November 30, 2010
Bruce Chapman, whose Disco. institute is still playing the greatest hits of the 1880s, writes that San Francisco is New Capital of California:
as a result of the recent election the state electorate apparently decided to be governed in its top leadership almost exclusively by San Franciscans.
I…
November 30, 2010
In my most recent post on the TSA backlash, I suggested that part of the benefit of National Opt-Out Day was that it would put pressure on TSA staff to push for internal changes. Commenters objected that this probably overestimated the power of individual screeners.
Today at Reddit, a TSA…
November 30, 2010
Recent news events require a repost of this Classic TfK from March, 2007:
As art or as political statement, I have no beef with the installation shown here. It is an artwork produced by John Sims entitled "The Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag."
Neo-Confederates disagree. The Mary Brogan…
November 28, 2010
Via Ophelia, we get this comment by Christopher Hitchens, addressing the Catholic Church in his debate about religion with Tony Blair:
if I was a member of a church that had preached that AIDS was not as bad as condoms, I would be putting some conscience money into Africa too, I must say. Iâm not…
November 24, 2010
Turns out slacktivist and I share a pet peeve:
I want to mention a pet peeve of mine -- a phrase frequently employed by Al Mohler and other proponents of creation-ism. It's a phrase that bothers me as a lover of the Bible and of stories and of words.
That phrase is "the creation account" or "the…
November 24, 2010
There's been a running discussion among a group of journalists about what to call folks who do not accept the scientific finding that the earth's climate is changing and has already changed because of human activities. "Skeptic," "denier," "denialist," and other contenders are all considered, and…
November 23, 2010
James Grimmelmann writes an important essay on The Power of the Selectee. He put it under Creative Commons, so here's the whole thing:
If you wish to fly in the United States, you will be scanned by a machine that produces a picture of your naked body. You may ask not to be scanned, but if you do…
November 23, 2010
Via Cogitamus: A surprising 70 percent of air travelers support National Opt-Out Day:
Asked whether they supported National Opt-Out Day, on which air travelers plan to call attention to what they say are overly invasive TSA screening techniques by intentionally refusing the full-body scans at the…
November 22, 2010
Lex Luthor is incredibly evil, and incredibly powerful. He's a technological genius, and from his research he created an astonishing pile of wealth. He's so rich, and so powerful, that he can divert resources from his research labs to produce weapons with which to wage war on Superman. Luthor's…
November 20, 2010
Techdirt explains "Why Congress Isn't So Concerned With TSA Nude Scans & Gropes: They Get To Skip Them":
Earlier this week, in holding a hearing with the head of the TSA, our congressional representatives didn't seem too concerned about the public complaints about TSA security procedures: the…
November 18, 2010
At The American Prospet, staff writer Adam Serwer ponders Why We Are Angry at the TSA:
The amount of freedom Americans have handed over to their government in the years since the 9/11 attacks is difficult to convey. We've simply accepted the idea of the government secretly listening in on our phone…
November 18, 2010
At Wednesday's TSA oversight hearing, chief administrator John Pistole did not break down and reverse the "gate rape" patdown policy. But he did make a generous offer:
The head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) offered on Wednesday to have airport screeners come to Capitol Hill…
November 16, 2010
Via BoingBoing, hero of the Hudson Captain Sully Sullenberger expresses his disapproval of TSA's insistence on photographing or groping the genitals of airline passengers and staff:
I donât want anybody but my wife and maybe my doctor touching me in the places these people are touching me.
Exactly.
November 16, 2010
Nate Silver of 538 finds that votes for healthcare and TARP had a major effect on the election results, but votes for the climate bill and the stimulus didn't have much impact, if any. Nate used another methodology than what others have used, and got the same basic result.
November 16, 2010
Left at her online comment form:
I fly regularly, both for work and to visit my family in New Jersey. I have probably taken at least one round trip flight every year of my life, and lately I fly several times a year. I am not a threat to aviation.
Why does the TSA treat me and every other…
November 16, 2010
Via Cogitamus:
The Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security will hold a Transportation Security Administration Oversight Hearing tomorrow.
For more info:
Jena Longo - Democratic Deputy Communications Director, (202) 224-8374
Nov 17 2010 - 10 AM
Russell Senate Office Building…
November 15, 2010
I travel a lot for work, and to see my family on the East Coast. As such, I keep a fairly close eye on changes in TSA screening, and have always been a bit squicked by the backscatter machines (or porno scanners, as I've seen them called). My issue is mostly discomfort with some random person…
November 15, 2010
Eric McGhee at The Monkey Cage – a real political scientist who does these sorts of statistical analyses for a living – has done a nice post looking at the 2010 election results, and the effects of the votes for TARP, healthcare, the stimulus, and climate change, on Democrat's electoral prospects.…
November 15, 2010
The AP reviews my brother-in-law's play: Campy aliens no drag in 'Devil Boys From Beyond':
You can tell from the title that "Devil Boys From Beyond" intends to be fun, and the campy production that opened Saturday night at New World Stages does not disappoint. It's a satiric, raunchy, all-male…
November 11, 2010
Still awful.
Update: Link fixed.
November 9, 2010
Nothing should surprise me any more, but the video above (via Juan Cole) is just shocking. In it, Rep. John Shimkus, who wants to run the House Energy and Commerce Committee, explains his reasons for rejecting the existence of climate change. He starts by citing Genesis, in which a post-Flood…
November 7, 2010
â¦that the fish biologist would pull a bait and switch.
November 5, 2010
Since I posted my statistical analysis showing that voting for a climate bill didn't have a statistically significant effect on Democratic electoral success, two other independent analyses have come to roughly the same conclusion. My model found a statistically insignificant effect from climate…
November 5, 2010
Franz De Waal wades into the science/religion fuss with a great post at the New York Times: The God-Science Shouting Match: A Response:
To have a productive debate, religion needs to recognize the power of the scientific method and the truths it has revealed, but its opponents need to recognize…
November 5, 2010
Yesterday I reported a statistical analysis which found that voting for ACES (the climate bill) had no ill effect on Democratic election outcomes.
Today, Brad Delong asks Blue Dogs: "How Is That Voting Against Health Care Reform Working for You?," noting (via TPM)
Of the 39 Dems who voted against…
November 3, 2010
First, the good news for Kansas from Tuesday's election. Janet Waugh defeated a strong opponent in the Kansas Board of Education race, retaining her seat and protecting the pro-evolution majority.
That's it.
Sam Brownback is now the Governor. The theocratic, Jew-baiting, creationist, manimal-…
November 3, 2010
Marshall Ganz is a legendary organizer, and one of the architects of President Obama's remarkable grassroots campaign of 2008. When I was doing Camp Obama, the trainers were rightly in awe of him. Which makes his diagnosis of where the President has gone astray especially important:
This dramatic…
November 3, 2010
There's been some debate among the climate hawks about last night's election returns. Politico posted a story suggesting that the toll was especially hard on Democrats who supported the landmark climate change legislation passed by the House last summer. Kate Sheppard observed that quite a few of…
November 2, 2010
Bellwether Democratic Representative Boucher has lost in Virginia. Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
November 1, 2010
I guess I should've posted this a few days ago if I wanted to influence early voters, but here's my advice to California voters who still haven't figured out how to vote.
Propositions:
19: Yes. There's not really a good argument against this. There's no scientific reason to single out marijuana…
