A mob destroyed a wildlife sanctuary in Belize after a “psychic” claims that two missing children were fed to the crocodiles there. Disgraceful. Read more: Psychic destruction in Belize : Pharyngula.

There is an interesting article in Slate about how hard it is for tech startups to find good employees.  They claim that the talent pool has been drained by big companies, but I think the more likely reason is that people are less likely to take a risk with a startup during a recession.  The article is right that recruiters are practically useless these days, but that’s probably bad for everyone.

I like universal health care not for any moral reason but because it encourages job mobility, enterpreneurship, takes the burden off our manufacturing industries, and leads to cheaper health care costs. I like to spend money on education because it makes our workers competitive in the international market. [...]

I’m a goddam 1972 Republican.

Jon Rogers really nails how I feel about politics these days. I usually describe myself as a neo-prudentist, but “goddam 1972 Republican” is a bit more accessible.

At some point conservatives need to ask themselves about the larger meaning of this kind of conduct [...] for their movement. Beyond the ethics of lying and smear[ing] one’s opponents, I would think conservatives would worry about the fact that a large portion of conservative media is dedicated to lying to conservatives. They regard their audience as marks to be misled and exploited, not as customers to be served with useful information.

–Yglesias