This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C1722892404/E20060405163316

Were the genocidal remarks misinterpreted?

It seems that that this is rapidly becoming a case of "he said, he said."

The controversy surrounds comments made during two recent speeches in which Pianka discussed the need for population control and the impending disease pandemic that might well just take care of it. Some heard the comments as simply a warning. To others, however, it sounded like Pianka was advocating the use of deadly viruses to kill off millions of people.

Pianka, who calls the latter interpretation nonsense, says the whole thing has blown out of proportion. Many, however, seem to be taking his critics seriously. Pianka said he is scheduled to meet with FBI officials today.

"Someone has reported me as a terrorist," he said. "They think I'm forming a cadre of people to release the airborne Ebola virus into the air. That I'm the leader and my students are the followers."

There's no denying that Pianka, even at first glance, seems a little eccentric.

His office, which he has inhabited for 38 years, is cluttered with books, stacks of paper, bones and even a few beers. There's a photo of him dressed like British naturalist Charles Darwin. Scattered pictures of lizards and a copy of his semi-autobiography, "The Lizard Man Speaks," reveal his area of expertise — lizards and evolutionary ecology. On his desk, he keeps a stuffed likeness of the Ebola virus that was sent to him by students who enjoyed his speeches.

He is particularly troubled by the recent explosion in the human population. He says we now take up about 50 percent of all livable space on Earth and that people should have no more than two children. Humans, and the way they've multiplied, are "no better than bacteria," he says.

Dr. Pinaka is not denying the remarks, just their interpretation. Without context, it's hard to say who is right. But it is certainly worth watching.

Posted: Wed - April 5, 2006 at 04:33 PM

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ Watch List ∙ Eric R. Pianka ∙ genocide ∙ FBI ∙ terrorism ∙ clipping ∙ guest content

This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C1722892404/E20060403053519

Killing off 90 percent of humans

I keep a private watch list, people I like to keep an eye on and track, just in case.

Up to now, it's been a very private thing.

Here is the first public entry. Eric R. Pianka, who evidently has been very naughty.

If true, he's damn right the general public is not ready for his theories. However, I have to be honest here. The man making these claims is a Creationist and may have an agenda. Either way this situation bears close watching.

I'll will consider this genocidal solution for a microsecond when the professor volunteers to be exterminated first. Then I will dismiss it with prejudice.

Here is his web address.

Posted: Mon - April 3, 2006 at 05:35 AM

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ Watch List ∙ Eric R. Pianka ∙ Forrest Mims ∙ University of Texas ∙ genocide

You don't demand that others submit to your religion. If I can object when the Islamists do it, if I can object when the climate change crowd does it, I can damn well object when a theocratic Republican passes it off as religious freedom and tells tales of his "oppression" because of his faith.

Tags: Roy Moore ∙ Decalogue ∙ freedom of religion ∙ public space ∙ cross posted ∙ Watch List

Older headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: Jeff Sessions ∙ Hurricane Harvey ∙ militarize police ∙ Columbus ∙ statues ∙ Bass Pro Shops ∙ violence ∙ Berkeley ∙ Democrats ∙ warrant ∙ stingray ∙ Houston ∙ school meals ∙ Southern Poverty Law Center ∙ Watch List ∙ flood ∙ Chick-fil-A ∙ rescue ∙ James Comey ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Mark Zuckerberg ∙ Priscilla Chan ∙ marry children ∙ loopholes ∙ Nazism ∙ sex ∙ Google ∙ diet ∙ Hurricane Harvey ∙ climate change ∙ Antifa ∙ DHS ∙ Bronx ∙ cigarettes ∙ black market ∙ ATF ∙ Kid Rock ∙ Trevor Noah

Buying Reform

❝❝Charged with promoting campaign-finance reform when he joined Pew in the mid-1990s, Treglia came up with a three-pronged strategy: 1) pursue an expansive agenda through incremental reforms, 2) pay for a handful of "experts" all over the country with foundation money and 3) create fake business, minority and religious groups to pound the table for reform.

"The target audience for all this activity was 535 people in Washington," Treglia says — 100 in the Senate, 435 in the House. "The idea was to create an impression that a mass movement was afoot — that everywhere they looked, in academic institutions, in the business community, in religious groups, in ethnic groups, everywhere, people were talking about reform."

It's a stark admission, but perhaps Treglia should be thanked for his candor.

>snip<

But this money didn't come from little old ladies making do with cat food so they could send a $20 check to Common Cause. The vast majority of this money — $123 million, 88 percent of the total — came from just eight liberal foundations.

These foundations were: the Pew Charitable Trusts ($40.1 million), the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy ($17.6 million), the Carnegie Corporation of New York ($14.1 million), the Joyce Foundation ($13.5 million), George Soros' Open Society Institute ($12.6 million), the Jerome Kohlberg Trust ($11.3 million), the Ford Foundation ($8.8 million) and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ($5.2 million).

Not exactly all household names, but the left-wing groups that these foundations support may be more familiar: the Earth Action Network, the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood, the Public Citizen Foundation, the Feminist Majority Foundation . . .

What did this liberal foundation crowd buy with its $123 million?

For starters, a stable of supposedly independent pro-reform groups, with Orwellian names you may have heard in the press: the Center for Public Integrity, the William J. Brennan Center for Justice, Democracy 21 and so on.

Plus, favorable press coverage. Here, the story — as laid out in the Political Money Line report — gets really ugly.❞❞

Tags: skimmed ∙ 2005 ∙ Sean Treglia ∙ campaign finance reform ∙ Watch List ∙ Congress ∙ Pew Charitable Trusts ∙ Schumann Center for Media and Democracy ∙ Carnegie Corporation of New York ∙ Joyce Foundation ∙ George Soros ∙ Open Society Institute ∙ Jerome Kohlberg Trust ∙ Ford Foundation ∙ John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ∙ Earth Action Network ∙ NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund ∙ People for the American Way ∙ Planned Parenthood ∙ ublic Citizen Foundation ∙ Feminist Majority Foundation ∙ Center for Public Integrity ∙ William J. Brennan Center for Justice ∙ Democracy 21 ∙ clipping

Rhyd Wildermuth has shown me his character.

Tags: cross posted ∙ division of labor ∙ Rhyd Wildermuth ∙ Watch List

Sacrificing rationality to sound vaguely important

Tags: Watch List ∙ climate change ∙ jail ∙ Earth Day ∙ FCC ∙ dissent ∙ net neutrality ∙ watching the headlines ∙ Hertz