Policy
jrosenhouse | December 6, 2011Blogger R. Joseph Hoffmann recently posted a stunningly idiotic essay lamenting the present state of atheist discourse. It's standard fare for him, this time expressed in especially pretentious and contentless prose. For example, I defy you to discern anything sensible in these two paragraphs:
Atheism has become a very little idea because it is now promoted by little people with a small focus. These people tend to think that there are two kinds of questions: the questions we have already answered and the questions we will answer tomorrow. When they were even smaller than they are now,…
oracknows | November 14, 2011As a skeptic and a blogger, my main interest has evolved to be the discussion of science-based medicine and how one can identify what in medicine is and is not based in science. Part of the reason for this is because of my general interest in skepticism dating back to my discovery that there actually are people who deny that the Holocaust ever happened, which led to a more general interest in pseudoscience, pseudohistory, and other non-evidence-based and non-science-based viewpoints that now includes quackery, anti-vaccine nonsense, 9/11 "Truth," creationism, and anthropogenic global warming…
hrynyshyn | November 14, 2011Kevin Trenberth's latest paper, which appears in Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, is uncharacteristically and refreshingly blunt right from the first few words of the introduction:
Humans are changing our climate. There is no doubt whatsoever. There are arguments about how much and how important these effects are and will be in future, but many studies (e.g., see the summary by Stott et al.1) have demonstrated that effects are not trivial and have emerged from the noise of natural variability, even if they are small by some measures. So why does the science community…
gregladen | November 10, 2011Skeptically Speaking:
This week, we're looking at what happens when a bedrock scientific theory goes up for debate in the contentious realm of politics. We'll speak to Dr. Eugenie Scott, Executive Director, and Steven Newton, Programs and Policy Director, at the National Center for Science Education, about evolution as a political issue. And on the podcast, anthropologist and blogger Greg Laden analyzes the fallout from the so-called "climategate" emails.
We record live with Eugenie Scott and Steven Newton on Sunday, November 13 at 6 pm MT. The podcast will be available to download at 9 pm MT…
oracknows | October 20, 2011Yesterday, I congratulated that bane of anti-vaccine movement and great vaccine scientist, Dr. Paul Offit, for having been accepted into the Institute of Medicine. It's a huge honor, and one well-deserved. At the time, I contrasted Dr. Offit, who has ascended to the highest heights of his profession through good science, with Dr. Andrew Wakefield, architect (or at least the most important architect) of the anti-MMR hysteria that gripped the U.K. in the late 1990s that's only now starting to abate, who is reduced to speaking in front of crank physician groups, being feted at anti-vaccine…
gregladen | October 4, 2011I went to graduate school to study Anthropology, so naturally, there was very little funding. Some semesters, I paid the bills working as an administrative assistant for one Harvard Muckimuck or another, often at the Kennedy School of Government, but for a while, at the Joan Shorenstein Barone Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. There, I was the assistant to the director, a man named Marvin Kalb. There is a chance you've heard of him as well as his brother, Bernard. Kalb was the Shorenstein Center's original director and Edward R. Murrow Professor of Press and Public Policy.…
hrynyshyn | October 3, 2011Kate at Climate Sight remind us this week of just how challenging it can be for a mainstream media outlet to accurately report on climatology. Even when the reporter gets it right, a headline-writing editor can inject just enough obsfucation to leave readers puzzled or misinformed.
This particular piece of evidence attesting to the need for all journalists to possess more than just a passing knowledge of the field in question involves a new paper in Nature, "Unprecedented Arctic ozone loss in 2011." The implication of the authors' finding is that the Arctic's UV-radiation-blocking ozone…
oracknows | September 30, 2011I've gotten into quite a few arguments over whether there is more anti-science nonsense on the right or the left lately. Actually, none of these arguments have been on the blog, mainly because I tend not to relish getting into discussions that are far more weighted towards politics than actual science or medicine. Still, sometimes I see something that leads me to think about venturing into the minefield of science and politics. This has been particularly true ever since the campaign for the Republican nomination has shifted into high gear and Michelle Bachmann's recent descent even further…
tfk | September 8, 2011Yesterday's post on Rick Perry's Galileo gaffe has gotten a lot of attention, much supportive, but some critical. On twitter, historians of science Rebekah Higgit and Thony Christie have helped me sort out some of the threads. I don't think this alters any of the basic results, but it's worth teasing out some of the history, both for its own sake, and for whatever relevance it may actually have to contemporary politics.
The contentious lines argued that Perry's "opening passage, like his comments on evolution, seem to forthrightly endorse the legitimacy of letting religious and political…
jrosenhouse | August 30, 2011I will not be actively supporting Obama's reelection next year. I will not donate money to his campaign. I will not even put a sign on my lawn. In the end I will vote for him, but only because to do otherwise would be to reward the Republicans for their appalling and unpatriotic behavior over the last four years. And if Obama loses next year to some Republican lunatic, I won't be shedding any tears for him.
I am hardly the first liberal to notice that, after a few decent legislative accomplishments early in his term, it's been one betrayal after another from our supposedly progressive…
mikethemadbiologist | August 28, 2011Admittedly, some boycotts have worked: Glenn Beck seems to have been seriously harmed by the boycotts against his advertisers. But what happens when the corporations you want to boycott have massive market share? The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a corporate-backed lobbying group that has essentially written many laws at the state level, including Wisconsin, Florida, and Michigan. One-third of all state legislators (overwhelmingly Republican) are members of ALEC, and ALEC has pushed some really awful legislation, including limiting consumer rights, environmental…
mikethemadbiologist | August 25, 2011Links for you. Science:
Why biology (and chemistry) is not physicsThat's One Gigantic WaspDo You Suffer From Decision Fatigue?When you say flu, what do you really mean?Newly found: the world's oldest fossils!
Other:
Legal academia and the problem of bad faithWhy the World hates economics (the end has a really good discussion of the actual--not economist-postulated--role of bank reserves)Don't kill America's databookThe Taking Care of Our Shit InitiativeOpinion: A White, Powdery Substance in Copley SquareOur Broken Democracy, in One HeadlineFood Safety in China, and the Risk to the U.S.Make…
tfk | August 18, 2011
I've already spoken to a reporter in Texas about this, but via Jamie Vernon we have video of Rick Perry telling a 4th grader in New Hampshire that he doesn't know the age of the earth, that
Transcript:
Student: How old do you think the earth is?
Perry: How old do I think the earth is? You know what? I don't have any idea. I know it's pretty old, so it goes back a long, long way. I'm not sure anybody actually knows completely and absolutely how long, how old the earth is. I hear your mom was asking about evolution. You know, it's a theory that's out there. It's got some gaps in it, but in…
lborkowski | August 5, 2011By Anthony Robbins
According to the New York Times, President Obama will create an Atrocities Prevention Board. You might well ask, what has this to do with public health? I might have had the same thought except for a Commentary that my co-editor and I published in the Journal of Public Health Policy. Elihu Richter, an old friend and colleague in environmental health - a mentee of the late Irving Selikoff, in fact - first explained why genocide prevention is public health. It was a struggle to get him to write on the topic, so we designed a harmless ruse. How about a book review of Paul…
jtoney | July 24, 2011
Summer Camp at Utøya
What did the young victims murdered at Utøya believe in?
For many families, this was a dream camp for their children, turned into a hell by admitted terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. My thoughts are with them as they rebuild towards a brighter future.
According to the camp's website:
Politics
We based our fundamental outlook on the democratic socialism. Our vision is that individuals together to create a free and just society, where ecology is in front of the economy, and human values ahead of material prosperity.
Our core values are:
Freedom for all people.…
mikethemadbiologist | July 22, 2011As with history in general, I suppose the victors write--or rewrite--economic history too. One of the arguments for balancing budgets that's floating around is that Clinton got us a surplus, times were good, and therefore, we should do it again. Of course, things were better for some people, including those at the bottom (which is a worthwhile gain), but most of the spoils went to those at the top. As the joke went, "Clinton has created millions of jobs, and I'm working three of them." Snark aside, the reason why Clinton was able to lower the debt was no mystery: private sector debt…
mikethemadbiologist | July 6, 2011Links for you. Science:
Fisheries: How Much Damage Can One Hook Do?Spiders Fleeing Pakistan's Floodwater Take to the TreesAssassin Bugs, the Insect World's Most Cunning KillersTrusting your instincts: Conservatives may actually be natural liberals at heart (the key part has to do with the role of fear)
Other:
Buy Lohan, Sell High: Why is Lindsay Lohan tweeting about the Federal Reserve's monetary policy?Ron Paul's Surprisingly Lucid Solution to the Debt Ceiling ImpasseThe Corrupt Corporate Incarceration ComplexNew York's AG Takes on the BanksBoston.com: Now free of pop-unders (it was a great…
mikethemadbiologist | July 3, 2011It appears the de facto Congressional retirement plan is spreading to the lower orders. For those who aren't familiar with the Congressional retirement plan, here's what I mean:
One of the dirty secrets about many, if not most, congressmen and senators is that they like Washington, D.C., rhetoric notwithstanding. They want to stay in town after they leave (or lose) office. Once you've tasted the Capital of the Free World, do you really want to go back to Pierre, South Dakota? (Tom Daschle comes to mind...). It's funny how many politicians, having made a career out of bashing War-Shing-…
jtoney | July 1, 2011
This is an anonymous guest post for the 4th of July and is not an endorsement of a political party. It is presented for the purposes of a civil discussion about the complexities of American politics.
Amidst the media storm about the Tea Party, often labeled as uneducated extremists letting off steam, I would like to offer a different perspective. The Tea Party is portrayed by most news media as a caricature of disgruntled right-wing fundamentalists. Yes, many of us are disgruntled by Washington politicians {isn't most of America?} and our Party initially formed with the moniker "Tax…