GMO Disinformation Squads

Friday 28 September 2012 - Filed under Uncategorized

Slate:

I used to think that nothing rivaled the misinformation spewed by climate change skeptics and spinmeisters.
Then I started paying attention to how anti-GMO campaigners have distorted the science on genetically modified foods. You might be surprised at how successful they’ve been and who has helped them pull it off.

I’ve found that fears are stoked by prominent environmental groups, supposed food-safety watchdogs, and influential food columnists; that dodgy science is laundered by well-respected scholars and propaganda is treated credulously by legendary journalists; and that progressive media outlets, which often decry the scurrilous rhetoric that warps the climate debate, serve up a comparable agitprop when it comes to GMOs.

In short, I’ve learned that the emotionally charged, politicized discourse on GMOs is mired in the kind of fever swamps that have polluted climate science beyond recognition.

And their ignorance causes people to starve.

Comments Off on GMO Disinformation Squads  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2012-09-28  ::  madlibertarianguy

Useless

Wednesday 26 September 2012 - Filed under Uncategorized

Foreign Policy on how the UN saved Somali piracy:

In a classic no-win situation, the Puntland government found itself being encouraged to fight piracy by the United Nations at the same time those very actions were being considered by another wing of the U.N. to be contributing to security destabilization. Puntland invited high-profile media and political figures to visit to both gather support and promote Puntland’s attempts at stabilization. Despite this open approach, Matt Bryden’s SEMG played a game of constantly moving the goal posts, while President Farole and Somalia’s TFG Prime Minister, Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, repeatedly attempted to notify and formalize their anti-piracy program with the U.N. Security Council. The U.N. responded by calling the program “secret” and one of the biggest threats to stability — even though the PMPF publishes a website, sent out press releases, and even invited journalists from Fox, Newsweek, and other outlets (including my Somalia Report team) to see the police force’s activities.

Just as the PMPF had the pirates on the run, the United Arab Emirates — under massive U.N. pressure — shut off their funding for the only anti-piracy program that had a real chance of success. As of June 6, Somali’s largest indigenous attempt to control its own security appeared to be dead. To put the nail in the coffin, the SEMG then leaked its 2012 report on July 15, which vociferously demanded sanctions against the South African contractors — but did not recommend sanctions on the pirates they were hired to defeat.

When are people going to realize that the UN is fucking useless?

Comments Off on Useless  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2012-09-26  ::  madlibertarianguy

The Problem

Tuesday 25 September 2012 - Filed under Uncategorized

Say what now?

[Ghulam Ahmad] Bilour[, Pakistani Railway Minister,] on Saturday put up a bounty of USD 100,000 for killing the maker of the film ‘Innocence of Muslims’ and went to the extent of inviting Taliban and al-Qaeda to take part in what he called “noble deed”.

And yet some still want so badly for it to be our right to free speech that is the problem. We have high ranking government officials openly advocating murder and terrorism over being upset at a fucking video, but it’s our ability to speak freely that’s at issue.

Fuck off.

Comments Off on The Problem  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2012-09-25  ::  madlibertarianguy

Mancrush

Tuesday 25 September 2012 - Filed under Uncategorized

Somebody has a mancrush . . .

Comments Off on Mancrush  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2012-09-25  ::  madlibertarianguy

On the Horizon

Monday 24 September 2012 - Filed under Uncategorized

Fiscapocalypse:

Now that Chicago’s children have returned to not learning in school, we can all move on to the next crisis in Illinois public finance: unfunded public pensions. Readers who live in the other 49 states will be pleased to learn that Governor Pat Quinn’s 2012 budget proposal already floated the idea of a federal guarantee of its pension debt. Think Germany and eurobonds for Greece, Italy and Spain.

Thank you for sharing, Governor.

Sooner or later, we knew it would come to this since the Democrats who are running Illinois into the ground can’t bring themselves to oppose union demands. Illinois now has some $8 billion in current debts outstanding and taxpayers are on the hook for more than $200 billion in unfunded retirement costs for government workers. By some estimates, the system could be the first in the nation to go broke, as early as 2018.

Liabilities are also spiralling nationwide, with some $2.5 trillion in unfunded state pension costs. According to a paper released Thursday by the Illinois Policy Institute, the crisis will end up pitting states against each other as taxpayers in places like Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Utah will be asked to subsidize the undisciplined likes of Illinois and California.

The teachers of Chicago can go fuck themselves if they think I’m going to guarantee their goddamn pensions. I’m not going to willingly put my children in debt to the Chinese so you can bring home a fat retirement check that you strong armed via your union.

Comments Off on On the Horizon  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2012-09-24  ::  madlibertarianguy

Remember

Monday 24 September 2012 - Filed under Uncategorized

When you invoke Oliver Wendell Holmes and his “fire in a theater” argument for suppressing free speech, that what you’re really saying has no meaning except “I support the government suppression of any speech I don’t like.” Popehat:

Holmes’ famous quote is the go-to argument by appeal to authority for anyone who wants to suggest that some particular utterance is not protected by the First Amendment. Its relentless overuse is annoying and unpersuasive to most people concerned with the actual history and progress of free speech jurisprudence. People tend to cite the “fire in a crowded theater” quote for two reasons, both bolstered by Holmes’ fame. First, they trot out the Holmes quote for the proposition that not all speech is protected by the First Amendment. But this is not in dispute. Saying it is not an apt or persuasive argument for the proposition that some particular speech is unprotected, any more than saying “well, some speech is protected by the First Amendment” is a persuasive argument to the contrary. Second, people tend to cite Holmes to imply that there is some undisclosed legal authority showing that the speech they are criticizing is not protected by the First Amendment. This is dishonest at worst and unconvincing at best. If you have a pertinent case showing that particular speech falls outside the First Amendment, you don’t have to rely on a 90-year-old rhetorical flourish to support your argument.

Holmes’ quote is the most famous and pervasive lazy cheat in American dialogue about free speech. This post is not about fisking Sarah Chayes; her column deserves it, but I will leave it to another time. This post is about putting the Holmes quote in context, and explaining why it adds nothing to a First Amendment debate.

It means they have no basis for arguing for the suppression of a particular kind of speech, yet seek to do so anyways.

Comments Off on Remember  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2012-09-24  ::  madlibertarianguy

Ugh

Monday 24 September 2012 - Filed under Uncategorized

Ugh.¹

Sometimes determining the outcome of an election is just the media’s civic duty.

Where is barfman when you need him?

_______________
1. I’d like to think that Miller is writing in the vein of Swift, but with Miller being absolutely in the bag for Obama it’s highly unlikely.

Comments Off on Ugh  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2012-09-24  ::  madlibertarianguy

Wow.

Wednesday 19 September 2012 - Filed under Uncategorized

Wow.

In 2005, an epidemiologist, Katherine Flegal, analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and found that the biggest risks of death were associated with being at either end of the spectrum — underweight or severely obese. The lowest mortality risks were among those in the overweight category (B.M.I.s of 25 to 30), while moderate obesity (30 to 35) offered no more risk than being in the normal-weight category.

That’s big news. Culture changing. But there’s one problem:

That is a message that may take a long time to reach your family physician, however. “Paradigm shifts take time,” Ms. Bacon said. “They also take courage. Not many people are willing to challenge the weight conventions. They’re just too culturally embedded, and the risk of going against convention is too high.”

We’ll see if the science leads to good policy rather than being dictated by it. Something tells me that the health nannies, who claim to be of the party of science, won’t get the memo.

Comments Off on Wow.  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2012-09-19  ::  madlibertarianguy

More Onion Awesomeness

Friday 14 September 2012 - Filed under Uncategorized

And the truth to boot:

Though some members of the Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths were reportedly offended by the image, sources confirmed that upon seeing it, they simply shook their heads, rolled their eyes, and continued on with their day.

It wouldn’t be so awesome if it didn’t demonstrate the utter barbarity of people murdering other people as a response to a fucking film trailer (that most of those demonstrating haven’t even seen), and the utter stupidity and anti-freedom disposition of those who are calling for the prosecution of the film maker.

Comments Off on More Onion Awesomeness  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2012-09-14  ::  madlibertarianguy

Right On

Thursday 13 September 2012 - Filed under Uncategorized

Tablet Magazine:

I do not begrudge Farah Stockman or anyone else their grief at losing a friend and fellow citizen. But when she writes that “one great downside of the First Amendment is that the inner thoughts of our stupidest citizens are put on display for the whole world to see,” I say she has it exactly backward. America is so free that even the dullards despised by their own government have access to expression and distribution, as long as it doesn’t involve ransacking embassies or firing rocket launchers into compounds. That there are expressive alternatives to violence may be the best American advertisement of all.

Right on.

Comments Off on Right On  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2012-09-13  ::  madlibertarianguy