and the 3 major Western religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). And if there is a Native American presence talk about that as well.

[AlabamAlum]

Throw in some Dharma, as well.

[Whitley]

Throw in some Dharma, as well.

What do we do with Greg then?

[CGVT]

That's not good enough for the Christian Taliban.

All children must be indoctrinated to the one True Religion. All others are blasphemy and their followers are doomed to burn in hell.

Thank (our) God that Betsy DeVoss and Da Geezer are here to save us all!

[Dr. Strangelove]

Failing fake news media makes up stories and sources! Don't believe it! Pray for Sweden

[AlabamAlum]

What do we do with Greg then?

Heh. I have a friend who is Sikh, one who is Hindu, and one who is Buddhist. Need someone into Jainism for the Dharmic flush.

[edindetroit]

Failing fake news media makes up stories and sources! Don't believe it! Pray for Sweden

6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Matthew 24:6 (NIV)

[Dr. Strangelove]

Corey Lewandowski refutes the Trump White House's claims of massive voter fraud in New Hampshire

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/320361-lewandowski-says-he-didnt-see-evidence-of-trumps-voter-fraud-claims

[Dr. Strangelove]

Sounds like Milo has been dis-invited from CPAC. And there's a rumor going round that even at Breitbart there's a mini-staff mutiny threatening to quit if he isn't fired.

EDIT: And Simon & Schuster is cancelling his book deal