Billionaires for Wealthcare Strike Again!!!!

You may remember the group “Billionaires for Wealthcare” that satirized the opponents of Health Care Reform during the tea party protests. Well guess what? They’re BACK! And this time, they’ve infiltrated the conference of AHIP – America’s Health Insurance Plans. AHIP is the lobby that put out the bogus study saying that reform [...]

Medicare for Everyone

Major revelations and victories this week in Health Care Reform! Simply changing the name of the ‘public option’ to ‘Medicare Part E’ – (the ‘E’ being for ‘everybody’) – has brought yet another Blue Dog Democrat (Mike Ross – AR) behind the push for a public option. Also, the House Judiciary Committee has [...]

Nutkin’s Last Stand

Most people I know like squirrels, with the possible exception of bird-feeder enthusiasts. Few Americans realize that the playful Grey Squirrel we know and love is a veritable monster overseas. When the British introduced the Eastern Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) from North America to England in the time of Queen Victoria, they had no [...]

Wall Street Corruption and the Taxpayer

After the horrendous economic implosion of last year, we were promised that increased regulation and oversight would be put in place, that the financial sector would be reformed to eliminate the reckless behavior and predatory lending that sparked the crisis in the first place. Over a year later, nothing has changed. The Treasury Department, [...]

Nifty New Fossils Clarify Evolution of Pterosaurs, Hominids

Two new fossil finds published this month have further clarified the outline of the tree of life. I love these kinds of stories!
#1 – Darwinopterus modularis

First, a new transitional pterosaur has provided evidence of the evolutionary connection between the two major groups of Mesozoic flying reptiles: the long-tailed basal ‘rhamphorinchoids’, and the more evolutionarily derived [...]

Health Insurers: “We Will Raise Rates, Regardless”

On the Eve of the final committee vote on Health Care Reform in the Senate Finance Committee, the Health Insurance lobby (AHIP – America’s Health Insurance Plans) has released a propaganda-esque ‘report’ in conjunction with PriceWaterHouseCoopers. In an attempt to sway the vote, the report states that Insurance Companies will dramatically raise their [...]

If Not Now, When?

The National Equality March this past Sunday highlighted a growing frustration among the LGBT community. Many in the community have begun to criticize President Obama’s unwillingness to act on his campaign promises to gay Americans, namely on those issues which lie under control of the President. For one, the President has the authority [...]

Obama speaks at HRC

This is Obama’s address to the annual HRC black-tie fundraising dinner tonight in Washington. He addressed a wide variety of topics, beginning with a spate of apologetics for why he has failed to make much progress on the issues that matter to LGBTQ Americans. He addressed marriage and employment equality, HIV/AIDS, hate crimes legislation, [...]

A History of “In-Progress” Peace Prizes

Amidst the recent surprise, shock, disbelief, confusion, and all-around general puzzlement surrounding the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, many commentators and regular folks (including myself) have expressed feelings of ambivalence over whether Obama’s achievements to date really warrant the top international honor in peace, diplomacy, and international relations. As the Prize is given [...]

The Moon, The Peace Prize, and Cupcakes

Today was an eventful day! You may have heard that NASA launched a projectile into the moon, in an attempt to locate large deposits of water. Here are the facts: our national space agency sent a 2.2-ton empty rocket stage crashing into the south pole of the moon at twice the speed of a bullet, [...]