Civil Liberties
mikethemadbiologist | June 22, 2008I expect Republicans to eviscerate the Constitution, but, once again, the Democrats failed to hold the line, and, instead, granted the telecoms immunity in the House legislation. I'll get back to why I emphasized granted, but if you want to know what this is all about, Hilzoy gives the best description I've read so far (although Greenwald is pretty good too; so is Lindsay):
Our President and his advisors believe three things which are wrong individually, but disastrous when combined. These are:
(1) The President can do whatever he wants during wartime, whether or not it violates the laws.
(2…
revere | June 3, 2008Recently we noted the passing of Mildred Loving, whose Supreme Court case in the 1960s struck down the nation's anti-miscegenation laws. Mildred was black. Her husband Richard was white. It seems like such a distant event, although I was already in medical school when it happened. What hasn't died, yet, is irony (despite the Bush administration's valiant effort to snuff it out). Consider this:
Several leading child welfare groups Tuesday urged an overhaul of federal laws dealing with transracial adoption, arguing that black children in foster care are ill-served by a "colorblind" approach…
revere | May 20, 2008When the Religious Right made a Big Deal that SpongeBob Pants was gay or was advancing the "Gay Agenda" I didn't pay much attention. First, my kids were grown and I didn't have the faintest idea who SpongeBob Pants was (actually I still don't). Second, the whole thing was just too ridiculous for words:
xIn a new video [2005] to be distributed to 61,000 schools across the nation, homosexual activists are using popular children's TV characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Barney the dinosaur to surreptitiously indoctrinate young children into their lifestyle, a pro-family activist group…
mikethemadbiologist | May 6, 2008Our Benevolent Seed Overlords have a poll about GINA. I posted about GINA earlier today; head on over and offer your opinion.
mikethemadbiologist | May 6, 2008While many of my fellow ScienceBloglings have discussed GINA (The Genetic Nondiscrimination Act), one other reason this is an important piece of legislation involves the Human Microbiome Project.
I've written about the Human Microbiome Project before, but, in a nutshell, it involves sequencing the microorganisms on us and in us. Basically, we take a biological sample--any collectable sample, preferably one that smells bad, and is icky and gross--will do, and sequence DNA from the sample. While some of the DNA will be microbial, much of it will be human (otherwise, DNA-based forensics wouldn…
mikethemadbiologist | April 28, 2008Despite the ludicrous, over-hyped claims in the movie Expelled about the intimidation of creationist academics, it's pretty clear that when intimidation does occur, it's by creationists against scientists. Here's one example from Science After Sunclipse:
Gwen Pearson taught biology at the Permian Basin branch of the University of Texas, located in the city of Odessa. Her three years as an assistant professor ended with assaults on her integrity and her physical self:
This all became a great deal more serious when I began to get messages on my home answering machine threatening to assist me…
revere | April 24, 2008The art professor is finally cleared but a distinguished biologist was still punished by a ridiculous, mindless, cruel and utterly reckless use of raw power by the Bush administration:
A federal judge dismissed criminal indictments on Monday against an art professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo who was charged four years ago with mail and wire fraud after receiving bacteria through the mail that he said he planned to use in his art projects.
Judge Richard J. Arcara of the U.S. District Court in Buffalo ruled that the indictment against the professor, Steven J. Kurtz, was "…
revere | April 17, 2008In July 2005 when there was a terrorist bombing in the London subway system the FBI, using a perfectly valid and legal subpoena, asked for and obtained documents from North Carolina State University about a possible conspirator. That apparently wasn't good enough for the FBI. They wanted the agent to get the documents using a National Security Letter under the USA Patriot Act. They made him return the documents and then issue a NSL:
Under the USA Patriot Act, FBI counterterrorism investigators can self-issue such letters to get phone records, portions of credit reports and bank records,…
revere | April 15, 2008US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt, is in Indonesia to discuss matters of mutual interest with the Indonesian government. Topic number one was the Indonesian government's opt out of the international influenza surveillance system which has been in place for almost 60 years and provides vital information on what flu strains to include in the next year's seasonal flu shots. But the system is not limited to seasonal influenza and is an important part of the global surveillance of all influenza viruses that might be of human health concern, chiefly among the non-seasonal…
revere | April 4, 2008The Global War on Terror is claiming yet another victim: the reputation of Attorney General Michael Mukasey as a principled guardian of the Rule of Law. Even before joining the Bush administration Mukasey was forgetting the meaning of the word "torture," and since being confirmed is equally benighted regarding privacy. Now he is peddling shoddy goods linking terrorism and software piracy. Does this former judge have no shame? Via Preston Gralla at Computer World Blogs:
In a talk last week before at the Tech Museum of Innovation, Mukasey used his best fearmongering tactics to link software…
revere | April 2, 2008If a worker refused to report for work because it was a demonstrably dangerous workplace they would be within their rights, with a few exceptions. One of the exceptions in some states seems to be health care workers (HCW) who refuse to work during a pandemic. A HCW, like any other worker, might not report for work for a variety of reasons: fear for their own safety, fear for the safety of their families should they bring home an infectious disease like influenza, need to care for their family if one is sick or has not caretaker (say, because the schools are closed). In at least two states,…
revere | March 24, 2008The other day, as I was bemoaning the tanking of the dollar versus the Euro (yes, my European friends are not crying in their beer over it; I'm glad for them. Now they can visit), I mentioned that it wasn't just the dollar that had taken a bath since GWB but also the US reputation as a force for Good in the world. Now the BBC World Service has put some numbers on this in a survey of 26,000 people from 25 different countries:
As the United States government prepares to send a further 21,500 troops to Iraq, the survey reveals that three in four (73%) disapprove of how the US government has…
mikethemadbiologist | March 15, 2008It took them long enough, but the Democrats finally are making parliamentary maneuvers work for them, not against them. Regarding FISA, they've boxed the Republicans into a corner where Republicans would have to affirmatively argue that granting telecoms retroactive immunity would be a good idea--an unenviable job, if there were ever one. Here's how they did it (italics mine):
The RESTORE Act, H.R. 3773, passed the House last year without including retroactive amnesty for the telecom companies and sent it on to the Senate.
When the Senate took up the issue, it opted not to deal with H.R.…
mikethemadbiologist | March 12, 2008Things look better on the FISA front: the Democrats, in an uncharacteristic fit of intelligence, agreed to compromise by attaching provisions that allow telecommunications companies to present evidence to a FISA court that they did not break the law even if the president classifies the information, thereby getting around the argument that they need retroactive immunity because they can't defend themselves in court.
Amazingly, the Democrats appear to have gotten the policy and the politics right on this. That being said, the 'Bush Dog' Democrats (who roll over and let Bush rub their tummies…
revere | March 11, 2008I'm an advocate of using computer models to help us think about what might or could happen during various pandemic flu scenarios, but it is a technique with drawbacks. For one, it can suggest that some things might be possible that are either very difficult to do or aren't feasible. This happened in 2005 when some models were published in Science and Nature that suggested a pandemic could be nipped in the bud before it started. Most people thought that what was required was unrealistic but it put WHO in a bind. They had to marshal their resources to show they were willing to try or go down…
mikethemadbiologist | February 28, 2008I believe I did. And on cue, a bigot steps right up (italics mine):
An evangelical chaplain who leads Bible studies for California lawmakers says God is disgusted with a rival fellowship group that includes people of all faiths.
"Although they are pleasant men in their personal demeanor, their group is more than disgusting to our Lord and Savior," Drollinger wrote on the Capitol Ministries' Web site.
The comments drew immediate fire from others in the capital, including the Republican lawmaker who sponsors Drollinger's Bible study group.
Drollinger said "progressive religious tolerance" is…
mikethemadbiologist | February 15, 2008I've criticized Democratic Congressman Reyes before, so it's worth noting when he gets something right. Here's a letter Reyes wrote to Little Lord Pontchartrain:
Dear Mr. President:
The Preamble to our Constitution states that one of our highest duties as public officials is to "provide for the common defence." As an elected Member of Congress, a senior Member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I work everyday to ensure that our defense and intelligence capabilities remain strong in the face of serious threats to our…
mikethemadbiologist | February 15, 2008The editors of the journal Nature write:
(Nature 451, 745-746 (14 February 2008) | doi:10.1038/451745b; Published online 13 February 2008)
Genetics benefits at risk
A rogue senator needs to be bypassed.
Technology development guru George Church -- aka the information exhibitionist -- is playing a salutary social role with his Personal Genome Project. Church is in the process of gathering phenotypic data and sequencing portions of the genomes of ten volunteers, including himself.... He intends to study how the genes of these people -- all but one of whom have revealed their identities --…
mikethemadbiologist | February 13, 2008...and rightly so:
Dare I say it, but he sounds kinda presidential....
revere | February 13, 2008If I commit a crime against and possibly damage who knows how many American citizens I sure hope Congress comes to my rescue and gives me retroactive immunity:
The Senate voted Tuesday to shield from lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without court permission after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
After nearly two months of stops and starts, the Senate rejected by a vote of 31 to 67 a move to strip away a grant of retroactive legal immunity for the companies.
President Bush has promised to veto any new surveillance bill that does not…