The Chemical Lobby: Priestcraft Masquerading as Science‏

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

Science and religion appear to be at loggerheads with scientists inquiring into topics that the minions of the material Creator claim as their own domain. On the other hand, there are people who profess to advocate science, but who approach it as if it were a religion. Roman despots are not nearly as detrimental to the pursuit of inquiry as are "scientists" with an economic interest in their pet theories. The latter class of people form a caste of priests who jealously guard the magic formulas for their chemical communion wafers. Scientific inquiry that threatens their monopoly is rejected out of hand and tarred with the label of a Hollywood cult.

Imagine a group of people with little knowledge of electronics. As they investigate the operation of a computer, they discover that interfering with the circuitry causes a malfunction. They establish a "scientific" theory that all malfunctions stem from circuit failures. They find ways to "treat" a faulty machine by inducing a secondary fault that does not fix the machine, but makes the primary fault less striking. The machine malfunctions, but the "treatment" of inducing a secondary fault causes the machine to malfunction in a more graceful manner.

Another group of people approach the machine using a different tack. Rather than trying to determine its failures, they seek to determine its capabilities. These people want to know how to use the computer for higher purposes than as consumers of fault injection methods. They work with it to find ways of improving its use. They modify its programming to have it perform miraculously. Naturally, their successes are sneered at by the fault injection specialists. Improvement in capability can only occur as a result of circuit failure. These highly performing machines are to be treated with fault injections to make them more "normal."

There is more to a computer than electronic circuitry. Likewise, there is more to the nervous system than neurons. This may seem obvious to lay people who espouse the notion of a magical entity that will outlast the decay of the neurons, but it seems counter-intuitive to people who have been indoctrinated into bio-chemical dogma. Of course, there is a third group of people who buy into neither magical craft. These people are faithless in the eyes of the former and unscientific in the eyes of the latter. Some even think of them as followers of L. Ron Hubbard despite a lack of any logical connection.

The pill bottle priesthood is a powerful lobby in the halls of governance. They have ties to the military and to law enforcement as well. Do you have experience with any chemical communion?

Eurovision: a string of scandals

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Eurovision has always been that weird show where irrelevant Eurotrash music is displayed in all its kitsch splendor for the shits'n'giggles of the TV watchers. I mean just look at this shit!

And it's always been tightly related with politics. This year is no exception. Last year Azerbaijan finally won the Eurovision, after it had performed outstandingly for several years in a row, but victory had somehow always eluded them. Well, now they won it with this piece of crap. And the rules say that the winner should host the next Eurovision (it's in May). So this year's Eurovision will happen in Baku, and that makes Azerbaijan very proud, etc. But the build-up to the song contest hasn't passed without scandals. In Belarus the local Eurovision committee is being accused of manipulations, the Ukrainian candidate is enduring racist abuse at home, and Armenia is threatening to boycott the contest altogether (the way Georgia boycotted it a couple of years ago when it was hosted by Russia - for obvious reasons).

( Hey, don't laugh at me! This is obviously some serious shit... )

Rand Paul for VP?

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Here'a a wacky theory. Is it just me or Ron Paul might be setting up his son Rand Paul for a VP run along with Romney? (Plans for a hypothetical future run for president aside).



Dr Ron might be having some issues with his voting record, his connection to the newsletters, as well as some pretty crazy stuff he has said on some policies, but on the other hand there might be a good deal of leftist support for him lurking somewhere out there because of his libertarian (read: anarcho-socialist? - if seen from the right angle, that is) stance on some issues. As for his sonny, he might've had one or two missteps in the past, but still he may be able to accumulate some support from the RP fans, and as a bonus, without all his daddy's baggage.

It's clear that Romney has already got the support of most of the wealthy voters plus the more moderate right. Meanwhile, the right-wing folks would support just about anyone who isn't Obama. And if Rand Paul could pick the fruits from his father's popularity among certain circles, that means extra points for Romney and more troubles for Obama. If so, this run could be a pretty rough ride for the president. I think even tougher than Romney just picking up some right-wing nut and raising more eyebrows than he is now. IMO Romney+Paul (or why not Romney+Christie) looks a bit stronger an option than Romney+Huckabee (is he ever gonna run anyway?), or the more obvious Romney+Santorum. Respectively, Romney + anything moderate looks stronger that a Romney + right-wing formula.

Oh, and question. If the former ends up being the GOP choice, would that mean 2012 is the end of the political shift towards the far-right, as the Mayans had predicted? ;)