I was dismayed and proud that the team at Catalyst (ABC TV) on Thursday night tackled the climate change denialists and irate ignoramus protesters — in a segment shown during the Catalyst Eureka Awards programme... I was worried for a while that the ABC inquisition department might ask the show to present the "alternative" view on the subject, but it did not eventuate... It might pay for this later...

I was dismayed to see the extraordinary ignorance of those angry protesters, who, either deliberately or out of sheer ignorance, presented a rabid nasty view of the world that does not fit the facts. Some were mixing religion and CO2 in an atrocious refusal to comprehend science... Most were out there to enshrine their proud and forceful lack of knowledge into politics...
I was proud to see the scientists at Catalyst were not afraid of tackling, front on, this amazing entrenched stupidity coming from that small crowd that stirred the CO2 debate to suit an immovable bigotry with a complexed general and deliberate ignorance. A powerful ignorance that includes the demonising of science, by using falsehoods and strong religious dictum.

Of course the Programme did not show Tony Abbott preaching against the bitch, yet Tony Abbott was crazy enough to speak at that rally, trying to capitalise on that power — though that power came from profound stupidity. Tony is like that. Like Lord Monckton — who was also shown on that program in an earlier rally I believe — promising to influence the result of science AT THE POLLS... This is a dangerous game from a man who has been discredited over and over, and who entrenches his idiotic beliefs into pseudo-scientific jargon that does not fit the reality either. But he's loud and cleverly promotes on most media as a guru of opposing knowledge — when he is no more than a buffoon with a very complexed and fabricated proven ignorance.

Why does the media indulge his "ignoramusity"? For "controversy"? Because the facts and figures of global warming are quite boring and not sexy enough? The need to promote Abbott at all cost?

We cannot afford to let these people (read: real idiots) win. Not Monckton, nor Tony Abbott...

The future of the planet depends on our resolve to forcefully and determinately promote science. It's a battle in which the liars presently have the upper hand because science presents an inconvenient reality — the understanding of which is becoming increasingly urgent for the planet, our economic development and our general well-being.

For its first third, Nick Broomfield's documentary feels worthy of a toast by the Tea Party. Our bumbling Brit, gamely kitted out in red-check lumberwear, heads to Wasilla, Alaska, where he's charmed by Sarah Palin's parents – plus Chuck, their antler-sucking puppy – and nods politely at gasps of adoration from wide-eyed Palin pals.

He and his subject even seem to hit it off when Broomfield requests an interview at a book-signing: "You betcha!" is her dazzle-grinned reply.

Such apparent eagerness to be amiable only makes the last hour the more devastating. As Broomfield encounters more and more local people, and his requests for interviews are batted away with increasing energy, so the picture of a woman who appears to have made more enemies that most of us have seen episodes of the Sopranos sharpens into focus.

One after another classmates and relatives come forward to grind axes and shiver at the prospect of a Palin presidency. They're joined by former campaign managers, chief strategists, PR agents, mentors, preachers and policemen, all singing from the same hymn sheet: Palin's ruthlessness and venom for revenge knows little limit.

You Betcha! works too as a portrait of how place can produce personalities: Wasilla is a defensive, isolated community where even Palin's detractors vote Republican, wear stars and stripes braces, and keep their beauty queen tiaras wrapped carefully in cake tins. It's a city where prom-queen politics can bleed far into adulthood, and one man's theory about how Palin still acts like "the most popular pre-teen girl" rings right when you hear her giggle at enemies being insulted, or watch her chew gum. It's the stuff of high school horror movies: can you stop the most popular girl in school from stabbing you in the back?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/10/sarah-palin-you-betcha/print

With Representative Michele Bachmann's victory in the Ames, Iowa straw poll, and Texas Governor Rick Perry's triumphal entrance into the GOP presidential primary, there's been a sudden spike of attention drawn to the extremist religious beliefs both candidates have been associated with - up to and including their belief in Christian dominionism. (In the Texas Observer, the New Yorker, and the Daily Beast, for example.) The responses of denial from both the religious right itself and from the centrist Beltway press have been so incongruous as to be laughable - if only the subject matter weren't so deadly serious. Those responses need to be answered, but more importantly, we need to have the serious discussion they want to prevent. 

For example, in an August 18 post, originally entitled, “Beware False Prophets who Fear Evangelicals”, Washington Post religion blogger Lisa Miller cited the three stories I just mentioned, and admitted, “The stories raise real concerns about the world views of two prospective Republican nominees”, then immediately reversed direction: “But their echo-chamber effect reignites old anxieties among liberals about evangelical Christians. Some on the left seem suspicious that a firm belief in Jesus equals a desire to take over the world.” Of course, she cited no examples to bolster this narrative-flipping claim. More importantly, she wrote not one more word about the real concerns she had just admitted.

Dominionism is not a myth

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/09/2011948160923228.html

Dominionism is based on religious illusions. Dominionism is loony tunes. Yet, the GOP is driven by this erroneous idiotic point of view that has no proper connection to the real world, except to human delusions. Not only that, much of the democrats are driven by a similar looney tune. We're in big trouble.