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.
Thanks!
These links do not indicate support of this blog's statements by these groups
March 31, 2007
I plan on visiting the Smithsonian. Sadly, it hasn't been run very well the last seven years. Maybe the resignation of Lawrence Small will turn things around. Who is Small?
Posted by Mike at 12:44 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 30, 2007
...or something like that. By way of skippy, comes this, erm, fascinating creationist exposition on the inertness of peanut butter.
Posted by Mike at 3:18 PM • 229 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Atrios makes an interesting observation about the decline in newspaper sales and political trend at major metropolitan dailies.
Posted by Mike at 11:29 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 29, 2007
How can the DLC-wing of Democratic Party, including Rahm Emanuel, continue to claim to know what's best for the Democratic Party after they've been so badly schooled? By other Democrats.
Posted by Mike at 7:27 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
One of the interesting things about blogging is that it has undermined the importance of the punditocracy. In the pre-interenet, and certainly pre-blog era, you had a very different relationship to politics, even if you were aware and relatively active: you were a consumer.
Posted by Mike at 3:47 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
That's according to Republican congressman Randy Forbes, member of the Congressional Prayer Caucus. Personally, I think exercising Congress' oversight role and passing some legislation worth a damn might help a bit more, but then again, my prayers wouldn't count for much anyway according to the Caucus.
Posted by Mike at 10:05 AM • 17 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In response to us foul-mouthed evolutionists, Casey Luskin asks, "Yet for all their numbers and name-calling, not a single one has answered Egnor's question: How does [sic] Darwinian mechanisms produce new biological information?" I've never liked the whole "biological information" concept.
Posted by Mike at 9:49 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 28, 2007
Blogger Mike Stark recently debated Myron Ebell about global warming. Apparently, Mike Stark did more than just hold his own, which is pretty impressive considering the debate was hosted by the ultraconservative Federalist Society. Stark had this interesting point about credibility, which is similar to a point I made about creationist credibility.
Posted by Mike at 7:43 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Hunter has a superb piece on the declining (or perhaps negligible) authority of the punditocracy. To paraphrase Hunter, we're all cheesegraters here.
Posted by Mike at 7:33 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
By way of Seeing the Forest, I came across this Zogby poll from Sept. 2006 about the Iraq War. The stoopid is really painful.
Posted by Mike at 4:02 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 27, 2007
I ask this seriously. Among rank and file Democrats, there is a common belief that Democratic politicians are being dragged to right by the need for compromise. But I don't think that's the case with Clinton: she is a conservative Southern Democrat without the regional accent. And the southern blue dogs have been pretty weak on the Iraq Occupation.
Posted by Mike at 6:47 PM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
One of the few predictable statistics in American public health is that between 35,000-40,000 people will die every year from 'ordinary' influenza. Most of these deaths are preventable. Yet we do nothing. This is a complete failure of the basic function of government to protect the life and health of the weakest among us.
Posted by Mike at 9:26 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 26, 2007
I usually stay away from the various pissing matches that occur between big name commentators. Watching Hollywood actors and actresses is far more entertaining, and unlike the famous and beautiful people, pundits are definitely NOT TEH HOT! But in the midst of a clash between Eric Alterman and Joe Klein, Alterman makes an interesting observation.
Posted by Mike at 11:44 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 25, 2007
Category: Bloggity Blog
Here are some Sunday links for you (with extra linkyness since there won't be one next week). First, I blind you with science.
Posted by Mike at 9:02 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A story in the NY Times about a very interesting Israeli group, Breaking the Silence (Shovrim Shtika), finally got me motivated to blog about it. Here's one bit from the article that was interesting
Posted by Mike at 11:18 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 24, 2007
...in Stasi-controlled East Germany. An anonymous internet service provider writes in the Washington Post about the 'national security letter' he or she received.
Posted by Mike at 1:35 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
It's about time someone told the warmongers on the Washington Post editorial board to go fuck themselves. In the words of Democratic congressman David Obey:
Posted by Mike at 10:14 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 23, 2007
never mess with the Jewish grandmothers. Wednesday, Sen. Boxer smacked around Republican senator Inhofe but good:
Posted by Mike at 11:47 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The subprime loan fiasco is starting to reach suburbia. And as you might guess, the taxpayer is left to pick up the externalized costs of lenders.
Posted by Mike at 9:52 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 22, 2007
In a recent post that's made it's way around blogtopia (and yes, skippy invented that phrase), I referred to willful ignorance. I found an excellent parody of the anti-gay spew vomited forth by various rightwing faithtanks called "The Heterosexual Agenda: Exposing the Myths." The whole thing is worth a read, but in the part where the author explains how to write a similar parody is an excellent description of willful ignorance.
Posted by Mike at 6:18 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The more you stare at this scandal, the more you feel like one of the proverbial blind men trying to figure out what the hell that elephant is.
Posted by Mike at 11:31 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Yesterday, I was a little miffed about the coverage of the growing US Attorney scandal. During said crankiness, I wondered how we have reached the point where the legality of an action is the only criterion to use when judging if that action is ethical.
Posted by Mike at 11:08 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 21, 2007
Category: Publishing
In scientific publishing, one of the important things is what is known as the "impact factor" which is the the average number of citations a journal receives over a 2 year period. The impact factor is often used by librarians and researchers to determine which journals to purchase and where to publish. There are some problems with the impact factor, however.
Posted by Mike at 6:52 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The good news is that the Senate overwhelmingly rescinded Bush's ability to appoint U.S. attorneys without Congressional approval--one of those 'terror-fighting' 'improvements' that somehow found its way into the Patriot Act. But the coverage of the story is awful.
Posted by Mike at 10:32 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 20, 2007
In response to my latest post about Michael Egnor, I received a couple of comments lamenting my intemperance towards Egnor. Below is the long version, but Mark sums up the short version quite nicely.
Posted by Mike at 5:27 PM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Just watch: the Republicans are going to blame the Democrats for fouling up the Justice Department. From U.S. News:
Posted by Mike at 12:44 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 19, 2007
There's an interesting news story about antibiotic resistance in wild chimpanzee populations that claims to have found transfer of resistant Escherichia coli from humans to wild animals.
Posted by Mike at 5:08 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Full disclosure: I have never bought into the belief of the Compulsive Centrists that John McCain is moderate. A detailed look at his voting record shows that he is often very conservative, with the occasional moment of lucidity (e.g., recognizing that global warming is actually happening). But it is truly pathetic to watch a man who clearly doesn't agree with the theological conservatives twist himself into a pretzel in an effort to placate them. He's done it with evolution. Now, he is 'confused' about condoms.
Posted by Mike at 11:53 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 18, 2007
Category: Bloggity Blog
Happy Belated Evacuation Day! Here are some links for you.
Posted by Mike at 8:38 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Many of you will know of Freeman Dyson as a world-class physicist. But he was also assigned to RAF Bomber Command during World War II. Here are his thoughts on bombing of urban areas.
Posted by Mike at 10:39 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 17, 2007
By 'End Times', I'm not referring to the significant global decrease in food production, or the Far East trade war over sand (I'm not kidding--Indonesia has declared a sand embargo against Singapore). Putting those two news items together does have an apocalyptic feel to it. No, what I'm referring to is that mortgage foreclosures and homeowner vacancies have reached record highs.
Posted by Mike at 5:04 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This picture is from the ACT UP protest against Joint Chief of Staff General Pace's bigoted remarks
Posted by Mike at 10:32 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 16, 2007
Hear the Mighty Roar of the Peter Pan Conservatives: those conservatives who think that policy failures are not due to strategic, tactical, or logistical flaws but solely due to to a lack of will. It appears that this way of thinking has completely permeated Little Lord Pontchartrain's brain. Neocon Irwin Stelzer had a luncheon meeting with the president. His description is chilling.
Posted by Mike at 12:24 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 15, 2007
Luskin and Egnor himself are treating this as a case of arrogant Ph.D.s beating up on a simple country neurosurgeon who is armed only with common sense. This is a lie.
Posted by Mike at 5:43 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bloggity Blog
Lindsay of Majikthise is holding a fundraising drive.
Posted by Mike at 10:25 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 14, 2007
Who would ever think that 'wastewater lagoons'--lakes full of animal shit--could be so interesting? And important in understanding how agricultural antibiotic use increases the frequency of antibiotic resistance genes.
Posted by Mike at 5:49 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
You might not know this, but your body produces a whole bunch of antibacterial compounds, one of which is lactoferrin. It's found in breast milk and mucosal substances such as tears and saliva. Lactoferrin hasn't really been investigated as a medical antibiotic because many disease-causing bacteria (e.g., E. coli) also live on (and in) people as harmless commensals, and consequently, have evolved resistance to lactoferrin. However, a new paper suggests that some lactoferrin might kill these pathogens.
Posted by Mike at 10:06 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 13, 2007
...missing circuits in your head. James Carroll, in House of War, describes the bumpy road that nuclear hawk Paul Nitze, who advocated nuclear first strikes during the Berlin Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis, had during his Senate confirmation hearings.
Posted by Mike at 5:32 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Last night, I was reading some of the comments you leave here, and, in response to a post about a surgeon who thinks evolution is irrelevant to medical practice (Got Antibiotic Resistance?), fellow ScienceBlogling Mark left a comment. I'll get to the comment in a minute, but tragically, I hear stories like his far too often.
Posted by Mike at 11:34 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 12, 2007
I haven't been able to respond to Michael Egnor's idiocy about evolution because I've been recovering from a meeting, but fortunately my fellow ScienceBloglings have. But I'll add my two cents.
Posted by Mike at 5:51 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The latest snafu from the War Department: we're sending soldiers to Iraq who are unfit for combat.
Posted by Mike at 12:38 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 11, 2007
Here's a topical Senate speech for you; see if you can guess who said this:
Posted by Mike at 11:27 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 10, 2007
Category: Bloggity Blog
Merry Daylight Savings Time! Here are some links for you. First, the science stuff:
Posted by Mike at 8:42 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
One of the little things I liked about Rick Weiss' cefquinome article was a diagram about how antibiotic resistant strains evolve.
Posted by Mike at 10:06 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 9, 2007
There's something very interesting about the unfolding story of the possible FDA cefquinome approval. After doing a Technorati search, virtually all of the blogs that discuss this issue are either non-partisan or progressive/liberal. The rightwing bloggysphere is nowhere to be found. Any thoughts on why that might be?
Posted by Mike at 12:15 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 8, 2007
Category: Fucking Royals
Much has been written about the Scooter Libby indictment, so I don't have much commentary to add. However, I will make a prediction: Bush will not pardon Libby. Here's why:
Posted by Mike at 6:48 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 7, 2007
Or maybe terrifying is a better word. I just returned from the Network on Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus meeting, where I learned some very interesting things about S. aureus (since I'm going to refer to MRSA, methicillin resistant S. aureus repeatedly, go check this link if you want to know more about MRSA):
Posted by Mike at 6:35 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bloggity Blog
Thanks to everyone who bloglinked to me--I added you last night. If you're interested in trading links, or if you already link to me, let me know below.
Posted by Mike at 12:18 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 6, 2007
Category: Bloggity Blog
I'm at a meeting (out of town), so I won't be able to add people to my blogroll until Wednesday, but thank you to everyone who linked to me, the anti-Kos.
Posted by Mike at 4:25 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 5, 2007
...high levels of resistance to cephalosporins and beta-lactam antibiotics sure to follow. Sunday, the Washington Post covered the FDA approval of the use of cefquinome in cattle to treat respiratory pneumonia.
Posted by Mike at 9:27 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 4, 2007
This is what happens when you leave posts in the Blogerator: someone beats you to it (hat tip: skippy). Unlike certain famous* bloggers, whose initials are Kos, I don't like to purge live blogs.
Posted by Mike at 11:41 AM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 3, 2007