August 31, 2008
Category: Policy and Politics
Via ThinkProgress, which watches CNN so you don't have to, Holocaust-trivializer and Expelled frontman Ben Stein and conservative radio host Larry Elder discuss 9/11: Ben Stein's comments around 1:20 are the least sensible from the entire clip, and that's saying quite a bit. Elder's claim is that George Bush deserves credit for the fact that there were no terrorist attacks on American soil during his presidency, except for 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, which don't count because 9/11 planning began before January 20, 2001 (when Bush took office). So Clinton was responsible, since he failed to disrupt the planning, but...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 12:12 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Or were Law and Order's Mariska Hargitay and Miss Alaska runner-up Sarah Palin separated at birth? I'm not complaining, but being a celebrity look-alike is not exactly a major qualification to be one heartbeat from the Presidency. Especially when the heart in question belongs to the aging John McCain....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 9:21 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 29, 2008
Category: Planet Earth
In a move that should've been taken eons ago, California's legislature is moving to bring civic planning under a unified framework that will reduce carbon emissions and reduce traffic: The bill yokes three regulatory and permit processes. One focuses on regional planning: how land use should be split among industry, agriculture, homes, open space and commercial centers. Another governs where roads and bridges are built. A third sets out housing needs and responsibilities — for instance, how much affordable housing a community must allow. Under the pending measure, the three regulatory and permit processes must be synchronized to meet new...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 8:02 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Three years ago: McCain and Bush monkey around at McCain's birthday party photo op. Hurricane Katrina inundates New Orleans. And then things got really bad. By all accounts, a lot of New Orleans is still in ruins, a state that is frankly intolerable. Obama dealt with the aftermath of Katrina head-on last night, saying: I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming. Because I've seen it. Because I've lived it. … I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs,...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 5:48 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
From a 2006 debate: Next, [moderator] Carey asked about teaching alternatives to evolution - such as creationism and intelligent design - in public schools. … PALIN: “Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information. “Healthy debate is so important and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both. And, you know, I say this, too, as the daughter of a science teacher. Growing up with being so privileged and blessed to be given a lot of information on, on both sides of the subject -- creationism and evolution. “It’s been a healthy foundation for...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 1:39 PM • 24 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Republican pitbull Alex Castellanos says that, after that acceptance speech: "whoever didn't get picked for Republican VP today may be a lucky Republican." It was truly an exceptional speech. He didn't overplay the day's anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Sure, his nomination is a huge step towards the realization of that dream, but had he said that, he'd have been attacked as arrogant. His attacks on McCain were razor sharp, but never crossing the line into cruelty (a line I'll admit to having crossed already, and one I'll only respect when McCain starts treating...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 12:19 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
McSame chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential nominee. This dashed all hopes of a McSame-Mittens ticket, a vehicle of such astounding hilarity as has not been seen in eons. The McCain-Palin ticket has plenty of opportunities for fun as well. Given McCain's fondness for and treatment of younger women, I expect questions will be raised. Double that given the frequency of beauty queens in his inner circle (for instance: "McCain hires beauty queen to wrangle interns," "At 14, [Cindy McCain] was crowned Junior Rodeo Queen of Arizona," "McCain chooses ex-beauty queen for VP," "She is McCain's first...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 12:07 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 28, 2008
Category: Policy and Politics
Tonight, Barack Obama will formally accept the Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. This should be good times. Next week John McCain will accept his, and the campaigns will start in earnest. Up 'til now, the campaigns have basically been laying the groundwork for the real fight. People who've been tuning out until now will start to try to figure out what all the fuss is about. And that's why I'm so excited about a text message I just got. Like a giant nerd, I signed up to get the VP announcement texted to me. Fine. Then today I got...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 6:51 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 26, 2008
Category: Biology
Among my favorite things are pie, blackberries, and good friends. Imagine what happens when a good friend writes an article about blackberries and blackberry pie: It’s August in the Pacific Northwest, and the ubiquitous brambles of Himalayan blackberry, Rubus armeniacus, are suddenly covered with ripe berries, a transformation which radically –- hypocritically, even –- alters our attitude toward them. For ten-and-a-half months each year, these highly invasive blackberry bushes are Seattle’s enemy. They rank high on the list of things we love to hate, along with bad espresso, SUVs and that other kind of Bush. It’s understandable. The bushes are...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:34 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
John McCain has decides that his time in a POW camp can be used to explain anything at all. He recently sought to deflect criticism for being unable to keep track of how many houses he owns because "I spent some years without a kitchen table, without a chair, and I know what it's like to be blessed by the opportunities of this great nation. … So the fact is that we have homes, and I'm grateful for it." In speeches, he's told a tale about how when his captors asked for the names of his shipmates, he listed off...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 5:37 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at 
