The Questionable Authority

Quote of the Day - 7 Nov 2009

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:37:07 -0500

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Carl Sagan (November 9, 1934 - December 20, 1996)
Pale Blue Dot (p. 6)

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Correcting some of Chris Matthews Misunderstandings: More on the Fort Hood Shootings

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:48:43 -0500

The amazing amount of uninformed speculation that's coming out of the mouth of Chris Matthews right now is mind numbing. Speaking as someone who lives and works on a military post, I have absolutely no doubt that I have a better understanding of the dynamics of the military base than he does.

I'm just going to hit some of the major issues.

1: In the United States Army, it's hard to describe a Major as a "high ranking officer". It's typically a mid-career rank. Given that there are somewhere around 5000 officers assigned at Fort Hood, I would be surprised if there were fewer than 500 Majors assigned to the post. I would not be surprised if there were 1000.

2: As one of the guests has repeatedly pointed out to Matthews, it is not yet certain that there was more than one gunman involved. It's possible that the two additional people arrested were involved. It's also possible that the MPs were erring on the side of caution, and grabbed everyone who might have been involved. Any speculation about motives is just that - speculation.

3: Given that Gov. Perry didn't have the updated number of injured when he made his statement, I'd give the 3-star's statement that the arrested suspects are not confirmed shooters more credence than Perry's statement that all 3 were shooters.

4: Regarding the "lax security" question that someone asked in Perry's press conference: there's only so tight you can lock down an active-duty post and still keep things functioning.

5: Rep Sestak is discussing this as a mental health issue, and an issue regarding mental health care available to the military. Whether that's relevant to today's tragedy or not - and it's looking increasingly likely that it is - he's right.

6: Regarding the recent promotion of the identified shooter: the criteria for promotion to major in the medical corps are not very rigid at all. If you don't massively screw up, you get promoted.

7: The more details I here about Hasan, the more bizzare this sounds. He's apparently a psychiatrist who graduated from Uniformed Services University Med School. That's about the least likely person I can think of to be involved in this.

8: Matthews is even less informed this hour than he was at 4. That must have taken some effort.

9: The lack of information about casualties is not a surprise. It's likely that at least some of them do not have local next of kin, and notifications may take some time.

UPDATE:
10: Yeah, Chris Matthews is a flaming idiot. Army Officers, even psychiatrists, are expected to know how to shoot a handgun.

UPDATE 2:
11: Pete Williams has some knowledge deficits, too. Hasan would have been treating patients throughout his residency. And it's entirely possible that he only found out about the deployment very recently. It's not at all unusual for doctors to get last minute orders. Doctors are frequently last-minute plugins for deploying units.

12: No, he got the MD first, then the MPH.

UPDATE 3:
13: I'm somewhat surprised that Olbermann is going with his regular program. But at least it will cut down on the massively uninformed speculation about Ft. Hood.

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Fort Hood - the reported shooter.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:51:28 -0500

I don't know why I would have expected anything about the entire incident to make sense, but the more I hear about the alleged shooter - Malik Nidal Hasan - the less sense it seems to make. I'm not going to try to speculate about anything at this point. Here are the things that are known so far:

1: He was born in VA.
2: He received his medical degree at Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in 2003.
3: He immediately followed this up with a psychiatry residency at Walter Reed, which he completed in 2007.
4: He did a fellowship in Disaster and Preventative Psychiatry back at USUHS, which he recently finished.
5: He recently pinned on Major, which would put his promotion in the same time frame as the rest of the year group.

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Ft. Hood Shooting.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:45:50 -0500

For reasons that are well known to the regular readers of this blog, I'm following the ongoing situation at Fort Hood closely right now. There's a lot of scattered information coming out right now, and absolutely no way to know how much - if any - of it is real. About all that is clear at this point is that a number of people have been killed and wounded.

It's undoubtedly going to be quite some time before the situation is going to be fully confirmed to be over. Fort Hood is the size - and has the population - of a fairly large city. It's going to take a lot of time to search through the post and ensure that the immediate threat is over. It's going to take still longer to ensure that everyone has been accounted for.

No matter what the details turn out to be, this is a tragic, devastating situation.

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Seed Magazine in the Classroom: Grounds for Suspending the Teacher??

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:15:43 -0500

Apparently, offering high school English students the chance to read an article on the Seed Magazine website is ground for suspension - at least if you're an English teacher in Piasa, Illinois.

According to several media reports, teacher Dan DeLong has been suspended with pay pending a Monday evening board meeting. The suspension came about when a parent complained about the content of an optional, extra-credit assignment that DeLong had offered students in one of his 10th grade honors classes. The assignment? Read an online version of an article by ScienceBlogger Jonah Lehrer that appeared in a 2006 issue of Seed Magazine. The article in question deals with homosexuality. In animals.

That's right. Apparently, Teh Gay is so offensive that students need to be protected from being permitted to read about it in any form whatsoever, even in animals.

The Superintendent of DeLong's school district is Larry Elesa. His email address is lelsea@piasabirds.net

HT: Jonathan Turley

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Orly Taitz gets slapped around by yet another judge.

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:26:22 -0500

Great White, Tiger, Lemon, White-Tip, Hammerhead - you name a species of shark, and Orly Taitz DDS Esq. has jumped it. She hasn't just gone off the deep end, she's gone of the Challenger Deep. One of her more recent blog posts should be more than enough proof of that for anyone:

If Obama is not legitimate, neither are his appointments, including his pick of Biden. We will need to have a new election ASAP, before these diabolical psychopaths completely destroy US economy, currency and unleash some bio engineered swine flu virus as an excuse for martial law and suspension of our constitutional freedoms

(Constitutional Lawyer/Dentist Taitz is apparently ignorant of the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution - not to mention the fact that the Vice President is also elected, not appointed.)

However, if you're looking for more evidence for that, there's a quote in the most recent ruling throwing a birther case out of the courts that might help you out:

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A Few Words on Operating Systems, Evil, File Sharing, and Kool-Aid.

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:56:45 -0500

Yesterday, Greg Laden posted a short response to my post about the recently discovered Apple patent application for an ad-supported operating system. Some of the comments that people left on Greg's post raise issues that I want to respond to. Since I'm lazy, and writing something up in the software I use for blog posts is easier and more convenient for me than leaving a lengthy comment on his blog, I'm responding here.

Azkyroth brought up a two-year-old post of mine, writing:

Given his singularly mindless knee-jerk defense of simplistic anti-file-sharing moralization back in the day, I can't say I'm surprised.

While I had almost forgotten about that post, I still agree with the basic point that I was making, and I think that there is a parallel between my views on file "sharing" and what should be done with operating systems.

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Apple's Ad-Based OS Patent Application: Not Evil.

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:40:47 -0500

A number of people (including another blogger here at ScienceBlogs) have weighed in on the recent revelation of a patent application that describes a way to integrate advertising into computer operating systems. The patent application covers both traditional personal computer operating systems and a wide range of portable devices, including mobile phones. The system proposed in the patent application incorporates methods that ensure that the users will have to pay attention to the ads, and includes an option that would lock the operating system if advertisements are not locked. The patent was applied for by Apple, and the first-listed inventor on the application is Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs.

I've read through a few of the (predictable) objections to Apple's plan. I was bemused both by the overwrought nature of some of the complaints ("evil", "burn in hell"), and by the fact that virtually all of the complaints about the possibility of an ad-based operating system appear on websites that are either directly or indirectly supported through ad sales. That aside, most of the objections seem to miss something very important - the potential that Apple's innovation has as a way of reducing the digital divide both within the USA and globally.

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The Racists of Tangipahoa Parish

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:16:11 -0500

You would think that it would be hard to find a statement more outrageous than hopefully-soon-to-be-former-Louisiana Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell's attempt to prove that he's not a racist:

"I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

For that matter, you'd think it would be hard to find conduct more outrageous than Bardwell's repeated refusal to marry interracial couples. Unfortunately, this turns out not to be the case. It's almost painfully easy to find both more outrageous statements and more outrageous conduct. All you have to do is look at what other Tangipahoa Parish officials have said and done when confronted with the blatant racism of Keith Bardwell.

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Orly Taitz Sanctioned For Frivolous Filings With $20K Fine

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:46:08 -0500

As some of you might recall, I've been keeping tabs on some of the continuing court antics of Dentist/Lawyer Orly Taitz, High Priestess of the Birther Movement. Her frivolous court filings - which start out at chiropteran excrement insane and go downhill from there - have been providing me with a great deal of entertainment lately. Of course, that's at least partially because I don't actually have to waste time and effort responding to them, and can stop reading them anytime I want (really, I can).

Apparently, not everyone has been as amused by Taitz's apparent inability to grasp subtle nuances of legal procedure (such as the inadvisability of responding to a contempt citation by accusing the judge of treason). Judge Clay Land, of the US District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, has just weighed in on her conduct, and he certainly doesn't seem to be as amused as I am.

If you've been keeping score, you might remember that Land recently ordered Taitz to show cause as to why he should not fine her $10,000. I suppose you could say that she succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations, because Land declined to fine her the $10K. She's on the hook for $20,000 instead. Land justifies this decision in a 43-page ruling that certainly pulls no punches.

I've pulled some of the more remarkable quotes from the ruling for your enlightenment and entertainment. It looks to me like the man certainly has a good grasp of the situation.

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An interesting parallel between Intelligent Design and Birtherism

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:07:31 -0500

As I wrote that title, I realized that it's probably insufficiently informative - there are, after all, multiple parallels between Intelligent Design proponents and the crackpots dedicated defenders of the Constitution who continue to insist that Barack Obama is not eligible to be the President. Both groups, for example, have a blind devotion to a concept that has no actual basis in reality. Both appear to be remarkably skeptical toward the enormous amounts of evidence challenging their views while simultaneously demonstrating a remarkable credulity toward any evidence that might possibly be remotely construed as supporting their views, and both demand that they be proven wrong beyond an unreasonable doubt.

As obvious as the parallels between the two groups are concerned, I was actually struck more by their use of a similar tactic. Earlier today, I was watching the insane train wreck that is Orly Taitz reading through court documents in some of the not-yet-laughed-out-of-court still pending birther suits. One paragraph from one of the many motions filed caught my eye:

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Orly Taitz and Tropical Storm Grace

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:57:36 -0500

Earlier today, Birther Leader Orly Taitz took time away from her busy schedule to explain the connection between Barack Obama's birthplace and Tropical Storm Grace to this reporter:

"If you look, you will see that the storm is just like Obama. It has come from Africa and turned everything left. But it's not a legitimate storm, so it will not do anything significant."

When informed that the storm had actually turned to its right, Taitz replied:

"Look, if you don't know left from right there's really no point talking to you because you will never see what is so totally apparent - the storm that came from Africa will not harm the United States because the impostor Obama is here so the storm is refusing to risk damaging his reputation. If Obama was really a natural born American, the storm would have no problems damaging us. It just goes to show....."

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An interview with me

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:29:58 -0500

I've been pretty quiet over here for the last few weeks - I've been (very) slowly getting used to a new job that's got me working from 0500-1300 - but I haven't totally disappeared from the blogwebtubeospheres. I found some time earlier this week to do an interview with Ava. If you're interested, it's up over at Paw Talk.

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Throwing ACORN Under The Bus

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:45:53 -0500

Yesterday the House of Representatives - demonstrating a reckless disregard for the United States Constitution and the very concept of the rule of law - overwhelmingly voted to ban the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now from receiving federal funding. ACORN, you might recall, is the organization that the right-wing echo chamber turned into an all-purpose bogeyman after some temporary ACORN employees were caught submitting fictitious voter applications in poorly thought out efforts to get paid for doing no actual work. More recently, a couple of ACORN employees were caught on camera apparently advising people on how to get federal stimulus funding for a house of negotiable affection.

There's no doubt that attempting to get federal funding for illegal - or potentially illegal - enterprises is wrong. And while some of the allegations made against ACORN - like the tin-foil-hat-paranoid theory that they were going to break up public teabaggings - were clearly absurd, others are serious enough to raise legitimate concerns about the organization.

But whatever legitimate concerns ACORNS actions raise, the actions of the House are much more frightening.

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RIP Mary Travers

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:29:29 -0500

Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame, passed away this morning from complications of leukemia. She was 72. Read the comments on this post...