This is a critical day for U.S. fundamental, curiosity-driven research. Having failed to pass the bi-partisan proposed increases for FY07 last autumn, the 109th Congress literally passed the buck to the 110th. They threatened to respond to this mess by “skipping” FY07, funding it at the same levels as FY06, […]
Politics
277 posts
Here are my notes on the President’s SotU speech, with timestamps (slightly delayed by Stevo)! 6:13: Bush starts off acknowledging the historic occasion of the first woman to be Speaker of the House. Jodi comments that he “would have been a real ass” not to do it. 6:18: “Unemployment is […]
Thanks to my dad for reminding me about “Talk of the Nation: Science Friday”. I usually miss the program because of work, but in this age of on-demand internet audio it’s no trouble to catch up with a podcast. I have a bunch I listen to on the weekend, and […]
In a recent letter to his constituents, Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) wrote that “The Muslim representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district, and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to […]
I was pleased with the results of the recent elections, although I believe that this was more a vote against Southern Republicans than a vote for Democrats. In a two-party system, when you vote against one party by definition you wind up voting for the other, even if you don’t […]
About a year ago, I discovered the book “It Takes a Family” by Senator Rick Santorum. I commented on this book’s views on the scientific theories of both evolution and the big bang, as well as its attitudes toward a theory of multiple universes [TAOMPH96]. In short, I was unimpressed […]
I’ve had the privelege of participating in lobbying Congress about science for almost half a decade, and in that time I have seen scientists take more steps to raise their public profile. We have been graced by a number of opportunities to engage the public, and the government, about our […]
Jack and Jill, went up the Hill To pass some legislation, Jack fell down, in Germantown, and Jill hit “Face the Nation” I just returned from a fall trip to Washington D.C. on behalf of users of SLAC, Fermilab, and the U.S. LHC community. There were six of us, and […]
Tonight was the first and only debate between Phil Angelides and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the two candidates for governor of California. It was a one-hour debate, with about 7 questions asked of the candidates. The format was meant to be a conversation between the two men, but it degraded IMMEDIATELY into […]
“Is there anything you can do on the space station that you can’t do by locking yourself in your car for a few days?” That was Tom Bodett’s quip this morning on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” (the NPR news quiz) following a story on the recent space tourist’s reports […]
The Constitution of the United States guarantees that the U.S. government shall not abridge any expression of religion (covered under free speech), nor establish a state religion (the “Establishment Clause”). As “Bob Park”:http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN06/wn092906.html pointed out this week, and as I had heard would happen, the House of Representatives passed a […]
It was inevitable. Agree or not with what our administration does in Iraq, it was a done deal that eventually the fight would be compared to World War II. On a day when the President is speaking to a large veterans’ association, I see in his speech a gross mischaracterization […]