Politics
pharyngula | November 2, 2006Minnesotans have to choose between Mike Hatch (D) and Tim Pawlenty (R) for governor next week, and someone has noticed that Pawlenty ads have been lacking in substance…so they put together a helpful parody. I don't know, though—this could be a winning issue for Hatch. That kitten in the final frames sure looks tasty.
grrlscientist | November 2, 2006Rethuglican Senator George Allen showed his true colors yesterday by refusing to denounce his supporters' attack upon a liberal blogger. The blog writer, W. Michael Stark, was attacked after he asked the senator detailed questions about the circumstances surrounding his contentious divorce. Stark, a first year law student, was shoved, punched, knocked to the floor, and his head was nearly was pushed through a plate-glass door by Allen's rabid supporters.
Stark filed criminal charges with the local police but said he did not know the names of his attackers. (I'll he can pick them out of a…
tsmith | November 2, 2006Apparently, it's just not enough for this administration to push ineffective and inaccurate abstinence-only education programs for our schoolchildren. Nope--they're also being emphasized for adults up to the age of 29, as well:
If you're single and in your 20s, the federal government wants you to steer clear of sex.
That's the new guidance for states under the Department of Health and Human Services' $50 million Abstinence Education Program. HHS officials say it's not a requirement -- just another option for states to combat what they call an alarming rise in out-of-wedlock births.
(More…
purepedantry | November 1, 2006Whatever you think about Michael Barone's personal views, he knows more about the history of American politics than any man alive. Here is an article he wrote in the WSJ about the history of party changes in Congress during second-term off-year elections. Interesting stuff. Money quote:
All of which leaves me with the conclusion that ideas are more important than partisan vote counts. Democrats could not go beyond the New Deal from 1938 to 1958, because they had not persuaded most Americans to go Roosevelt's way until 13 years after his death. Similarly, Republicans never had reliable…
purepedantry | November 1, 2006Here is just a brief appeal to go out and vote. Particularly if you are young person, there is a lot out there about which we should care. Politicians will never listen to us unless we can convince them that we are willing to go out and vote in large numbers -- and the statistics show that we still do not do so. The War, Medicare/Social Security, education -- don't let your parents dictate the solutions to these problems. Have an opinion and express it.
So vote.
And more importantly vote smart. Project Vote Smart has compiled information on all the candidates and ballot issues in your…
j7uy5 | November 1, 2006Last week, President Bush stated "
href="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=9005">absolutely,
we're winning," referring to the situation in Iraq.
Now, he assures us that
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110102555.html">Rumsfeld
is doing a "fantastic" job, and is to stay in his post.
But the same day, the US Central Command
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/world/middleeast/01military.html">shares
with us the following (click to see full image):
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/images/Iraq_chaos.jpg">…
grrlscientist | November 1, 2006
An Ann Coulter mug shot would make a fine holiday gift, don't you think?
Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has refused to cooperate in an investigation into whether she voted in the wrong precinct, so the case will probably be turned over to prosecutors, Palm Beach County's elections chief said Wednesday.
Knowingly voting in the wrong precinct is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison....
Cited story.
.
tags: Ann Coulter, voter fraud
grrlscientist | November 1, 2006If you don't know where to go to cast your ballot on Election Day, or...
If you're not sure whether you are registered to vote in your home state...
There is help on the way!
Can I Vote?
grrlscientist | November 1, 2006
A friend emailed this image to me so I could share it with you.
Image: source.
Yesterday, Kerry made a truly dumbass remark -- a weak attempt at sarcasm -- that is being taken out of context for political spin purposes. I understood Kerry's comment to be a verbal jab at the current administration's elitism, not at the troops themselves. But don't forget, the average American was also believed Bush when he claimed -- in the complete lack of any hard evidence -- that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, too.
But seriously, who cares?! Does this comment really deserve a press conference…
pharyngula | November 1, 2006But only a start. A new poll finds an encouraging level of doubt among Americans.
Nearly half of Americans are not sure God exists, according to a poll that also found divisions among the public on whether God is male or female or whether God has a human form and has control over events.
The survey conducted by Harris Poll found that 42 percent of US adults are not "absolutely certain" there is a God compared to 34 percent who felt that way when asked the same question three years ago.
Among the various religious groups, 76 percent of Protestants, 64 percent of Catholics and 30 percent of…
pharyngula | November 1, 2006Zeno sent me this:
It certainly encapsulates what I hear when Republicans open their mouths.
Who in their right mind wouldn't oppose baby-eating monkeys from outer space? Probably those same bastards who hate our troops and want the terrorists to win.
pharyngula | October 31, 2006So I was way too depressing in that last post. Here's one of those little notes of hope that we hear too rarely—an Ohio Republican using her reason to back the best candidate for a job, even if he is a Democrat.
Republican Martha Wise is backing Democrat John Bender in the race to replace her on the state school board.
Wise, who is running against Democrat Sue Morano for the state senate, said Bender is the only one of the four candidates in the school board race who agrees with her on keeping intelligent design out of science classrooms.
"I've spent five years of my life keeping intelligent…
grrlscientist | October 31, 2006If I didn't know any better, I'd suspect that the federal government's "no sex without marriage" message was their idea of a very early April Fool's Day joke. What am I talking about? Apparently, the feds are preaching their "no sex until marriage" message to single adults who are as old as 29 years old.
What about old hags (like me) who are single, and older than 29? Are we allowed to have sex or not? Or are we all supposed to be married by the ripe old age of 29? Or maybe people older than 29 are too old for the feds to consider us to be worthwhile sexual partners? Wondering minds wanna…
j7uy5 | October 31, 2006The
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/29/AR2006102900628.html"
rel="tag">Washington Post reports that
there may be changes in Washington lobbying practices, if the Democrats
take control of Congress.
...If Democrats gain the 15 seats they need to win
control of the House --
and most analysts think they will -- one of the first things the new
House will do is restrict or end outright a slew of lobbying practices.
In a little-publicized statement, Rep. Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.), the
House Democratic leader, has promised to change the chamber's rules to…
pharyngula | October 31, 2006Matt Yglesias comments on one of Amy Sullivan's usual complaints about "secular liberal intolerance" in the most cynical, hypocritical way possible:
Now Amy's right. It would be useful, for the purposes of electoral politics, for liberals in the media to avoid expressing the view that the belief — adhered to by millions of Americans — that failure to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior will result in eternal damnation is daft. On the other hand, the evangelical view of this matter is, in fact, completely absurd.
What prompted this was Sullivan getting her back up because a writer…
clock | October 30, 2006A hat-trick from Orcinus:
Sara explores new frames in Adult Supervision. Funny, as well as insightful.
Dave on Science And Republicans and Those Republican values.
oracknows | October 30, 2006Last week, I wrote a couple of posts about Rush Limbaugh's despicable attacks on Michael J. Fox for appearing in an ad for a Democrat who supports loosening the federal ban on funding for embryonic stem cell research. Somehow, I missed the fact that Jon Swift also wrote on the topic. And, as is typical, he did it in a much more humorous fashion than I could.
drorzel | October 30, 2006Because I'm a Bad Person, I no longer remember who pointed me to Halfway There's primer on polling, but it's really an excellent of the effects of sample size, and why it's legitimate to project results based on small numbers of interviews. Some important notes from the conclusion:
Second, even a poll that is supposed to be within its estimated margin of error 95% of the time will be wrong and fall outside those bounds 5% of the time. That's one time in twenty. Therefore, whenever you see a political poll whose results seem way out of whack, it could be one of those flukes. Remember, polling…