Reality-based community, or, Powerline should join the flat earth society

Powerline, revealing what a joke it really is, comments on the Schiavo videotapes:

Predictably, mainstream news outlets are trying to defuse the video's impact. Like this Reuters report: "Schiavo Videotape Misleading, Experts Say":

Studies of people whose cerebral cortices are damaged in the way Schiavo's is show that their eyes will respond to stimuli such as movement or a human face, but there is no way for them to be conscious of what they are seeing.

Have you ever noticed how much faith liberals have in "studies"? And I believe it is undisputed that Terri Schiavo has never been given the tests normally used to diagnose a persistent vegetative state, apparently because her husband refuses to allow them.

There may have been a time in my life when I had more faith in experts and studies than in my own eyes. But that was a long time ago.

Usually when you accuse republicans of hating science they'll equivocate.  They'll say that they don't hate science, but they want to make sure the science is right, and blah blah blah, like Bush did with global warming.  Rarely do you actually get one to admit that they really don't believe it. 

But in all seriousness, I would love to know -- if Hindrocket doesn't have faith in "studies" what does he have faith in?  I mean apart from his own eyes?  When he gets a physical illness does he go and see a doctor, or does he diagnose himself with his apparently error-free glance?  When he sees the sun setting, is he convinced that he's in a geocentric universe?  I wonder if he's one of those people that believes that people on a Soap Opera are real?  When he looks at a photoshopped picture of John Kerry and Jane Fonda standing together, does he believe his eyes?  Because that would sure explain something.

-- Michael

Comments

[Incertus]

Times like this, I wonder if anyone at Time magazine actually read Powerline before making them the blog of the year. Jeez. I have my doubts.

[Socialist Swine]

To be completely fair to Powerline, it is one person that tends to be the one that says the majority of the truly stupid things. If I were one of the other guys at that 'blog I'd tell Hinderaker to take his free t-shirt and go home. Some of the other guys write drivel but it tends to be banal and uninteresting rather than actually stupid. Hinderaker seems to have a monopoly on stupid over there. I would actually venture to say that without Hindracket Powerline wouldn't be that bad of a site, not that good of a site (I think there are far superior right-wing 'blogs) but not as terrible as it currently is.

[Bulworth]

well first he claims liberals put too much faith in studies and then he immediately contradicts himself to say that all the necessary studies haven't been done in the Schiavo case (despite the multiple trials that have demonstrated both Terri Schiavo's will to die if in a persistent vegitative state and the fact that Terri Schiavo is in fact in, a PVS.

I watched a bit of Larry King last night, long enough to catch the representatives from the right wing again say out loud, and in public, that Terri Schiavo is not in a PVS, which the courts have found she in fact is in.

They claim to want more MRI's, more tests, different tests. There are no tests or prognosises that will please them. They just don't want Terri Schiavo to have the right to die. That's it.

Sheesh

[DavidByron]

Michael!
You read wingnuts. Is it true that the right-wing blogs started using the term 'MSM' (based on a mis-spelling of 'mainstream media')? Do you know anything about the origins of this phrase?

[Cheryl]

equivocate

v : be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information [syn: beat around the bush, tergiversate, prevaricate, palter]

1. To use equivocal language intentionally.
2. To avoid making an explicit statement. See Synonyms at lie.

Fascinating word. Imagine somewone trying to use deliberately vague language in order to manipulate others. I'm shocked.

Actually he is not equivocating at all. He is trying to discredit the 'faith' of 'liberals' (whatever that means) in science by demonstrating that liberals are hypocrites who exploit science for personal gain, sort of the way 'conservatives' presumably exploit religion for personal gain.

In this case he accuses Terri's husband of refusing to have her examined. Does anyone know whether any formal medical examination and diagnosis exists? I presume this is confidential medical material and not open to public scrutiny. I also presume that such an examination was required by the court in order for the judge to rule on the issue. Judges have this funny thing about demanding evidence that supports a judgment before making one.

By order of an appeals court, five doctors examined Schiavo in 2002. Two were chosen by the Schindlers, two by Michael Schiavo and one by the court. Three of the five, the ones chosen by Michael Schiavo and the court, said Terri Schiavo was in a persistent or permanent vegetative state.

I'm astonished.

[Cheryl]

Terri Schiavo's Medial Facts & History

In the debate over what should happen to Terri Schiavo, many lose sight of the facts and background of Terri’s medical history. Terri Schiavo had bulimia which produced a potassium imbalance which in turn caused a cardiac arrest. This shut off blood flow to her brain, much of which then died. Today her cranium is largely filled with spinal fluid, not brain matter.

[michael]

yeah david, they do indeed use that designation.

[Jeremy]

http://blamebush.typepad.com/blamebush/death_with_dignity/index.html

CONCERNING: TERRI SCHIAVO

YES! Die with Dignity! DIE! DIE!!!!

Republicans in Congress took a brief time-out from their Major League Baseball Fanfest to force their religious beliefs on everyone today. Backed by conservative Christian fanatics, GOP lifemongers pulled out all the stops trying to prolong Schiavo's pain and suffering. Michael Schiavo's, I mean. The hell that poor man's been through since the cash from the malpractice suit ran out! But it looks like the last legal roadblack has been hurdled, and Mark McGwire ceremonially yanked out her feeding tube this afternoon to wild cheers from Death with Dignity advocates and Cardinals fans alike.

The term "hero" is used rather loosely nowadays, but Michael Schiavo is the living embodiment of heroism. The events of the past few years are not only a testament to his courage, but his loving devotion to one of the several women he's banged. When half the country and your wife's entire family insist that she must "live", it takes great courage to stand up for your convictions and shout, "No! The bitch must DIE!"

Now, at long last, she finally will.

But make no mistake: although Terri what's-her-name will soon be out of our hair, the battle to save the Great Wall Between Church and State is not over. Every minute that lifeless vegetable clings to "life" brings us closer to a fascist police state ruled by dehumanizing religious zealots. At this very moment, the Christian right continues their relentless assault on Roe v. Wade by praying and singing their little Jesus songs outside brave Michael's home. The line between Christian and Islamic Fundamentalism has never been more blurred than it is right now. Thankfully we have both the ACLU and democrats in congress dedicated to protecting our reproductive rights through the systematic euthanization of pesky invalids.

So-called Christians who proselytize about the "sanctity of life" should perhaps remove the mote from their own eye before casting any stones at glass houses. Was it not Jesus who ran the money changers out of the Temple? I'm not sure how that applies here, but it's the only Bible story I actually dig so I'm going to keep repeating it. That, and "Judge not lest ye be judged", which I like to whip out whenever the church nuts tell me to put my clothes on and get out of their yard.