Saw this complete insanity and just included it in a loony-bin wrap-up report on my blog, including the Michele Bachmann "greatest hits" video compilation at HuffPo (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...77392.html), the not-new-but-new-to-me theory that Obama was elected because he used mass hypnosis (http://www.scribd.com/doc/7470...s-Speeches), and Tom Tomorrow's great cartoon today on the right-wing reality warp (http://s3.credoaction.com.s3.a...lowres.jpg).

You know, if you look at the history of philosophy, the cultural left kind of asked for that association to be made. Early in the 20th century there was a big movement toward cultural relativism, or the idea that different cultures valued different things and there was no way to say one culture's values were better than another—indeed, ultimately, that there was no way to say any values were better than any others, which goes beyond relativism to subjectivism. And there was a tendency for people to justify this by saying "But Einstein showed that everything is relative." Einstein actually didn't say any such thing, but the pop version of relativism often appealed to his authority. So now the right is making the same mistake in opposing ethical relativism that the left made in arguing for it.

But we're talking about math here. Not about whether it's appropriate for girls to prove they are fertile prior to marriage which is done in some African cultures. Or between polygamy and monogamy which is superior or whether god hates gays, of if it's right for oriental cultures to favor boys over girls.

Rachel Maddow has called this the War on Brains, and I think that's entirely appropriate. Facts are hard nubby things that have to be faced and dealt with.

I understand the distinction between mathematical physics and cultural relativism perfectly well. But over the past century a lot of advocates of cultural relativism have equated the two. It's a dumb argument, but it's not a dumb argument that the conservatives invented. They've just come up with a dumb response to it.

I don't have any words. So I'll quote a friend of mine: What the FOOLISHNESS!!?? It doesn't even make me mad. It doesn't shock me. I expect they'll deny the sky's blueness next week. Whatever. As far as I'm concerned they can decide the climate of Mars is more supportive to human life and that this whole Earth shindig is a liberalist plot to kill them and that they're going to ship themselves over there. But anyway, no need to hate on them (but I sooo want to). By the way, I like that phrase; big floating daddy in the sky.

I read the post on the Daily Dish. It was very interesting to look at it all from a historical perspective. Speaking of Muslims, it's Ramadan! Which means I'm fasting. Now that I'm mature enough to understand the spiritual significance of this month, I love it- on that level. But I mean, when you're a kid, Ramadan sucks. You get to fast for a month, then as a reward, you go pray on a basketball court with the rest of the city's Muslim population. Yay! I used to hate it when the Jewish kids would complain about how boring Hanukkah was and how they didn't get a Christmas Tree. Boohoo. Hell, I wish I got to light a menorah. They had their dreidels and their eight presents and their matzoh ball soup (which is tasty, by the way). I mean, be thankful for what you have. But I should be fair. My mom always did her best to make it fun for me. I got some presents on Eid and I got to pick what we ate when we broke our fasts, and we'd hang paper lanterns around the house and tried but failed to put up Christmas lights. Still, I couldn't help being jealous of Santa. I never got to brag about how young I was when I figured out he wasn't real because my mother sat me down and told me he was a lie. Anyway, now Ramadan is a magical time for spiritual growth and communion with God. But I'm so hungry. And it's only 10:49. I can't eat till 8:12. I'll stop whining now.

It's funny how we're always jealous of that grass on the other side of the fence. When I was a little kid I was jealous of my Jewish friends who got gifts for eight days when I only got presents on Christmas Day.

I don't envy you the fasting thing. I hate to be hungry. Partly because my Crohn's means that my stomach starts eating itself, and it's really painful. Which is why I tend to eat five or six times a day, tiny amounts.

I especially like "theocratic right" and am going to start using that phrase..