Politics
gregladen | March 3, 2008Joseph Lekuton, a member of Kenya's parliament, tells the story of his own extraordinary education, and then a parable of how Africa itself can grow. His message of hope for Kenya in particular has never been more relevant.
purepedantry | March 3, 2008I nearly aerosolized Diet Pepsi all over my computer screen when I read this:
It a town hall meeting Friday in Texas, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., declared that "there's strong evidence" that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that was once in many childhood vaccines, is responsible for the increased diagnoses of autism in the U.S. -- a position in stark contrast with the view of the medical establishment.
McCain was responding to a question from the mother of a boy with autism, who asked about a recent story that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the National Vaccine Injury…
tsmith | March 3, 2008More grants out the door today, but check out ABC correspondent Jake Tapper's post on John McCain's views on thimerosal and autism:
At a town hall meeting Friday in Texas, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., declared that "there's strong evidence" that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that was once in many childhood vaccines, is responsible for the increased diagnoses of autism in the U.S. -- a position in stark contrast with the view of the medical establishment.
McCain was responding to a question from the mother of a boy with autism, who asked about a recent story that the U.S. Court of…
gregladen | March 3, 2008On one hand, we have the Huckabee factor ... Huckabee's draw on hard right voters in tomorrows primary may lead anti-evolutionists to victory. On the other hand, we have the Obama factor ... Obama's draw on moderate republicans may lead to a cleansing of pernicious liberal elements from the Republican party.
Hilary Hylton has an interesting and informative piece in, of all places, Time, about tomorrow's events in Texas. You need to know this.
Texas has a state-wide school board. This means that when it comes to textbook adoption, Texas is the largest single customer, and thus,…
pharyngula | March 3, 2008Huckabee may not stand a chance of winning a presidential nomination, but he can still make his pernicious influence felt.
Next year the Texas State Board of Education will be writing the science curriculum standards for Texas public schoolchildren, and Huckabee may bring enough conservative fundamentalist voters to the polls on March 4 to swing the balance of power on the board to the supporters of creationism. "If Huckabee marshals the religious right in Texas, particularly in North Texas, it has profound implications for the state board," says Kathy Miller, executive director of the Texas…
gregladen | March 2, 2008Right, I know, he just died so we have to pretend we did not loath him for a least two weeks. But I have the sense that William Buckley would not give me that courtesy, so forget that.
I am reminded that Buckley is often quoted as having said words to these effect:
I would rather be governed by the first 2000 people in the Boston telephone directory than by the 2000 people on the faculty at Harvard University.
What a dummy.
The most recent instance in which I've seen the man with my own eyes, and heard him with my own ears, saying this (on TV, not in real life ... because he's dead and all…
gregladen | March 2, 2008Holy crap, where did this come from?
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is sending thousands of troops and tanks to the border with Colombia, marking a sharp escalation in regional tensions.
Speaking on his weekly television show, President Chavez also said Venezuela's embassy in Colombia would close.
Mr Chavez said he was reacting to the "cowardly murder" of a leading Farc rebel by Colombian forces in a raid just inside Ecuador on Saturday.
Later, Ecuador recalled its ambassador to Bogota in protest at the incursion.
Raul Reyes and at least 16 other rebels were killed in the operation,…
pharyngula | March 2, 2008The principal of a high school in Texas (where else?) is censoring the school's yearbook.
Senior Megan Estes, editor in chief of The Elk, said the point of the article, featuring two seniors who also are teen mothers, was to show fellow students how the girls are coping with motherhood and how their lives have changed. Estes said the principal told her he felt the article "glamorized" the teen mothers' mistakes.
Principal Paul Cash said the topic of the article conflicts with the school's abstinence-based curriculum. He also said he does not think the community would want that topic covered…
gregladen | March 2, 2008... according to mainstream Christian leaders.
This is about Larry King, who was fatally shot in the head on February 12 in a classroom. Larry was murdered by his classmate, Brandon McInerney. It appears that Brandon shot Larry because Larry was openly gay and a transvestite.
TUIBG notes on his blog that Bishop Fulton Sheen blames the policy of "tolerance" (a word rarely used because if its innate offensiveness by the GLBTA community). Larry was murdered because the community he lived in generally accepted him. Another way of putting it is that Larry was murdered because the community…
clock | March 1, 2008You probably heard that representatives of two presidential campaigns showed up at the AAAS meeting last month in Boston and partipated in a panel, which may lead to the ScienceDebate08 becoming reality. Now, The New Scientist provides the video of this event with some commentary:
See all the videos here.
gregladen | March 1, 2008Americans revel in violence. We have an excuse for almost any kind of violent or oppressive act. When a young boy poking around, on a dare, in what he thought was an abandoned house was shot dead by my neighbor last year, the boy was vilified as a threat and the trigger happy crazy guy lauded as a hero, by my other neighbors. Why would that be? Earlier this week, an event happened in a nearby town that helps us to understand the sorry state our culture has attained.
During a high school basketball game between local teams Shakopee and Prior Lake, a "fan" ran onto the basketball court…
oracknows | February 29, 2008Well, now I'm really in a pickle as far as the 2008 Presidential election goes. I really don't like Hillary Clinton and consider Barack Obama not ready for prime time; i.e., he's too inexperienced and too liberal for my liking. On the other hand, I used to like John McCain--at least until he started pandering to the religious right and became a cheerleader for the Iraq war. Now I have another reason not to vote for John McCain, which leaves me with not a single Presidential candidate that I can see myself voting for right now.
John McCain has credulously fallen for the blandishments of…
pharyngula | February 29, 2008Those Canadians have got a few prigs running things up there, and they've apparently trying to pass some laws to slap down those darned naughty artist types. There's just one line from the sour old prude that's worth mentioning, the rest is the usual noise.
A well-known evangelical crusader is claiming credit for the federal government's move to deny tax credits to TV and film productions that contain graphic sex and violence or other offensive content.
Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition, said his lobbying efforts included discussions with Public Safety Minister…
purepedantry | February 29, 2008Jay Cost at RCP uses a prisoner's dilemma game to show why the absense of institutional structures is likely to yield a socially inefficient result in the Democratic primaries. He looks at the super delegates' behavior in terms of what is good for them vs. what is good for the party:
The core problem is that the Democrats have empowered the super delegates to break a tie, but they have not empowered anybody to manage the super delegates. There are no rules that demand the super delegates convene and discuss with one another. There is nobody in charge of regulating the debate. There is…
oracknows | February 28, 2008In the two days since I first mentioned an attempted home invasion of a researcher at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) by bandana-masked animal rights terrorists, there have been new developments worth posting an update here.
First, last night the Santa Cruz Sentinel posted a story indicating that the FBI are now involved in the investigation:
SANTA CRUZ - The FBI is investigating a possible connection between a militant animal rights group and the weekend attack on the home of a UC Santa Cruz researcher, a spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday.
"The reason we said we'd look into it…
drorzel | February 28, 2008EurekAlert tossed up a press release from the University of Minnesota yesterday with the provocative title: "U of Minn researchers find primary alcohol prevention programs are needed for 'tweens'" and the even more eye-popping subtitle "Study recommends that prevention programs occur as early as third grade." What, you may ask, is the problem this is intended to solve?
The study found that adolescents who already use alcohol are less receptive to prevention programs aimed at all students. Intervening at earlier ages, specifically between third and fifth grade, would allow for truly universal…
drorzel | February 28, 2008William F. Buckley is dead, and Patrick Nielsen Hayden is glad to see him go. I can't say I'm all that broken up, either.
I saw Buckley speak once, when I was in college. I remember very little about the context-- not even what year it was-- but he came to campus at the invitation of the college Republicans (one of whom was a good friend of mine), and gave a short talk to a packed house, then spent a long time doing Q&A. The talk was mostly just him throwin ideas out, and the only specific thing I recall was his suggestion that we ought to legalize the sale of all druge-- alcohol, pot,…
razib | February 27, 2008Many are quoting this from an editorial by William F. Buckley Jr.:
"The central question that emerges...is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas where it does not predominate numerically? The sobering answer is Yes--the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race."
--William F. Buckley, National Review, August 24, 1957
I do want to put on the record that he recanted:
Buckley said he had a few regrets, most notably his magazine's opposition to civil…
pharyngula | February 27, 2008John Hagee is one of the most contemptible people to have an unwarrantedly prominent voice in our country. He's an obese, smug televangelist whose claim to fame is a terrifying dedication to the apocalypse, war and death, and prophecy and damnation. He is a perfect example of how arrogant ignorance can slide directly into evil. The man is a walking talking nightmare, and even more frightening, some people take this raving nutcase seriously.
The latest to bend over and praise this demented fuckwit is none other than John McCain.
It's unbelievable. The Republican party is still in thrall to…