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Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at the National Center for Science Education. He is also a graduate student at the University of Kansas, completing a doctorate in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. When not modeling species distributions or battling creationists, he writes about developments in progressive politics and the sciences.
The opinions expressed here are his own, do not reflect the official position of the NCSE. Indeed, older posts may no longer reflect his own official position.
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November 30, 2006
Category: Planet Earth
Energy Use Can Be Cut by Efficiency, Survey Says: To take advantage of the energy-saving opportunities, some product standards would have to be tightened and some policy incentives changed. Current regulations and fuel subsidies, for example, often favor consumption over efficiency. But many steps are not taken, the report said, because energy users lack information or do not value efficiency enough to change their buying habits. “The opportunities are huge and yet they are being left on the table,” said Diana Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, a research arm of the McKinsey consulting firm. “Standard economics would say...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 1:49 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Publius descends into the madness of the right wing blogosphere, it's commentariat and Presidential hopefuls and concludes: It’s more than a little ridiculous that I feel compelled to defend the First Amendment (tomorrow – "Why Water is Good: A Reply to Ledeen"), but there are a couple of points that need to be made.There are many points that need to be made, mostly about the absurdity of Newt Gingrich, by all accounts an intelligent and historically informed person, needing to be reminded that people fought a fair share of wars precisely in order to have a right to speak freely....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 9:56 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Planet Earth
Chris Mooney finds Justice Scalia being proudly clueless as he prepares to decide whether the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, if it permits such regulation, or whether the state of Massachusetts has a right to even get into that argument. JUSTICE SCALIA: your assertion is that after the pollutant leaves the air and goes up into the stratosphere it is contributing to global warming. MR. MILKEY: Respectfully, Your Honor, it is not the stratosphere. It's the troposphere. JUSTICE SCALIA: Troposphere, whatever. I told you before I'm not a scientist. (Laughter.) JUSTICE SCALIA: That's why...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 9:46 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 29, 2006
Category: Policy and Politics
Undoubtedly this rent in the GOP's former unity will get as much airtime as squabbles over Democratic leadership positions. Tiahrt's run for head of the conservative caucus in the House may tear the GOP asunder before the new session begins: A major fight is brewing among conservatives in the House to elect the next chairman of the Republican Study Committee. Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) have been calling members of the increasingly influential committee to ask for their support in the election next Wednesday. … Hensarling led a small band of upstarts who, over the past two...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 9:58 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
A big part of the 6 for '06 agenda that Nancy Pelosi proposed as the agenda for the incoming Congress was allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Forbidding that simple expedient was by far the most foolish thing (among many foolish things) in the Bush prescription drug plan. The VA negotiates drug prices as does every other prescription drug plan. But Bush had too many friends in Big Pharma, so they get to charge the taxpayer whatever they want. Huzzah! The argument advanced against negotiating those prices is something like this (from Kevin Drum): "If the feds negotiate prices, then...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 9:30 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 28, 2006
Category: Biology
Disease decimates Kansas buffalo: Nearly one-fourth of the buffalo have died at the state-owned Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, home to one of the oldest surviving wild buffalo herds. A new disease is decimating buffalo herds across the state and has prompted the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks to cancel its annual buffalo auction, typically held in mid-November. The animals are infected with Mycoplasma bovis, a bacterium that causes pneumonia, mastitis and arthritis in cattle. It was first detected in some U.S. cattle in the 1960s. For buffalo, it is especially virulent. "They don't have any prior exposure or resistance," said...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 2:27 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Chatter
Every week, the KGB gathers to promote the finest of the Kansas blogosphere. The original KGB is back in the news this week with the recent assassination of a former spy in Britain. Non-Kansan Effect Measure reviews the effects of polonium-210, while Kansan j.d. discusses the story some more. It isn't quite polonium-210, but Emaw's lesson learned about nut allergies is still pretty scary. Paul Decelles strikes a decidedly non-lethal tone in an appreciation of sunset in the wetlands, while also reviewing a tiff among allies. I weighed in on with my thoughts on that tiff, once with a link...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 12:48 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 27, 2006
Category: Policy and Politics
An oldie, but a goodie. Way back in February of 2003, D-squared Digest said: give me one single example of something with the following three characteristics: 1. It is a policy initiative of the current Bush administration 2. It was significant enough in scale that I'd have heard of it (at a pinch, that I should have heard of it) 3. It wasn't in some important way completely fucked up during the execution.It's nearly four years later, and I remain unable to think of an example. Discuss. As you discuss, feel free to suggest helpful ways in which this situation...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 9:15 AM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 26, 2006
Category: Policy and Politics
Right before the long Thanksgiving weekend, incompetent, unqualified hack: Education Commissioner Bob Corkins resigned Wednesday, ending a short and stormy tenure as Kansas’ education chief before a new Board of Education could do it for him. In a 7-3 vote, the board accepted the resignation “with regret” and agreed to provide Corkins with a severance package that includes 30 days’ pay and benefits.Janet Waugh voted not to accept the resignation "with regret," since she has none. Personally, I only regret that this story will get buried in the Turkey Day newspaper, which is why I'm running it now....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 12:16 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 25, 2006
Category: Culture Wars
The whole "who is dividing the pro-science camp" debate has jumped the shark. Dr. Myers made the following comment at Pat Hayes' blog: The only ones who are advocating openly sticking the knife in any subset of the evolution side are these resentful middle-of-the-roaders who want to get rid of the people who openly disbelieve in religion.This in response to Hayes writing: Those, like Moran, who want to divide the movement to defend science education—and in the process hand ultra-right fundamentalists an undeserved victory—"simply are not on the same team and are not working [toward, RSR] the same goal," says...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 9:22 AM • 28 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
