We are the Rude GMO Critics, bitches.

The sowing season may be just around the corner, but this year German farmers will not be planting genetically modified crops: German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner announced Tuesday she was banning the cultivation of GM corn in Germany. Under the new regulations, the cultivation of MON 810, a GM corn produced by the American biotech giant Monsanto, will be prohibited in Germany, as will the sale of its seed. Aigner told reporters Tuesday she had legitimate reasons to believe that MON 810 posed “a danger to the environment,” a position which she said the Environment Ministry also supported. In taking the step, Aigner is taking advantage of a clause in EU law which allows individual countries to impose such bans.

Righteous.

Great article. His conclusions:

1.) This new found love of lower government spending is politically motivated. It has nothing to do with altruism or love of country. It’s about the November elections. Period.

2.) Government spending has been and always will be part of the the GDP equation

3.) Countries that tried austerity are worse off for it.

4.) Countries that inject massive amounts of the proper stimulus (such as infrastructure spending) grow at high rates.

The facts have a politically progressive bias.

A couple/few months ago, I called Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office and said she should be more like Al Franken. By that I meant, among other things, do more visible pushback against the right, and freaking tear it up a little. The nice man I spoke to there assured me it was all about the fact that Sen. Franken was in fact a celebrity before joining the Senate, and that Sen. Klobuchar was working on other important, but less sexy, stuff. That was all good with me; I just wanted to apply a little pressure in that direction, because I think it’s valuable. Well she finally delivered, and went on a fatal rampage against some GOP idiot in the Kagan hearings who was on about how we were “more free” in 1980 or some shit. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar, for sticking it to that weasel.

Legalize it

Japan bribed other nations with prostitutes to get lax whaling rules.

Oh man this is a good one.

Obama has also called in some of the many scientists on the federal payroll, led by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. Chu at one point pushed the unusual idea of using gamma rays to peer into the blowout preventer to determine if its valves were closed, a technique he experimented with in graduate school while studying radioactive decay.  

The suggestion at first elicited snickering and “Incredible Hulk” jokes. Then they tried it, and it worked. “They weren’t hot on his ideas,” a senior White House official said of BP’s initial reaction to Chu’s suggestions. “Now they are.”

That’s going to be a great scene in the movie.

(h/t Atrios)

Yes I know Dr. Mercola runs the hottest alternative health site on the web. But it’s become obvious from some of the links he posts that he’s a tea bagger deficit-hawk type, with a comments section infested with Ron Paul devotees and other right wing libertarian degenerates. You know, the Ron Paul who (with his son) goes around trashing the Civil Rights Act. Yuck. I know it’s ad hominem to judge someone as a whole based on some of their thinking, so I won’t go there. But I am seriously starting to wonder if being a right wing tea bagging libertarian will someday become a recognized category of mental illness. So, goodbye Dr. Mercola. I want to start reading other health sites now. It’s not me: it’s you.

No Pants No Peace, originally uploaded by jessicahayssen.

My 12-year old has fantasized about being a protester, and reasoned that if she’s going to protest something, it should be something she feels strongly about, which these days is that too many joggers wear their shorts too tight. Prompted by a political sign in the yard supporting a nurses’ union, she turned a flattened “priority mail” box into her protest sign, prominently featuring the text “NO PANTS NO PEACE” and a little picture of some pants. The opposite side reads “TO (sic) MANY TIGHT SHORTS” and has a picture of a shorts-clad stick-man jogger inside the classic crossed-out circle. She affixed the sign to a stick and planted it in the yard last weekend. So look out world - she wants to be a “whale warrior” when she grows up.

The science dork DarkSyde over at Daily Kos writes,

In this week’s Research 2000 poll we asked several questions about science and science policy that I’ll have more on later. But here’s one I thought you might find interesting:

QUESTION: Most astronomers believe the universe formed about 13.7 billion years ago in a massive event called the Big Bang. Do you think that’s about right or do think the universe was created much more recently?

Suffice it to say, besides the Gonzo Science option being so in the extreme scientific minority that it is not represented in this poll, it’s nice to see Dems and Independents remain scientifically minded. Whereas the GOP largely believes science is not a valid method of knowing the universe.  The Gonzo Science answer to this poll - the one that outrages both mainstream science enthusiasts and religious whackjobs - is that the Big Bang never happened because the universe has always existed. So: not enough options in your little poll.

A Gonzo Science maxim: if you don’t like science, the solution is better science, not defaulting to religion. I had a religious whackjob argue to me once that since the Big Bang theory was full of anomalies it proved the Bible. Probably a lockstep GOP base voter. But the answer to a theory full of anomalies is a better theory, not a worse one.    At any rate, down with the Big Bang, which mirrors the Biblical creation in large measure because the father of the Big Bang was a Catholic priest who “concluded that an initial ‘creation-like’ event must have occurred.” Yeah right.

Sam Seder on why fears of America turning into Greece are bullshit.

Fucking deficit hawks. I agree 110% with Seder about the GOP playbook: run up huge debt during GOP administrations, wait, then during Dem administrations start screaming “WE’VE GOT TO CUT THIS DEBT!” Where I come from that’s called transparent bullshit. Not sure why the press doesn’t get it, but on the other hand, you just have to look at Chuck Todd to see Walter Cronkite throw up a little bit in his mouth.

Some calmer perspective here:

It’s tough being an Obama supporter in the oilfield, especially in Houston.

First, BP is not tackling this mess alone. The entire drilling industry is involved, including Exxon (who has a great record when it comes to offshore drilling, not oil shipping). It’s not like only BP engineers are calling the shots, all sorts of experts are involved.

…. All these efforts are reported heavily in the Houston Chronicle and nola.com, but doesn’t seem to get much for national coverage. If you only monitor the national coverage, you’d think BP is going it alone while we all sit by, but the reality is this is an industry-wide effort because we all know what’s at stake.

On having Obama “do more,” WTF is he supposed to do? Everybody seems to be calling for more fire in his belly and scary, threatening speeches. What does that accomplish? It’s like people want him to do a dramatic speech like post-9/11 about bringing the criminals to justice. It does nothing to actually plug the damn well. The government does not have the expertise to do more to stop this gusher. It’s in BPs interest to stop the gusher. All the conspiracy theories about wanting to preserve the well for future production are technically wrong and ignore that NOBODY in the industry benefits from this gusher continuing. BP wants what everybody else wants, though I’ll concede that I suspect dispersants are about killing life where it’s less easily photographed. Dispersants aside, the only conflict of interest is regarding the causes of the blowout, not the capping of the well. Fed investigations are already taking care of that part.

On the pace, I’m pissed because I thought top kill should have been the first thing they tried after the ROVs failed to close the BOP. The reason for delay was partly because it looked like a war zone down there initially due to all the debris from a mile long riser coming down with the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon. So there was cleanup to make everything accessible. Also, one issue with the top kill is that it does have some risk of making the leak worse by eroding whatever blockages exist to limit the blowout rate. It could also overpressure the wellhead to open up new leaks upstream of the current ones. My guess is they wanted a better understanding on the chance of success before taking those risks.

All this talk of “push BP out of the way” is uninformed.

Money quote of this article:

Obama’s document enshrines principles and policies that he has advocated since his election campaign.

Cue outrage.

From Kos:

Interesting, this points out what many believe, that having just been in office for less than a year and a half, the Obama administration should have corrected decades of ill-preparedness and, within a month, instituted technologies and whip the Navy and Coast Guard into shape so they would be better equipped to deal with this matter.

Matthews speculated that perhaps we could send divers 5,000 feet below the surface of the water, with torches, to shut off the leak. He has been criticizing the administration for days, yet he knows so little regarding the mechanics, the existing technology, and the hardship involved in undertaking such an enterprise.  

MATTHEWS: Well, that‘s what I‘m asking about. Is the problem getting a submarine to get—can we use our fleet of submarines to go down there and get men, frogmen, down there with torches and begin to close up that—that hole in that pipe? What is the problem, getting there?  Is it the transportation to the bottom of the sea, a mile down, or is it the technology of closing that hole?

EARLE: We don‘t have submersibles that can go to 5,000 feet, except for the Alvin, a few systems that exist in the whole world.  There are only four submersibles that can go to half the ocean‘s depth.  And this country doesn‘t have any of those.  It‘s Japan, China, France.  We‘re not—and Russia—we‘re not in the game to go really deep with manned systems.

MATTHEWS: How did we drill—how did we drill this pipeline?  How did we create this oil well down there, if we couldn‘t get down there?

EARLE: We have got the technology to actually accomplish that kind of work in the deep sea, even essentially nearly twice as deep, and the robots that are developed to be able to go down for maintenance, inspection and repair. But that‘s under normal circumstances.

To deal with something of this sort is a major challenge that I think nobody anticipated that we would ever have to do this.  There are some unique problems with dealing in deep water and dealing with the oil that comes out of such an area, as compared to what is released at the surface. For one thing, of course, it‘s cold.  And then there‘s the pressure.  These are factors that we‘re just not prepared to have to—to deal with.  And we have to get up to speed fast.  The technologies arguably do exist.  I mean, the capability is there.

MATTHEWS:  Yes.

EARLE:  But we haven‘t made the investment to have a garage filled with submarines, a garage filled with remotely-operated systems, and the talent to be able to go down independently of industry and respond.

MATTHEWS:  Well that was an exquisite description of a horror. Thank you so much, Sylvia Earle of the National Geographic, terrible horror, nonetheless.

This is not Hurricane Katrina. I know there are many salivating at the prospect of comparing Barack Obama to George W. Bush in terms of his response to this man-made crisis, but this case does not provide a realistic comparison.

The issue of stopping the flow of oil into the gulf, following the destruction of the Deep Water Horizon oil rig, is an issue of operational and technological inadequacy, of decades of neglect, and industry shortsightedness, this new administration is working diligently with the tools in its possession, unfortunately the tools are not good enough. I know some might expect Barack Obama to go down to the bottom of the ocean and wrestle this beast into submission, but realistically speaking, it is not feasible.

via Atrios:

BP has told the Environmental Protection Agency that it cannot find a safe, effective and available dispersant to use instead of Corexit, and will continue to use that chemical application to help break up the growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Amateur video of Gulf oil slick

This is awesome:

As BP’s high-priced industry experts flail, the president has turned to a rag-tag band of big-think scientific renegades, and sent them on a mission to somehow MacGyver a way to stop up the leak — before it’s too late.

…except I don’t see Bruce Willis on the team.

Seymour Hersh alleges U.S. troops are conducting battlefield executions in Afghanistan

UVA: We’re intending to comply with your ass-hatty subpeona but let’s just look at some other options too.

I like this comment from TPM’s coverage of the story (1st link):

I think tenure is important, but I think this case illustrates the power of a robust peer review process. Mann has a very strong publication record in excellent journals including Science, Nature, and Proceeding of the National Academy of Science. It is his track record of publication and funding (again, peer reviewed) that led him to his post at UPenn. The reason climate change deniers are pissed is because they can’t seem to publish their nonsense (non-science?).

Good scientists should welcome, not fear, scrutiny of their taxpayer-funded work. It’s in everybody’s interest that the nation understands climate change. One potential up side is that maybe a little more light will shine on good science.

Word.

No:

…here’s a bullet-point summary of my findings:

• If anything, President Barack Obama appears to be warmly in favor of genetic engineering, although there is some wiggle room with his campaign statements.
• President Obama’s picks for Ag Secretary, campaign advisers, and other cabinet positions further suggest that he is positively disposed to GE crops. Given his emphasis on plant-based biofuels, he may also see it as a means to achieve his domestic renewable fuel goals.
• Obama did not make a written campaign statement promising to require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.
• Obama did not respond to mailings from The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods, nor did his presidential campaign contact them.
• Obama’s declared agenda, now housed at the White House website, indicates that these labels are not on his agenda.
• The claim that he will “fast track” GE food labeling appears to be an invention or the result of miscommunication.
• President Obama only once expressed a desire for GE food labeling, but has not made a campaign promise or pledge that he will “require mandatory labeling” for GE food.

There is no evidence that Barack Obama ever made a statement strong enough to be considered as a campaign promise to label GE foods.

Don’t get me wrong - I love me some Obama. He knows what science is and everything. So that’s great and I can work with that. But this unwelcome news about the US trying to squash GMO labeling worldwide is the kind of stuff that’s worth fighting about.

Contact the White House here. (Phoning is always more effective than email; scroll down for phone number.)

Your Senators are found here and your Congressional Representative is here.

And in case you aren’t sure why GMOs are bad, our epic smackdown of hapless pro-GMO science writer Michael Le Page is here.

TPM has the goods on the case of the VA AG hassling a climate change scientist.

Best part is the open letter to the VA AG from a fellow climate change skeptic:

Climate-change skeptic Thomas Fuller co-wrote a book on Climate-Gate, published earlier this year, which was harshly critical of Mann and other climate scientists. But in an open letter to Cuccinelli, Fuller urged him to call off the dogs, writing: “No matter what has prompted your investigation, there is no doubt that it will be interpreted as a witch hunt.” He continued: “[B]eing wrong is not a crime, and intimidating scientists not a path that this country, including I presume Virginians, should ever pursue. You may consult with colleagues in Salem to determine how long it takes to live this type of thing down.”

Ouch!

There is no movie that will ever be made about this incident in which the VA AG will be portrayed as the good guy.

Use this to calculate the number of chickens you’d need to bring to the doctor in the GOP’s new Chickens for Checkups barter economy health care plan.

…Here’s Atrios the economist on the barter economy and why we don’t have one:

All joking aside, there’s a reason we no longer have a barter economy. It’s tremendously inefficient. Transactions require a “mutual coincidence of wants,” meaning I have to have something you actually want to have in exchange for my heart surgery. Many goods are highly indivisible - can’t trade half a live chicken - making precise pricing difficult.

As linked to in this grab-bag post at the great orange satan Daily Kos, this is a strongly worded plea from an athiest for everyone to just get off his back. Money quote:

You know what would be really great? If all the fantastic (and they are fantastic) liberal/left Christians would spend five minutes a day writing angry letters to the Christian right wing about how unchristian they are instead of complaining to atheists about how much bad press you all are getting from the overt bad actions of your co-religionists.

Ouch! This Catholic Church implosion has started to singe even athiests standing too close to it.

And this amazing piece of citizen journalism, “Anatomy of a thrilling GOP disaster“, is just political writing at its most fun to read. Money quote (last lines of piece):

This was a complete GOP disaster. It was a thrill to be part of it.

In true Gonzo style.

This quote from media analyst blog Atrios’ Eschaton is a good one:

…we live in the accountability-free era, where nobody could have predicted except those who did and were right for the wrong reasons. Those who didn’t were wrong for the right reasons and are therefore still Very Serious People in good standing.

It is intended as a sarcastic comment about how the cheerleaders of the Iraq War and the financial crisis still have jobs in many cases, and in many other cases they have actually failed upward - while those who predicted the crisis somehow still remain outsiders.

That’s how politics in science works too. For instance, Fred Hoyle’s ideas are being appropriated under different guises, while his name is still mud. He was right for the wrong reasons, but once his stuff is rebranded, it can safely be used by establishment figures who were wrong for the right reasons. And so it goes.

Around these parts, we are used to disagreeing with that mechanist reductionist dog Richard Dawkins. Liked him a little better as bulldog-athiest-with-a-camera-crew, but it’s still easy to dislike him on style. But whereas I’m sure the Pope won’t be arrested, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say right on dude.

A psychiatrist known as Dr. Shock for his notorious attempts to “cure” gay military recruits through electroshock therapy has been charged with sexually assaulting a male patient. Dr. Aubrey Levin, who was arrested in Calgary, Alberta, after he was secretly filmed sexually abusing a male patient, had previously been accused of gross human rights abuses for his treatment of gay soldiers and conscientious objectors in apartheid-era South Africa.

All you haters need to get a room.

Gosh, did I flush out some crazy people with my cheeky thank you note to Obama over at this local hipster blog?

Perpetual Minnesota political candidate Mr. Nice goes out on the campaign trail.

This is the maiden flight of the Gonzo Science youtube channel, the gonzonomicron.

Ye old Apollo astronauts bitching and whining about Obama pushing moon missions back. I guess they saw billions in cash up there that we could go get.

“Pro Family Values”, anti-gay California state senator Roy Ashburn (R), got popped with a DUI last week leaving a gay nightclub. Finally he came out today, saying, “I’m gay.” Congratulations for stating the obvious, dude. Now about that voting record?

He explained his past voting record saying that’s what his conservative constituents wanted.

How did he explain his voting record to his boyfriends, that’s what I want to know… According to wikipedia,

Ashburn has voted against every gay rights measure in the State Senate since taking office,^[4]

with the caveat that

all of which subsequently passed.^[5][6][4]

That’s probably how he rationalized it. Meanwhile,

His religion is listed as Roman Catholic in the biography for him printed by CSU-Bakersfield.