June 26, 2009

Astrologer arrested.

"Astrology is taken seriously by numerous Sri Lankan politicians."

***

Yes, yes, I know, don't be smug...

18 comments:

X said...

this reminders me that i haven't read my AGW charts today. it's a good day to reconnect with an old love interest and reduce my carbon footprint.

SteveR said...

Well some politicians believe Cap and Trade is a good piece of legislation. By that measure, the alignment of planets is a good way to evaluate things.

Of course these transparent crooks in Washington may just be trading their vote for legislative favors, shocking in this era of Hope and Change.

TMink said...

Astrology was Nancy's vice, not the President's.

Trey

rhhardin said...

Vicki Hearne defends astrology from errant scientism.

Sprezzatura said...

"Astrology was Nancy's vice, not the President's."

And, it was Nancy's fault that he raised taxes too. And, it's her fault that the budget increased and the total number of federal employees increased. Further, it goes w/o saying that the huge increase in the deficit was also her fault.

W/o Nancy Reagan would have been perfect.

traditionalguy said...

It was interesting to see Ronald Reagan survive the Democratic Congress' siding with communists, the USSR's challenges, the hits by Dan Rather's CBS, and Nancy's Astrologer's confusing advice all at the same time. No wonder he got forgetful in the end.

MadisonMan said...

If you compute the gravitational changes on Earth that happen as stars move around the celestial sphere, you will quickly realize that there is NO effect from them -- ALL the gravitational pull is dwarfed by that from (1) the Earth, and (2) the moon and Sun.

Science can help you shed your beliefs!

Arturius said...

Considering the number of people who accept astrology as a legimate, it it no surprise that many were able to be hoodwinked by the pseudoscience that is AGW. The commonality being that someone was able to profit greatly on the dimmness of others and further supports Barnum's dictum.

traditionalguy said...

Astrology divination is like many occult practices such as witchcraft spells and magic practices. The real problem is not that they are total fakes. The real problem is that they do work sometimes, but only until they destroy their followers lives and minds.

Joseph said...

I personally reject all supernatural explanations for the universe but at least other religions tend not to claim a scientific basis. Astrology can be harmless entertainment but its scary to think that it actually played a role in our foreign policy.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Astrology can be harmless entertainment but its scary to think that it actually played a role in our foreign policy.

Well I'll take Reagan's foreign policy over Obama's repeat of Carter with a dose of Chamberlain any day.

Joseph said...

Well I'll take Reagan's foreign policy over Obama's

Reagan did pretty well navigating relations with the USSR but other aspects of his foreign policy were remarkably short-sighted and had pretty catastrophic long term effects. Obama is wise to learn from Reagan's mistakes.

Reagan funded a network of Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan with the short-term goal of indirectly opposing the Soviet invasion. Turns out there were some long-term costs for the U.S. associated with breeding a radical Islamic terrorist group. Reagan also supported Saddam Hussein in Iraq with the short-term goals of creating a counterweight to the regime in Iran, authorizing US companies to send him precursors for chemical and biological weaponry. That plan didn't work out quite so well in the long-term either.

grackle said...

Two successful terms and the fall of the Soviets. Hmmm .... Anyone have the astrologer's number?

Anonymous said...

".....Reagan funded a network of Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan "

Lame counterfactual canard endlessly repeated is still a lame counterfactual canard.

TMink said...

"W/o Nancy Reagan would have been perfect"

What a snark! Reagen gave amnesty to illegals in this country and paved the way for more problems in that area. I have never heard that Nancy had anything to do with that.

It is well documented that astrology was Nancy's vice and that the President was not interested or involved in that.

But then I bet you are more interested in snarking than in legit discussion based on facts.

Trey

TMink said...

Joseph, I accept and agree with your critiques of Reagan and the Arab world. But we must also recall that he got the hostages back from Iran.

So with the Muslim world, he had mixed success. But there was SOME success, which I appreciate.

Trey

SteveR said...

Not sure we can blame Reagan for what wasn't done after he left office. We were allied with the Soviets against Nazi Germany. Shall we blame FDR for Vietnam?

Sprezzatura said...

Trey,

You'd win that bet.

But, I don't think you're too serious about an honest debate either.

You give Reagan credit for the hostages. When in his term did that occur?

At the same time you don't recall the problems of 4/18/83 and 10/23/83. The combined result was the loss of over 250 Americans.

And, while it is important to clearly acknowledge that Reagan didn't cause these deaths, we must also note that he did respond w/ a tail between the legs, speedy cut and run that has only been followed by these terrorists increasing their attacks on American interests.