Politics
tsmith | April 29, 2006More topics I'd have covered this week, given endless time and energy:
An update on the Chikungunya outbreak I discussed here (and see this comment on the outbreak from a medical entomologist in the region dealing with it first-hand).
Orac on viruses as cancer treatment, inspired by a recent episode of House (more episode reviews by Scott at Polite Dissent can be found here).
An update on mumps activity from the Iowa Department of Health. I haven't written about this in a few days because there's not much more to tell. Cases are still increasing, and they're recommended that students…
pharyngula | April 27, 2006One of these people is a babbling butthead.
Tony Snow: "Racism isn't that big a deal any more."
Ampersand: "The effect of a crime like this—and the subsequent not guilty verdict—is to remind all blacks that a substantial number of whites consider blacks to be a good deal less than human."
Guess which one?
drorzel | April 27, 2006The big physics story of the day is bound to be this new report on American particle physics:
The United States should be prepared to spend up to half a billion dollars in the next five years to ensure that a giant particle accelerator now being designed by a worldwide consortium of scientists can be built on American soil, the panel said. If that does not happen, particle physics, the quest for the fundamental forces and constituents of nature, will wither in this country, it said.
You might assume that, as a physicist, I'm all in favor of this-- half a billion is a lot of money, after all…
stcynic | April 27, 2006Someone left a link to this article about the FDA dragging their feet in making Plan B contraception available without a prescription. Take a look at what it says about an internal memo from one of the insiders:
In the memo released by the FDA during the discovery process, Dr. Curtis Rosebraugh, an agency medical officer, wrote: "As an example, she stated that we could not anticipate, or prevent extreme promiscuous behaviors such as the medication taking on an 'urban legend' status that would lead adolescents to form sex-based cults centered around the use of Plan B."
Rosebraugh indicated he…
pharyngula | April 27, 2006This week's collection of carnivals:
Carnival of the Liberals #11
I and the Bird #22
Skeptics' Circle #33
Carnival of Education #64
Anyone else feel that it's a shame CoE hasn't hit #66 yet?
Otherwise, you got your open thread right here.
stcynic | April 26, 2006In an interesting reversal of tradition, a member of the media has left to become a paid liar press secretary. Tony Snow, Fox News personality, is replacing Scott McClellan as White House press secretary. We're used to seeing government spokespeople becoming pundits; George Stephanopolous, Dee Dee Myers, Tony Blankley, Pete Williams, Chris Matthews, Hodding Carter and many others have made the transition from government PR flak to allegedly serious journalist or talking head. But this is the first time it's gone the other way.
Of course, since he works for Fox News, Snow has, for all…
pharyngula | April 26, 2006I just find this whole idea bizarre.
President Bush has picked Fox News radio host Tony Snow as his new White House Press Secretary and is expected to announce the choice on Wednesday, a Republican official said.
Can we all agree that Fox 'News' is the propaganda arm of the Republican Party now?
tsmith | April 25, 2006...whereby the Catholic church may be more accepting of condom use (and discussion thereof) than some American "sex education" classes.
oracknows | April 24, 2006This time, as part of their campaign of intimidation, they're suing a family that doesn't even own a computer:
A Rockmart family is being sued for illegal music file sharing, despite the fact that they don't even own a computer.
A federal lawsuit filed this week in Rome by the Recording Industry Association of America alleges that Carma Walls, of 117 Morgan St., Rockmart, has infringed on copyrights for recorded music by sharing files over the Internet. The lawsuit seeks an injunction and requests unspecified monetary damages.
The lawsuit states, "Plaintiffs are informed and believe that…
pharyngula | April 24, 2006Poor George. He got bumped from a £3600 a night hotel room by Mick Jagger.
Isn't that a little extravagant for a public servant, anyway?
oracknows | April 24, 2006Sometimes people come up with ideas that are just so mind-bogglingly inappropriate that I have a hard time grasping them. Case in point, recently Polish authorities granted permission by a local theater group to perform Jesus Christ Superstar at an old Nazi death camp:
POLISH authorities have withdrawn permission for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar to be performed at Majdanek, the former Nazi concentration camp, after protests by Jewish groups.
The Culture Ministry and the camp's management today said the performance by a local Polish theatre group could not go ahead.
"The play was to…
pharyngula | April 23, 2006I think The Raw Story is supposed to be a progressive political web site…which, unfortunately, means I now have to be greatly embarrassed by my fellow travelers along the great liberal path. Melinda Barton has written a bizarre and poorly supported screed against atheism, or as she'd prefer to call it, secular whackjobbery, as opposed to her preferred position, which I will call theistic wank-offery.
She starts by making up a novel definition, always a bad sign. To Barton, the term "secular" refers to "those who disbelieve all religious and spiritual claims, not to those who merely support a…
tsmith | April 22, 2006Again, I never get to discuss all the topics I find interesting. So to keep you busy over the weekend, check out a few that I didn't have time to emphasize this week:
Neurotopia on the zombies among us.
Orac's series on medicine and evolution:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 4a
New studies suggesting that mercury fillings aren't harmful.
Can you name that virus over at Buridan's ass?
Professional societies spurning women editors? (More here from Evolgen).
Ewen on the science behind the recent monoclonal antibody drug trial gone bad.
The National Science Foundation website is up for a…
grrlscientist | April 21, 2006I assume that all my Americans visitors have filed their income taxes by now? Well, if not, just nod your head up and down anyway because the IRS has been looking at my blog this past week (yikes) and who knows what sort of spyware they might be testing!
I mistakenly assumed that all online income tax services were the same, that it didn't matter which one I used, but I learned the hard way that this is absolutely not true. But I finally filed my state taxes -- late. I've never filed my taxes late before, and I certainly hadn't planned on that happening this time, either, since I had…
stcynic | April 20, 2006This blog has some very funny stuff about Scott McClellan's resignation. For instance:
"I have given it my all, sir, and I have given you my all, sir, and I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary," McClellan said to Bush as the President tried to remember to whom he was talking. I kid. The two have grown closer, mostly because McClellan's head exerts a powerful gravitational force.
Bush said that being spokesweasel was "a challenging assignment." YOU try defending this den of thieves. "One of these days, he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas and talking…
pharyngula | April 19, 2006You really must take a look at the Republican Party of Minnesota Permanent Platform. It's full of interesting goodies.
There are 19 items in the section on civil rights: ten of them are various permutations of "NO ABORTION!"; two are against gun control; one is to protect people from being forced to join labor unions; one promotes the public display of the Ten Commandments; and one is a commendable condemnation of torture and slavery, but with an annoying qualifier.
Condemning religious, political and ethnic persecution in any country, specifically the
oppression, slave labor, torture and…
pharyngula | April 19, 2006I'm hoping McClellan will be replaced by Tony Snow.
How can we resist? Every press conference will be a Snow job.
He's had so much training for this position. It's like he's a professional liar.
You know how much I love to see creationists in prominent Republican positions.
Fox News, White House Press Secretary…aren't they the same thing already?
grrlscientist | April 19, 2006
What's so funny?
While sitting in a firehouse in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania,
Rudy Giuliani praises Senator Rick Santorum for being a tightass on security.
Photo: Joseph Kaczmarek/AP
Former New York City Mayor, Rudolph W. "Rudy" Giuliani, who many credit with holding New York City together in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, popped into Montgomery County Pennsylvania last Tuesday to drum up support for Republican US Senator Rick "Dog Lovin'" Santorum's re-election bid.
"Senator Santorum is a remarkable political leader," gushed Giuliani to a receptive crowd of elected…
stcynic | April 19, 2006The president's press secretary, Scott McClellan, resigned today. I've been pretty hard on McClellan over the last couple years, but I'm hard on anyone who does that job. I simply can't imagine why anyone would be a press secretary. Their entire job is to lie; it is all they are paid to do. The reporters in room all know he's lying, he knows he's lying, but of course he is rarely called on it. Whoever replaces him will also be paid to lie for a living, and it's no different when a Democrat is in office. I can't imagine a more soul-destroying job than that and I can't imagine what kind of…
tsmith | April 19, 2006This is too good to be lost in the comments. Letterman's Top Ten list for April 17th was "Top Ten Features Of President Bush's Bird Flu Pandemic Plan." The list is below the fold.
10. Hang "Mission Accomplished" sign in every Kentucky Fried Chicken
9. Torture some Perdue employees until they talk
8. Scare birds away with giant radioactive kitties
7. Be on the lookout for any bird which looks "fluey"
6. Build wall along border so birds can't walk in from Mexico
5. Never leave the house, avoid human contact -- like Letterman
4. Tax cuts for the rich
3. C'mon, it's a Bush plan -- you…