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Leviathan Wakes by James S. A, Corey (i.e., Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), for blatantly transparent award-voting purposes.

Out-of-state political endorsement, Wisconsin edition

I coughed up $25 to Barrett for Wisconsin, largely due to the fact that the alternative is to elect this idiot again, not that he'll probably be around for much longer if that John Doe complaint hits paydirt.

(Yeah, I know: I'm from Illinois. The Kochs aren't residents of Wisconsin, either, and a corporation-underwritten crook is just as bad (if not worse) as the non-subsidized variety we ended up getting down here with Ryan and Blago.)

Good riddance times three

Good news out of Oklahoma for once:

 When the Oklahoma legislature adjourned sine die on May 25, 2012, no fewer than three legislative attempts to attack the teaching of evolution and of climate change (i.e., Senate Bill 1742, House Bill 1551 and an amendment to House Bill 2341) were finally laid to rest. All three would have encouraged teachers in the public schools of the Sooner State to present the "scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses" of "controversial" topics such as "biological evolution" and "global warming."

One of these days, I'm going to have to sift through the NCSE's archives and see exactly how many of these bills floated in state legislatures contain the usual weasel words concerning the supposed "controversies" concerning "biological evolution" and "global warming". I'm not going to be able to get around to it now, but my guess is that the over-under is around 15 bills in total since January 2011. Place your no-prize wagers and we'll see. 

(Also on Lurker)