#34157: vlorbik — 08/07  at  11:47 AM
wow. thanks for finding this.
i'm adding a link at my blog forthwith.

#34161: coturnix — 08/07  at  12:03 PM
I saw taht yesterday and loved it!!!! Excellent.

#34165: Orac — 08/07  at  12:16 PM
PZ,

Wow, I'm really surprised you've never come across Kung Fu Monkey before. I've been linking and quoting his I Miss Republicans piece for months. Primo stuff, and he's a fine blogger on other topics as well.

You know, now that I think of it, I ought to see if I can get him to host the Skeptics' Circle someday.

#34179: MBains — 08/07  at  01:29 PM
I've never read Wolcott's blog before either! TWO new entries on my blogroll!

Thanks PZ!

#34193: coturnix — 08/07  at  02:36 PM
I am on and off on Wolcott. He is a great writer and sometimes he is brilliant, but sometimes he writes something so dumb (I guess non-stop bloggers do that, see Yglesias, Matt) I don't go back for weeks.

I think I discovered Kung Fu Monkey through Orac some time ago. A great blog.

#34201: — 08/07  at  03:15 PM
Via Billmon @ http://billmon.org/archives/002069.html

The so-called religious organizations which now lead the war against the teaching of evolution are nothing more, at bottom, than conspiracies of the inferior man against his betters. They mirror very accurately his congenital hatred of knowledge, his bitter enmity to the man who knows more than he does, and so gets more out of life . . .

Such organizations, of course, must have leaders; there must be men in them whose ignorance and imbecility are measurably less abject than the ignorance and imbecility of the average. These super-Chandala often attain to a considerable power, especially in democratic states. Their followers trust them and look up to them; sometimes, when the pack is on the loose, it is necessary to conciliate them. But their puissance cannot conceal their incurable inferiority. They belong to the mob as surely as their dupes, and the thing that animates them is precisely the mob's hatred of superiority. Whatever lies above the level of their comprehension is of the devil.

H.L. Menken
Homo Neanderthalensis
June 1925

#34202: Matt McIrvin — 08/07  at  03:18 PM
I do have my doubts about the theme touched upon at the beginning, to the effect that American superstition and ignorance will allow the Indians and Chinese to bury us; given that as far as I can tell Indian and Chinese societies have approximately the same amount of per-capita superstition and ignorance in them as American society (with similar consequent dangers when it becomes politically influential); it's just differently-flavored superstition and ignorance. And I certainly wouldn't consider it a victory if they became more superstitious and ignorant in order to leave us the edge. It'd actually be a disaster. For that matter, if the American economy completely imploded right now it'd hurt the Indians and Chinese pretty badly.

Better to leave it in more general terms, that when a society develops disdain for knowledge and reason it tends to hurt itself.

#34214: — 08/07  at  04:44 PM
Charles Krauthammer's comments are some of the most genuinely scary things I've seen for a long time. You expect stupidity from Bush; Krauthammer's back-flip is horribly reminiscent of the official enemy flipping from Eurasia to Eastasia at the whim of Big Brother.

Anyone else having that vision of the boot stamping on a human face - forever?

#34224: Via — 08/07  at  08:30 PM
Hell, Charles Krauthammer is the most genuinely scary thing I have seen in a long time! That face looks incapable if human compassion........shiver.

#34251: — 08/08  at  03:34 AM
Everybody who wants to live in the 1800's over there.

Since my adherence to the Flying Spaghetti Monster requires me to perform my ministrations in piratical attire, I find myself relegated to the latter group. Not that I can complain of finding Voltaire and Diderot in my company.

Trackback: Quick Links Tracked on: The World Wide Rant - v3.0 (63.247.140.66) at 2005 08 08 07:35:39
Pharyngula catches professional conman D. James Kennedy lying for the Lord on the subject of evolution. As if the creationist crowd knows how to do anything but lie on the subject? This week's RINO Sightings are up at Searchlight Crusade....

#34271: Axiom — 08/08  at  08:23 AM
I also found his post to be insightful (and funny, in a sad cynical way) but I don't agree with his <a href=http://racross.blogspot.com/2005/08/kung-fu-monkey-summarizes-things.html>conclusion of inevitable doom</a>. For example, the Google bombing of Intelligent Design is symptomatic: there are quite a lot of people who refuse to be stupid and, funnily enough, many of those people have access to this Intarweb Thingie.

#34272: Axiom — 08/08  at  08:29 AM
Sigh. HTML ugliness because I wasn't paying attention to the instructions.

#34296: — 08/08  at  01:32 PM

bad Jim: Not that I can complain of finding Voltaire and Diderot in my company.

You'll have to go back to the 1700s to meet up with either of those gentilhommes, at least if you want to find them breathing...