Politics
stcynic | July 14, 2006This could get interesting. Valerie Plame has filed a civil lawsuit against Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby and Karl Rove for revealing her identity as a CIA agent. The actual complaint can be found here.
clock | July 14, 2006Over the last couple of days, there was an interesting exchange of blogposts about the "naturalness" of sex, gender identification and sexual orientation. It is also an excellent example of the need to actually read what other people have written before jumping into the fray with knee-jerk responses. So, actually, READ all these posts before making any comments:
Jessica: Uterus: The Gaymaker
Chris: Essentialized Social Categories I: Gender Essentialism
Janet: Why I have no interest in any possible biological bases for homosexuality
Greensmile: You can't say 'Gay is OK'...
Benjamin:…
stcynic | July 13, 2006The STACLU folks are up in arms about Bush allegedly "caving in" and agreeing to FISA court oversight of the NSA's domestic spying programs. Arlen Specter announced that the White House has agreed to submit those programs to the FISA court for review of their constitutionality. STACLU's trenchant analysis of the situation:
Again, I'm still digesting this, but if Arlen Specter is happy about this it can't be much of a good thing. Some of us are wondering what happened to Bush's spine. This was an issue he was so stubborn on for so long. Why the sudden about face? It won't take long for the…
revere | July 13, 2006We've been carrying on about sanctimonious disloyal Democrat Joe Lieberman for quite a while here. Now Connecticut voters have caught on, too, and Holy Joe is in a world of hurt in the Democratic primary race as he battles political neophyte Ned Lamont. According to print and broadcast media outlets the race is all about Iraq and Joey's unflagging support of Bush in everything he does and unstinting criticism of anyone who disagrees with Bush. But Iraq is only a part of the anti-Joe sentiment in Connecticut. Our posts have dealt principally Joey's equally unstinting support of Big Pharma and…
clock | July 12, 2006Carnival of Community Campaigns
....will be a fortnightly roundup of all the best posts put together by local community campaigns, aiming to spread their message - an international forum for local campaigns.
The carnival will favour the voices of people excluded from power, people and communities who the establishment parties may sometimes court at election time, but forget as soon as the polls are closed - turning back to their corporate paymasters, at least until the next time they want our votes!
jrosenhouse | July 12, 2006I have written previously that the current mainstream of modern American conservatism lies with the religious, anti-science, fanatically pro-Bush folks. More evidence of that is provided by a recent spat between the National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru and Time's Andrew Sullivan. Writing at NR's blog, Ponnuru said:
Since another panelist had quoted one of [Sullivan's] sermons as evidence of intra-conservative strife, I also observed that I know no serious conservative who considers him a conservative. I am prepared to believe that there are a few misguided conservatives, unbeknownst to me, who…
pharyngula | July 12, 2006In light of this startling comparison at the Ken Lay funeral, we're going to have to keep on eye on the urn containing his cremated ashes.
The Reverend Dr. Bill Lawson compared Lay with civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus Christ, and said his name would eventually be cleared.
I don't think there's much risk that he'll rise again. Can you imagine Satan showing him all the kingdoms of the world, saying "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me," and Kenny Boy failing to rush to his knees and sing hosannas on the spot?
stcynic | July 12, 2006Think Progress has this list of the strangest White House jobs. Did you know that there was actually a White House Director of Lessons Learned? I didn't either. His name is Stuart Baker. And he makes $106,000 a year. Talk about your easy jobs.
goodmath | July 12, 2006Longtime readers of GM/BM will remember [this post][homeland], where I discussed the formula used by the Department of Homeland Security for allocating anti-terrorism funds. At the time, I explained:
>It turns out that the allocation method was remarkably simple. In their
>applications for funding, cities listed assets that they needed to protect.
>What DHS did was take the number of listed assets from all of the cities that
>were going to be recipients of funds, and give each city an amount of funding
>proportional to the number of assets they listed.
>
>So, the Empire…
tsmith | July 12, 2006It was difficult for me to imagine that anyone could possibly be upset about the announcement that billionaire Warren Buffet had decided to team up with Bill Gates and donate billions of dollars to improve global health. Silly, naive little me; nothing should surprise me anymore, but this is really beyond the pale.
Via Moment of Science, I found someone who does, indeed, gripe about the donation: none other than (cue menacing music) Focus on the Family:
"It's very scary," D'Agostino told CitizenLink. "The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has very close ties and gives a lot of money to…
jrosenhouse | July 11, 2006Michael Kinsley has an excellent column up at Slate about the inconsistency of the anti stem-cell crowd:
Against this, you have the fact that embryonic stem cells are extracted from human embryos, killing them in the process. If you believe that embryos a few days after conception have the same human rights as you or me, killing innocent embryos is obviously intolerable. But do opponents of stem-cell research really believe that? Stem cells test that belief, and sharpen the basic right-to-life question, in a way abortion never has.
And later:
In short, if embryos are human beings with full…
goodmath | July 11, 2006This has been written about [elsewhere][lf], but I can't let such a perfect example of the fundamental innumeracy of so many political pundits pass me by without commenting.
Captain Ed of [Captains Quarters][cq] complains about a speech by John Edwards in which Edwards mentions 37 million people below the poverty line:
>Let's talk about poverty. Where did John Edwards get his numbers? The US Census
>Bureau has a ready table on poverty and near-poverty, and the number 37 million
>has no relation to those below the poverty line. If his basis is worry, well,
>that tells us nothing;…
stcynic | July 11, 2006From the Financial Times:
The White House confirmed on Tuesday that the Pentagon had decided, in a major policy shift, that all detainees held in US military custody around the world are entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions.
The FT learned that Gordon England, deputy defence secretary, sent a memo to senior defence officials and military officers last Friday, telling them that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions - which prohibits inhumane treatment of prisoners and requires certain basic legal rights at trial - would apply to all detainees held in US military custody.…
drorzel | July 11, 2006This month's Physics Today has an article by Murray Peshkin on "Addressing the Public About Science and Religion", that is both a nice change of pace (as physicists don't do much of that sort of thing), and a reminder of why a lot of physicists don't do that sort of thing. It's not that he says anything stupid-- quite the contrary, his remarks are sensible and moderate. The problem is that, well, his remarks are sensible and moderate, and thus unlikely to please extremists at either end of the debate.
The key paragraph is probably:
Science and religion have different assumptions, different…
stcynic | July 11, 2006Rep. Peter Hoekstra, chair of the House intelligence committee, went on Fox News on Sunday and accused the Bush administration of not informing Congress of ongoing intelligence gathering programs that they are bound by law to consult with Congress about:
"But in this case there was at least one major -- what I consider significant -- activity that we had not been briefed on," the Michigan Republican said without specifying what that activity was.
"It is not optional for this president or any president or people in the executive community not to keep the intelligence committees fully informed…
stcynic | July 11, 2006Karl Rove says he's warming up his veto pen, for the first time in his presidency. And guess what the issue is that finally gets the President to consider using it? Stem-cell research.
President Bush will likely cast the first veto of his presidency if the Senate, as expected, passes legislation to expand federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research, White House aide Karl Rove said today.
"The president is emphatic about this," Rove - Bush's top political advisor and architect of his 2000 and 2004 campaigns - said in a meeting with the editorial board of The Denver Post.
With all of the…
oracknows | July 11, 2006Sitting in a corner office, Adolph Mongo perused daily reports. It was early evening and nearly everyone in the office had gone home, leaving only a few die-hards left to finish up. A crack political operative who runs a political and media consulting firm active in Michigan and Detroit politics, Mongo never hesitated to play the race card when he thought it might help his client.
He heard a crash outside his door.
"Jonella?" he said. "Is that you?"
No answer.
Mongo went back to his reading, but he was tired. That's enough attacking Governor Grahnolm and defending Detroit Mayor Kwame…
j7uy5 | July 11, 2006Medical interventions alway carry risks. So do other types of
interventions, such as those carried out in the name of national
security. Just as physicians must not let their enthusiasm
for healing carry them into the realm of medical misadventure, we, as a
country, must exercise prudence and restraint in the application of
force. We must be cautious about allowing our collective
might to be used in ways that defy that prudence and restraint.
Let us not forget, that in the interest of promoting national security,
we need to protect ourselves not only from external threats, but also
from…
jlynch | July 10, 2006Remember the good old days when being a conservative meant arguing that government should stay out of peoples lives? Those days are long gone.
On Tuesday, the House plans to vote on a bill that would ban credit cards for paying online bets and could padlock gambling Web sites. The legislation would clarify existing law to spell out that it is illegal to gamble online.
To enforce that ban, the bill would prohibit credit cards and other payment forms, such as electronic transfers, from being used to settle online wagers. It also would give law enforcement officials the authority to work with…
pharyngula | July 10, 2006George W Bush hasn't vetoed a single bill in all these long, long years of his presidency. Guess what issue might finally convince him to move?
He's willing to veto any expansion of stem cell research.
That's our George. Science isn't part of his base, so he'll willingly throw that away to make the church-based ignoramuses happy. Zygotes must be spared! It's the ones that have been born that can be used as cannon fodder.