From Maureen Dowd at The New York Times (Op-Ed):
Christine O’Donnell doesn’t understand why monkeys can’t turn into people right before her eyes.
Bill Maher continued his video torment of O’Donnell by releasing another old clip of her on his HBO show on Friday night, this time showing one in which she argued that “Evolution is a myth.”
Maher shot back, “Have you ever looked at a monkey?” To which O’Donnell rebutted, “Why aren’t monkeys still evolving into humans?”
Original DVD cover
The comedian has a soft spot for the sweet-faced Republican Senate candidate from Delaware, but as he told me on Friday, it’s “powerful stupid to think primate evolution could happen fast enough to observe it. That’s bacteria.
“I find it so much more damaging than the witch stuff because she could be in a position to make decisions about scientific issues, like global warming and stem cells, and she thinks primate evolution can happen in a week and mice have human brains.”
In the Republican primary, O’Donnell beat Congressman Mike Castle, who had the temerity to support stem-cell research and acknowledge global warming.
…snip…
In 2007, O’Donnell frantically warned Bill O’Reilly, “American scientific companies are crossbreeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains.”
The field of human-animal experiments is dubbed “chimera” research, named for the she-monster in Greek mythology that has a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail.
Dr. Irving Weissman, director of Stanford’s Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, did the first experiments injecting human brain-forming stem cells into the brains of immune-deficient mice 10 years ago.
He assured me that the mice did not suddenly start acting human. “There were no requests for coffee from Minnie,” he said.
…snip…
Dr. Weissman is sensitive to ethical questions and has tried to ensure that “the nightmare scenario” won’t happen […]
…snip…
He is working toward breakthroughs on multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injuries, strokes, breast cancer and a host of other diseases, and is worried by the retrogressive attitude about science and medicine among the new crop of Tea Partiers.
Sarah Palin will believe global warming is a hoax until she’s doing aerial hunting of wolves underwater. And in a 2009 clip, Sharron Angle, the Republican Senate candidate from Nevada, suggested that autism — a word she uttered with air quotes — is a phony rubric.
…snip…
Dr. Weissman said, “The question they should be asked is, if it were their child or wife or selves or parents and there was this whole list of diseases treated by stem cells, would they deny these therapies?”
Maybe the problem is not so much chimeras in science as chimeras in politics.
We seem beset with spellbinding hybrids with the looks of Fox News anchors, the brains of mice and the power of changing the direction of the country.
President Obama was supposed to be a giant leap forward in modernity, the brainy, rational first black president leading us out of the scientific darkness of the W. years. But by letting nutters get a foothold, he may usher us into the past.
Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, John Boehner, Jim DeMint and some Tea Party types don’t merely yearn for the country they idealize from the 1950s. They want to go back to the 1750s.
Joe Miller, the Palin-blessed Republican nominee for Senate in Alaska, suggests that Social Security is unconstitutional because it wasn’t in the Constitution. The Constitution is a dazzling document, but do these originalists really think things haven’t changed since then.
…snip…
Evolution is no myth, but we may be evolving backward.
HYSTERICAL RAISINS 
I checked to see if the original film was a Smithee Award nominee. It is.
==
http://www.smitheeawards.com/film_details.cfm?Film_ID=312
The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman (1966)
She Was a Hippy Vampire
The Wild World of Batwoman
Nomination Year: 1994
SYNOPSIS: Batwoman is a costumed crimefighter (it may not have covered her entirely, but by gads it was a costume) who has a stable of Bat Girl sidekicks. They like to dance, party, and have a good time in between fighting crime and … well … the other dancing, partying, and having a good time. Unfortunately, a mad scientist has invented an atomic weapon made out of a hearing aid, and she (or her assistants) need to find it before it can be used by the nefarious costumed villain Rat Fink.
Oblivious
That’s What I Call a Really Good Drink
Girl getting kidnapped in the bar, right in front of everyone, yet nobody notices.
Deus Ex Machina
The Deus-Ex-Machina Device
Batwoman finds and releases her captured Bat Girl with the use of some Deus-Ex-Machina Device.
Stupidest-Looking Monster
The Mole People
For some unknown reason, they use footage from The Mole People when they’re in the cave.
Worst Science
The Atomic Hearing Aid
The doc explains the “Atomic Hearing Aid.” This is good, because I can’t.
Worst Picture
Happy Pills
(clip one) – The evil minion spikes everyone’s soup with “happy pills” and they start to dance.
You Know How Rats Multiply…
(clip two) – The final fight scene, where Ratfink duplicates himself and wackiness ensues. Oy.
==
And to think it didn’t win any of the above awards. Too bad. If it were remade with the cast you have in the parody, it would probably sweep all but stupidest-looking monster, but would make it up be being nominated for Inane Dialogue.
it still would have had the stupidest-looking monster, because he would have been played by jim demint.
you should do a mid-week war on science ond, neon vincent. there’s so much stoopid on the rethuglican side, even among those with medical degrees.
That’s a great idea–thanks for suggesting it!
with all the stoopid, it might have to be a series.
The Republican War on Science–yes, it would be a series.
hell, it would be a career!!
Several of them, actually. Chris Mooney, who wrote the book “The Republican War on Science” and Steven “Darksyde” Andrews, are already on that case, but they could always use more help.
i read about the chris mooney book last night. i accidentally found it on teh google.
The nature of conservatism is static; the refusal to acknowledge or accept change. In spite of the massive technological changes our world has seen in the last 25 years – or previous century – these people will keep arguing that earth is flat and they’ll try to legislate it (even though they profess to be opposed to legislation).
As the article pointed out, they will use their positions to ensure that people suffer quality of life issues by trying to prevent research that can help humanity and that is criminal.
but they’ll be the first in line to ask for the treatments developed by the research they so vehemently oppose.
Great poster! You can’t go wrong with MST. Pristine looks like she’s been around the block a few times. And the other two look well aged. And a great movie review from NV. Maybe those human brain cells were extracted from ‘baggers. That would explain a lot.
i know all the guys love mst3k! 🙂 i like making those posters, so it’s a win-win. i was kind to pristine. the original batwoman was pretty huge. i slimmed her down a bit and made her head smaller than a medicine ball.
These stupid morons would be thrown into an asylum if they lived in the 1750s, but personally I wish someone could come up with a time machine, set it back to the Roman Empire, and feed the Christian looneys to the lions. Please place Prilosec in the capsule for the lions to protect them from acid reflux though!
if they want so badly to live in ancient times, they should all move to afghanistan.
That’s it! These ignorant fuckers get in and get their shit going, especially in 2012, it’s either Hello Canada, Europe or Australia and Goodbye United Stoopids of America!
Wow the poster is as usual hilarious, the look of daft vacancy on Chrissy’s face and the wacky self satisfied grin on Angle are priceless. Science Sucks. Nice. Two thoughts : are the severed heads in the desert maybe the mouseheads with human brains ? And do these people oppose stem cell research because they are afraid something may be developed that will be used to cure their bizarre delusions about sex, god and politics ?
i wonder what jan brewer would say if she knew that <a href=https://mikk2.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/mcr2010-the-brain-that-wouldnt-work/sharron the obtuse angle is one of the severed heads! 😯
Unfortunately it’s been so long since I’ve seen MST 3000. Didn’t they do a show on a film “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die”, I think the title was. The bodyless woman’s head was kept alive in a lab and she killed her friends off. How about our 3 ladies star in a film each: “The Obtuse Brain That Doesn’t Think”, The Sarahbellum of The Shrill Shill” and ” Masturbatory Thoughts To Gray Matter Meltdown”?
Sarahbellum.
Love it!
ka-ching! one dollar, please! 🙂
Sarah Bellum! I’m stealing that for sure.
yeah!! i’m makin’ out like a bandit! one dollar, please! 🙂
yes, they did have a movie called the brain that wouldn’t die. how do i know that? just a guess! 😉
good work getting sarahbellum into the vernacular. however, i trademarked that work, so i’m afraid you owe me a dollar. 🙂
OMG. That’s almost tooo much crazy in one spot.
Those three Guano Gals are getting the electorate hot enough with their effen Krazy that they will inevitably become the funeral pyre of the Republibag Right, even if they manage to get (re)elected.
gooper guana girls. the ggg. i think it might have to be bigger than a trio, though. batshit bachmann will be so upset if she’s left out.
Love the term Sarahbellum and how it sounds and fits, but the credit for it goes to our Nonnie! I’m trying to find which post it was used in too! It is a great term for a body part nobody could want for their own!
i won’t charge you for that one, joanaroo. i didn’t use it in a post. it was in a comment, in answer to melissa, if i remember correctly. let me see if i can find it. here we go!
Finally, the GOP has managed to create a politician so delusional, ignorant and basically insane that I find myself unable to wrap my head around her, her statements, or any of this.
I bet Sarah Palin watches her on TV and says, “What the fuck is this broad talking about?”
you really have to read up on her, zippy. it’s just a matter of time before princess sarah and michele batshit bachmann put out a hit on her for soaking up all the media attention. i’ll have the popcorn ready. oops, i mean croissants. i don’t want you to get the gastronomical bends now that you’ve been frenchified.
… or would that be a *devolving* monkey?
Your imagination knocks my socks off!
😀
i hope it’s still warm where you are, jaliya. i don’t want your toes to get cold. 😉