Stem Cells and the “Truth”: Ethics, Fraud, and the Politics of Science
March 15, 2009 — lennyesq
Gareth Cook, science journalist for the Boston Globe, presents a lecture on the complex relationship between science and politics in the stem cell debate. Cook was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for his investigation of stem cell research and its scientific, social, and ethical ramifications.
Cook is introduced by Kevin Bedell, chairman of the physics department and Rourke Professor of Physics at Boston College.
Presenter(s): Gareth Cook
Date: February 8, 2006
Location: Higgins Hall 300
Sponsor(s): Boston College Physics Department
URL: http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/gcook/
The information on this page is accurate as of February 2006
Going For The (Acapulco) Gold
February 14, 2009 — lennyesq
Recent pot busts unrelated to house party attended by Olympian Phelps. See entire article here.
Octuplet fertility doctor under investigation – Yahoo! News
February 8, 2009 — lennyesq
Methane Gas Tax on Cows?
February 1, 2009 — lennyesqThis subject is an excellent example of the need for research to determine the accuracy of reports of an alleged proposal:
Here is a link to a November, 2008 press release from the NY Farm Bureau.
The NYTimes reported on the issue in “Farmers Panic About a Cow Tax“.
Cow
An Alabama member of Congress debunks rumor about cow tax.
This writer actually did some research and identified the source of the rumor and how it spread.
The EPA issued a denial.
400,000 Busted for Pot in NYC Last 10 Years
April 30, 2008 — lennyesqAP: NYCLU: City Is World’s ‘Marijuana Arrest Capital’
Police busted nearly 400,000 people for carrying small amounts of pot in the last decade, making New York City the world leader in marijuana arrests, civil rights advocates said yesterday while unveiling a study criticizing the war on drugs. Police officials – who have long argued that the low level drug arrests help drive down more serious crime – countered by saying the report’s data was flawed and its findings misleading. The study by Queens College sociologist Harry Levin, titled “Marijuana Arrest Crusade,” accused police of purposely singling out minorities during the 10-year crackdown. It said that data provided by state Division of Criminal Justice Services showed that between 1997 and 2007, 52% of the suspects were black, 31% Hispanic, and only 15% white.
Clearwater: Hudson River PCB Story
April 20, 2008 — lennyesq
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Lehman sued for charging minority homeowners more
April 18, 2008 — lennyesqThu Apr 17, 6:34 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Hispanic homeowner sued Lehman Brothers Bank on Thursday, accusing the lender of charging minority mortgage applicants higher fees and interest rates than white customers.
Pedro Rivas, who described himself as a Latino homeowner living in Pecoima, California, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, charging the wholly owned unit of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc with implementing a policy that causes “minority borrowers to pay subjective fees such as yield spread premiums and other mortgage-related finance charges at higher rates than similarly situated non-minority borrowers.”
Rivas said Lehman’s “pattern of discrimination is not the result of random or non-discriminatory factors. Rather it is the direct and intended result of defendants’ business model and loan-funding practices.”
Lehman Brothers spokesman Brian Finnegan declined to comment.
Rivas, who is seeking class-action status for the lawsuit, said in the filing that “minorities who borrowed from defendants between 2004 and 2006 were nearly 50 percent more likely than Caucasian borrowers to have received a high-APR (annual percentage rate) loan to purchase or refinance their home.”
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Read entire article from Yahoo! News.
Human Rights Watch Letter on China’s Recent Actions in Tibet
April 18, 2008 — lennyesq
Here’s an excerpt:
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Since mid-March, as has been widely publicized, the Chinese government has responded disproportionately to protests in Tibetan areas. Chinese security forces have violently dispersed protestors, arbitrarily detained hundreds, and refused to account for their whereabouts or well-being. We have received many credible reports of excessive use of force by police and security forces, torture in detention, prohibition and suppression of peaceful protests, military-type operations to seal off monasteries and villages, house-to-house searches, large-scale arrests, and persecution of clerics. Such treatment fits a well-established pattern of similar abuses in recent years by Chinese authorities in the context of protests, particularly in ethnic minority areas. It has been difficult to corroborate many such reports because the Chinese government has not allowed independent observers into the region, has moved swiftly to expel the foreign press from the region, and has continued to manipulate the information that has been released to place all blame on Tibetans. Yet the Chinese government itself has admitted opening fire on demonstrators in Sichuan and shooting four people.
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For more from Human Rights Watch on China & Tibet click here.
