Month: October 2009

A reader writes:

How odd that you would call attention to Michael Shermer's open letter now, given the excellent article in the current Atlantic, "Does the Vaccine Matter?" The logical fallacy of the letter is obvious. Just because evolution is the cornerstone of biological science does not mean that any particular vaccine is effective, safe, or worth the risk. Those are empirical questions to be answered experimentally. Good research often results in medical discoveries that look good in theory but fail in practice. The idea that no one should doubt the worth of the flu vaccine if they believe in evolution is comical. If most scientists felt the same way, the creationists would be right to call science an ideology.

There is irony in Shermer's point about herd immunity. He complains that if enough people forgo vaccination, an otherwise avoidable disease can spread. That's only true if the vaccination works, so it begs the question. But the point that any biologist would understand is that natural selection often rewards free-riders as long as the gene responsible for it remains rare. Someone who reasons like a moral human being wouldn't refuse to share in the risk of immunization, but someone who reasons like a selfish gene might. Bill Maher may understand natural selection perfectly.

Nate Silver sorts through the various Maine marriage polls:

A couple of weeks ago, I gave the marriage ban 3:1 odds against passing. I might lower that slightly to about 5:2 given the PPP poll, but the fundamentals remain fairly good for proponents of marriage equity. If the marriage ban passes, the pro-gay marriage side is really going to need to rethink its messaging strategy (my suggestion on how to do so here.)

David Frum and Michael Wolff explain.

Whatever else they are, Barack Obama and Roger Ailes are not dumb. And this war helps both.

More pictures here. A description of the project:

Born in 1980 photographer and illustrator Agan Harahap from Jakarta, Indonesia, currently works for music magazine TRAX. His latest photography project called ‘Super Hero’ consists of memorable political and wartime scenes from the mid-20th century featuring beloved superheros like Spiderman or Batman in some interesting and funny positions – true juxtaposition in effect. It’s fun to see Superman standing in the Neuschwanstein Castle.

"If people want to say that the whole quest to articulate objective human rights standards and international humanitarian law is inherently futile or misguided, then fine. But an awful lot of people who claim not to believe that seem to want to turn around and reject the underlying premises of the endeavor when it turns out that Israel—like its adversaries—sometimes violates those standards," – Matt Yglesias.

The only salient question is: did Israel commit war crimes in Gaza? And yet so many refuse even to address that factual question or the large amount of evidence Goldstone assembled. Just as many simply refuse to grapple with the reality of how the US treated prisoners under Bush and Cheney. The Dish has tried to hold all of these entities to the same standards – the US, UK, Hamas, Iran, Israel. Because double standards are useful for a short time, but fatal in the end. And this is a long, long war.

… as long as they help build market share. The acceptance of non-celibate former Anglican priests in the Catholic church is not new. The priest in the parish where I grew up has a wife. But this streamlining of the process takes it to a new, smoother level. And what it proves is that the Vatican does not believe – who could? – that a married priest cannot serve his flock as well as a celibate one. So the bar on married priests is revealed as a pragmatic one (they were once ubiquitous in the church). Now recall that the celibacy requirement has clearly contributed to the decline of the church in the US and the West and has led indirectly to the sexual abuse problems of screwed up celibates. Why would the Vatican make an exception for Anglicans but not for, you know, Catholics?

The US cuts funding for the Bush administration program to help fund the Iranian opposition. Bad news, right? Not according to the dissidents:

Critics like Iranian dissident and journalist Akbar Ganji have maintained that the program made virtually all Iranian NGOs targets of the hardline government in Iran: "The US democracy fund was severely counterproductive. None of the human right activists and members of opposition in Iran had any interest in using such funds, but we were all accused by Iran's government of being American spies because a few groups in America used these funds." The secretiveness around the program – the recipients of the funds remain classified – has added to the dilemma, Iranian human rights groups maintain. They say it has enabled the Iranian authorities to accuse any Iranian NGO of having received funds from the US government.

A reader writes:

I agree that stoner humor is tiresome (and inaccurate, but that's another fight), but why do we need to make this all about sick people? I'm not trying to be heartless–but I'm willing to wager that a very small portion of marijuana used is to manage sickness. It's a very important part of why legalization is important, and maybe it's an effective message politically, but whenever I hear arguments for legalization couched in medical marijuana terms, I get the feeling that people are thinking "yeah, right. These weed activist people just want to get high." And you know, they're sort of right. I *do* want to get high. What's it to you?

It's not just a medical issue–we need to assert our freedom to engage in an activity that harms very few people and results in needless jailtime and wasted tax dollars. The cancer patient struggling with chemo-induced nausea is an important reason to legalize, but so am I–a 21-year-old gainfully employed elite-college grad who's minding her own business (or the 21-year-old high-school dropout aspiring rapper, for that matter). A "stoner," if you will. I think activists fear that image won't translate well in terms of garnering support, but I think it may appeal to Americans' appreciation of personal liberty. At the very least, they'll appreciate the straight talk.

As Dish readers well know, this is also my position. I do not see the fact that marijuana provides great pleasure as a reason to ban it. My point in the post was a narrower one. If the laws permit medical marijuana, they should only support medical marijuana. And our success in providing medical marijuana responsibly, legally and humanely will be a critical test of whether a more ambitious end to prohibition can be achieved. One step at a time. But, yes, I sense a sea-change. A long, long overdue sea-change.

Oddly romantic. Very oddly:

Strawberry Swing from Matt Clark on Vimeo.

"An alternative video for Coldplay's Strawberry Swing, directed by Ross Neil and Matt Clark, with thanks to HSI London."