CBN, the Christian Broadcasting Network, picked up the story of Gov. Chris Christie's vacillation on the question of evolution v. creationism/"intelligent design." You knew they would; it's pandered right to them, and right to fundamentalist Christians who write checks to GOP candidates with the same vigor they write checks to TV preachers.
At this weekend's Democratic State Conference in Atlantic City, I caught up with 3 men who practice both science and politics - Congressman Rush Holt, Assemblyman Herb Conaway and congressional candidate Ed Potosnak. They all had something to say about Christie's creationist parry. That's below.
We don't generally reprint or link back to sources like CBN, but it's instructive to peep in on what Christie looks like over on their side. What they "heard" in what Christie said is in CBN's headline: Christie: Schools Should Be Able to Teach Creationism, and though their article is cautious in its language, that crap plays very well over there.
Let's face it; there are only a few explanations for Christie's statement. If he was pandering, CBN is here to tell you it worked. But, wait - was he? Is it possible Christie really believes the world began 6,000 years ago? What might he think fossils are? Creationism has been debunked and debunked again. Does he not know?
GOP voters are consistently tugged toward anti-intellectualism by their leaders, the dumbing down of an entire class of voters is in sharp contrast to the intelligent (if wrong) and well-thought out (if wrong) worldview that 30 years ago was outlined by the likes of William F. Buckley and other thinkers now called paleos by post-Reagan Republicans - overcome by a generation of climate change-denyers, creationist mythologizers, and dumb if pretty spokesmodels like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, who is such a low-hanging fruit that a Cherry Hill high-schooler just went national with an invitation to debate her on the Constitution. Christie's statement is also germane because Christie wants to divert education funds to religious schools, a growing movement a lot of money is behind. Is he also unclear that it's science and not pretty religious myth that should be taught in schools?
Rush Holt: Congressman, physicist and the man who beat the Watson supercomputer in Jeopardy (Christie's statement) doesn't reflect well on New Jersey. If New Jersey wants to reclaim its title as the invention state, the innovation state, the source of america's productivity, then it can't be a know-nothing state. What bothers me about creationists - or icreationism-lit known as "intelligent design" is known as, is that it's lazy thinking. We've gotten ahead - as a species and as an American economy - by thinking deliberately and concertively about how the world works - as shown by the evidence we've observed. Creationsim ignores evidence and creationists are choosing not to live in the real world.
If you want kids to be prepareed to get ahead in the real world, you should teach them to observe the hard fact of the real world.
Herb Conaway: Physician and Assemblyman:
Freedom of expression and freedom of thought are sacred in this country. Our birthright. But with respect to teaching, let's make sure we're teaching science in science class - not something else.
Ed Potosnak: Congressional candidate, former chemistry teacher: A mistake we have made in the scientific community is referring to Darwin's theory instead of what it actually is, which is Dawrins law, which is that species evolve over time. While the explanation may change - hence why they call it a theory - the fact remains that our Governor is putting partisan politics and his political career ahead of scientific evidence.
Friday afternoon there's supposed to be a deportation hearing in Newark for a couple some states, many countries, and all of us recognize as legally married. Josh Vandiver is an American, Henry Velandia is from Venezuela. Our country has not recognized the couple, legally married last year in Connecticut, as married enough to keep Velandia in this country with his husband. Henry's visitor visa is expired. And because of DOMA, Josh isn't allowed to sponsor his husband for a green card. It's an outrage that DOMA applies, that the normal route this couple should be able to follow isn't available to them because Josh and Henry are the same gender. Josh and Henry's case has become a lightning rod for change, because no matter what happens in their case, other same-sex couples from different countries will face the same crap as long as DOMA is allowed to stand.
What: Rally to Stop Henry Velandia's Deportation When: Friday, May 6 at 11am
Where: Department of Homeland Security
Newark Immigration Court
Peter Rodino Federal Building
970 Broad St, Newark
Three months ago, President Obama made the decision to stop defending DOMA in federal court, and that makes right now a ripe time for change. Rep. Rush Holt seized that opportunity when he went on record with the Obama administration in a letter to US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano calling on her to "immediately resolve" Josh and Henry's deportation case, and stop all deportations involving married gay and lesbian binational couples. Rush Holt letter, after the jump. US Attorney Eric Holder got into Josh and Henry's case today, and that's good news. But it's not enough. This shouldn't happen to anyone else, and it will as long as DOMA rules.
Backing up Friday's rally are groups both Jersey-based and national, including Garden State Equality, Princeton Equality Project, Courage Campaign, GetEQUAL, Stop the Deportations, All Out, Immigration Equality Action Fund, Marriage Equality USA, Out4Immigration, and Queer Rising.
These hearings go on during the work day, so that's when the rally is. If you can make it to Newark Friday 11am, or show your support any other way, it strikes a blow for equality. Disclosure: I'm a board member of Garden State Equality. I'd be writing about this even if I wasn't.
Our immigration policies must work to unite families, not rip them apart. - Rep. Rush Holt, in letter to Secretary of Homeland Security
Rush Holt has appealed to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano not to apply the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to an immigration case involving constituents of his congressional district. DOMA, which Holt believes is unconstitutional, is jeopardizing the future of Holt's NJ-12 constituent Josh Vandiver and his husband Henry Velandia. They were married last year in Connecticut, a marriage equality state. Velandia is from Venezuela and came to the states on a visitor visa 9 years ago. Because of DOMA, he's not eligible for the same kind of spouse visa that would be available to him in a marriage of opposite gender partners. He will be deported unless either DOMA is ruled unconstitutional or a bill challenging DOMA's constitutional basis passes in Congress. Vandiver is an American citizen, Holt argues, and should receive the full rights granted to all citizens. That would include having his marriage recognized, rather than be singled out based on his sexual orientation. Holt says that's exactly what's happening as Vandiver is not being allowed to sponsor his husband for a visa.
The Obama administration's position on DOMA has shifted; it will no longer defend DOMA. Holt notes the specifics of Attorney General Eric Holder's new position on the much-hated law, and says he wants it repealed. Until that happens, Holt is asking Homeland Security to suspend deportation of all spouses of US citizens in same-sex marriages. Full text of his letter to Secretary Napolitano is after the jump.
Japan is a nation alert to disaster-preparedness; drills, practices, evacuation plans, even a national day of preparedness. But human error is a factor - i.e. back-up diesel generators on low ground - and continues to be a factor in Japan's emerging nuclear crisis. "They were supposed to be rare," but they're now coming in about every decade of so, says Rush Holt. On Rachel Maddow last night, Holt discusses the perilous condition of our energy resources, and the need for a comprehensive plan.
But what else is Rush Holt worried about here? Maybe not what you think.
Holt, physicist and congressman, comes in at the 2:45 mark:
This got posted late-night, so I'm retitling with an Update and pulling it up top again for anybody who missed it.
Update: We're getting a little detail now on Holt v. Watson. Holt reminds us math & science education is key, and research & development is important: "While it was fun to out-do Watson for one night in trivia; it is vital that, as a nation, we out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world for generations to come." Holt lead in categories Presidential Rhyme Time and Also a Laundry Detergent proving his knowledge both historical and practical. And he knew what Hippophobia is the fear of. It's not hippos. - - Rosi
This was an exhibition game hosted by IBM. Watson took on 5 congressmen in the Watson vs. Members tournament: Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Jared Polis (D-CO), Nan Hayworth (R-NY), Jim Himes (D-CT) and Holt.
To women in New Jersey, the national assault on a woman's right to choose feels like a home-grown offensive. Our Governor has made a mission of defunding family planning and women's health for lower-income women, some of whom are left without options. He's staked his political future with the anti-choice few, speaking at a state house rally for NJ Right to Life. The actors and video pranksters of Live Action, who are well-aware of what established practice at Planned Parenthood is, found an employee breaking that practice (since fired) and have exploited that video to build sympathy for their cause. That was in Perth Amboy. Live Action advisor and best-known video prankster James O'Keefe is a Rutgers grad. And finally, NJ-4's Rep. Chris Smith has introduced one of the most regressive bills of my lifetime, House Resolution 3, fast-tracked by Speaker John Boehner, criticized by many for its provision of "redefining rape". In a letter delivered a few hours ago, Rush Holt, a NJ Planned Parenthood board member, speaks his mind about HR3 and its back-tracking companion, far-right Indiana congressman Mike Pence's HR217, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act. He also spoke on the House floor today.
Video of Holt protesting HR217 and the last part of his letter to Speaker Boehner are after the jump.
The Honorable John Boehner
Office of the Speaker
The Honorable Eric Cantor
Office of the the Majority Leader
Dear Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor:
I write respectfully to inform you of my strong opposition to H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and H.R. 217, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act. Both of these bills are thinly veiled attempts to prohibit American women from being able to access comprehensive health care. I urge you to not to bring these dangerous and far reaching bills to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.
Regardless of our personal opinion about abortion, the Supreme Court has determined that abortion is a legally protected medical procedure. The choice of whether or not to have an abortion is up to a woman, her faith, and her family, not the federal government.
The deceptively named No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act claims that it would enact a government-wide prohibition on federal subsidies for abortion and health insurance plans that cover it. In truth it is an unprecedented attempt to limit health insurance coverage for American women, raise taxes on small businesses, infringe on the legally protected rights of American Servicewomen, and make this legal medical procedure inaccessible to women.
Most offensively, H.R. 3 as introduced, creates a nebulous definition of rape that would require a woman to carry a fetus to term if it is deemed that she was not "forcibly raped." Forcible is a term with no legal definition. This would return our country to the long outdated standard of rape law, where a rape verdict depended not on whether the victim consented, but on whether outsiders thought she resisted as hard as humanly possible. This law was changed because it was rarely found that the victim had "fought hard enough" to resist her rapist. We should not turn back the clock and revert to a standard that further victimizes rape victims.
Bob Menendez: Banking (chairs the Housing, Transportation, and Community Development subcommittee); Energy and Natural Resources; Finance; Foreign Relations (chairs the International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection subcommittee)
Frank Lautenberg: Appropriations (chairs the Homeland Security subcommittee); Commerce, Science and Transportation (chairs the Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security subcommittee); and Environment and Public Works (chairs the Superfund, Toxics, and Environmental Health, Chair subcommittee)
Late yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to speak with Rep. Rush Holt about the then-upcoming vote in the House to repeal the Health Care bill passed and signed into law last year. In addition to thanking the Congressman on behalf of Blue Jersey, we discussed a few things about the vote to repeal, and also noted that it was a good day for New Jersey Democratic Congressmen - Rep. Pallone took a high profile role in denouncing the political theater that the House Republicans were performing and Rep. Andrews not only spoke out as well but also had a very entertaining discussion with a Republican Congressman on Tuesday night's Hardball.
Rep. Holt's floor speech from yesterday afternoon can be seen here, and below the fold is a flavor for what we discussed during a roughly 20 minute discussion (I tried to get exact quotes but since I couldn't type that fast, assume that below is roughly what was said but maybe not exact):
It's time for the traditional Deciminyan predictions for the upcoming year. Last year, we were three for three. This year, we'll do it a bit differently - go out on a limb in some cases - and include some tongue-in-cheek forecasts as well as some serious ones. I'll leave it to the reader to determine which are which.
This was a weekend of a lot of year-end meetings and parties. Today, some of the Democracy for America folks met up in Morristown (big thanks to the Morris Dems for letting us use the clubhouse) for DFA at the Holidays, where the meeting always spills over into the bar across the street. The talk there was on Gov. Christie's brittle persona, and whether New Jerseyans are in fact getting tired of his routine, on redistricting and on party infrastructure issues.
Some of the Hunterdon Democrats were partying later today in Flemington, unfortunately at the same time Rush Holt's supporters were celebrating together, so I missed seeing Holt today. But it was great to see Ed Potosnak, who came to hang out with the Hunterdon Dems, and he brought homemade sugar cookies shaped like the State of New Jersey. Most of them were green, but I couldn't resist snapping a picture of Ed with a Blue Jersey cookie.
It seems every day in December is a big day for legislatures as they work to finish up business for the year. Here's the significant news of the day from New Jersey's Members of Congress.
A minority of Republican senators blocked the Defense Authorization Act. Senator Lautenberg tells it like it is:
"Senate Republicans refuse to even begin debating a repeal of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy. The other side has run out of excuses. Eliminating 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is the right thing to do and would ensure that our military policy reflects the values of our nation.
"The fact that Republican Senators are willing to hold up a bill that provides vital resources to our troops and ends discrimination in our military is deplorable. I will continue working to pass a Defense Authorization bill that provides our military with the equipment and services they need while also bringing an end to discrimination within the ranks."
Of course, Democrats letting Republicans takes "hostages" will go on as long as our Senators and our President let them. Why did they add DADT to the bill if they give up anyway? What was the point?
More below on the Anthrax investigation, water supplies for the Delaware River Basin, 9/11 Responders, and Iran.
The title of this diary is a quote from an email from CIA officer Jose Rodriguez, former head of clandestine services (sounds sanitary, no?), who destroyed tapes of interrogation of high-value detainees - terrorism suspects - in Thailand early in the Iraq War.
Rush Holt, Chair of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel & senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, spoke out when the Justice Department closed a 3-year investigation into the destruction of those taped records, without filing criminal charges.
Over the weekend - I'm catching up with it now - Tom Moran published an excellent Q & A with Holt about this, as usual Moran asked a lot of the right questions. I won't reprint it all here, just the first couple questions, and I'll direct you to Moran's post at nj.com for the rest:
Q. What do we know about the contents of the tapes?
A. Evidently, they showed practices that any reasonable person would call torture, practices we would never want carried out against Americans.
Q. Why did CIA officers destroy them?
A. It was not for lack of space in their storeroom. They destroyed them because they contained things they didn't want anyone else to know. In particular, so that Congress would not learn about them.
Rush Holt, Chair of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel and co-Chair of the Congressional Biomedical Caucus, wants a meeting with John Pistole, Administrator of the TSA. On Holt's mind: potential health effects of the full-body scanners now deployed to 68 airports across the country - including Newark, JFK & LaGuardia.
Holt's Biomedical Caucus was briefed by Dr. David Brenner of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University, a heavyweight in the field. Brenner had some scary stuff to say: devices now in use deliver "20 times the average dose [of x-ray radiation] that is typically quoted by TSA". That radiation's called "back scatter" and when you go through the scanners, the majority of that radiation strikes the top of the head. That's where most of the nearly one million cases of basal cell carcinoma develop in people each year: top of the head.
Excessive radiation is a "cancer rate multiplier" which must scare the bejeezus out of those already diagnosed with cancer, and being treated and tested with radiation, as Sen. Diane Allen said last week (at mark 1:35 in the video). The required alternative, a more invasive "pat-down," has already meant some awful airport scenarios for other cancer patients. Holt, a scientist himself, wants further research into the potential health risks, and called on the House Appropriations Committee to freeze scanner funding until the GAO finishes its ongoing examination of the technology. Holt:
I appreciate the challenges we face in trying to prevent terrorists from boarding American airliners. That same background also gives me an understanding of why TSA's current obsession with fielding body imaging technology is misguided, counterproductive, and potentially dangerous.
Then there's the big question of whether these scanners even work to detect concealed weapons. Jane Hamsher does a great job tracking John Pistole's own claims (yes, the same Administrator Holt wants to talk to) and putting them through the truth strainer.
Rush Holt's entire letter to TSA's John Pistole is after the jump. It's fierce, and worth reading. Here's what TSA has to say.
Gov. Chris Christie says he's skeptical that global warming is caused by humans. Rush Holt, physicist and congressman, has a few words to say about that. - promoted by Rosi
This year, Republican candidates up and down the ballot questioned the science of climate change and opposed any policies to address it. This widespread platform was summed up well by the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in West Virginia who spoke about the "myth of global warming and the other myth that man is causing global warming."
Doubting or even denying the scientific consensus about climate change evidently now is a "must-do" for all ambitious Republicans, right up there with such Far Right orthodoxies as There's Never a Bad Time to Cut Taxes for the Wealthy (or pay for those tax cuts), Keep Your Socialist Government Hands Off Medicare, and Drill, Baby, Drill.
I was disappointed to see Governor Christie join the growing list of prominent Republicans giving voice to skepticism about climate change and its causes. As quoted by the Associated Press, the Governor told a town hall audience that he believes "more science" is needed to convince him. He added that he's not a scientist and doesn't know what's true on the issue - only that nothing has been proven.
If the Governor doesn't know much about the subject, maybe he shouldn't talk about it. The reason science is regarded as reliable is because it's not subject to the political winds. We should look to evidence, not ideology.
In this instance, the overwhelming consensus of science in the world - including 255 members of the National Academy of Sciences - is that climate change is real and that human activities are contributing to it. According to NASA data released last month so far 2010 has been the hottest year on record so far.
We need "more science" to convince us that climate change is real as much as we need more science to convince us of the realities in Newton's Theory of Gravitation, or Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection or Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
Instead of trying to tear apart the science and engage in a false debate largely driven by corporate interests, we should be discussing how we can address the reality of climate change.
While we celebrate having avoided the Republican deluge in other states, let's not forget that the NJ landscape is now more slippery than before. The unexpected can happen: "No Way" can become "Yes Way." We better get our ass in gear for 2011 and 2012.
This was a referendum on Christie's short months in office, and it didn't break his way. And that's damn gratifying.
It's especially gratifying to contrast it with the national media's hollow assertions last year about What Christie's Election Meant for America. Even with the country's honeymoon with our governor and our state's Tea Party invasion (why couldn't it be the British Invasion instead?), New Jersey has shown that its requirements in a leader and individual needs are hardly monolithic.
continue below the fold
Let's pretend this is the News Roundup. Better yet, make it an Open Thread ...
The picture below is cold reality, but I am not going to waste my time mourning. New Jersey battled back. Good candidates fell all over the country Tuesday. In New Jersey, we held on by our teeth.
The big loss was John Adler, in a series of self-inflicted wounds. We knew months ago when Adler tried to play both sides on health care reform, that he'd sacrificed his base. We knew when Jane Roh's Courier Post account of the mechanics of Peter DeStefano's sham Tea Party candidacy that the Adler campaign had been pulled down the rabbit hole by the Camden County Democratic Committee. We can't be stung by that loss anymore, we grieved it a long time ago. But what fresh hell Jon Runyan will be, we'll leave to the light of day, or at least until tonight's Glenlivet wears off.
We held on to two key House progressives in the NJ delegation that we might have lost (Pallone in NJ-6 and Holt in NJ-12). These were the real nail-biters of the night. Anna Little was New Jersey's only Tea Party candidate running a viable challenger race. With Frank Pallone's win, she is not the only loser. The Tea Party itself is delegitimized in NJ, juiceless unless they regroup and figure out how to appeal to the citizenry without promising to ruin the environment, erase government and create false enemies to be terrified of. Twelve years ago, the last time the congressional races topped the ticket, Rush Holt won, an unlikely candidate without the flash and sizzle of most smooth-talkers, he was wonky and earnest. This year, the congressional topping the ticket again, science teacher Ed Potosnak ran in adjacent NJ-7, wonky and earnest. He lost - it was always an uphill race. But like Holt (who also lost his first time out), Potosnak should run again. Potosnak never dumbed down his progressivism.
Chris Christie did not have a good night. And that's damn gratifying. GOP candidates Little, Scott Sipprelle, and Tom Goodwin caved. GOP candidate Felix Garcia lost the Passaic Sheriff's race. I'll leave Bergen County to the Bergen scholars on this blog but it's worth noting that Christie would have a hard time claiming GOP's Kathe Donovan's win as County Executive for himself, given that Bergen Grassroots DFA crossed the aisle to back her, too. The state's most heavily-watched legislative special election - overshadowed by Adler drama - was Tom Goodwin's attempt to hold his thin incumbency (appointed in March, to Bill Baroni's vacant seat) against Linda Greenstein. This was a referendum on Christie's short months in office, and it didn't break his way. LD-14 has both conservatives and a band of resentful public workers. From the beginning, Goodwin hitched his star to Christie; Greenstein was the alternative, the promise of a stronger Democratic Senate. Let her help bring that now.
For the record, there will either not be a News Roundup in the morning, or it will come late. Late. Like a lot of you, I've been up for 24 hours; like more of you, I'm soaked in scotch.
Yeah, that's still the greatest political bumpersticker I've ever seen. I'm highly prejudiced, because I'm a Rush Holt campaign staff vet, and being redistricted out of NJ-12 and into NJ-7 was disappointing. Rush Holt's constituents are among the most loyal and attuned to their congressman maybe than any I've seen. Holt's GOP challenger is hedge fund manager Scott Sipprelle (and he's not fit to shine Rush Holt's shoes). Live in or near Rush Holt's congressional district? His team is working nearly round the clock. Check in on line and they'll let you know how you can help. Here's the rocket scientist himself, welcoming you to his GOTV universe:
The pictures are grainy; they might have been taken with a cell phone. At any rate, I had to enlarge all of them. But I wanted to show you that at least one of our congressional candidates is exercising his right to examine voting machines that will be used in his race on election day. Among the things Holt is known for is efforts to make voting and voting machines more reliable, and less available to the possibility of hacking. Holt's HR 2894: Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act which, unfortunately, has still not made it through Congress. There are 3 pix of Rush and the voting machines then after the jump, a very different bonus picture for you
Congressman Rush Holt has slightly widened his lead in the race for New Jersey's 12th Congressional District, according to the Monmouth University Poll. The incumbent Democrat garners support from 51% of likely voters in the district, which is identical to his support level from two weeks ago. However, Republican Scott Sipprelle's support has slipped by 3 points to 43% in the current poll...
The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone with 1042 likely voters from October 25 to 27, 2010. This sample has a margin of error of +/- 3.0 percent.
51% is enough to win but not enough to take anything for granted. Volunteer this week to help our best Representative.
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