“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” [The title of the 1973 essay by the evolutionary biologist and Russian Orthodox Christian Theodosius Dobzhansky, who criticized the anti-evolution creationist movement.] Almost 30% of humans carry the Human Papillomavirus. In women, HPV has been linked to 90% of […]
politics
32 posts
The Republican Presidential Candidate debates (and all the media that encircles them) are a great place to look for examples of poorly applied thinking. Specifically, it’s a buffet of examples of pseudo-scientific argument. In this post, we’ll use one example that stemmed from the most recent CNN/Tea Party Express debate […]
In the most recent Republican Presidential Candidate debate [1], moderator John Harris from Politico put candidate John Huntsman on the spot about his criticism of many fellow Republicans as “a bunch of cranks.” Harris then said, HARRIS: . . . You yourself have said the party is in danger of […]
In a recent post, I noted that Republican candidate Jon Huntsman is one of only a few in the field of candidates who seems to have a clear grasp of basic knowledge about the world. Well, this week his campaign has come out swinging and reaffirmed his own excellent grasp […]
Let me just give a big shout out to our Texas-sized Governor, who just set back public impressions of the Texas science curriculum about 75 years. Oh, and also thanks to our highest-ranking public official for saying that Texas public schools are in violation of several supreme court rulings that […]
Science is sometimes very helpful when trying to sort informed political candidates from uninformed ones; uninformed or misinformed candidates are likely to make bad decisions when it comes to crafting policy. America deserves the most qualified policy makers. Today, Gov. Rick Perry got some press for his statement on Climate […]
From a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power [1]: “If my doctor told me I had cancer, I wouldn’t scour the country to find someone to tell me that I don’t need to worry about it. Just because I didn’t feel gravely ill yet, I wouldn’t assume […]
Democracy is not a single, mono-cultural form of governance. When I studied democracies in college, the single most striking thing that I learned is that no two democracies are exactly alike. There is U.S. democracy, French democracy, German democracy, Russian democracy . . . every place where people have asserted […]
This weekend, Jodi and I traveled to Wisconsin to celebrate the 3rd birthday of our twin nephews. Over a delicious bowl of guacamole, I engaged in a conversation with a couple who were friends with my sister-in-law (the mother of the twins). We quickly came to the recent Republican plan […]
Something on the Sunday talk show, “Meet the Press”, caught my attention. Today’s show was hosted by Tom Brokaw, a favorite of mine in the news business. He interviewed Gov. Tom Pawlenty of Minnesota, Co-chair of the RNC convention in the Twin Cities. Gov. Pawlenty was acting as a “Vox […]
I found out on Friday that I am not the only one sending letters to the DNC about their choice to shut out the Linux community. A friend of mine told me she also sent a letter, and it sounded like it was a much more pointed statement than mine. […]
I’ve avoided the Presidential race for quite some time in this blog. Mainly, I was irritated that the whole thing started over a year ago. I felt it was a distraction from the present – the damage being done to America by the present leaders. However, it’s getting to be […]