Politics
clock | January 30, 2008
Good first responses on blogs:
Jonathan Cohn
Christy Hardin Smith
Pam Spaulding
Melissa McEwan
David Sirota
Chris Bowers
gregladen | January 30, 2008... according to news reports flying around the airwaves.
It will be interesting to see what happens to those currently supporting him. It is likely that if Edwards does not endorse anyone, his supporters would drift to Clinton, since it is believed that Edwards has been collecting the whiter among the white votes (those who would never vote for a black man). On the other hand, those individuals may also never vote for a woman, especially a Clinton.
So, perhaps many of Edward's supporters would drift to out of the primary race entirely, and then go for the Republican nominee during the…
hrynyshyn | January 30, 2008... or, at least, in this one case, he's on the right track. Although the editors at the journal Nature don't think so. In fact, they tear a strip off the guy in last week's editorial, and I'm not really sure why.
Here's the Romney quote that ignited Nature's ire:
"We spend $30 billion a year in the National Institutes of Health, and we lead the world in health-care products. In defence, we spend even more. We lead the world in defence products," he told the Detroit Economic Club on 14 January. "Why not also invest in energy and fuel technology right here in Michigan?"
As Nature notes, "these…
clock | January 30, 2008NPR
MSNBC
Darn! The only one who understood how to fight the reactionary forces of the GOP.
It will be really difficult to make the decision now. Hope that Obama is not as naive as he appears?
tsmith | January 29, 2008Yesterday I mentioned the controversy over needle exchange programs as an analogy to the objection the administration has to providing heroin anti-OD kits containing Narcan to drug users. In a bit of good timing, the LA Times has an article about a 73-year-old HIV+ lay preacher, of all people, who was on arrested while working a needle exchange program--which remain illegal in his home state, Texas.
gregladen | January 29, 2008Larry Craig, or as we call him in Minnesota, Happy Feet Larry, stepped in where Michelle Bachmann could not perform, in an overt act of erotic love with the President of the United States, George Bush.
I starting watching the That Big Speech by George Bush just before midway last night. In time to hear him say that he wants to be the first President of the United States to usher in legislation specifically outlawing (rather than simply not funding) several entire areas of scientific research, at the same time doubling funding on research on nuclear power. Oh, and he also wants to be the…
pontiff | January 28, 2008The CRA Policy Blog has the latest info on the impact of the underfunding of science in the budget. In particular
NSF will likely fund 1,000 fewer research grants in FY 08 than planned and the average award size will be smaller.
Sweet! Data to update my probability of employment. Oh wait. (Note for those playing along at home, I think the relevant total number of NSF grants is on the order of 11500.)
jrosenhouse | January 28, 2008Go read Paul Krugman's column. Money quote:
First, those who don't want to nominate Hillary Clinton because they don't want to return to the nastiness of the 1990s -- a sizable group, at least in the punditocracy -- are deluding themselves. Any Democrat who makes it to the White House can expect the same treatment: an unending procession of wild charges and fake scandals, dutifully given credence by major media organizations that somehow can't bring themselves to declare the accusations unequivocally false (at least not on Page 1).
Bingo!
pharyngula | January 28, 2008This is an unbelievable statement from one of our top medical advisors. Heroin overdoses kill many people; there is a cheap rescue option, though, kits called Narcan that cost a mere $9.50 and allow people to save lives. The Bush administration opposes their distribution.
Dr. Bertha Madras, deputy director of the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy, opposes the use of Narcan in overdose-rescue programs.
"First of all, I don't agree with giving an opioid antidote to non-medical professionals. That's No. 1," she says. "I just don't think that's good public health policy."
Madras…
tsmith | January 28, 2008Via new acquaintance Tom Levinson of the Inverse Square blog comes an all-too-familiar story of our "compassionate conservative" administration putting their own morality above proven public health programs:
Fact 1: public health officials around the country...are distributing rescue kits [containing Narcan, see below --TS] that save heroin users from overdoses. The kits cost $9.50, and they are credited with reversing 2,600 overdoses in 16 such local programs around the country. For context: NPR reports that "overdoses of heroin and opiates, such as Oxycontin, kill more drug users than AIDS…
gregladen | January 27, 2008Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts will endorse Senate colleague Barack Obama for president, party officials confirmed Sunday.
The endorsement will be announced Monday in Washington, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for the record. An official close to the senator said the announcement will be made during an Obama campaign rally at American University, where he will be joined by Sen. Kennedy and his niece, Caroline Kennedy, who also has endorsed Obama.
From Newmax.
jrosenhouse | January 27, 2008Journalism is dead, folks. Start with that. Can you point to a single mainstream media outlet, whether a cable news channel or network news broadcast or newspaper or newsmagazine, that you trust to give you the basic facts about anything? Cable news is now almost wall-to-wall gossip shows, where right-wingers and properly housebroken liberals gather together to explain how the latest statements from the candidates show that the Republicans are courageous truthtellers, while the Democrats are unprincipled wimps. The sole execption, Keith Olbermann, provides some blessed relief, but even he…
pharyngula | January 27, 2008Canadians always make such a fuss about being distinct from their southern neighbor, but you know it's all a pretense. They want to be just like the US, they admire and respect us so much. And here's the evidence: they're getting rid of the position of science advisor to their government. Just like the United States of America … who needs reality-based advising on some of the most important issues of the age? Oh, sure, the Canadian scientists are unhappy about it, but the wailing and lamentations of American scientists are everywhere, too, and who cares? And it seems Canadian Prime Minister…
evolvingthoughts | January 27, 2008
And why would an Australian care? It's another country, so what business is it of mine?
Well, apart from the fact that whoever is US president affects the rest of the world (and historically the best party for Australian benefit is Republican, as their anti-protectionism tends to help Australian exports), there's the fact that a good many of my friends are American.
But that isn't it. Nor is it the Iraq farce, the cronyism, the corruption, or the belief that somehow a Democratic president will magically return America to the right path. It's simply this: America and the rest of the world…
razib | January 26, 2008Was checking out the exit poll data. Two things that jumped out at me....
Here are the votes for Obama from non-blacks in the South Carolina primary by age:
18-29 - 52%
30-44 - 25%
45-59 - 23%
60+ - 15%
Here are the votes by income for Edwards:
Under $15,000 - 14%
$15,000-$30,000 - 15%
$30,000-$50,000 - 16%
$50,000-$75,000 - 22%
$75,000-$100,000 - 26%
$100,000-$150,000 - 24%
$150,000-$200,000 - not enough data
$200,000 or more - 29%
Update: Andrew Sullivan says:
Then this: Obama won every demographic among the religiously observant. And the more devout they are - judging by their church…
gregladen | January 26, 2008In the US, we (the general citizenry) are never going to agree on gun control. I have a solution.
First, a video or two in case you are interested.
Here is my suggestion: A federal agency is in charge of gun control. That is already the case (it would be the ATF). Congress would pass a law directing this agency to develop best practices for gun permitting, availability, safety, general regulation.
Now, where do you get the best practices? From cops.
As a whole, cops are more likely to know about guns, own guns other than their service revolver, more likely to be hunters or target…
clock | January 26, 2008Apparently, it was more important to some voters that the candidate looks like them than that the candidate is actually good for them.
Ah well, the identity politics... Clinton won the white women, Edwards white men, and Obama won big with African Americans.
Go figure....
Watch the results here as they get counted tonight...
Pam has been liveblogging and will be up on TYT at 9:30.
jlynch | January 25, 2008Anyone who knows Arizona politics won’t be surprised by another dumb proposal being put forward by Thayer Verschoor and Karen Johnson. Both are Republicans. Both have problems with evolution - Verschoor turned up at an Answers in Genesis fundraiser a few years back. Both supported a measure that would have forced instructors to provide alternative material when the material being taught went against the worldview of students. In short, both are culture warriors idiots, pure and simple.
And if only to prove their idiocy, they are now proposing a bill (SB 1214) that would exempt concealed-…
jlynch | January 25, 2008
How in the name of all that is rational can a NBC/WSJ poll (taken 1/20 to 1/22) give Bush a 31% approval rating? The economy is circling the drain and Bush has achieved absolutely nothing over the past year. Seriously, name one thing of any worth he has achieved over the past year. Just one .... I’m waiting.
I’m willing to predict that his one achievement for 2008 in the next year will be to leave office, and then only if someone helps him open the door.