June 30, 2008
Category: Creationism
The Washington Post points out that: as justices finished their work last week, two overarching truths about the court remained unchanged: It is sharply divided ideologically on some of the most fundamental constitutional questions, and the coming presidential election will determine its future path. A victory by the presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, would probably mean preserving the uneasy but roughly balanced status quo, since the justices who are considered most likely to retire are liberal. A win for his Republican counterpart, John McCain, could mean a fundamental shift to a consistently conservative majority ready to take on past court...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 6:58 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Chatter
The cool kids are wondering what happens when you: Take out your iPod (or Zune, I guess...really, who buys a Zune?)Press shuffle songs.Answer the following: a) How many songs before you come to one that would absolutely disqualify you from being President? b) What is that song? After a random intro from the album Words that Shook the World, I got: "When A Man Loves A Woman" by Percy Sledge from the album The Best of Percy Sledge (1989, 2:55). Which I think is politically survivable, provided I wasn't fighting allegations of sexual improprieties. Then comes "Bamgufya Ba Kwoti" by...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 6:13 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 27, 2008
Category: Policy and Politics
On October 30, 2007, the GOP Convention site was overjoyed at a Washington Times article touting the convention's green efforts: Tree-huggin' GOP "Republicans are committed to making next year's nominating convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul the 'greenest' in party history. From transportation to venue selection to staff workspace - convention planners are working to implement the best environmental practices," Maria Cino noted yesterday.Today, Ned Ryun, son of former Congressman Jim Ryun, calls such efforts at the Democratic convention "absurd," evidence that the party is "beholden to the leftie enviro-nuts," or perhaps even "enviro-facists." Yet another case where It's OK If You...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 11:57 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 26, 2008
Category: Policy and Politics
I haven't written much about Jim Slattery's race to replace Memory Pills Roberts. Not because it isn't an interesting race, just because I haven't had much to say. Slattery knows Kansas and is experienced at winning elections there, Roberts has done a crappy job, and I hope Slattery wins. For more on his biography, check out the MyDD profile. It's been encouraging to see polls come out from the Slattery campaign showing Roberts consistently in poor position. An incumbent polling below 50%, as Roberts does in several successive polls, is in sad shape. But internal polls are iffy, not least...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:31 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Brain and Behavior
My high school buddy James Grimmelmann unleashes on Newsweek: Tony Dokoupil manages to write 1,200 words in Newsweek about professional psychics without once telling his readers the single most relevant fact: Psychic powers don’t exist. Would Newsweek run an interview with the Easter Bunny? Would it let Jane Bryant Quinn suggest investing in perpetual motion machine startups? Would it print travel tips for hitching a ride on a flying saucer to Neptune? But here it is, an article whose sum and substance is that hiring a psychic could do wonders for your business. This article is professional malpractice. No competent...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 5:01 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Biology
The National Academies Press is selling books at half price for the summer, meaning you can get Robert Hazen's excellent Gen-e-sis for cheap. It's perfect reading whether you're at a deep-sea vent, tidal pools or floating on the surface of the primordial ocean....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 4:17 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 25, 2008
Category: Policy and Politics
Jim Lippard reports that the Oregon Governor declared June 21 a "Day of Reason." Am I the only one wondering what that says about the other 364?...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:21 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
An important principle in first amendment jurisprudence is that government actions must not be undertaken solely for the benefit of religion. In 1987, the Supreme Court considered a law passed by Louisiana that required teachers who presented "evolution-science" to "balance" it with "creation-science." Legislators insisted that the bill had valid secular purposes, but the Supreme Court's majority opinion insisted that "While the Court is normally deferential to a State's articulation of a secular purpose, it is required that the statement of such purpose be sincere and not a sham." This brings us to modern Louisiana, where Governor Bobby Jindal is...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:41 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 24, 2008
Category: Creationism
As Ben Stein's egregiously bad Expelled opens in Canada, the Canadian press is getting a taste of the offensive bile Stein unleashed in his US media tour. Peter McKnight, of the Vancouver Sun, asked Stein about the ADL's condemnation of his movie: Nowhere does Stein mention the centuries of anti-Semitism before Darwin -- in fact, Expelled all but ignores anti-Semitism as a reason for the Holocaust. Consequently, the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement saying, "Using the Holocaust in order to tarnish those who promote the theory of evolution is outrageous and trivializes the complex factors that led to the mass...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:41 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
MSNBC's First Read quotes McCain justifying offshore oil drilling: Even though it may take some years, the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial.In other words, it does nothing, but might sound good to people who don't pay attention to details. This, my friends, is not what we need in a president. We need a president who is willing to tell us the truth, no matter how unpopular. Drilling for oil won't solve the problem. The problem is that we as a planet, and in particular we as a nation, use...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:32 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at 
