Guarded outrage, with intimations of futility

Do I believe that George W. Bush stole the last election and that the Republican party is run by criminals and traitors? You betcha. With his record of sloppy analysis, though, I just wish someone more trustworthy than Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. had authored that report.

I also don’t see much in the way of productive suggestions about what to do to prevent it from happening again. If Republican operatives are in a position to commit such sweeping acts of anti-Democratic corruption, what’s to prevent it from happening again this fall? What are we going to do if it does happen again?

That helps

Yesterday was a long, busy day of driving, ferrying offspring about, and I listened to a lot of NPR. All I heard, over and over again, was talk about Henry Paulson and his new position as Treasury Secretary. Not a contrary word was spoken: I heard all about his pro-environmental stance (good, but I don’t see how the Treasury Secretary’s opinion on a subject outside his responsibility was going to help), and there was much vague handwaving about how he was a feather in the Bush administration’s cap. There was nothing about what his position on economic issues was, which was a little weird.

My one thought all the time Paulson’s praises were being sung on that mouthpiece of the liberal media was, “If he’s so brilliant and impressive, what the heck is he doing signing on with the most incompetent administration ever? Why wasn’t anyone saying anything about his actual qualifications, other than chanting ‘Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs’?”

Score one for the blogosphere. Max dares to be critical. Now if only our media would put something of substance together.

Carnivalia, and an open thread

Read and discuss:

Or talk about anything you want. The pope’s presence annihilates ice cream and tampons. Bill Frist really needs to take a shower before working in the Senate. What kind of penalties would be appropriate for Kenny Boy? I’m sure you can all think of something to talk about—I’m buckling down for a few hours to finish reviewing a paper.

Scientists, neuter yourselves!

Chad reports a not-so-subtle message from a science conference:

The annoying thing was the peripheral message– she took pains to state several times that both Democrats and Republicans in Congress support science, in a tone that basically came across as chiding us for thinking otherwise. That was annoying by itself, but at the very end of the talk, she specifically warned against taking partisan positions, citing the letter supporting John Kerry that was signed by a couple dozen Nobel laureates as something that made it harder to keep science funding. She said that after that, when she met with administration officials about budget matters, she could see them thinking “Damn scientists…”

When the government says or does something scientifically stupid, it is our solemn duty to go along with it.