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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October 31, 2006
While I don't think arguing for or against reilgious particulars is something any political party should adopt a few days before an election (or should be a political issue at all, for that matter), PZ is absolutely right when he says that Robertson and his ilk should be called out for the foolish bigots that they are.
Posted by Mike at 7:44 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Apparently, this is how Sen. George Allen (R-VA) conducts voter outreach.
Posted by Mike at 5:22 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Let's Talk About Sex, Baby
Because if I had been born in 1969, I would be 36 years old, and the Bush administration's new abstinence program which is now targeting people up to 29 years old would ignore me.
Posted by Mike at 3:15 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 30, 2006
Recently, I described how the most frequent killer of children in the developing world wasn't 'the Big Three' (AIDS, malaria, and TB), but boring old pneumonia. Well, the second greatest killer is diarhhea. And several factors are leading to increased treatment failure of diarhhea.
Posted by Mike at 11:07 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 29, 2006
Category: Bloggity Blog
Here's some Sunday links for you. The sciency stuff:
Posted by Mike at 11:09 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bloggity Blog
It's not Blogger.
Posted by Mike at 7:17 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A while ago, I described how I feel estranged from the internet Progressives: Bloggers like Kos constantly remind people that the lefty blogosphere isn't liberal (sounds kinda like the DLC doesn't it?). Actually to say that the internet progressives don't stand for much of anything is unfair. It's just that what most of what the internet progressives stand for is what any sane, reality-based person should stand for.
Posted by Mike at 10:06 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Billmon has a superb post on the failures of journalism due to Compulsive Centrist Disorder:
Posted by Mike at 9:53 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Recent estimates suggest that the dollar cost of the Iraq War and Occupation will be over two trillion dollars. The horrible irony is that, had Bush not fought this war--or very quickly declared democracy and 'cut and run'--the amount of...
Posted by Mike at 7:57 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 28, 2006
I stumbled across this great creationist parody site: The reDiscovery Institute. You'll definitely have a few laughs with this....
Posted by Mike at 1:22 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 27, 2006
At least that's what Tristero of Hullabaloo says:
Posted by Mike at 11:58 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
More than a few conservatives are upset about the Michael J. Fox commercials because they're unfair: how do you respond to the emotional pull of someone who has Parkinson's disease?
Posted by Mike at 11:49 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Lance Mannion notes that Rush "Big Pharma" Limbaugh uses words in the same way creationists do: as weapons.
Posted by Mike at 8:45 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Michael Schiavo reports on a truly weird campaign event held by Republican congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave.
Posted by Mike at 8:43 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 26, 2006
From Billmon, comes this little factoid hidden in the latest Gallup poll:
Posted by Mike at 4:17 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I have discussed the "search and destroy" strategy for controlling and reducing methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) before. Search-and-destroy involves the screening of every patient and hospital worker for MRSA.
Posted by Mike at 11:43 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 25, 2006
Majikthise reminds us to join Operation Google Bomb.
Posted by Mike at 12:28 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In the Tennessee Senate race, the Republicans have been viciously playing the race card. They have been referring to Democrat Harold Ford as 'Fancy' Ford because he, a single black man, has dated...white women
Posted by Mike at 9:19 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 24, 2006
Category: Memes
Chad writes: He [Dawkins] rubs me the wrong way when he talks about science (I wish I could find the old post somebody on ScienceBlogs did about the vapidity of the whole "meme" thing), and really gets up my nose when he talks about religion. I don't know if he's referring to my critique of the meme concept, but I figured it gives me an excuse to resurrect this post about memes from the old site.
Posted by Mike at 11:48 AM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 23, 2006
When the Lancet study first came out, I argued that conservatives couldn't just criticize--they had to offer their own alternative, credible numbers for the civilian death toll. Matt Yglesias goes one further: why not a second study using credible methods...
Posted by Mike at 11:10 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The NY Times recently had a very good article about strep throat, which is caused by group A streptococci.
Posted by Mike at 11:22 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 22, 2006
Category: Lotsa Links
Here's some good links from the weekend. First, the sciency stuff:
Posted by Mike at 11:14 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Humor
Political ads are hardly great film making. But this ad about the Idaho congressional race will make anyone laugh, regardless of his or her political leanings.
Posted by Mike at 11:02 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In an interview with al-Jazeera, Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the US State Department...
Posted by Mike at 9:35 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 21, 2006
PBS' Frontline has made their special "The Lost in Iraq" available on line. This is TV that makes you smarter, not dumber. Check it out....
Posted by Mike at 2:16 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bloggity Blog
Marlon Perkins' "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom."
Posted by Mike at 11:40 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
and Donald Rumsfeld? From the AP:
Posted by Mike at 9:40 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 20, 2006
A friend asked today, "Why is there no one seriously critiquing the Gates Foundation's priorities?" Given the influence that "Gates" has on the setting of public health priorities, as well as the massive sums spent, these priorities need to be critically examined.
Posted by Mike at 5:35 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 19, 2006
Here's a joke: a Republican staffer of a conservative Christian Republican goes into a synagogue and tells the congregation that his candidate is more Jewish than they are. It's not very funny, and, sadly, it's true. You see, Republican Congressman J.D. Hayworth of Arizona has a slight Jewish problem.
Posted by Mike at 7:27 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
At least when it comes to killing young children in the developing world. A recent Lancet article describes the devastation pneumonia causes to children:
Posted by Mike at 10:33 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 18, 2006
By day, I work for an organization that combats the spread of antibiotic resistant microorganisms. One source of antibiotic resistance is the misuse of antibiotics by patients.
Posted by Mike at 9:16 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Did you ever think in 1999 that Congress would pass a bill, and that a President would sign a bill that eliminates habeas corpus at the whim of the president? I sure as hell didn't.
Posted by Mike at 1:01 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 17, 2006
A while ago, I posted about "The List", which was a list of gay Republicans being shopped around to various news media, of all political persuasions.
Posted by Mike at 8:30 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
While there's been a lot of discussion about David Kuo's book Tempting Faith, the wee lil' Mad Biologist seems to be the only one who has viewed the intentional rejection of proposals from non-Christian religious organizations as religious discrimination ('no Jews need apply'). This discrimination is why funding faith-based organizations based on their religiosity and not on what they would to do advance the interest of the Republic is so odious.
Posted by Mike at 6:25 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Howard Friedman has a nice roundup of the Boston Globe series of articles, "Exporting Faith", which is all about how the intrusion of sectarian dogma is screwing up our foreign spending. It's a good read....
Posted by Mike at 10:23 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 16, 2006
I was reading this LA Times story about the quashing of intelligent design creationism in Michigan, and I was stunned by this:
Posted by Mike at 5:33 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A while ago, I posted about the lionfish invasion of the Atlantic Northeast. Here's a really good post about our Benevolent Lionfish Overlords.
Posted by Mike at 10:01 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 15, 2006
Category: Bloggity Blog
Got it in under the wire. Here's some interesting links for you:
Posted by Mike at 11:55 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Romney
First, Republican MA Gov. Romney cozies up to Dobson and Perkins on Faith Sunday (and let's not forget his elimination of the funding for suicide prevention and outreach for gay teens). Now, he apparently lied about conducting Big Dig safety inspections.
Posted by Mike at 6:09 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bloggity Blog
Have at it readers. And it doesn't need to be tasteful...
Posted by Mike at 11:58 AM • 24 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Paul the Spud says: We're actually starting to hear a lot of this lately. Republicans/"real" Conservatives are fed up with the out-of-control Bush administration, and they're ready to vote for the Dems, just to get them out of office. Well gee and gosh guys, that's all honorable and cool of you, but I just have one question for you.
Posted by Mike at 10:02 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 14, 2006
This is one way to deal with looming un- and underemployment.
Posted by Mike at 4:32 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Over at Majikthise, Lindsay has been doing some really good debunking of the critics of the Lancet article that indicates roughly 655,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the Iraq War and Occupation.
Posted by Mike at 10:37 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Apparently, I'm not the only one who sees South Dakota's ban on virtually all abortions as an assault on the First Amendment.
Posted by Mike at 8:47 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 13, 2006
it's pretty clear the Republicans don't give a damn about America's children. There's growing evidence that the Republican political establishment doesn't believe in the Christian Right's lunacy. So all the hot air about putting intelligent design creationism
Posted by Mike at 10:35 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Because, you see, they 'discovered' that TEH GAY KONSPIRACIE is actually a covert op by the Democrats to infiltrate the Republican Party. Really. Even with top-notch pharmaceuticals, I couldn't make this lunacy up.
Posted by Mike at 9:26 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 12, 2006
Revere recently had an excellent post about why you should get a flu shot. Let me just add one more reason:
Posted by Mike at 6:05 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Yesterday, the Department of Justice approved a merger between AT&T and BellSouth without any conditions, a consent decree, or judicial review.
Posted by Mike at 5:34 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Or maybe this post should have been titled "Faith-based initiatives = anti-Semitism." Keith Olbermann has a story about David Kuo's new book, Tempting Faith.
Posted by Mike at 10:12 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I've stayed away from the whole religious organization tax breaks issue, mostly because others have dealt with it. But this NY Times article about the parsonage exemption pisses me off to no end (the parsonage exemption allows workers for religious organizations to deduct the cost of their housing). Here's why:
Posted by Mike at 8:55 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 11, 2006
Or at least 655,000 (± 140,000) of them. Before I get to the news reports, I think it's important to make something clear. These statistical techniques are routinely used in public health epidemiology and nobody complains. Critics of this estimate can't play the same game the creationists do. They can't just debunk the numbers. They have to propose an alternative, reliable method, otherwise this estimate has to be viewed as the best available estimate. (I can't wait to hear Bill O'Reilly talk about statistics...)
Posted by Mike at 9:45 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
GrrlScientist was trying to understand how 26% of Americans could think Dennis Hastert should suffer no consequences for covering Foleygate. Tonight, after looking through my neighborhood newspaper, The Beacon Hill Times, I propose an alternative hypothesis:
Posted by Mike at 9:04 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 10, 2006
You know the wheels are coming off the Republican Wurlitzer when Republicans, as opposed to Democrats, are engaging in public 'soul-searching.'
Posted by Mike at 8:48 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There has been an argument by some liberal hawks that once we entered Iraq, it was our obligation to fix it (the whole "Pottery Barn" metaphor). This always honked me off because I knew from the get-go that this whole thing would go sideways. Nonetheless, there was a brief window after the fall of Saddam Hussein to get things to a stable enough point where we could declare Democracy and leave.
Posted by Mike at 7:26 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Republicans have decided how they will tackle the deficit: they're going to remove the NCAA's tax-exempt status.
Posted by Mike at 6:30 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks