Bush Administration
scientificactivist | August 26, 2006...since Bush announced his restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, according to SexDrugsandDNA.com.
Well, not exactly, but close enough. I think it's actually been five years and seventeen days, but who's counting?
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Ummm... anyways....
From the site that brought us the Bill Frist Stem Cell Clock, now comes (you guessed it) the George Bush Stem Cell Clock. Michael Stebbins, who kept pressure on Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist during his year-long delay of HR 810 has now set his sights on President Bush, whose veto of the eventually passed HR 810 is the one obstacle standing…
scientificactivist | August 23, 2006Over at Retrospectacle, Shelley reports on a Forbes article detailing the impressive degree to which various billionaires are picking up the slack left in the wake of restrictive Bush Administration regulations on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. From the original article:
Since the ban, federal funding of embryonic stem-cell work has risen to all of $40 million a year, just one-fifth of the money for other kinds of stem cells and a pittance in the $20 billion research budget of the government's National Institutes of Health. But Eli Broad and a few other billionaires--some…
scientificactivist | July 19, 2006After it passed in the Senate on Tuesday, Bush proved he was as stubborn as promised and vetoed HR 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, on Wednesday. This was another step backwards for science in the US and a clear violation of the will of the American People. What a shame.
scientificactivist | July 12, 2006Bush's plans to veto HR 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, after it is likely passed by the Senate sometime this year have generated quite a bit of notice over the last couple of days. If it were allowed to go through, the bill would effectively overturn Bush's currently standing restrictions that prevent federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Although this latest flurry of attention was sparked by Monday's report from the Denver Post that Karl Rove has reaffirmed Bush's veto plans, this is by no means a new finding, since Bush has been threatening this all along…
scientificactivist | July 8, 2006On the 29th of June, the Senate finally announced an upcoming vote on HR 810, a bill which would overturn President Bush's current prohibitions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. As I reported before, the announcement has been anticipated for some time, and many were disappointed when the one year anniversary of the passage of HR 810 in the House of Representatives (on May 24th) came and went without any progress in the Senate.
The media coverage of this event has mostly been unexceptional, not particularly good or bad, although probably overly optimistic considering the…
scientificactivist | June 11, 2006The Bad Astronomy Blog reports that NASA has officially admitted that censorship did in fact take place there recently. In a letter to Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), NASA writes:
...an internal inquiry has revealed that one recent media request to interview Dr. James Hansen, of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, was inappropriately declined. This action, which was contrary to NASA policy, did not spring from any change in policy or in any way change NASA's commitment to fully and transparently communicate its findings, programs, and activities to the public. In addition, several…
scientificactivist | June 10, 2006I mentioned earlier this week on my old blog that White House Science Adviser John Marburger would be answering questions from the public via Newsweek, and his answers have now been posted. My reactions are mixed, although he was more open than I had expected. So, what did he say?
Well, I'll start with what he didn't say. He didn't answer any of my questions, which weren't even that hostile, so he loses points for that.
He did answer, though, several questions covering a variety of issues, from alternative fuels to space exploration, from to stem cell funding to the administration's…