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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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December 26, 2007
Category: Culture Wars
Casey Luskin is upset. Iowa Citizens for Science responded to Luskin's press conference on behalf of Guillermo Gonzalez a few weeks ago with their own press release, a release which mentioned that "None of his [Gonzalez's] graduate students had completed their programs." Luskin complains that the statement wasn't removed in response to an email from Luskin to Iowa CFS, which stated: Again, that statement is completely false. The truth is that in 2001, soon before Gonzalez left the University of Washington (UW) join the faculty at ISU, he served as the primary advisor to a UW doctoral student in astronomy,...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 6:22 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Biology
A fatal feline attack in San Francisco leads to thoughts Robert Frost and national politics.
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 5:23 PM • 3 Comments •
December 24, 2007
Category: Chatter
The jazz great was 82. The Times obituary reveals that he played trumpet and piano as a youth, but that a bout with TB forced him to choose the piano. He excelled as a jazz pianist, and played with many of top jazz talent over the course of his seven decade career. "Don Cha Go Way Mad" by Ella Fitzgerald from the album Ella Fitzgerald At The Opera House (1957, 2:31). "Things ain't what they used to be" by Oscar Peterson from the album Night Train (1962, 4:38)....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 4:30 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 21, 2007
Category: Policy and Politics
Way back in April of 2004, I wrote the following note to Sam Brownback: I'm writing to you because you sit on the subcommittee which oversees the Treasury. I just saw an AP report that, since 1990, the Treasury has only opened 93 enforcement actions on terrorism financing, resulting in $9,425 in fines. In contrast, the Treasury has opened 10,683 actions over the Cuba embargo, yielding over $8 million since 1994. Had the Treasury taken the threat from Osama bin Laden as seriously as it took Fidel Castro, would we face as deadly an enemy today? This is not a...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 1:43 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 20, 2007
Category: Culture Wars
WITH BONUS DOUBLE DACTYL and no limerick. Higgledy Piggledy Michael J. Behe (phud) sees in bacteria wee little boats. Reducing complex fla- gellomachinery weakens religion which Behe promotes....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 9:17 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 19, 2007
Category: Planet Earth
In an arrogant and counterproductive move, the E.P.A. denied California's request for a permission to regulate vehicle greenhouse gas emission: The Bush administration said Wednesday night that it would deny California's bid to set stricter vehicle emissions standards than federal law required as part of the state's efforts to fight climate change. Stephen L. Johnson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said he planned to deny the state's application for a waiver from federal law that the state had sought more than two years ago. "The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution -- not a...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 10:07 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
The New York Times reports: Congress Votes to Spare Millions From Alternative Tax: By 352 to 64, the House voted to shield about 21 million Americans from being hit by the alternative minimum tax.No, they didn't. But it takes until the 8th paragraph to find that out: House Democrats angrily approved the bill after giving in to demands by Congressional Republicans and President Bush that the tax cut not be offset by raising other taxes. Democrats started out the year by pledging to pay for the $50 billion cost of the A.M.T. fix with cuts in spending or increases in...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:57 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 17, 2007
Category: Policy and Politics
Ten U.S. Senators stood up against a pointless expansion of secret wiretapping. Fourteen missed the vote, including several candidates for the Presidency: The heroes: Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Dodd (D-CT) Feingold (D-WI) Harkin (D-IA) Kerry (D-MA) Menendez (D-NJ) Wyden (D-OR) Hopefully a respect for the basic rule of law will result in retroactive immunity being dropped from the bill. There's no reason that telecoms who broke the law should be excused from their violation of the rights of innocent American citizens. It'll take more than 10 votes to make that happen, so this is one of...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 4:58 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 15, 2007
Category: Policy and Politics
Though observers had thought Kansas AG Paul Morrison was digging in to fight for his reputation, he announced his resignation today, effective January 31. Kathleen Sebelius will name his successor. Chris Biggs, who lost to Phill Kline in 2002, is among those mentioned as being on the short list of candidates to replace Morrison. The resignation is not altogether surprising, but it is disappointing. As Diane observes, this is the right thing to do for Kansas, and it's the right thing to have done for the good of the Democratic party. Furthermore, there's no doubt that Morrison deserved some sort...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 1:11 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 13, 2007
Category: Policy and Politics
Philll Kline to investigate AG Morrison's alleged improprieties. I must say that I don't see Kline's logic here. Morrison may well have done something wrong, and if so, his enemies' best move would be to sit back and let him fall apart on his own, and to force the Democratic governor to follow through with an investigation of the Democratic AG. Either way, the allegations will tarnish Morrison's reputation, and if a fair investigation turns up nothing, his enemies won't look bad as a result. On the other hand, no one will take the result of Kline's investigation seriously. Morrison...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 6:29 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
