Category Archives: We’re Really Fucked

A Quick Thought About Ukraine

Posted on March 1, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

By the time this post spools out, events might have overtaken it, but, as of Friday night, the intertoobz are all atwitter about Russia moving troops to Russian-leased bases in Ukraine, including Sevastopol. For all I know, Russia plans on … Continue reading →

Posted in We're Really Fucked | 6 Comments

In My NIH Funding World, R01 Grants Are Getting Crushed

Posted on January 14, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

While funding might seem like a boring part of science, remember that all the cool stuff that gets mangled in the popular press you read about online and so on costs money. When there’s less money, there’s a good chance … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, I For One Welcome Our Austerity Overlords, NIH, We're Really Fucked | 2 Comments

Strain Mixups and Retractions

Posted on October 14, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

Back when I was a younger Mad Biologist, I received dozens of bacterial strains from a Very Prestigious Lab that were supposed to belong to species A and B. Very Prestigious Lab had published several papers on these strains, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Microbiology, Plants, We're Really Fucked | 1 Comment

House GOP, You’re Drunk–And That’s Neither Hyperbole Nor A Joke

Posted on October 2, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

We noticed this from an interview with Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson (boldface mine): In a Tuesday interview, Rep. Alan Grayson charged that Republican House members have been literally intoxicated while casting votes on the continuing resolutions that set the stage … Continue reading →

Posted in Booze, Conservatives, We're Really Fucked | 5 Comments

Knocking Down Pre-Clearence in the Voting Rights Act: Underneath It All, It’s Just Cynical Racism

Posted on June 25, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

If you haven’t heard by now, the Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 vote essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act’s ability to ‘preclear’ voting changes in certain areas that have a history of racial discrimination. In practice what this … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Liberties, Conservatives, Voting, We're Really Fucked | 5 Comments

Raise the Top Tax Rates. Raise Them Now

Posted on June 10, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

Here’s why: $1,250 for a haircut. That’s more than the average Social Security recipient receives in a month. To say that this sort of income inequality is corrosive would be an understatement. It’s one thing to travel first class on … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, We're Really Fucked | 1 Comment

The Mandarin Class

Posted on May 19, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

(from here) A phrase that often shows up on this blog the Mandarin Class–the creation of a well-educated elite that is insular and isolated from the rest of society. Megan McArdle gives one of the best long-form descriptions of the … Continue reading →

Posted in We're Really Fucked | 2 Comments

Remember Where Movement Conservatives Came From

Posted on May 5, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

Admittedly, every so often, the lunacy peeks out, but Charles Pierce summarizes the fundamental political problem of our time: ….I do believe that he has repeatedly made the mistake of pursuing a mirage of bipartisanship in some form because he … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, We're Really Fucked | 1 Comment

The Healthcare Crisis Is Still Not Budgetary: Once More Unto the CRE Breach

Posted on March 7, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

One of the most frustrating things about the whole fixation on deficits and budgets is that it ignores the real crises we face, such as carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (E. coli and relatives that are resistant to virtually all antibiotic therapy): This … Continue reading →

Posted in Fucking Morons, I For One Welcome Our Austerity Overlords, KPC, Microbiology, NDM-1, Public Health, We're Really Fucked | 1 Comment

Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, in Two Tables

Posted on February 15, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

Suffice it to say, there are people who are represented in Washington, but you are most likely not one of them. First, attitudes towards deficit reduction–and let’s remember that almost no one thinks deficit reduction should be the top priority: … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, I For One Welcome Our Austerity Overlords, We're Really Fucked | 4 Comments