mikethemadbiologist

Bedbugs and insecticide resistance For shame, Forbes magazine AGBT Day 1: Illumina Shines Other: What Is The Appeal Of Conservatism? Stimulate the Arts and Keep America Strong Bridges and Books: Bring Back the Federal Writers Project Senate "Moderates" Cut 1 1/4 Million Jobs from Stimulus Bill How…

Describing a recent economics hire by the Council for Foreign Relations, Paul Krugman wonders if the CFR will hire a creationist to run their science policy group (I actually think they'll hire an anti-vaccinationist as a public health person, or a global warming denier before they get to a…

These Twitter feeds, captured by Atrios and written by 'moderate' Democrat Claire McCaskill, make it so perfectly clear that many elected officials have no idea how things are funded: "Proud we cut over 100 billion out of recov bill.Many Ds don't like it, but needed to be done.The silly stuff Rs…

...so why did the Blue Dog Democrats and conservative Republicans cut it? According to the latest about the Recovery and Reinvestment Act (funny how everyone's forgetting about the reinvestment part), the Blue Dogs and 'moderate' Republicans cut in half the proposed funds to supplement state…

No more football! (unless you consider the Pro Bowl to be football). But I got links! Science first: Scienists and Engineers for America: Senate-passed stimulus package by the numbers Cuttlefish tailor their defences to different predators Game on: sequencing companies draw battle-lines for 2009…

Before I get to the ongoing calamity, the economic impact of a nation-wide viral epidemic in horses in 1872 is worth considering (italics mine): During the late 19th century, the American economy relied on horses the way it depends on gas today. Horses unloaded cargo from ports, transported goods…

More like this please: And part deux: Much better. He is kinda new to the job, after all...

Here are some good links. Science firstest: Titanoboa - thirteen metres, one tonne, largest snake ever. Did Triceratops fight with their faces? Is Obesity Contagious? Other: Galbraith: Fiscal Balance and Credibility Buy America or Bye America Refuted economic doctrines #4: individual retirement…

Via Greg Sargent, we learn that Blue Dog Democrat Senator Ben Nelson is still a repulsive person. Total Reductions: $80 billion Eliminations: Head Start, Education for the Disadvantaged, School improvement, Child Nutrition, Firefighters, Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Prisons…

'Blue dog' conservative Democratic Senator Nelson's list of proposed cuts from the National Recovery and Reinvestment Act was leaked to Huffington Post (the documents are available at TPM). I've never understood the Blue Dogs. While conservatives are full blown batshit loony (Tax cuts today!…

You know things are going wrong when a Congresswoman urges her constituents (and others) to squat in their homes, even when the bank can foreclose on them: It's safe to say that the current system isn't working. Some borrowers were stupid, and others just greedy, but these loans should have never…

In the midst of the Conservative War on Contraception, there's a broader assault by conservatives on public health initiatives. At Salon, Alex Koppelman does a good job rebutting the conservative opposition to vaccination, infection control, and figuring out if someone has AIDS (further fisking is…

Some links for ya: Single gene allows glowing bacteria to switch from fish to squid Discount DNA Stimulus Spending and NSF Funding Other: WINDY: Women's groups lost the BC battle, won the stimulus war Media Matters: Fetishizing off-center centrism Guantanamo Bay Watch, the Final Season In Defense…

I think the creationist controversy sheds a lot of light on the conservative movement as a whole. So, in the comments of this post by Brad DeLong that wondered how in the hell anyone still seriously argues on behalf of the Treasury View in economics, I remarked that it reminded me of creationists…

By now, you might have heard about the growing outrage that bankers at banks receiving bailout money are drawing bonuses. It's reached the point where Sen. Claire McCaskill has proposed capping bankers' income at a salary equivalent to that of the president of the U.S. I didn't really have much…

Here are some links for you. Science/health first: In Texas and Louisiana, Dinosaurs Steer Science Education The Rightful Place Project Revisited... Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses The giant green fragrant parrot Why Contraception Saves Money and Prevents Abortion Other: June 22…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_UwGgLdmdI&eurl=http://www.salon.com/op… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8KwUSQL9zc&eurl=http://www.salon.com/op… No doubt, I'll be accused of being an anti-Semitic Jew or something, but the two videos of a 60 Minutes segment (posted below) are worth watching…

A while ago, I mentioned that I like the idea of keeping Sheila Bair on because she didn't panic like a ninny, unlike most of the other Bushies--who panicked like ninnies about everything. Gary Kamiya says it better: The miasma of repressed fear that has hung over America for so long will not…

My apologies to the Great Bard. Today is Blogroll Amnesty Day, this year co-hosted by skippy and Jon Swift. According to skippy, we're supposed to link to five smaller blogs. Below the fold, my five choices, and my mauling of Shakespeare in honor of Blogroll Amnesty Day: Rev. BigDumbChimp…

Some links for you. Science: Don't Risk Going Unvaccinated Cell on "a unit of scientific advance" MRSA ST398 in US swine Creationism: The Very Bad Idea That Just Won't Die Other: Busting Balls: 20 ways to improve sports President Obama and technology Dodd and Larson Get an Earful on Healthcare MA…

...such as a respect for the truth. So says Dennis Overbye: Worse, not only does it [science] not provide any values of its own, say its detractors, it also undermines the ones we already have, devaluing anything it can't measure, reducing sunsets to wavelengths and romance to jiggly hormones. It…

At the behest of Our Benevolent Seed Overlords, I recently discussed elitism and how to restore science to its rightful place. I think, though, porn is probably not the best way to do so (italics mine): ...the [NSF] employees in question weren't just logging onto their Facebook accounts or buying…

Congress, under pressure from Republicans*, cuts $200 million to refurbish the National Mall: On Tuesday evening the House Rules Committee stripped two provisions from the stimulus package: the family planning money that President Obama personally lobbied Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to remove…

One of the rhetorical strategies that has been employed against science deniers has been the claim that a 'broad scientific consensus exists' to support a certain position (e.g., global warming, evolution). A problem with this strategy is shown by the blog belonging to this commenter (I don't give…

It looks like nationalization of failing banks is off the table. What bothers me are two of the reasons given by Treasury Secretary Geithner. Reason #1: Explicit nationalization of financial companies has little support among key Obama officials, sources said. Treasury Secretary Timothy F.…

Seriously. The political tactics are virtually identical. From The Krugman (italics mine): As the debate over President Obama's economic stimulus plan gets under way, one thing is certain: many of the plan's opponents aren't arguing in good faith. Conservatives really, really don't want to see a…

Here are some links. Science-related stuff: Lottery Probabilities and Clueless Reporters Obama, Wyeth and Pfizer's Disease - Updated Bat sickness spreads: Pennsylvania animals found with white nose syndrome Study Pinpoints Main Source of Asia's Brown Cloud Tree Deaths Have Doubled Across the…

If you're an evolutionary biologist, try to find the time to do this: The National Center for Science Education has joined with the Coalition on Public Understanding of Science to help put together content for their Year of Science website http://www.yearofscience2009.org/home/. One part of the…

Our Benevolent Seed Overlords ask "What is science's rightful place?" which refers to a line from Obama's inaugural address where he vowed to "restore science to its rightful place." Since ScienceBlogling Jake discussed the importance of basing policy on evidence--as well as correctly recognizing…

And you thought the War on Science was over. Bush appointee Kathie Olsen, who was the deputy director of NSF, and who couldn't give a straight answer to Senator John McCain when asked about human influences on global warming, might have been "burrowed" into the NSF: How was Olsen permitted to slip…