Seed Media Group

Mike the Mad Biologist

Mad rantings about politics, evolution, and microbiology

Search this blog

Profile

ntm4-30-7 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.

Recent Posts

Donors Choose Drive

Thanks!

Recent Comments

Archives

Blogroll

Science Links

January 31, 2008

Poor Mitt: He Sacrifices Gay Children...

Category:

and conservatives still don't like him.

Read on »

I Don't Deserve This Government, but...

Category:

the morons at Bucky's Family Restaurant do.

Read on »

January 30, 2008

And Republicans Wonder Why They Don't Fare Well Among Women

Category:

Conservative blogger Ben Domenech demonstrates why in an imaginary speech for Fred Thompson's withdrawal announcement.

Read on »

Edwards Is Out

Category: Democrats

I guess I won't be voting for him on Tuesday.

Read on »

Not Everyone Is Losing Out in the Housing Market

Category:

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is doing just fine.

Read on »

January 29, 2008

Superdelegates Are Stupid and Aravosis Can't Do Arithmetic

Category:

The twenty percent of unelected Democratic convention delegates known as superdelegates is an undemocratic idea.

Read on »

The Bizarre Frontiers of Racism: 'Canadian' as a Slur of African-American

Category:

Because why offend one group of people, when you can offend two at the same time?

Read on »

What the NY Times Presidential Endorsements Say About the Traditional Media

Category:

If you're like most sentient humans, you don't care whom the NY Times editorial board decided to endorse for president. But the 'logic' behind the endorsement of Clinton is revealing. The Mandarin Class still doesn't get it.

Read on »

January 28, 2008

A Federal Agency More Stupid Than the Office of Human Research Protections

Category:

Say hello to the Office on National Drug Control Policy and to faith-based drug overdose prevention.

Read on »

'Hopeful Monsters': Nothing in Evolution Makes Sense Except in the Light of E. coli (and Shigella)

Category:

Bacterial evolution muddies up the water.

Read on »

January 27, 2008

Bush: Methodist Preacher or Horse Thief?

Category: Art History

Bush demonstrates why art education is important.

Read on »

This Is Why I Left Long Island

Category:

Race is going to an issue in the 2008 elections, definitely.

Read on »

January 26, 2008

Senator Kennedy Writes the Mad Biologist

Category:

So I wrote Senator Kennedy (and Senator Kerry) an email about the upcoming FISA/retroactive immunity legislation. Here's his response.

Read on »

The Morality of Walking Away: How Deregulation Hurts a Conservative Ethos

Category:

You're a sucker if you do play by those 'old' rules of thrift and prudent spending.

Read on »

Senator Obama, Enough with the Fuzzy Wuzzy Talk

Category:

I don't want "hope", I want good policies, politics, and results. Obama demonstrates exactly how not to argue against Republican militarism.

Read on »

January 25, 2008

Yersinia pestis and the Black Death

Category: Yersinia

Did Yersinia pestis cause the Black Death? ScienceBlogling Tara says yes.

Read on »

Beijing Olympics: Don't Breath the Air?

Category: Environment

Some people erroneously, since the U.S. water supply system is actually cleaner than most bottled waters, buy bottled water to avoid contaminated water. Unfortunately, there's no way to buy bottled air. And in Beijing, air pollution is a real threat.

Read on »

January 24, 2008

Five Simple Steps to Cutting Nosocomial Deaths

Category:

A couple of weeks back I posted about the Office of Human Research Protections' shutting down a highly effective infection control program. Here's the list of the five things the hospitals used to combat hospital-acquired infections

Read on »

The Big Two Dems Display the Quality of Leadership-iness

Category:

If you think that preventing retroactivity immunity for the telcos is a good thing, you might expect political candidates to demonstrate leadership by filibustering the bill.

Read on »

January 23, 2008

What's Your News IQ?

Category: Stupid Internet Quiz

Unlike most internet quizes, here's one that seems designed not to be ridiculous.

Read on »

Anti-Vax Idiocy Gets Mainstreamed by ABC TV

Category:

I'm posting about this because I want Orac's head to explode.

Read on »

Creationists Are TEH STUPID: The Natural Experiment Edition

Category:

If creationists are going to be stupid, couldn't they at least be creative about it? Once again, they misunderstand the potential and limits of experimentation.

Read on »

January 22, 2008

Some (Relatively) Good News About Piggies and Resistant Bacteria

Category:

An epidemic strain of MRSA doesn't survive very well in the food chain.

Read on »

Time Magazine: One Out of Five Iraq War Veterans Has Experienced Brain Trauma

Category:

Time magazine, Time will run with a story claiming that twenty percent of Iraq War veterans have suffered brain trauma.

Read on »

Rabies, Annual Influenza, and Low Hanging Fruit

Category:

Eliminating rabies and greatly reducing influenza deaths could be done. Yet we do nothing.

Read on »

Stock Markets Tank...Everywhere

Category: Economics

It takes real skill to simultaneously screw up munies and the stock market.

Read on »

January 21, 2008

Why Are Investment Banks Laying Off Employees?

Category:

You're probably aware that major banks and investment firms have taken huge financial hits. As a result, they are laying off thousands of workers. This puzzles me.

Read on »

Feral Pigs, Spinach, and E. coli O157:H7

Category:

According to a recent article, the explanation for the contaminated spinach just got a lot more complicated. And LOLFeral Pigs too.

Read on »

Martin Luther King: "All Labor Has Worth"

Category: Basic Human Decency

What is forgotten--often willfully--is that King was an advocate for economic justice.

Read on »

January 20, 2008

Municipal Bonds Hurt by 'Subprime' Loan Crisis

Category: Big Shitpile

That bond issue to build a new school or road just became more expensive. Say hello to higher property and sales taxes or cuts in services.

Read on »

I Told You Edwards and Clinton Were Competing for the Same Electorate

Category:

Never underestimate the power of cognitive dissonance.

Read on »

January 19, 2008

What Really Going on with Interest Rates and Inflation

Category: Economics

Physioprof simplifies it for us.

Read on »

Abortion and the First Amendment

Category:

I happy to see that others are coming around to the idea that the abortion debate is ultimately about the establishment of religion.

Read on »

January 18, 2008

States' Rights: Amanda Speak, You Listen!

Category:

Amanda Marcotte reminds us of the origin of the states' rights claim.

Read on »

Guilt, Neocons, and the Swing to the Israeli Right

Category:

"[Irving] Kristol, then a 24-year-old Trotskyist, held fast to his conviction that the Allies were no different from the Axis in their imperialism." That explains a lot.

Read on »

January 17, 2008

Women Who Have Abortions Are Mothers

Category:

61% of women who have abortions already have children. So much for the 'irresponsible slut' propaganda.

Read on »

Dems: Romney Is Our Worst Nightmare

Category:

Other than Atrios, I'm the only one who thinks Romney would be the hardest Republican for Democrats to beat. Here's why.

Read on »

January 16, 2008

Rep. Bachmann: Take Your Two Jobs and Shove It (or Is It Them?)

Category:

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (MN) is trying to prove that she is more stupid than the congressman who thought we could eliminate the National Weather Service because the Weather Channel had it covered.

Read on »

A Nation of Nine-Eleven Ninnies

Category:

Tens of millions of U.S. residents believe that they could be the victims of a terrorist attack.

Read on »

New MRSA Strain Spreading Among Gay Men

Category:

One of the depressing things about the ascendancy of the Christopaths is that they hate any public health interventions that involves gay people. In the case of antibiotic resistance, that's not only evil, but it's also stupid.

Read on »

Evolution as Policy, Not Symbolism or Critical Thinking

Category:

Did you really need to know Huckabee's position on evolution to realize he's a lunatic? Biologists need to stop selling evolution short: evolution is critical for improving human health and combating infectious disease. It's not an indicator, but a good in its own right.

Read on »

January 15, 2008

Where I Fall on the Electoral Compass

Category: Stupid Internet Quiz

Inspired by ScienceBlogling Razib, I wanted to see where I fell on the Electoral Compass. Not too surprising.

Read on »

John Aravosis' War Against the Poor

Category:

Not only is it stupid to blame the poor for the home mortgage scandal, what is going on with so-called progressive John Aravosis' anger at helping the poor?

Read on »

January 14, 2008

Needed: News Reports That Use the Words Alleles and Genes

Category: Genetics

If the word allele were used, it would make stories easier to understand and the reader more informed about biology.

Read on »

Romney's Assisted Suicide Plan: The Gay Teen Suicide Edition

Category:

Certain political acts are beyond the pale, such as cutting a teen suicide hotline. Unless they're gay, then it's called positioning.

Read on »

Is Bisphenol A Responsible for Obesity?

Category: Obesity

Bisphenol A levels lower than those found in 93% of people led to obesity in mice.

Read on »

January 13, 2008

Like the Mighty River Jordan*...

Category: Bloggity Blog

the blogs keep rolling on. More Blogroll Amnesty Day.

Read on »

Maybe There's a Simpler Explanation for the Failings of the Traditional News Media

Category:

TEH STUPID.

Read on »

January 12, 2008

Great Map Exhibit at the Boston Public Library

Category: Maps

Whether or not you like maps, if you're in Boston, you should see this exhibit.

Read on »

How Does Dan Balz Know What 'Democrats' Think?

Category:

Once again, someone in the traditional media is projecting their personal opinion onto millions of people without any evidence. This is how bullshit political narratives are made. And that kills democracy.

Read on »

January 11, 2008

Income Taxes and Speculative Bubbles

Category:

The connection between personal economic incentives and corporate behavior.

Read on »

Creationism and Goldberg's Liberal Fascism: One and the Same

Category:

Neiwert: "[I]t selects a narrow band of often unrepresentative facts, distorts their meaning, and simultaneously elides and ignores whole mountains of contravening evidence and broader context."

Read on »

'Defending' Freedom Isn't Free, Particularly When Wiretappers Don't Pay Their Bills

Category:

The sound you're hearing is the heads of everyone who cares about civil liberties going BOOM!

Read on »

January 10, 2008

Push 'Focus-Grouping'?

Category:

You might have heard of push polling. But now there is 'push focus grouping', which is another way of saying televised propaganda.

Read on »

A Case Study in Pundit Over-Analysis

Category:

Here's one example, brought to you by Frank Rich, of how writing political narratives instead of discussing data leads to unsupported conclusions.

Read on »

January 9, 2008

An Air Car?

Category:

No, I'm not referring to the Jetsons.

Read on »

Girly Versus Manly

Category:

A tale of two video political clips.

Read on »

Ayala on Religion and Science

Category:

Francisco Ayala in the most recent edition of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science makes a good distinction between religion and science.

Read on »

Where I Disagree with Orac About OHRP

Category:

Do I think that Bush or Cheney (or their minions) sit around thinking about how to kill effective public health interventions? Of course not (really). But one of the Republican core issues is opposition to government regulation and bureaucracy, often referred to as "the Nanny State."

Read on »

Some Follow Up on Last Night's Primary Post

Category:

I'm not sure why people are shocked by last night's results; it wasn't that surprising, except for one thing: it was Clinton and Edwards who were competing for the same pool of voters, not Obama and Edwards.

Read on »

January 8, 2008

I Told You That Counting on Younger Voters Would Be a Problem

Category: Voting

Where's da yoot'?

Read on »

Lithium-Based Nu