FU - FairAndUNbalanced.com

From io9:

Using nothing but rope, how many people does it take to move a 10-foot tall, 5-ton statue a distance of one hundred yards? It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it's a serious question for archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo, who are studying how prehistoric inhabitants of Easter Island transported the region's iconic, monolithic figures — called "moai" — from place to place.

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From MarketPlace.org:

Kai Ryssdal: From the Marketplace desk of 'What Could Possibly Go Wrong?' comes this today: A partnership between Merck, the pharmaceutical company, and Dreamworks, the movie studio.

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Senate candidate Richard Mourdock (R-IN) reacting to a Supreme Court decision on ObamaCare before a decision has actually been made:

In fairness, Mr. Mourdock's campaign posted at least four videos reacting to four possible decisions. No word on whether an election night victory speech, a concession speech, and a demand for a recount will all be posted before the polls open.

In response to Burr Deming's Contempt of Congress

That's the conspiracy. All the verbal assurances accompanied by a lack of any moves that could be interpreted as a threat to gun rights must be interpreted as a threat to gun rights. The threat is hidden in plain sight. The threat is the lack of any threat.

- Burr Deming, June 21, 2012

Conspiracy theorists claim that evidence leads them to their conclusions, but the truth is that their conclusions lead them to evidence. Anything can be evidence, after all, if you interpret it just so.

If Obama is directly attacking something that such people like, then he must be ignorant, evil, or somehow both.

If Obama speaks in favor of something that such people like, then he must be employing some diabolical political strategy.

If Obama says nothing, then he must be plotting.

There are no other possibilities; malevolence is always evident. Such people filter everything through an opinion of Obama's character that is based largely on their initial ideological disagreements. His own words are manipulated to make him conform to the image of the bogeyman that he is supposed to be.

Of course, this behavior, which is a significant source of dysfunction within our government, is not unique to conspiracy theorists. It is mainstream activity in which both conservatives and liberals regularly engage, if only because "the other side does it too."

However, since our current president is liberal, conservatives have a wonderful opportunity to show that they are above such behavior by avoiding it and condemning those who promote it. If they do not take this opportunity, then they can only expect the same behavior from liberals when we have our next Republican president, which may be very soon. The game will continue--but the most notable loser will be the public, not a politician.

When not schooling principled ideologues on the value of people, Ryan writes for his own site, where games continue only when the prize is enlightenment.

Please visit Secular Ethics.