A letter to the editor in the San Luis Obispo (CA) paper.
SOME DON'T NEED VACCINE
Recent news about the avian flu virus has raised concerns from main street to the White House. There is the possibility, even likelihood, that the virus will mutate into a form that can more easily infect humans.
As the president pointed out, a vaccine cannot be made until this evolution occurs. This raises the concern that it may be impossible to create enough vaccine fast enough to protect all our citizens. But there is hope.
Gallup polls tell us that up to 45 percent of Americans don't believe in evolution. Since random mutation is the engine of evolution, these same people must believe that the virus cannot mutate. Therefore, there is no need to waste vaccine on folks who believe there is no possible threat to th! emselves -- thus leaving a sufficient supply for the rest of us. Perhaps the president, given his doubts about evolution, may wish to demonstrate his leadership by foregoing vaccination.
This approach has added benefits. Polls also tell us that disbelief in evolution is more pronounced among the less educated, the poor and conservatives. If the anti-evolutionists among these groups were to opt out of vaccination then, through immediate deaths and natural selection, we would reduce poverty, raise educational attainment, and become a more progressive society.
George R Zug
Divis. Amphibians & Reptiles/mrc162
Smithsonian Institution
#1
There are a few nagging problems with the last thesis. Namely that progressives have a better likelihood of survival, adaptation and procreation.
To start with, progressives often have several herbivorous habits, such as vegetarianism, having a herd mentality instead of defending themselves individually, and an aversion to conflict that certainly do not contribute to survival, compared to a meat-eating, heavily-armed and aggressive conservative.
These same factors also figure in the ability of progressives to adapt to changing circumstances. Again, by being reliant on the herd, they cannot react and adapt until the group reaches a consensus--and stubbornly cling to this consensus despite overwhelming impetus otherwise.
Lastly, not only do progressives not procreate enough to replenish their ranks, they encourage infanticide as a convenience.
So while they might tend to embrace the theory of evolution more than conservatives, they seem to not understand its concepts very well.
#2
This approach has added benefits. Polls also tell us that disbelief in evolution is more pronounced among the less educated, the poor and conservatives. If the anti-evolutionists among these groups were to opt out of vaccination then, through immediate deaths and natural selection, we would reduce poverty, raise educational attainment, and become a more progressive society.
Why, thank you, Dr. Mengele!
They didn't call them "National Socialists" for nothing...
#3
I could be wrong but I think this letter mischaracterizes Intelligent Design. I don't think ID discards mutation, it just discards random mutation, pointing out that the supremely advanced organisms all around were unlikely to be produced by simple chance.
I don't really believe in ID but I think the progressives have dismissed it as Creationism before even really looking at it and this kind of misfire is the result. If the writer understood ID better the same letter could be rewritten slightly to blast it properly.
#4
The article doesn't ever refer to "intelligent design", it simply refers to belief and disbelief in evolution. The words "intelligent design" were added by the Rantburg contributor in the title.
#5
ID argues that certain functions are too complex to be the result of mutations -- it is related to the concept of irreducible complexity.
To refer to the gene swaping in a virus as "evolution" is to equivocate on the word "evolution". Gene swaping does not create any new genes, it swaps existing genes.
This is merely an example of the proposition that being an expert in one field does not mean that you have expertise in another. Nothing something about lizards does not mean that you have any ability to construct an argument. This man has failed in his task, the letter is not even silly; it's just kinda stupid.
#6
There is the possibility, even likelihood, that the virus will mutate into a form that can more easily infect humans.
This assertion is false.
I am continually amazed by the number of biologists and similar who just don't understand the Theory of Natural Selection (commonly called evolution). The writer also confuses 'mutation' with 'adaptation'.
Natural Selection will select organisms that are better suited to their current environment (a process known as adaptation). A virus thats infects birds will become better at infecting birds. It will not become better at infecting people.
Mutations are necessarily random. Therefore one cannot say anything about the 'direction' of a set of mutations prior to those mutations occuring.
"We were not strong enough to drive out a half-million American troops, but that wasn't our aim. Our intention was to break the will of the American government to continue the war."
--North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap, in a 1990 interview with historian Stanley Karnow.
It's been a bad week for the American war effort, not in Iraq or anywhere else in the field but in Washington, D.C. The American Congress is sending increasingly loud signals of irresolution in Iraq, including panicky calls for withdrawal.
There are many lessons of the Vietnam War, but two of the biggest are these: Don't fight wars you don't intend to win, and while American troops can't be defeated, American politicians can be. Like General Giap, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his fellow terrorists understand the second lesson very well, and so his strategy has always been not to capture Baghdad but to inflict casualties in a way that breaks the will of American elites. He'll only be encouraged by this week's show of Beltway duck and cover.
There's little comfort in the fact that Senate Republicans stood up Monday to Democratic demands for a specific troop-withdrawal timetable. The GOP Senate leadership still put itself on record that it believes time is running short. No wonder Minority Leader Harry Reid is bragging of having "change[d] the policy of the United States with regard to Iraq."
The resolution--which passed 79-19--sounds innocuous enough: It calls for 2006 to be "a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty, with Iraqi security forces taking the lead for the security of a free and sovereign Iraq, thereby creating the conditions for the phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq."
That's pretty much exactly what the White House has in mind assuming next month's Iraqi elections go smoothly. But the harm of the Senate adding its voice here is that it turns the sound strategy of Iraqification into a suggestion that the U.S. might cut and run if the terrorists can prevent things from moving forward exactly as planned.
That was the barely veiled threat from GOP Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, who drafted the resolution. He said he wanted to send a "strong message to Iraqi people and the Iraqi government that you have got to come to grip with your internal problems. . . . It's a signal to the Iraqis that we mean business."
Thousands of Iraqis have already died in our joint war against terrorism and thousands more risk their lives every day. And now they get accused of not understanding that this is all serious "business" by a Senator eight time zones from the front lines. Majority Leader Bill Frist did his reputation no good by allowing this spectacle, even if it was intended to give skittish GOP Members a voting alternative to the Democrats' withdrawal policy. The way our enemy will read this is: Even the President's party is losing its nerve.
The real profiles in courage were the 13 Republicans who voted "no" and refused to add their voices to this "signal." They are Senators Bunning, Burr, Chambliss, Coburn, DeMint, Graham, Inhofe, Isakson, Kyl, McCain, Sessions, Thune, and Vitter.
Far from slowing the withdrawal fever, Mr. Frist's resolution may only have quickened its pace. Yesterday, Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha became the most prominent Democrat so far to join the pullout chorus. Mr. Murtha is esteemed on Capitol Hill, and in these columns, for his Vietnam service. But yesterday's speech urging a withdrawal within six months could have been written by Howard Dean.
Mr. Murtha says a key to progress is "to Iraqitize" the war, but his deadline would make it more difficult to get Iraqis into the fight. Though tens of thousands still volunteer to fight, no Iraqis want to die in a losing cause or be rounded up or killed if the Saddamists return to power. Iraqis already have reason to doubt U.S. staying power, going back to the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War and the failure to prosecute Saddam himself nearly two years after his capture.
Saddam was trying to put just such a fear into Iraqis when he declared at his recent hearing that "I am still the President of Iraq." Ex-Baathists call themselves "The Party of the Return," and "collaborator" lists are posted in mosques. Death threats are common, and the families of those who join the cause of Free Iraq are targeted. The brother of Adel Abdel Mahdi, the current vice president and a potential prime minister after the elections, was recently assassinated.
Every Iraqi thus has to calculate the prospects of victory over the terrorists against the risks of U.S. abandonment. The signal Mr. Murtha is sending is that the risks of abandonment are growing, and that Iraqis might as well sit the fight out. This will only make it harder to train an Iraqi army and thus more difficult for the U.S. to disengage with success. The Murtha pullout could well leave the U.S. facing the terrible dilemma of a far longer stay or leaving in catastrophic defeat.
This withdrawal panic ironically comes on the eve of what is likely to be the third successful Iraqi election in a year. This one will elect a permanent government, which will have the legitimacy to assert itself with far more authority. Iraqi political leaders are emerging, sectarian factions are participating in the democratic process, and the U.S. military has done a splendid job under the most trying circumstances. Iraqi forces are getting more capable every day. The Beltway retreat puts all of this progress at risk.
We'll grant that the White House could do a far better job of reassuring Americans and thus providing political cover for Congress. It has finally begun to fight back against the Democratic lie that it was "lying" about prewar intelligence. But what's really needed are continued explanations of why the war is justified, the consequences of defeat, and above all repeating again and again a strategy for victory. Among other things, Mr. Bush could draw attention to progress in Iraq by visiting there himself.
We are told that among the papers discovered along with Saddam two years ago was one saying that the Baathists-turned-terrorists will know they are winning when a candidate for President of the United States calls for withdrawal from Iraq. Saddam and Zarqawi know the real lessons of Vietnam, even if too many Members of Congress do not.
#1
We should call for the resignation of Rep. Murtha.
This man, OF ALL PEOPLE should know the lessons learned in Vietnam.He has out lived his usefulness in Congress. His statments were very irresponsible.This idiot has sent a message to ALL Islamic extremists that could prolong this war indefinitly.
I beleive it's called senile dementia. This man is obviously over wrought emotionally and living in a time warp.
I believe it's called the politics of desperation. This gentleman, who voted for the war before he spoke against it, has been opposed to the war since 2004 (an election year). But he has not made a big splash until now. Because Cindy Sheehan has run out of steam and The Plame case is starting to look like a fiasco, the donks needed a new anti-war symbol. This guy comes from a safe liberal district near Pittsburg. He's a war hero and a long term senior donk pol. The party leader ship has probably had him ready for a long time. The Bushies came out strong against thier detractors this week. So this is the donks' response designed to be the primary topic on the Sunday talk shows. I would not be surprised to hear from him next week also, say Thursday or Friday.
It's pure politics. What he deserves is to be thanked for his service to the country and defeated at the next congressional election.
Did he vote to end assistance to South Vietnam? Anyone know when that vote was taken, what the bil # was?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/18/2005 12:41 Comments ||
Top||
#4
He was elected in a special election to fill an unexpired term in February 1974. The vote to cut aid to Vietnam was in July, IIRC. I do not know the bill number nor could I figure out how he voted from some limited Googling yesterday.
#5
I love the way the other article branded him a conservative. Yeah, sure he is. He's a Democrat. A conservative and a war hero against the war. We should all go home. The liberal's new darling spokesperson.
It's going to be fun watching the internet shed some unwelcome light on all of his past boastful claims. hehe.
#6
The Senate may be cutting and running from the fight with Islamofascism now, but as the saying goes, "you can run, but..."
I'm afraid that, rather than the Cold War with hot spots with the Commies, it's going to be a Hot War with a few cold spots with the Islammies.
I just hope my son doesn't suffer someday for the cowardice on display today by the spineless Republican Congressional Caucus.
Oh well. I guess it's time to start voting 3rd party again, 'cause what does it matter if it's Demicans or Republicrats in the majority? They're all blow(hard)-with-the-wind pussies.
Our troops, and our cuntry, deserve beter than these jellyfish.
Maybe it's time to join the RNC and to bitch and holler whenever the warm milk crowd tries to turn the party into a bunch of Dems.
Maybe it's time to take an interest in the primaries and support candidates who think like you do.
The third-party stuff is crap; it gave us Bill Clinton, the gift of Ross Perot.
The "vote the man, not the party" stuff is crap. I vote Republican because I'm philosophically a Republican. That doesn't mean that I'll accept the party doing stoopid things. To almost quote the original Gore (Leslie): "It's my party and I'll bitch if I want to."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 13:40 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Lovely little Leslie also said "You would cry too if it happened to you." I did when Ross put Bill in office. Twice. I'd rather hear Murtha singing it Or maybe Bush singing "It's Murtha's turn to cry."
If the 'Pubs can't be counted on for spine, then phuck 'em all, along with the Donks.
FWIW (which amounts to spit in a hurricane), my vote for President Bush was a vote to support the the War on Terror. My votes for Republicans in '02 and '04 were mostly because the Dems weren't serious about it. '06... we'll see who's serious about the War.
Hyper
P.S. Maybe Perot did birth Clinton, but 15 Million Perot voters (~20% of the electorate) scared the Demicans and Republicrats into a balanced budget. Standing up for what's right isn't what motivates the yellow bastards in Washington, it's fear of losing voters (though I agree getting Clinton in the deal was vile).
#14
What is philosophically Republican? The Sense of the Senate (lol) resolution on Monday? The bridge to nowhere? The prescription drug plan? McCain-Feingold? The McCain gang? Waffling on ANWR exploration?
I consider myself philosophically conservative. I have voted for Republicans for support for the WOT, limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the judiciary. The last six months have been very disappointing. Republicrats indeed.
#17
Nice try, GE3742. However, elections are supposed to mean something. With the record that the Senate GOP is busy establishing, we might as well have electer sKerry, because the results will be the same.
Politics ain't beanbag. We get the government we deserve. The reason the pols don't listen to the voters is because they believe they have lifetime sinecures. Turn the bums out, and the system might recover.
#18
"...we might as well have electer sKerry, because the results will be the same."
That's so obviously untrue in the area in which you voiced concern, the WoT, that it's breathtaking. You're competing with Reid, with that one. It's beneath you bro.
#19
I hate to bicker with a guy named SR-71. But, do you really think things would be the same with Kerry in office?
I have no disagreement with turning the bums out. And then, whom do we put in their place? The bottom line is we get a choice between, basically, two guys. Neither may be your ideal, but you gotta choose the better one.
Apparently Rep. Murtha does not receive e-mails, so I printed this out and will mail it tomorrow:
November 18, 2005
The Honorable John P. Murtha
House of Representatives
2423 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 3812
Re: Iraq
Dear Representative Murtha:
My son is a Marine, so I certainly respect your years of service. I lived through Vietnam, but did not participate (or run away), and respect ALL who served this Country.
Given your years of service, I can not understand your recent call for withdrawal from Iraq within six months. Do you really believe the war can't be won? The only thing that can defeat us, Congressmen, is ourselves.
I am disappointed that a Marine of your distinguished service would climb on the defeatist bandwagon. Did the Viet Cong WIN in Vietnam, Congressman, or did we LOSE the war at home?
Sincerely,
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/18/2005 21:10 Comments ||
Top||
#21
Like Fred said, in #9 - Make your voice heard.
You can go to - http://congress.nw.dc.us/townhall/dbq/officials/directory/directory.dbq?command=congdir
And e-mail ANY Representative or Congressman. (Except, of course, some are not in the 21st century, yet).
I have probably sent out 30 e-mails in the last 20 days - a couple of which I have shared with the 'Burg.
I know Fred is bored, and has nothing else to do, but a link to a place to e-mail elected representatives would be most useful, (mebbe there's a better or easier site than Townhall?) and the next most useful thing would be a library of well-crafted, polite, short, respectful, direct and to-the-point e-mails which could be borrowed, copied, or modified to match a particular day and time.
I hereby release all rights to anything *I* have ever shared here!
Number One - Make it happen!
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/18/2005 21:20 Comments ||
Top||
#22
.com My comment was unclear. It was not criticism of GWB. You well know that I have supported him consistently. But the president cannot do it alone.
Frist is a joke, and the GOP Senate made an amazing display of wobblies on Monday. I do not believe that "they didn't know how it would be taken." If the congress critters undercut the war effort, what do you think the result will be? How will that be different from a sKerry presidency?
I have also written a number of letters this week, but I am increasingly frustrated with the media and the Democrats. They are talking impeachment. It may be lunatic moonbattery, but if that happens, the system is dead.
#23
Ah, cool - I think I'm with you 100%, then - particularly regards the Senate. The House has some active and reliable people, er, well at least more than the Senate, heh. IMHO, Henry Hyde was the only speaker I saw tonight who was calm, rational, and worthy of praise. Even Kyl seemed to get caught up in the screechy shit and wasted his tiny moment upon the stage. Sigh. I guess the margin is what makes the House seem a bit more rational, lol.
The gutless performances over the last 4 months or so have been very disheartening. I recall, very clearly, how that felt back in the Vietnam era. Sucked, big time, to know that you were literally hung out to dry and either nobody gave a shit or, if the did, it was to hate you.
If we hadn't lucked out by having Bush in there on 9/11/2001, we'd be fucked, today. Well and Truly, IMHO. Certainly, Gore wouldn't be fighting anyone. The Taleban and Saddam would still be killing wymyn on the soccer grounds and shredding Shi'a for kicks. An election that close - and 180° opposite results. Pivoted on the head of a pin. Amazing.
#24
I commented yesterday on another site that it is hard to understand how Murtha could do this. He also served in Vietnam. Doesn't HE remember being hung out to dry? Democrat politics apparently supercedes everything.
If the Donks win, a lot of Americans will die. When nukes start going off in our cities, the war of civilizations starts - it doesn't matter who is in the Whitehouse. The congress will impeach any president who refuses to retaliate. Jacksonian America still lives. Hard to believe that they would want that. I don't believe that the Donks will actually stand on principle and allow themselves to be destroyed.
#25
"If the Donks win, a lot of Americans will die."
And with that you nailed the difference: they would have done zip, 9/11/2001 to now, and will roll back what Bush has done if they win in 2008.
If they do take the WH in '08... Then only when another massive hit comes, since it's not like we haven't already been repeatedly attacked, massively so on 9/11, THEN they'll pretend to get all righteous and pissed... and do dick about it, ala Clinton.
#26
.com Do you really think it will be that long? The harder the left pushes, the more crazies that come out. They don't seem to realize that they are destroying the system that allows competing interests and worldviews to co-exist.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
