In a move that I’m sure will surprise, oh, three or four people, the editors of Seed have officially endorsed Barack Obama for president. I doubt any regular reader of this blog will be surprised to hear that I agree with their endorsement. In fact, I’m on record as saying that I will not vote… Continue reading Unsurprising Endorsements
Category: Politics
The Visual Display of Political Information
The closing narrative of the McCain campaign is apparently going to be “Obama’s a pinko commie socialist who wants to raise your taxes,” which means it’s time for all good liberals to bust out the graphs to show why this is false. Well, graph, singular. You know the one: I don’t remember who first posted… Continue reading The Visual Display of Political Information
The Missing Word
There have been a whole bunch of stories written about the idiot skinheads who were busted for a ludicrous plot to kill a whole bunch of black people, including Barack Obama: the AP version, the Washington Post, the New York Times. They’re all pretty similar, and they’re all notable for one thing: the word they… Continue reading The Missing Word
Optimism and the Depression
This week’s department colloquium was Roel Snieder of the Colorado School of Mines on The Global Energy Challenge. I have to admit, I was somewhat rude, and spent a lot of the talk futzing with my tablet, but really, while his presentation of the material was very good, the material itself wasn’t new to me–… Continue reading Optimism and the Depression
Science Escape 2008
Chris Mooney visited Union on Wednesday, talking to two classes (one Environmental Studies class, and one class on presidential politics), and giving an evening lecture titled “Science Escape 2008.” He’s an excellent speaker, so if you’re looking for someone to give a talk about science and politics, you could do a whole lot worse. I… Continue reading Science Escape 2008
No Mock Trials Without Preconditions
Inside Higher Ed this morning has a story about a mock trial to be held at Northern Kentucky University: The trial centers around the termination of fictitious biology teacher Susan Scott (a traditionally trained evolution adherent), who according to her complaint, encouraged students to “explore creation theories.” Scott, who will be played by Simon Kenton… Continue reading No Mock Trials Without Preconditions
Questions for Chris Mooney?
Chris Mooney will be visiting Union tomorrow (I’m picking him up at the airport in a couple of hours). He’ll be speaking to a couple of classes and then giving a presentation about science and politics in the evening. If you have any questions that you’ve been dying to ask Chris, and haven’t been able… Continue reading Questions for Chris Mooney?
A Word from Our Middle East Correspondant
Checking in from Cairo, Senior Uncertain Principles Middle East Correspondant Paul Schemm, with a wire story titled “Ultraconservative Islam on Rise in Mideast”: Critics worry that the rise of Salafists in Egypt, as well as in other Arab countries such as Jordan and Lebanon, will crowd out the more liberal and tolerant version of Islam… Continue reading A Word from Our Middle East Correspondant
Working for the Working Class Vote
the New York Times Magazine has a cover story this week about Barack Obama’s efforts to reach working-class voters. The headline writers did it no favors by tagging it “Will gun-toting, churchgoing white guys pull the lever for Obama?,” which makes it sound like the worst sort of demographic electoral college nonsense. The actual article,… Continue reading Working for the Working Class Vote
The Pointlessness of Punditry
In the wake of the debate the other night, there’s been a lot of talk about the disparity between the way tv pundits “scored” it– most of them thought McCain did well– and post-debate polling of actual voters, which gave a huge edge to Obama. Kevin Drum, Mark Kleiman, and Steve Benen all comment on… Continue reading The Pointlessness of Punditry