Debt and the downgrade – some claim it is all Obama’s fault

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I’m reading a story in the UK’s Telegraph, that claims, “America’s debt downgrade is a damning indictment of President Obama’s Big Government disaster“.

According to this Torygraph story, it is all Obama’s fault; it is “a massive blow to the credibility of the Obama administration, and a damning indictment of its handling of the economy“, and has all been caused by an “unprecedented increase in government spending and borrowing“.

This is such a silly factually incorrect claim to make; is the author of this article, Nile Gardiner, really that moronically stupid? Well, I note that he appears frequently on Fox News, so I can only conclude that the answer to that is “Yes”.

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Why do facts get distorted?

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Understanding the dynamics and pressures can often help you to appreciate why you cannot trust statistical “facts” you find quoted in the papers.

As an example, consider the latest weather story about the appalling drought and heatwave that has engulfed the southern states of the US. Apparently it is the worst on record …

  • here claims that “Today and Friday are expected to be hotter than any time since 1950”
  • here claims “the worst in Texas history”

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Westboro Baptist plan to fly to Norway and protest at the funerals

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Just when you think they could not get any whacker, up they pop to prove you wrong.

Westboro have posted a press release to their website (click here for a PDF of the actual press release) announcing plans to picket the funerals of those who lost their lives when Anders Breivik set off a bomb in Oslo that killed eight and then traveled to the island of Utoya to execute 69 at a youth camp. Its the usual yada-yada insanity that we all expect from them these days, I need not repeat what we are all so familiar with already (if you are indeed not familiar then lets just say that they are so extreme, they make all other kooks look quite acceptable)

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Atheist News – 6 Aug

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Here are a few quick links to 5 items of Atheist news today for you all …

Jon Stewart Asks Atheists Against 9/11 Cross: Why Do You Give AS@&T?

Stewart finally weighed in on the American Atheists’ lawsuit to remove the so-called 9-11 Cross from the World Trade Center Site. “By the way, atheists, why do you give a s&@?” Stewart asked …. Perhaps, as a compromise, we could build you an atomic symbol statue. But it has to be made out of billions of crosses.

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What do you need to do to live to be 95 and beyond?

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We all know the guidance: exercise, eat well, don’t smoke, etc… but is that really all it takes to live to be 95 and beyond? Apparently not. There is a new study that throws some interesting light on all this.

It was conducted by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and was published, August 3, 2011 in the online edition of Journal of American Geriatrics Society entitled “Lifestyle Factors of People with Exceptional Longevity“.

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Atheist Pastors in Holland

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The BBC reports today about a cleric who is actually an atheist …

The Rev Klaas Hendrikse can offer his congregation little hope of life after death, and he’s not the sort of man to sugar the pill.

An imposing figure in black robes and white clerical collar, Mr Hendrikse presides over the Sunday service at the Exodus Church in Gorinchem, central Holland.

It is part of the mainstream Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN), and the service is conventional enough, with hymns, readings from the Bible, and the Lord’s Prayer. But the message from Mr Hendrikse’s sermon seems bleak – “Make the most of life on earth, because it will probably be the only one you get”.

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