The war with Iran is scheduled for April, according to the Daily Herald in Scotland that quoted “an official report from Sofia” and picked up details from Arab Times in Kuwait. OK. We have the trail of electronic news screens, but where is the rest? I expect we will begin hearing a lot more about this in the next month.

We already knew the plan for a broad attack on Iran, but these stories add a lot of detail.

Is Iran well-enough armed from U.S. military surplus yet to offer a credible stage for the Armageddon so many Americans seek? They better be. The “Stop Arming Iran Act” has been introduced, and opponents will have a difficult time justifying continued arming of Iran to the mainstream.

We’re a long way from the inevitable negotiations to move U.S. oil interests into the country, as are now happening in Iraq. Couldn’t we just skip the war with Iran and move directly to the negotiations this time? That wouldn’t satisfy the Armageddon lobby, would it.

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“The state has become hostile to religion.” So says Chris Buttars. He’s going to have to do more than say it to convince me. Has he actually ever been outside of Utah to see how the rest of the world works?

Utah’s hostility to religion has inspired his introduction of S.B. 111, a bill in the Utah state Senate in support of the free exercise of religion through T-shirts. The bill has been substituted by another bill, which means they have added, edited, and cleaned it up. But, it’s still there.

Didn’t we already have the constitutional guaranteed right to exercise our religion through T-shirts? Speakers at the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee meeting told Senators that the right is already guaranteed. The constitution isn’t enough for them, apparently.

If the right is already guaranteed, what is Buttars up to? Keep your eye on the bill as it is cut and pasted through the Utah state Legislature. Surely the intention behind this is more than just blogger fodder. If you figure out what he is up to, tell me.

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The White House and Congress have been heavily lobbied by evangelical Christians seeking Armageddon. They know the (temporarily) all-powerful George Bush will help. He wants nuclear war with Iran as much as they do. He likes their vocabulary (though maybe not Stephen Colbert’s). He likes their pro-Zionist stance, and he loves anyone who will continue to attack Jimmy Carter for speaking truth to lobby.

I don’t want to participate in empty fear mongering that plays into the hands of the Armageddonites. Still, when the Bulletin for Atomic Scientists is concerned enough to move the Doomsday clock to five minutes to midnight, I am concerned. I want to stop them.

We have to believe that the Democratic Congress can stop the madman willing to jump into another war. We have to tell our Senators and Representatives that we do not want to see war with Iran, that we want to see diplomacy —as well as investigation of why previous opportunities for diplomacy were ignored. Use our democratic tools to push the Christofascists back. We need to expose these people for the baseless frauds they are.

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Before Chris Buttars is able to push a new bill through the Utah State Legislature, you need to read it, consider the implications, and call your Utah state Senators and Representatives.

Yesterday (Friday, January 19, 2007), Chris Buttars was able to push through the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee with a favorable recommendation Senate Bill SB-111, “Free Exercise of Religion without Government Interference.” The bill “proposes to protect the free exercise of religion. It requires the state to demonstrate a compelling government interest by clear and convincing evidence to justify substantially burdening a person’s free exercise of religion.” Doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Well, maybe it does as he tries to make fuzzy the line separating church and state. It’s what is buried in the bill that is a problem.

• Bill Documents
• Bill Text
• Audio from the Committee Meeting (about minutes 8:57 - 1:02:09–listening to these people talk is just frightening, and you can hear Scott McCoy say he agrees with Gayle Ruzicka.)

He says the bill is about exercise of religion through T-shirts. “He said he is confident his bill would withstand any legal challenge because it was drafted by constitutional experts he declined to identify.” An attorney in the State Office of Education says the bill is unnecessary. She said it’s a training issue rather than a legislative issue. Her office already deals with this issue in professional workshops.

Committee discussion brought up Supreme Court decisions that contradict this. Senator Scott McCoy tried to make it clear to Buttars that he can’t make a law that will supercede federal law, that this is a broad standard he is trying to set. Can’t it be dealt with in the schools rather than to “open up a can of worms.” Why don’t more people question this man? Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says this will certainly mean challenges in state courts (rather than federal courts).

Dave Beuhler, Associate Commissioner of Higher Education had a number of concerns. Why not just take care of this through policy rather than legislation? He and his attorney see greater liability. The attorney says this erodes the protections of government immunity, he points out the application of 11th Amendment immunity would be lost, and “this does open up a real Pandora’s box.” He gets closer to the point: when students are taught evolution, they can claim this puts excessive burden on their religion. The bill puts a “huge evidentiary burden” on the educational institutions. Buttars doesn’t see any of this as a problem, not surprisingly. McCoy points out that this puts the burden not of “fair” reason but of “compelling” reason on the government representatives and institutions.

I would so like these people to be required to undergo diversity training before the attempt to create laws. Over and over they show by their language and their choice of examples that they really haven’t a clue about other peoples and cultures than their own and what they wanted to call “normal” (but were encouraged to call “mainstream”). Their pathetic attempts to “lighten things up” are just embarrassingly unprofessional. And by “they” I mean, primarily, Chris Buttars.

So, if the so-called problem already has many ways to be dealt with through existing policy and administration, why does Buttars want to legislate it? For reasons beyond those he’s listed, undoubtedly. He mentioned in the meeting that it could be used to justify something “a little wild and crazy.” He plans to address whatever comes up in future legislation. It appears that this bill could force his dear Creationism into classrooms. That’s not so wild, but it is crazy.

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What is the real reason the federal government denies support for science?

It would be simplistic to say the budget crisis currently experienced by so many federal research agencies is a matter of funds being diverted to war. Congress failed to approve the budgets while there was a Republican majority in both houses in a matched set with the executive branch (and, I would argue, the judicial branch–but that’s a non-budgetary matter). It isn’t that they didn’t have the power to approve budgets if they had shown the will.

Just don’t find science important?

Just don’t think the world will be around long enough to justify the investment?

Can’t see how the research will benefit shareholders? (”What? No shareholders in Congress? My mistake. I must have confused it with something else.”)

I suspect many of the people who have the power to set the overall agenda aren’t seeking truths. I suspect they already have in hand as many truths as they can believe. What, then, could scientific research do to enrich their lives? On the contrary, scientific research has the potential to upset their lives by contradicting their truths about the age of the Earth, the origins of life, the sources of human sexuality, and–I think the most important point lately–how they expect the Earth to end. Gay evolutionary scientists who are concerned about climate change just don’t fit their worldview. They are not seeking to find out about the world, which is what one would expect from a scientist. They are seeking to tell the world about itself, which is what one would expect from preacher.

So? Preach, of course. And deny. That’s the answer. That’s what the Decider does. Also he ignores, as well as sending Tony Snow out to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt about everything not on the Decider’s daily agenda. Fear Uncertainty Doubt. That’s FUD for short–a marketing strategy at work on many levels in the government. At the same time as denying, it appears to be important to place science denial experts in charge of government science, particularly environmental science. Preach, deny, ignore, and switch.

In the meantime, do they expect the world to end before we hold them accountable? I know I say this over and over. HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE. The new Congress seems to be heading in that direction. Congratulations on the first 100 hours. Now, could you approve those spending bills rather than extending the stopgap resolution until September 30?

“Except for the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, the government is being financed under a stopgap resolution. It expires Feb. 15, and Democrats said they planned to extend a similar resolution through Sept. 30.” William J. Broad, “Congressional Budget Delay Stymies Scientific Research,” New York Times, January 7, 2007.

UPDATE: I caught the replay of Science Friday with Ira Flatow (NPR) from Jan 12.  Science funding.  Great interview.

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