Ben Myers recently posted a confession about stealing books that made me chuckle, but my own book vice is of a different sort. I've never stolen a book, but I've marked up more than a few library copies in my day.

Perhaps something we have learned from the few years Republicans had total control in Washington is that when one party controls the agenda, the backlash from the public can be quick and severe. When it comes to the trust factor, the latest Rasmussen poll has Americans trusting the GOP more on 8 out of 10 different issues.

Like many, I recently received a nasty letter from Chase informing me that my minimum credit card payment would go from 2% of my balance to 5% with no chance to opt out by closing the account. It seems that in recent years their actuaries were not as smart as they were paid to be as customers sent large balances their way at low rates and were paying them flawlessly over long periods.

I am employed by an Auto Supplier which employs approximately 500 people and has locations all over the country and does business with many of the large manufacturers. True, this means that my perspective is not of all the Auto Bailout process, but it is one that not many have access to. The first indications of trouble started early last year when contacts at the big three were slowly dropping off the grid.

The BBC News site has a report today that the British Royal Family has can now be followed on Twitter, the popular "micro-blogging" service: The Twitter account @BritishMonarchy has just gone live, following several weeks of testing.

Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) is one of the few antiviral drugs available for treatment of influenza. Use of the drug has increased substantially because of the emergence of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic strain, against which no vaccine is yet available. A recent study has shown that low levels of oseltamivir can be detected in the aquatic environment. This finding raises the possibility that aquatic birds which harbor influenza virus could be exposed to the antiviral, leading to selection of drug resistant viruses.

The SEC recently voted (3-2) to eliminate broker discretionary voting in director elections for meetings held on or after January 1, 2010. Previously, brokers were permitted to vote uninstructed shares in uncontested director elections, which were classified as "routine" under NYSE Rule 452. The rule change, which was adopted as proposed, could make it more difficult for directors to be elected under a majority voting standard.

NASA needs to specifically articulate its long term goals for manned space flight to the American people! We need to know where we're going, why we're going, and how much its going to cost to get there. And we also need to know what kind of a space transportation and habitat infrastructure is going to be required in order to achieve those goals.

While on vacation in California, I was having a discussion with my wife (an atmospheric scientist), and a friend (an archaeologist). I am a Developmental Geneticist. So we were three scientists from three very disparate fields. I have been a scientist for 20 years. My wife for much shorter time and my friend for much, much longer. So we come at it from different chronological perspectives. And one thing we each have encountered is the huge lack in science of the reporting of negative results.

The House Democrats walked a fine line recently when they rammed through the cap and trade bill at the end of June, after transparency had been promised from this administration. The bill clocked in at just over 1,000 pages and a three hundred page amendment was dropped in at around 3am on the day of the final vote. It did not go unnoticed.

Read Older Articles