Politics
voltagegate | May 2, 2007Julie MacDonald, the Bush appointee accused of suppressing the Endangered Species Act last year has resigned after proof of her corruption was brought to light:
Julie MacDonald left her position as the Department of Interior's deputy assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks, from which she controlled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species program.
Her resignation follows a finding March 29 by the agency's Inspector General Earl Devaney that she violated federal ethics rules by sending "nonpublic information" to industry lobbyists.
MacDonald repeatedly leaked internal…
evolvingthoughts | May 1, 2007
OK, Americans, a couple of years after the British saw it, you are being treated to Jonathon Miller's A Brief History of Unbelief, a three-part series on how atheism came to be possible in western society, such that it is now one of the larger "religious" divisions in our culture. I'm not mocking, as Australia hasn't seen it yet. But I got sent a review copy, so here are my thoughts, below the fold. It starts on 54 May on PBS, I'm told, so check your local schedules, as they say.
I really really really wanted to like this series. Miller is one of my TV heroes, and was famously a member of…
pharyngula | May 1, 2007Romney was asked to name his favorite novel, and what does he say? Battlefield Earth, by L. Ron Hubbard — that monstrous lump of pulp with the absurd Mary Sue plot. Admittedly, it wasn't as bad as the Eye of Argon, but still … maybe it's just that someone who can swallow the goofy mythology of the Mormon church is a little more open to the goofy mythology of the Church of Scientology founder (or ghost-writer). I would have at least expected him to have slightly higher literary standards, though.
pharyngula | May 1, 2007Minnesota had a coagulation of reactionary Republicans at our capitol last week. Their goals were clearly stated, and were thoroughly repugnant, but at least they also had a small turnout.
The Minnesota Family Council, EdWatch, Citizens' Council on Health Care, and Minnesota Majority (formerly Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage) came to the Capitol Thursday to advocate "less government, less taxes and less government spending" and to oppose legislation for domestic-partner benefits, medical marijuana, stem-cell research and comprehensive sex education.
I struggle to understand how…
jlynch | April 30, 2007And since "mission" is "accomplished" -
Terrorist attacks worldwide shot up more than 25 percent last year, killing 40 percent more people than in 2005, particularly in Iraq where extremists used chemical weapons and suicide bombers to target crowds, the State Department said Monday.
(source)
jlynch | April 30, 2007
Four years ago on this day, Bush declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
In the following three years, over 2,150 US troops died. That's ~716 per year.
On this day last year, Scott McClellan, when asked whether the mission has been accomplished, replied "We are on the way to accomplishing the mission and achieving victory."
In the past 365 days, a further 946 soldiers have died, bringing the total to 3344.
We're on the way to something ... victory ain't it.
jstemwedel | April 30, 2007This Friday, as part of my university's sesquicentennial celebration, there's going to be a two hour session on "The Future of Higher Education". The keynote speaker will be Margaret Spellings, the U.S. Secrtetary of Education. There will also be a "panel discussion with national experts", after which they will entertain questions from the audience.
So, what questions about the future of higher education would you like me to ask?
In case you're stuck for ideas, here's a potential prompt: Spellings' Commission on the Future of Higher Education has been hailed as a way to bring No Child Left…
evolvingthoughts | April 28, 2007
The Eight Day Adventist calendar has rotated into phase with your infidel calendar, so it is time for a sermon. Our subject today is secularism.
I noted an article about the decline in secular standards in Turkey, which of all modern societies is the one most deeply founded as a nation in secular ideals. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk wanted a society not controlled by the imams in order for Turkey to catch up to the then more secular west. But Turkey is now about to elect a Muslim leader who wants Sharia. Meanwhile, in the once-shining example of modern secularism, the United States, even the…
oracknows | April 28, 2007After the Virginia Tech shootings, as you may recall, a lot of people started using the shootings as a convenient excuse to start pontificating about their favorite cause or to attack their most hated enemy, be it secularism or even vaccines. In fact, politicians, pundits, and just plain annoying whackjobs are blaming the rampage on so many different hobbyhorses, that there's even a blogger keeping a running tally, which is up to 72 so far.
A few days ago, I thought I had uncovered the lowest of the low, where a white nationalist besmirched the name of one of the heroes of that horrible day,…
j7uy5 | April 28, 2007April 26, 2007
Dr. Joseph *****
**** * ******* St
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103
Dear Dr. *****:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the impeachment of Vice
President Cheney. I appreciate hearing from you.
As you know, impeachment is a very serious matter. The
Constitution sets forth the general principles which control the
procedural aspects of impeachment, vesting the power to impeach in the
House of Representatives, while giving the Senate the power to try
impeachments. In any case, the proceedings would have to be initiated
by the Republican leadership on the House Committee on…
evolvingthoughts | April 27, 2007
Following Scientific American's blog's description of Shelley at Retrospectacle, in the context of the the Wiley situation, as "seems to be attractive and avian-friendly", I now want it to be known henceforth that your favourite albino silverback is "obviously witty, attractive and good with children and pets". See Zuska's post for more on this.
oracknows | April 27, 2007This is a bit science policy wonky, but here's some interesting news from Medical Writing, Editing & Grantsmanship:
My *favorite* new factoid from the NIH ... the oldest "new investigator" to date received his first R01 last year at age ... 82. You go, guy!
On the other hand, a nobel laureate was triaged.
As a low-level scientific peon (compared to any Nobel laureate, that is), I find it nice to know that occasionally even the gods of science have a bump in the road to funding. ("Triaged" means that the reviewers all agreed that the grant was in the lower 50-60% of all the grants…
tsmith | April 27, 2007I wrote a post back in February about HIV's "Kitzmiller vs. Dover" trial. The trial was appealing the sentence of one Andre Chad Parenzee, a native of South Africa who'd been convicted in Australia back in 2004 of infecting one woman with HIV (and exposing two others). Parenzee knew of his HIV+ status, telling the women he had cancer instead and not disclosing his infection nor using condoms. In the appeal, the HIV "dissidents" led the way, with Valendar Turner and Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos of the Perth group taking the stand and denying that HIV even existed. Papadopulos-Eleopulos…
evolvingthoughts | April 27, 2007
Tonight my boss and colleague Paul Griffiths asked me who I would exile in the Greek manner for the good of the polis in which I live. After some thought I suggested George Pell, Cardinal of the Catholic Church and general ignoramus about science. Paul asked why, and I said that he was divisive in our society.
It hit me: Pell, like all conservatives, thinks that social cohesion is paramount to political activity (of course, like most, but not all conservatives, it is his form of cohesion that he wants, to the exclusion of all others). But things have changed since the 1950s when…
clock | April 26, 2007With Bob Geary of The Independent Weekly. Listen to the whole thing here or read an excerpt here.
grrlscientist | April 26, 2007tags: Iraq war, profiteering, Halliburton, KBR, politics, streaming video
WAR PROFITEERING.
No one, including Bush, his wife, nor their smarmy cronies, cares about our troops, the Iraqis, nor the thousands of grieving American and Iraqi families out there, NO! Nor did they ever care! For weeks, I have been alluding what I think has us in Iraq -- alas, probably too subtly -- but I won't beat around the "Bush" any longer (pun intended). This war is not about oil, Saddam, freedom, or revenge, although these are all great smokescreens; this war is all about robbing the American taxpayer in the…
clock | April 26, 2007I'll have to find my remote control and remember how to use it, because the 08 campaign season is officially starting tonight with the first Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina, at 7pm ET on MSNBC. You all know who I am rooting for.
j7uy5 | April 25, 2007OK, I
turned on the TV, in all its 12-inch glory, and watched
href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html">the
show. It is as good as any articles of impeachment
will ever be.
Money quotes, from the
href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/transcript1.html">transcript:
BILL
MOYERS: It didn't make sense to Simon that the dictator would
trust islamic terrorists.
BOB
SIMON:
Saddam as most tyrants, was a total control freak. He wanted total
control of his regime. Total control of the country. And to introduce a
wild card like Al Qaeda in any sense was just something…
evolvingthoughts | April 25, 2007
I am not sure what exactly this is about, but it is being launched tomorrow. It appears to be a website that corrals news and information about the ecology and biodiversity, global warming and so on. I guess we'll have to wait until the launch to find out. The blurb that was sent to me is below the fold.
A dream has finally come true. After four years of hard work, the first of what will someday be thousands of the most trustworthy portals on the Web, is about to launch. It will be free of corporate/commercial bias, and FREE to the public forever!
http://earthportal.org is the result of…