cmooney
Posts by this author
February 15, 2006
There were some serious fireworks at the House Committee on Science today. John Marburger got nailed several times for his wholly unsatisfactory response to repeated charges of science abuse and suppression by this administration. Meanwhile, Dana Rohrabacher proved that he's just as out of it now…
February 15, 2006
I've written at length in the past about why Zogby polls, conducted on behalf of the Discovery Institute and invariably showing that a large percentage of the public supports "teaching the controversy," shouldn't be relied upon. I was about to blog about this topic yet again, but Matt Nisbet beats…
February 15, 2006
While in Boulder, I appeared on the "How on Earth" Show--I think it went pretty well. You can listen here. My segment begins around minute 7:00.
February 15, 2006
Dr. Mark Siegel has a new book out, entitled Bird Flu, in which he apparently asserts that our fears are in overdrive when they probably shouldn't be. In a Washington Post interview, Siegel elaborates:
Bird flu is one in a long line of things we've been warned about, and for which we supposedly…
February 15, 2006
The Progress Report just picked up on the news that Bush may have met with Michael Crichton on global warming, but with that exception, this story doesn't seem to be getting nearly the traction that it ought to. I'm going to order Fred Barnes' book to get more details. Meanwhile, if this report is…
February 15, 2006
I'm as happy as the next person that the Ohio Board of Education is backing down in the wake of the Dover trial decision, and will be getting rid of its silly anti-evolution lesson plan. However, I don't think evolution fans ought to be rejoicing too much--at least not yet.
If the Ohio board is…
February 13, 2006
Apparently he did, at least according to Fred Barnes' new book, Rebel-in-Chief: Inside the Bold and Controversial Presidency of George W. Bush. I haven't read Barnes' book; I'm relying on a review of it by Ronald Brownstein, which includes the following:
Those who admire Bush will find plenty to…
February 13, 2006
I didn't end up giving my special comments about Charles Darwin at my talk last night; a snap judgment led me to decide that I would be wiser to dive right into my speech given the unexpected format of the event. So instead, I've decided to publish here what I had planned to say at the beginning of…
February 11, 2006
I'm out here in the Rockies, speaking Sunday night at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and then on Monday night at the Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver. More info on both talks can be found here.The Sunday talk was prominently written up in the Boulder Daily Camera (in the "Religion"…
February 10, 2006
Tara has done a comprehensive takedown of Tom Bethell's "No African AIDS Epidemic" conspiracy theory. We must thank her profusely for this, folks, because there's an element of personal sacrifice here in service of the greater good: She actually had to engage seriously with wacky arguments in order…
February 10, 2006
There's no longer any reason to feel sorry for this George Deutsch character. I had figured he might be a young guy in way over his head, and therefore worthy of our forgiveness or even sympathy. Well, forget it. Deutsch didn't know when to shut up and slink away. Now, in an attempt to "defend…
February 9, 2006
Apparently my appearance on the podcast show of the Center for Inquiry was pretty successful. Here's a link. And once again, for those in Boston/Cambridge, I'm speaking at Tufts tonight. Here's more info. Hope you can make it.
February 8, 2006
Folks, I suffered from a major computer crash today, which prevented me not just from blogging but even from posting others' comments. It was a stressful, hellish day, but I managed to recover somewhat towards the end, and now I'm semi-operational again.
Anyway, I won't be blogging more today, but…
February 7, 2006
Andy Revkin is confirming a report, which originated on a blog, that NASA's now-notorious George Deutsch did not actually graduate from Texas A & M (as his resume had asserted). Revkin's also reporting that Deutsch has resigned from NASA. Ouch.
In a way, I feel sorry for Deutsch. I mean, who on…
February 7, 2006
PZ disagrees with my suggestions about strategies for defending evolution. More specifically, he disagrees that we should be using, as messengers, scientists who reconcile faith and evolution (aka Ken Miller) to reach the broader American public. As PZ puts it:
Why, sure. And the ideal messenger to…
February 7, 2006
I'm pleased that the renowned Yale science historian Daniel Kevles has reviewed The Republican War on Science in the latest issue of The American Scientist. Here's the upshot, criticisms of yours truly fully included:
The Union of Concerned Scientists has a point in that during the administration…
February 7, 2006
I don't know a great deal about particulate pollution. But I am nevertheless not at all surprised that we're now having a political science fight over this subject. After all: 1) it's an environmental issue; 2) it's one where lots of industry dollars hinge upon what regulatory framework the EPA…
February 7, 2006
John Farrell has been helping to keep an eye out for outlandish claims made by Tom Bethell, author of the Politically Incorrect Guide to Science. It's hard to know what Bethell's most over-the-top view is, but I'd say two are in strong competition: 1) questioning the existence of an African AIDS…
February 6, 2006
Rightwing whining about "liberal" academia is nothing new. But I was particularly struck by this piece in Walker, Minnesota's Pilot Independent, which gripes about the fact that I was invited to speak at the University of Minnesota last October. My appearance is presented as stunning evidence of a…
February 6, 2006
Via Tara, I see that a major media organ has finally contrasted Bush's "I Heart Science" message in his SOTU speech with the reality of how science has been treated in this administration:
Starting when he was a presidential candidate in 2000, George W. Bush has often assured voters that his…
February 6, 2006
The Boulder Daily Camera has the latest on NASA PR flacks torquing findings in the field of climate science. It seems that sea ice experts at the University of Colorado are angry about the way NASA altered a press release announcing the results of their research--which, of course, showed declining…
February 5, 2006
More and more, we're seeing top level reporters in the prestige press rejecting the concept of phony "balance," and exposing nonsense when they see it. A great example comes in a recent Times story covering debate over an anti-evolution bill in Utah:
The Utah bill's main sponsor, State Senator D.…
February 4, 2006
By now everyone has heard of George Deutsch, the creationist-friendly whippersnapper who decided he could tell James Hansen what to say and what not to say. Has ever a greater scientist had a less worthy oppressor? It's hard to think of an example.
PZ and John Lynch have more on Deutsch; he's all…
February 4, 2006
NASA whistleblower and leading climate scientist James Hansen has become more and more unmuzzled: He went on NPR's "On Point" yesterday and really didn't hold back. You should listen to the whole interview, but I must say that from my perspective, I found one part particularly interesting.
At…
February 3, 2006
Everyone is buzzing with the news that John Boehner, Republican of Ohio, has been elected the new majority leader in the House. So far, though, I have not seen any journalist ferret out this 2002 letter to the Ohio Board of Education (reported on here in the Post), in which Boehner teamed up with…
February 3, 2006
Once again, folks, I'll be doing an online chat at WashingtonPost.com today--in about two hours, or at 11 am ET--and I would love to hear your questions. I'll answer as many as possible. Blogging will resume here after I'm done posting over there....
February 2, 2006
One response I got from readers of The Republican War on Science was that the book depressed and outraged them, but provided little release, and didn't devote adequate energy to proposing positive solutions to the problems I had identified. I fully understand where this reaction is coming from, and…
February 1, 2006
A while back I did a public debate with Ron Bailey of Reason and Wesley Smith of the Discovery Institute, sponsored by the Donald and Paula Smith Family Foundation. Well, Reason magazine has just put audio and video of the event online. Check it out here.
And another update: I'm doing a…
February 1, 2006
Sounds like fun, no? Yesterday in the Times, Cornelia Dean reported on a science policy meeting for members of Congress:
More than 100 committee staff members, Congressional aides and at least one senator, Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico, crammed into a basement meeting room. With all of the…
January 31, 2006
Sure enough, Bush did the "science" thing last night. I've already preemptively explained why he's not a credible messenger on this topic; so has DarkSyde (and I'm sure many others on the blogs). Still, let's parse the president's message a bit more:
First, I propose to double the federal…