tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717949262915698012024-10-07T00:14:22.198-04:00Random musings of a graduate student on reproductive rights, atheism, politics and philosophy.Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.comBlogger163125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-87393687065950826672009-05-13T10:49:00.003-04:002009-05-13T10:57:41.864-04:00

Pharma giant Merck apparently paid publisher Elsevier to put out a fake peer-reviewed journal. Well, okay. So, one little case of fraud. These things happen, right? Yes. They do. It turns out that these thigns have happened more than once - six times, in fact. Who is going to trust Elsevier now? I'm not inclined to. But what's worse is how this incident can be used by quacks who don't want to

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-49419367988746374702009-05-13T09:25:00.003-04:002009-05-13T10:06:21.624-04:00

Liz Cheney is off defending "enhanced interrogation techniques", that is, torture, on cable TV.She denies that these terrible "techniques" were torture. But what I'm interested in is the question she asks Robinson. Go ahead and watch:She asks whether Robinson would waterboard if he knew that a detainee had information about a plot that would kill his family, and that he would get it if the

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-9354781805959579022009-05-10T12:12:00.003-04:002009-05-10T12:17:24.728-04:00

All you mothers rock! Go relax or do something you really enjoy. Take advantage of that mother's day breakfast and the flowers or card or chocolates or long distance phone call. Happy Mother's Day!

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-76928945167967225712009-05-10T11:18:00.004-04:002009-05-13T10:59:41.756-04:00

When Obama said that he wanted a justice who was capable of empathizing with the plights of the people who would be impacted by their rulings, I was skeptical at first. After all, the law is cold and hard. It's not about feelings. It's not about empathy. And we shouldn't allow our emotions to adulterate our reason.But that was before I saw this. A 13 year old girl was strip searched because

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-12319004090267492852009-04-03T15:42:00.002-04:002009-04-03T15:45:28.623-04:00

Some people get excited about the Academy Awards. Not me. I prefer the Pigasus Awards. Here's the man Randi himself announcing the winners:

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-60022931990572618632008-11-29T19:21:00.003-05:002008-11-29T19:58:13.906-05:00

Anti-choicers have long claimed that abortion causes PAS - Post Abortion Syndrome. They claim that women suffer anxiety, depression, substance abuse, etc, etc, after having an abortion. This is a highly contentious claim. The anti-choicers justify this claim by referencing the anecdotal stories of women who are unhappy with the choice they made, and regret it (I wonder who made them feel bad?

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-76630808117923552252008-11-18T20:00:00.001-05:002008-11-18T20:02:27.625-05:00

My one and only "publication" (and those quotes are really important) is up on Amazon.com. Of course, it's unavailable at the moment, and they don't know when it'll be in stock. Probably never. Who would want that?

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-53499856551565527012008-11-18T16:15:00.002-05:002008-11-18T16:18:38.799-05:00

These are great. Collectible religion cards. Awesome. I have to say, though, I wish there were more in the set. The wiccans, spiritualists and Mormons all really deserve a spot.

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-47255350661907072662008-11-18T15:41:00.002-05:002008-11-18T15:49:29.160-05:00

The election was just a few weeks ago, but the Democrats have already ticked me off. They've allowed Joe Lieberman to retain his chair of the Homeland Security and Government Oversight Committee.There were a lot of voices from the left calling for Lieberman to be punished for being a turncoat this past election cycle. That's not why I think Lieberman should have lost his chair. I've no desire for

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-25528765884497864052008-11-10T22:55:00.004-05:002008-11-10T23:04:27.243-05:00

Think you're finally done with Dubya's idiotic run of our country? Think Dubya can do no more damage? Think again.In the spirit of so many leaving administrations, the Bush Administration is quickly instituting - via executive order - things that might take us years to be rid of. Here's a few of the sampling the Houston Chronicle reported on:A proposed Justice Department regulation would allow

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-19509976203170593002008-11-10T22:23:00.003-05:002008-11-10T22:37:47.456-05:00

That question was asked by Joe Scarborough a few moments after he accidentally dropped the F-bomb this morning, live on MSNBC. (Video below for the morbidly curious)He apologized for the slip after realizing (or being informed by co-hosts) about his mistake, and the cute question from his wife via email was apparently "How big's the fine?"The sad thing is that we may not be far off from a place

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-14238894743826555242008-11-10T22:02:00.002-05:002008-11-10T22:09:49.106-05:00

I recently tried to give Republicans some advice. Mark Lilla isn't advising, but he does give a great explanation of what the conservative movement seems to have done to itself. Check it out. Although, if he's right, then it's the Republican intelligentsia that caused this problem in the first place. According to Lilla, the intellectuals of the conservative movement are the ones who fanned the

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-23479855701846366442008-11-09T13:22:00.003-05:002008-11-09T13:32:17.059-05:00

We all know that the universe is expanding, but a recent study has revealed evidence of a different movement - a movement at a steady speed in one direction. This indicates that there is something, well, pulling on our universe. But what?It might be another universe, which would mean that our universe is just one bubble afloat in a sea of universes - one part of a multiverse. Pretty cool, huh? As

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-46898602507752164302008-11-08T22:59:00.002-05:002008-11-08T23:06:31.129-05:00

After my rather serious and heated post advising Republicans on what to do next, I thought a little fun would be in order. So, here they are, the 10 types of Republicans:

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-85243548747172789392008-11-08T22:32:00.005-05:002008-11-08T23:09:45.400-05:00

The Republican party has some decisions to make at this point. They have to remake themselves. The infighting, on an ideological level, that occurred during this past election season, and the high profile defections of Republican intelligentsia reveal a party in crisis. The Republican party is a rather large tent. The three basic pillars of the Republican party - old guard fiscal conservatives,

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-22592976220072110552008-11-08T17:38:00.003-05:002008-11-08T19:02:10.575-05:00

You may have heard that Prop 8 - an amendment to California's Constitution banning gay marriage - passed. You may have also heard that its passage was at least in part due to record African American turnout - 7 in 10 blacks voted to ban gay marriage.I normally wouldn't have anything to say about this, other than shame on you California. We all know religion was the main force behind the votes to

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-51232430744823103042008-11-08T16:27:00.004-05:002008-11-08T16:56:56.303-05:00

At a few minutes past 11 here on the East Coast, the media called the election for Barack Obama. And I began to cry. I cried out of pride for my country. I cried out of relief that the extreme right wing of the Republican Party can no longer ruin this country. I cried out of happiness.But now the dancing in the streets is over. The firecrackers have burned out. Now it's time to find out if the

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-33455221756560431932008-11-03T11:26:00.001-05:002008-11-03T11:30:54.051-05:00

Via Pharyngula (like he needs me to link to him. Ha!)

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-83912669290167065612008-11-02T22:30:00.000-05:002008-11-02T22:31:42.299-05:00

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-40459894033872530462008-10-26T18:32:00.000-04:002008-10-26T18:33:00.914-04:00

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-84010276955337743962008-10-26T15:50:00.002-04:002008-10-26T16:11:25.047-04:00

Forgive me use of internet speak, but THIS:see Sarah Palin pictures

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-34204914715876825232008-10-26T15:39:00.002-04:002008-10-26T15:43:03.556-04:00

I always thought the pro-life protests in which women taped their mouths shut and wrote "life" over them were a little odd. I'm glad I'm not the only one:see Sarah Palin pictures

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-22979969250690922822008-10-26T14:03:00.005-04:002008-10-26T14:59:53.514-04:00

I recently stumbled upon an opinion in the Des Moines register that I found interesting. The author believes that atheists and agnostics cannot call themselves freethinkers. He has two arguments. The first relies on the fact that the first freethinkers were deists and unitarians. Um, so? Freethought is a manner of belief formation - which beliefs get formed are irrelevant to whether or not you

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-38814272963636872212008-10-23T23:46:00.005-04:002008-10-24T00:06:27.928-04:00

According to some Catholic Bishops, abortion rates cannot be reduced unless Roe v. Wade is overturned.You might think that makes sense, but it's false. Guttmacher's statistics indicate that there is no correlation (much less causal relationship) between the legality of abortion and the number of abortions that occur in a country:while it may seem paradoxical, a country's abortion rate is not

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1971794926291569801.post-2282615671840329532008-10-23T23:45:00.000-04:002008-10-23T23:46:35.857-04:00

Artemis311http://www.blogger.com/profile/15202412794798410063noreply@blogger.com0