Critical Brain Candy

A few things happened recently that struck me as pretty sickening with all the real madness going on down here.

First, of course, there’s Barbara Bush claiming that the people now being sheltered in the Astrodome are so poor anyways that they’re loving this. Barbara Bush: Things Working Out ‘Very Well’ for Poor Evacuees from New Orleans

Then there’s the no-talent ass-clown named Geraldo Rivera, who works for none other than Fox news. Apparently he went and rescued some old woman from her home in New Orleans but then made her walk from the Fox news van to the helliport twice. I guess it’s not too much to ask after giving her a boat ride to help get the correct lighting for the sequence. Link to Instapundit

A recent poll found that two thirds of Americans want Creationism taught “alongside” Evolution in schools. I find this sad but my level of outrage at this would change based on the definition of “alongside.” I would have few objections if the subject of Creationism were presented without implying there is any real scientific data behind it. I would object if it were presented on par with Evolution, from a scientific standpoint.

Most in poll want creationism taught

I found one thing even scarier in this article. Apparently 42% of Americans believe “living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.” This is scary. I had thought most of these people had at least acknowledged that, you know, the earth isn’t only 6,000 years old and wasn’t created as described in Genesis. Apparently not.

I would find this social regression in the US an interesting study if it were not so sad and scary. Remember that the same people ignoring the scientific evidence of the age of the planet also could control the nuclear weapons.

I was reading the following article about Bush surveying the hurricane damage from Air Force One:
Bush Views Katrina Devastation From Plane

Look at the picture of Bush watching out the window. As soon as I saw it my first thoughts were about how “posed” it was. Isn’t that sad? Does anyone actually think any aspect of politics is geniune anymore? It’s such a strange thing too because in this case I think I would have felt better after reading that article had the picture not been there. In my mind I can imagine that Bush is sincerely trying to survey the damage to help his decisions, etc. But as soon as there are reporters involved it’s immediately forced to be staged in a sense. At that moment how much of his brain-power is spent thinking about how he’s looking, how long he looks for, etc, while he’s got 20 photographers snapping shots of him? Probably quite a bit.

Maybe this is a product of the “reality TV” craze. Seeing a few of those shows has taught me that people change instantly when they’re in front of a camera. Maybe when you’re in a high political office, and have cameras in your face 24 hours a day, you get used to it. Maybe they can act “normal” or “true”.

All I know for sure is how deatched from reality politics is since a lot (most?) people agree on this. When you know someone is putting on a show for you, how can you trust they aren’t doing the same thing when it comes to an issue you really care about?