Policy and Politics
tfk | July 19, 2008Cass Sunstein (law professor at the University of Chicago, mega-author and potential Supreme Court Justice) chatting with Samantha Power (genocide expert, once-and-hopefully-future Obama advisor) at the ropeline where Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi were greeting the Netroots Nation crowd.
Awesome.
tfk | July 19, 2008A teacher at Netroots Nation asks what can be done to improve science education, and to get principles of science as a process back into classes within the NCLB framework.
Gore responded briefly that it is "really harmful that science education… [has] been pushed out of the experience our children have in schools in order to teach to a test."
Pelosi answered by talking specifically about NCLB. Will follow up with both if humanly possible.
tfk | July 19, 2008In 20 years, historians will try to figure out how global warming moved from an issue that scientists and wonks were alone in caring about. Nancy Pelosi began her prepared statement talking about her creation of a climate change committee in the House. At the Netroots Nation panel on space policy, and a DNC platform discussion about space afterward, researching, averting and mitigating the effects of climate change were taken as necessary components of NASA' s mission. Al Gore spoke a couple days ago about creating a carbon-free energy system in ten years, and it honestly isn't unrealistic…
tfk | July 19, 2008Al Gore just took the stage at Netroots Nation to talk about climate change.
Awesome!
Update: In an aside to the moderator, Pelosi whispered (thinking her mike was off) "It's really exciting that he's here."
Update: http://wecansolveit.org/
tfk | July 19, 2008Asked at Netroots Nation, whether she'll work to end abstinence-only sex ed, she answers "Yes."
They are "a poor and a bad policy," and are "dangerous to the health of young women." We need better sex ed. "We need more pro-choice members of Congress."
tfk | July 19, 2008Nancy Pelosi, speaking at Netroots Nation, says that the title quotation is what she hears in all her travels, wherever she talks to young folks here and abroad.
"Words, not weaponry, are the tools of the new generation," she says.
tfk | July 19, 2008Before the Netroots Nation panel with Nancy Pelosi, we got a chance to get all our protesting out of our systems.
"Impeach Ron Paul" seemed to be the consensus.
tfk | July 19, 2008On the way to Nancy Pelosi's "Ask The Speaker" event at Netroots Nation, I rode the elevator with Congressman Brad Miller (D-NC). Apparently we're staying on the same floor. I observed that he gets to ask Pelosi questions all the time, and he replied that he'd be sitting at the back, and anyway "I'm just another blogger here."
Last night I got to drink and chat about space policy with two people rumored to be on the short list for an Obama NASA administrator.
This rocks.
tfk | July 18, 2008Joy, of TelicThoughts, posted some gentle thoughts on PZ Myers, they were deleted due to "incompetence." As a public service, the vile mess is below the fold:
"He Should Die of Gonorrhea and Rot in Hell":
Yeah, that's a a movie quote*. And quite funny too, considering the movie and the context. Would you like a cookie, son?
I'm posting it here because PZ's latest escapade of bragging that he was receiving "death threats" after soliciting consecrated Catholic host so he could publicly desecrate it has caused quite the Big Stir in cyberspace over the past week. I'm sure you're all aware of the…
tfk | July 18, 2008I just saw Paul Krugman wandering the halls of Netroots Nation, looking like a befuddled professor. Incredibly, he was not being swarmed by bloggers.
tfk | July 18, 2008That's what John Dean just said, quoting Rep. Jane Harman, about Dick Cheney and the rest of the Republican party. Meanwhile, I note that John McCain still seems to think he's fighting Vietnam The Hundred Years War.
Let me say that Netroots Nation rocks. I ran into Nate Thames, a friend and fellow Kansas blogger who now works at ActBlue, raising funds for progressive candidates. At the airport, I ran into Ed Brayton, who was being picked up by Dailykos's DarkSyde. Later I got to hang out with Seed Media's Ginny Hughes, and met author Mark Bowen.
John Dean just finished slapping around…
tfk | July 18, 2008Wednesday night, Ed Brayton and I joined Texas Citizens for Science and Center for Inquiry-Austin for a series of talks about science education in Texas.
Earlier that day, a number of people attended a legislative hearing on the Texas Board of Education's egregious abuse of power and process in passing English language standards. In an 11th hour move, they switched standards drafted by their writing committee with ideologically driven standards which reflected board members' own skewed perspectives. It's widely seen as a preview of tricks they hope to play with science standards.
Over…
tfk | July 14, 2008Via ThinkProgress:
Q: President Bush believes that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt children. Do you agree with that?
Mr. McCain: I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no I don’t believe in gay adoption.
Only Florida currently bans adoption by all same sex couples. There are about 65,000 children who have been adopted by gay or lesbian couples nationwide, and I doubt any of them would have preferred to float through the foster care system.
tfk | July 14, 2008I'll be in Austin, TX later this week to attend NetrootsNation and to stare steely-eyed at the state's Board of Education. I will also be part of this exciting event:
Speakers to Highlight Dangers of Creationism Encroaching into the Public Schools
Austin, Texas (July 10, 2008)- Science education in Texas is under attack as never before, as evidenced by the recent ouster of State Director of Science Education Christine Castillo Comer for the offense of promoting science education. Now, as Comer pursues her lawsuit for wrongful termination, the Center for Inquiry-Austin, Texas Citizens for…
tfk | July 14, 2008West Oakland shooting sends one to hospital:
A person was shot in the chest and leg Sunday night in West Oakland, police said.
Teen dies in Oakland shooting:
A 15-year-old boy was shot to death Saturday night not far from his East Oakland home, police said.
Mountain lion jumps man in Palo Alto park:
An animal tracker hired by city officials was heading into Foothills Park in Palo Alto on Sunday night to hunt down and kill a mountain lion that attacked a man over the weekend, authorities said.
…the first known mountain lion attack in Palo Alto, said Palo Alto Police Agent Dan Ryan.
The 50-…
tfk | July 11, 2008One of the joys of Bay Area living is the unusual headlines in the paper. To whit: Alameda County pot clinics can now sell hashish:
The main changes to the ordinance, however, involve proposals that came during the ordinance's two-year review.
The one change will allow licensed dispensaries in unincorporated Alameda County to carry hashish, more commonly called hash, a more concentrated and potent form of cannabis. No dispensary, however, can carry more than 1.5 pounds of the product at a given time. Some medical marijuana users prefer hashish due to its potency and variety of ways it may…
tfk | July 10, 2008I'm super-excited to be attending Netroots Nation in Austin next week. One of the coolest things they're doing is a Q&A with Speaker Pelosi. But I join Nick's concern about the questions people want asked:
For those of you who plan on going to Netroots Nation, or watch Speaker Pelosi's appearance on UStream, I encourage you to go to "Ask the Speaker" and rate the questions that you think are most important.
At the risk of being curmudgeonly, the Speaker's time is really, really valuable. Do you really want it all to be spent asking her questions about FISA, impeachment, and subpoenas?…
tfk | July 10, 2008Our President:
President George Bush signed off with a defiant farewell over his refusal to accept global climate change targets at his last G8 summit.
As he prepared to fly out from Japan, he told his fellow leaders: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."
President Bush made the private joke in the summit's closing session, senior sources said yesterday. His remarks were taken as a [one]-fingered salute from the President from Texas who is wedded to the oil industry. He had given some ground at the summit by saying he would "seriously consider" a 50 per cent cut in carbon emissions…
tfk | July 7, 2008Via ThinkProgress, we have Fred Barnes dismissing the resurgence of the Taliban:
On Fox News Sunday, Fred Barnes argued that war in Iraq is “so much more important” than the war in Afghanistan. Iraq is a “country in the heart of the Middle East, one of the most important countries there, an oil-producing country.” He added, “Compare that with there’s a Taliban offensive in southeastern Afghanistan. You talk about the middle of nowhere!”
It's because of this sort of conservative myopia that the attacks of 9/11 were able to come out of "the middle of nowhere." The Clinton Administration pushed…