New Rule: Clock Blocker

New Rule: In honor of daylight savings time, Republican candidates must say whether or not they believe the days getting shorter proves that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

Comments

[Johngiza]

Dear Bill:

I have been a huge fan of your's for a long
time.
I was wondering if you could do me a big
favor?
I really admire Mo Rocca and his Blog commenters.
This is to request that you consider televising a Real Time episode featuring Mo and, oh say, about ten of his most loyal and talented followers. These individuals could be selected by a creative Mo Rocca Contest or, in lieu of democracy, left up to the sound judgement of one of your network's talented corporate middle managers.
I can guarantee you, not only would you be on the hot seat, but it would make for great entertainment and it would evolve our species.
Mo Rocca. Remember him.

Hank Kimball for President '08

[LightningRose]

While I am in favor of embarrassing ignorant politicians whenever possible, the seasonal variation of daylight hours does *not* in fact prove the Earth orbits the Sun.

[KoolBreez]

Wasn't the bible proven wrong on at least one count?

[JoanneS]

You've got to admire that level of denial.

[Manx]

Speaking of time, on my last trip to a red state, the pilot announced over the speaker system: "Ladies and gentlemen, we're now flying over the state of Texas. Please set your watches back 50 years."

[Izadora]

What religion has to do with science?

All Bibles are written by man.

The world holds two classes of men:

intelligent men without of religion and

religion men without intelligence.

Albert Stein and Carl Sagan prove my point.

Also, religion is a virus that makes people

mentally ill.

[zizyphus]

Maher is making himself more and more irrelevant. It is too easy to joke about whether or not the earth is flat, and take those safe jabs. When the 911 truth movement people confronted him, he had a little tantrum on teevee.

Well, Billy, maybe the words of retired 20-year CIA vet Bob Baer might enlighten you:

In an interview with Thom Hartmann on June 9, 2006, Baer was asked if he believed "that there was an aspect of 'inside job' to 9/11 within the U.S. government". He replied: "There is that possibility, the evidence points at it." (wikipedia)

[SouthpawSass]

How ya hanging in there, Bill? Writer's strike must be frustrating.

If you're not doing it already, post on Huffington anonymously. At least you can add some humor to the discussion and nobody will know who the heck you are.

[olephart]

What's with the rerun on Friday?

[MSB]

Religion is an ideology that attracts mostly the feeble-minded. There are many, many subjects which humans barely understand, but you can bet that attributing intent to a "creator" which has virtually no purpose is completely pointless accept to take responsibility for one's actions fundamentally out of their hands.

In short, science (and its method) is completely superior to religion because of its open-ended nature. Knowledge is only as good as its predictability through testing. Science claims no "truths," but only what has been proven to work. Elements which have not yet been defined or understood are not imbued with divine purpose, but rather are understood to be unknown at this time. Science embraces a method of understanding without insisting on its own truth. Good science is always an approximation. Ideally we are always getting "closer" to some truth - for us that likely means what is useful or knowable.

On the other hand you get religion, which is usually guilty of having a pre-determined reality defined, and taking all of experience and attempting to fit it into a pre-existing model. As a closed system it is resistant to change and makes changes in meaning or purpose virtually impossible.

[Maia]

Actually, the earth is flat and it rests on pillars. They days get shorter in the winter because the farmers don't need the extra daylight. It's providence. Duh.

[MagisterLudi]

The biggest problem with all religions is blind acceptance of "our" dogma and equally blind rejection of "their" dogma.

This stance is intellectually irreconcilable and lead to much suffering in the world.

Hence the more "faithful" a religious person is, the more dangerous.
This makes Western idea of separation of church and state inherently a safer alternative palatable and progressive (when it works).
When tools of government end up in the hands of 'faithful' thing always, ALWAYS turn for the worse.
Secular dictatorships like Pakistan and former Iraq were inherently more predictable and less dangerous than fanatics in Iran, Taliban and some elements of Bush admin.

This is were the fight is and should be.

[FW]

It's true that there is not much difference between the Republican and the Democratic establishment parties. However there is a simple way to tell them apart. When the Democrats are in power, we become more like Canada, when thre Republicans are in charge, we become more like Mexico. Take your pick!

[serendipityschild]

As I read each post, I began to see what the problem is, and how to fix it. We have ceased to be Americans, and have chosen sides, ideologically. There is no difference in the parties, the same forms of corruption and cowardice exist on both sides. All candidates tell us what they think we want to hear to get elected, and when they sit in the seat of power, they become corrupted by the system of permissions and and misinformation fostered by the so called law enforcement agencies of the government. There needs to be a restructuring of the government, one that actually puts the people in the driver's seat, and listens to the people when we say we want this, don't want that. It will take work to make it happen, and mass education to bring the public up to speed on what is necessary and what is foolish. We the people are their employers, not the other way around. Perhaps if we start acting like this is true, change can come and we will be "government by the people, for the people", rather than by the elite for the elite.

[Hugo de Balsac]

"man, i could really go for a Starbucks"

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

Errr I hate to burst everyone's bubble but actually the change of seasons doesn't have anything to do with the the Earth going around the sun.
The seasons change because the Earth is tilting back and forth on it's axis.
It would happen even if the Sun went around the Earth! To quote the late Don Adams, "Sorry about that chief..."

[EnderCraig]

A democrat is snickered at because hes says he couldn't identify an object in the night sky, but somehow its not humiliating to be a college graduate and still believe in creation? And expect to preside over the largest military and economy in the world? Science is settling how many dimensions there are and the age of the universe, not who bit whose apple off what tree.
Be horrified, people. That one of these creationist people will win office. It's happened.

[Anastasia]

Hey Bill,

Love that line!

[Stevelagain]

I'm not skeptical of science...but I sure don't trust scientists any more than anyone else.

Wasn't it scientists that told us the earth is cooling because of pollution? I remember scientists telling us plastic diapers were BAD. The entire environmental movement seemed to revolve around the "fact" that Plastic diabers were destroying the planet, depleting resources, filling land fills. Then some other people figured out that those scientists were full of crap, cloth diapers did more damage to environment than plastic and the entire environmental radicalized junk science movement sort of went into shock and denial for a few years on that one. An archaeologist even proved that land fills were filling with construction and demolition waste and PAPER....diapers were unimportant in the grand scheme.

We once had dinner guests that almost left our house in a rage because I had dared to say that I felt Plastic diapers were not important to the environmental problems. Can you imagine. But they had "science" on their side. turned out to be JUNK SCIENCE...but the radical left preached it like religion...like Gore today. Gore is old news folks...Junk Science as left wing religion has been done.

Our brave Senators certainly have some junk science on their side when they passed an Ethanol bill along with the increased mileage for cars. Food for fuel...what a folly. Not only does it harm the worlds poor....as in the UN begging people to stop doing it....now a group of scientists are saying that ethanol from corn creates MORE global warming by putting in a different greenhouse chemical worse than what was being looked at by other scientists.

So now atheists want to tell us science has proved there is no God. Heck, they can't even get Corn-Ethanol and diapers down right....I think Scientists should leave God alone until they stop supporting fixes that make global warming WORSE. Even Einstein believed in a god.

[BeerHolder]

Religion is one of the ONLY things holding back humanity. It is why there is so much grief and suffering in the world. Religion = Ignorance.

I don't know if there is a truth behind our existence but religion is an absolute lie. Science is the only hope we have for ever finding out the truth. I still don't know why anyone would believe a 2000+ year old book written by people who thought the earth was flat.

[ultomatt]

The flat-earth proves that global warming is a hoax! There can be no global warming if the earth isn't a globe! Say hallelujah and pass the ammunition! Onward christian soldiers, but watch your step when you get to the edge of the world, we wouldn't want to see you fall off.

[swkidder]

He's a national treasure ...

[LizM]

What's up with the obvious fascination with Edwards - to the exclusion of the most qualified candidate - if you don't mind my asking?

[deminmo]

To quote a song: This is the land of Confusion!

[regellner]

Mr. Maher,
You have brought up a topic that has bothered me for years about the way science is perceived in this country. Our whole modern way of life is based upon the successfulness of the scientific method. I do not know of anyone who wishes to give up their cars, central air, washing machines, dishwashers, cell phones, etc. but the religious right time and time again casts the blame for the world's woes upon science.
Science is an understanding of how the universe works and has no agenda of its own, good or ill. What we do with it is our fault, not the fault of science. The biggest problem is that in schools we teach facts but do not adequately teach a full understanding of the scientific method which is used to obtain those facts. If people better understood the rigorous nature of the scientific method, there would be more appreciation for science, even by those who feel science is a threat to their faith. I believe that late Carl Sagan said something to the effect that "science may not be perfect, but it is the best method we presently have for learning about our universe". The technological advances we enjoy are a proof to this.