Politics
clock | September 14, 2006About a year ago, on October 01, 2005, I did a little stats on the self-described political affiliation of NCSU students with Facebook profiles and posted it here. I reposted it here on January 16, 2006. I was thinking about doing the same thing exactly a year later, but the new Facebook News-Feed is making many students nervous, so they delete a lot of their information from their profiles. Political and religious affiliations are usually the first to go. I was interested if there would be any noticable change from one year to another, particularly in light of increased dissatisfaction…
tsmith | September 14, 2006The new vaccine against the human papilloma virus is something I've discussed a time or ten here. Reaction to the vaccine by many religious groups has morphed with time, from outright resistance to a more common stance right now that they're accepting of the vaccine, but don't want it to be mandatory. Well...
Michigan legislation would require girls to get HPV vaccine
Michigan girls entering the sixth grade next year would have to be vaccinated against cervical cancer under legislation backed Tuesday by a bipartisan group of female lawmakers.
The legislation is the first of its kind in the…
stcynic | September 14, 2006I don't know why I find this woman so fascinating. She's a living train wreck and I just can't stop watching. In her latest crazy move, she's once again claiming the support of prominent politicians that don't support her. Last week, Jeb Bush did a "unity tour" with Republican office seekers in Florida and Harris was not invited. Responding to that embarrassment, she announced:
But the Longboat Key Republican, who in some polls trails Nelson by more than 25 points, said Friday she wasn't concerned because a similar trip helping her candidacy was in the works.
"We have our own Unity Tour,"…
oracknows | September 14, 2006I hadn't planned on writing about this again after yesterday. The subject is profoundly depressing to those of us needing to compete for declining NIH grant resources with only a 9% chance of success the first time. However, given that Your Friday Dose of Woo will make an appearance tomorrow to make everything all right; that is, assuming that my O.R. day tomorrow isn't too stressful. After all, there's little better to lift your spirits than a bit of amusing woo, you know.
In any case, a commenter named Theodore Price said:
Orac, maybe (almost certainly not actually) you didn't mean it this…
oracknows | September 13, 2006For an unforgettable perspective on the tragic events of five years ago, watch this video. No further comment by me is necessary.
The video speaks for itself.
terrasig | September 13, 2006I applauded Keith Olbermann in this space two weeks ago.
I finally got around tonight to reading his commentary presented Monday night at Ground Zero.
Apologies to my readers who may be overwhelmed by all of the 9/11 attention this week but, as Olbermann said, "I belabor this to emphasize that, for me this was, and is, and always shall be, personal."
Some choice excerpts if you haven't the time to read it all or watch the eight-minute oratory:
History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government by its critics. It can only be squandered…
clock | September 13, 2006A few days ago, my son told me that one of his teachers (he is in 8th grade), after decorating the whole school with American flags, announced that they will be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.
I was not aware at the time that this is a new State Law, snuck under the radar during the summer. But it is. It was enacted on July, 12th 2006, as a change in general powers and duties of the state concerning the educational system. You can see the history of how the statute was changed here and the final version of the bill here (PDF).
The press only noted this the other day.…
oracknows | September 13, 2006I was going to blog about this a couple of days ago, but the Scientific Activist beat me to it, leading to a heads-up from PZ Myers. Never let it be said that a little thing like that stopped me from putting my two cents in. Besides, I think I bring a certain perspective that hasn't been addressed thus far about this subject, namely the declining success rates for applications for R01 grants from the NIH. For one thing, I have an R01. I'm about a year and a half into a five year grant, which means that I have about two and a half years or so before I have to go for renewal. Consequently, I…
j7uy5 | September 13, 2006There's a kerfuffle in Washtenaw County, Michigan, over the use of a
website that promotes the sale of "Impeach Bush" yard signs.
According to the
href="http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-19/115807203398650.xml&coll=2">Ann
Arbor News, the host,
href="http://www.hvcn.org/">Huron Valley Community Network,
is "indirectly operated using Washtenaw County resources."
Local political figures are complaining that tax dollars should not be
used in this way. Perhaps they have a point.
Perhaps not. One could equally well argue that the
County is not in the…
clock | September 12, 2006Why are religious people religious, in two parts: Why do religious wingnuts think the way they do? Part I and Why do religious wingnuts think the way they do? Part II
Why are creationists creationists, in three parts: Why are creationists creationist?, Why are creationists creationist? 2 - conceptual spaces and Why are creationists creationist? 3: compartments and coherence.
Why conservatives take conservative jobs and suck if sucked into liberal professions, in two parts: It takes talent to make good schlock TV and Conservatives in the classroom
pharyngula | September 12, 2006May I direct your attention this way? If you really want to make a case that GW Bush has been hurting American science, look where it really counts: follow the money. The Scientific Activist has the numbers, and it's rather dramatic how research funding has dwindled over the years.
clock | September 12, 2006Fly Paris Hilton Airlines:
Thank you all for being here. With the fifth anniversary of 9/11 upon us, the Federal Aviation Administration has been asked to project developments in air safety over the next five years. We thought this could best be conveyed from the perspective of a typical passenger in the year 2011.
Read the whole thing - it is hillarious, yet scary.
pharyngula | September 12, 2006There was some kind of anniversary yesterday, to which I did not and will not refer—I think the tragedy of that day has been overwhelmed and lost by the ongoing catastrophe of the criminal response by our government, and while a single day is trivial to memorialize, five years of disgrace is surprisingly easy for many to gloss over. About the only appropriate response I've seen is Neddie Jingo's, which points out the discordancy of the pattern we're making.
Move on. Look at what we're doing now, at the waste and foolishness and cacaphony and corruption and outright evil we're perpetrating in…
j7uy5 | September 11, 2006All day we've been hearing about the terrorist attacks that took place
on 9/11/2002. We've heard especially from the families of
victims, and from the workers who continue to have health problems.
Some of you probably even listened to our President talk
about 9/11.
Often we hear that 9/11 changed everything. Personally, I do
not think it is true. Yes, it changed everything for the
families of the victims, and for the workers who are having health
problems. But I don't think it changed the course of history.
We were going to attack Iraq regardless. We were going to see
a shift in the…
stcynic | September 11, 2006See Cynthia McKinney lose an election. See Cynthia McKinney whine about how unfair it is and file lawsuits:
Outgoing Fourth District Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was considering a lawsuit against the state of Georgia Friday.
McKinney questioned whether Georgia's primary system violates the Voting Rights Act and hinted on Thursday that her supporters may challenge the legality of laws allowing crossover voting.
The punchline? They already tried that same lawsuit after she lost in 2002. And lost:
A similar lawsuit was filed in 2002 after McKinney lost her seat to Denise Majette.
A U.S.…
hrynyshyn | September 11, 2006Permit me to stray from the realms of science to briefly bring your attention to the results of a Discovery Channel/TIME magazine poll released last night, a poll that every decent American should be embarrassed to acknowledge. I can't find a link to it yet, but the details were discussed Sunday night on a live joint NPR-Discovery Channel program, "The Price of Security." There's also a link to the audio of the program here. The most disturbing finding of the poll: 25 percent of Americans would repeat one of the most shameful episodes in the country's history by rounding up all Arab Americans…
oracknows | September 11, 2006Today is the fifth anniversary of September 11. There will be a whole lot of verbiage put forth into the blogosphere, spanning the gauntlet from blaming all Muslims for the attack, to blaming America for bringing it upon itself, to the idiotic 9/11 conspiracy mongers who will claim that George Bush and/or the Mossad were responsible for blowing up the towers or that the planes that hit the tower were remote controlled. (Who knows? Perhaps the Masons and the Illuminati were involved as well, all as part of a plan to produce the dreaded One World Government.) Given all this verbiage, I wasn't…
j7uy5 | September 11, 2006Actually, it was many days ago; but it still is relevant:
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml">Bush
Sought ‘Way’ To Invade Iraq?
During
the campaign, candidate Bush had criticized the Clinton-Gore
Administration for being too interventionist: "If we don't stop
extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions,
then we're going to have a serious problem coming down the road. And
I'm going to prevent that."
This refers to his first Presidential campaign, obviously.
It's hard to believe that he actually said that, once.