What’s On My Mind

The Labor Department reports this morning that the private sector added a measly 41,000 net new jobs in May. (The vast bulk of new jobs in May were temporary government Census workers.) But at least 100,000 new jobs are needed every month just to keep up with population growth.

In other words, the labor market continues to deteriorate.

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Why are we having such a hard time getting free of the Great Recession? Because consumers, who constitute 70 percent of the economy, don’t have the dough. They can’t any longer treat their homes as ATMs, as they did before the Great Recession.

Businesses won’t rehire if there’s not enough demand for their goods and services.

The only reason the economy isn’t in a double-dip recession already is because of three temporary boosts: the federal stimulus (of which 75 percent has been spent), near-zero interest rates (which can’t continue much longer without igniting speculative bubbles), and replacements (consumers have had to replace worn-out cars and appliances, and businesses had to replace worn-down inventories). Oh, and, yes, all those Census workers (who will be out on their ears in a month or so).

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So what’s the answer? In the short term, more stimulus – especially extended unemployment benefits and aid to state and local governments that are whacking schools and social services because they can’t run deficits.

But the deficit crazies in the Senate, who can’t seem to differentiate between short-term stimulus (necessary) and long-term debt (bad) last week shot it down.

In the longer term, we need a new New Deal that will bolster America’s floundering middle class.

Makes sense to me, and as I've often said, make a 10-year Apollo moonshot-style energy initiative part of that New Deal program.

Coast Guard Told Public Not to 'Fixate' On Rate of Spill While Sitting On Video

New videos show more clearly than ever how BP , with little resistance from the Coast Guard or other federal agencies, kept the public in the dark about just how bad things were beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

On May 1, 11 days after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, and nine days after oil began spilling into the Gulf, the Coast Guard had still only released a single image of oil leaking a mile beneath the surface -- a fuzzy photograph of a broken pipe spewing oil.

But inside the unified command center, where BP and federal agencies were orchestrating the spill response, video monitors had already displayed hours of footage they did not make public. The images showed a far more dire situation unfolding underwater. The footage filmed by submarines showed three separate leaks, including one that was unleashing a torrent of oil into the Gulf.

Coast Guard officials told ABC News that BP refused to allow them to release the more startling images, arguing they were proprietary. But at the time, the agency was doing little to convey to the world what the images were showing. Coast Guard Admiral Mary Landry was sticking with estimates, calculated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which put the spill's size at about 5,000 barrels a day for several weeks. Coast Guard officials said they were focused on the response, and advised the public not to worry about just how much oil was pouring into the water.

"I would caution you not to get fixated on an estimate of how much is out there," said Adm. Landry.

Two days later, as oil continued to spew, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said much the same thing.

"This fixation on the number of barrels is a little bit misleading," said Napolitano.

I post here an update (slightly abbreviated) from Paul Kurtz on recent events at the Center for Inquiry:

I arrived at the Center for Inquiry at shortly after 1:00PM today. Norman Allen (Director of International Programs and Director of African Americans for Humanism) was carrying
a box of books to his car.

I said to Norm, “How are you, Norm” He replied, “I have just been
fired by Ron Lindsay!”

[Norm had been] called into the Conference Room about 20 minutes earlier. Both Ron Lindsay and Tom Flynn were present.
Ron said that we have to let you go, as we are having financial problems. Lindsay, stated that he wanted Norm to leave the premises as soon as possible, vacate his office, take his personal property, and leave his keys.

Four other people were fired today in a similar way: Toni Van Pelt, Henry Huber, Rick O’Keefe, and Matthew Sapara. Meanwhile, the Office of Public Policy in Washington, DC and CFI Florida in Tampa have been closed.

Be sure to read Paul Kurtz's whole letter.

I've a number of reactions to this piece, only slightly conflicted by understanding for the need to make harsh cuts in a financially strapped non-profit organization. In the end though they boil down to communications, transparency and CFI's commitment to humanistic principles.

• Inhumane practices. I know that manner in which Norman Allen and the others was let go is common these days and arises out of a desire to minimize complications from disgruntled former employees, but I'm sad to see CFI employing this method of terminating employees. As both Kurtz and Steph noted in her comment, it seems to run counter to a humanistic ethos.
• Communications failure. As Kurtz writes later on in his letter, it also does serious harm to CFI's communications, "Norm is unable to write to any of his thousands of colleagues and friends world-wide, to bid them adieu or to reply to the many emails to him."
• Lack of transparency. CFI should be more transparent about their financial status. If their situation is so dire as to result in the termination of five employees and two programs, then it would do them well to make it known, as well as ramp up fund raising efforts.

It’s easy to become depressed by this trifecta of studies, but they really don’t paint a picture different than what we already knew – people believe stories over science and come to their conclusions mostly for evolved emotional, rather than dry rational, reasons.

Steven Novella takes a brief look at three recent studies that highlight the difficulty in communicating science to the public. Rather than becoming depressed at the intractability of human nature, I think there's a lesson to be learned here. While greater knowledge of science is highly desirable, it's crucial that we seek a way to make the scientific journey of discovery part of the stories we all tell each other. Much trickier than just spouting dry facts and authoritarian arguments at people, but in the end learning how to adopt science communication to human nature rather than overcome it will reward us with a society much more understanding and accepting of science with greater tolerance for both the hard work necessary to understand the scientific perspective and its limits.

Stormfront.org, which was founded to support David Duke for senate by another KKK Grand Dragon, Don Black, has been promoting and contributing to Rand Paul's moneybombs. Palling around with WhiteSupremacists much?

So all of this begs an important question: if acting like harsh, rude, offensive “New Atheists” is the best way to improve the acceptance of science and, especially, evolution, why do so many “New Atheists” act like anything BUT harsh, rude, and offensive religion-bashers when dragged off their blogs and plopped in front of a public audience of mixed opinions on belief? Why switch personas between blog posts and in-person appearances if what you’re doing on your blog is the supposed “right” way to deal with religion? Why do we see self-described “New Atheists” speaking to church groups about science (yes – some of them do!) and disagreeing about religion and doing so while speaking softly and politically instead of putting on their blogger hats and tone and ranting about how much of a “bullshit-peddling pedophilic fucktard” their religious leaders are? In short, why are more New Atheists seemingly not willing to take the identical rhetoric they use on their blogs and say it to the public’s face in a lecture on evolution?

Dan Fanelli for Congress... Because white people are never terrorists.

While researching some info on phony Robbie Thomas, I found out that an ABC affiliate station in Indiana has their own private “spiritual medium and remote viewer” on staff for their daily “Indiana’s News Center at Noon Extra.” What a surprise to find out that ABC is now providing these “extra” services to the Northern Indiana community.

Check out Kelli Faulkner. http://incextra.com/noon/index.php She’s listed on the same page as other legit authorities that channel 21 offers including an attorney, a pediatrician, a certified nurse practitioner, a veterinarian, a psychologist and several other experts whose credentials I don’t doubt.  Is having a so-called medium hired to call back the dead from their graves and remote view where missing corpses might be rotting away news worthy journalism? Some people apparently think it is.

This is why I don't watch TV news programs.

They have ignored historians and teachers, allowing ideological activists to push the culture war further into our classrooms," said Rep. Mike Villareal, a San Antonio Democrat. "They fail to understand that we don't want liberal textbooks or conservative textbooks. We want excellent textbooks, written by historians instead of activists.

   

Click here to download:

anti-abortion-fetus-dolls-handed-out-to-norfolk-va-students-by-school-principal-xBnaIouvFCwsiszsbbIz.zip (85 KB)

Plastic human fetus dolls - soft, in pink and brown, and about 4 inches long - have been handed out at Oakwood Elementary School by an employee who was put on administrative leave Thursday over the situation.

The dolls, which were distributed over weeks or months, are not authorized by the division as instructional materials, spokeswoman Elizabeth Thiel Mather said Thursday. Mather said the employee will remain on leave until school officials investigate the reports.

Oakwood Principal Sheila Tillett Holas was put on leave today, Thiel Mather said.  The division began its investigation after The Pilot asked school leaders this week about the fetus dolls.

The distribution of the life-like forms among grade school children shocked and repelled some parents and teachers and School Board members who discussed them in a closed meeting this week.

"It is hard to imagine that we would have an employee who believes it would be appropriate to share plastic fetus dolls with students in one of our schools," School Board Chairman Stephen Tonelson said Thursday.

An Oakwood teacher told The Pilot that the "squooshy" dolls had been given to students in the third, fourth and fifth grades over several months. The teacher, who asked for anonymity to avoid retaliation from the school for speaking out, said several parents and staff were upset.

The teacher said that attached to the dolls was a card with a "pro-life" message and information on fetal growth.

Is it sick of me to want to get one of these fetus dolls for my dog to play with? Actually, after looking at the dolls they're too small. They'd present a choking hazard for him.