Month: August 2005

Krugman’s Politicization of Science

Krugman’s recent column attributing intelligent design to a Vast Right Wing Think Tank Conspiracy draws the ire of the Prometheus blog: Unlike most areas of science, in the case of evolution there really is no “excess of objectivity” and Krugman is certainly right about that. But by making the general case that scientific facts compel … Continue reading “Krugman’s Politicization of Science”

Krugman’s recent column attributing intelligent design to a Vast Right Wing Think Tank Conspiracy draws the ire of the Prometheus blog:

Unlike most areas of science, in the case of evolution there really is no “excess of objectivity” and Krugman is certainly right about that. But by making the general case that scientific facts compel particular ideological outcomes, Krugman is legitimizing the very strategy employed by conservative think tanks (and today also embraced by liberal think tanks) that debates that are really about values can be effectively turned into debates putatively about science.

On the role of science in politics, Krugman finds considerable room for agreement with his conservative opponents. As much as anything, this area of liberal-conservative agreement helps to explain the increasing politicization of science in the United States.

This leap to the idea that research compels certain policies is one of the more disturbing errors we see on leftwing science blogs.

Leftwing partisan attack scientist Chris Mooney (of The American Prospect) is upset with Prometheus for daring to critcize Krugman.

High Diesel Prices

the MSM may be telling you this kind of stuff: A refinery outage and ill-timed shipments of diesel from California to Chile are pushing prices of the vital fuel past the $3-a-gallon mark and threatening to crimp the state’s economic growth as truckers, farmers and other big users struggle to cope. The sudden crunch in … Continue reading “High Diesel Prices”

the MSM may be telling you this kind of stuff:

A refinery outage and ill-timed shipments of diesel from California to Chile are pushing prices of the vital fuel past the $3-a-gallon mark and threatening to crimp the state’s economic growth as truckers, farmers and other big users struggle to cope.

The sudden crunch in the California diesel market pushed the cost of the fuel to a series of record highs last week, and triggered temporary shortages that sent some truck stop owners scrambling for backup supplies.

“We’re treading in uncharted water,” said Andre van der Valk, who was charging $2.99 a gallon for diesel Friday at all four of his stations in the San Fernando and Simi valleys. He said Shell Oil Co., which provides fuel for three of his sites, hiked his diesel costs by 24 cents a gallon in just eight days.

…but we know it’s all because of Chimpy McHitlerburton’s immoral war.

Voice over IP over 3G++

Can Cisco manage the Vikings? I doubt it: LONDON (Reuters)—Cisco Systems Inc. is considering buying the world’s top mobile handset maker Nokia in a bid to gain its wireless infrastructure technology, the Business newspaper reported on Sunday. The paper, which did not reveal the source of its information, said U.S.-based Cisco had traditionally concentrated on … Continue reading “Voice over IP over 3G++”

Can Cisco manage the Vikings? I doubt it:

LONDON (Reuters)—Cisco Systems Inc. is considering buying the world’s top mobile handset maker Nokia in a bid to gain its wireless infrastructure technology, the Business newspaper reported on Sunday.

The paper, which did not reveal the source of its information, said U.S.-based Cisco had traditionally concentrated on acquisitions of niche technology players, but its Chief Executive John Chambers is believed to be interested in merging with a wireless infrastructure company.

“Nokia has been identified as the most likely target,” the paper said.

Cisco’s acquisitions have generally declined sharply in productivity as they’re forced to conform to Cisco’s management model, so this would pretty well signal the end of both companies. That would be a plus to the networking industry, so go for it, router dudes. Voice over IP over 3G++?

Sure, why not.

Google throws a hissy fit

Everybody in the world has to deal with Google-stalkers, except Google’s CEO, of course: CNETNews.com, a technology news Web site, said last week that Google had told it that the company would not answer any questions from CNET’s reporters until July 2006. The move came after CNET published an article last month that discussed how … Continue reading “Google throws a hissy fit”

Everybody in the world has to deal with Google-stalkers, except Google’s CEO, of course:

CNETNews.com, a technology news Web site, said last week that Google had told it that the company would not answer any questions from CNET’s reporters until July 2006. The move came after CNET published an article last month that discussed how the Google search engine can uncover personal information and that raised questions about what information Google collects about its users.

The article, by Elinor Mills, a CNET staff writer, gave several examples of information about Google’s chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, that could be gleaned from the search engine. These included that his shares in the company were worth $1.5 billion, that he lived in Atherton, Calif., that he was the host of a $10,000-a-plate fund-raiser for Al Gore’s presidential campaign and that he was a pilot.

After the article appeared, David Krane, Google’s director of public relations, called CNET editors to complain, said Jai Singh, the editor in chief of CNETNews.com. “They were unhappy about the fact we used Schmidt’s private information in our story,” Mr. Singh said. “Our view is what we published was all public information, and we actually used their own product to find it.”

Google was supposed to be committed to not being evil, but this act of childish malice belies that claim.

Gee, I wonder if they’re going to demote my site again for saying this. Oh well.

Order returns to the universe

Once again things are almost right in the world of baseball: ANAHEIM — The Angels fell out of sole possession of first place in the American League West on Saturday, but only because the Devil Rays played a better game than the Royals. By virtue of Oakland’s 16-1 walkover in Kansas City and the Angels’ … Continue reading “Order returns to the universe”

Once again things are almost right in the world of baseball:

ANAHEIM — The Angels fell out of sole possession of first place in the American League West on Saturday, but only because the Devil Rays played a better game than the Royals.

By virtue of Oakland’s 16-1 walkover in Kansas City and the Angels’ 6-4 loss at the hands of the Devil Rays, the Halos fell into a tie with the A’s for first place — the first time in eight weeks that the Angels haven’t held the lead outright.

But while it’s noteworthy that the Angels have surrendered an eight-game lead in the span of only 17 games, the Halos would just as willingly point out that the last time they were tied for first place (May 17), they were tied with Texas and the A’s were 13 games under .500.

A couple of days ago, the Los Angeles Anaheims held a two-game lead, but losses to the two worst teams in baseball (Orioles and Devil Rays) took it away.

The season starts over Tuesday, the battle between Moneyball and Moneybags shining in sharp relief in a three-game series in Oakland.

This isn’t helping

Partisan hack Paul Krugman attacks the president and the neo-cons on Intelligent Design today: I’d like to nominate Irving Kristol, the neoconservative former editor of The Public Interest, as the father of “intelligent design.” Duh, it’s not going to convince anyone, even with Panda’s Thumb drooling all over it. Krugman is probably the least credible … Continue reading “This isn’t helping”

Partisan hack Paul Krugman attacks the president and the neo-cons on Intelligent Design today:

I’d like to nominate Irving Kristol, the neoconservative former editor of The Public Interest, as the father of “intelligent design.”

Duh, it’s not going to convince anyone, even with Panda’s Thumb drooling all over it.

Krugman is probably the least credible columnist writing in America today. The Lying in Ponds website has consistently ranked him number 1 or 2 on their objective partisanship scale. Any column he writes that mentions Bush or the Republicans in connection with any subject at all is properly understood simply as unprincipled political bashing, because that’s the dude’s raison d’etre.

So Krugman beating up on Bush over ID isn’t helpful to those of us who oppose ID. Similarly, Dawkins is getting carried away with his political partisanship, attacking Bush constantly even though he’s not an American. He went so far as to say that all Bush voters are “stupid”. And his work in the ID wars has lately become more and more soft.

The people best situated to attack Bush on ID are those who generally support him on the war, the economy, school choice, and that whole set of issues. And there’s been no shortage of attacks from this sector of the political spectrum (center and right) on the suggestion that ID be taught in biology classes. See Krauthammer for a good example:

Evolution is one of the most powerful and elegant theories in all of human science and the bedrock of all modern biology. Schönborn’s proclamation that it cannot exist unguided–that it is driven by an intelligent designer pushing and pulling and planning and shaping the process along the way–is a perfectly legitimate statement of faith. If he and the Evangelicals just stopped there and asked that intelligent design be included in a religion curriculum, I would support them. The scandal is to teach this as science–to pretend, as does Schönborn, that his statement of faith is a defense of science. “The Catholic Church,” he says, “will again defend human reason” against “scientific theories that try to explain away the appearance of design as the result of ‘chance and necessity,'” which “are not scientific at all.” Well, if you believe that science is reason and that reason begins with recognizing the existence of an immanent providence, then this is science. But, of course, it is not. This is faith disguised as science. Science begins not with first principles but with observation and experimentation.

And see any of the RINO blogs (Balloon Juice, Ace of Spades, Roger Simon, Jeff Jarvis, Protein Wisdom, Don Surber, etc.)

The fact is that politics by its very nature is the enemy of science, and neither side of the political spectrum has been immune to the abuse of science in the pursuit of its agenda. The junk social science that’s been churned out of left-leaning universities is a scandal of major proportions, much bigger than funny games with climatology or the work of the tiny little Disco Institute club.

Let me suggest that people who want to take on the cause of fighting ID would do well to check their other partisan beliefs at the door, lest they be confused for Unprincipled Krugmans. Similarly, religious people who want to spread their gospel would do well to stay out of science classrooms, because (as Krauthammer explains:)

To teach faith as science is to undermine the very idea of science, which is the acquisition of new knowledge through hypothesis, experimentation and evidence. To teach it as science is to encourage the supercilious caricature of America as a nation in the thrall of religious authority. To teach it as science is to discredit the welcome recent advances in permitting the public expression of religion. Faith can and should be proclaimed from every mountaintop and city square. But it has no place in science class. To impose it on the teaching of evolution is not just to invite ridicule but to earn it.

Criticisms of Christianity from snake-handling Buddhists carry no weight, and criticisms of evolution from those who reject science wholesale are similarly ephemeral.

John Roberts, gay rights activist

The abortion lobby has declared John Roberts an enemy of the people because he signed a brief that contained a footnote expressing the notion that Roe may have been wrongly decided. If that’s a legitimate claim, then Roberts must be a gay rights advocate: WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. worked behind … Continue reading “John Roberts, gay rights activist”

The abortion lobby has declared John Roberts an enemy of the people because he signed a brief that contained a footnote expressing the notion that Roe may have been wrongly decided. If that’s a legitimate claim, then Roberts must be a gay rights advocate:

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. worked behind the scenes for gay rights activists, and his legal expertise helped them persuade the Supreme Court to issue a landmark 1996 ruling protecting people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation.

Then a lawyer specializing in appellate work, the conservative Roberts helped represent the gay rights activists as part of his law firm’s pro bono work. He did not write the legal briefs or argue the case before the high court, but he was instrumental in reviewing filings and preparing oral arguments, according to several lawyers intimately involved in the case.

Gay rights activists at the time described the court’s 6-3 ruling as the movement’s most important legal victory. The dissenting justices were those to whom Roberts is frequently likened for their conservative ideology: Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Of course lawyers are required by their ethics to zealously advocate for their clients, no matter who they may be. But if Roberts can be branded “anti-abortion” for working for the White House, it’s only fair to brand him “pro-gay” for his work on this case.

Exposing the children to different ideas

This crap is just plain wrong: WASHINGTON (Aug. 2) – President Bush said Monday he believes schools should discuss ”intelligent design” alongside evolution when teaching students about the creation of life. During a round-table interview with reporters from five Texas newspapers, Bush declined to go into detail on his personal views of the origin of … Continue reading “Exposing the children to different ideas”

This crap is just plain wrong:

WASHINGTON (Aug. 2) – President Bush said Monday he believes schools should discuss ”intelligent design” alongside evolution when teaching students about the creation of life.

During a round-table interview with reporters from five Texas newspapers, Bush declined to go into detail on his personal views of the origin of life. But he said students should learn about both theories, Knight Ridder Newspapers reported.

”I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought,” Bush said. ”You’re asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes.”

There are too many “different ideas” about how we came to be to teach them all, so the schools should focus on elements of the science curriculum that actually, you know, relate to science. The next thing we know they’ll be teaching Native American creation myths, Scientology, and Zen Buddhism.

This insane embrace of religiosity, which we saw in the Schiavo matter as well, will push voters to the Democrats in coming elections. I’ve personally said I’d vote for Hillary before I’d vote for a religious nut, and I meant it.

H/T Right Wing Nut House and Politburo Diktat.

UPDATE: It bears pointing out that the Democrats are no more “pro-science” than the Republicans, generally speaking. Democrats would import all sorts of ethnic creation myths into science classes in the name of multiculturalism, and they’ve already wrecked the social sciences with their gender mythology.

Science is the natural enemy of politics.

UPDATE AGAIN: Instapundit has a google of links on the subject. It’s heart-warming to see so many Republicans refusing to issue the president a free pass on this gaffe. Roger Simon is on the case too.

UPDATE SOME MORE: Jeff Goldstein is taking the side of the morons and so is Simon Says, because they fail to realize the agenda behind ID. We’ve covered this before, so please start with the Wedge Strategy document from the Discovery Institute. ID was invented by their employees in hopes of increasing the religiosity of American life. Whether you think that’s a good idea or a bad one, it’s against the law to use tax dollars to cram religion down the throats of public school children, and it better remain that way. Here are some quotes:

The proposition that human beings are created in the image of God is one of the bedrock principles on which Western civilization was built. Its influence can be detected in most, if not all, of the West’s greatest achievements, including representative democracy, human rights, free enterprise, and progress in the arts and sciences.

Yet a little over a century ago, this cardinal idea came under wholesale attack by intellectuals drawing on the discoveries of modern science. Debunking the traditional conceptions of both God and man, thinkers such as Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud portrayed humans not as moral and spiritual beings, but as animals or machines who inhabited a universe ruled by purely impersonal forces and whose behavior and very thoughts were dictated by the unbending forces of biology, chemistry, and environment. This materialistic conception of reality eventually infected virtually every area of our culture, from politics and economics to literature and art

The cultural consequences of this triumph of materialism were devastating. Materialists denied the existence of objective moral standards, claiming that environment dictates our behavior and beliefs. Such moral relativism was uncritically adopted by much of the social sciences, and it still undergirds much of modern economics, political science, psychology and sociology.

Materialists also undermined personal responsibility by asserting that human thoughts and behaviors are dictated by our biology and environment. The results can be seen in modern approaches to criminal justice, product liability, and welfare. In the materialist scheme of things, everyone is a victim and no one can be held accountable for his or her actions.

Finally, materialism spawned a virulent strain of utopianism. Thinking they could engineer the perfect society through the application of scientific knowledge, materialist reformers advocated coercive government programs that falsely promised to create heaven on earth.

Discovery Institute’s Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture seeks nothing less than the overthrow of materialism and its cultural legacies. Bringing together leading scholars from the natural sciences and those from the humanities and social sciences, the Center explores how new developments in biology, physics and cognitive science raise serious doubts about scientific materialism and have re-opened the case for a broadly theistic understanding of nature. The Center awards fellowships for original research, holds conferences, and briefs policymakers about the opportunities for life after materialism.

Any questions?

Strikeouts for Troops

We should all be supporting Barry Zito’s Strikeouts for Troops, a charity combining two of the greatest things about America, baseball and support for the brave men in our military who liberate oppressed people.

We should all be supporting Barry Zito’s Strikeouts for Troops, a charity combining two of the greatest things about America, baseball and support for the brave men in our military who liberate oppressed people.

President stands up for Palmeiro

Could it possibly be that Raffy Palmeiro got juiced by accident? Apparently El Presidente thinks so: President Bush — who owned the Texas Rangers while Palmeiro played for the team — called Palmeiro a “friend” in a round-table interview with reporters from several Texas newspapers. “He’s testified in public, and I believe him,” Bush added. … Continue reading “President stands up for Palmeiro”

Could it possibly be that Raffy Palmeiro got juiced by accident? Apparently El Presidente thinks so:

President Bush — who owned the Texas Rangers while Palmeiro played for the team — called Palmeiro a “friend” in a round-table interview with reporters from several Texas newspapers. “He’s testified in public, and I believe him,” Bush added.

I dunno, maybe he took some over-the-counter supplement thinking it was vitamins, but either the dude is lying or they need to look into the test some more.

In related news, Palmeiro has been seen doing tequila shots with Valerie Plame at the Covert CIA Agents Bar in Virginia, so there may be some trickery here.

And in other related news, young Joe Blanton and the A’s took down Johan Santana and the Minna-so-duh Twins tonight to cut the LA Anaheims’ margin to one game. The Anaheims were too chicken to play tonight, so the Good Guys don’t get to officially climb into first place until tomorrow.