Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at the National Center for Science Education. He is formerly a doctoral candidate at the University of Kansas, in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. When not battling creationists or modeling species ranges, he writes about developments in progressive politics and the sciences.
The opinions expressed here are his own, do not reflect the official position of the NCSE. Indeed, older posts may no longer reflect his own official position.
As you know, the name of the original and best carnival o' science comes from Charles Darwin's opus. What you may not know is that the great work in which he first presented that analogy was not meant to stand alone. Charles Darwin had two qualities that made him a great and a frustrating…
There is nothing as free
as a fox
cavorting with the rain.
The fox chased a skunk, but recognized its mistake in time. I was taking shelter under a tent, hoping for a break in the rain. After abandoning the skunk, our vulpine friend hopped from puddle to puddle in an empty parking lot. It was…
Once upon a time, when our current AG was in the legislature, he took to spelling his name with 2 "l"s to distinguish himself from a more senior legislator with the same name. And now, "Classic" Kline endorsed Morrison:
"By supporting the best candidate for the office, I have done what I hope all…
Rob Crowther complains about a story in the New York Times:
First, Dean mistakenly refers to intelligent design as the “ideological cousin of creationism.” It is not.
No indeed. It is exactly the same thing. The rest of what Crowther writes is so astoundingly wrong that I'll just let his words…
Talking Points Memo's Paul Kiel writes about the Jim Ryun-Mark Foley obfuscation:
Ah well, here's a new way of backing off a lie: "It's probably not the best way to say what he did." That's Jeffrey Black, Rep. Jim Ryun's (R-KS) campaign manager, ahem, clarifying an earlier remark by Ryun that he…
This summer, after his first visit to Iraq in three years overseeing the war effort from his slot on the Armed Services committee, Jim Ryun told the press that "They [soldiers] feel it's very important that they stay the course."
Doesn't Jim Ryun know that "we've never been stay the course"?
More…
I don't read Greg Easterbrook, for roughly the same reason I don't read anything else in the sports pages. When I want to get the experience of bulky men straining themselves trying to exceed their innate abilities, I watch C-SPAN.
I was reminded of why I don't read Easterbrook by a comment that…
As part of a larger project to provide information about incumbents in tight races, we offer this list of news accounts.
Jon Kyl Rick Renzi J.D. Hayworth John Doolittle Richard Pombo Brian Bilbray Marilyn Musgrave Doug Lamborn Rick O'Donnell Christopher Shays Vernon Buchanan Joe Negron Clay Shaw…
The Energy Department is doing a major policy analysis of energy policy and future directions. Obviously, the major issue has to be finding ways to reduce our reliance on petroleum, especially from foreign sources, and replacing it with renewable domestic sources.
Who, then, do you expect was…
The non-partisan organizations of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rated Congress. As others have noted, the senate rankings put all of the Democrats above the Republicans, and the same basic pattern seems to hold in the House, at least for the Kansas delegation:
Senator Sam…
"If there were one elected position that should be non-partisan," explains The Parsons Sun, "it would be for those who serve on the Kansas State Board of Education." They go on:
Fortunately for the 9th District there are two concerned and capable people running but, more fortunately, one of them…
Diane passes on the Kansas Equality Coalition-PAC endorsements:
The endorsed candidates are:
District 3 Julie Menghini (D) Pittsburg
District 7 Richard Proehl (R) Parsons
District 14 Aunesty Janssen (D) Olathe
District 15 Heather Cessna ( D) Olathe
District 16 Gene Rardin (D) Overland Park
District…
In new ads, Phill Kline hired an actor to impersonate his opponent. The actor reads some statements that Morrison may or may not have made 15 years ago. Court cases about the incident resolved in a dismissal and a mutual agreement to drop the case. In other words, there's no good evidence that…
With mere weeks before the elections, Governor Sebelius is sitting pretty. SurveyUSA released its poll of approval for all 50 governors, and Sebelius is the 14th most popular. For what it's worth, the allegedly resurgent Aaahnahld is the 38th.
Republican approval of Governor Sebelius seems to…
Back in May, Jim Ryun, Mark Foley and a couple of their neighbors hosted a block party. As you see, entrance to each party cost $1,000, and the gang of Republican House members served various tasty beverages.
Back when Mark Foley and his predilection for young Congressional pages became known, Jim…
Iceland breaks ban on commercial whaling:
Iceland announced last week that it would resume commercial whaling, ignoring a worldwide moratorium that came into effect in 1986.
They kicked things off by killing a fin whale, one of only 30,000 estimated to be alive as of 2001.
A female gives birth to…
Can you trust this man?
Ten days ago, we reported on Jim Ryun's claim that he didn't know Mark "booked for pages" Foley, even though Foley lived across the street and the two had thrown a block party together. Ryun claimed the parties were totally independent, a claim easily disproven by the…
Barron's thinks Republicans will retain their majority in the House:
Our analysis -- based on a race-by-race examination of campaign-finance data -- suggests that the GOP will hang on to both chambers, at least nominally.
We studied every single race -- all 435 House seats and 33 in the Senate --…
This weeks ask the Scienceblogger question is: What's the best science show ever?
I'll go with David Attenborough's Life on Earth. I probably would have become a biologist without Attenborough's example, but who can be sure. I watched our tapes of that show until they wore out. I wanted to be…
Via NASA's EarthObservatory, we learn that Greenland is melting.
Historically minded readers know that Leif Erikson named Greenland (Groenland) after its verdant coastlines, even though most of its landmass is covered with ice.
Cinematically inclined readers know that the prospect of that massive…
I haven't really been writing about the Moore-Ahner race in the 3rd District. Moore will win with his largest margin ever, and Ahner is tragically underqualified to be in Congress. He seems to think a photograph of him shaking hands with Bob Dole and the fact his name sounds a little bit like a…
"I don't believe that it's the role of government or the role of schools to settle controversial issues."
That's what doctor, state legislator, and losing gubernatorial candidate Jim Barnett says about his views on teaching evolution. He also thinks that there are two "sides of the issue" to be…
Jack Wempe, who opposes creationist Board member Ken Willard, gets two endorsements from Republicans. Donna Viola, who attempted to unseat Willard in the primary, says that Wempe "truly cares about educating our kids in this state," and that this is not sour grapes. "What the current majority of…
Salon says that Seldom Seen Smith from The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey is Abbey's "most legendary character." That sentence is hardly the point of a story about the original monkey wrencher, so it's a little silly to jump on it. But anyone who's read Abbey's ouvre knows that "Cactus Ed"…
Newfound bacteria in South Africa are fueled by radiation. The scientists who discovered it summarize the discovery by saying:
"The bottom line is: Water plus rocks plus radiation is enough to sustain life for millennia."
The paper in Science is less succint:
Most subsurface microbial ecosystems…
Former GOP AG Stovall endorses Democrat Paul Morrison:
"There is a time for partisan loyalty. And there is a time to take a principled stand. Now is that time and I stand with Paul Morrison," said Stovall.
She added: "For two decades, Paul has conducted himself and run his office in a dignified and…
We covered a debate between the candidates for the state house in the 9th district (which includes Iola). Thanks to j.d., we now see that a Republican county vice-chair has endorsed the Democratic candidate, Bill Shirley.
Both candidates are clearly pretty conservative, but that's to be expected…
DemFromCT reads Jonah Goldberg so we don't have to. Goldberg tells us:
We know now that invading Iraq was the wrong decision, but that doesn't vindicate the antiwar crowd.
Indeed, he says "the Iraq war was a mistake by the most obvious criteria: If we had known then what we know now, we would…
Sam Brownback writes in a fundraising email:
"Everything our party has achieved in the past six years is at risk of being lost in just one day."
Alas, 655,000 Iraqis and 2787 coalition soldiers cannot be brought back to life even if Democrats win the House and the Senate.
New Orleans will not be…
