An altogether excellent piece by Cathy Young in the Boston Globe: To put it simply: Haleigh Poutre is no Terri Schiavo. Schiavo had been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years, and had undergone a barrage of tests showing that she had no higher brain functioning and no consciousness — a fact on which …
Archives for January 2006
Politicizing Science: Update
Yesterday I passed on a report that appointed officials at NASA seemed determined to prevent scientists from deviating from the party line, as confirmed by interviews with both the director and public affairs officers at the Goddard Space Flight Center. This bit seemed particularly troubling: At climate laboratories of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, …
Compare And Contrast
Let me preface this post by saying that I don’t know the practical differences between potash mining and mining for coal. More than likely coal mining is more fundamentally dangerous than potash mining, which may explain why all 72 miners trapped for over a day in a Canadian potash mine fire appear to have made …
A Novel Solution
Interesting: Why put up costly cell phone towers in thinly populated areas, when a few balloons would do? In North Dakota, former Gov. Ed Schafer is backing a plan to loft wireless network repeaters on balloons high above the state to fill gaps in cellular coverage. “I know it sounds crazy,” said Schafer, who now …
The Enron Trial
The Enron Trial begins today, and let me just wish a quick “Good Luck” to the defense team, because they are going to need it: Chances are that in this city’s pool of 2.3 million registered voters, there are at least 16 people who are not angry about the implosion of Enron, the largest business …
The Next Battleground for the Religious Right
The next battle in the never-ending culture wars is already upon us: More than a dozen states are considering new laws to protect health workers who do not want to provide care that conflicts with their personal beliefs, a surge of legislation that reflects the intensifying tension between asserting individual religious values and defending patients’ …
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Good Year for Democrats?
Could this be a good year at the polls for Democrats? Republicans are worried: In eight concise paragraphs, two moderate and two conservative House Republicans put into writing last week what they say many of their colleagues quietly fear: the GOP’s plunging poll numbers, rising public support for a Congress controlled by Democrats and the …