Fucking Morons
mikethemadbiologist | August 8, 2010Which is to say, none at all. It's really interesting in a sick, twisted way to watch economist Paul Krugman's head go boom , as he sees his life's work ignored when it is highly relevant to the circumstances at hand. So when he uses the term 'flimflammer' to describe supposed Republican intellectual heavyweight Paul Ryan, don't kid yourself, he's calling him a bullshitter.
And I agree with him completely on how one comes to that kind of judgment--after all, it's very uncivil:
I decided that I would judge the character of politicians by what they say about policy, not how they come across…
mikethemadbiologist | August 6, 2010Of course, some of us are already there. A long time reader has been saying ever since the first unveiling of the stimulus package that Larry Summers' poor advice was going to kill the Democrats--and be crappy policy. He's not the only frustrated one, as word is that Christine Romer, chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, is resigning.
Here's the crux of Summers' handiwork (italics mine):
Romer had run simulations of the effects of stimulus packages of varying sizes: six hundred billion dollars, eight hundred billion dollars, and $1.2 trillion. The best estimate for…
mikethemadbiologist | August 3, 2010By way of a very good post about the Tea Parties by Amanda, I came across this post by Ta-Nehisi Coates about the NAACP's call to the Tea Partiers to renounce the racists in their midst:
I have, in my writing, a tendency to become theoretically cute, and overly enamored with my own fair-mindedness. Such vanity has lately been manifested in the form of phrases like "it's worth saying" and "it strikes me that..." or "respectfully..."
When engaging your adversaries, that approach has its place. But it's worth saying that there are other approaches and other places. Among them--respectfully…
mikethemadbiologist | June 27, 2010By way of ScienceBlogling Ed Brayton, we discover that the Right Reverend Schenck is back in action, anointing political structures hither and yon. From Ed (italics mine):
This week begins the confirmation hearings for President Obama's nominee to the United States Supreme Court, Elena Kagan. I waited for that announcement before making one of my own: A firm foundation of prayer has been laid for this confirmation process.
Today, Wednesday morning, Rev. Pat Mahoney and I went to the US Senate Office Building across the street from our ministry center.
Upon arrival, we proceeded to the…
mikethemadbiologist | June 24, 2010The Texas GOP--from the same state party that gives Representative Joe "I'm sorry" Barton--has gone out of its mind. Someone over at Media Matters, who clearly needs to be given hazard pay, looked through the Texas Republican Party platform. While there is so much stupid in there, for me, this one takes the cake:
Further, we urge Congress to withhold Supreme Court jurisdiction in cases involving abortion, religious freedom, and the Bill of Rights.
Um, then what should the Court do? Argue over whether blacks get three-fifths of a vote? This is insane, and it's the only way people like…
mikethemadbiologist | June 21, 2010Well thank goodness for that. It must be perfectly fine then, I suppose. Nevada Republican Senate candidate, Sharron Angle supported a prison anti-drug program that raised some controversy due to its ties to Scientology. Angle, in an interview, replied (italics mine):
Seeking to "clear the record," Angle told us "I am not even sure that the Church of Scientology fits into it at all. You have to make some quantum leaps here."
She noted "the program itself is a multifaceted program, and it had two protocols: one in the area of withdrawals, and it was a natural withdrawal system. As s you…
mikethemadbiologist | June 18, 2010By way Atrios, I stumble across a list of ways to combat unemployment put together by progressive wonks--and it explains why the so-called left is so politically impotent (I've removed the elaborative paragraphs):
1) Offer bonuses for long-term unemployed persons who find work.
2) Offer bolstered work-search help for the long-term unemployed.
3) Expand retraining programs and increase outreach.
4) Expand relocation allowances.
5) Encourage self-employment.
6) Expand work-sharing programs, and include incentives for employers to hire the long-term unemployed.
7) Provide generous tax incentives…
mikethemadbiologist | June 17, 2010President Obama has been arguing that if he had tried to regulate the oil industry before the BP disaster, it would have gone nowhere and Republicans would have pissed and moaned about oppressive regulations:
In an interview with POLITICO, the president said: "I think it's fair to say, if six months ago, before this spill had happened, I had gone up to Congress and I had said we need to crack down a lot harder on oil companies and we need to spend more money on technology to respond in case of a catastrophic spill, there are folks up there, who will not be named, who would have said this is…
mikethemadbiologist | June 14, 2010Related to this morning's post about the find of $1 trillion dollars worth of minerals in Afghanistan, even if we were to capture (if the verb fits....) ten percent of the total worth of those resources, it still wouldn't come close to the break-even point for the occupation of Afghanistan (which is somewhere between $200-$300 billion). If this will be the justification for staying even more Friedman units in Afghanistan, we're so stupid we can't even figure out how to make money off the deal.
(This venal argument ignores the "what do you say to the last man to die for a mistake" principle…
mikethemadbiologist | June 10, 2010Back when I owned a car*, car insurance payments were always depressing. In the best case scenario, I'm paying money for no purpose; in the worst case, I've been in a collision. Public health is a lot like car insurance, in that it's really important when something bad happens, but when something bad doesn't happen--either because it didn't happen due to dumb luck, or because other public health measures prevented the problem--public health appears to be wasteful spending. Once the waste charge get bandied about, some people won't be content with that--they have to start indulging in…
mikethemadbiologist | June 8, 2010...or maybe they're just really unlucky. By way of ScienceBlogling Josh, we come across this Research 2000 poll of attitudes about astronomy. People were asked:
Most astronomers believe the universe formed about 13.7 billion years ago in a massive event called the Big Bang. Do you think that's about right or do think the universe was created much more recently?
As you might guess, Republicans outdid themselves in their stupidity (and in other news, dog bites man...). But these were the numbers that I found interesting:
Yes, white people did much, much worse than blacks or Latinos. If one…
mikethemadbiologist | May 29, 2010Having spent most of Thursday travelling from San Diego to Boston, I had the distinct displeasure of watching cable news. First point: it still sucks. But the constant theme was that Obama is on the defensive about the BP oil rig blowout. Sure, it's stupid, although I think Obama was too ready to rely on BP's expertise (eveni f you don't believe that parts of the operation could be handled by the government, then bring in other oil companies for advice).
But a problem Obama faces is that, on issue after issue, he has fallen far short of what the rank-and-file wanted (and often what he ran…
mikethemadbiologist | May 20, 2010Thankfully, in principle, it's reversible. The Texas State Board of Education has approved new history standards. Because Texas is a major book buyer, this will have far-reaching effects on the curricula of other states (I haven't been able to find out if this will affect Massachusetts. Intelligent Designer, I hope not). The proposed changes (pdf) are farcial to anyone in the Coalition of the Sane--which, unfortunately, excludes the majority of the Board of Education. While they haven't released the final adoptions, what the Board sent for review is absurd. You can't read a single page…
mikethemadbiologist | May 15, 2010You 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…
mikethemadbiologist | May 13, 2010And demoralized too. Ian Welsh:
...for most of a year, everyone's energy was completely sucked into the never-ending health care debate, and many progressives regarded how it ended up as a demoralizing defeat, a defeat made worse by the fact that it was a betrayal from what many thought was "our own side".
There's a massive trust issue. Many readers have a hard time believing in candidates any more, especially after the way so many "progressive heroes" have repeatedly caved in the last year.
Betrayal has consequences. New candidates may not have betrayed anyone, but the people whose…
mikethemadbiologist | May 5, 2010Last week, we looked at how the Obama Administration's "Race to the Top" education 'reform' legislation screwed over Massachusetts because MA had the silly idea that changing the curriculum (dumbing it down, actually) of one of the most successful educational systems in the world should be presented to the citizens of the Commonwealth. Silly Mad Biologist: we want to teach kids about democracy and citizenship, not have them grow up and do them. Jeepers. Some people.
Anyway, "Race to the Top" also screws over science education, especially innovative programs to expose young children to…
mikethemadbiologist | May 3, 2010For those who haven't heard rightwing extremist Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has subpoenaed all of the documents related to climatologist Michael Mann's state-funded research while Mann was at the University of Virginia (italics mine):
In papers sent to UVA April 23, Cuccinelli's office commands the university to produce a sweeping swath of documents relating to Mann's receipt of nearly half a million dollars in state grant-funded climate research conducted while Mann-- now director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State-- was at UVA between 1999 and 2005.
If Cuccinelli…
mikethemadbiologist | April 26, 2010I think The Huffington Post has outdone itself on the bullshit factor. We now have all-encompassing metawoo. Consider this about the supposed harm that our current methods of teaching science inflict upon the young:
When educators try to inculcate children with the scientific method, the main legacy of traditional science, the outcome is often an educational train wreck. As Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Empathic Civilization, puts it:
[T]he scientific method [is] an approach to learning that has been nearly deified in the centuries following the European Enlightenment. Children are…
mikethemadbiologist | April 21, 2010
"Will these be enough chickens for an angioplasty? No. Ok, then. Can I get a couple of weeks of chemo then?"
(from )
Sadly, I'm not kidding. Republican candidate for Nevada's senate seat Sue Lowden thinks bartering farm animals is a way to control healthcare costs. No, really:
A couple weeks ago our Eric Kleefeld came up with video showing Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden suggesting that "bartering" for medical care would be a good way to rein in spiraling health care costs.
I mocked her with the headline: "I bid three chickens for that MRI!" But I sort of figured she'd rethink…
mikethemadbiologist | March 23, 2010...too bad MA Governor Deval Patrick, and for that matter, President Obama, don't. The recent educational regression reform plan in Massachusetts and the Obama Administration's educational proposals both seem to misunderstand what has made Massachusetts' educational system one of the best in the world (and that does far better than would be expected by demography):
1) Content-based standards that teachers can actually use.
2) Rigorous evaluation of whether those standards are being met.
3) A testing/evaluation regime that has been continuously refined and that is well understood, and that…