August 28, 2009
According to various sources, including Pennsylvania State Representative Mark Cohen, posting at Young Philly Politics, Larry Frankel passed away recently. The cause is unclear. Frankel was the ACLU's chief lobbyist in state legislatures, guiding state civil liberties unions through the thickets of their states' legislatures, building coalitions with partners across the political spectrum, and defending the rights of every American. As Cohen writes: Frankel was an outstanding lobbyist for the Pennsylvania ACLU in Harrisburg, taking positions on scores to hundreds of bills each year. He was a coalition builder reminiscent of Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate or William Brennan...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 10:22 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 26, 2009
Ted Kennedy was a great man, one whose flaws occasionally dominated headlines but whose legacy will be the lives saved and improved thanks to the numerous bills which bear his name, and which benefited from his wisdom as they moved through the Senate. For a man who lived his life as American royalty – the brother of a slain president and a martyred candidate for the presidency, one of the longest-serving members of the most exclusive club in America – his care for and attention to the needs of the poorest and least powerful Americans is an example to us...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 4:51 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 24, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
I know it's been a week since I got back from Netroots Nation, so this is a rather belated report, but I have a good excuse. I was on the road for 4 weeks before NrN, and it's taken me a little while to get caught up again. Netroots Nation was awesome. It'll be in Las Vegas next year, and should be even better. It'll be the 5th year, returning to the scene of the first convention, back when it was called YearlyKos. They put on a great conference, and it's a great time. Next year it's the weekend before...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 8:08 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In 1925, John Scopes was tried and convicted of violating Tennessee's Butler Act. His trial was ginned up as a constitutional test case by the ACLU and as an economic stimulus plan for the town of Dayton, TN. The trial was promoted as "the trial of the century," celebrity lawyers were recruited for both sides, and the town did all it could to attract journalists and onlookers. The trial wound up famously embarrassing William Jennings Bryan, who died shortly after the trial, and before an appellate court overturned the conviction he won on a technicality. While laws like the Butler...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:31 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 22, 2009
Category: Creationism
Disco. hustler Casey Luskin pleads ignorance to fend off an argument by Ken Miller: In a recent post, I noted that Ken Miller misrepresented Michael Behe’s arguments on the irreducible complexity of the blood clotting cascade in his book, Only a Theory. When I blogged at the end of last year about Miller’s similar mistakes at the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial, Dr. Miller responded by making me aware of something I did not previously know: apparently Michael Behe wrote the section in Of Pandas and People on blood clotting.Under normal circumstances, it would suffice to congratulate Casey for finally acknowledging...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 12:14 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 16, 2009
Category: Culture Wars
Steve Benen reviews the ways in which Republicans now ranting about how insurance reform will kill grandma once loved their 'death panels,' adding: If reality had any meaning in modern politics, these "death panel" clowns would be laughed out of the building, and humiliated for life.The whole enterprise of the modern GOP seems to fit entirely into the category of what philosopher Harry Frankfurt described in his famous essay On Bullshit. He distinguished several approaches to truthfulness in statements. On one hand, people can be truthful – concerned about the accuracy of what they say and striving to say accurate...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 8:45 AM • 34 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 15, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
Of the assembled luminaries of the science/science policy world, guess who dropped the f-bomb? And guess who was quoting RFK to do that, so it's totally cool? Anyway, shorter panel: You don't have to be a scientist to defend science, and you do need to get involved. Schools matter, and politicians need to hear from you from the White House to the school house. Many thanks to the packed room for a great session, with great questions and provocative interactions between the panel and the audience. I saw Kevin Drum, Amanda Marcotte, and Congressman Brad Miller in the audience, to...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 11:47 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 14, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
At 3 o'clock today (Eastern), I'll be on a panel about ways that scientists and nonscientists alike can improve the use of science in policymaking, the use of policy to boost science, and ways to keep denialists from derailing that process. We've got Susan Wood, a professor of public policy at George Washington University with a doctorate in biology. She made news in 2005 when she resigned in protest from her directorship of the FDA Office of Women's Health to protest the FDA's slow walking of Plan B's "over the counter" approval. She's also held senior positions at HHS and...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 8:57 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Bill Clinton spoke to the Netroots Nation conference last night. It's an inspired speech, done without notes and with extemporaneous digressions based on a heckler's call. Before he spoke, a range of Netroots Nation heroes spoke, including my hero in Congress: Brad Miller. Miller has been awesome for blogger, for sciencebloggers in particular, and for science more generally. He's met with the attendees at ScienceOnline in past years, and has attended this conference as a panelist and a blogger for several years. Last year, heading to a Q&A with Nancy Pelosi, we were on the elevator together. I commented that...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:16 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 13, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
According to the Kansas City Fox affiliate (via TPM DC), Congressman Dennis Moore, who represents northeastern Kansas and is the only Democratic representative from Kansas, has cancelled public events after credible death threats. He tells the reporter that he's gotten two separate threats, and finds this turn of events unacceptable. "I expect to have differences with people, differences of opinion. And, I respect people's opinions," he said. "But, I expect exchanges we have to be respectful and not threatening. As a former prosecutor, I certainly do not tolerate threats well and that's why I contacted the police department." I checked...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 2:06 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at 
