Category: Politics
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More Examples of Right Wing Stupidity/Racism
Lot’s of blogging hay was made over the conservatives = stupid and racist article two weeks ago, but it seems like since that was published they’re going out of their way to provide supporting evidence. Between reincarnating a 40 year old dead argument about whether or not women should be able to have birth control,…
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The Great Labor Department Conspiracy to fake new jobs
One of the characteristics of defective thinking, particularly of cranks (see theHOWTO) that we’ve discussed on scienceblogs is their poor ability to process information that is contradictory. Last week there were some interesting reports on a study which suggested those who believe in conspiracy theories can hold two seemingly contradictory pieces of information in their…
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A global warming conspiracy theorist has won 4 states, should we be worried?
The states in Green have gone for Rick Santorum, who besides having a a Google problem also believes in one of the wackiest conspiracy theories there is – the climate change hoax. That is, the belief that there is a shady group of Illuminati that have power over thousands of climate scientists from all over…
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The Great UN Conspiracy to (gasp) increase green space!
You heard me. There is a shocking conspiracy, directly from the nefarious leaders of the one world government at the UN and their pawn, Barack Obama to add more public transportation and green space to your neighborhood. Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and…
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Eisen calls for Elsevier Boycott – but can we all go OA?
Eisen writes Thus, people joining in the new boycott have no excuses not to follow through. There are plenty of viable OA options and it is simply unacceptable for any scientist who decries Elsevier’s actions and believes that the subscription based model is no longer serving science to send a single additional paper to journals…
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End the occupation
No one likes occupiers. They’re like fish and houseguests, they start to stink after a short period of time. And I worry that as time goes on the movement will only have a more and more destructive impact on progressive politics and political discourse. This isn’t to say they can’t be effective, or haven’t been…
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Eisen Busts Rep Carolyn Maloney parroting Elsevier Publishing's defense of the Research Works Act
At It’s not junk Michael Eisen continues to expose the shameless actions of Carolyn Maloney to sell out science for the sake of publishers like Elsevier. As we remarked last week, it seems that very little money is required to buy a representatives favor towards your industry, even if that means acting against the public…
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Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Darrell Issa (R-CA) sell out science
I’m never shocked by what Issa can do in a never-ending downward spiral of serving business interests, but it’s sad that NY rep Carolyn Maloney has joined him backing a bill to sell out science. Once again the publishers are trying to destroy public access, and make everyone pay to read science you’ve already paid…
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Don’t Even Give them Your Zip Code Anymore
Consumers who have asked me whether they should give their zip code at the register have been getting bad advice! I was under the misimpression that zip-level data was only being collected for demographic research purposes (to determine where stores should be located, and advertising directed, on a mass scale) and thus said that no…
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Americans on Tailored Advertising: DO NOT WANT
I’m delighted to announce the results of our first national telephonic survey of US internet-using adults on consumer privacy! The Times has coverage and the full report (Americans Reject Tailored Advertising and Three Activities that Enable It is available here. Here’s a summary: This nationally representative telephone (wireline and cell phone) survey explores Americans’ opinions…