Politics:
There is an interesting article put out by Associated Press, authored by Seth Borenstein. Mr. Bornstein suggests that scientists are increasingly expressing an interest in running for office. The involvement of scientists in politics is not new. Think of Ben...
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Posted on May 10, 2008 7:48 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
One thing about hospitals, is that they use an awful lot of electricity. We already know about some of the challenges that will occur in health care in the post-peak-oil era; I wrote about that in October 2007. ...Petroleum...
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Posted on May 8, 2008 7:50 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The urge to fisk is an omnipresent danger for all bloggers. Usually I am strong. Usually I resist. But this essay on World Net Daily got my fisking neurons all in a twitter. It's by David Kupelian, and it's a...
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Posted on May 5, 2008 7:45 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, it was noticed that there were cuts in the budget to the Environmental Protection Agency. The rationale was that we needed to shift more funds to the global and perpetual war...
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Posted on May 2, 2008 12:27 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A while back, a guy named Lyle Rossiter wrote a book, The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness. I haven't read the book, so this is one of those posts that is less than fully authoritative. Perhaps...
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Posted on April 21, 2008 7:32 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
From Think Progress: Cheney swore off ‘moderate’ campaign promises a month after 2000 election. In his new book, former Rhode Island Republican senator Lincoln Chafee reveals that even before President Bush was sworn into office after the 2000 elections, Cheney...
Posted on April 2, 2008 8:54 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I haven't been posting much. I have been trying to figure out why. Probably it is because all I want to say is that Bush is an idiot, and I guess I have said that already. More than once. ...
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Posted on February 4, 2008 11:40 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Several of the candidates have been found to have made egregious misstatements in the New Hampshire debates. FactCheck.org, the organization made famous by Dick Cheney when he erroneously referred to it as Factcheck.com, has an analysis of the Republican candidates'...
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Posted on January 7, 2008 8:21 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Keith Olbermann Special Commentary on Bush Lies Ron Paul was interviewed by Bill Moyers last Friday (1/4/2008). Paul Responded to Moyers' observation that the media have been complicit in keeping the War out of the public eye as the...
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Posted on January 6, 2008 7:36 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There are only two interesting things about what happened in the Iowa caucuses. One, the turnout for Democrats was much higher than the turnout for Republicans. Voter turnout is everything in US elections. It will continue to be the single...
Posted on January 5, 2008 11:45 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I know people are complaining that I go too easy on political candidates. It is true. But with Mitt Romney, I will make an exception. I wanted to like Romney. George Wilcken Romney, Mitt Romney's father, had a truly...
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Posted on December 26, 2007 7:58 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Someone, with a lot more patience that I, has compiled a list of Bush administration scandals. The truly amazing thing? Some people voted for this crook twice....
Posted on December 22, 2007 11:31 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There is a movement afoot to develop a framework for a Presidential candidate debate on science. Bora has been proposing questions that would have the candidates explain.. In what way, if any, would you change the current federal framework of...
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Posted on December 19, 2007 8:41 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In February 2005, a bunch of smart people met to eat Chinese food and talk about a new way to make money. This included Greg Lippman, a trader at Deutsche Bank; Rajiv Kamilla, a trader at Goldman Sachs Group Inc....
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Posted on December 18, 2007 8:10 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Christians have a solemn duty. The reason will become clear. Recently, there was a strong reaction in the Blogosphere about Governor Mitt Romney's "Faith In America" Address. I noticed in particular the posts on Effect Measure, Matthew Yglesias, and Dispatches...
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Posted on December 14, 2007 9:09 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Uprising Radio reports on an item of social justice: San Diego County Searches Welfare Recipients’ Homes Published on 28 Nov 2007 at 12:06 pm GUEST: Eric Isaacson, Partner in the law firm, Coughlin-Stoia, and cooperating attorney with the ACLU of...
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Posted on December 1, 2007 3:34 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Turkey is considering adding the letters "Q," "W," and "X" to their alphabet. The idea is that it would appease the Kurds. Gov’t reform envisages including X, Q, W in Turkish alphabets Changing the Turkish alphabet to include the...
Posted on November 23, 2007 4:35 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Here is a part of a screenshot, showing the most-viewed pages: Notice that the page on homosexuality has 78% as many visits as the main page. The site? Conservapedia: "The Trustworthy Encyclopedia." It is a wiki, like Wikipedia, but for...
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Posted on November 20, 2007 6:13 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
America missed her chance to elect a sane pro-environmental candidate in 2000. Or rather, the Supreme Court missed its chance. Whatever. The critical point is that environmentalism cannot be understood as an isolated issue. Pro-environmental thinking must pervade everything we...
Posted on November 20, 2007 7:35 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Currently, both the House and the Senate are leaning away from granting immunity to telecommunications companies that were involved in warrantless domestic spying. In an unrelated debacle, the State Department tried to grant immunity to Blackwater personnel who shot...
Posted on November 16, 2007 7:50 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Remember, this guy ran for office claiming that he was going to "restore dignity" to the office. Now, 64% of persons surveyed think "has abused his powers as president." 55% think he has committed impeachable offenses, although they are split...
Posted on November 13, 2007 7:46 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A Nobel-winning economist has some comments about our current fiscal situation: The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush The next president will have to deal with yet another crippling legacy of George W. Bush: the economy. A Nobel laureate, Joseph E....
Posted on November 10, 2007 7:55 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Fife Symington III, former governor of Arizona, is planning a press conference to discuss UFOs. He plans to discuss the Phoenix Lights incident. Symington is a former Air Force pilot, which he feels lends him some credibility. Symington: I...
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Posted on November 9, 2007 5:07 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This story originally ran in the New York Times, 40 years ago. It is behind a pay wall now, but it is reprinted in Harper's; I found it from a link at Project for an Old American Century: "We Do...
Posted on November 8, 2007 9:12 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There is very little published about this, so I have no idea why it happened. Dick Cheney's attorney, Shannen Coffin, has resigned. He "is expected to take a breather from the rapid pace of government service," then return to private...
Posted on November 5, 2007 12:29 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
(AP) President Bush compared Congress' Democratic leaders Thursday with people who ignored the rise of Lenin and Hitler early in the last century, saying "the world paid a terrible price" then and risks similar consequences for inaction today. Yeah. If...
Posted on November 1, 2007 6:44 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This won't happen, but I think it should. Television media should not be allowed to participate, other than to do the broadcast. The media performance in the 10/30/07 Democratic debate shows that MSM do not know how to conduct a...
Posted on October 31, 2007 4:43 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
It was kind of depressing to see the post on Effect Measure (Chemical plants: internal dangers, external costs) about the half-measures being taken to safeguard chemical plants and facilities. The chemical security problem is as urgent as it is obvious....
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Posted on October 31, 2007 9:11 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Today I watched the C-Span broadcast (link to Real Player file, 80 minutes) of Dr. Gerberding's testimony to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The topic: The potential effects of climate change on public health. After seeing it,...
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Posted on October 28, 2007 12:37 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Honorable John Dingell has drafted legislation that would bring an end to the war in Iraq. There is no bill number yet, so it is a bit too early for us all to write our Representatives to urge support....
Posted on October 24, 2007 4:07 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
One of the first things I wrote about on Corpus Callosum was the tense and ambivalent relationship the current Administration has with the scientific community. Note that the ambivalence is one-sided: it occurs entirely on the side of the...
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Posted on October 22, 2007 7:37 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Sometimes we hear the allegation that the war in Iraq is about oil. That is only an approximation of the truth. Really, it is about money. Oil at this point is merely a proxy for money. Certain corporations that are...
Posted on October 21, 2007 7:15 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS) is a major NIH-sponsored study of the treatment of adolescents with depression, in which fluoxetine-only, cognitive-behavioral therapy only, combination treatment, and placebo are compared. The study is expected to generate a number...
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Posted on October 16, 2007 1:41 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Yeah. Private companies are always more efficient that government programs. According to a recent study by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee: The private Part D insurers report administrative expenses, sales costs, and profits of almost $5 billion in...
Posted on October 16, 2007 1:45 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Today is Blog Action Day, during which many persons have agreed to write a blog post about environmental concerns. This is one of thousands. Consider Climate Change, and consider the Iraq War. Other than both being among the biggest mistakes...
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Posted on October 15, 2007 9:01 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Romney thinks he has a winning strategy, but he's wrong. Presidential hopeful Romney vows to help pull Michigan out of economic slump Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau Saturday, October 13, 2007 GRAND RAPIDS -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt...
Posted on October 13, 2007 5:26 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has some choice words for Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Rice Worried by Putin's Broad Powers Rice Criticizes Putin's Concentration of Power, Says It Interferes With Move to Democracy By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press Writer...
Posted on October 13, 2007 2:50 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
He alleges that the war in Iraq was botched for a reason: it will be easier for us to steal their oil if they do not have a functioning government. Some excerpts: Indeed, the US may be ‘stuck’ precisely where...
Posted on October 12, 2007 7:42 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Fred Thompson's campaign site has the following quote on the home page: "We are steeped in the tradition of honor and sacrifice for the greater good. We are proud of this heritage. I believe that Americans are once again ready...
Posted on October 10, 2007 11:46 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I wonder if he really believes this? If so, he dementia is worse than I thought: Bush: 'Never really thought about' war Posted by Mark Silva on October 5, 2007 President Bush, interviewed “in the room where I make decisions,’’...
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Posted on October 6, 2007 10:50 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In the most recent debate among Presidential hopefuls in the Democratic Party, there was an exchange regarding the so-called "ticking bomb" question. The question itself, and the way it was handled, reveals shortcomings in the way we evaluate our candidates....
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Posted on September 30, 2007 8:29 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The government is finally moving the legal system into the 21st century, with wiki-based laws. The idea is that the people are the customer, and the customer should have a say in the rules. This is, oddly, a government-sponsored revolution....
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Posted on September 28, 2007 2:03 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Look at these news briefs: In March, Cincinnati-based Chiquita Brands International, pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to making regular protection payments to Colombian right-wing paramilitary groups totaling some $1.7 million between 2001 and...
Posted on September 17, 2007 5:29 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I don't think this has ever happened before. I was reading an article about the organizational chart at the FDA and I laughed out loud. Unfortunately it was not a good "monkey-on-a-goat" LOL moment; rather, it was a "WTF-sounds-like-Bush"...
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Posted on September 12, 2007 12:41 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Mitt Romney's national finance committee (ex-) co-chairman, Alan Fabian, is in trouble. He's been indicted for mail fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice. Of course, he is innocent until proven guilty. The story here, as...
Posted on September 7, 2007 10:36 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This morning the US government revealed that employment is down by 4,000 jobs. The market took a dive. Why was the impact so bad? It is one of two reasons. Either the numbers are so bad, that the government can't...
Posted on September 7, 2007 12:58 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Usually the LA Times does not print things this awful. Usually these things don't bother me so much. The problem is not just that the author is wrong, or that he develops his argument poorly -- although both are true....
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Posted on September 3, 2007 7:46 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
William Rivers Pitt argues that what the President, Cheney, and Gonzalez have done is not illegal. Apparently, it is not illegal for the President to declare himself and his administration to be above the law. The idea is so outrageous...
Posted on August 28, 2007 2:04 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Senator Dick Durbin has started a project using an innovative method of writing legislation: What should be America's national broadband strategy? by: Dick Durbin Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 13:06:58 PM EDT (This diary will remain at the top of...
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Posted on August 22, 2007 9:23 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
How refreshing: a Presidential appointee speaks out unequivocally against Administration policy. This is from a Medscape News article (free registration), which is from Reuters Heath Information. The report quotes a professor of Immunology who is on the President's Cancer Panel...
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Posted on August 17, 2007 7:12 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Not much commentary needed on this graphic. HT to Blast Off!. Most of the liberals are actually conservative. Some of the Republican candidates are close to being as authoritarian as Hitler or Stalin. I thought Ron Paul would have been...
Posted on August 17, 2007 12:27 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
At first you would not think that pirates would try to establish a base in Utah. There are not a lot of coves or bays there. Even so, it is the first State to have an official pirate base. They...
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Posted on August 16, 2007 9:24 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The headline: Federal Deficit Sharply Lower. The text: The lower year-to-date deficit was the result of a record of $2.12 trillion in revenues. Spending, however, was higher -- $2.27 trillion, which also marked an all-time high. So we spent...
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Posted on August 11, 2007 7:44 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The problem, specifically, is that patients with insurance have higher copays and deductibles. According to an article on Medscape (free registration required): U.S. Hospitals Struggle Over Who Can Afford to Pay By Kim Dixon CHICAGO (Reuters Life!) Aug 06 -...
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Posted on August 7, 2007 12:03 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This is an interesting exercise. Go to a site and state your position are various issues that are major themes for next year's Presidential election. Also rank the importance of each issue to you. When you do this, you...
Posted on August 7, 2007 8:31 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Donald Rumsfeld revealed the identity of the star witness in the Abu Grhaib case. The guy who blew the whistle had been promised anonymity....
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Posted on August 6, 2007 1:08 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Foreign Policy magazine has released the results of their second survey of 100 foreign policy experts, on the topic of national security. The results are compiled into what they call the Terrorism Index. Their sample is bipartisan, with about 40% of...
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Posted on August 3, 2007 9:56 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
That is the conclusion of the most review review of the security of the Dielbold voting machines in California. Most damning is the finding that many of the previously-reported vulnerabilities have not been fixed....
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Posted on August 3, 2007 1:52 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
