February 24, 2008
During Robert F. Kennedy's candidacy, he gave an anti-war speech at K-State. At this comparatively conservative outpost, the crowds went crazy. A speechwriter remembers looking at the wild crowd reaction and saying, "This is Kansas, fucking Kansas. He's going all the fucking way!"
I thought of…
February 24, 2008
It's two days short of the 5th anniversary of this question:
can anyone… give me one single example of something with the following three characteristics:
1. It is a policy initiative of the current Bush administration
2. It was significant enough in scale that I'd have heard of it (at a pinch…
February 22, 2008
Bruce Gordon, "Research" Director at the Disco. Inst. has A Few Words about a Long-Winded Breach of Etiquette, his response to Daniel Brooks's exposé of a Disco.-funded conference.
Gordon complains that Brooks's account is inaccurate, but never actually says what he got wrong. He complains that…
February 22, 2008
Kevin Drum notes that Moqtada al-Sadr has extended his cease-fire for another six months. This is abundantly good news, and as the Washington Post points out, this cease-fire is at least as significant a factor in the drop in violence as the "surge".
I've updated the figure above from what I…
February 21, 2008
Many innocent electrons have been spilt in discussions of John McCain's apparent dalliance with a lobbyist from Paxson Communication. The discourse has largely focused on whether he had an affair (probably), and whether the New York Times and Washington Post did the right thing in reporting on it…
February 20, 2008
It's immensely exciting to see Larry Lessig thinking about a run for the House, filling the vacancy left by the passing of Tom Lantos. As Lessig notes, the other candidate in the primary is an exceptional politician, and he isn't considering the run because of any animus against her. I've no…
February 20, 2008
At DailyKos, known outpost of optimism, brownsox considers the National Review Online's argument that Obama is a Communist half-Jew and, rather than banging his/her head repeatedly into a wall, simply concludes:
Well, at least they've abandoned the "Muslim" thing...
This is the power of hope. It…
February 20, 2008
This excellent XKCD would go great with this excellent t-shirt. Suggestion: Wear the DS shirt to creationist events! I do.
February 19, 2008
The Florida Board of Education passed new science standards on a 4-3 vote. The old standards got an F in a national survey by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, which noted errors like the claim that "a thermometer measures the amount of heat absorbed by an object," that "The classification of…
February 19, 2008
Florida Citizens for Science is liveblogging the Florida Board of Education meeting on science standards.
February 18, 2008
I'm currently obsessed with my desire to cause various Floridians to be beaten with sacks of California oranges. For a sense of who I'd like to see pulped, check out Carl Hiassen's excellent survey of the situation. In between fancying citrussy punishments for people who needlessly complicate…
February 14, 2008
Ken Ham squeals:
It is so sad that millions of dollars are being spent on researching the universe, but the underlying philosophy is often that scientists want to find answers to how life arose, and in this case, “from where diseases come from.” They are “willingly ignorant” that the God of the…
February 13, 2008
At the blog for Expelled: No Intelligence, featuring Ben Stein, the producers insist "We’ll take Lincoln Day over Darwin Day…any day." The whole thing is a pack of lies, ably dissected by PZ Myers. I couldn't get past the first sentence before giving up on the rest:
Until the late 1980’s when the…
February 12, 2008
Earlier I quoted Hillary Clinton asking:
So when I hear Senator Obama talk about that, I wonder which fights he wouldn't fight.… It's all this kind of abstract, general talk about how we all need to get along. I want to get along, and I have gotten along in the Senate. I will work with Republicans…
February 12, 2008
199 years ago, in a log cabin in Kentucky, a boy was born to a pair of farmers on the American frontier. His parents named him Abraham, after the father prepared to sacrifice his own divinely promised son when called to do so by his God, and who, the Apostle Paul said, "against hope believed in…
February 11, 2008
Hillary::
So when I hear Senator Obama talk about that, I wonder which fights he wouldn't fight. Would he have not fought to get to a balanced budget and a surplus and help create 22 million new jobs? Would he have not fought to get assault weapons off the street and get them out of the hands of,…
February 11, 2008
Disco. Inst. frontman Rob Crowther wonders: Why isn't anyone talking about the 2/3 of teachers who aren't hassled for teaching basic science?
You doubt that anyone could be so silly? Gaze in wonder:
the results are cleverly communicated with misplaced emphasis to imply that teachers are under…
February 10, 2008
Obama won the Maine caucuses in a fairly dramatic way. The Hillary campaign had expected to take the state, thus upsetting the momentum from Obama's sweep of the Virgin Islands, Washington, Nebraska and Louisiana yesterday. Obama leads in the polls in the next block of states: Maryland, D.C. and…
February 10, 2008
Disguised as a middle-manager with the American Milk Solids Council, Sadly, No!'s intrepid correspondent suffered through the horror that results when American conservatives gather. Along hte way, there was a screening of Expelled: No Intelligence…, and it sucks:
At some point I sneak into a…
February 9, 2008
On Super-Typhoon Tuesday, Kansans overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama for President. This was gratifying, but a muted victory given the overwhelming number of Kansans who aren't Democrats (yet).
But today, in the Republican caucuses, the people spoke again. They rejected nutbar militarist John…
February 7, 2008
Monday’s public forum on science standards:
A press release from the Department of Education gives a few more details about the hearing being held Monday in Orlando about the state science standards.
Monday, February 11, 2008
10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Orlando Hyatt
Orlando International Airport
9000…
February 7, 2008
How will you celebrate the 199th birthday of Chuckie D?
Glenn Branch has some suggestions.
I shall be addressing the Community for Humanistic Judaism, giving a talk entitled "May they grow like an onion: Yiddish curses on the history of creationism." The talk is Feb. 17 at 10 am at the Albany…
February 7, 2008
Laura's friend Kara preserves my bon mot for the benefit of the intertubes:
"It just amazes me," said Laura's friend Josh, "how much of a divide there is between northern and southern California."
"Yeah, we never had that in Maryland," I said.
"Well, it's not really big enough to have a northern…
February 7, 2008
To announce suspension of campaign at wingnut festival. Will he endorse someone or other? Does this give Huckabee the opening he's been waiting for? Can McCain ride to the Republican Convention as the first horseman of the apocalypse?
February 7, 2008
Guillermo Gonzalez, Privileged Planet author and self-styled ID martyr, lost his last administrative appeal of his tenure denial. He has previously stated that he is looking for other tenure-track jobs, and I'm confident that some Bible college will be glad to take him.
Whether Disco. Inst. and…
February 5, 2008
So that stuff I said about Obama winning? Not so much. Ditto for the parts were I predicted an Obama sweep of CT, MA, NJ. Of those, he took only CT, making my predictions pretty crappy.
But even setting aside the fact that a majority of California Democrats picked the wrong candidate, I still…
February 5, 2008
Originally written last night, but I forgot to post it. Honest:
On the Republican side, I'd like to see Romney do well, but he won't. McCain will win a bunch of big states, and because Republican primaries tend to be winner-take-all, he'll sew up the nomination.
On the Democratic side, no one…
February 5, 2008
Poll workers this morning said turnout was high. At 8:30, I was the 74th voter of the day.
Great weather, which I suspect will help Hillary, but there's no way to know until this evening. If my sense that Hillary voters tend not to feel strongly, then good weather helps her. If my sense is right…
February 5, 2008
Seven score and three years ago, Abraham Lincoln stood and repeated his oath of office. His election four years earlier was plenty contentious, "all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it." As he took the oath the first time, "One-eighth…
February 4, 2008
Via The Sierra Club:
Livestock create a beefy portion of all greenhouse-gas emissions: 18 percent, according to the United Nations. Could the answer be as simple as two slices of bread and a slathering of peanut butter and jelly? Perhaps. Compared with a burger, this classic sandwich saves as much…
