I’m in a look-back mood today…
The position I took in “Religious zealots run amok in Terri Schiavo case” has been proven to be absolutely correct, now that the results of Schiavo’s autopsy have been released. Schiavo was brain-dead and blind when Frist and other Christian fundamentalists were claiming that she could recognize people and follow a moving balloon with her eyes. Memo from God to Earth: Science, including neurology, is how you learn about creation—faith is a crock of shit when it comes to knowing reality. (When She speaks through me, God likes to use earthy language to get Her Point across).
I appreciated the comments I got on “Corporation Compliance Recorder scam” from people who found my post via Google and had their suspicion confirmed that sending $95 off to these rip-off artists would be a complete waste of money. Now the Oregon Department of Justice has launched a probe to determine whether the mailings violate the Unlawful Trade Practices Act. Way to go, you 280 people who complained to the Department about this scam (I was one of them).
It’s still outrageous that “Oregon’s climatologist denies global warming,” and I haven’t backed away from my view that George Taylor has fringe views on global warming that are at odds with the consensus of the scientific community. But I will admit that Taylor was right on the money with his prediction of a wet spring. His short-term forecast was good; it’s his long-range outlook on the world’s weather that continues to bother me.
Watching TV last night I saw a report about a machine that may be the solution to the anxieties I expressed in my “Oh, God, I’m shrinking!” post. In China “stretching machines” are being advertised that claim to increase a person’s height. I just noted that the claim is that it can “boost young people’s height,” but I’m willing to, um, stretch the definition of young to include 56 years old. I had been thinking about building a medieval rack torture machine similar to what Mel Gibson found himself on at the end of “Braveheart” (I’d be screaming “taller!” instead of “freedom!”), but this machine looks to be slightly less tortuous.
We’ve learned that the nearby Measure 37 claim that I wrote about in “Measure 37 hits close to our home” has been denied by a Marion County hearings officer, Ann Gasser. Gasser concluded that “It is not clear who the current owners of the subject property are and who should or should not sign the measure 37 compensation claim application form. Under current zoning regulations the subject property cannot be subdivided.” That’s good news. However, the Oregon legislature is considering Measure 37 “reform” bills such as HB 3120 that would make the state’s land use problems worse rather than better. Laurel has testified against HB 3120 and, along with 1000 Friends of Oregon, we urge others to express their opposition.
Lastly, I’ve still got my broadband hopes pinned on “WildBlue satellite internet, my backup to Lucy Liu.” It’s becoming apparent that not even a crazed band of samurai sword-wielding Yakuza would be able to convince the S.O.B.s at Qwest to extend DSL service to our area. So I’m patiently waiting for WildBlue to rescue me from my deathly slow dialup connection. WildBlue installed its first customer early this month, who unfortunately wasn’t me. They keep saying that a Salem-area dealer will be announced in June or July. Before it was the “second quarter.” They’d better not keep slipping on the date or I’ll have to sic Lucy Liu on them.
Good point about faith and science!
On a bit of a different note, when I studied the depth of photosynthesis back in my college days, I felt more connected to "Spirit" than I ever had after years of Mass on Sunday!
It resonated to me some sort of "intelligence" that knew the hell what it was doing!
But, then again, why does so-called "Spirit" allow man to screw everything up that it has created in such harmony?
Bob
Posted by: Bob | June 19, 2005 at 06:39 AM