Coming to Kindle and Smashwords

Coming to Kindle and Smashwords
November 2013

Sep 26, 2013

Fringe Factor: Bill Nye The Science Guy Does Not Understand Science


Creationists know more about science than Bill Nye, Hillary Clinton could be our first lesbian president and other assertions from the political fringe. By Caitlin Dickson

 
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AP

Creationist Pastor: Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’ Does Not Understand Science

Oh, silly Bill Nye. There you go again, you former Boeing engineer, calling your self the “Science Guy,” teaching kids about chemistry and laughing about creationists with Bill Maher. Good thing pastor Ken Ham is here to set you straight. The creationist pastor took to Facebook to slam Nye’s appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, in which Maher and Nye discuss the politicization of science. Ham charged that “Bill Nye doesn’t understand the difference between historical science and observational science, so he may be known as ‘Bill Nye The Science Guy’ but he doesn’t understand science correctly.” What’s that? You, too, aren’t sure that you understand the difference between “historical” and “observational science?” According to Ham and other so-called “historical science” creationists, the only science that is valid is that which you’ve observed personally. Ham’s organization, “Answers in Genesis,” promotes the idea that God created the universe in seven days. “What a load of nonsense,” Ham wrote of Nye and Maher’s conversation. “These two mock the Bible and totally distort the Bible’s account of the creation of the sun and the moon.”

Iowa: Thousands of Americans Have Been Killed By Illegal Immigrants

It’s been a few weeks since Rep. Steve King last graced the Fringe Factor with his hateful theories about illegal immigrants, so it was only a matter of time before he said something noteworthy. Luckily, the Iowa Rep. was given the perfect opportunity at a rally in in Nebraska for crime victims, including 93-year-old Louise Sallowin who was raped and beaten at her Omaha home this summer by a 19-year-old Mexican man who is in the U.S. illegally. King made the claim that the number of Americans killed by illegal immigrants is “in multiples of the victims of September 11,” a figure he said he once heard from a former immigration official. “Now that hits home, doesn’t it?” To emphasize his point, King said he asked his staffers to research stories of people hurt or killed by illegal immigrants and they discovered several tales of rape, murder, and fatal drunk driving accidents. “Obama, how much blood has to be spilled before you defend our border?” he asked.

New Hampshire: Male Unemployment Responsible for Mass Shootings

More women in the workplace means more unemployed men which then leads to more mass shooting. That’s the theory Jim Rubens is peddling as he kicks off his campaign to unseat Jeanne Shaheen in the U.S. Senate. Buzzfeed interviewed Rubens this week about a 2009 post on his website in which he first laid out this view and discovered that he still very much believes it. “The collaborative, flexible, amorphously hierarchical American economy is shutting out ordinary men who were once the nation’s breadwinners in living-wage labor and manufacturing jobs,” Rubens wrote in his 2009 post. “Because status success is more vital to the male psychology, males are falling over the edge in increasing numbers.” This week he reiterated that point, arguing that “men are more sensitive than women to external indicators of status,” and, “If you look through individual psychology of mass shooters over the past 10 to 20 years, you can see that in the profile. Often it's a person who has been subjected to extreme stress in the form of social rejection, job loss and associated mental health issues.” Rubens, who is actually a pretty moderate Republican in favor of same-sex marriage and reproductive rights, did clarify that he is in favor of women in the workplace, noting that he’s business partners with his wife, a woman. He simply thinks more manufacturing jobs would decrease male violence. Interesting.

Kansas: NRA Members’ Kids Should Die

A University of Kansas professor took his outrage over this week’s shooting at the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard too far. “The blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God damn you,” journalism professor David Guth tweeted on Monday, following the shooting. The University of Kansas was not pleased with the teacher’s hateful comment and the school’s chancellor announced Friday that Guth had been suspended indefinitely. Earlier in the week, Guth told the website, Campus Reform, “Hell no, hell no, I do not regret that tweet. I don’t take it back one bit.”

American Family Association: Hillary Clinton Could Be the First Lesbian President

Hillary Clinton’s potential presidential election in 2016 would be a historic one, making her the first lesbian president of the United States. This is according to the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer, who gets his information from Gennifer Flowers. The American Family Association is a non-profit Christian organization which the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled a hate group for its anti-gay activism. Earlier this week, an American Family Association radio host suggested that the Starbucks CEO’s request that customers not bring guns to his coffee shops might result in the next mass shooting taking place in a Starbucks.) And Gennifer Flowers is, of course, one of the women with whom Hillary’s husband, President Bill Clinton, allegedly had an affair. Fischer spoke on AFA television this week of an interview Flowers gave to the Daily Mail, in which she claimed that she and Bill would be together today if it weren’t for his daughter, Chelsea. Hillary, Flowers said, is a bisexual and she’s not surprised by rumors that she and Huma Abedin are sexually involved, despite admitting to not knowing Abedin at all. That was enough for Fisher, though. “Bottom line is, if Hillary Clinton becomes president in 2016, she will not only be our first female president, she could be our first lesbian president,” he warned.

California: Ted Cruz Staffer's Kids Deserve to Die
Sacramento County's Democratic Party communications chair, Allen Brauer, landed himself in what a good communications person might consider a PR disaster. Brauer tweeted, Friday at Ted Cruz speechwriter Amanda Carpenter, "May your children all die from debilitating, painful and incurable diseases." When Carpenter noted that Brauer's hateful words should lose him some followers, he kept the nastiness coming. "Busy blocking the tapeworms that have slithered out of hellspawn @amandacarpenter's asshole," he continued, making clear that his words were sparked by Carpenter's boss's crusade against Obamacare. "I'm being attacked on Twitter for wishing one of Ted Cruz's public live to experience the pain and suffering her boss is inflicting on Americans," he wrote. "Yes, your party takes bread from the mouths of starving children and medicine from the sick, and I'm the problem. Got it.

The Fallen, 9,000 Human Figures Drawn on Normandy Beach to Commemorate D-Day Dead

The Fallen
On Peace Day, September 21, 2013, 9,000 human figures were drawn on a beach in Arromanches, France to commemorate the soldiers and civilians who died during D-Day, June 6, 1944. The installation, called “The Fallen,” was organized by Jamie Wardley and Andy Moss of Sandinyoureye. More than 500 volunteers used stencils to draw the figures on the beach. The installation was swept away a few hours later by the tide.
The Fallen
The Fallen
via Lustik, Colossal
photos