Month: January 2005

How Not to Debunk Religious Nutcases

ERiposte.Com has an interesting page about the controversy surrounding teacher Stephen Williams, who is suing the Cupertino Union School District. The way this story was reported in the media is that Williams was banned from presenting the Declaration of Independence to his class because of that document’s mention of God. The reality is that Williams apparently has a history of using his classroom to shove his particular religious views down the throats of his students. After numerous complaints from parents, Williams’ handouts have to be approved by the principal who has rejected many of them because they are one-sided and give distorted views of the role that the Founding Fathers thought religion should play in government.

One of the good things that ERiposte.Com does is highlight the fraudulent nature of some of what Williams has been teaching his students. Williams has relied on a number of quotes from the Founding Fathers which appear to be bogus, and also on George Washington’s prayer diary which is also a bogus document.

But ERiposte.Com also demonstrates that poor scholarship is hardly restricted to right wing religious nutcases. One of the documents that Williams was apparently prevented from handing out to his students included selections from the Frame of Government of Pennsylvania which William Penn drafted in 1682. ERiposte.Com tries to make the case that the document is excerpted in such a way as to distort Penn’s beliefs, and ERiposte.Com links to and extensively quotes from an essay on the Quakers and William Penn designed to illustrate what Penn really believed.

Except there are obvious problems with the essay. The first thing the reader should notice is that the essay’s grammar and writing style are simply atrocious. Here’s the first paragraph that ERiposte.Com quotes,

The Quakers, also known as the Society of Friends was religious group that founded Pennsylvania. William Penn, one of the leaders, worked with the Quakers, Indians and the other population to make an ideal world for him, his followers, and the other people in his environment. With his efforts, and the help of others, the Quakers left a huge impact on Pennsylvania and the entire nation.

“The Quakers … was religious group?” The Quakers created an ideal environment for everyone including “other people in his environment”?

Clicking on the link provided by ERiposte.Com clears this up quickly. The essay lacks any sort of attribution as to who wrote it or when. In fact, the essay is from AntiEssays.Com which is an ad-supported essay mill. As the site notes on its home page,

Looking for free essays, college free essays, free college essays, free term papers, or free research papers? Can’t think of ideas for your college essay or term paper? Anti Essays has thousands of free essays, free college essays, free term papers, free research papers, and free book reports on a wide variety of subjects. Anti Essays searches all the major free essays sites, as well our own free essays, giving you one of the largest collections of free term papers and free essays sites on the internet.

When it comes to Williams’ use of the bogus George Washington Prayer Journal, ERiposte.Com approvingly quotes an e-mail the site received saying, “This fact alone shows a serious disregard for actual historical research by the teacher.”

Similarly the fact that ERiposte.Com relies on such an obviously problematic essay for information on William Penn on the Quakers shows a serious disregard for the facts, and should send up a red flag about the site’s accuracy.

Source:

Far-Right fundamentalists launch intimidation campaign against Stevens Creek Elementary School Principal in Cupertino, CA. ERiposte.Com, Viewed December 30, 2004.

Animal Rights Activists In Jail as of January 2005

The Earth Liberation Prisoner Support Group published a helpful list of animal rights activists currently being held in jail in the United States, Great Britain, Italy and Sweden.

They are,

Great Britain

David Blenkinsop — Blenkinsop is serving a 5-and-a-half year sentence for his role in an animal rights bombing campaign; a four year sentence for his role in the 2001 assault on Huntingdon Life Sciences managing director Brian Cass; and 18 months for stealing 600 guinea pigs from a supplier.

Paul Leboutillier — currently serving 2-and-a-half years for making threatening phone calls to medical researchers, farmers and others.

Barry Dickinson — currently serving a 5 month sentence for using vehicle licensing computers to provide animal rights extremists with home addresses and other details of medical researchers.

Sarah Gisborne — currently being held while awaiting charges of conspiracy to commit criminal damage.

Italy

Sergio Maria Stefani – currently being held while awaiting trial on charges of causing criminal damage to stores in Italy and planting an incendiary device outside a butcher’s shop.

Sweden

Daniel Hedqvist — currently serving a 10 month prison term for damaging the incubator at a chicken hatchery, ending the development of an estimated 55,000 eggs.

United States

Peter Schnell – currently jailed for violating terms of his probation. Schnell was sentenced in 2002 to two years in jail after pleading guilty to possession of explosive devices.

The ELP list does not included convicted animal rights terrorists who have cooperated with the government or testified against other animal rights extremists.

Source:

Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network. January 2005.

Women In United Arab Emirates Sentenced to Flogging and Imprisonment for Becoming Pregnant Out of Wedlock

Amnesty International recently reported that two foreign women working as servants in the United Arab Emirates were ordered flogged after they became pregnant out of wedlock in that country.

Rad Zemah Sinyaj Mohammed, of India, was sentenced to 150 lashes to be administered over two flogging sessions. She will then be deported back to India.

Wasini bint Sarjan, of Indonesia, was sentenced to 100 lashes and a year in jail, after which she too will be deported back to her home country of Indonesia.

Both women are currently pregnant, and Muslim Shari’a law forbids the flogging of pregnant or nursing women. Instead the court will appoint a medical officer to determine when the women have given birth and/or weaned their respective children, at which point the sentence will be carried out.

Amnesty International notes that the UAE is a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women which prohibits gender-based violence, including torture, but since the UAE also uses flogging to punish men, its unclear how that convention would apply to this case.

Amnesty International also claims that criminalizing private sexual conduct penalize women more than men, but does not elaborate on how or why this is the case.

It is really quite simple, though — criminal punishment of adult men or women for consensual, non-marital sex is barbaric. The use of flogging further ratchets up (or down) the level of barbarity involved here.

Source:

United Arab Emirates. Amnesty International, December 23, 2004.

How the Republicans Won — They Used Technology Better

Given all the focus the past couple years on new technologies in elections, from Joe Trippi and Howard Dean to MoveOn.Org and similar groups, its a bit odd to read the Washington Post argue that one of the reasons Bush won in November was because the Republicans better understood and deployed technology to a) target likely Bush voters and b) actually get them out to vote.

The 2002 elections, along with the Kentucky and Mississippi gubernatorial contests the following year, became testing grounds for the Republican effort to mobilize supporters. Designed to get base voters to the polls, it became known as the “72 Hour Project,” whose cost Republican officials refused to disclose but is estimated by sources to have been in the $200 million range.

Under Dowd’s direction, the RNC began investing in extensive voter research. One of the most striking findings, according to Republican consultants, was the ineffectiveness of traditional phone banks and direct mail that targeted voters in overwhelmingly Republican precincts. The problem: Only 15 percent of all GOP voters lived in precincts that voted Republican by 65 percent or more. Worse, an even smaller percentage of “soft” Republicans, the 2004 target constituency, lived in such precincts.

The RNC decided to cast a wider net for voters. But to work, Dowd’s motivation and mobilization strategy needed expensive, high-tech micro targeting to cherry-pick prospective Republicans who lived in majority Democratic neighborhoods.

Republican firms, including TargetPoint Consultants and National Media Inc., delved into commercial databases that pinpointed consumer buying patterns and television-watching habits to unearth such information as Coors beer and bourbon drinkers skewing Republican, brandy and cognac drinkers tilting Democratic; college football TV viewers were more Republican than those who watch professional football; viewers of Fox News were overwhelmingly committed to vote for Bush; homes with telephone caller ID tended to be Republican; people interested in gambling, fashion and theater tended to be Democratic.

Surveys of people on these consumer data lists were then used to determine “anger points” (late-term abortion, trial lawyer fees, estate taxes) that coincided with the Bush agenda for as many as 32 categories of voters, each identifiable by income, magazine subscriptions, favorite television shows and other “flags.” Merging this data, in turn, enabled those running direct mail, precinct walking and phone bank programs to target each voter with a tailored message.

Source:

On Nov. 2, GOP Got More Bang For Its Billion, Analysis Shows. Thomas B. Edsall and James V. Grimaldi, Washington Post, December 29, 2004.

PETA Criticizes Animal Planet Over Depictions of Animal Predation

As long time watchers of the organization probably realize by now, there is simply no absurdity which People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will refuse to embrace in the furtherance of this cause. PETA is currently unhappy with cable television’s “Animal Planet” because of a new series which uses technology to provide viewers with a unique, vivid look at predators.

The series, “Spy on the Wild,” involves placing miniaturized cameras on animals and then recording what they do naturally. The Los Angeles Times sums up what viewers see in a “Spy on the Wild” episode on peregrine falcons,

In “Spy on the Wild,” the falcon takes off and glides in “Matrix”-style slow motion, in death defying barrel rolls. A miniature camera attached to the bird’s neck shows the ground rushing up.

Then the image dives underwater to a close-up of a shrimp’s claw. The force of this claw is so great, says the narrator, that it momentarily boils the water when it slams onto prey.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals would apparently prefer that shows like this simply not be made. The Los Angeles Times quotes PETA’s Laura Brown saying (emphasis added),

When animals are portrayed as violent creatures, it encourages animal cruelty. No animal should ever be used simply for entertainment, particularly when you have to strap cameras to their backs or attach bulky devices.

Presumably, peregrine falcons and other predators should only be shown in their natural environment munching on tofu or perhaps queing up to order a veggie burger.

Source:

Animal planet bares its competitive teeth. Charles Duhigg, Los Angeles Times, January 2, 2005.