Policy and Politics
tfk | January 23, 2007Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert M. Kimmitt tries to explain Why Job Churn Is Good:
More than 55 million Americans, or four out of every 10 workers, left their jobs in 2005. And this is good news, because there were over 57 million new hires that same year.
Those workers spent an average of 15 weeks seeking their new job. That means that they spent 15 weeks without insurance, not to mention a salary. One hopes that their new employer offers insurance, and that the insurer doesn't have bizarre rules about preexisting conditions.
It's also worth remembering that the United States is…
tfk | January 22, 2007Brownback starts 'yellow brick road' presidential campaign:
My family and I are taking the first steps on the yellow brick road to the White House. It's a great journey," Brownback said, returning to his home state to declare his intention to seek his party's nomination in 2008.
Whether he will be asking the wizard for brains, courage, a heart, or just a way home remains to be seen. Perhaps he should start by asking for some attention from the conservative blogosphere.
Like pretty much everyone else on the non-conservative blogosphere, I'm only moderately interested in Hillary's candidacy,…
tfk | January 22, 2007There's little doubt that we need to move America off of its addiction to rapidly depleting fossil fuels. The challenge is that our current energy infrastructure is heavily dependent on there being a common currency of energy; cars and trucks all run on different formulations of the same product, factories and households tap into the same electrical grid.
While the electrical grid is basically agnostic to the source of the electricity, replacing petroleum products will be trickier. The reason we need them is that cars and trucks need to carry their energy source with them. While hydrogen…
tfk | January 20, 2007In testimony before a joint session of committees covering stem cell policy and the NIH, the interim chair of the NIH's stem cell policy task force told the senators that Bush's stem cell policy is hampering research:
The National Institutes of Health official overseeing the implementation of President Bush's embryonic stem cell policy yesterday suggested that the controversial program is delaying cures, an unusually blunt assessment for an executive branch official. …
When Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked her how the policy was affecting medical research, she said, "We are missing out…
tfk | January 18, 2007While Presidential gamesmanship is all the rage, with even Kansas trying to move its primaries earlier to get a bite of that apple, major moves are under way lower down on the ballot.
Perhaps most significantly for Scienceblogs readers, Bill Wagnon, current chairman of the Kansas Board of Education and the representative for most of the Lawrence area, has announced that he will not be running again. A successor to this moderate seat shouldn't be hard to find in the Lawrence area, but we need to start early. Moderates Carol Rupe and Sue Gamble will also be up for re-election if they choose…
tfk | January 17, 2007After a year of stalling, and a year of insisting that the secret FISA court couldn't provide warrants for the monitoring of all of the citizens whose phones they wanted to tap, the Justice Department announced that the secret court is to govern wiretapping plan.
When the program was revealed a year ago, people who knew the law knew that it was illegal. FISA provides the exclusive way for the government to get warrants for intelligence-gathering using wiretaps of American citizens and other residents of this nation. The only way the government is allowed to intentionally tap an American's…
tfk | January 16, 2007In the Daily Kos Straw Poll thus far. John Edwards is in the lead, with Barack Obama and Wes Clark in a close 2nd and 3rd. Richardson edges out Kucinich, and Hillary trails the pack of contenders.
I consider Richardson's lead over Hillary more of a headline than the fact that Dennis Kucinich beats Hillary. Richardson is a former member of the Clinton cabinet. One would think that the pro-Clinton forces would gather to Hillary, but clearly there is room even within that circle for a Clintonish candidate, even one not named Clinton.
There is also much speculation about the genius of the…
tfk | January 16, 2007According to a report by the National Academies of science Cutbacks Impede Climate Studies:
The government's ability to understand and predict hurricanes, drought and climate changes of all kinds is in danger because of deep cuts facing many Earth satellite programs and major delays in launching some of its most important new instruments, a panel of experts has concluded.
The two-year study by the National Academy of Sciences, released yesterday, determined that NASA's earth science budget has declined 30 percent since 2000. It stands to fall further as funding shifts to plans for a manned…
tfk | January 16, 2007The National Research Council rejected proposed rules on assessing chemical risk:
Echoing concerns raised by scientists, consumer groups and agency heads, the council -- part of the congressionally chartered National Academies -- told the OMB to limit itself to outlining guiding principles and leave details to experts in the nation's scientific agencies.
Interesting concept, letting experts handle the specialized work. Doing that would allow regulators to take special account of populations like children and pregnant women, and would also allow regulators to prevent harm, not just respond to…
tfk | January 15, 2007Beyond Vietnam, by Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivered at Riverside Church, New York, April 4, 1967. How little do times change. Dr. King was careful to show that his comments were directed not at the Vietcong nor China or Russia, but to the people of this nation:
I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. The recent statements of your executive committee are…
tfk | January 15, 2007Since the thing to do seems to be to quote great writing of the era, I thought I'd contribute Phil Och's great song "Too many Martyrs." Medgar Evers was shot and killed in 1963, 5 years before Dr. King's assassination.
In the state of Mississippi, many years ago,
A boy of 14 years got a taste of Southern law.
He saw his friend a-hangin', his color was his crime;
The blood upon his jacket put a brand upon his mind.
CHORUS:
Too many martyrs and too many dead,
Too many lies, too many empty words were said,
Too many times for too many angry men,
Oh, let it never be again.
Then the boy became a…
tfk | January 15, 2007When the President declared that he didn't intend to be bound by FISA, and would tap anyone's phone he wanted with or without a warrant, that was a problem. Congress had passed a law specifically forbidding such behavior because it had been abused before. Those abuses had been secret, so the violations of citizens' liberties were not discovered until government agencies had to come clean in the aftermath of Watergate.
The problem confronting citizens concerned about their civil liberties is that there isn't a clear way to resolve these violations of constitutional rights today. There is a…
tfk | January 13, 2007Belle summarizes it as: "You know, although I’d listened to the Black Sabbath song ‘War Pigs’ many times before, I felt now as if only now I were hearing it for the first time."
I would go with "Why, oh why?, didn't we listen to the hippies?"
Or at least I would have gone with Dylan's "Masters of War."
tfk | January 12, 2007Sez new Secretary of Defense Bobby Gates: "I would confess I’m no expert on Iraq." Which would be OK, except that "Later, asked about reaching the right balance between American and Iraqi forces, he told the panel he was 'no expert on military matters.'"
This will go brilliantly, I'm sure.
tfk | January 11, 2007It's far too early for me to endorse any candidate for President in '08. I hope to wait until '07 is a little older, maybe even until '08 actually arrives. We've got a good crop out there. I've met Barack Obama, and found him to be an incredibly smart, incredibly charismatic guy, not to mention a captivating public speaker with a strong record in state and federal government. John Edwards' speech in Lawrence was inspiring, and his continued commitment to raising the profile of issues like poverty gives me hope for him and the nation.
But for now, I'm a Richardson booster. No other…
tfk | January 11, 2007Tiller didn't break law in reporting underage abortions:
The Women's Health Care Services clinic in Wichita, operated by George Tiller, followed mandatory reporting laws for underage teenage sex in 15 abortions performed in 2003, Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said today. The abortions were investigated by the Kansas Attorney General's office late last year.
Foulston said that her office had investigated court records presented by outgoing Attorney General Phill Kline last month to see if Tiller had followed mandatory reporting laws, and even given proper information to other…
tfk | January 10, 2007I'm disappointed that the troops being brought into Baghdad will not be given ponies. Unless everyone gets a pony, this plan hardly seems worth it.
I'm glad we have decided not to let the Taliban take over in Iraq. It's too bad we're going to continue allowing them to crawl back to power in Afghanistan, while we distract ourselves on a failed, aimless project in Iraq.
"The question is whether our new strategy will succeed." The answer is "no." Adding Iraqi military units that aren't trained and which may well be part of the problem will not fix Baghdad, and leaving our troops in the midst…
tfk | January 9, 2007I would never compare a snowstorm, even one that dropped feet of snow on Colorado and western Kansas, to the devastation of a city by hurricane Katrina. But there were important lessons in the days preceding and following that destruction which should have been learned, not least about the importance of mobilizing assistance quickly when natural disasters overwhelm private citizens and local governments.
Which is why President Bush's disaster aid for Kansas is so disappointing:
In Kansas, 44 counties and some nonprofit organizations in the western part of the state will receive aid for…
tfk | January 8, 2007A survey by a company that wants to build a casino resort in southeast Kansas fins support for more gambling:
The polling firm’s survey of 500 registered voters in Kansas showed that when voters were initially asked if they wanted to allow state-operated casino gambling, 46 percent supported it, 39 percent opposed it and 15 percent were undecided, McFerron said.
However, when respondents were told that Kansas is losing millions of dollars to casinos in Missouri and Oklahoma, expanded gambling in Kansas received more support, he said.
“Once you tell them money is going out of state, it changed…
tfk | January 6, 2007Proposal would give immunity to schools that spank:
One Kansas senator thinks that a quarter-inch of pine might be part of the solution to school disciplinary problems.
Sen. Phil Journey, R-Wichita, plans to introduce a bill on Monday that would shield educators from legal liability for administering corporal punishment to students.
"From what I've seen and what I've been told by teachers and parents, we need to bring some order to schools, particularly middle schools," Journey said.
Like seven other states, Kansas has no law regarding spanking in schools. Twenty-eight states ban corporal…