August 26, 2009
Ted Kennedy was a great man, one whose flaws occasionally dominated headlines but whose legacy will be the lives saved and improved thanks to the numerous bills which bear his name, and which benefited from his wisdom as they moved through the Senate. For a man who lived his life as American…
August 24, 2009
I know it's been a week since I got back from Netroots Nation, so this is a rather belated report, but I have a good excuse. I was on the road for 4 weeks before NrN, and it's taken me a little while to get caught up again.
Netroots Nation was awesome. It'll be in Las Vegas next year, and should…
August 24, 2009
In 1925, John Scopes was tried and convicted of violating Tennessee's Butler Act. His trial was ginned up as a constitutional test case by the ACLU and as an economic stimulus plan for the town of Dayton, TN. The trial was promoted as "the trial of the century," celebrity lawyers were recruited for…
August 21, 2009
Disco. hustler Casey Luskin pleads ignorance to fend off an argument by Ken Miller:
In a recent post, I noted that Ken Miller misrepresented Michael Beheâs arguments on the irreducible complexity of the blood clotting cascade in his book, Only a Theory. When I blogged at the end of last year about…
August 16, 2009
Steve Benen reviews the ways in which Republicans now ranting about how insurance reform will kill grandma once loved their 'death panels,' adding:
If reality had any meaning in modern politics, these "death panel" clowns would be laughed out of the building, and humiliated for life.
The whole…
August 15, 2009
Of the assembled luminaries of the science/science policy world, guess who dropped the f-bomb?
And guess who was quoting RFK to do that, so it's totally cool?
Anyway, shorter panel: You don't have to be a scientist to defend science, and you do need to get involved. Schools matter, and…
August 14, 2009
At 3 o'clock today (Eastern), I'll be on a panel about ways that scientists and nonscientists alike can improve the use of science in policymaking, the use of policy to boost science, and ways to keep denialists from derailing that process.
We've got Susan Wood, a professor of public policy at…
August 14, 2009
Bill Clinton spoke to the Netroots Nation conference last night. It's an inspired speech, done without notes and with extemporaneous digressions based on a heckler's call.
Before he spoke, a range of Netroots Nation heroes spoke, including my hero in Congress: Brad Miller.
Miller has been awesome…
August 13, 2009
According to the Kansas City Fox affiliate (via TPM DC), Congressman Dennis Moore, who represents northeastern Kansas and is the only Democratic representative from Kansas, has cancelled public events after credible death threats. He tells the reporter that he's gotten two separate threats, and…
August 13, 2009
Arriving at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, I was on the escalator behind Duncan Black. David Neiwert introduced us in the registration line.
Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com is explaining polling to us now, as Charlie Cook (dean of the polling community), Pollster.com…
August 13, 2009
It is my understanding that NCSE remains unapologetic for ambushing Ed Brayton.
August 12, 2009
Remember to double check your train tickets. Showing up at 4:15 for what you remember as a 4:30 train doesn't work if it's really a 4:00 departure.
August 10, 2009
Ben Stein got fired from his freelance gig with the New York Times! And it's because of his previously reported ethical lapse in advertising for a "free" credit report site that actually charges for your credit report. This all leads to: Shorter Ben Stein:
Wah!
Slightly less shorter Ben Stein:…
August 10, 2009
My wedding will inject substantial funding into the California (and national) economy. I deserve stimulus funding.
Which is to say, Debbie and I now both have lovely engagement rings. Hers is from Brilliant Earth, a sapphire set in their "Seacrest" design. Mine is the "Challah" design from…
August 5, 2009
I've been slow in writing this review only because the kerfuffle over Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future by Chris Mooney, Sheril Kirshenbaum distracted me. Yes, there's a lot of controversy, but I'm going to set that aside, ignore other reviews, and give my own…
August 5, 2009
Things are getting out of hand. The absurd disruptions at townhalls will backfire as people realize they are manufactured, and that the bills in question will help most Americans. But TPM reports Congressman Brad Miller's life was threatened in a call from a constituent:
"[W]e have received a…
July 31, 2009
Disco. DJ Bruce Chapman wonders Does Obamacare Provide for Euthanasia?
No.
This is the simple answer to that stupid, offensive, and intolerable question.
Here's Chapman's claim in all its glory:
Our Sr. Fellow Wesley J. Smith of the Discovery Institute Center for Human Rights and Bioethics is…
July 31, 2009
Bill Maher, anti-vaxxer and Germ Theory denier, got an award named for Richard Dawkins from an atheist group. The award specifies, among other things, that the recipient should be an atheist and should "advocate[] increased scientific knowledge." Orac notes that Maher is not an atheist and that…
July 28, 2009
The BBC's Joe Boyle ponders Nigeria's 'Taliban' enigma:
They have launched co-ordinated attacks across northern Nigeria, threatening to overthrow the government and impose strict Islamic law - but who exactly are the Nigerian Taliban?
Since the group emerged in 2004 they have become known as "…
July 28, 2009
The Bush administration classified various spy photos of glaciers. It isn't clear why. Those glaciers are no imminent danger to us, and are unlikely to learn anything useful about the sources and methods we use to monitor them even with the photos. That we take pictures of glaciers is hardly…
July 26, 2009
I'm 31 years old.
To celebrate my dotage, Sarah Palin will stop screwing up Alaska.
And in recent days I have gone to both the Mutter Museum and X-tr33m Mammals. This is quite a way to celebrate a birthday: diseased corpses and awesome extinct mammals.
Litopterns!
Notoungulates!
Soap mummies!…
July 25, 2009
Have you registered to attend Netroots Nation yet? It's going to be pretty awesome. There will be dozens of panels, touching on political process and political practice, science, civil liberties, climate change, healthcare, and future of just about any topic you care about. And it won't be out…
July 24, 2009
Shorter David Klinghoffer:
Wah!
Slightly longer Klinghoffer:
Why are people whose views I misrepresent and for whom I have invented a derogatory name so unpleasant to me? Damned deadbeats. Also, academia is the only field of endeavor where people are jerks. The world of business is filled with…
July 22, 2009
Off to drink bourbon and schmooze Kentucky legislators.
July 21, 2009
Legislative conferences have better swag in the exhibits hall than do science conferences.
To whit: free beer in the hall itself. Also free condoms, free chocolate (including both M&Ms and chocolate Pill dispensers), toys from Toy Manufacturers of America, and no fewer than five versions of…
July 20, 2009
When I was little, I called every TV anchor "Cronkite." He literally defined "journalist" for me.
He will be missed.
July 20, 2009
Shorter Longer Bill Dembski:
It's wrong to appeal to a judge's authority on federal law, but not to twist Thomas Jefferson's words to pretend we can know what he'd think of modern science.
Dembski is responding to Steven Pinker's reply to Disco. DJ Stephen Meyer's op-ed claiming Thomas Jefferson…
July 20, 2009
If this is Monday, this must be Philadelphia. Any readers in the area who want to meet in person to tell me that I'm an accommodationist dick who must be incredibly stupid should leave a comment. We'll get a beer or something.
July 16, 2009
Last December, I called for nationalizing the securities ratings firms, companies that propped up Big Shitpile through its heyday and actively encouraged the idiotic and destructive practices which brought us to the current economic crisis. Barry Ritholz reveals that the rating agencies may just…
July 16, 2009
Felix Salmon wades back into the moral morass that is Ben Stein. Stein has a new ad on the air. No longer content to shill eyewash and brain bleach, he's now pushing a credit report scam. Salmon explains:
“I went to freescore.com and found out my score for free”, says Ben, while an annoying…
