January 31, 2007
With Kris Kobach's return to Kansas politics, the anonymous Kriswatchers have returned as well.
January 31, 2007
The KC Buzz Blog has a subscription to Roll Call, thus leaned that this article about Republican comeback kids is down on Ryun. While "the National Republican Congressional Committee is prepared to back any former Member who gives the GOP its best chance of reclaiming seats the Democrats won last…
January 30, 2007
I like to joke that in Kansas, biology is political science. Even when I'm doing job interviews outside of this grand state, people usually get the joke, or need only slight prompting to get it. I take this to be a sad commentary on the state of politics in Kansas.
There is no doubt that the…
January 30, 2007
Via Uncertain Principles, we learn that dangerous terrorist Robert Weiler has pled guilty. So far as we know, the guilty plea is not the result of torture, illegal warrantless wiretapping, invasion of randomly chosen countries, denial of habeas corpus, or any other of the many sacrifices we've…
January 29, 2007
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, after dealing with patients who get busted by portable nuclear detectors after getting medical procedures with radioactive materials, they've decided defending nuclear plants against aerial assault is impractical:
The new defense plan -- most of which is…
January 29, 2007
Energy policy is one of those nerdy things that no one pays attention to until it starts to go wrong. And that's where we stand today.
Electricity demand continues to rise, as documented by this report by the Energy Information Administration. And most of that electricity is generated by coal…
January 29, 2007
Every few weeks, we gather the finest of Kansan and Kansas related bloggery. This week, a series of recipes.
Modern science: Drop an apple on Isaac Newton, wait until he realizes that the laws of nature apply to the whole universe. Use those laws to fly missions around the Moon, as described by…
January 29, 2007
Pat Roberts has been putting together another campaign for Senate. He's given up his seats on the Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee in exchange for more pork-filled seats, apparently worried that a resurgent Kansas Democratic Party might remember to run someone against him…
January 28, 2007
Cato defends children's liberty to be wrong. This is not the first time that Andrew Coulson has advanced this line of argument. Essentially, his claim is that the only way to end the wars over creationism would be to let children learn whatever they want in schools that their parents pay with…
January 28, 2007
What Kind of Reader Are You?
Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader…
January 28, 2007
Our dear friend Red State Rabble has managed to start a fight with the Cato Institute. Or at least with their Neal McCluskey (not, as I first thought, with Casey Luskin). Cato is defending their latest attempt to justify publicly funded vouchers for private schools, and RSR responds by rightly…
January 27, 2007
Via Dr. Myers:
I am:
Ursula K. LeGuin
Perhaps the most admired writing talent in the science fiction field.
Which science fiction writer are you?
I'm was a big fan of the Earthsea series, so I'm pretty happy with this outcome. I've drifted away from SF since, and haven't read any of LeGuin'…
January 27, 2007
Kris Kobach, who lost to Dennis Moore two years ago after savaging his moderate opponent in the primary (an opponent later convicted of fraud for a forged check he used to get a mortgage), will now head the Kansas Republican Party.
Kobach lost in part because his work and his campaign were linked…
January 27, 2007
Rush Limbaugh wonders what it says "about a cultured civilized society that it will round up babes send them off to basic training and send them off to the foxholes."
Set aside that the fat junkie skipped out of the 'Nam because of an unfortunate cyst, and that we don't currently round up anyone,…
January 27, 2007
Don't forget to submit your best Kansas blogging by tomorrow night.
January 26, 2007
Kansas Senate considers opposition to increasing troops in Iraq:
State Sen. Donald Betts, D-Wichita, filed a resolution that would put Kansas lawmakers on record of being opposed to Bush’s call for 21,500 more troops in Iraq.
At a minimum, the resolution states, Bush should seek approval from…
January 26, 2007
A bill was filed in the House to mandate HPV vaccinations for all sixth grade girls.
The bipartisan group of Kansas House members who sponsored the bill have added Kansas to a list of states — including Virginia, New Jersey, California, Georgia, Texas, Kentucky and Michigan — where legislators are…
January 26, 2007
Afarensis asks Dembski on Open Access: Is He Hypocritcal, Stupid, or Both?
Both.
This is the simple answer to that simple question.
The broader issue of open access is not so simple. While Dembski's understanding of the issue is both hypocritical and stupid, the issue of whether commercial science…
January 26, 2007
The BBC's Climate Challenge game is dangerously addictive. Do not play it.
Update: Link fixed.
January 26, 2007
In a meeting with the Topeka Capital-Journal editorial board, former congressman Ryun blamed their coverage for his failed campaign:
Ryun acknowledged that a Capital-Journal article in October about how well he knew Rep. Mark Foley, accused of improper conduct with House pages, was OK. Ryun was…
January 25, 2007
Roddy Bullock repeats some questions, as if they get more interesting the millionth time:
Question: What do you call a person who hypothesizes an unseen intelligent being and searches outer space for confirming material evidence?
Answer: A scientist.
Question: What do you call a person who…
January 25, 2007
Study finds regional differences in US serial killings:
Did you know that people living in the Western region of the United States are more likely to become victims of a serial killer than people living in the Northeast?
Ah, science. The study by University of Connecticut Emeritus Sociology…
January 25, 2007
No, not the hard stuff. Cassie Gentry uses the campus paper to get all worked up about abuse of Plan B. Plan B is basically a high dose of birth control pills. Taken shortly after intercourse, it prevents an egg from implanting in the uterine wall being released from the ovaries, preventing…
January 24, 2007
DarkSyde interviews the new chairman of the House Science Committee's subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation. Chris Mooney rejoices in Henry Waxman's scheduled hearing on abuse of federal climate scientists. Nancy Pelosi proposes a select committee on climate change and energy independence.…
January 23, 2007
The opposition response is often an exercise in triviality. For the last few years, powerless Democrats responding to Bush after he delivered his annual pablum dosage seemed meaningless.
Jim Webb set a different standard. Here's how he signed off:
Regarding the economic imbalance in our country…
January 23, 2007
I reviewed the energy proposals from tonight's address, so I may as well offer quick takes on the rest of it.
He breaks it down into eight categories: energy, health care, education, immigration, HIV/AIDS, malaria, defense, and spending reforms.
The health insurance portion will be the most…
January 23, 2007
The energy portion of the State of the Union is online. As promised, no cap-and-trade.
As expected, it emphasizes ethanol. Within ten years, the President proposes to replace 15% of gasoline with alternative or renewable fuels, equivalent to 35 billion gallons of ethanol per year.
For comparison…
January 23, 2007
Nancy Boyda's bill stripping federal pensions from Congresscritters convicted of certain felonies passed the House unanimously, with four members not present.
In all his years in Congress, Jim Ryun's greatest legislative accomplishment was making foreign shoes somewhat cheaper.
January 23, 2007
While I'm wonking out, Salon.com's How the World Works has a really excellent piece about the role of seed companies in the prospective ethanol boom.
If ethanol advocates have their way, half of the current corn crop could be put to use in ethanol, reducing foreign exports and raising food prices…
January 23, 2007
There's a lot of excitement about ethanol lately, and the President will undoubtedly tell us more about ethanol tonight. But stopping the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases will take more than just changing how we fuel our cars.
A paper published in 2004 by Pacala and Socolow lays out a…
