Politics
clock | March 11, 2009Corporate journalists are, apparently, constitutionally incapable of escaping the 'false balance', i.e., "he said, she said" mode of writing. So they are trying mightily to equate Obama with Bush in any way they can. It doesn't matter if one is a pragmatic who is trying to do the best he can, is being honest and open, while the other was a lunatic who got us into this mess in the first place.
So, they say that both of them treat the press corps the same!?!
Or that both use signing statements the same!?!
Or ignoring the people who predicted the economic calamity!?!
Dan Froomkin analyzes this…
oracknows | March 11, 2009Advocates of so-called "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) frequently make the claim that they are the victims of a "double standard," in which (or so they claim) they are subjected to harsher standards than what they often refer to as "conventional" or "orthodox" medicine, usually because, don't you know, big pharma controls everything and rigs the game. Whatever the sins of big pharma (and they are legion), this claim is, of course, a whole lot of hooey. If there is a double standard (and, indeed there is), it favors CAM. Indeed, CAM itself is a "wedge strategy" to apply a…
clock | March 10, 2009Because they write lies?
Bill Clinton actually used signing documents way more than George W. Bush. But No. 42 is a Democrat and his wife currently works for Obama. So No. 44 is on a big tear right now to distance himself instead from No. 43, the Republican, who's back in Texas and doesn't care but just hearing his name trashed makes Democrats feel good. (See, also more Bush distancing in The Ticket on today's stem cell changes here.)
B-b-b-b-ut!!!!???
Bush challenges hundreds of laws:
President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office…
clock | March 10, 2009Joe Scarborough Is An Idiot and this explains why, but most importantly defines the best what Jon Stewart and The Daily Show are really all about:
First and foremost, the show is a critique of the media. It is not "fake news." It is not "funny riffs on the headlines," a la "Weekend Update." It is a lampoon of media excess. As any veteran watcher can tell you, it has ALWAYS been "attacking people like [Cramer]." George W. Bush was just value-added content.
Howard Kurtz goes further:
If you think Jon Stewart is merely funny, you're missing the point.
The Comedy Central guy is one of the…
clock | March 10, 2009NY Times and 'Serious' Journalism:
Also in the Sunday edition, however, was the paper's long-demanded interview with Obama, which the Times somewhat arrogantly considers its birthright with every new president. The reporters used the opportunity to learn a few things about Obama's work and goals. But in the process one reporter, Peter Baker, asked one of the most idiotic questions I've ever heard from a reputable news organization. He asked if Obama was a socialist, and then, when Obama said no, followed up with, "Is there anything wrong with saying yes?" Obama, for his part, called the paper…
cmooney | March 10, 2009Amid the big stem cell news, the second half of what the president did yesterday--in essence, order his science adviser to conduct a government-wide scientific housecleaning--has gotten less attention. But it's remarkably important if we want to get over the science problems of the Bush years. In my latest Science Progress column, I explore the meaning of the president's memorandum setting forth this objective. To wit:
The whole problem with the Bush administration's responses to many allegations of political interference with science is that the answer was always the same: Nothing to see…
amillikan | March 10, 2009President Obama signed an executive order today to lift the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research signed into place by President Bush in 2001. The ban limited funding to fewer than two dozen existing lines of embryonic stem cells, severely crippling scientists who use embryonic stem cells to research diseases like diabetes, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's, among others—now, over a hundred lines developed since then will be eligible for funding. Said ScienceBlogger James Hrynyshyn of The Island of Doubt, "the news that...science will no longer be held hostage to fundamentalist…
gregladen | March 10, 2009
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ddobbs | March 10, 2009"How We Decide" author Jonah Lehrer, fresh from a book tour of the UK, offers what he calls a "spluttering answer" (it's really quite lucid) to a question he says he's getting a lot these days: What decision-making errors were involved in our current financial meltdown??
The short version of his answer -- well worth reading in its entirety -- is that we (and big investment outfits particularlyl) succumbed to an abhorrence of uncertainty.
We hate not knowing, and this often leads us to neglect relevant information that might undermine the certainty of our conclusions. I think some of the…
sciencewoman | March 9, 2009 President Obama's picks for science advisor (John Holdren) and NOAA administrator (Jane Lubchenco) are being blocked from receiving confirmation because of the anonymous holds of one or more Senators. Mike Dunford at The Questionable Authority has been following the story for at least a week and writes today that:
As I've already said - possibly to the point of inducing tedium - the scientific community needs to keep pressure on the Senate. There are so many other things going on in Washington right now that this issue is not going to get much more attention from the traditional media than…
pharyngula | March 9, 2009Today, President Obama signed a bill lifting the Bush restrictions on stem cell research. You really must go listen to his speech on the occasion — he seems to get what scientific research is all about. Man, it's been a long eight years, and oh is it wonderfully good to hear an eloquent defense of scientific research from our president, for a change.
The ugly little goblins of the Bush years still plague us, though; compare the uplifting message of knowledge from Obama with this fundamentally fallacious opinion piece from the carnie barker of junk science, Steven Milloy. And by "fundamentally…
jstemwedel | March 9, 2009The full text of the memorandum is here. Let's look at some of the details.
Within 120 days from the date of this memorandum [March 9, 2009], the Director [of the Office of Science and Technology Policy] shall develop recommendations for Presidential action designed to guarantee scientific integrity throughout the executive branch, based on the following principles:
(a) The selection and retention of candidates for science and technology positions in the executive branch should be based on the candidate's knowledge, credentials, experience, and integrity;
You'll notice that there's no…
catdynamics | March 9, 2009AIG confidential memo to US Treasury explaining the whole "why we need $30 billion more".
Bastards.
It is interesting reading, but they have $1,600 billion dollar derivatives exposure?!
WTF were those morons thinking?
h/t CR
cmooney | March 9, 2009In the looking glass world of some conservatives and contrarians, the Democratic war on science continues today....just see here for proof.
Not only has our new president reversed Bush's stem cell policy, and directed his science adviser--who really, really needs to be Senate confirmed--to "develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision making" (something I and many others have called for). But in some ways better still, he has given a big speech about embryonic stem cell research that is scientifically accurate, cautious, and does not oversell its potential--…
hrynyshyn | March 9, 2009O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!
The Tempest is not only one of Shakespeare last plays, but arguably his most profound. No longer content with mere comedy or historical tragedy, he explores the changes rocking the Western world in the 17th century as superstition gave way to reason. By the closing of the fifth act, the sorcerer Prosper laments that "Now my charms are all o'erthrown, And what strength I have's mine own."
And yet, four hundred years later, faith in magic and and distrust of science…
clock | March 7, 2009You may remember when I wrote this recently (check out the useful links within):
The Conyers bill (a.k.a. Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, HR 801), is back. Despite all the debunking it got last time around, and despite the country having more important problems to deal with right now, this regressive bill, completely unchanged word-for-word, is apparently back again. It is the attempt by TA publishers, through lies and distortions, to overturn the NIH open access policy. Here are some reactions - perhaps Rep.Conyers and colleagues should get an earful from us....
Then, Lawrence Lessig…
clock | March 7, 2009Carnival of the Arid #2, the blog carnival about deserts, is up on Coyote Crossing.
Related to lack of water is, well, lack of water and how it affects people, leads to wars over water, etc. So for the World Water Day on March 22, the blogosphere will write about transboundary water. Send your entries to Daniel for this one-off carnival (or is this more properly called Synchroblogging?).
revere | March 7, 2009If we had decent substance abuse services in this country instead of criminalizing drug use, addicts like Rush Limbaugh could get treatment for their sociopathic personality disorders. In a spirit of understanding of his affliction, if not bipartisanship, I therefore gladly post John Amato's plea to leave Rush alone:
oracknows | March 7, 2009It's a rare thing indeed for this to happen, but words fail me here:
Wow. Just wow.
Because clearly the Obama administration is getting ready to fire up the ovens for responsible borrowers who paid their mortgages on time. Truly, a black hole of stupid in a single cartoon! The stupid burns on so many levels at once, that I remain astonished.
Either there was nothing for the Hitler Zombie (you remember, that undead dictator whose feeding on a victim's brain leads to incredibly dumb Hitler, Holocaust, or Nazi analogies) to find here, or the Undead Führer so thoroughly snacked on Mike…
cmooney | March 7, 2009So, I have to say I find this funny.
On the one hand we have the current, perverse attempt to forecast all the ways in which Democrats and scientists are going to fall into big conflicts soon, now that the Dems have so much power. The idea here is to construct a false equivalence between the egregious abuses of the Bush administration and a few potential conflicts of a very different nature that could maybe happen sometime in the future under this administration.
Meanwhile, we have Obama about to stand up and, you know, liberate embryonic stem cell research. Jeez, Mr. President, didn't you…