This Guy is an Actual U.S. Representative

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Georgia), in 2012:

All that stuff I was taught about evolution, embryology, Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. It’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior. There’s a lot of scientific data that I found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I believe that the Earth is about 9,000 years old. I believe that it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says. And what I’ve come to learn is that it’s the manufacturer’s handbook, is what I call it. It teaches us how to run our lives individually. How to run our families, how to run our churches. But it teaches us how to run all our public policy and everything in society. And that’s the reason, as your congressman, I hold the Holy Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in Washington, D.C., and I’ll continue to do that.”

I sometimes would like to live in a totally black-and-white world like Broun does, where everything is known and fits neatly into his narrative of choice. 

However, I prefer to think and to use my brain and to consider alternative explanations and theories.  I shut nothing out and consider it all using the scientific method.

And Broun's statement above fails the test of the scientific method, miserably.

Oh, and lest you think this guy and his ideas don't matter much, here's a list of his current House committee assignments:

Paul Broun Jr. sits on the following committees:

• House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
  • Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight
  • Member, Subcommittee on Environment
• House Committee on Homeland Security
  • Member, Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence
  • Member, Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency
• House Committee on Natural Resources
• Member, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
• Member, Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation
• 
  

NASCAR--Not a Sport--But a Good Model...and Ultrarunning

Saw this at Boing Boing, and it seems like a good idea.

I've never quite understood how giving cash to a candidate or to a political office holder is not bribery...or how the recipient is not subtly or overtly swayed to then vote for the donor's interests rather than the constituent.

So I grudgingly give credit to the NASCAR model (even though it, along with golf, are not real sports).  Boing Boing requests readers sign a White House petition to require Congress to wear outfits with their "sponsors" logos displayed in patch form, in a size commensurate with the amount of donations:

The idea of forcing Congresscritters to wear NASCAR-style coveralls with the logos of their financial backers has been bandied about before, but here it is in official White House petition form.

Since most politicians' campaigns are largely funded by wealthy companies and individuals, it would give voters a better sense of who the candidate they are voting for is actually representing if the company's logo, or individual's name, was prominently displayed upon the candidate's clothing at all public appearances and campaign events. Once elected, the candidate would be required to continue to wear those "sponsor's" names during all official duties and visits to constituents. The size of a logo or name would vary with the size of a donation. For example, a $1 million dollar contribution would warrant a patch of about 4" by 8" on the chest, while a free meal from a lobbyist would be represented by a quarter-sized button. Individual donations under $1000 are exempt.
 

So...click over to Boing Boing for a link to the White House petition.  If they 100,000 signatures the White House must formally address the issue.  They'll reject the idea, of course, but at least a point will have been made.  And who knows, maybe the idea will take off and gain some true national traction?

Oh, and Ultrarunning?  It's tough to make a connection, but Nature of course comes to mind in the guise of, say, fracking or gutting of National Parks budgets.  We may well need the White House petition venue to address some pressing environmental issue that will affect us.

 

"A Bleak and Hostile Landscape of Diminishing Opportunities"

Melissa McEwan deftly points out the turd floating in the punchbowl:

I would just like to take a moment to note the irony that members of Congress, who are at the best times reluctant to do something wise but unpopular for fear of losing their jobs, are now avoiding like it's radioactive any legislation that would legitimately stand to create actual jobs or help unemployed people, because they don't want to lose THEIR jobs and have to try to make it out there beyond the Beltway where their own craven self-interest has created a bleak and hostile landscape of diminishing opportunities.

There are only so many openings at the lobbying firm of McGuire, Dickstein, & Thanks for Your Help Deregulating Those Pesky Consumer Protections.

Once upon a time, back in elementary school or junior high, I learned that the ancient Greeks, I think, had a system of representative government in which every citizen had to take a turn at serving as a delegate or member.  Such a system today would neatly remove the incumbency/re-election motive that seems to drive 75% 95% of all Congressional efforts.