October 24, 2008
Wow:
Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, has long been one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States. Under President Reagan, he served, with great distinction, as Solicitor General of the United States. Since then, he has been prominently associated with…
October 23, 2008
I imagine Casey Luskin and Anika Smith sitting in a dark room together. The mirror ball spins as these Disco. titans take the floor for a podcast about the Texas science standards (aka TEKS: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills). You'll recall that I tripped up some of Disco.'s fancy footwork…
October 23, 2008
This Saturday, my NCSE colleague Peter Hess and I will be speaking with the skeptics in Seattle, talking about "'The best preventive of the evils now most dreaded': Defending evolution in a religious society." We will speak about the threat creationist attacks on evolution education pose to our…
October 22, 2008
I'm a fan of ACORN, and have been for a long time. I gave to them after Hurricane Katrina, to help the New Orleans-based anti-poverty group rebuild itself and its city. I gave again last winter as I was making my end-of-year charitable donations.
I like them because they work hard for working…
October 22, 2008
I've long wondered about the pseudo-debate over whether the next President should meet foreign leaders with or without preconditions. Obama has said "without," observing that the whole point of meeting with hostile leaders is to get them to agree to important changes; a meeting is not enough of a…
October 22, 2008
There's been a lot of ink spilled lately over John McCain's vicious and dishonest robocalls. Sarah Palin criticized her own campaign for running them, and Joe Biden called them "scurrilous," and calling on John McCain:
If he's really serious when he said ... that this election is all about the…
October 21, 2008
Barack Obama visits some phone bankers in Missouri, and jumps on a few calls:
Throughout the nation, activists are knocking on doors, registering new voters, dialing their neighbors, and doing everything they can to see to it that the morning of November 5 is a lot more fun than Nov. 3, 2004, or…
October 21, 2008
My grandfather, while serving as secretary (or possibly president, my history here is ambiguous) of New York Typographer's Local 1, traveled to Washington to protest against the Taft-Hartley Act. While there, he gave a speak that called out the House Committee on Un-American Activities and one…
October 20, 2008
Even John McCain's supporters don't care for his campaign's tactics of attacking Obama with lies.
Meanwhile, Sarah Palin has referred to her own campaign and its supporters as "atrocious and unacceptable." She told the Christian Broadcasting Network:
If I ever were to hear that [threats to…
October 20, 2008
While Barack Obama is lining up key endorsements from Colin Powell, major and local newspapers, and hundreds of thousands of small donors, it's worth watching the down-ticket races. Bob Geiger reviews Esquire Magazine's Endorsements. Geiger writes:
Perhaps no incumbent senator more deserves to be…
October 17, 2008
Even as Expelled promotes itself as "the #1 Documentary of 2008," its box office take is being overtaken by Religulous (2008):
EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED
Domestic Total Gross: $7,690,545
Widest Release: 1,052 theaters
In Release: 56 days / 8 weeks
RELIGULOUS
Domestic Total as of Oct. 16,…
October 17, 2008
Texas is gearing up to revise their state science standards. This is a big deal, because the standards Texas sets determine how textbooks are written not just for the Texas market, but for the rest of the nation. The fight over science standards now is a prelude to an imminent and much bigger…
October 16, 2008
Speaking of which:
"Sen. Obama, I am not President Bush."
Votes like Bush, walks like Bush, and has no exit strategy, either.
October 16, 2008
John McCain last night:
Schieffer: But even if it was someone even someone who had a history of being for abortion rights, you would consider them?
McCain: I would consider anyone in their qualifications. I do not believe that someone who has supported Roe v. Wade that would be part of those…
October 15, 2008
McCain:
Just again, the example of the eloquence of Sen. Obama. He's health for the mother. You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything. That's the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, "health."
Horrors. "Health." Let's mock women don't want…
October 15, 2008
Shorter John McCain:
I'm such a great advocate for special needs kids that I think autism is the same as Down syndrome.
Actual quote:
"parents come with kids, children -- precious children who have autism. Sarah Palin knows about that better than most."
The rest of John McCain's debate performance…
October 15, 2008
The campaign tells me:
This Saturday, October 18th, please join Barack Obama in Kansas City, MO, where he will talk about his vision for creating the kind of change we need.
Change We Need Rally with Barack Obama
National World War I Museum
at Liberty Memorial
Intersection of Main St. and Memorial…
October 15, 2008
As Greg Sargent observes:
Palin's first instinct was to rebuke these "hecklers" by questioning their patriotism, suggesting completely out of the blue that they might be reluctant to show sufficient gratitude towards our veterans. But then her husband gently let her know that these people weren't…
October 15, 2008
According to a CBS/New York Times poll, voters understand that McCain, not Obama, would raise their taxes:
If he were elected President, do you think (candidate) would raise taxes on people like yourself, or wouldn't he do that?
Obama: Would 46%, Would Not 41%
McCain: Would 51%, Would Not 38%
Given…
October 13, 2008
On Saturday, Rep. John Lewis responded to the wave of violent rhetoric sweeping through McCain/Palin rallies:
"As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing today…
October 13, 2008
Due to Sb issues, this post has been sitting unpublished for hours.
Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist, Princeton economist, and author of textbooks, academic treatises and popularizations of economics, was given this years Nobel Prize in Economics.
Because of his outspoken opposition to…
October 10, 2008
Shorter John McCain:
Barack Obama is the "biggest celebrity in the world, but I don't know "who is the real Barack Obama."
John McCain is dishonest and dishonorable, and he is now crossing into truly dangerous territory.
In response to McCain's own incitement, his audiences are crossing further…
October 8, 2008
Green fluorescent protein is a standard tool in molecular biology. Researchers insert the gene into an animal's genome, and then watch for a characteristic green glow when a particular region is activated. By finding cells where the gene inserts near another protein of interest, it is possible to…
October 8, 2008
Transcript of second McCain, Obama debate (10/7/2008):
McCain: I'll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I'll get him. I know how to get him.
Charlie Gibson interviews John McCain (9/3/2008):
MCCAIN: Well, look, President Clinton [had] opportunities to get Osama bin Laden. President Bush had…
October 8, 2008
So what's up with "that one"?
I know John McCain is a little old and nutty, but it was such an odd moment.
Another odd moment happened in the discussion of Pakistan. Obama takes the reasonable view that we will pursue al Qaeda into Pakistan, with Pakistani assistance if possible and without it…
October 7, 2008
So John McCain has jumped the shark. Consider these words from the typically right-wing-friendly Joe Klein:
I'm of two minds about how to deal with the McCain campaign's further descent into ugliness. Their strategy is simple: you throw crap against a wall and then giggle as the media try to…
October 6, 2008
As ThinkProgress points out, John McCain tried to stop the government from prosecuting domestic terrorists:
McCain's terrorism problem dates back to the early 1990s, when he sided with right-wing domestic terrorists and voted against tough new legislation cracking down on a wave of anti-choice…
October 6, 2008
I didn't get to see Bill Maher's Religulous, but apparently a lot of people did. It was on 502 theaters, and earned $3,500,000. For those keeping track, Ben Stein's Expelled earned $2,970,848 on its opening weekend, and was showing on 1,052 theaters. In other words, it earned less money despite…
October 2, 2008
As I sort of expected, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden both did kinda OK tonight. Biden had some good moments but was a bit too stodgy and senatorial. Palin was overly scripted, managed to avoid making too much of a word salad, and seemed to be trying too hard to be folksy. I don't feel like too many…
October 2, 2008
John McCain is in trouble. Public polling has shifted toward Obama, and Obama's larger donor base allowing him to outspend McCain in traditional Republican strongholds like Indiana. With Colorado and New Mexico in play out west, and a good chance that Obama will take Nevada, too, traditional…
