Ben Stein (he of "BUELLER! BUELLER!" fame), Economist

i see someone took a wrong turn on the information highway and ended up here instead of at freerepublic.com ... that, or we're really through the looking-glass now!

no, you don't. your thread might as well be titled "outrage of the week". but this supposed shocker is just the usual white house spin. and you're spinning just as hard in other direction.

250 "economists" for, 450 against, or the other way around, so what? do you think those lists are going to sway people? would you change your mind if the numbers were reversed, or if someone found bogus economists on the "against" list? why would you expect other people to be any less dogmatic about something as indefinite as the future state of the US economy?

the economists of different stripes disagree now, and they will continue to argue about the "real" impact of the cuts (assuming they go ahead) for years, regardless.

in the meantime, your ranting just makes you sound like a different sort of loudmouth blowhard.

CAPS and exclaimations?

i mean, really.

why not font size=-3 and ellipses?

why is this guy such a douche?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Stein

Stein has publicly denounced the theory of evolution, which he and other intelligent design advocates term "Darwinism", declaring it to be "a painful, bloody chapter in the history of ideologies", "the most compelling argument yet for Imperialism", and the inspiration for the Holocaust.[18][19] Stein does not say belief in the theory of evolution alone leads to genocide, but that it is a necessary component.[20] He co-wrote and stars in the film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a film which attempts to link evolution to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust and portrays advocates of intelligent design creationism as victims of discrimination by the scientific community, which has widely rejected intelligent design as pseudoscience.[21] The famous evolutionary biologist and atheist, Dr. Richard Dawkins has strongly criticised Stein's film in an open letter on his website.[22] However, Expelled film producers say that Dawkins infiltrated their pre-screening uninvited to harass them and make allegations that the film's interviews were set ups.[citation needed] The film's development crew deny such claims.

In a Trinity Broadcasting Network interview with Paul Crouch Jr. regarding Stein's movie,[23] Stein made the following statement about science and religion:

Stein: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers, talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed … that was horrifying beyond words, and that’s where science — in my opinion, this is just an opinion — that’s where science leads you.

Crouch: That’s right.

Stein: …Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.

Crouch: Good word, good word

12 April 2008
Amanda Gefter
From issue 2651 of New Scientist magazine, 12 April 2008, page 46

THE highly controversial documentary Expelled: No intelligence allowed, is full of surprises, not least of which are endless clips of Nazis from the second world war.

Nazis? What have Nazis to do with a film about the "conflict" between evolution and intelligent design? Everything, apparently. The film-makers' logic is that by teaching evolution, the US public school system is telling children that there is no God, morality or free will. And this can lead to only one thing: Holocaust.

But fear not, Ben Stein is here. Those who love 1980s teen cult films will remember him as the monotone economics teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Stein was also a game-show host and speech-writer for Richard Nixon. Even more oddly, Stein, a Jew, is now a shining star among evangelical Christians who argue that intelligent design (ID) is a scientific theory. Maybe the film-makers thought they would get away with problematic references to the Holocaust if the narrator was Jewish.

Expelled is pure propaganda, its style reminiscent of a sub-standard Michael Moore flick complete with voice-over narration and lots of aimless wandering around. Its selling point is that academic freedom in the US is threatened by a vast conspiracy of atheist scientists, hypnotised by what Stein labels in the film the "Darwinian gospel". Supporters of ID are fired from their institutions or denied tenure, the film argues, while journalists who report on ID are silenced or shunned. This is an old trick. By claiming their views are suppressed, proponents of ID hope to be protected from criticism. When someone argues that ID is bogus, all they need do is yell: "See? Suppression!"

But why worry about such a silly movie, which makes absurd claims about threats to academic freedom? Could it really affect the public perception of evolution or ID? Just possibly - and here's how.

For starters, the film will open on 1000 screens in the US, a lot for a niche documentary. Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 opened on 870 screens, while Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth opened on just four. Then there's the Stein effect. Most Americans know Stein from his Bueller days, not as a creationist. There's a good chance many who have not given the ID issue much thought will be drawn in unsuspectingly.

But perhaps the biggest way in which the movie seeks to manipulate - and one to which we are all vulnerable - is by appealing to raw emotion. Consider Stein's interview with biologist Richard Dawkins. Dawkins is shown in the make-up chair, a move calculated to demean since surely everyone else, including Stein, is powder-puffed off-camera. The interview itself, accompanied by foreboding music, is shot in a low-lit room using sinister camera angles.

"The film manipulates by appealing to raw emotion"

Later, Stein wanders through the Dachau concentration camp, face in hands, bemoaning the nightmare he claims Darwin wrought. At the end, Stein walks alongside the Berlin wall: cue footage of people tearing it down plus triumphal music. Even the wary might feel the urge to start cheering.

For the converted, a DVD for "teachers, parents and faith leaders" accompanies the film. Included is a weblink to the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, leading champion and financial backer of the ID movement. One of Expelled's producers, Mark Mathis, insists there are no ties to the institute, but is coy about where the $3.5 million of funds for the film came from. Interestingly, the institute has teamed up with Motive Marketing, marketers of Expelled, to promote a bill they have named the Academic Freedom Statute on Evolution. If passed, it would protect teachers from any negative consequences of expressing anti-evolution views in the classroom.

This seems to be the next step in sneaking ID into schools after the Kitzmiller vs Dover case saw the compulsory teaching of ID ruled unconstitutional in 2005. Last month, a press conference held by the Discovery Institute to promote the proposed bill included a screening of Expelled.

Ultimately, the Discovery Institute's support may be the film's undoing. The institute has argued long and hard that ID is not about religion, yet in the film the connections are explicit. If challenged on this, the institute may have to distance itself from the film, discrediting Expelled in the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYL9uuqgwpw&NR=1

Man I'd only read a load of his stupid quotations before, seeing him actually speak is something else. What a vile, slimey, whining, adolescent, pig-ignorant douchebag.

That bit where he brings up the Darwin/holocaust "connection" and then claims he's not impyling anything about evolution or those who believe in it - I wanted to retch.

If only somebody could find an example connecting religion with mass killings and barbarity.

you're forgetting the truth bomb-

Stein: …Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people

Maybe Stein should check out what Love of God led people to do to his forbears in the Middle Ages.

^ or indeed the 1940s, as michael burlegh shows

burleigh

Yeah, the folks over at Scienceblogs have been having a hell of a field day with him and the movie for the last month. When several different people and interviewers repeatedly pointed out to the filmmakers the existence of one or more american "evangelical christian"(note: this term usually refers to tribal branding, rather than distinct theology) groups of scientists who rep for evolutionary processes and natural selection, the filmmakers effectively responded with "well, we ignored them b/c it would have weakened our point."

I'm more flabbergasted by his "darwin doesn't explain gravity" arguments than the science=death nonsense. The latter is more evil and probably quite calculated, it's hard to explain the former as anything other than pure ignorant cretinism.

"Darwinism gave the rationale for the holocaust"

This seems to be a theme amongst right wingnuts these days. If you can;t argue your spot juts equate whatever you don't like with the Nazis. See Thomas "our greatest living philosopher" Sowell.

Having said that with Stein in your opposing corner it makes life easier for us death-worshipping science-loving heathens.

ah, good ole uncle thomas. i'm not allowed to read him anymore. makes me too grumpy.

"Darwinism gave the rationale for the holocaust"

Most of the wingnuts have denounced Ben Stein of late.

I thought Ben Stein was Jewish? He sounds like one of those people who converts to Christianity from Judaism ... those are some of the craziest, most dogmatic people I've ever met.

"Darwinism gave the rationale for the holocaust"

Most of the wingnuts have denounced Ben Stein of late.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 9 May 2008 16:44 (4 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Love that link...cesspools of leftist dogma...While every kind of lunacy has run rampant through our Humanities departments this past couple of decades...and what examples do they have you ask? Gay Legal Studies or Latina History.

BEWARE THE MULTICULTURAL LEFT

They Are All Powerful. I, for one, welcome our Hot Latina Lesbian overlords.

It must be difficult to reconcile being a fiscal conservative and anti-Darwinist.

Except that if the authoritarian bit takes over, then not so much.

LOL

http://jezebel.com/ben-stein-writes-truly-bizarre-essay-on-being-a-creepy-1599361600

And the followup: http://jezebel.com/super-creep-ben-stein-demanded-nude-photos-from-a-pregn-1608913236