Washington
scientificactivist | February 21, 2008Two weeks before what could be a decisive Texas primary, Barack Obama picked up the endorsement Monday of Congressman Chet Edwards, whose district includes Texas A&M University, the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, and George W. Bush's Crawford ranch. I'm not going to go so far as to say that I called this one, but I certainly pointed out last week that Edwards was saying some pretty favorable things about Obama (although his office said he hadn't taken an official position yet). I usually don't track endorsements too closely, but I think this one is significant because not only…
scientificactivist | February 13, 2008Yesterday, Barack Obama won all three contests (Maryland, Virginia, and DC) in the "Potomac Primary", all by sizable margins. This means that he has won all eight contests that have occurred since Super Tuesday. He now leads the delegate race--even when superdelegates are included--and he maintains an incredible amount of momentum going into the February 19th contests of Hawaii and Wisconsin, where he is expected to do quite well again. However, his delegate lead is still slim, and if he wants to become the true frontrunner, he'll have to have a strong showing on March 4th, particularly in…
laelaps | October 21, 2007
Yesterday's photo of Tai Shan received so many positive responses I thought I would put another one up. Getting these shots could be a little difficult at times, however, (warning: bad pun ahead) as it was definitely pandemonium around the enclosure when the young bear came out. His parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian certainly didn't get as much attention, but they also were not as active or curious as their offspring. If you want to look in on the pandas yourself the National Zoo has a Panda Cam that will allow you to do so.
laelaps | October 19, 2007
Although I've been able to capture some good Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) pictures when the animals have been bright-eyed and busy-tailed (then again, aren't they always bushy-tailed?), I love this shot because I was able to make a "boring" sleeping subject seem more interesting. It was taken at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. this past spring at about 6 AM and the two red pandas sleeping in the trees did not move the entire day.
If you want to know more about these fascinating (and endangered) mammals, Jeremy at The Voltage Gate ran a multi-part series about them earlier this year; Part…
scientificactivist | October 3, 2007As promised, Bush vetoed the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) earlier today. As the AP notes (in an article with a glaring typo in its title), "The White House sought as little attention as possible, with the president wielding his veto behind closed doors without any fanfare or news coverage."
Yeah. Duh. This is one of the more hardheaded and heartless things that the Administration has done yet, so it's not surprising that Bush would try to slip it in under the radar. Just tell that, though, to the 3.3 million kids who would have been added to SCHIP…
scientificactivist | September 26, 2007Yesterday, the House passed the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expansion by a vote of 265-159. The bill enjoyed some bipartisan support, although Republicans accounted for only 45 of the votes in favor and almost all of the votes against. Unfortunately, this is a bit short of the supermajority needed to override President Bush's promised veto. According to Roll Call (subscription required), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) claims that this 2/3 majority can be achieved if just 12 additional Republicans cross party lines (although this assumes that the entire…
scientificactivist | September 24, 2007Uh oh, it looks like there's trouble in paradise. From Roll Call (subscription required):
Frustration among House Republicans over sluggish fundraising, staff strife and other internal operations at the National Republican Congressional Committee came to a head this month -- with Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) demanding that changes be made.
The tension reached a boiling point in early September during a meeting between GOP leaders and NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) that resulted in Cole threatening to resign from his post.
[...]
Cole, whom sources described as defensive and taken…
scientificactivist | September 12, 2007Via A Blog Around the Clock comes news that the Senate will be voting on mandatory public access to NIH research later this month (on September 28, apparently). Such a bill has already passed the House (in July 2007). The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is urging citizens to contact their Senators in support of this legislation. Check out the site for more information and for Senator contact information.
The Alliance for Taxpayer Access offers these talking points:
American taxpayers are entitled to open access on the Internet to the peer-reviewed scientific articles on research funded by…
scientificactivist | August 2, 2007After the House passed its expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program on Wednesday, the Senate passed its version late Thursday. Although the House version passed along party lines, against strong Republican opposition, the Senate version enjoyed more bipartisan support, passing 68-31 (although all 31 "no" votes came from Republicans, with no Democrats voting against the measure).
scientificactivist | August 2, 2007Here's some good news from Congress, where the House of Representatives yesterday passed HR 3162, the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007. This is the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP or SCHIP) that I've been blogging about recently. For more information on CHIP check out these previous entries.
CHIP expires this year and Congress has now voted to renew and expand the program. The Senate is expected to vote on (and pass) its version today or tomorrow, although President Bush has absurdly and preemptively promised to veto the expansion. The…
scientificactivist | July 21, 2007Another example of Bush Administration political interference in science came out in October 2006, when it was discovered that Julie MacDonald, the deputy assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks (a political appointee), had actively censored scientific information and inappropriately elevated industry concerns to prevent new additions to the Endangered Species list. MacDonald resigned in May 2007, and now the Interior Department is reviewing eight of her decisions. As The New York Times reports today, these are likely to be overturned:
The Interior Department…
scientificactivist | July 20, 2007In my post earlier today, I stressed the need for the NIH to mandate open access to research publications supported by its funding:
As the largest supporter of biomedical research in the US, the NIH has a special obligation to make sure that its (taxpayer funded!) research is published in the public domain. Since May 2005, the NIH has had an optional open access program that revolves around PubMed Central. Specifically, the NIH "requests and strongly encourages all investigators to make their NIH-funded peer-reviewed, author's final manuscript available to other researchers and the public…
scientificactivist | July 18, 2007As I've mentioned previously, the Senate Finance Committee is considering a $35 billion expansion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP or CHIP), which is currently scheduled to expire in September. Incredibly enough, President Bush has already declared that he will veto such a bill. This is the same president who, just a year ago from tomorrow, used his first veto after five and a half years of office on, of all things, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. It appears, then, that the President will be the most significant obstacle to overcome in passing an expansion of…
scientificactivist | July 15, 2007I always find it surprising that something as obvious as the need to provide health coverage to children can be so controversial. In 2004, Arlene Wohlgemuth, the Republican running against Democrat Chet Edwards for US Congressional District 17 in Texas, made as a cornerstone of her campaign her sponsorship of HB 2292 the previous year in the Texas House. By substantially cutting back and altering the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP or CHIP) in Texas, Wohlgemuth argued, she had saved Texas taxpayers a significant sum. She had also, however, caused well over 100,000 children…
scientificactivist | July 9, 2007Over at A Blog Around the Clock, Bora has posted an interview he conducted by email with Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on science and science-related issues. The fact that John Edwards participated is a good indication that the 2008 candidates (at least the Democratic ones) are taking scientists, bloggers, and even science bloggers seriously. Props to Edwards for playing ball, and a big "well done" to Bora for arranging this.
Bora asked Edwards eight questions on some of the more important and timely science-related issues facing America, including global warming, health…
scientificactivist | July 2, 2007Absurdity. Complete and total absurdity.
George Bush, a president who has pardoned fewer people than any president in the past century, today commutes the sentence of Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a guilty man who lied about the leaking of sensitive government information for political purposes.
Stay updated on further developments here.
scientificactivist | June 22, 2007I'm at a conference right now and unfortunately don't have time to write extensively about this, but for those who were not aware, President Bush vetoed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (S. 5) on Wednesday. There are not enough votes in the House and Senate to override this veto, so it's clear that our lack of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research will continue until we have a new President in the White House.
On Wednesday the President also announced an executive order to encourage research into alternatives to embryonic stem cell research. As I've written before, these…
scientificactivist | April 29, 2007On Friday, Randall Tobias--the Bush Administration's chief promoter of foreign abstinence-only sex education programs--resigned from his position as Deputy Secretary of State after getting busted for frequenting DC prostitutes. If your head hasn't already exploded, check out Timothy Noah's humorous but detailed commentary at Slate.
Tobias advocated an ABC program (Abstinence; Be faithful; a brief, skeptical, and largely inaccurate mention of Condoms). Clearly the A and the B didn't really pan out here (which isn't surprising, since these programs don't actually affect participants' sexual…
scientificactivist | April 29, 2007In a recent interview published in New York Magazine, writer Christopher Hitchens is asked "Has anyone in the Bush administration confided in you about being an atheist?". His answer:
Well, I don't talk that much to them--maybe people think I do. I know something which is known to few but is not a secret. Karl Rove is not a believer, and he doesn't shout it from the rooftops, but when asked, he answers quite honestly. I think the way he puts it is, "I'm not fortunate enough to be a person of faith."
To be completely honest, I don't find the idea that Karl Rove is an atheist all that…
scientificactivist | April 20, 2007On Wednesday, when the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on "partial-birth abortions" in its 5-4 decision on Gonzalez v. Carhart, it dealt a potentially huge setback to US reproductive freedoms. Although intact dilation and extraction makes up only a small subset of all abortions, this ruling is significant in that it explicitly does not allow for exceptions when the mother's health is at risk. The decision is also notable in its lack of adherence to Court precedence, its lack of reliance on solid legal reasoning, and its ignorance of medical opinion. Much can and should be written about…