Whenever I hear one politician accuse another of participating in some "war on women" by somehow threatening to infringe upon their "reproductive rights", it makes me want to vomit. Anyone who says something that stupid obviously does't have a clue about the real war being waged on women by terrorist thugs like ISIS or Boko Haram, who kidnap, rape, and enslave young children. Unfortunately, dangerous predators who prey on young girls also lurk within our midst, right here at home in America. But instead of kidnapping their victims, these domestic predators usually prey on young teens who have run away from home. So yesterday, my son and I went to see The Equalizer in the plush, gorgeous and brand new AMC Theaters at North Point Mall and it became one of the best experiences in a theater that I've had in years. The chairs were very comfortable leather recliners, and the theaters and lobby were impeccably clean. The bar was even open for business, though it was a little too early for alcohol. The very best part of my experience was watching the movie itself, though -- I really needed to see Denzel Washington wipe out a gang of Russian mobsters getting obscenely rich selling young girls into prostitution. I will concede that I probably enjoyed the film more than I should have. I'm quite sure that I've seen better movies. However, I chose that particular movie specifically because I anticipated the plot would prove to be cathartic, given the nature of my experience the previous evening, and I wasn't disappointed. The night before I attended a … [Read more...]
Fossilized rabbits in the Precambrian
In his book The God Delusion, prominent atheist Richard Dawkins wrote, "As J. B. S. Haldane said when asked what evidence might contradict evolution, 'Fossil rabbits in the Precambrian.'" But how does Haldane's rather sarcastic and flippant remark translate into English? Well, consider that the Precambrian describes the geologic period of time between the origin of life and the Cambrian explosion. According to our experts in paleontology, this particular period of time during the Earth's development was dominated by single-celled organisms that descended via asexual reproduction from LUCA, an acronym referring to our Last Universal Common Ancestor, formed by a secular miracle of chemical reaction. So a fossil showing the presence of a more complex and modern product of sexual reproduction, such as a rabbit or a human, shouldn't be found in rocks formed long before that particular creature could have come into existence, according to these "rules" of evolution. When Darwin famously suggested that "monkeys make men", he could have claimed that protozoa make men, but his idea presented in The Origin of Species would have been harder to defend using comparative anatomy as the only weapon in Darwin's arsenal of evidence to argue in favor of common descent rather than common design. The idea that every living organism is related through common descent is the very heart and soul of Darwin's theory -- the belief that simple organisms can gradually evolve to become more complex, given the vagaries of time, through variety created by descent with modification via … [Read more...]
Todd Grantham versus Jeremy Pruitt — which Defensive Coordinator would you rather have?
It's a good thing I don't drink coffee. This morning during breakfast when I read Michael Cunningham's article in the AJC that was published a couple of weeks ago, suggesting that Todd Grantham has done a better job of coaching defense at Louisville than Jeremy Pruitt has been doing this year at Georgia, I would have spit that coffee all over my keyboard. Water cleans up much easier. Nor does it hurt very much if you laugh while swallowing and some goes up or down the wrong way. Was Mr. Cunningham serious? Has he actually watched the two defenses play, or simply looked at the raw statistical analysis? In his defense, Mr. Cunningham normally writes about the Atlanta Hawks and professional basketball. He must have wandered a little bit out of his comfort zone. That's the only way I can guess someone might think Todd Grantham could do a better job at Louisville than Jeremy Pruitt has been doing this year at Georgia. He simply can't have watched Todd Grantham coach a defense before. However, I have. In fact, I watched Grantham in action for four mostly painful years, from 2010 - 2013, every game the Bulldogs played. And in my personal opinion, Georgia won the freaking lottery when Grantham left and they hired Pruitt to replace him. Now it simply isn't fair to Grantham to compare him to Jeremy Pruitt, a man who has proven he knows how to coach a national championship caliber defense. Grantham's work should be measured against Willie Martinez, the guy he replaced. Grantham was a slight improvement. But I am sure that I can recognize a … [Read more...]
The really big money in politics
Now if you only get information from uber-liberal media sources like Mother Jones or Media Matters, you might have the impression that the Koch brothers (pronounced "Coke" like the soft drink) are probably the most powerful and corrupting influence out there, when it comes to the really big money in politics. Right? No, you would actually be wrong. Wait a minute -- even if the Kochs are not the absolute biggest individual political donors on the list, they must at least be in the top 10, correct? Nope. Not even close. But hold on now -- when Rolling Stone magazine suggested these e-e-e-vil brothers are trying to "buy up our political system" with ill-gotten profits of their "toxic empire," there must be some truth to those allegations, or their printed accusations would constitute libel, wouldn't it? Maybe. I'm not a lawyer. Nor do I play one on television. But if I'm reading the definition of libel correctly from the dictionary, perhaps a lawsuit looms in the magazine's near future. So, if not even in the top 10, where exactly on the list of big money donors do the Koch brothers fall? Well, according to OpenSecrets.org, a website published by the Center for Responsive Politics, Charles and David Koch rank 59th out of the top 100 political donors with donations of slightly more than $20 million dollars from 1989-2014. According to that same list, the largest single political donor is ActBlue, which alone donated over $100 million dollars more than the Koch brothers. Unsurprisingly, given their name, 99 percent of ActBlue's $121 million in total … [Read more...]
The entrapment of Todd Gurley
When media reports were published claiming the man accusing UGA running back Todd Gurley of accepting improper payment to autograph sports memorabilia had hired an attorney, my initial reaction to the story was one of surprise. The first, most obvious question that popped into my head was this: Why does the guy who allegedly entrapped Gurley need an attorney? It turns out that apparently by accusing Gurley, this person has tacitly admitted violating a Georgia law passed in 2003 that would make him legally liable for damages incurred by the University of Georgia through his deliberate causing of recruiting or regulation violations to occur. Now the conventional wisdom of pundits in the media currently seems to be that Gurley may have played his last game for the University of Georgia. However, I'm not convinced that #3 won't be suited up again next week for the Dawgs fairly soon, perhaps even as soon as next weekend against Arkansas. The rationale for my thinking is simply this: unless there is a smoking gun like video of money changing hands or cashed checks showing a direct payment of cash by the accuser to the accused, how will the NCAA justify giving Gurley more than a one game suspension, considering how similar recent cases have been handled? Reports in the media have emphatically indicated that the video allegedly showing Gurley autographing merchandise does not show any money changing hands. These reports suggest it is only the word of one accuser described as disgruntled and unscrupulous versus the best player in college football, Todd Gurley. And … [Read more...]
