Soapbox

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
- Thomas Jefferson

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• Obama: An Intellectual in the Whitehouse
• Chris C. Mooney's opinion about Obama on science
• A cabinet-level science advisor
• Cheney's Office Said to Edit Draft Testimony on health effects of global warming/climate change
• Hometown newspapers speak out against political interference in science
• NASA's own watchdog: Agency misled on global warming "In a report released Monday, NASA's inspector general office called it 'inappropriate political interference' by political appointees in the press office."
• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's report on bisphenol A, Part I U.S. regulators promised a decade ago to screen more than 15,000 chemicals for effects on the endocrine system. So far, not one has been screened.
• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's report on bisphenol A, Part II And how the government and the chemical industry has failed to protect us.
• Congress to Investigate Use of Bisphenol A in Formula Cans
• The FDA still denies the harmful effects of Bisphenol A. Just more political interpretaion of science under the Bush Administration
• NSL's are unconstitutional. So rules a federal judge. So why is the FBI still using and abusing them?
• Safety Agency Faces Scrutiny Amid Changes A look into today's Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Putin's People The Economist's view on Vladimir Putin.
• The making of a neo-KGB state
• Ethanol-from-corn subsidies must go. For a whole host of reasons.
• Political Interference in Science: An A-to-Z guide
• Moyers’ Three Factors in the Media’s Iraq Failure
• Buying the War The British press got it right. How did the U.S. mainstream press get it so wrong? There were no weapons of mass destruction.
• Depleted Uranium. Still poisoning our soldiers.
• Hydraulic fracturing should not be exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act.
• The Importance of Fair Trade We all have to start convincing the stores we buy from to carry fair trade products.
• The Dark Side FRONTLINE (of PBS) presents a coherent story of how intelligence was manipulated on the road to war in Iraq. This is a must-view documentary.
• We need a probe of why the press failed in pre-war reporting
• Political interference in science House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
• We (Americans) live in a bubble. Call upon your media outlets to report the real news, not info-tainment.
• Congress needs a new Office of Technology Assessment Legislators (almost none are engineers or scientists) need expert, non-partisan advice on the complex issues of science and technology.
• When religion the church loses its credibility. On the errant view that homosexuality is inherently sinful.
• Diesel exhaust linked to rates of asthma We must put stricter controls on diesel truck pollution. We have the technology to fix the problem.
• The Real Culprit Behind the Flooding of New Orleans? Here is one reporter's opinion.
• Absolutism Absolutists: Have patience with your own ignorance. We're all in the same boat. John Lienhard of the University of Houston.
• Is Iran Our Next Target? A speech by U.S. Rep Ron Paul (R) on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• The CEI says C0₂ is life Follow the money, common sense, and the the overwhelming evidence instead.
• The Meaning of Free Speech High School students aren't idiots. So let's stop treating them like they are.
• Obey the Law. Get a warrant. It's really not that hard. It's also the law.
• Supply and Demand in the Oil and Gasoline Business Federal lawmakers don't understand the law of supply and demand. Maybe they should all go back to high school and take a basic economics class. Or maybe they're just showboating. With some lawmakers, I'm not sure which sin they're guilty of. (Maybe we should start with removing subsidies instead of talking about windfall taxes.)
• A Christian argument against legal bans on same-sex marriage
• Subsidies for an industry that doesn't need it
• Walter Wink on Homosexuality and the Bible An argument against condemnation of homosexuality.
• Onward Moderate Christian Soldiers by John C. Danforth, former Republican Senator
• Africa ignores a mote in its eye
• Still, relatively little action on Darfur
• The ridiculousness of the "nuclear option" in the Senate
• We need higher quality outrage Some of us are forgetting that debate is patriotic
• US must build trust of moderate Muslims
• The importance of peer review
• The Bush FY 2005 budget Massive cuts to crucial programs
• Rewriting the Rules The administration's assault on the environment
• Fouling our waters The administration caving to special interests
• Dangerous levels of mercury in nearly all the fish in the U.S. More quid pro quo.
• The Bush Record on the Environment The scope of what's happened in the last four years.
• Is the AG over-zealous in its prosecution?
• Enough balances when the President wants war?
• Right-wing Intolerance--what an irony
• The costs of the Bush administration's promoting "embryo adoption"
• President Bush's Unprincipled Position on Stem Cell Research
• EPA's own semi-annual report to congress!
• The nefarious effects of Bush's tax cuts?
• The re-election of GWB: A bad signal for our republic?
• Skewing science: Politics and the Bush Administration
• Straight from Clear Channel's CEO... Also see the Fox News paragraph.
• Radio's big bully
• Prescription drugs for seniors: This writer thinks it's a bad deal for seniors and a bad deal for taxpayers. Is it also a windfall for drug manufacturers and insurance companies?
• Limbaugh's Fans Are Certain They're Right
• Put the Patriot Act to good use
• Trail of a bullet Is the US committing war crimes through the use of depleted uranium munitions?
• Texas Incarciration The largest population of inmates.
• Overview of changes to Americans' Legal Rights By the Associated Press
• The government of Iraq as well as the UN, US and UK share the blame for starving Iraqis
• Will a war against Iraq lead to more terrorism against the US?
• Is it too late for the al-Saud clan to crack down on extremism?
• Journalism and Patriotism
• Union of Concerned Scientists
• Think Tanks and industry propaganda. Do you know who funds the Cato Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, and the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment?
• A Frontline special: Muslims
• Terror and Tehran Does America's war on terror hold democracy hostage in Iran?
• Why the Towers Fell
• Above the Impact: A Survivor's Story
• Indonesian Government in Denial?
• The Criminalization of Homelessness in the United States
• Jacksonian Foreign Policy
• Iran: Parliamentarians Convicted
• Saudi Arabia: Allies Must End Human Rights Silence
• SUV problems: safety, emissions, fuel efficiency, operating costs
• Global warming, the poor, and the SUV
• Fuel Economy from the U.S. Department of Energy
• Trends to 2015, the growing gaps
• The Real Spoiler on Election Day, a case for Instant Runoff Voting