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Erick Trinkaus on Neandertal Admixture

Erick Trinkaus has a new article in PNAS, European early modern humans and the fate of the Neandertals: A consideration of the morphological aspects of the earliest modern humans in Europe (more than ~33,000 B.P.) and the subsequent Gravettian human remains indicates that they possess an anatomical pattern congruent with the autapomorphic (derived) morphology of the earliest (Middle Paleolithic) African modern humans. However, they exhibit a variable suite of features that are either distinctive Neandertal traits and/or plesiomorphic (ancestral) aspects that had been lost among the African…

Immune to missionaries

The April 16th issue of The New Yorker had an article by John Colapinto, The puzzling language of an Amazon tribe. It's in print, so I can't post it, but the short of it is that the tribe might lack recursion, a hammer blow to Chomskyan universal grammar. Overall the tribe seems to have a rather attenuated tendency toward engaging in abstract thought, and has been incredibly immune to any attempts by Christian missionaries to convert them. At some point in the piece the author notes that occasionally someone will ask a Christian if they've ever met this Jesus Christ that they keep talking…

Evolution & gravity, law & theory....

Apropos of Mike Huckabee & Ron Paul's evolution skepticism and its relevance to their political runs Andrew Sullivan has been posting a series of comments from readers about whether evolution and gravity are laws or theories. I am generally somewhat averse to these semantical debates, and more interested in the fundamental question as to whether one can be rational & informed and reject evolutionary theory. But what do readers and others ScienceBloggers think? I was taught that laws are empirically validated truths and rest upon induction. Theories are basically systems of highly…

Stop using the lens of your preconceptions

Well. There's another paper out discussing science blogs, which is a good thing, I suppose. I just find the conclusion a bit disappointing. Bora has an exhaustive dissection, and both The Panda's Thumb and Cosmic Variance have briefer (they'd have to be! Bora got loquacious) discussions of the topic. Where the author loses me is with this summary. To become a tool for non-scientist participation, science blogs need to stabilize as a genre or as a set of subgenres where smaller conversations may facilitate more meaningful participation from members of the public. Science bloggers need to…

Now the climate scientists get to suffer with the framing wars

I got so sick of dreary beancounting communications 'experts' telling me that we need to avoid fighting creationists … because the magical drone of framing was going to make everyone happy and persuade the jebus-loving ignoramuses that evolution was good. There are signs that these parasites are moving on now — to climate science. Oh, great. Here's a potentially greater material problem for us than even the sad state of science education, and now the good-haired knob-polishers are moving in to dispense their advice of indolence and tone. Dot Earth has an exchange between Matt Nisbet and Randy…

Pope must convert to Islam!!!

...to show that he regrets his gaffe. [From the Muslim Onion] This whole fiasco is making Sam Harris' point for sure. Too bad I have no expectation that this sort of irrationality can be banished as opposed to managed in the future.... Though seriously. 1) The Pope quoted Manuel II Palaiologos who basically implied that Islam was a derivative and uncouth religion. I think that context matters here, Manuel was a erudite man, and he surely drew upon the tradition started by John of Damascus, in Heresy of the Ishmaelites, to view Islam as simply the most prominent in a long line of un-Orthodox…

The "Aryan" mind

One of the things that I like emphasize on this site is that human psychology isn't as straightforward as we might assume. In the area of religion this is important because religion intersects a great deal with public policy and culture, and, I think my fellow atheists often have a fallacious model of how religious people think. The complexity and separability of mental processes and chains of inference are important to keep in mind when we posit a model of how humans "tick," and we shouldn't dismiss rationalization or irrationality as aberrations. Here is an interesting passage from The…

The past is an undiscovered country

A recent paper in Genome Research titled Relaxation of selective constraint on dog mitochondrial DNA following domestication concludes that domestication of wolves and their transformation into dogs were facilitated by relaxed selection and increased latent variation, from which subsequent selection could operate upon. Here is a good popular press summary. The basic finding is that domestic dogs in their sample (13 dogs, 6 wolves and 3 coyotes had their full mtDNA sequenced) exhibited greater accumulation of mildly deleterious mutations, in a nearly neutral fashion. Relaxation of selection…

Levels of selection - the coming debate

Wired has a blog entry up where they reproduce the text of an email exchange with Bert Hoelldobler, an entomologist who is collaborating with E.O. Wilson on a new book which will argue for the relevance of higher levels of organization in evolutionary processes. In The Cooperative Gene evolutionary biologist Mark Ridley elucidates how multicellular organisms emerge from a coalition of genes all with the same interest because of their imprisonment within the individual (their replication being mediated by the sex gametes). I'm assuming that Wilson & Hoelldobler are going to attempt…

Plato, what is he good for?

I was chatting with my much younger brother recently and he mentioned an interest in philosophy. I asked if he'd read Plato, and he returned my query with a question: "Is Plato worth reading?" My own answer: I don't think Plato is really worth reading, but, many thinkers have disagreed and Plato is a place to start when attempting to comprehend the arc of human history. In other words, though I myself am no Platonist I think that to understand what it means to not be a Platonist, as well as grapple with a world influenced by Platonic ideals, one must know something about Plato. This…

Erasing identity?

In the comments Fly states: Within the next two decades it will become easy to modify skin color and hair characteristics. A person's skin color may be a fashion statement much as a woman's hair color is today. Rather than most people being brown, I expect some will opt for attention garnering colors more commonly seen in fruits. I'm hopeful that racial group identifiers that energize identity politics will disappear. Hopeful is a good word to describe how I feel, I do think that within a few decades racial identity will be far more malleable than it is today. In particular, I believe the…

What makes us human (genetically)?

JP has an interesting post, Why the regulatory changes vs. coding sequence changes debate is inane: Here's the question we're supposed to answer: which are more important-- protein-coding changes or regulatory changes? And here's the problem with that question: how do you define important? Let's make a list of the ways humans differ from chimpanzees-- we walk on two feet, we have bigger brains, we have less hair, etc. etc. You can add your own if you like. If a protein-coding change gives us the bigger brain, but a regulatory change the lack of hair, who wins? Sure, you could argue about…

The Problem with Publication-Driven Science

Now, I realize with this title, lots of people are thinking that I'm trying to do away with scientific articles. Far from it. But the use of published articles as 'scientific currency' can retard the adoption of new breakthroughs. A recent personal experience is in order. I recently heard an invited speaker give a talk about a new way of handling DNA sequence data*. After the talk, in a private meeting, I asked the speaker if this software was available for implementation, and said speaker looked horrified. "We haven't submitted for publication yet." It turns out that no one will have…

Palin Refuses to Call Bombers of Women's Health Clinics Terrorists

From the Oxdown Gazette comes this interview transcript with Sarah Palin: Brian Williams: Back to the notion of terrorists and terrorism, this word has come up in relation to Mr. Ayers -- hanging out with terrorist - domestic terrorists. It is said that it gives it a vaguely post uh 9-11 hint, using that word, that we don't normally associate with domestic crimes. Are we changing the definition? Are the people who set fire to American cities during the '60's terrorists, under this definition? Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist under the definition? Sarah Palin: There is no question that…

A Question for the McCain PR Flack About 'Real' Virginians

Recently, a McCain campaign spokescritter used the phrase 'real' Virginian. Anyone who has lived in the South has heard the phrase 'real Southerner' before. What's despicable about that phrase is that it always refers to white Southerners--African-Americans are completely marginalized and ignored in the definition of a Southerner as if they don't exist. Given the changing demographics of Virginia, 'real Virginian' has also entered the lexicon (and is something I've heard many times). Here's what the McCain spokescritter said: ....I can tell you that the Democrats have just come in from…

New Addition to the Blogroll

Say hello to Princess Sparkle Pony. Because commentary like this is priceless: See, you let Sarah [Palin] outside her bubble, and you just can't control what happens! Tsk. Meanwhile, within her carefully crafted Avon crystal sphere, Sarah's whipping up the crowd with abortion, abortion, abortion, since the McCain campaign has pretty much been shamed out of using anything else. It's only a matter of time before she starts smearing Obama for associating with known domestic homosexuals. I look forward to seeing pictures of hockey moms carrying signs emblazoned with lipstick-wearing pit bull…

The Willful Ignorance of Joe the Plumber

Last night, "Joe the Plumber" (who's kinda like Conan the Barbarian, except that he's not) was featured front and center in the debates. So what did the actual Joe the Plumber think? By way of Jesse Taylor, from Politico: "McCain was solid in his performance," he says. "I still don't know where he stands," he says of Obama. "I'm middle class. I can't have my taxes raised any more." He also says he actually isn't in the bracket where Obama would raise his taxes -- but he's worried that Obama will shift the bracket down. He also said that, in his encounter with Obama, the Illinois Senator […

Primary Endorsement: Sonia Chang-Diaz for MA State Senate

Enough about the Straight Bullshit Express: here's an election I can believe in. In Massachusetts' Second Suffolk District, the Democratic primary for State Senate features Sonia Chang-Diaz and Dianne Wilkerson. For the very little that it's worth, the Mad Biologist endorses Sonia Chang-Diaz. On many issues, there isn't much difference between Chang-Diaz and Wilkerson--were Wilkerson to win, it certainly wouldn't be a disaster; Wilkerson's record is pretty good. But here's why I plan to vote for Chang-Diaz: Chang-Diaz supports publicly funded campaigns; Wilkerson is against them.…

Teaching Macro- and Microevolution

There have been a lot of comments on this post about using molecular evolution to teach evolutionary biology. A couple of people were worried that creationists will look at molecular data and claim that it is 'microevolution' and thus compatible with creationism (I've dealt with the creationists' macroevolution canard before). I'm not worried about this issue. First, even when a study (or project) is focused on a single species, if you're building trees, then you typically need an outgroup (sequence from another species). And now, once again, we're in the world of common descent....and…

Community-Acquired ST398 MRSA Found in Sweden

This is not good. A recent article in Emerging Infectious Diseases describes two separate cases of community-acquired ST398 MRSA--and neither case was associated with agriculture. Let me explain what this means and why this is really bad news. MRSA--methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus--is a serious problem: in the U.S., it kills more people annually than AIDS. Typically, the therapy used to treat MRSA is vancomycin, and strains resistant to vancomycin can't be treated on-label with any commercial antibiotics*. ST398 is a new clone of MRSA that is thought to be associated with…

Why Counterterrorism Should Not Be Left to Those Who Believe in the Easter Bunny

More fallout from Bushist apparatchik Monica Goodling. Her political hackery weakened our ability to prosecute terrorists: In one disgraceful example, Goodling refused to hire "one of the leading terrorism prosecutors in the country" because his wife was a Democrat: He was an experienced terrorism prosecutor and had successfully prosecuted a high-profile terrorism case for which he received the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service. ... The candidate's wife was a prominent local Democrat elected official and vice-chairman of a local Democratic Party. [...] [Executive Office for…

Why Is the TEM-1 Beta-Lactamase So Common?

I'm sure you were asking yourself that very question this morning. OK, maybe not. But one of the interesting questions about antibiotic resistance is why a certain antibiotic resistance gene or allele (gene variant) is common and others are rare. Among the beta-lactamases, the TEM-1 allele is the most common. Beta-lactamases protect bacteria against beta-lactam antibiotics, which include penicillin and its derivatives. TEM-1 was the first beta-lactamase gene to be characterized and provides resistance only to penicillin and ampicillin, while other, newer TEM alleles confer resistance to…

Faster Trains Versus SUPERTRAINS

I agree with Atrios--while high-speed trains would be technologically groovy, trains that actually got somewhere quickly would be a major, albeit unsexy, improvement (italics mine): As for inter-city rail, I certainly support it too on the grounds that driving long distances and flying really suck. Flying sucks more than it used to for various reasons, and it is unlikely to suck less anytime soon. Having to travel to the airport, arrive early, deal with the various indignities and potential delays, the discomfort of airline cabins, extra time at the other end waiting for baggage, the need,…

Self-Hating Science Teacher and ID Proponent Forces Expelled on Students...

...and that wasn't the worst part. From Moue Magazine--who deserves much credit for the brilliant description of ID advocates as "self-hating scientists": In 2003, the school district told him to stop teaching ID in the classroom and he refused- but kept his job. He did remove most of the visible religious materials in his classroom but then gave his students the assignment of watching the movie Expelled with directions to "explain why it is important to examine this objectively and not let bias affect your observations." But the teacher is even nuttier than your typical ID advocate (hard as…

Lenski*: Please Don't Respond to Schlafly and Purdom

So I emerge from my grant writing burrow only to discover by way of ScienceBlogling PZ that the clowns at Answers in Genesis are pestering National Academy of Sciences member Richard Lenski about the citrate evolution in E. coli paper he co-authored. Fortunately, Gerlach at Off Resonance does a great job fisking this creationist crapdoodle, so I don't have to. While I'm glad Lenski responded, he should cut them off at this point. The problem is that his response, which is quite sensible--he presents the data that show that contamination is not an issue among other things--does not matter to…

TEH SWINEY FLOO!!: Should We Comment on Others' Public Hygiene?

A couple days ago, while waiting for the T, a guy about ten feet away sneezed several times without even attempting to cover his face; he didn't even make a 'matador', bullshit fake effort. Because of the angle of the light and what not, I could easily see the massive spray of mucus flying out of his nose. I mean stuff everywhere. Kinda like this: (from here) Long time readers of this blog will know my battle cry, "WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS!", but other forms of public hygiene, such as not spraying your snot hither and yon, matter too. In fact, it's important enough that public health…

Conservative Healthcare 'Activism': "Irony" Is One Way to Describe It...

...falling out of the stupid tree and smacking into every branch on the way down would be another. By now, you might have heard about the corporate lobbyist-organized healthcare offensive, which is designed to 'confront' officials at public meetings about healthcare--that is, heckle, intimidate, and shut down these meetings. Democratic Representative Gene Green (R-TX) wasn't having any of it: During the town hall, one conservative activist turns to his fellow attendees and asks them to raise their hands if they "oppose any form of socialized or government-run health care." Almost all the…

Unscientific America: On Planets and Theories

Hopefully, this post won't degenerate into a flame war (ZOMG! TEH RELGIONISMZ!!!), but I've finished reading Unscientific America. Unfortunately, right off the bat (page three), the 'Pluto argument' bothered me (on the other hand, the book could only improve). From my perspective (and what do I know, I'm just a scientist), it seems that if astronomers think Pluto isn't a planet (and there seems to be some honest scientific debate about whether it is or not), then it's not a planet. It doesn't matter if it upsets other non-scientists: a planet means something to scientists and, apparently,…

More Second-Derivative Flights of Fancy: The Home Price Edition

Housing prices suck. In fact, they suck worse than they did last month. But the good news is that the rate at which the suckitude is increasing is slowing (this is the second derivative). From The Washington Post: Home prices fell again in April, but at a slower rate, suggesting some parts of the housing market could be stabilizing, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released today. The closely watched home index found that, nationwide, prices declined 18.1 percent compared with April 2008. That was slower than the 18.7 percent decline seen in March. "The…

Italy Oursources Science Grant Reviews to...NIH?

What was Italy thinking? And, for that matter, NIH? From Science: The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is gearing up to begin a review of about 1,000 biomedical research grant applications for the Italian government, an experimental collaboration that comes at an inconvenient time for the US funding agency. The outsourcing agreement was made last year at the request of Ferruccio Fazio, now Italy's deputy minister for health in the welfare ministry, who is looking to improve the department's peer-review system for awarding competitive research grants... Most biomedical research funds…

Evolution, Creationism, and 'Moderation', GOP-Alabama Style

You might have heard by now about the True Republican PAC television ad for the Republican gubernatorial primary in Alabama that attacks one Republican candidate, Bradley Byrne, for supporting evolution (TEH DARWINISMZ! AIIEEE!!!). As far as I can tell Byrne is a 'moderate' in that he thinks both evolution and creationism should be taught ('teaching the controversy'), whereas the True Republican PAC is full-on batshit loony. I wrote "as far as I can tell" because, after reading Byrne's statement, he's, well, kinda out of his fucking mind too: I believe the Bible is the Word of God and that…

Michael Steele Has Turned the RNC into Enron Arthur Anderson AIG

It's as if funny accounting is second nature for these guys: The Republican National Committee at the end of last year struck a deal with the Michigan Republican Party that if the state party could raise what turned out to be a half a million dollars for the RNC from its donors, the committee would immediately give the money back, in a scheme apparently devised to increase the RNC's 2009 fundraising numbers. "It was a known secret that a deal had been struck on the topic," a former RNC official confirmed to The Daily Caller. "I think the benefit to them was them getting guaranteed money," the…

More on the Potential for Debt Revolt

One thing about Big Shitpile that seems to have gone under the radar is the potential for--and, increasingly, the reality of--debtor revolt. That is, people who owe more than their home is worth refuse to pay without a renegotiated mortgage. Sean Broderick thinks that "a debtor's revolt is going to be one of the defining trends for 2010", and recounts this episode: Two years later, Adam's $450,000 Loxahatchee House was worth only $189,000. And he couldn't find a renter for his home in Lake Worth. He tried working with the bank (one bank had given him mortgages on both properties), but they…

Why I Am Voting for Martha Coakley

If you're in Massachusetts, there's a special election for U.S. Senate tomorrow, and it's much closer than it should be--the Republican Scott Brown (who is horrid--who votes to eliminate tax breaks and aid for 9/11 emergency responders?) might actually win. There are several reasons why I'm voting for Coakley*: 1) Republicans hate science. Massachusetts received $2.25 billion in NIH funding alone in 2008 and another $400 million from NSF. That's equivalent to ten percent of the MA state budget. As someone who works for USDA once told me, "Republicans cut my budget, Democrats increase it…

Oklahoma H.R. 2211: The Triumph of the Stupid

Argh. The post got borked because I'm using a very old computer with weird keystroke habits. The article is from here: The Oklahoma House of Representatives Education Committee has just approved House Bill 2211. The bill is expected to pass the full House, and then to go to the Senate. Its authors describe it as promoting freedom of religion in the public schools. In fact, it does the opposite. HB 2211 is identical to bills widely introduced into state legislatures across the nation, where they have met various fates. Texas's Legislature passed it, and Texas is experiencing serious problems…

CIA Exemptions: They're Not Military Personnel

ScienceBloglings Greg Laden and John Wilkins have discussed whether or not CIA employees complicit in torture should be exempt from prosecution. The debate has revolved around the 'following orders' issue. But this misses a key point: CIA personnel are not military personnel. There is a specific reason the CIA is a civilian agency and not a military command (in fact, there are strict regulations about the percentage of military personnel that can work for the CIA). In a military command, soldiers can disobey orders if those orders are found to be unethical. However, if the orders are…

In Fairfax County, Birth Control Is Like a Handgun

Atrios is right: Fairfax County, VA's policy about taking a birth control pill is school is nuts: When a Fairfax County mother got an urgent call from school last month reporting that her teenage daughter was caught popping a pill at lunchtime, she did not panic. "It was probably her birth-control pill," she thought. She was right. Her heart dropped that afternoon in the assistant principal's office at Oakton High School when she and her daughter heard the mandatory punishment: A two-week suspension and recommendation for expulsion.... Health advocates say that harsh penalties for students…

What an Out-of-Control Healthcare Bureaucracy Might Look Like

By way of Jesse Taylor, imagine that you had $16,000 of bills due to an appendectomy: If it's not paid in fourteen days, it'll go to collections. (Keep in mind that my yearly budget, courtesy of the law school, is a little over $15,000.) I call the hospital, and am told that the claim was submitted to my old insurance company and denied because I was not covered on the date of service. I cannot do any sort of low-income write-off plan unless I cancel my health insurance and am denied from both Medicare and Medicaid. Even then, it's conditional. I call the insurance company and was told…

Some Important Qualifiers About Health Effectiveness Research

I think before everyone gets excited about the effectiveness research that was funded in the Recovery and Reinvestment Act--basically, using the scientific method to find out how well different medical treatments work--we need to realize that the medical industry might have scored a coup here (italics mine): The $1.1 billion earmarked for comparative effectiveness research remained in the bill that President Obama will sign Monday. The House conferees also insisted on keeping the phrase "comparative effectiveness" throughout the authorizing language, removing the Senate's insertion of the…

Now We Are All Grownups: What I Liked About the Inaugural Address

While most people have focused on the torture part (how could you not with CNN's cutaway to Bush), I responded the most to this section: We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand…

The Stimulus and NIH Funding

I've been looking at the Recovery Bill working its way through the House Appropriations Committee, and, regarding NIH funding, I have a lot of the same doubts that ScienceBlogling Jake does. I'm concerned that it spends too much money building capacity without any commitment to provide research funds to use that equipment. One of the very good things this bill would do is to provide much-needed repairs and upgrades to existing federal research facilities. But the bill also provides for improve non-federal research facilities (p. 138): For an additional amount for ''National Center for…

Even More Scent Marking for Jesus

WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!! One of the most popular posts from the old site was a post about two right wing nutjobs who anointed Justice Alito's chair before his Senate confirmation hearing (AND IT WORKED!!11!!). Well, we have more scent marking for Jesus, this time courtesy of a Republican congressman: On January 7, second-term Republican Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia and two friends prayed over a door. It was not just any door, but the entranceway beneath the Capitol that President-elect Barack Obama will pass through as he walks onto the inaugural stage to take the oath of office. "I hope and…

Could Open Science Resolve the Researcher-Data Producer Conflict?

Last week, I wrote about the problems facing genomics and the concept of ownership of data. While I am sympathetic to researchers' career needs under the current system, I don't think we can, in good conscience, let that get in the way of rapid data release, especially in applied areas. I, and others, cast this as a conflict between individual researchers and the larger community, but there was a third part that was missing: universities. To the extent that universities care about--and desperately need--grants, altering how funders determine what a successful outcome is critical. That's…

Obama's Bait-and-Switch on Social Security

'Progressives' are getting all gooey over Obama's stern declaration that he will prevent Republicans from privatizing Social Security. So why am I being so harsh towards Obama? Because this is a sucker play. Given Obama's track record on most issues so far, it's pretty obvious what will happen next: 1) Obama issues a stern declaration about 'protecting Social Security.' Of course, no one was seriously entertaining that idea on the legislative agenda. Until now. Up to this point, the debate (aka the 'Catfood Commission') has centered over future benefits (e.g., what is the age of…

What Hurts Harvard About the Hauser Scandal Is the Coverup

For those of you who have been blissfully out of the news (not a bad thing to be doing in the summer), Harvard professor Marc Hauser has been accused of scientific fraud. It now appears that Harvard had concluded its investigation and swept the findings under the rug for months/i>: Marc Hauser's academic career was soaring when suddenly, three years ago, Harvard authorities raided his laboratory and confiscated computers and records. Dr. Hauser continued to publish and lecture widely until last week, while all the time researchers at Harvard and elsewhere who knew of the raid kept…

This Seems Like It Would Be a National Security Liability

I've read through the Washington Post article on our bloated, inefficient national security-surveillance apparatus--what Atrios characterizes as a system "to transfer money and power to elites while cementing the existence of a giant and extremely opaque patronage system. One with surveillance capabilities." This caught my eye as it sounds like a serious security risk (italics mine): Among the most important people inside the SCIFs [sensitive compartmented information facilities] are the low-paid employees carrying their lunches to work to save money. They are the analysts, the 20- and 30-…

"Government Can't Create Jobs"-The Obama Adminstration Can't Be This Stupid

Just like I don't think Peter Peterson is stupid enough to believe his anti-Social Security propaganda, President Obama can't actually believe this: "Now, government can't create jobs, but it can help create the conditions for small businesses to grow and thrive and hire more workers," President Barack Obama said yesterday as he urged Congress to take up new jobs legislation at an event honoring Small Business Owners of the Year. "Government can't guarantee a company's success, but it can knock down the barriers that prevent small-business owners from getting loans or investing in the future…

Two Good Links Regarding the Placebo-Effects-Without-Deception Paper

I'm not even going to mention why it took fifteen hours to get from DC to Boston. By plane. Except that US Airways sucks. Anyway, you might have heard about the placebo-effect article recently published in PLoS One. I was going to blog about this yesterday, but events overtook my schedule (by twelve fucking hours). Anyway, when I was visiting relatives, I decided to actually read the article, and I had some serious doubts about the conclusions. Fortunately, I don't have to discuss them, since I found two good posts dealing with this article. PalMD makes the good point that paying…

Movement Conservatism, the 2010 Version

But she's probably not a real American, so this is ok: This is kind of like freedom, except for the physical violence Real American values apparently involve stomping on women's heads: As the candidates arrived, a group of [Republican congressional candidate Rand] Paul supporters pulled a female MoveOn member to the ground and held her there as another Paul supporter stomped on the back of her head and neck. According to the Louisville Courier Journal, "Lauren Valle of MoveOn.org approached Paul and tried to give him an "employee of the month award" from Republicorp...a fake business MoveOn…

Just How Stupid Is Fox News? The Jet Pack Edition

Just how desperate to find a story--and a controversy--do you have to be to believe this is real: Anchors at the Fox News national morning news show "Fox and Friends" reported Tuesday that the city of Los Angeles had ordered 10,000 jetpacks for its police and fire departments. The price tag: a whopping $100,000 per unit. Yes, jet packs. Thousands of them. Maybe that should have set off warning bells. Well, actually it did, but this being Fox News, well... (italics mine): For those doing the math at home, the cash-strapped city of Los Angeles, which is regularly sending its police…