mikethemadbiologist

While there's been a lot of discussion about David Kuo's book Tempting Faith, the wee lil' Mad Biologist seems to be the only one who has viewed the intentional rejection of proposals from non-Christian religious organizations as religious discrimination ('no Jews need apply'). This discrimination…

Howard Friedman has a nice roundup of the Boston Globe series of articles, "Exporting Faith", which is all about how the intrusion of sectarian dogma is screwing up our foreign spending. It's a good read.

I was reading this LA Times story about the quashing of intelligent design creationism in Michigan, and I was stunned by this (italics mine): Richard Thompson, leader of the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, said intelligent design should have a home in science classes. The center describes its…

A while ago, I posted about the lionfish invasion of the Atlantic Northeast. Here's a really good post about our Benevolent Lionfish Overlords.

Got it in under the wire. Here's some interesting links for you: Steve Gilliard's take on how the Republicans came to power, maintained their coalition, and are now imploding. I don't know if I agree, but it's an entertaining read. Tara fills us in on the idiot who's running for Lt. Governor in…

First, Republican MA Gov. Romney cozies up to Dobson and Perkins on Faith Sunday (and let's not forget his elimination of the funding for suicide prevention and outreach for gay teens--because if they're dead, then they can't be TEH GAY!). Now, he apparently lied about conducting Big Dig safety…

(from Science 313:1384) Have at it readers. And it doesn't need to be tasteful...

Everything Paul the Spud says (italics mine): We're actually starting to hear a lot of this lately. Republicans/"real" Conservatives are fed up with the out-of-control Bush administration, and they're ready to vote for the Dems, just to get them out of office. Well gee and gosh guys, that's all…

This is one way to deal with looming un- and underemployment. From the NY Times: COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 12 (AP) -- A man who could not find steady work came up with a plan to make it through the next few years until he could collect Social Security: He robbed a bank, handed the money to a guard and…

Over at Majikthise, Lindsay has been doing some really good debunking of the critics of the Lancet article that indicates roughly 655,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the Iraq War and Occupation. Here they are: Over half a million additional deaths in Iraq since US invasion Innumerate cowards…

Apparently, I'm not the only one who sees South Dakota's ban on virtually all abortions as an assault on the First Amendment. By way of feministing comes this flier that Native American women are circulating: Now if only Democrats weren't so afraid to talk like this.

...it's pretty clear the Republicans don't give a damn about America's children. There's growing evidence that the Republican political establishment doesn't believe in the Christian Right's lunacy. So all the hot air about putting intelligent design creationism into the classroom was crapola to…

And don't forget TEH GAY! (from oldamericancentury.org) Because, you see, some conservatives 'discovered' that TEH GAY KONSPIRACIE is actually a covert op by the Democrats to infiltrate the Republican Party. Really. Even with top-notch pharmaceuticals, I couldn't make this lunacy up. Said…

(from here) Revere recently had an excellent post about why you should get a flu shot. Let me just add one more reason: the best way to avoid contracting influenza is to be around people who don't have it. While this sounds like something Yogi Berra might say, containing influenza is a group…

Yesterday, the Department of Justice approved a merger between AT&T and BellSouth without any conditions, a consent decree, or judicial review. AT&T would control half the land lines and the U.S., and it's no secret that AT&T wants to crush net neutrality. And in a rare display of…

Or maybe this post should have been titled "Faith-based initiatives = anti-Semitism." (I'll get to that) Keith Olbermann has a story about David Kuo's new book, Tempting Faith. Kuo worked in the Office of Faith Based initiatives in the White House and has impecable evangelical credentials.…

I've stayed away from the whole religious organization tax breaks issue, mostly because others have dealt with it. But this NY Times article about the parsonage exemption pisses me off to no end (the parsonage exemption allows workers for religious organizations to deduct the cost of their housing…

Or at least 655,000 (± 140,000) of them. Before I get to the news reports, I think it's important to make something clear. These statistical techniques are routinely used in public health epidemiology and nobody complains about them. Critics of this estimate can't play the same game the…

(from here) GrrlScientist is wearing yellow... GrrlScientist was trying to understand how 26% of Americans could think Dennis Hastert should suffer no consequences for covering Foleygate. I had some thoughts on the matter. Tonight, after looking through my neighborhood newspaper, The Beacon Hill…

You know the wheels are coming off the Republican Wurlitzer when Republicans, as opposed to Democrats, are engaging in public 'soul-searching.' From MSNBC, by way of Atrios: CARLSON: It goes deeper than that though. The deep truth is that the elites in the Republican Party have pure contempt for…

There has been an argument by some liberal hawks that once we entered Iraq, it was our obligation to fix it (the whole "Pottery Barn" metaphor). This always honked me off because I knew from the get-go that this whole thing would go sideways. Nonetheless, there was a brief window after the fall…

I'm no fan of tax expenditures. I'm not even particularly fond of most tax deductions regardless of whether or not they're based on religion. Taxes should be about raising revenue, and a complex tax code just makes inserting more loopholes--as well as outright cheating--even more possible. If…

That's what GrrlScientist asks about the 26% who don't think Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert should resign and/or lose the Speakership over Foleygate. I think most of that 26% falls into a declarative mindset. In other words, once Hastert is defined as a Good Person, he can do no…

One of the things about growing up a few decades ago as a Jewish liberal Democrat in Virginia is that I was forced to meet people who were very different from me (this is a good thing). Thus, I always find it astonishing, simply because it is so foreign to my own experience, how some people can…

There's been some discussion about the flareup between Lakoff and Pinker. I'm not even going to comment on the cognitive science issues: we have bonafide experts around these parts to do that. But I have had considerable experience debating conservatives, and I have personally found most of what…

(well they're cuter than rats...) ...impeachment? David Swanson thinks so: Believe it or not, the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney is perfectly possible, although a number of factors will have to come together for it to happen. The public will is already there, and this is quite…

I may get Mad, but then there's just out-and-out mean. The scandal involving former Rep. Foley could take a really nasty turn. Before I get started, let me make something clear: the Foley scandal has as much to do with homosexuality as pedophillia has to do with heterosexuality. Which is to say…

The pro-science, anti-intelligent design creationism group Floridians for Science is writing a response to a creationist screed published in a Florida newspaper. Please stop by and help them draft their response.

Well, that's not what it was called. I had forgotten that, in 1999, the Republican leadership opposed legislation that would have outlawed ongoing sexual slavery in the American terrority of Saipan. And who led the charge? Dennis Hastert. For $20,000 in campaign donations. (But, but, but...…

According to Time Magazine's Christine Gorman, China and Japan are trying to bribe the voters who will decide the next W.H.O. president. It's disgusting that an organization which can be critical in saving lives and combatting infectious disease can be so easily corrupted. Gorman writes: It's…