Lee's Blog

I seriously do not understand this whole conflict. MacMillan wants to charge more for their eBooks. Amazon doesn’t want to. So Amazon decided to pull all their books — digital and dead tree alike — for … what? Just this weekend? Forever? I don’t have any idea, though I’ve seen various people suggesting it’s just for the weekend.

But the reason many people have advanced for Amazon’s action makes no sense to me. They are saying that Amazon needs to keep the price of the eBooks down so they can sell more Kindles. If that were the case, why would they have an iPhone app so you can read their eBooks on the iPhone that they didn’t manufacture or sell? Why would they have a PC app so you can read their eBooks on a computer that they didn’t manufacture or sell? Doesn’t it seem obvious that they want to sell the eBooks, not so much the Kindles?

I’m totally at a loss here.

The global warming science is settled, settled! Aren’t you listening? It’s settled!

Why, you have only to look at the IPCC report, which was based on the unimpeachable, peer-reviewed research of every highly-respected climate scientist on the globe!

Well … except for that thing about the Himalayan glaciers melting by 2035. That was just a throw-away claim made in a popular article by a non-researcher, but it sounded really scary so they tossed it in.

And, well … except for that thing about the rain forests, that came from a report by an environmental group that wouldn’t have any bias, oh no. Not to mention that the report, besides not being peer-reviewed and being written by people with no expertise in climate research, didn’t actually say what the IPCC claimed it said. But other than that, it was really reliable.

And, well … except for the fact that some of the most prominent figures among the climate scientists engaged in illegal action to conceal their purported evidence, though they managed to drag out the process long enough that the statute of limitations has run.

And, well, also … except for that other fact that while they were breaking the law by concealing their purported evidence, they also “lost” (oops!) the raw data that didn’t have their “corrections” in it.

And, um … except that the Russians say some of their own climate observations were deliberately removed from the records to produce an apparent global warming.

But other than that the science is absolutely settled and beyond any rational questioning. Which is why, no matter what the topic under discussion, commenters on ScienceBlogs routinely throw in sneers about global warming “denialism”, saying, in no uncertain terms, that anyone who doubts any global warming claim whatsoever, no matter who it comes from or what provenance it might have, is equivalent to a believer in homeopathy and creationism.

Well, I don’t believe in homeopathy, creationism, distance healing, astrology, 9/11 trutherism*, or birtherism**. But I am very troubled by the evidence that is coming out about global warming. At this point, I don’t trust the so-called researchers any more than I trust any other political hack.

And I really wish the people who are pleased to style themselves skeptics on ScienceBlogs could bring themselves to give up the fallacy of guilt by association. Global warming is not necessarily true just because many of the people who doubt it, disagree with them politically.

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* 9/11 “truthers” claim the United States government and/or the Mossad — anyone besides Arab terrorists — brought down the Twin Towers.

** “Birthers” claim that The One is not a U.S. citizen and cannot produce a valid birth certificate because he was born in Kenya and thus is not eligible to be President.

I got Ground Zero from Amazon on Sunday. I looked at the other Repairman Jack books that were available on the Kindle, and noted those that were missing. It seemed to me that it would be cool to have the whole series on that one little device, but several were missing.

So today, I happened to read that the only one still missing was Crisscross. Hmm, I thought All the Rage was missing too. I went back to Amazon to check and … they’re gone! They’re all gone, including Ground Zero! Even the books are gone! At least, they still show up, but you can’t buy them from Amazon.

I guess I should be grateful that they didn’t snatch Ground Zero back off my Kindle.

So, I got F. Paul Wilson’s latest, Ground Zero, on my Kindle, of course. This is part of a continuing series, and is definitely not recommended for anyone but a fan who has read the previous books. Also, it ends with: “Excited, he hurried after the One to tell him.” Only a fan would want to wait until fall for the rest.

Anyway, back to Anya Mundy. So, here’s the setup. Imagine you’re a supernatural being as old as life on Earth. For thousands of years, you have been harried from pillar to post by the Otherness, which is now gaining power at a rapid rate. You have recently been severely injured by the Otherness. If you are destroyed, everyone and everything on Earth will die, slowly and horribly. You have been told that the Otherness has come up with some new ghastly thing, which you cannot detect because sometimes you can’t detect things of the Otherness, although human beings can. One of your human allies has gone to investigate. All clear so far?

So, your human ally comes running back, screaming at you to run, get away. He seems to be striking at something invisible — striking and even shooting at it. You ask what he’s doing, and another human ally says he’s attacking a man. A man. That both of them can see clearly, and you can’t. Hmm. Kind of like those Otherness things that humans can see clearly and you can’t, don’t you think?

Now both of your human allies are screaming at you to run. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to, like, run? Just run before the Otherness thing (whatever it is — who cares?) gets to you?

Only an idiot would hang around and ask them to explain. They can explain later! Grab the dog, transform yourself into a teenage girl, strong, long-legged, and — especially — fleet of foot; tell the dog to transform into a greyhound, and run! Or, given that the spirit of the world probably doesn’t need to travel by the same means as human beings, go check out the weather in Antarctica.

So what does she do? Hang around and ask them to explain, until the Otherness thing gets her.

Idiot.

At long last, the General Medical Council has rendered a verdict in its interminable case against Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield produced “research” (repudiated by most of those who would have been co-authors) purporting to show that the MMR shot (or jab as the British say) causes autism.

Wakefield neglected to mention that he had been paid to produce this “research” by trial attorneys seeking the lucrative anti-vax business, or that the test results he reported weren’t the actual test results, or that he had a patent on a separate measles vaccine that would allow him to profit if people were scared away from the MMR.

Quoth the BBC:

The General Medical Council ruled he had acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly” in doing his research.

The verdict, read out by panel chairman Dr Surendra Kumar, criticised Dr Wakefield for the invasive tests, such as spinal taps, that were carried out on children and which were found to be against their best clinical interests.

The panel said Dr Wakefield, who was working at London’s Royal Free Hospital as a gastroenterologist at the time, did not have the ethical approval or relevant qualifications for such tests.

The GMC also took exception with the way he gathered blood samples. Dr Wakefield paid children £5 for the samples at his son’s birthday party.

Dr Kumar said he had acted with “callous disregard for the distress and pain the children might suffer”.

He also said Dr Wakefield should have disclosed the fact that he had been paid to advise solicitors acting for parents who believed their children had been harmed by the MMR.

But then they go on with this:

The GMC now has to consider whether Dr Wakefield’s behaviour, and that of his colleagues, amounts to serious professional misconduct and then if any sanctions should be imposed, such as striking them off the medical register.

How could that not be serious professional misconduct? Forget the other dishonesty, forget the children who have died because he frightened their parents out of protecting them with vaccines. He was conducting unauthorized and unethical “research” that involved hazardous and unnecessary medical procedures on children! What else is there to “consider”?

A little primer for those who may be confused about First Amendment jurisprudence prior to the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission:

• If a multibillionaire pays millions out of his pocket change to fund a propaganda movie, there is no possibility of political corruption because he is an individual.
• If a group of citizens who collectively have a small fraction of the wealth of the multibillionaire pool their resources through a non-profit organization to make a movie as a form of political protest, they are engaged in political corruption because they worked through a corporation, and they all belong in prison.
• If GE, through its subsidiary MSNBC, encourages its viewers to engage in political corruption through vote fraud, there is no possibility of political corruption because, even though GE is a corporation, MSNBC is a legitimate news service.
• If FoxNews reports on political corruption in Congress, the employees of FoxNews are engaged in political corruption and they all belong in prison because they work for a corporation which is not a legitimate news service.

It is surely no coincidence that the Administration was claiming that Fox was not a legitimate news service within three weeks after arguing in the Supreme Court a right to ban any speech they deem political by any corporation that they do not deem a legitimate news service.

Obama leave me alone
Obama leave me alone
Obama leave me alooone
Remember I must have votes.

This is sung to the tune of “Oh Brandy Leave Me Alone”, although, strangely, I cannot find the lyrics that I learned to this song, even though I found a number of references to the record that I learned it from, and a South African friend of mind knew the same lyrics I did.

Oh Brandy leave me alone,
Oh Brandy leave me alone,
Oh Brandy leave me alooone,
Remember I must go home.

My girl’s got another fellow,
I don’t know the reason why.
I said hello dear,
She said hello and goodbye!

(chorus)

Last Sunday, I tried to see her,
I knocked at her door all day,
Then I stood in the cold
with my dying bouquet.

(chorus)

I have much to say about the Citizens United lawsuit, but I cannot wax too prolix right now as I am typing on my iPhone. However, I will point out what my (few) readers may have observed over the years: I never, ever recommended voting for or against any candidate prior to last week’s election. The reason was simple: I didn’t want to become a felon under the McCain-Feingold law. In this last election, I felt fairly safe, since that law was an incumbent protection act, and there was no incumbent last week. But now I feel really safe, indeed, I almost feel like I live in a free country!

When I’m online, I spend most of my time on science/antipseudoscience sites. I don’t actually spend a lot of time looking at political sites, though that may not be evident in recent postings.

One argument that creationists frequently make on these sites is that “atheism is a religion”, and thus, because they identify the modern biological sciences with atheism, modern biological sciences cannot be taught in public schools for the same reason that Biblical creationism cannot. A frequent response to this is, “if atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby.”

The Democrats’ claim to constitutional authority for the individual mandate to purchase insurance is that, whether you purchase insurance or you do not, you are engaged in interstate commerce. If you don’t purchase it, the insurance companies receive less business, which is clearly an impact on interstate commerce.

This article, I think, does a good job of laying out why this is an enormous, unprecedented extension of Federal power, and shows that if it is accepted, there is absolutely nothing that the Federal government cannot force an individual to do or not do.

But I think a much simpler explanation is, “If not purchasing insurance is engaging in interstate commerce, then not collecting stamps is a hobby.”

So later in the Facebook discussion:

A: I also don’t think one can reasonably say that Repubs have been staying on the sidelines. In fact, they’re doing all they can to see this fail, pushing back, being recalcitrant, and generally unproductive. I’m not saying that in the context of reasoned debate, either; it’s simply been “party of no” stubbornness.

I think we’d also be hard-pressed to say that this is due to tort reform, or any particular issue they don’t like. Rather, the political calculus kind of dictates it. Republicans have nothing to gain by helping pass real reform; their best bet is to sabotage it, as they have been, and hope that the watered-down version that finally passes doesn’t change much. Politics-wise, they’re doing what’s best for themselves. Unfortunately, it’s Americans who are getting used and abused in the process.

This is a meme that the Democrats have been pushing for a year: the reason the health care “reform” bill has not been enacted is that the evil Republicans have obstructed and sabotaged it. Well, this doesn’t work for anyone who can do second-grade arithmetic.

In order to pass a bill in the House of Representatives, you need a majority of 435 votes. 435/2 = 218 (rounded up). In 2009, the Democrats held no fewer than 254 votes at any time. They could pass anything they wished, and they didn’t need a single Republican to do it.

In order to pass a bill in the Senate, you need a majority of 100 votes. 100/2 = 50. Of course fifty votes would actually be a tie, but the Vice President casts the deciding vote in that case, and the Vice President is a Democrat. The Senate rules allow unlimited debate (filibuster) which can be cut off by a vote of sixty Senators. The Democrats have not had sixty votes at all times during 2009, but they have had sixty votes at various times. At those times, they could tell the Republicans to sit down and shut up while they passed anything they wished.

In order for a bill to become law, the President must sign it or at least not veto it. Obviously The One will sign anything the Democrats want.

So how can “Republican obstructionism” have made the slightest bit of difference? If the Democrats didn’t enact a law that they wanted, it’s because they themselves didn’t agree on what they wanted. The One made it abundantly clear that there would be no negotiation or compromise with the Republicans (”I won; deal with it”), which meant that the Democrats had to agree on every decision. They didn’t; that’s their problem, not the Republicans’. If they had chosen to reach across the aisle — which is what has happened in every Congress prior to this one — they could perhaps have enacted some or even most of what they wanted. They didn’t; that’s their problem, not the Republicans’.

I should point out that it wasn’t the Republicans who demanded the “Louisiana Purchase”; it was a Democrat, Mary Landrieu. It was not the Republicans who demanded the “Cornhusker Kickback”; it was a Democrat, Ben Nelson. It was not the Republicans who demanded that unions be exempted from the tax on “Cadillac health insurance”, a very unpopular exemption demanded by the Democrats’ core constituents, the unions.

If the Democrats contend that losing the power to pass anything they please without input from the other party destroys the Democratic program, what they’re saying is that they can function only in a one-party state*. Think on that.

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* A comment made to me by someone who may perhaps prefer to remain anonymous.