Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts will endorse Senate colleague Barack Obama for president, party officials confirmed Sunday.The endorsement will be announced Monday in Washington, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for the record. An official close to the senator said the announcement will be made during an Obama campaign rally at American University, where he will be joined by Sen. Kennedy and his niece, Caroline Kennedy, who also has endorsed Obama.

From Newmax.

In the US, we (the general citizenry) are never going to agree on gun control. I have a solution. Continue reading Gun Control →

Accepting his 2007 TED Prize, photojournalist James Nachtwey talks about his decades as a war photographer. A slideshow of his photos, beginning in 1981 in Northern Ireland, reveal two parallel themes in his work. First, as he says: “The frontlines of contemporary wars are right where people live.” Street violence, famine, disease: he has photographed all these modern WMDs. Second, when a photo catches the world’s attention, it can truly drive action and change. In his TED wish, he asks for help gaining access to a story that needs to be told, and developing a new, digital way to show these photos to the world.

Continue reading James Nachtwey: TED Prize wish: Share a vital story with the world →

There is a new blog you should know about. It’s called “The Worst of Scienceblogs.com” and it contains, so far, only three posts (so maybe we are not so bad after all). I thank Terra Sigillata, one of WOS’s victims, for pointing this out. Continue reading the worst of scienceblogs.com →

This grab-you-by-the-throat speech by Ghanaian economist George Ayittey unleashes an almost breathtaking torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders and the complacency that allows them to thrive. These “Hippos” (lazy, slow, ornery) have ruined postcolonial Africa, he says. Why, then, does he remain optimistic? Because of the young, agile “Cheetah Generation,” a “new breed of Africans” taking their futures into their own hands.

Continue reading George Ayittey: Cheetahs vs. Hippos for Africa’s future →

In the talk that opened TEDGlobal 2007 (“Africa: The Next Chapter”), South African investment banker Euvin Naidoo sets the scene, framing the conversation that would unfold over the four-day event. “What’s the worst thing you’ve heard about Africa?” he asks. After fielding call-outs of “famine,” “war,” “corruption,” he urges the audience to move past these preconceptions — and offers a compelling picture of a continent on the cusp of enormous change.

Continue reading Euvin Naidoo: Africa as an investment →

Science Debate 2008 people may be intereted in this effort by SlashDot:

This is your usual Slashdot reader-generated interview, except we’re only going to pick five questions, not 10, and we’re going to send the same five questions to all the major-party presidential candidates and publish each one’s answers (in our Politics section) as soon as we get them. Please try to come up with questions the candidates have not been asked in the many interviews and debates to which they’ve already been subjected, all of which have been notably light on Slashdot-popular topics such as software patents, Internet regulations, and computer file formats. Note, too, that we have no idea how many candidates (if any) will actually answer, and that whether their campaign staffs do or do not think you are worth a few moments of their time is telling in and of itself.Special request: if you have better “inside” contact info for any candidate than what’s shown on their public Web sites, please email it to roblimo@slashdot.org. We’re also interested in original articles and essays from people who have inside knowledge of the election and polling process, so if you or anyone you know would like to write one for Slashdot, please email the same address.

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Jacqueline Novogratz is pioneering new ways of tackling poverty. In her view, traditional charity rarely delivers lasting results. Her solution, outlined here through a series of revealing personal stories, is “patient capital”: support for “bottom of the pyramid” businesses which the commercial market alone couldn’t provide. The result: sustainable jobs, goods, services — and dignity — for the world’s poorest.

Continue reading Jacqueline Novogratz: Tackling poverty with “patient capital” →

Jacqueline Novogratz is pioneering new ways of tackling poverty. In her view, traditional charity rarely delivers lasting results. Her solution, outlined here through a series of revealing personal stories, is “patient capital”: support for “bottom of the pyramid” businesses which the commercial market alone couldn’t provide. The result: sustainable jobs, goods, services — and dignity — for the world’s poorest.

Continue reading Jacqueline Novogratz: Tackling poverty with”patient capital” →

Fleeing Ron Paul:

I’m out of the Ron Paul campaign …He does not believe in Evolution! If there was ever a time we need science to solve our problems of energy resources and climate control it is 2009! … He was my last chance at returning to the GOP.

Yet another story of a rino fleeing the herd once they get the full story! Sandra’s BlogRomney Tied to Global Warming Denier Group

Aides and staffers of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney are listed among the principals of a new Astroturf group set up last fall to deny the science of global warming.The new group advertises itself as the American Environmental Coalition – “working to keep America beautiful, strong and prosperous.” But the sole focus of its expensive website is to question the science of climate change.As for its outreach activities, the AEC seems intent only on attacking Romney’s presidential competitor John McCain, the Republican candidate with the best record on responding to climate change.

Details here, at desmogblog.com

This guy is getting scarier and scarier.hat tip: Bore me to tears.

The Latest Political News from key sources such as PZ Myers and Jon Stewart. Continue reading Campaign Update →