Politics
j7uy5 | August 2, 2006
There is no excuse for this. Thanks to the
href="http://www.openvotingfoundation.org/index.html">Open
Voting Foundation, we now know that the Diebold TS (paperless
touch screen voting machine) can be booted from flash memory, bypassing
the BIOS that was tested and approved. This can be done without a
trace. There is no way to know after an election has been held, which
mode the machine was operating in.
The BIOS is the Basic Input-Output System, which is the first software
to load when the machine is booted. It potentially could
control anything that happens after the bootup. Most…
hrynyshyn | August 2, 2006If you haven't already read Mike Dunford's latest posts (first here, and then here) on the FDA's attempt to restrict emergency contraception to adults only, it's time. Then, just for fun, try to square the government's position on abortion (it's wrong) with its actions (denying girls and young women easy access to a drug that will prevent abortions).
The only explanation that doesn't assume massive hypocrisy and/or a conspiracy to maximize needless pain and suffering, is that the religious right, whose views hold sway in the White House, simply doesn't understand how "Plan B," a.k.a. the…
oracknows | August 2, 2006I had seriously considered jumping all over this story when I first saw it early Monday morning. After all, look at the headline:
Jewish groups call for hate-crime probe on Mel Gibson
A more truly ominous thing to be calling for based on a drunken anti-Semitic tirade I have a hard time imagining. As you may remember from my previous discussions of, for example, the David Irving trial, I am very much against hate speech laws. What I don't recall if I've ever mentioned before is that I'm also very skeptical of hate crime laws. I can see using racial or religious bigotry as an aggravating…
clock | August 1, 2006The eyes of the nation today are (or should be) on Kansas elections, as many Creationists on the school board are facing tough reality-based challengers. If you are in Kansas - go and vote. If you want to know how it all goes, check what Josh and Pat report during the day.
Update: Science won!
clock | August 1, 2006It's been a while since I've written anything about one of my pet topics - the way the changes in the society are resulting in the change in attitudes towards sex and gender, and the change in the institution of marriage, and how it all relates to politics of the moment.
I've been playing it pretty carefully since my move here to SEED scienceblogs, not firing away with my biggest artillery yet. I want to get back there again, gradually, so this is going to be just a summary and an opportunity to get you to read some of my older stuff to see where I stand. It is a also a test balloon to see…
oracknows | August 1, 2006With the appearance of the Hitler Zombie twice in less than a month on this blog, Andrew Mathis was inspired to send me this YouTube video. He's right; it's perhaps the best commentary I've heard about the use of the Hitler analogy or argumentum ad Nazium to demonize one's political opponents.
pharyngula | August 1, 2006Gosh. Maybe I should add Insta-Pundit to the blogroll.
(via Oliver Willis)
stcynic | August 1, 2006I agree completely with Eugene Volokh that the furor over Mitt Romney's use of the term "tar baby" in a comment about the Big Dig the other day is a pointless tempest in a teapot. He sums up the reasons perfectly:
"Tar baby" is one of many words that has a standard and common meaning that is not pejorative, and that isn't even derived from a pejorative concept or strengthened by its association with a pejorative concept, but at the same time has a completely different meaning than is derogatory. Using it in a context where there's no reason to think the speaker is saying something pejorative…
clock | July 31, 2006First they came after evolution. They say they wanted to "teach the controversy".
Now, they are after history, and no controversy-teaching is allowed:
One way to measure the fears of people in power is by the intensity of their quest for certainty and control over knowledge.
By that standard, the members of the Florida Legislature marked themselves as the folks most terrified of history in the United States when last month they took bold action to become the first state to outlaw historical interpretation in public schools. In other words, Florida has officially replaced the study of…
clock | July 31, 2006Connect The Dots. Will they ever do anything if not for political reasons? Health? They don't care... Approval of a Bush appointee? Sure, let's sign what needs to be signed....
grrlscientist | July 31, 2006
Image source.
A published author who now is a friend of mine after I reviewed his book sent me some words that he found in a top-secret copy of the Republican-English Dictionary. He noted that these words and their definitions are useful for those of us who have been recently experiencing difficulties deciphering speeches and news reports delivered by the current administration.
But it's top seekrit, so don't tell them that we know! Shhh!
Words stolen from the top-secret Republican-English Dictionary;
alternative energy sources n.
New locations to drill for gas and oil.
bankruptcy n…
clock | July 31, 2006It takes two to vote....one to pull the lever, er., touch the screen, and the other to flip the switch.
tsmith | July 31, 2006I was busy over the weekend (and disgusted by the hot, nasty weather that will not die), so I don't have a lot on tap for today. Luckily, though, there's some interesting stuff elsewhere that's already written up--thoughtfully saving me some of the trouble.
I discuss the link between infectious and "chronic" disease with some regularity on this site. I think it's a fascinating area; perhaps oversold by some, perhaps over-criticized by others, but certainly a hot topic and an interesting direction for research in microbiology. This weekend's New York Times had a new story that touched on…
j7uy5 | July 31, 2006When I finished residency, I took a position at a University
clinic north of town. In order to get there, I had to cross a
bridge over a river. I drove over that bridge about 100 times
before the first snowfall.
On the first snowy day, while driving over the bridge, I noticed a
sign. The sign warned that the bridge could be icy.
Prior to that first snowy day, I had not noticed the sign.
Fast-forward to the present day. A
title="Quirky Outtakes" href="http://quirkynomads.com/wpt/">thoughtful
reader
sent a suggestion that I write about the subject of
title="Wikipedia link"…
grrlscientist | July 31, 2006"If you were to hang out with me here it won't be five or 10 minutes before you see a Republican hug me. That is almost as entertaining as some of the films."
Who said that?
Michael Moore, who wrote, filmed and produced the controversial film, Fahrenheit 9/11, is apparently benefiting from Republican "buyer's remorse". Moore has noticed that conservatives' attitudes towards him have changed, sometimes radically so, from one year ago.
Used to traveling with security and encountering a barrage of hostility, Moore said he finds people now more accepting, even to the point Republicans are…
revere | July 31, 2006I noticed that Governor Mitt Romney, Republican presidential hopeful and much despised Governor of Massachusetts, just vetoed $8.15 million in funding for addiction treatment and prevention in his state. I'm not an expert on substance abuse issues, but I know it is an area of public health where we are in real trouble because of budget cuts. I have written quite a lot about bird flu here and the need to address it by strenghtening the public health infrastructure. Substance abuse is part of that infrastructure. But what, if anything, does cutting these programs have to do with bird flu? I…
jlynch | July 30, 2006A recent Harris Poll found that 50% of Americans polled now say Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when it was invaded (up from 36% in 2005) and 64% say Saddam had "strong links" with al Qaeda. In other news, huge numbers of Americans have no "strong links" with reality. And the administration likes it that way:
In the summer of 2002, after I [Ron Suskind] had written an article in Esquire that the White House didn't like about Bush's former communications director, Karen Hughes, I had a meeting with a senior adviser to Bush. He expressed the White House's displeasure, and then he told me…
jlynch | July 30, 2006Seen in today's Arizona Republic:
Use frozen embryos to end crisis
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora of Lebanon, among others, has called for an immediate cease-fire to stem the rising tide of civilian casualties in his country.
The Bush administration, through Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, says that an unconditional cease-fire would be nothing but a "false promise." A "false promise" to some, perhaps, but not to the Lebanese civilians who will continue to be maimed and die. However, since these civilian casualties (being Lebanese and not American) are mere "collateral damage," many think…
jlynch | July 30, 2006Sixty civilians huddling in a basement get murdered (there is, frankly, no other word for it) when Israeli shells hit the building in Qana. Condi Rice gets rebuffed by the Lebanese and heads home with her tail between her legs. Kofi Annan calls the UN Security Council to call for an immediate cease-fire (I predict a US veto on that).
Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" never seemed more apt:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and…