Politics
clock | July 9, 2007I had a great pleasure recently to be able to interview Senator - and now Democratic Presidential candidate - John Edwards for my blog. The interview was conducted by e-mail last week.
As I am at work and unable to moderate comments, the comment section is closed on this post, but will be open on the previous post (here) where I hope you will remain civil and stay on topic. You are also welcome to comment on this interview at several other places (e.g,. DailyKos, MyDD, TPMCafe, Science And Politics, Liberal Coalition, the Edwards campaign blog as well as, hopefully, your own blogs).
I…
clock | July 9, 2007In a few minutes, I will post the interview with Sen. John Edwards on this blog. All the questions are related to science (and yes, it was not easy to cut down the number of questions and the length of each question - there is so much to ask) so they should be of interest to the readers of this blog.
As I am not a journalist or an analyst who needs to preserve an appearance of 'balance', I have always been unabashedly open about my support for John Edwards, first in 1998 when he ran for the Senate (that was the first election I could vote in after becoming a US citizen), then in 2003/04 when…
j7uy5 | July 9, 2007
Insurance companies have discriminated against their mentally ill
customers for years. Sadly, they have done so with t he
comlicity of the Federal government.
There have been many attempts to change this, but the attempts
generally are made by constituents who have little power, and meet with little success.
Another attempt is underway.
href="http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=87f720da-802a-23ad-4cb7-acdae2631a38&Region_id=&Issue_id=">Kerry
and Snowe have introduced a bill,
href="http://www.govtrack.us/…
j7uy5 | July 8, 2007...And
tell me what the poll means.
These are from a poll conducted on July 5, 2007, by the
href="http://www.americanresearchgroup.com/" rel="tag">American
Research Group (sorry, no permalink):
cellspacing="0" width="90%">
Question:
Do
you approve or disapprove of President George W. Bush commuting the
30-month prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby while leaving
intact Mr. Libby's conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in
the CIA leak case?
height="2">
7/5/07
Approve
Disapprove
Undecided
All Adults
31%
64%
5%
Voters
26%
69%
5%
height="2"…
evolvingthoughts | July 7, 2007
Naturalised Brazilian, Dutch biologist Marc van Roosmalen, has been sentenced to 14 years jail in Brazil for running a monkey refuge without a permit from Ibama, the local environmental agency. Not that he didn't apply, mark you, but Ibama didn't respond, and the received local wisdom is that if they don't within 45 days, it's approved. Van Roosmalen was convicted because although this is indeed what happens, it's not in the legislation.
This is egregious sucky. Brazil ought to be ashamed of itself.
Late note: See Marc's own site for a background. This looks like, as I expected, corrupt…
jlynch | July 7, 2007Mort Sahl said:
The reason people still remember [John F. Kennedy] is because he’s a metaphor for what they were capable of. And the reason they hate Nixon is he’s the metaphor for what they became.
Makes you wonder what Sahl would say Bush is a metaphor for.
j7uy5 | July 7, 2007The
term "entitlement" has garnered a strongly negative connotation in
recent years. Usually, the word entitlement is
used to refer to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, plus other
programs that provide direct assistance (Aid to Families with Dependent
Children, student aid, housing, food stamps and other nutrition
programs, and direct public assistance).
Of course, there is also a class of entitlements that do not go to
individuals; rather, they go to corporations in what is sometimes
called corporate
welfare. Admittedly, it can be
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
evolvingthoughts | July 6, 2007
we do what we're told
we do what we're told
we do what we're told
told to do
one doubt
one voice
one war
one truth
one dream
Peter Gabriel, So, "Milgram's 37 (we do what we're told)"
jlynch | July 6, 2007
This is interesting - a chart of presidential approval ratings going back to Truman (click to embiggen). Interesting that the highest approval rates occurred in wartime (Truman post WWII, Bush pere in Iraq, and Bush fils post 9/11) and that all of these positive rates plunged significantly. Also interesting is that Clinton is the only president whose approval seems of have actually increased during his term.
(source)
j7uy5 | July 6, 2007It is
a cheap shot, indeed, but an exceptionally good one. And
given that Cheney is the only person in history to get an apology from
someone after shooting him in the face with a shotgun, it is strangely
appropriate...
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jlynch | July 6, 2007On his 61st birthday, a July 2-3 Newsweek poll reveals Bush’s approval rating to be a scant 26%, the lowest for any sitting president in 35 years (Nixon sank to 23%). Amazingly, 60% of Republicans are brainwashed enough to approve of Bush’s job performance.
grrlscientist | July 6, 2007tags: Keith Olbermann, politics, political opinion, streaming video
By pardoning commuting Lewis "Scooter" Libby's sentence, Bush ignored the rule of law so he could do what is best for his cronies, NOT what is best for this nation. Expressed verbally, the real message Bush was sending to the people of the United States could have been sent with just two words (the first word starts with the letter "F" and the second is "you"); expressed physically, Bush's underlying message could have been conveyed with just one finger -- guess which one? In pardoning commuting Libby's punishment, Bush made…
drorzel | July 6, 2007I know, it's "Live Earth," but they've got this giant blue-green circle at the left of their logo, which makes it look like an illuminated initial capital...
So, the latest charity rock specatcle is scheduled to start tonight. I can't say I've been paying any attention-- I only noticed it today because the New York Times had a feature article about the event that somehow slipped into the "Science" RSS feed.
I'm pretty ambivalent about the giant charity rock spectacle. Of course, as a good child of the 80's, I remember the Live Aid shows, but I can't say I was all that invested in those,…
oracknows | July 5, 2007The other day, I wrote about how several of the suspects arrested in the attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow were physicians or in training to be physicians. At the time, I expressed dismay at what I viewed to be a betrayal of the very basis of our profession, that we try to help people and make them better, not kill them. The post engendered a lot of discussion (and the expected amount of doctor-bashing based on my supposed naivete in stating that most physicians go into medicine to help people, a statement that I stand by).
Now, via Kevin, MD (who apparently got this by way of…
grrlscientist | July 4, 2007
This image was sent to me by an overseas reader.
Image: FreakingNews.com [screensaver size]
Okay, since Gordon Brown has chosen today to announce that he wants to draw up a Bill of Rights for Great Britain (why announce it today?), this has made me wonder about our own Bill of Rights and Constitution. What do you think is the most important feature of the American Bill of Rights? You don't have to be American to answer this question, since we all are people, afterall (and it is likely that you are more aware of what the American Bill of Rights says if you aren't American).
Oh, and one…
oracknows | July 4, 2007Happy 4th of July to all my American readers!
For more serious ruminations about the 4th by yours truly, check out posts I've done on the topic before:
Fourth of July thoughts
One last fourth of July thought
In the meantime, I'll be rounding on my partners' patients all morning, as I drew the 4th of July as one of the holidays that I have to cover on call. I'll also be dreading tonight's fireworks display. Now don't get me wrong; I like a good fireworks display as much as the next guy. The problem is that our town's display is close enough to our house that the explosions reduce our…
oracknows | July 3, 2007One of the things that I found most disturbing about the recent failed bombing attempts in London and the car attack in Glasgow, aside from the terrorism and potential for huge losses of life, is this:
GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) -- British police focused Tuesday on at least four physicians with roots outside Britain - including a doctor seized at an Australian airport with a one-way ticket - in the investigation into failed car bombings in Glasgow and London.
At least four of the eight suspects were identified as doctors from Iraq, Jordan and India. One of the doctors from India, 27-year-old…
drorzel | July 3, 2007WASHINGTON, DC (UP News Service)-- In a move that supporters say shows sensitivity and compassion, President Bush today commuted the sentence of the planet Pluto, which was demoted to a "dwarf planet" by the International Astronomical Union in August of 2006. Under the President's new order, Pluto will once more be regarded as a full-fledged planet, though he left unchanged the part of the decision in which the astronomical object must share its name with a cartoon dog.
"Pluto's crimes have been well-documented," said the President in a short statement from the Oval Office, citing in…
jlynch | July 2, 2007See here. Words fail me at the moment.
Update: Ed makes a good point,
Ethically, it's repulsive but not exactly anything new. The solution is to amend the Constitution to set limits on the president's ability to pardon and commute sentences. At the very least, they should be forbidden from pardoning or commuting the sentences of anyone they know personally or have any substantial involvement with. We do not allow people to serve on juries involving defendants they know or have worked with, nor do we allow judges to preside over trials where there is such a clear conflict of interest. The…