Conservatives
mikethemadbiologist | February 11, 2008I really wasn't going to bash Kristof over his recent apologia for evangelicals. I've done so before, and I didn't really see the point in doing so again. But, by way of ScienceBlogling James Hrynyshyn, I came across Kristof's response to some of the criticism he has received (in bold is his synopsis of a particular criticism; italics mine):
It's okay to deride evangelicals because they're Neanderthals on science and other issues. If people don't believe in evolution, they invite mockery. If we call them nuts, it's because we have good evidence that they are nuts.
I agree that the…
mikethemadbiologist | February 7, 2008Squooze my fascist, baby!
...there's a good chance we're both onto something:
In fact, Senator McCain has indicated that not only would he like to unleash the U.S. military on substantial portions of the rest of the world, as president, he would work to militarize American society. In a 2001 article in the Washington Monthly, after lamenting that it was "not currently politically practical to revive the draft," McCain went on to praise and argue for the expansion of the National Civilian Community Corps, a federally-administered program where volunteers "wear uniforms, work in teams, learn…
mikethemadbiologist | February 5, 2008On his campaign website, Romney has listed ten incidents that supposedly mean McCain is unstable. Let's review them:
1. Defending His Amnesty Bill, Sen. McCain Lost His Temper And "Screamed, 'F*ck You!' At Texas Sen. John Cornyn" (R-TX). "Presidential hopeful John McCain - who has been dogged for years by questions about his volcanic temper - erupted in an angry, profanity-laced tirade at a fellow Republican senator, sources told The Post yesterday. In a heated dispute over immigration-law overhaul, McCain screamed, 'F--- you!' at Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who had been raising concerns about…
mikethemadbiologist | February 2, 2008Seven years into the reign of Little Lord Pontchartrain, some Democrats still don't get that the Republicans and movement conservatives do not reconsider and rethink, they regroup and rearm. driftglass tries to help Democratic Kansas Governor Sebelius understand this (bold original):
And then comes the Democratic response from Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.
Sebelius: I'm a Democrat, but that doesn't matter tonight. The fact that you're tuning in suggests that you're[....]
Oh, Jebus. Pause, while I roll my eyes and reach for the Fwow Up Bag.
Sebelius: I will now detour from the…
mikethemadbiologist | January 31, 2008...and conservatives still don't like him. Boo fucking hoo. Here's how Straight-Talking, honest McCain is sliming the Mittster:
"I'm calling with an urgent Mitt Romney [unintelligible]"
"We care deeply about traditional values and protecting families. And we need someone who will not waver in the White House: Ending abortion, preserving the sanctity of marriage, stopping the trash on the airwaves and attempts to ban God from every corner of society. These issues are core to our being.
"Mitt Romney thinks he can fool us. He supported abortion on demand, even allowed a law mandating taxpayer-…
mikethemadbiologist | January 31, 2008...the morons at Bucky's Family Restaurant do. From some actual NY Times reporting:
"I wish there was somebody worth voting for," said Buford Moss, a retired Union Carbide worker sitting at the back table of Bucky's Family Restaurant here, with a group of regulars, in a county seat that -- as the home of the 11th president, James K. Polk -- is one of the ancestral homelands of Jacksonian Democracy.
"The Democrats have left the working people," Mr. Moss said.
"We have nobody representing us," he continued, adding that he was "sad to say" he had voted previously for Mr. Bush. He was…
mikethemadbiologist | January 30, 2008Conservative blogger Ben Domenech, in a stereotypical display of rightwing 'humor'*, writes an imaginary speech for Fred Thompson's withdrawal announcement (italics mine):
I have never seen such a bunch of pansies strutting about pretending to be leaders.
Rudy Giuliani? Slick cheater. Mike Huckabee? Jesus freak. John McCain? Crazy. Mitt Romney? Woman.
That says everything, although 'insecure, pencil-dick weenie' probably wouldn't be superfluous.
*There are funny conservatives (Christopher Buckley often cracks me up), but among movement conservatives, much of what passes for humor would be…
mikethemadbiologist | January 28, 2008Say hello to the Office on National Drug Control Policy and to faith-based drug overdose prevention. One public health intervention that saves lives is the distribution of Narcan nasal sprays to drug users:
The nasal spray is a drug called naloxone, or Narcan. It blocks the brain receptors that heroin activates, instantly reversing an overdose.
Doctors and emergency medical technicians have used Narcan for years in hospitals and ambulances. But it doesn't require much training because it's impossible to overdose on Narcan.
The Cambridge program began putting Narcan kits into drug users'…
mikethemadbiologist | January 18, 2008I had read this NY Times review by Timothy Noah of They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons, but, until maha revisited it, I hadn't realized that I missed the importance of one part of the review (italics mine):
Just about the only place the neoconservative movement can't locate Hitler is Nazi Germany. As late as 1944, the founding-neocon-to-be, Irving Kristol, publicly dismissed the "near hysterical insistence upon the pressing military danger," Jacob Heilbrunn reports in his new book, "They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons." While the Nazis herded Jews into the gas…
mikethemadbiologist | January 17, 2008Other than Atrios, I'm the only one who thinks Romney would be the hardest Republican for Democrats to beat. Here's why.
The Somerby Effect. One thing to keep in mind is that the traditional media narratives, while trivial for all politicians, are strongly biased against Democrats ("Obambi", obsessive hatred of the Clintons, "The Breck Girl"). Second, on a factual claim, a counter-argument always receives less attention than the original argument because political reporters are stupid and ignorant (not necessarily true of beat reporters), and after adding in the bias, if a Democrat has to…
mikethemadbiologist | January 16, 2008Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann (MN) is trying to prove that she is more stupid than the Gingrich disciple who thought we could eliminate the National Weather Service because the Weather Channel had it covered (really). To wit:
Today, Rep. Eric Cantor (VA), the chief deputy Republican whip in the House, unveiled his proposal to stimulate the economy. His legislation -- the so-called Middle Class Job Protection Act -- does nothing for the middle class. Instead, it reduces the corporate tax rate by 25 percent.
At a press conference today unveiling the stimulus proposal, Rep. Michele Bachmann…
mikethemadbiologist | January 11, 2008Dave Neiwert, of Orcinus, reviews conservative propagandist Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. This part jumped out at me (italics mine):
Liberal Fascism is like a number of other recent attempts at historical revisionism by popular right-wing pundits -- including, notably, Michelle Malkin's attempt to justify the Japanese-American internment in her book In Defense of Internment, and Ann Coulter's attempt to rehabilitate McCarthy's reputation in her book Treason -- in that it employs the same historical methodology used by Holocaust deniers and other right-wing revanchists: namely, it selects…
mikethemadbiologist | January 9, 2008First, before I make too much of the differences between, I agree with Orac that the decision by the OHRP to curtail an excellent healthcare intervention that could prevent thousands of deadly hospital-acquired infections annually is murderously stupid. Like Orac, I have had a couple of ridiculous experiences with human subjects research review boards.
The most ridiculous case involved a study of human Escherichia coli. To get E. coli, erm, fresh from the source, the procedure involves poking your own feces with a sterile swab as they exit your posterior. There are legitimate human…
mikethemadbiologist | January 1, 2008A lot of irrelevant, has-been politicians are making noises about the need for bipartisanship, now that there's even a remote possibility that a moderate Democratic agenda could be enacted. Just say no to Compulsive Centrist Disorder; be partisan!
From the New York Times, here's what I'm talking about:
On Sunday, the mayor will join Democratic and Republican elder statesmen at the University of Oklahoma in what the conveners are billing as an effort to pressure the major party candidates to renounce partisan gridlock.
Former Senator David L. Boren of Oklahoma, who organized the session with…
mikethemadbiologist | December 31, 2007That would be William Kristol, their new op-ed writer. It's nice to see that stupid people are being mainstreamed into society. Of course, I never thought of them as a historically oppressed minority...
mikethemadbiologist | December 31, 2007Because nothing says compassionate conservatism like cutting funding for poor disabled children. From the Washington Post:
The Bush administration issued a new rule Friday that eliminates Medicaid reimbursement for certain transportation and administrative tasks undertaken by schools on behalf of students with disabilities.
A wide range of medical services are furnished to students in schools. Speech and physical therapy are typical examples. Medicaid, the government's health insurance program for the poor, helps pay for those activities for low-income children. It will continue to pay.…
mikethemadbiologist | December 22, 2007By way of Dave Neiwert comes this hysterical mash up of the movie 300 and the anti-immigrant right:
mikethemadbiologist | December 20, 2007Driftglass is organizing a letter writing campaign to the advertisers on Chicago's hate radio station WIND. If you live in the area, help him out. Here's why:
Remember, if you choose to contact any or all of the organizations on the list;
1. Polite but firm works best to accomplish what you are trying to do.
2. This is not a Free Speech issue. Like any other American, Michael Weiner Savage is free to vomit his lunacy in letters to the editor, or on his preferred street corner, or on a blog, or scrawled in his own shit on his bedroom walls.
Instead this is about Disinvestment. This is about…
mikethemadbiologist | December 17, 2007John Aravosis, in a burst of rage, demonstrates why I can't stand 'progressives' (italics mine):
I don't claim to be an expert on health care policy, and admit that my eyes gloss over when trying to understand the differences between Hillary's, Obama's, and Edwards' health care plan. But I have a gut feeling that none of those plans are meant to help people like me, people in the middle, people who are neither rich nor poor. Just like the sub-prime bail-out, where our politicians are helping to artificially inflate real estate prices so first-time home buyers like me can pay tens of thousands…
mikethemadbiologist | December 15, 2007At least, that's what the latest CBO data suggest. Paul Krugman summarizes the change in after-tax income between 2003-2005:
Here's what the numbers say about percentage gains in after-tax income from 2003 to 2005:
Bottom quintile: 2%
Next quintile: 2.4%
Middle quintile: 3.9%
Fourth quintile: 3.7%
Top quintile: 16%
Top 10%: 20.9%
Top 5%: 27.7%
Top 1%: 43.5%
It was a boom, all right -- but only for a few people.
Once you get to the top fifth it gets very interesting. Compare the top quintile increase of 16% to the top tenth increase of 20.9%. When you consider that the top quintile contains…