Categories
Politics

Does the war in Gaza and Lebanon fit the criteria for a “just war”?

Fellow traveler in the fight against Holocaust denial Andrew Mathis asks whether Israel has adequate justification for its recent attacks in Lebanon and Gaza based on “just war theory.” Basically, he finds that Israel meets many of the criteria, but fails in proportionality of response and using force as a last resort. However, he finds […]

Categories
Evolution Science

A ScienceBlogger’s prediction about anti-evolutionists comes true

Over the weekend, between bouts of rounding on patients and seeing consults (I was on call), I perused the Last 24 Hours channel on the ScienceBlogs homepage, when I came across a fellow SB’er discussing a recent paper in Science about evolution. It was a study of the finches of the Galapagos Islands by Princeton […]

Categories
Medicine

Only two days left…

The time is rapidly approaching again. This Thursday, the latest edition of the Skeptics’ Circle, the only blog carnival that I’m aware of that is dedicated to skepticism and critical thinking, is scheduled to appear at Mike’s Weekly Skeptic Rant, which means you have only two days to get your best skeptical blogging to Mike, […]

Categories
Bioethics Medicine

Refused treatment due to a practitioner’s religious beliefs

Via Kevin, MD, here’s a Washington Post article describing how the religious beliefs of health care practitioners result in the denial of care. Here are some examples:

Categories
Medicine Politics Science

Overcoming difficulties reporting science

Many of the bloggers here at ScienceBlogs lament about the woeful state of science knowledge among the U.S. public. This ignorance about the basics of science and the scientific method has been blamed on many things, whether it be the poor quality of science education in the public schools, an all-too-prevalent view of science as […]