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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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March 31, 2007
Category: Chatter
Via Stranger Fruit: You scored as Justice (Fairness). Your life is guided by the concept of Fair Justice: Everyone, yourself included, should be rewarded and punished according to the help or harm they cause. "He who does not punish evil commands it to be done." --Leonardo da Vinci “Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.” --Dwight D. Eisenhower More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...Justice (Fairness)95%Kantianism70%Utilitarianism65%Existentialism50%Hedonism25%Apathy15%Strong Egoism5%Divine Command0%Nihilism0%What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)created with QuizFarm.com These quizzes annoy me, because they give bogus results unless...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 10:52 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Bounce Boyda is very excited. The found a small error in my comments about Congresswoman Boyda. I stated that yesterday was the end of the fundraising quarter when today is the end. That means you can still donate. This error inspired an error-laden post from them, a post filled with misspellings ("dillusion?") and their own fantastical imaginings about what Congress has done. Contrary to what BB claims, there never were votes to cut military base spending, to raise taxes, or to take away secret ballots. The tax rate changes were part of the bills that the Republican Congress passed, the...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 10:10 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 30, 2007
Category: Policy and Politics
Bounce Boyda thinks Bancy broke this promise: Nancy Boyda stood in front of a camera, taped a commercial, and ran it on the air. On the commercial she said, "I'm not going to raise your taxes."Bounce Boyda, like the RNC and the Kansas GOP, are using a definition of "raising taxes" very different from what you or I might mean by the term. All that this budget vote did was to leave taxes unchanged. All the supposed tax increases were approved by the Republicans as part of the Bush tax plans. As a ploy to make the damage to the...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 3:53 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Today is the last day of the FEC's fundraising quarter. Your favorite Congresscritters and candidates will file forms based on how much money they've raised and spent as of today, and what those numbers look like will shape perceptions of the races in 2008. If you've got a favorite in the Presidential races, today is a good day to drop some money on that candidate. But this deadline is more critical for Senate and especially House races. Nancy Boyda has been working hard to represent her constituents, constituents who had forgotten what it meant to have a representative who cared....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 1:40 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
A few days ago, I mentioned some revisions of the regulations implementing the Endangered Species Act, changes which would gut key provisions. In addition to imposing an arbitrary time limit on what decision-makers could examine regarding potential threats to a species, the new regulations would delegate many powers to state governments, water down the standards used to judge whether a species is endangered, and allow habitat destruction that could harm endangered species. PEER and the Center for Biological Diversity has a handy comparison guide for some major changes. Regulations are the part of the legislative process that happens after what...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 11:33 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 29, 2007
Category: Policy and Politics
One of the great ironies of politics is that the most local offices, the ones that ought to be most responsive to constituent needs, are often the least-known. Presidential elections are hotly debated, even in a state like Kansas where the outcome is fore-ordained. But a local or state school board election can be decided by a few hundred votes, yet draws substantially less interest. That apathy towards local races has made them prime targets for extremists and ideologues, as Mike Hendricks points out in the Star. He discusses slates of candidates from Wichita to Topeka and Kansas City, all...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 11:14 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
March 28, 2007
Category: Policy and Politics
These are the Democrats Karl Rove wants to unseat: Nick Lampson, Texas Tim Mahoney, Florida Jerry McNerney, California Zack Space, Ohio Baron Hill, Indiana Chris Carney, Pennsylvania Patrick Murphy, Pennsylvania Nancy Boyda, Kansas Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania Brad Ellsworth, Indiana Heath Shuler, North Carolina Ciro Rodriguez, Texas Steve Kagen, Wisconsin Jim Marshall, Georgia Joe Donnelly, Indiana John Barrow, Georgia Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania John Hall, New York Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Stephanie Herseth, South DakotaYou should give them money....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 11:11 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Culture Wars
I've addressed the absurdity of Denyse O'Leary's analogy between arson investigations and biology before, but she can't seem to stop. Here is how she proposes to address why invoking design doesn't stop research: Suppose we say: If the fire marshall’s office (FMO) concludes that a fatal fire has been set deliberately, then they are just taking the easy way out, and they won’t be able to find out anything more about it.As she's stated it, yes. If the arson unit concludes that the fire was set deliberately, and then refuses to address who set the fire, indeed dismisses that as...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 2:37 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Stay Red Kansas – formerly the proprietors of Fire Kansas Democrats – is excited. A recent Pew Poll showed, in SRK's words: over 40% of the public believe that the situation is going 'very well.'According to Pew, however: Four-in-ten Americans say that the U.S. military effort in Iraq is going very or fairly well, up 10 points from February, when positive perceptions reached an all-time low.That's right, the "very" that SRK quoted should actually read "very or fairly," which is why the graphic SRK borrows from Pew is titled "Situation in Iraq is going well," not "very well." That would...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 1:31 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Mike Silverman found this remarkable statement on the website for James Bush, until recently the minister at a Southern Baptist church here in Lawrence.: I have read the report the City Commission received from the city staff as well as reviewed the comments made by citizens of Lawrence and members of the City Commission. If I am elected to the City Commission, I would vote in favor of adopting the domestic registry. I support the registry because it affirms the relationship of domestic partners and it can provide employers an avenue to provide health insurance to employees who participate in...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 9:13 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
