From the "doing a great job" dept.

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:50:47 -0700

Emphasis mine.

The battle against government jargon is not new. Since the mid-1990s, the Plain Language Action and Information Network, a group of federal employees from various agencies, have discussed best practices to combat the use of acronyms and incomprehensible language across government. The Plain Writing Act urges agencies to follow the guidance of PLAIN before OMB issues its best practices for implementation.

http://8ug.cc/cyIEIc

In which Lindsey Graham and the Discovery Institute are discovered in an airport stall with "wide stances"

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:42:00 -0700

Recently found myself rereading Kitzmiller v. Dover (http://www.parentingbeyondbelief.com/Kitzmiller.pdf) thanks to http://parentingbeyondbelief.com/blog/?p=4504 and realized something scary and only slightly conspiratorial with respect to this nonsense about the 14th Amendment currently under frothy happy discussion by Lindsey Graham and associated nuts.

Quoting from the opening of the Kitzmiller opinion (and by the way, Judge Jones deserves a fucking medal for this opinion, forgot just how amazingly good it is), [emphasis mine]:

On December 14, 2004, Plaintiffs filed the instant suit challenging the constitutional validity of the October 18, 2004 resolution and November 19, 2004 press release (collectively, “the ID Policy”). It is contended that the ID Policy constitutes an establishment of religion prohibited by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief, nominal damages, costs, and attorneys’ fees.

Uh, wow. Go 14th Amendment. Had to go reread that as well.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

So wait. Revoking §1 of the 14th Amendment tosses up a giant red flag at the core of the strongest legal endorsement of _actual science_ in actual science classes since Scopes?

Maybe I’m just getting sick of the bullshit again, but would anyone actually put it past the Discovery Institute to try something like this? Or is this just ascribing to malice what could easily be ascribed to serious-head-up-the-ass stupidity?

Or maybe I’m just writing about conspiracy theory because it amuses me.

Also, Tequila

From the "doing a great job" dept.

In which Lindsey Graham and the Discovery Institute are discovered in an airport stall with "wide stances"