As a country we spend millions of dollars every year on cancer research. New treatments are being investigated and studied all the time. What are we doing to prevent gun violence?

Because kids also die in car accidents and from hunger, we shouldn't be bothered to do anything about gun violence? That is illogical.
Please explain how the so-called "fiscal cliff," related to taxes and spending, has anything to do with school security, gun violence, or mental health care.

Excellent points. It could also be the case the people who drink more coffee have more money, and are therefore more able to afford cancer treatment (thus reducing the "risk").
I would recommend this article in The Atlantic: Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science. It points out many of the fallacies of this kind of medical research.

You can also look at prison population and the violent deaths in the U.S, both of which feature a larger proportion of men. I'm certainly not opposed to programs to support women or minority groups. But where is the outcry for programs to help men graduate from school, stay out of prison, and avoid violent death?

At one point the Federal Department of Education wanted to require ALL distance education programs to acquire permission from each state where they did business. But that has now been withdrawn (http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/07/31/education-department-wont-enforce-state-authorization-distance-education-programs).

I wouldn't be surprised at all if other states also still implement this policy, although it seems like overkill for a site that is not trying to offer degrees or actual credits.

All media outlets have one objective: make money. They do that by getting your attention (to their tv channel, or website, etc.). If they have to bend the "truth" a bit to get your attention, then so be it.

buy an LCD (or LED) screen. That will save much more electricity than changing the colors you use on it. I can never figure out why so many energy saving tips focus on such small things (e.g., turn off the water when you brush your teeth) but ignore the big issues (like my neighbors who water all afternoon in 100 degree heat and have a stream of water running directly into the sewer).

New research suggests ethanol produces more energy than it takes to produce due to newer crop production methods and methods for converting corn into ethanol. See: http://deltafarmpress.com/university-study-shows-ethanol-fuel-efficient

I know the link is from a farm-based website but it was done by a researcher I trust.

Production of ethanol from other sources may be even more efficient.

Not for free.

Do you carefully watch every commercial during your favorite television program? Do you carefully read every advertisement in your favorite magazine? Do you turn up the volume on the radio during the ads on your favorite program?

It's my eyeballs and my computer. I get to choose what I view.

"If it has to be there tomorrow, call the other guys. If it had to be there two weeks ago, call us."

http://www.hulu.com/watch/285313/saturday-night-live-jiffy-express

is that they don't always know which genes result in which traits. In fact, it could be possible to have the "fast-twitch" ability based on a different presentation or combination of genes. So not having these specific gene expressions does NOT absolutely guarantee that someone won't have this fast-twitch ability.

Our genetics understanding is just not advanced enough to say definitively that this gene expression = this ability / trait for most traits of interest.

It's not hard to make a fake license plate. There was an article a few years ago about students creating fake plates for their cars (using the license number from a teacher from their school), then driving around town and running through the red-light cameras to rack up tickets for their teacher.

What worries me is the ability to get tickets, or other, more serious violations, based on something that is very easy to spoof. Mad at your neighbor? Run a red light, get him a ticket. Mad at someone who cut you off in traffic? Steal gasoline from a station and get him arrested.

The more these plate-tracking systems are implemented and upheld in courts, the more we will see abuse of such systems.

Treatments for smallpox are being researched. CMX001 (developed by Chimerix) is a candidate for smallpox treatment (and for treating a range of other viruses as well).
See:
Chimerix.com

Chimerix has also been involved in a number of legal battles with Siga regarding the awarding of this contract.

I too like R. You might link it with TINN-R (http://sciviews.org/Tinn-R/) to simplify some of the coding process. Last I had heard there was also some work on a GUI for R but I don't know if that's progressed very far.

SPSS is fairly easy to use and I would recommend it over SAS for basic analyses, but, as parent suggested, it really depends on what you want to do. You might be pretty happy just downloading some Excel macros which can be found through web searches (or, better yet, writing your own).