We like to believe, as Americans, that this country is a meritocracy. The idea---Horatio Alger, Thomas Edison, McGuyver, all emblematic of this notion---that the best qualified rise to the top, that those who can display and apply ability, skill, and intelligence are the ones who are selected---either by themselves or…
Today we biked over to see the 2½ hour long gay pride parade. "You're here, you're queer, we're used to it." About 40,000 other people came to see the parade along the edge of my neighborhood today. You can see the crowds looking down Grand Boulevard. Many people were festively…
I was surprised yesterday to find a post by Jerry Pournelle (well known SF author and technology columnist) on MensNewsDaily (a starkly conservative news magazine site with pretensions of middle-of-the-roadism). His column, Intelligent Design: Answers and Questions, is openly favorable to the premise that Intelligent Design and Global Warming denial…
Why, we all wonder, is America alone among the "First World Nations" to have such a high proportion of science-denying religionists, and even in high offices? According to Gregory Paul and Phil Zuckerman in Why the Gods Are Not Winning (that I found via this summary by Pharyngula) religiosity is…
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against the government in the case of Boumediene v. Bush, finding that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay have the right to file habeas corpus petitions in federal court. This decision strikes down a key section of the Military Commissions Act,…