Politics
oracknows | March 2, 2009Over the weekend, some readers sent me a link to a story that, presumably, they thought would be of interest to me, given that I graduated from the University Michigan Medical School back in the late 1980s. Specifically, it's a report that U. of M. has halted the use of dogs in its surgical training:
Surgeons training at the University of Michigan Health System will no longer use live, healthy dogs to learn drastic surgical procedures that can save people's lives, the university announced Thursday.
The anesthetized animals -- obtained from shelters -- were used to teach tracheotomies, how to…
oracknows | March 1, 2009Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) owes me a new irony meter.
I'll explain in a minute, but first you have to know why I even give a rodent's posterior about Harkin. As you may recall, no single legislator in the U.S. has done more to damage the cause of science- and evidence-based medicine than Tom Harkin. It was through his efforts that the National Institutes of Health, despite the fact that its scientists were not agitating for it, had the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) rammed down its throat, first as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) and then, when…
clock | March 1, 2009You have been Expelled.
No, not by me, by your own party.
The Republican party is now a clown car.
The sane, thoughtful conservatives have left it over the years, some prominent ones quite publicly last year, either more openly by stating they are leaving GOP, or a little more carefully, by endorsing Obama for President.
What is left are racist, sexist, homophobic, femiphobic, xenophobic, Creationist, authoritarian, theocratic, cowardly scuzbuckets like Rush Limbaugh, Michele Bachmann, Bobby Jindal, Steve Sailer, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity, Anne Coulter and Joe The Plumber.…
grrlscientist | February 28, 2009
You've watched the video, so let's do our best to help Joe Biden, and to do this, I suggest that we start at the beginning. I have two questions for you: Do you consider yourself to be "Middle Class"? If so, what is "Middle Class" in America?
Unlike most Americans, I do not, and never have, considered myself to be "middle class", although I don't know where I fit in precisely, since I have a PhD (an upper middle class achievement), but I don't have a job, and I've been without health insurance for most of my life (both, ugly features of poverty). As a result, I am not precisely sure what is…
clock | February 28, 2009Because they are more realistic than the MSM - this clip is even more relevant today than it was when first released:
jstemwedel | February 28, 2009You knew the California budget shortfall was going to have an impact on higher education in the state. But maybe you didn't know that the pain will not be distributed evenly. Last weekend, John Engell, a colleague of mine from San Jose State University (and currently chair of the Department of English & Comparative Literature), examined the pain that may be visited on our university in an opinion piece he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News:
Almost no one knows that this fall, San Jose State University will absorb one-third of all student enrollment cuts in the 23-campus California…
drorzel | February 28, 2009This week was Founder's Day at Union, one of the three big academic-procession events of the year (the others being Convocation in the fall, and Commencement in June), and this year's event had a clear theme about race and equality, with the keynote speech being given by James McPherson on Union's connection to the abolitionist movement in the early 1800's.
In addition to McPherson's talk, there was the official unveiling of a portrait of Moses Viney, an escaped slave who came to Schenectady and became a coachman and messenger for Eliphalet Nott, the towering figure of the College's early…
pharyngula | February 28, 2009The blogs have talked about Bobby Jindal's credentials as an exorcist for some time, and now, finally, after Jindal's comical performance on national TV the other night, the mainstream media is taking notice. His dalliance with exorcism gets a write-up in the NY Times, where one of the more depressing questions I've run across is asked.
"That's incredible. But is it politically problematic?"
It's discouraging that we even need to ask this. A potential presidential candidate believes that a woman grappling with cancer and depression might have been literally possessed by a demon, and that…
jlynch | February 27, 2009NCSE is reporting that SB 2396 has been proposed in Florida. It will require "thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution." The bill is sponsored by Stephen R. Wise (R-District 5). Amazing how many of these bills are being sponsored by Republicans. Youâd think theyâd have more important things to worry about.
Itâs a bit of a strange bill. The preamble calls for the "thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution and certain governmental, legal and civic-related principles" while the body calls for teachers to âteach…
pharyngula | February 27, 2009Speaking of incessant, grating whines…here's another Minnesota pest, Michele Bachmann. She spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (by invitation…how deranged have the Republicans become, anyway?) and offered this jewel of logic:
I just wondered that if our founders thought taxation without representation was bad, what would they think of representation WITH taxation?
Don't even try to comprehend the strange thoughts that flit through that tiny brain.
gregladen | February 27, 2009 This barking dog is not very smart. But it could make a good Republican. The only thing harder to understand than Michele Bachmann is the Republican Party. Bachmann is hard to understand in this way: How can a person with her mind be an elected member of congress?!?!??? The Republican party is hard to understand in this way: How can a party that is trying to become more rather than less relevant keep putting Michele Bachmann on the podium in places like the National Party Convention and, most recently, at CEPAC??!?!?!?
I can't explain any of this, but I can at least redescribe the…
pontiff | February 27, 2009On Morning Edition this morning, there was a story about the annual Conservative Political Action Conference which contained a line which made me guffaw:
Representative Paul Ryan: "[rant on spending in stimulus plan]...$400 million dollars to study sexually transmitted diseases!" [rant on about how his daughter is more responsible that President Obama]
Oh my! The horror. Actually spending money studying diseases that infect 65 million U.S. citizens. Yes Rep. Ryan, it would be a real shame if that money improved the lives of those 65 million people (and maybe it might even help, you know,…
drorzel | February 27, 2009Via email, Mike Steeves points me to an Ars Technica article about a Thomson Reuters report on the "decline in American science":
The US is beginning to lose its scientific dominance. That's
the message from Thomson Reuters, the people behind EndNote and impact factors.
According to a report in their publication ScienceWatch, the US' science
output is in a shallow decline at the same time that Asia is in the ascendancy.
If it sounds like you've heard that before, you've been
paying attention. Back in 2006 the National Science Foundation's biennial
Science and Engineering Indicators report…
catdynamics | February 26, 2009there was a legal case in Iceland a few years ago, it was an convoluted property rights case, can't remember the details, but it involved who had ownership when there was delivery but no payment nor explicit assumption of ownership and then a third party intercedes
anyway, the interesting thing about the case, is that it was decided on precedent case law, from a case from about 1000 years earlier
having a continuous constitutional and common law with an extended history can be quite enabling
the Vikings were mostly traders, rather than raiders, and property rights were quite important,…
catdynamics | February 26, 2009so apparently insurance conglomerate giant AIG is on the verge of bankruptcy, again, despite something of order $200 billion bailout from the US, which now owns 79.9% of the company
the news solution is to request the US government guarantee the outstanding CDS that AIG issued
I propose a solution
So, AIG is "Too Big To Fail" - they have too many pension annuities, hold trust funds for progeny of the political elite, and other critical social functions
AIG also, apparently, has enormous one sided exposure to Credit Default Swaps.
When people started taking out very low premium insurance on…
amillikan | February 26, 2009Last weekend, a letter from acting NIH director Raynard S. Kington was distributed to NIH investigators and began making the rounds in the blogosphere as well. The letter detailed specific plans for the $8.2 billion of NIH funding included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus package. ScienceBloggers immediately expressed fear that a dramatic increase in funding could lead to a repeat of the 1990s "lost generation" crisis, when young scientists attracted by generous grants found themselves without career opportunities when funding failed to keep pace with demand. A lively…
edyong | February 26, 2009During elections, what affects our decision to vote for one politician over another? We'd like to think that it's an objective assessment of many different factors including their various policies, their values, their record and so on. But in reality, voters are just not that rational.
In the past, studies have shown that people can predict which of two politicians will win an election with reasonable accuracy based on a second-long looks at their faces. With a fleeting glance and little purposeful consideration, people make strong judgments about a candidate's competence, that can sway…
denialism | February 26, 2009And I breathe a sigh of relief. Working nights my schedule is a tad goofy, but I wake up today to see this guy describing the changes in the new budget:
This is Peter Orszag the new director of the Office of Management and Budget. He is a nerd and I instantly like him. I was not surprised to find he used to be a blogger.
It was especially refreshing because for too long our government has been run by this guy:
In particular I agree with their emphasis on health care as a necessary element for creating a viable modern economy. America has to compete with other countries that provide…
cmooney | February 26, 2009This is big stuff--and thank goodness the Washington Post still handles global warming well in the news pages, if not on the editorial/op-ed page.
The Obama administration has made an ingenious move: Its soon to be revealed budget relies, for revenue, upon the idea that Congress will pass cap and trade legislation, and this will be bringing big money into the government by 2012. Moreover, the budget commits that money to achieving core administration policy objectives. Or as the Post puts it: "Sources familiar with the document said it would direct $15 billion of that revenue to clean-energy…