Politics
pharyngula | January 25, 2008This is a painting Our President loves; it's called "A Charge to Keep," and GW Bush even used that as the title for his autobiography.
Here's what Bush himself says about the picture.
I thought I would share with you a recent bit of Texas history which epitomizes our mission. When you come into my office, please take a look at the beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us. What adds complete life to the painting for me is the message of Charles Wesley that we serve One greater than ourselves.
Bush got it wrong. The…
gregladen | January 25, 2008You can say whatever you think, or believe, or want to think or believe, about the importance of Clinton's whiteness, Obama's blackness. and Edward's southern whiteness. As the primaries move south of the Mason Dixon line, race has become the only issue of importance.
Why do I say this? Because of this new polling data:
QUESTION: If the 2008 South Carolina Democratic primary were held today, which one of the following candidates would get your vote:
WhiteBlack
Obama10%59%
Clinton36%25%
Edwards40%4%
[source]
drorzel | January 25, 2008As promised (threatened?) in the previous post, here's a space for more general commentary in response to the question asked by our Corporate Masters, and modified slightly for blog use:
What non-scientific developments do you fear you'll be blogging or reading about in 2008?
Consider this open to all areas of politics and pop culture. What do you fear to see on blogs in the next year? The election of President Huckabee? The phrase "#1 best-selling author Jonah Goldberg"? A New Kids on the Block reunion album and tour?
Leave your answer in the comments, and do try to keep a civil tone. I…
gregladen | January 24, 2008Accepting his 2007 TED Prize, photojournalist James Nachtwey talks about his decades as a war photographer. A slideshow of his photos, beginning in 1981 in Northern Ireland, reveal two parallel themes in his work. First, as he says: "The frontlines of contemporary wars are right where people live." Street violence, famine, disease: he has photographed all these modern WMDs. Second, when a photo catches the world's attention, it can truly drive action and change. In his TED wish, he asks for help gaining access to a story that needs to be told, and developing a new, digital way to show these…
grrlscientist | January 24, 2008tags: politics, political opinion, cartoon, Tom Toles, washington post
Are you like me, without any clear preferences in the 2008 presidential race? If so, this 2008 presidential candidate guide by Tom Toles might be of use to you;
Image: Tom Toles, Washington Post.
drorzel | January 24, 2008As promised (threatened?) in the previous post, here's a space for more general commentary in response to the question asked by our Corporate Masters, and modified slightly for blog use:
What non-scientific developments do you hope to be blogging or reading about in 2008?
Consider this open to all areas of politics and pop culture. What do you hope to see on blogs next year? The election of President Obama? The dissolution of the Discovery Institute? Britney Spears settling down and finding love at last?
Leave your answer in the comments, and do try to keep a civil tone. I have the keys to…
voltagegate | January 23, 2008I just read a great editorial from E-Commerce Times discussing the grossly inflated advertising claims from businesses scrambling to embrace, at the very least, the imagery associated with the recent push in the environmental movement.
...this of course calls to mind the super-green-men of the new branding circus. As the green signal zips across the globe, the army of re-packaging experts awaits in their shiny green suits, carrying green flags while humming the song of the unicorn.
Branding. I remember hearing this term spewed by every advertising/PR major bustling in and out of the newspaper…
clock | January 23, 2008This movement is really gathering some serious momentum! On top of an already impressive list of supporters, the real 600lb gorilla has joined in the effort - the American Association for the Advancement of Science just put out a press release that is worth reading!
laelaps | January 23, 2008Not long ago I wrote about some of the potential risks for scientists who do much of their work in the field rather than the lab, and according to the Salt Lake Tribune there's a new danger to be on the look-out for; a predator-control device known as a M-44. In 2003 Dennis Slaugh was riding an atv in Utah when he saw what looked like a survey stake stuck in the ground, but what he didn't know was that the "stake" was really a M-44. When he bent down to brush off the device it fell over, and when he righted it again Slaugh received a blast of the poison sodium cyanide in the face, an event…
grrlscientist | January 23, 2008tags: ScienceDebate2008, AAAS, American Association for the Advancement of Science, presidential elections
Hey, everyone. I know I have told you several times that things are really gaining momentum with regards to the proposed ScienceDebate2008, an idea that originated here on ScienceBlogs by my SciBlings, Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirschenbaum, but here is yet more proof that the idea is gaining more appeal: the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) today announced that it has joined our effort to mount a presidential debate on science, technology and the economy.
"…
razib | January 22, 2008Austin Bramwell has a very enjoyable review up of Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism in the most recent issue of The American Conservative. I don't plan on reading Goldberg's book myself, but Bramwell is an intimidating combination of substance & style, and I'm always interested in what he has to say. I generally prefer literature to literary criticism, but in many cases reviews of non-ficition works are more insightful than the ostensible object of their critique. Though his lawyerly deconstruction is elegant as always, it is Bramwell's clear mastery of the waters of intellectual…
oracknows | January 22, 2008Three months ago, I wrote about vacuous legal threats issued by the Society of Homeopaths against one of the better skeptical bloggers, Le Canard Noir, who runs the excellent Quackometer Blog and created the infamous Quackometer, in order to intimidate him into silence. The attempt backfired spectacularly, as scores of bloggers reposted the article by Le Canard Noir that prompted the legal threats, in the face of which his ISP had caved.
Now it looks like it might be time to do it all again, this time with a different twit who has issued abusive threats against Le Canard Noir. This time…
gregladen | January 21, 2008There is a new blog you should know about. It's called "The Worst of Scienceblogs.com" and it contains, so far, only three posts (so maybe we are not so bad after all). I thank Terra Sigillata, one of WOS's victims, for pointing this out.
Note, by the way, that the self-described curmudgeonly Right Winger who runs this new blog (Gerald Harbison) might be an ideologically driven moron. He takes Terra Sigillata to task for quoting Martin Luther King (on MLK's birthday-Monday, which is today). In his verbal lashing, Harbison notes: "Problem is, like most of King's published work, including…
pontiff | January 21, 2008Craig Barrett, the chairman of Intel has a scathing op-ed in the San Fransisco Chronicle on the recent spending omnibus and its effect on science funding (via Computing Research Policy Blog):
What are they thinking? When will they wake up? It may already be too late; but I genuinely think the citizenry of this country wants the United States to compete. If only our elected leaders weren't holding us back.
Of course, I can hear the cries already: typical liberal west coaster spouting more government spending. But, oh. Doh. Okay, well what can basic science research possibly lead to anyway.
grrlscientist | January 21, 2008tags: Martin Luther King, MLK, streaming video
I am not religious in the least, but I admire Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I own his essential writings and speeches and it is my personal tradition to read a selection from them every year on this day. He is so eloquent and passionate that his words always inspire me. But even more than a writer, MLK's true genius was that he was a master orator, something that I think should never be forgotten. This is the original footage from his last speech, 'I Have a Dream'. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. [11:50]
Martin Luther King's original "I have A…
drorzel | January 21, 2008The mysterious Revere looks at school killings today (or, more accurately, looks at a study looking at school killings). He/she/they opens with an arresting factoid:
The second leading cause of death in the 5 to 18 year old age group in the US is homicide. These are school aged children and the first thing that comes to mind are the big names like Columbine and Virginia Tech. But we know there are other school-related homicides that kill only one or two. Moreover there seem to be more of them than we remember from years past. But are there?
You may or may not be surprised to learn that…
oracknows | January 21, 2008Along with Dr. R.W. and few others, I've made a bit of a name for myself in the medical blogosphere by bemoaning the infiltration of non-science- and non-evidence-based medicine into academia. It's not a particularly popular viewpoint. The prevailing attitude seems to be: Why be so negative? It's all good. Moreover, with a credulous media eager to publish stories of "healing" and "humanistic" medicine, those of us who remain skeptical of applying unproven and/or untested remedies in an academic setting, thus giving them the imprimatur of academic medicine and the respect associated with it,…
grrlscientist | January 20, 2008tags: war crimes, George Bush, GW, politics, streaming video
Once more proving that he is not a man, but instead, is a rich diaper-wearing mamma's boy, George Bush passes a bill that will give himself and his entire white house administration retroactive immunity against prosecution for possible war crimes! Don't you wish we could all do that? [1:53]
What do you think about this?