Freedom Marches On...
well, not exactly.
Posted by Mike at 8:35 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Mad rantings about politics, evolution, and microbiology
Mad rantings about politics, evolution, and microbiology. Comment policy: say what you want, but back it up with an email address. I don't like anonymous trolls.
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August 31, 2006
August 30, 2006
I came across this interesting poll of the NJ Senate race. It appears that even mentioning the Iraq War hurts Republicans, even popular ones.
Posted by Mike at 9:13 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There's a reason I've been writing about Confederate racist wannabee and VA senator George Allen so much. He's not an outlier in the Republican Party, but part and parcel of it.
Posted by Mike at 6:34 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Democrats
According to Diana Kerry, who organized U.S. expatriate voters for her brother John's 2004 campaign, 75% of passport-holding Americans vote Democratic....
Posted by Mike at 11:29 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 29, 2006
I'm always astonished how so many people can think that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11, that the sun revolves around the earth, or that intelligent design is a valid theory. Another idiocy that can joined this esteemed list is the belief that Social Security will go bankrupt.
Posted by Mike at 3:39 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
No, it's not by me, silly! David Dobbs at Smooth Pebbles has a great explanation of why business should be in favor of a national healthcare system.
Posted by Mike at 11:38 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Lotsa Links
Here's some links for you:
Posted by Mike at 8:13 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 28, 2006
It just gets weirder and weirder with Sen. George "Macaca" Allen (R-VA). It now appears that this wannabee Confederate racist is descended from a distinguished Sephardic Jewish family
Posted by Mike at 8:36 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
It's nice to see that the Alabama Democratic Party realized that a lesbian Democrat can be just as irrelevant as a straight Democrat to doings of the Republican controlled Alabama egislature....
Posted by Mike at 7:05 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The NY Times has an article about how real wages are not keeping pace with productivity increases.
Posted by Mike at 1:08 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 27, 2006
King Cranky and Shakes are right: if George Bush doesn't want us to dwell on New Orleans, then it's probably a good idea for us to do so.
Posted by Mike at 9:14 PM • 1 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
August 25, 2006
I'm going to NYC this weekend, and I was wondering what I would leave on the autoblogger thingee (I really do like that ScienceBlogs feature). Fortunately, some idiocy regarding stem cells came bubbling up from the comments.
Posted by Mike at 5:43 PM • 21 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
OK, I'm kidding (legally, he's too young). S.R. Sidarth is the native born Virginian who was called a racist slur by Californian transplant Sen. George Allen (R-VA).
Posted by Mike at 1:07 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 24, 2006
and the Christopaths want to kill it anyway. There is a method that could be used to harvest embryonic stem cells that does not harm development of the embryo
Posted by Mike at 1:34 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 23, 2006
Category: Insects
From the Montgomery Advertiser comes a story about gigantic yellow jacket nests.
Posted by Mike at 6:59 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 22, 2006
because you never know where they'll show up.
Posted by Mike at 7:03 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
'Will-based' foreign policy making seems to have overcome the modern conservative movement (maybe it should be called 'realpolitik backlash'...).
Posted by Mike at 1:52 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 21, 2006
This is a remarkable post, although it's not too surprising. Who needs Hizbollah when you have these assholes:
Posted by Mike at 10:10 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
About a week ago, Sen. George Allen (R-VA) referred to an American of Indian descent as a "macaca" which is a racist slur
Posted by Mike at 6:47 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bloggity Blog
What's the best laptop sleeve for a IBM/Lenovo X60S laptop? It's a 12 inch screen, not widescreen, and about an inch thick. Have at it, hivemind....
Posted by Mike at 2:08 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bloggity Blog
I've been a long time fan of Josh Rosenau's Thoughts from Kansas. Now he's done gone joined these ScienceBlogs. Stop by, wish him hello, and add him to your blogroll....
Posted by Mike at 1:10 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
One of the 'low tech' life-saving advances for HIV patients has been the prophylactic use of the antibiotic cotrimoxazole. The WHO's support of universal prophylaxis of HIV patients with cotrimoxazole will greatly increase the adoption of this critical disease prevention strategy.
Posted by Mike at 9:16 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 20, 2006
Category: Lotsa Links
Here's some Sunday reading for you:
Posted by Mike at 9:21 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Over at Orcinus, guest blogger Sara Robinson has a series of posts (I, II, & III) about the psychology of the authoritarian mindset, and how this affects communication with many religious conservatives.
Posted by Mike at 6:45 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Immigration
What's shocking is the utter silence from the White House about the immigration story unfolding in Chicago. Remember, this is the same administration that interrupted the president's vacation for the Terry Schiavo incident. So when it really matters politically the White House is willing to move.
Posted by Mike at 11:13 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Frank Rich in the NY Times has a good analysis of the Lamont primary victory in CT, although I think he downplays what it means for the Democratic Party.
Posted by Mike at 9:30 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 19, 2006
If there is one post about the recent Lebanon fiasco worth reading, it's Doron Rosenblum's "Not Sparta--and Just As Well"
Posted by Mike at 11:28 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The best description of George Walker Bush ever penned
Posted by Mike at 10:03 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 18, 2006
One of the more frustrating thing about a lot of mainstream media coverage of science topics like evolution or global warming is that there is a pathological need to report both sides as equal, even though the data and evidence overwhelmingly support one side.
Posted by Mike at 12:42 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I might as well too. By some weird transcendental quirk of fate, I was planning on moving to this blog ">my skewering of Sally Jenkins' now-infamous column about ID next week.
Posted by Mike at 12:08 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 17, 2006
I've never thought of myself as a particularly brave or courageous person. Plenty of things make me a little bit nervous at the very least. But the overt fear many claim to have felt since Sept. 11, 2001 really hasn't been part of my thinking.
Posted by Mike at 6:28 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
That's right--you heard it here first: algal blooms on the Charles River in Boston.
Posted by Mike at 1:16 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I've been meaning to write a comprehensive post about why there is such anger among some Democrats towards Lieberman. Fortunately, Anonymous Liberal Staffer at MyDD.com has a great post describing exactly what I was thinking.
Posted by Mike at 9:39 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Max, over at MaxSpeak, You Listen, is divulging top sekrit information.
Posted by Mike at 7:46 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 16, 2006
During his 2004 presidential bid, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) called his bus tour 'The Straight Talk Express.'
Posted by Mike at 10:50 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Juan Cole nails it:
It was such a stupid war. It was thick-as-two-blocks-of-wood strategy on all sides.Posted by Mike at 7:01 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
So it turns out Mel Gibson was ranting about juice, not Jews.
Posted by Mike at 3:28 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Our (lonely) Benevolent Seed Overlords ask
Posted by Mike at 12:39 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 15, 2006
but I think that God's got a sick sense of humor."
Posted by Mike at 11:10 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I found a site called MRSA Notes that's all about methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Posted by Mike at 8:38 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 14, 2006
Here's some interesting articles I pulled off the internets for you:
Posted by Mike at 6:56 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
and calls a dark-skinned man of Indian descent a monkey.
Posted by Mike at 4:31 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 13, 2006
At this point, one has to wonder if there are any sane people left in the Bush Administration. In the New Yorker, Sy Hersh describes the run up to the next war.
Posted by Mike at 6:56 PM • 7 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
Category: Terrorism
So quipped John Aravosis. He posted the following email:
Posted by Mike at 11:50 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 12, 2006
By now, you might have heard about the Science article examining the acceptance of evolution in 34 countries. I don't have much else to say that PZ, Shelley, http://scienceblogs.com/strangerfruit/2006/08/go_usa_were_2_kind_of.php, and Nick Matzke haven't said already. But I have some additional good news and bad news.
Posted by Mike at 12:28 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 11, 2006
Since I'm off to Woods Hole to give a lecture about antibiotic resistance, I thought this interview from the old site with Dr. Henrik C. Wegener about antibiotics and agriculture would be appropriate.
Posted by Mike at 8:31 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 10, 2006
In my stream of consciousness post about Joe Lieberman, I noted that Lieberman's loss reveals just how inept the Democratic consultant and advisor class is. Over at My Left Wing, thereisnospoon picks up on this theme:
Posted by Mike at 12:33 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 9, 2006
Joseph beat me to it: there's a Nature article about platensimycin, an antibiotic that inhibits lipid biosynthesis in Gram positive bacteria.
Posted by Mike at 12:45 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There's a very interesting article in Emerging Infectious Diseases about which risk factors are likely to result in an increased likelihood of a macrolide (a class of antibiotics) resistant Streptococcus pneumonial infection. One important factor: having failed to take a full course of antibiotic therapy in the previous six months.
Posted by Mike at 12:07 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 8, 2006
So says the Hartford Courant. Lieberman is precisely why the Democratic Establishment perpetually has its collective head up its collective backside: an incumbent senator loses to a no-name challenger whose only previous political experience was in local government.
Posted by Mike at 11:29 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
No, I'm not describing Joe Lieberman (although, hopefully, I will be). I'm talking about Tom DeLay. Says one of his former lobbyist friends:
Posted by Mike at 8:37 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I'm swamped with work, but I wanted to draw your attention to a few posts by Brad DeLong about the media coverage of the Iraq War. There are two very good comments about Washington Post reporter Thomas Ricks' explanation for...
Posted by Mike at 2:31 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 7, 2006
I'm swamped with work, and I plan on linking to this post from the old site, so I've resurrected this from the archives of the Mad Biologist.
Posted by Mike at 10:05 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 6, 2006
Here are some posts I collected off those internets you might find interesting:
Posted by Mike at 6:28 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Algae
I was at the Esplanade in Boston, and I noticed something very weird in the water. By the Fairfield St. entrance, the water under the bridge and by the shore (on both sides, river and 'canal') was bright green, as...
Posted by Mike at 4:55 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post writes:
George Pyle , an editorial writer for the Salt Lake Tribune, complains in the Tribune's editorial blog that I did not include his paper's Sunday editorial in my Wednesday column about editorials from all over the country expressing outrage about Bush's signing statements.Posted by Mike at 12:39 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 5, 2006
check out Ed Brayton's post. The poor attention span version: ID isn't serious science because it's 'founders' don't have a scientific agenda, but a cultural one.