Defying of an alliance of nations that included the United States and China, North Korea has launched its latest rocket, one believed to be capable of reaching Alaska and Hawaii. Unnamed Japanese defense officials have said that Iranian experts with in North Korea helping with the launch. Axis of Evil, anyone?
Author: marc
Marc is a software developer, writer, and part-time political know-it-all who currently resides in Texas in the good ol' U.S.A.
Debating Gay Marriage
The Anonymous Liberal has an interesting post up entitled Being a “Public Christian” in which he slams Rod Dreher for his post in which he quotes a lawyer friend as saying “as soon as homosexuality receives constitutionally protected status equivalent to race, then ‘it will be very hard to be a public Christian.'” Well, what of it? Individuals and society as a whole have always judged behavior, rewarding the good and punishing the bad. And they always will.
Obama to Lift Cuba Travel Restriction
Following in Jimmy Carter’s footsteps in yet another way, President Obama plans to lift travel restrictions to Cuba. In as far as it goes, this is a good thing. Unfortunately, Obama apparently doesn’t plan to call for an end to the U.S. trade embargo.
Judges Should Eat More Fortune Cookies
My fortune read: “Common sense is all the sense there is.” I nodded knowingly, thinking of the Ward Churchill case and how Colorado University will most likely be forced to reinstate the horse’s behind. The little slip of paper seemed even more appropriate after the Iowa Supreme Court struck down the state’s marriage defense law. Where has the common sense gone in our judiciary branch? Methinks judges should pay more attention to their fortune cookies.
Houston Doctors Use Stem Cells to Treat Stroke Victims
Doctors at Houston’s Texas Medical Center recently pioneered a new experimental treatment for stroke victims in which the patient’s own adult stem cells are harvested and injected into the bloodstream. Dr. Sean Savitz, a neurology professor and the study’s lead investigator, hopes to show that the stem cells will take it from there, migrating to…
GM’s Problems Started Decades Ago
Nate Silver’s picture is worth at least a thousand words when it comes to communicating how long GM’s financial troubles have been brewing. Silver also gets the reason behind the company’s demise right: the costs of GM’s retiree pension and health care programs. On one hand it’s easy to look back to 1950 and second-guess…
Texas School Board Rejects Scientific Method
The Texas State Board of Education has overturned its own requirement that public schools teach the strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories presented in the classroom, watering down its language to this less stringent standard: “in all fields of science, analyze, evaluate and critique scientific explanations … including examining all sides of scientific evidence of…
ADHD Medicine’s Value Over Time
In 1999, a group of researchers led by William Pelham released the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA), a paper that failed to note the benefits that children receive from their medicine decline over time. The MTA ran into controversy when an academic review of the paper questioned why it played down negative…
Legalizing Drugs Will Reduce Violent Crime
As demonstrated by his recent decision to send help to the embattled Mexico border region, President Obama is well aware of the problem posed by drug violence, both here at home and overseas. His response, as summarized below, is all wrong. And that’s not just me talking – Harvard’s Jeffery Miron says that same thing….
Darwinists Weigh in on Texas Education
Lisa Falkenberg’s commentary at the Houston Chronicle leaves no doubt that she’s in favor of teaching Texas children that Darwin’s theory about the origins of species as if it were proven, incontrovertible fact. If only that were the case – then perhaps this tiresome debate could finally be put aside. Darwin’s theory about our origins…