While America’s been incinerating discarded embryos rather than letting scientists find ways of helping the living with them, the Brits have had something of a breakthrough: The London Times reports: BRITISH scientists have developed the world’s first stem cell therapy to cure the most common cause of blindness. Surgeons predict it will become a routine, …
Monthly Archive: April 2009
Apr 27 2009
Suckerz
When The Colbert Report first started airing, Stephen almost hoodwinked me. He’s such a good satirist I thought he might actually be conservative for an episode or so. Turns out that, being a dirty flaming librul, I should’ve had no doubts: The Irony of Satire This study investigated biased message processing of political satire in …
Apr 27 2009
Words and Music
When Simon & Garfunkel songs get lodged in my head, they’re usually songs like “The Sound of Silence” or “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” possibly “Mrs. Robinson” or “The Boxer.” They’re one of the bands my dad and I used to listen to together. Stuff like this makes you realize the ol’ dad is kinda cool …
Apr 26 2009
Happy Hour Discurso
Today’s opining on the public discourse. Ah, sweet hypocrisy: Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), who was last making headlines for suggesting that Texas may consider seceding from the Union, is requesting help from the federal government to deal with a possible swine flu pandemic: Gov. Rick Perry today in a precautionary measure requested the Centers for …
Apr 26 2009
Poem o’ the Day
All right, I know we’ve done W.H. Auden, but this poem came up while I searched for something else, and it delighted me. Therefore, more Auden. If I could tell you Time will say nothing but I told you so,Time only knows the price we have to pay;If I could tell you I would let …
Apr 26 2009
Sunday Sensational Science
Doctors in the Blogosphere So, we have an outbreak of swine influenza in Mexico, a chronic infestation of “healers” who wow with woo, and loads of health misinformation everywhere we turn. It’s turning critical. Someone call a doctor-blogger! In this edition of Sunday Science, we’ll be making the medical rounds. And don’t forget to refer …
Apr 26 2009
Haters Freak Over Hate Crimes Legislation
Hate crimes legislation is on the way to becoming a reality, and the right-wing haters are livid: We’re finally making progress on passing a federal hate-crimes bill: On Thursday, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Protection Act passed out of the House Judiciary Committee. Sure enough, as Kyle at RightWingWatch predicted, the right-wing freakout has …
Apr 26 2009
Shoulda Been a Con: Ben Nelson Edition
Can someone please remind Ben Nelson which party he joined? Greg Sargent reports that centrist Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson (NE) — who voted to confirm both Sam Alito and John Roberts — will oppose Dawn Johnsen’s nomination to lead the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. Nelson says he opposes Johnsen, a noted legal scholar …
Apr 25 2009
Happy Hour Discurso
Today’s opining on the public discourse. Yesterday, the Cons got their asses handed to them in a district they should’ve won easily. Today, they try to put the best possible face on a humiliating defeat: It’s the job of the parties’ campaign committees to put as positive a spin on election results as possible. But …
Apr 25 2009
Poem o’ the Day
All right, here it is, the moment none of you have been waiting for: a Dana Hunter original that didn’t come from an NP writing assignment. This poor piece has been ripped from its context as part of a poetry war. But I like to flatter myself by thinking it stands fairly well on its …
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