Policy
mikethemadbiologist | November 7, 2007Before I get to an excellent NY Times article by David Leonhardt about taxes, I want to say why taxes shouldmust matter to scientists.
Even so often, I get a link or a comment which decries my posts about politics*. But the lay of the political landscape is vital for scientists--and not just for the 'science' issues, such as global warming. Quite simply, taxes are what fund much of U.S. science, especially 'basic' research, which is not only the cornerstone of applied research, but also comprises a lot of the cool stuff we discuss at ScienceBlogs. In a low-tax environment (when combined…
razib | November 6, 2007Over at the Sepia Mutiny blog there has been seem dispute over whether Pervez Musharraf's declaration of a state of emergency in Pakistan. Some contributors are appalled, while others are urging caution. One of the posts was titled In defense of a dictator, and it understandably drew a lot of fire from those who make a vociferous case for democracy over the dictator.
But I think there are some problems here. Too much of our discourse is defined by a bipolar framing of the issues between democracy and dicatorship, as if these two states are binary opposites inverted on all characters. When…
sb admin | November 5, 2007At the opening general session of the American Public Health Associationâs 135th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, speakers urged the public health professionals in attendance to address the glaring inequities in the U.S. and throughout the world.
Carlos Cano, interim director of the DC Department of Health, told the audience that in the District of Columbia, a few blocks from the Capitol building, exist âsome of the most glaring health disparities in the Western Hemisphere.â CDC Director Julie Gerberding stressed that as a nation, weâve failed to address disparities not only in healthcare,…
bcohen | November 5, 2007Part 1 (below) | 2 | 3
- - -
The World's Fair sits down with Aaron Sachs, author of The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism (Viking Press, 2006), Assistant Professor of History and American Studies at Cornell University, and environmental journalist.
The book is, like its subjects, adventurous. Sachs's voice and style are unique and his ambition is inspiring. The Humboldt Current has been widely reviewed and lauded. One of those reviews, illustrating the point, noted that "Sachs has an incredible talent for choosing gripping accounts…
clock | October 26, 2007On Monday, the U.S. Senate voted to pass the FY2008 Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Bill (S.1710), including a provision that directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to strengthen its Public Access Policy by requiring rather than requesting participation by researchers.
The vote was a veto-proof 75-19. However, the House version of the bill passed with a smaller majority, so the Presidential veto is still possible (perhaps likely). Still, this a big step in the right direction, and important battle won. Moreover, the real battle over this bill resides in some other…
jjacquet | October 23, 2007Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org
Sunday's N.Y. Times carried a story, "Washington Feels Hollywood's Heat", about entertainment industry "eco-wives" descending on D.C. to lobby for strong climate change legislation.
Despite the inclusion of passages like this:
On Wednesday morning, Ms. Meyer and Ms. McCaw, a former model, discussed how they would handle being young grandmothers when the children from their husbands' prior marriages had children of their own.
"You'll be the hot grandma, I'll be the kind-of-hot grandma," Ms. Meyer said. [see the picture and judge for yourself]…
razib | October 22, 2007Some of you know that Bobby Jindal was just elected as the governor of Louisiana. Jindal has an interesting story, he's the son of Indian immigrants, received degrees in biology and public bolicy from Brown, passed on Harvard Medical School for a Rhodes Scholarship, and took over the Louisiana Public Health System at the age of 24.
He is also a convert to Catholicism, and extremely politically conservative. Conservative blogger Patrick Ruffini had a political orgasm a few days ago in response to Jindal's victory; and it was typical on the Right blogosphere. I really don't think that Bobby…
clock | October 22, 2007There are 89 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. There are already 96 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we'll cap at about 230). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
Jennifer Jacquet is a Ph.D. student with the Sea Around Us project at the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre. She…
drorzel | October 21, 2007
The Right-Wing Facebook - Welcome
"Rudy Giuliani is wondering how he can fit 9/11 into a speech about agriculture policy."
(tags: politics US silly)
A Paler Shade of White: Musical Events: The New Yorker
An attempt to find cultural significance in the fact that the author doesn't like indie rock.
(tags: culture music)
Cocktail Party Physics: e is for energy
An index of sorts for conference blogging of the Industrial Physics Forum
(tags: physics science industry)
nisbetmc | October 21, 2007Tomorrow (Monday) at 1pm EST I will be joined by Nature columnist and former House Science committee Chief of Staff David Goldston as a guest on WAMU's Kojo Nmandi Show. The program will focus on the connections between science policy, scientists, and the public. At WAMU's Web site, you can listen to the program live or later via the audio archive.
Scientists vs. Politicians in Public Policy
What happens when cutting-edge science gets caught in the middle of political and ethical debates? Today, many decisions about issues like global warming and stem-cell research are influenced by people…
denialism | October 18, 2007Sandy Szwarc continues to wage her war against the "obesity myth", and has fallen into the classic crank trap of the attack on scientific consensus. It's right up there with attacking peer-review as a sure sign you're about to listen to someone's anti-science propaganda.
She cites this article at the financial times by John Kay which lauds the Crichton view of science.
Michael Schrage's comment on politics and science (September 26) struck a raw nerve: and provoked an extended response from the president of the UK's Royal Society. Lord Rees advocates that we should base policy on something…
j7uy5 | October 13, 2007US Secretary of State
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleezza_Rice">Condoleezza
Rice has some choice words for
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin" rel="tag">Vladimir
Vladimirovich Putin.
href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3726309">Rice
Worried by Putin's Broad Powers
Rice Criticizes Putin's Concentration of Power, Says It
Interferes With Move to Democracy
By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW Oct 13, 2007 (AP)
The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has amassed so
much
central authority that the power-grab may…
sb admin | October 12, 2007This week saw several new policy statements from presidential hopefuls, and bloggers have opinions about them. David Roberts at Gristmill responded to Barack Obamaâs energy plans, while Amie Newman at RHReality Check focused what Obamaâs saying in Iowa about abortion and abstinence-only sex ed. Jacob Goldstein at the WSJ Health Blog reported on John McCainâs healthcare plan, and Chris Mooney at The Intersection devoted several posts to Hillary Clintonâs statements on science.
And, to add to the discussions about childrenâs health insurance, Rob Cunningham at the Health Affairs Blog reports on…
tqa | October 12, 2007
As you are undoubtedly aware, this year's Nobel Peace Prize is being split between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore, in recognition of "their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."
Like almost everybody else here at Scienceblogs, I think this is absolutely fantastic. Gore has worked his butt off over the last few years. He's been tireless in his efforts to focus attention on climate change, and he's made a real difference. The…
denialism | October 12, 2007Chris DeMuth, the head of AEI, is announced he's stepping down from the position in the WSJ Op-Ed page (article free here - at AEI). His farewell is a call to crankery:
Every one of the right-of-center think tanks was founded in a spirit of opposition to the established order of things. Opposition is the natural proclivity of the intellectual (it's what leads some smart people to become intellectuals rather than computer programmers), and is of course prerequisite to criticism and devotion to reform. And for conservatives, opposition lasted a very long time--in domestic policy, from the New…
tlambert | October 11, 2007A news.com.au story asserts
"Australians would re-elect Prime Minister John Howard in a landslide if votes were cast purely on policy - not personality or party loyalty - according to the first results from a "blind voting" tool developed by NEWS.com.au."
Almost 35,200 of the 72,300 participants who have completed the Vote-a-matic were matched with the Coalition, compared with 28,700 participants who were identified as a fit with Kevin Rudd's Labor Party.
A further 6700 participants have been matched with the Democrats, while around 1700 went to the Greens and 175 to Family First.
The trends…
cmooney | October 8, 2007So: Sheril and I have decided to do something special this week.
You see, as the author of a recent Seed cover story on how the presidential candidates need to demonstrate scientific leadership, I was pleasantly surprised to find Hillary Clinton seize this very issue last week, with an inspiring speech and the release of a detailed list of policy proposals. Both bear further analysis...and that's what we're going to be doing here this week. Point by point, if you will.
True, Sheril is still allowed to blog about other stuff, and so am I. But as we swing into full campaign season, we couldn't…
oracknows | October 7, 2007Richard Dawkins really should know better.
That's why it's frustrating to see him put his foot in his mouth in a big way in a recent interview. Indeed, he did it in a way that leaves himself wide open to charges of anti-Semitism:
In an interview with the Guardian, he said: "When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has been, though, in fact, they are less numerous I am told - religious Jews anyway - than atheists and [yet they] more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence…
revere | October 7, 2007Last week someone by the name of Theo Hobson expelled a hard, dry turd onto the pages of The Guardian:
Richard Dawkins wants America's atheists to stand up and be counted. He wants them to form a lobby that's capable of challenging the religious culture they inhabit. He says that about 10% of the nation is atheist - if these godless millions unite, then they can begin to influence national politics. Dawkins has even tried to start the ball rolling, by launching a movement called the Out Campaign.
[snip]
[Quoting Dawkins] "When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has…
j7uy5 | October 6, 2007I wonder if he really believes this? If so, he dementia is
worse than I
thought:
href="http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/bush_never_really_thought_abou.html">Bush:
'Never really thought about' war
Posted by Mark Silva on
October 5, 2007
President Bush, interviewed “in the room where I make
decisions,’’ said that he “never really
thought about the decision to put men and women in harm’s
way’’ when he was running for president.
But the war in Iraq is necessary, Bush said, noting that he has
“made a pledge to the American people’’
to settle his dispute with…