Sid's Fishbowl
A proud member of the reality-based community (aquatic division)
Friday, May 27, 2005

Wingnut Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), who is also an MD, gives a regular annual lecture on sexually transmitted diseases for young Congressional aides. The WaPo has the gory details:

Coburn, a conservative, Bible-quoting Republican from Oklahoma, tried his best to put the newbies at ease; his staffers called the lecture "Revenge of the STDs" after the "Star Wars" movie, gave out fliers featuring Yoda and C-3PO saying "Oh, how dreadful!" and played campy horror music from "The Phantom Menace" as people filed in. In the back they served pizza and sodas.

For the first few minutes, it worked, as Coburn flipped through slides showing dry facts and figures about STDs, that 2 of every 3 new cases occur in people younger than 25, that most occur in people with multiple sexual partners. Then Coburn got serious. He flipped to his next slide. It showed a part of the male anatomy but not as a science textbook drawing; this was the real thing, and a particularly sorry example; it looked like it had been left outside by mistake and then rusted in some unnatural way, with scaly dry spots, and warts on an angry red background.

This was my favorite part:

Coburn always offers to see people in private after the lecture, and his staff say 10 or so people always take him up on it and many more ask follow-up questions after his lectures. No doubt at the very least he's filling in basic gaps in knowledge.

"You keep mentioning the word 'monogamy'," a staffer named Roland Foster recalls one young woman asking after a lecture. "What is that?"

"That's when you have sex with only one partner," Coburn responded.

"You mean at a time?"

Thanks to Max for the pointer.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

From The American Street:

Compare this:

“I’ll probably say it three more times. See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. ”

- George W. Bush, May 24, 2005

with this:

“Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.”

- Franklin D. Roosevelt, October 26, 1939

Amazingly, no one pays attention when GWB inadvertently speaks the truth, as he did here. Want to bet that he doesn't use this line again?

Monday, May 23, 2005

The Rude Pundit reminds us:

Remember: Hogan's Heroes were guilty.