1. This one comes from comments made in Nicholas Wade’s book A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History, in which he produces 250 pages of pseudo-science to rationalize racial inequality as biologically driven (it’s in the genes). He claims social behaviors, which he generalizes across races and cultures, grow out of “instinctual social behaviors” that develop separately through evolutionary biology.
Regarding Africa, in explaining why the continent has absorbed billions of dollars in aid over the past half century without improving its standard of living, he offers this profundity: “Africa is tribal and warlike and resistant to innovation because of “natural selection,”
In other words, Africa’s troubles, and those of African Americans, are a result of genetics. Someone must not have told him about the ravages of imperialism and the global impact of the slave trade.
2. Our old friend Dick Cheney is back in the news. Expressing alarm at the territorial gains by Sunni Muslim insurgents and al Qaeda jihadists and the growing influence of Iran over the current Shiite government in Iraq, he blames it all on the Obama administration. In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled The Collapsing Obama Doctrine. co-written with his daughter Liz, the Cheney team gives us this jeremiad:
“Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is “ending” the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—as though wishes made it so. His rhetoric has now come crashing into reality." Later in the op-ed they added: “American freedom will not be secured by empty threats, meaningless red lines, leading from behind, appeasing our enemies, abandoning our allies, or apologizing for our great nation--all hallmarks to date of the Obama doctrine. Our security, and the security of our friends around the world, can only be guaranteed with a fundamental reversal of the policies of the past six years.”
Later in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, the former vice-president offered this profound observation:
“President Obama is on track to securing his legacy as the man who betrayed our past and squandered our freedom.”
I’m not sure about Obama’s legacy, but Cheney’s legacy is well secured: the key point person in pushing the U.S. into an illegal, costly, and utterly disastrous war in Iraq. I elaborated on this point in a separate post ( see Is Dick Chaney an Amnesiac or a Hypocrite, an Ideological Delusionalist, or a Shameless Liar?)
3. The much disgraced Judith Miller, who carried much of the water for the weapons of mass destruction fraud that helped ramp up support for the war in Iraq, is back with this astute observation penned in a recent column:
“The Lack of Major Wars May Be Hurting Economic Growth.”
4. Responding to Texas Governor Rick Perry's decision to send 1000 national Guard troops to the Texas-Mexican border to stop the influx of Children pouring into the U.S. illegally, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican Federal government basher who is favored to replace Perry in November, offered this hypocrisy:
"Texans are willing to put the boots on the ground, but we expect Washington to foot the bill." .
And the winner is:
To remind Phronesis readers, in selecting bonehead absurdities we draw on the dictionary definition of absurd, which is something so "utterly or obviously senseless, illogical, or untrue; contrary to all reason or common sense; laughably foolish or false." Statements that fit this definition warrant special recognition as a bonehead absurdity. With this definition in mind, the July Bonehead Absurdity winner is:
Hands down, Dick Chaney.
Cheney is the Michael Jordan of boneheadism. He could win just about every month. Let's give somebody else a chance, say, Edward Klein, the author of "Blood Feud, the Clintons vs. the Obamas." He has some of the most outlandish quotes and recreations, all of which he claims are true because he was told by someone who was there or by someone who was told shortly after the event by someone who was there.
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