Monday, December 3, 2007

Recommended Reading

Here's a great example of someone furiously spinning the news to their advantage and getting slapped down for it. As you may have heard, two scientists — an American named James A. Thomson and a Japanese counterpart — recently announced they had developed an embryo-free way to produce genetically matched stem cells. This prompted columnist Charles Krauthammer to proclaim that the debate about embryonic stem cells was over and that George W. Bush had won. By insisting that science curtail the use of embryos in such research, Bush had spurred them on to find an alternative. Wrote Krauthammer, "Rarely has a president — so vilified for a moral stance — been so thoroughly vindicated." The piece, which ran in the Washington Post, was filled with quotes from Thomson that seemed to support all this.

That was last Friday. Today, the Post has a piece by James A. Thomson and a colleague, essentially saying that Krauthammer doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. The rebuttal, co-authored by the guy who was Krauthammer's star witness in support of Bush, says that Bush and Krauthammer were wrong both from a scientific perspective and as a matter of governmental policy. It's about as thorough a smackdown as I've ever seen in any newspaper and it concludes with a plea for Congress to override Bush's veto on the subject.

They should. There's no earthly reason to not pursue embryonic stem cell research other than a bunch of guys like Krauthammer, who don't have a clue about the science involved, have convinced themselves it's a variation on the abortion debate. They think they can't lose on one without losing on the other and they're wrong.

• Posted at 10:29 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

The new National Intelligence Estimate report says that Iran won't be "technically capable" of producing an atom bomb for quite some time. What does this mean? Fred Kaplan reads the thing so we don't have to.

• Posted at 6:17 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Two weeks ago in New York, I saw and enjoyed the new Broadway show based on the movie, Xanadu. Here's a five minute sampler of this fun musical...

• Posted at 2:14 AM · LINK

me on the radio

I will be appearing (again!) this Wednesday on Stu's Show, the keystone program on Shokus Internet Radio. Matter of fact, it's the one-year anniversary of Stu's Show and since I was the first guest, host Stu Shostak is having me back to celebrate one whole year of his weekly broadcasts. We'll be discussing, among other topics, the Writers Strike, the new book on Charles Schulz, and the upcoming new Garfield cartoon show which I am writing these days since it is not affected by the strike.

The show can be heard live on Wednesday from 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM to 9 PM in the east. I'll post a link here among the umpteen reminders to which you'll be subjected between now and then. But make plans to be at your computer then so you can listen in.

• Posted at 2:12 AM · LINK

Artistic License

Back in the eighties, I did a comic book called Crossfire, which was drawn by a superb artist named Dan Spiegle. Crossfire was a super-hero (sort of) who in his other identity was a bailbondsman. He drove around L.A. in a 1957 Thunderbird that was identical to a 1957 Thunderbird that I then owned and often drove around L.A. One day, Dan was drawing an issue and he called up and asked me what our hero's license plate was. He had drawn a panel that required that info...so I thought for about two seconds and said, "BAIL4U." Thereafter, whenever Dan drew the T-Bird, that was usually seen on the plate.

A few weeks ago, I was driving through a parking garage in Century City when I did an automotive double-take. I literally passed another car, saw something, realized what I thought I'd seen, hit the brakes and then backed up about ten yards so I could see if I'd actually seen what I thought I'd seen. Sure enough, it was the license plate from Crossfire's car...

Fortunately, I had my camera with me. Unfortunately, the plate was not on a 1957 Thunderbird. It was on a late model Mercedes that I'm guessing belongs to a rather successful person in the bail bond business.

There's really nothing more to this story than that. I just thought it was amazing that I noticed the plate, and I figured there might be one Crossfire reader who visits this site who'd be amused by it. I didn't stick around until the owner came back to the car. I was afraid it might be my character.

• Posted at 1:15 AM · LINK