Conservatives
mikethemadbiologist | January 14, 2007So those who oppose global warming are using the same strategy as the creationists: teach the 'controversy.'
This week in Federal Way schools, it got a lot more inconvenient to show one of the top-grossing documentaries in U.S. history, the global-warming alert "An Inconvenient Truth."
After a parent who supports the teaching of creationism and opposes sex education complained about the film, the Federal Way School Board on Tuesday placed what it labeled a moratorium on showing the film. The movie consists largely of a computer presentation by former Vice President Al Gore recounting…
mikethemadbiologist | January 11, 2007Right-wing dorkball* Michael Ledeen has discovered why Iraq has not gone exactly as planned:
Note that an increase in embeds doesn't necessarily require an increase in overall troop strength. We've got lots of soldiers sitting on megabases all over Iraq. They should be out and about, some of them embedded, others just moving around, tracking the terrorists, hunting them down. I don't know how many guys and gals are sitting in air-conditioned quarters and drinking designer coffee, but it's a substantial number. Enough of that.
It was the "designer coffee." Not a complete failure of strategy,…
mikethemadbiologist | January 10, 2007...you know the wheels have come completely off. Said Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson:
You talk about the hostile enemy, obviously being Iraq, but hostile enemies right here on the home front. Yesterday Senator Ted Kennedy, proposing that any kind of a troop surge should mean there should be congressional approval of that. A lot of democrats not coming to his side on this. But obviously this is not going to be an easy sell on Capitol Hill, even if it's not an easy sell to the American Public.
That meat popsicle called Kennedy, an elected Senator, an enemy of the U.S. Not an idiot, or a…
mikethemadbiologist | January 10, 2007Let there be no doubt, Bush still has tremendous potential to foul things up (and make lots of people dead). But Little Lord Pontchartrain just cried uncle:
In a concession to the Senate's new Democratic majority, President Bush won't rename four controversial federal appeals court nominees whose confirmations were blocked last year, Republican officials said Thursday.
William Haynes, William G. Myers III and Michael Wallace all asked to have their appointments withdrawn, these officials said. Judge Terrence Boyle was informed of the White House's decision, according to an ally.
Haynes is…
mikethemadbiologist | January 10, 2007Over at DailyKos, Darksyde comments on the motivations of the Kansas creationists (italics mine):
It's easy to get lost in the scientific or religious discussion, but this isn't about evolution or science or even religion. It's just another right-wing funded attack on behalf of the mega-rich, cleverly packaged to appeal to the very working families whose future it will devastate. The real goal is to undermine confidence in public education, maybe ultimately replacing those institutions with privatized versions (No doubt run by a recently acquired subsidiary of Neoconia Inc., suckling at the…
mikethemadbiologist | January 8, 2007Suppose you were a very large media corporation, and you found out that some of your radio subsidiaries were espousing specific acts of violence toward other people (last I checked, that's called terrorism). You would:
1) Fire the offending parties.
2) Offer some mealymouth bullshit explanation ("If anyone was offended...").
or...
3) File a lawsuit against the blogger who posted mp3s of the offensive clips.
Well, the Disney corporation picked option number three. Disney-owned California radio station KFSO, in its effort to capitalize on right-wing hate radio, gives a microphone to some…
mikethemadbiologist | January 6, 2007...while professionals do logistics (more about that in a bit). There's a fascinating interview with Wesley Clark where he discusses the lessons of Hurricane Katrina.
First, I was glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks that using the National Guard as a way to avoid having a draft degrades one of their most important functions--the response to natural disasters:
Now, one more thing that's worth talking about on Katrina of course, is, the National Guard leadership. Most of them were in Iraq. Both Mississippi and Louisiana have what they call an enhanced infantry brigade. And this…
mikethemadbiologist | January 2, 2007So Michael Fumento has issued a challenge to put 'odds' on avian influenza, thinking that somehow I've stated that an avian influenza pandemic is likely (he's also accused me, a scientist, of being "anti-scientist" and "alarmist"). Well, I'm not putting odds down because I've never said that a pandemic is likely. Then again, one should hardly be surprised when a professional conservative completely distorts what one says.
In fact, in the post, I wrote:
We can argue about public health priorities (avian flu isn't my top priority personally).
One would think that was clear, but I made the…
mikethemadbiologist | December 31, 2006Finally, there might be a Democrat who speaks my language about deficits and budgets. From Tapped (italics and bold mine):
I think the honest answer to this question is that there's a tension between our desire to eliminate the deficit and create a stronger economic foundation and eliminate some of the debt our children will inherit, there's a tension between that deficit and our need to invest and make America stronger for the 21st century.
I think that, if we're honest, you cannot it, it's just common sense in the math, have universal health care, and invest in energy, and make a serious…
mikethemadbiologist | December 30, 2006You might not know this, but, due to pressure from Republicans beholden to batshit lunatic creationists theological conservatives, park rangers at the Grand Canyon are not allowed to discuss how old the Grand Canyon is. Really. I'm not making this up. From PEER:
Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, more than…
mikethemadbiologist | December 29, 2006After reading this article about Democratic consultant Mara Vanderslice whose speciality is outreach to "theological conservatives", my head was about to explode. Thankfully, digby points out that courting social conservatives will make the Democratic Party, well, more conservative--or as a relative put it, "There's always a quid pro quo." And Jonathan Singer explodes the myth that it was social conservatives who elected Democrats (maybe if Vanderslice were a little less faith-based and a little more reality-based, she would understand what a control group is). But this statement by…
mikethemadbiologist | December 28, 2006...and decides that Massachusetts shouldn't be Mississippi. A couple of months ago, Republican Mitt Romney engaged in financial chicanery to cut social spending, including vaccination programs and programs that assist the mentally disabled. Why? To establish his Republican credentials. Thankfully, Democratic Governor Deval Patrick has decided to restore most of those cuts. Thankfully, someone realizes that the role of government isn't just to build roads and schools for suburbanites, but to provide for the welfare of all.
mikethemadbiologist | December 21, 2006Well, the Republicans aren't in charge of Congress anymore, but they still can bring the crazy. Nitpicker, in decrying Rep. Virgil Goode's disgusting anti-Muslim bigotry, links to this piece about "the Family", which is essentially a far-right Christianist cult. God save us from those who believe so fervently in him.
mikethemadbiologist | December 21, 2006Revere, over at Effect Measure, has a solid critique of Michael Fumento's opinion piece about avian flu. What the piece shows is just how ignorant of public health Fumento really is:
1) Many of the necessary steps involved in preparing for a flu pandemic, such as surge production capacity, can be used to produce 'ordinary' flu vaccines.
2) Once a surveillance system is developed, it can be 'repurposed' for other threats as needed. This has happened several times, in different countries.
3) As Revere notes, Fumento's real target is government spending. When will we see Fumento's column…
mikethemadbiologist | December 20, 2006The Guttmacher Institute has released a report showing that 90% of Americans have engaged in premarital sex. This isn't really an increase either: premarital sex was nearly as common among women in their sixties. Hopefully, that will dispel the notion that slutiness [/snark] is on the rise. I wonder what the right-wing nutjobs will make of this. I doubt anything other than abstinence-only education will be on their agenda. Oh wait, one other thing will probably be discussed:
BILL CLINTON'S PENIS!!!!!
Maybe this will move things away from faith-based public health, and towards the realm…
mikethemadbiologist | December 16, 2006While the Republican War on Science isn't doing as well as it once was, there still is too much politicization of scienctific results. Commenting on a BBC article about the UCS statement about scientific integrity, Jim at TeachtheFacts.org gives an excellent description of science (italics mine):
I am fascinated by the process, the turbulent social evolution of knowledge as researchers around the world compete and cooperate and learn from one another and teach one another, all at once. The heart of the matter is peer review, where scientists judge one another's research to determine whether…
mikethemadbiologist | December 14, 2006One is from Nicholas Kristof and one is from batshit lunatic Ron Moore (the former judge who placed a Ten Commandments megalith in the Alabama Supreme Court). First, Kristof:
Now that the Christian Right has largely retreated from the culture wars, let's hope that the Atheist Left doesn't revive them. We've suffered enough from religious intolerance that the last thing the world needs is irreligious intolerance.
Now Christopath Roy Moore:
Enough evidence exists for Congress to question [Muslim Keith] Ellison's qualifications to be a member of Congress as well as his commitment to the…
mikethemadbiologist | December 13, 2006Over at the News Blog, Steve Gilliard links to a post about the idiocy of a public high school in Kentucky that is displaying a Confederate flag* in the school cafeteria (Kentucky was never a Confederate state: eastern Kentucky, in particular, was staunchly pro-Union). In the comments at the News Blog, one commenter left an excellent reminder of what 'the Unpleasantness Between the States' [/snark> was really about (italics mine):
Why the hell are we flying flags from the Confederacy? Have we forgotten what the Civil War was?
During the Civil War nearly 200,000 men died in action, more…
mikethemadbiologist | December 12, 2006
Congressman Walter Jones, at a press conference calling for displays of nativity scenes on public property (because that is the most important issue facing the Republic):
There is no future for America unless the Judeo-Christian foundation of America is protected.
Nativity scenes aren't exactly, well, Judeo. I should know: I'm a Judeoist.
mikethemadbiologist | December 10, 2006Because said officials are even more ignorant than the Pundits of the Potomac. A few months ago, Jeff Stein published an op-ed about the many officials who are charged with anti-terrorism and who also know nothing about the Middle East--to the point where they don't know if Hezbollah is Sunni or Shiite. Stein has followed up with an interview with incoming House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes.
As far as I can tell, Reyes is marginally more informed than his Republican predecessors, which is damning with faint praise. Shakes and Ezra Klein both pile on Reyes, so I won't do that here…