Politics
gregladen | June 3, 2008For the first time in history, a black man is one of the main candidates for election to the office of the President of the United States, having achieved the number of delegates required to be offered the nomination of the Democratic Party. This is based on recent declaration by several super delegates for Obama and the estimated outcome of the South Dakota polls, which closed moments ago.
gregladen | June 3, 2008Most importantly, Clinton seems to be stressing the importance of the party (the Democratic Party) winning in November.
Hillary Rodham Clinton told colleagues Tuesday she would be consider joining Barack Obama as his running mate, and advisers said she was withholding a formal departure from the race partly to use her remaining leverage to press for a spot on the ticket.
On a conference call with other New York lawmakers, Clinton, a New York senator, said she was willing to become Obama's vice presidential nominee if it would help Democrats win the White House, according to a participant…
gregladen | June 3, 2008Ted Kennedy is out of brain surgery with good results, according to a recent news report.
(Durham, NC) Sen. Edward M. Kennedy underwent what his doctors called successful surgery Monday to treat his cancerous brain tumor, and told his wife shortly after that he felt "like a million bucks," a family spokeswoman said.
... which is kinda too bad, as he is actually worth tens of millions if not more ...
The surgery at Duke University Medical Center took about 3 1/2 hours. He is expected to undergo chemotherapy and radiation in coming weeks, and will remain at the North Carolina facility for…
clock | June 3, 2008...the Veepstakes have begun. The first poll that includes potential Veeps for Obama and McCain is now out.
oracknows | June 3, 2008In the leadup to Jenny McCarthy's little antivaccination-fest tomorrow, it appears the the medical community has at least roused itself enough to write an open letter to Congress about immunizations. It's not much, but at least it's something. I hope all the signatories are ready for a P.R. blitz to counter Jenny McCarthy.
That's enough about this for now. I don't plan on blogging about it tomorrow unless something really interesting comes up. Maybe I'll do an all-science Wednesday instead after I get back from ASCO this afternoon.
THE "GREEN OUR VACCINES" COLLECTION:
The Jenny McCarthy and…
gregladen | June 3, 2008You may have noticed that in my previous post I tried to equivocate and I gave the story right from AP as a big quote. This is because I could not reconcile what I was reading internally. It did not make sense, and I suspected that the press was just trying to bring the campaign to a close. This is based not just on what I posted, but what I watched for 10 minutes on MSBNC.
Turns out my caution was appropriate:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is "absolutely not" planning to concede the campaign to Barack Obama on Tuesday night, Clinton campaign…
gregladen | June 3, 2008... according to AP, and this will happen later today. This, however, will not be a formal ending of Clinton's primary race, nor will it be a suspension. Therefore, it is not clear what the meaning of it is. This is what the press is saying:
Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.
The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City. She will pledge to…
drorzel | June 3, 2008The World Science Festival happened while I was at DAMOP (I missed getting to talk to Bill Phillips, because he left shortly after his talk to go to NYC), and by all reports it was a success-- they claim 120,000 attendees on their web site, and sold more tickets than expected for several events, and favorably impressed journalists. Good news, all.
Of course, at the same time on the opposite coast, the annual Book Expo America was going on, and as Jennifer Ouellete reports, science was shut out:
Every conceivable genre was prominently represented -- sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, romance, foreign…
oracknows | June 3, 2008Sadly, it's almost here.
I'm referring, of course, to the "Green Our Vaccines" rally led by that useful idiot for the antivaccinationist movement Jenny McCarthy and sponsored by Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), Generation Rescue, and a variety of other , which will take place a mere day from now. I'll give the organizers credit for one thing. They have come up with a slogan that's truly brilliant in an Orwellian sort of way, namely "Green our Vaccines," with an accompanying press release:
McCarthy, author of the best-selling book "Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism," and…
evolvingthoughts | June 2, 2008
Creationism is being pushed legislatively in Texas again. But this line is priceless, from State Board of Education vice chairman, David Bradley (yes, you guessed, a Republican):
Bradley said he doesn't foresee any successful effort to remove the “strengths and weaknesses” requirement from the science standards.
“There are issues in the evolutionary process that have been proven wrong,” he said. “Evolution is not fact. Evolution is a theory and, as such, cannot be proven. Students need to be able to jump to their own conclusions.”
After all, if the grownups can jump to their own…
gregladen | June 2, 2008Thank you Joshua Zelinsky for pointing out my error regarding the Florida Democratic Party. Yes, SuperKufr, you may not like the sound of the word "Punish" but as a Democrat (Active, Matt) I do.
Throw the slob into the gravel pit. Then let the Floridians vote. Oh, and Hillary Campaign Guy? Kiss my ass. If Clinton wins, will you have a job in the White House?
(Sorry, I'm a little pissed. I took someone's word for this.)
pharyngula | June 2, 2008Sometimes, the politics of science can get ugly, and they don't get much uglier than this ghastly mess going on among paleontologists. I've read a couple of accounts of this story so far, and it sounds to this outsider like a few senior scientists riding roughshod over their junior colleagues and students and appropriating as their own the interpretations and details of others' explanations. There seem to be shenanigans all over the place, and it seems to be in the interests of all parties involved to resolve the issues.
The sensible thing to do would be to have an impartial review of both…
laelaps | June 2, 2008
Who knew wearing paisley would be so controversial? A screen-grab of Rachel Ray from the Dunkin' Donuts commercial that's causing such a fuss amongst some conservatives.
I don't often write about politics on this blog (at least politics not associated with science policy & education), but I'll make an exception in this case. TV personality Rachel Ray recently did a commercial for Dunkin' Donuts in which she wears a black & white fringed paisley scarf. It reminds me of a scarf that was tied around the neck of a stuffed peccary my mother once bought at a Texas airport, but I fail to…
gregladen | June 1, 2008Or should I say "Hysterical Woman OR South LA Looters"
I spotted a video on Ed Brayton's site (Hillary Supporter Comes Unhinged showing a woman at the recent Rules Committee meeting being very hysterical about the outcome of that meeting. The money quote from her tirade is
.throwing the election away...for what -- an inadequate black male who would not have been running had it not been a white woman that was running for president.
(Video is below)
Now, does anyone want to tell me what is wrong in this picture?
No? OK, then, let me start.
An hysterical woman is a woman who's ovaries have…
gregladen | June 1, 2008Or, is the Clinton Campaign painting that picture as a threat?
Are women being pushed out of the Democratic Party by latent sexism bubbling to the surface everywhere?
Or are women not strong democrats? (It has been argued that women elected Bush, twice.)
Or is this all a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy? (That's my vote, by the way...)
gregladen | June 1, 2008The Party's rules committee has met, deliberated, and decided to seat Florida and Michigan, but with only half a vote each. This is an odd compromise that serves to preserve and ruin democracy at the same time. it is a nineteenth century compromise that may be viewed as an anti-Clinton move, but in the end may serve to save Clinton face. In the short term Obama may gain (indirectly) but in the longer term there will be a cost for him.
And, the Democratic Party leadership of Florida and Michigan need to be ashamed of themselves. They have served their citizens very, very poorly.
But first…
purepedantry | May 30, 2008Not really a fan of Jonah Goldberg, but damn this is funny:
It's been rumored that McClellan was hired by the Bush White House to appeal to a specific sub-constituency: pasty middle-aged men with a thumbless grasp of the English language. The veracity of this rumor has long been undermined by the assumption that Bush had locked down this constituency all on his own.
Whatever the justification for McClellan's tenure, he succeeded in showing that the inability to communicate and the incapacity to deal with the press artfully are not insurmountable obstacles to one's dream of rising to the…
gregladen | May 29, 2008Is this funny, or is it sexist? Probably depends on who you plan to vote for...
[Hat tip: GrrlScientist]