The Latest Torture Debate

 Posted by Mike  Abuse of Power, Bill of Rights, Bush Administration, Terrorism  1 Response »
Mar 312009
 

Dick Cheney is on a whirlwind tour trying to justify the Bush Administration’s record on the War on Terror, especially their decision to torture detainees. Mostly he is trumpeting intelligence gleaned from a supposedly high-level al Qaeda operative who was held and tortured at Guantanamo. Meanwhile his critics are countering his claims, noting that most evidence suggests this guy wasn’t particularly high-level, that he didn’t give us a lot of information we didn’t already know, and that most of what he did tell us was mentioned before he was actually tortured. (You can read a round-up of the latest exchange, along with links to the appropriate articles, here.)

All of which may be true, but they are missing the point.
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21st Century Snake Oil

 Posted by Mike  Healthcare  6 Responses »
Mar 272009
 

As far as I can tell, most of the problems with the American pharmaceutical system are demonstrated by the case of a new drug that’s just hitting the market: Treximet.

The story of Treximet begins awhile back with the introduction awhile back of Imitrex by GlaxoKlineSmith. Imitrex (active ingredient: sumatriptan) that GKS introduced awhile back to treat migraine headaches. It was a successful drug, sold an awful lot, and within a few years was followed onto the market by a number of similar drugs. By now, however, the patent on Imitrex is gone and most doctors are prescribing generics for the same conditions. So it’s back to the drawing board, right?

Sort of. Continue reading »

Global Warming Skepticism

 Posted by Mike  Environment, Science  No Responses »
Mar 252009
 

There is an extremely interesting (albeit long) article in the upcoming New York Times Magazine (they post their lead articles online a few days before the magazine itself comes out) about noted scientist and global warming skeptic, Freemon Dyson. The article makes note of the fact that Dyson is widely considered to be one of the most brilliant thinkers of the last century, and is widely credited with an ability to incorporate data from a wide array of scientific disciplines. Dyson is also widely noted for his intense aversion to common knowledge. Reading that article, it occurred to me that Dyson is wrong for all the right reasons.
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Consistent Standards of Behavior

 Posted by Mike  Crime  13 Responses »
Mar 202009
 

Here’s a question for the audience to ponder: to what extent is the belief that “men shouldn’t hit their wives (girlfriends/children/etc.)” a sexist notion?

I bring this up because domestic violence is once again in the news the last couple of weeks, with the Chris Brown assault on his girlfriend, Rihanna. Brown is an R&B singer and a bit of a teen-idol these days, appealing to mostly a pre-teen audience. (He is 19, FYI.) Rihanna is a pop star with a couple best selling albums under her belt already at 21. Anyway, the gist of the matter is that a few weeks ago he beat her up pretty badly to the point that the police were called and charges filed, and while she has taken him back and reportedly forgiven him, the prosecutor is proceeding with the case based on the police reports, 911 calls, and emergency room records.
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Winning By Doing Nothing

 Posted by Mike  Healthcare, Science  No Responses »
Mar 192009
 

Check out this article, describing two recently published studies on the effectiveness of a common type of prostate screenings. The gist is that blood exams that look for prostate cancer don’t actually prolong the lives of even at-risk men, on average. In other words, this type of prostate screening may be a large waste of time and money. (I should note that there are two kinds of prostate exams, a blood test and a physical test, and the study was only looking at the blood test.)
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