What is Digg?63 Comments
- SpartanFred, on 10/24/2008, -0/+38It would be funny if it were not so sad.
- mbrownerhamlin, on 10/24/2008, -0/+30It's the McCain/GOP logic writ small: Sell Sarah Palin with insinuation of substance and not substance. She lives in Alaska, so she's a Russia expert. Alaska has oil, so she's an energy expert. She has a child with down syndrome (or as John McCain likes to call it, autism), so she's an expert on children with special needs. Yet in every case, it's clear that she is none of the above.
- klhammy, on 10/24/2008, -0/+28The "energy expert" knows nothing about energy...now this!
- MediaWeasel, on 10/24/2008, -0/+19Let's face it. Every single time Palin opens her mouth she gives people yet another reason not to vote for the McCain / Palin ticket.
The fact that there are people who will still vote for that ticket means that those voters are dumber than fruit flies. - AmericanElitist, on 10/24/2008, -0/+18this is why politics needs to stay the hell out of science
- Deoliver47, on 10/25/2008, -0/+17Palin obviously never took biology while she was flitting from college to college. Had she done so, she would be aware that the use of fruit flies is a standard methodology in genetic and other medical research.
- Keggluneq, on 10/25/2008, -0/+17Her stupidity and ignorance are mindboggling: the lowly fruit fly is one of the most important model organisms in genetics research. What's next, an attack on zebrafish and baker's yeast?
- Keggluneq, on 10/25/2008, -1/+16In a head-to-head IQ competition between a fruit fly and Sarah Palin, my money's on the fly.
- chosenson, on 10/25/2008, -0/+14She's a dingbat. She says a McCain/Palin presidency will fund studies on autism "by cutting projects like the study of fruit flies that is totally unrelated."
Dear Sarah Palin. When you seek to champion a cause, please pick up a report and learn it functions. Especially, if funding for that cause supports something you don't understand, find out more about that particular thing before pledging to cut its funding. It might be something crucial.
This woman is dangerous to anything that has to do with scientific investigation. So is McCain. - inactive, on 10/25/2008, -0/+12Well all know that science is just the elitists' way of hatin' on God. What has science ever really done for us?
- jdarkling, on 10/25/2008, -1/+13These people are so anti-intellectual it's scary. Will science ever find a cure for "teh stupid"? Republicans need that cure badly...
- rhodydog, on 10/25/2008, -0/+10This country is sinking slowly but surely back to Medeival times.
- aminbean, on 10/25/2008, -0/+9Hey Sarah, I don't understanding this area of research either, but it took me less than a minute to find out that it exists. Here's the latest in the literature (published last month in the journal PLoS Genetics):
www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1000179
note: Drosophila = fruit fly - teg12, on 10/25/2008, -1/+10Gov. P -
Here is how it works...
Theory
fruit flies
mice
safety tests on adults
regular tests on adults
etc. etc.
cures..........
(Philadelphia) - Fragile X Syndrome is one of the most commonly inherited forms of mental retardation, with an incidence of 1 in 4,000 males and 1 in 8,000 females. Not many medications exist to help Fragile X patients. Now, in a fruit fly model of the disease, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and their colleagues have shown that it is possible to reverse some of the symptoms of the disorder using drugs that dampen specific neuronal overactivity. Their findings appear in the March 3, 2005 issue of Neuron.
hmmm....... - dinot, on 10/25/2008, -0/+9I honesty think they're losing on purpose. I mean, really. How can a campaign be so royally incompetent that they keep hitting the wrong notes on a daily basis?
- JoeMondo, on 10/25/2008, -0/+9This was a remarkable look into the future of a McCain/Palin win. A President without the slightest clue about science, foreign policy or domestic law.
- gjpyne, on 10/24/2008, -2/+10I agree... but in addition to her son is has Downs -- NOT autism. She has another member of her family (nephew?) that does suffer with autism.
It is clear that if she survived a Hurricane she would be a weather person ... too. - Batfishy, on 10/25/2008, -0/+8Dangerous is a really good word to use here. I used to think it was extreme, but I think Sarah Palin is my worst nightmare as a leader. Way scarier than 4 more years of Bush. I couldn't mean that more sincerely.
- grbradsk, on 10/25/2008, -0/+7Fer' cry'in out loud, keep that crazy, stupid woman out of government. She'll have more time then to spend with her witch doctor. What has happened to the republican party that led to this?? (and that )
- wfarren, on 10/25/2008, -0/+7Wears her ignorance proudly--just above her scarf with donkeys.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/23/palin-fas ... - BigJStudd, on 10/25/2008, -0/+7You said it. Fruit Fly research is one of the backbones of modern genetics. Drosophilla (can't remember the spelling) was one of the first things I studied when I was getting my BSc back in the day.
Palin wouldn't know though, she was too busy "finding herself". - Keggluneq, on 10/25/2008, -0/+7Not that I think Sarah Palin reads the medical literature (too many "words") but a quick search for ["fruit fly" OR drosophila] in PubMed yields 66,019 results.
- algaeturd, on 10/25/2008, -1/+7Every time this bitch opens her mouth, another bone falls out.
I'm so embarrassed to be an American. Not just because people are supporting her, but because they're supporting her after supporting someone as dumb as Bush for 8 years. I swear to God if it were up to the raging right, this country would have been sunk years ago. - darkciti2, on 10/25/2008, -0/+6The true conservatives are separating themselves from the NeoCon Church crazies.
The NeoCon Churchies have infiltrated the high management positions of the Republican party and the only way to flesh them out is to let them tear themselves apart and regroup and rebrand the party later.
The Evangelicals hijacked the Republican party and if they're so ***** smart, let them run the show for a few cycles. When they fail miserably (as they are), the true conservatives can regain control of the party (if Sr. Republicans haven't already scuttled the boat intentionally).
I have a feeling that the Libertarian Party is going to become a major US party within the next 12 years (probably less).
The powerbrokers behind the Republican machine could easily re-badge themselves as Libertarians within 4 2-year election cycles.
If the True Conservatives let the neocons run the show for a while, Palin will almost certainly be the neocon candidate in 2012, and the third party candidates will get a fair shake at the general election.
Political parties are just a label on a series of beliefs / ideals. They don't change very often but they do die off or evolve: a la the Whigs, the Federalists, et al. - SheilaNoya, on 10/25/2008, -0/+6I'm just wondering how many of her dumb supporters think she's promising to help "artistic" children.
- parisii, on 10/25/2008, -0/+6She also refused to call those who bomb abortion clinics "terrorists." In fact, when asked the question, the first words out of her mouth were "Billy Ayers is certainly a terrorist..."
She's just a staggeringly horrid ideologue.
If there was a novel called "The Picture of Dorian Palin," the portrait would look like Fred Phelps. - Keggluneq, on 10/25/2008, -0/+5Q: What's the difference between a hockey mom and a fruit fly?
Make up your own answer. - cmootoo, on 10/25/2008, -0/+4She generalized but didn't sound too informed on the topic. If she did indeed refer to the olive fruit fly research because the fly was threatening California olive groves then what was the alternative? Let the fly destroy the groves because they're worth less than $750k?
I'll be willing to bet she had no idea fruit fly research lead to advances in treatment for autism. A science advisor to vet these kind of speeches would have helped. - aminbean, on 10/25/2008, -1/+5Q: What's the difference between a fruit fly and Palin?
A: One has turned the organ responsible for its evolution into a vestigial structure, the other is a small fly. - aminbean, on 10/25/2008, -0/+4yeah, no. This was a medical research speech and many many millions gets spent on Drosophila research which is doled out by the NIH (National Institutes of Health). She's thinking all those millions were going to waste. Why point out a measly $750,000 project. That kind of money won't fund jack ***** in medical research.
- ruthazer, on 10/25/2008, -0/+4One eats rotting garbage and the other one spews it.
- BoulderSue, on 10/25/2008, -0/+4In defense of her lack of travel history, she said she got her knowledge from books. I don't know what books she has been reading, but I can't remember when I didn't know that fruit flies were a valuable research tool, and I'm no biologist or medical researcher. My degrees are in Religious Studies and Counseling, but I've travelled A LOT, and read solid scientific material easily accessible to non-experts, such as National Geo, Smithsonian Magazine, Sky and Telescope, etc. a lot of times in doctors' waiting rooms. After all those pregnancies you'd think she'd have picked up a few of those, especially since her last child was born well after optimal child-bearing years, and they knew in advance that he had a problem. Has the woman no curiosity at all? how can she be a spokes person for kids born with problems if she doesn't know how important fruit flies are to research in those areas? She makes W. look like an eg-head.
- mainely, on 10/25/2008, -0/+4It's not just us. Look at these misguided Aussies, they actually have a Fruitfly Research Center at the University of Sidney: http://www.osmr.nsw.gov.au/state_of_research/scien ... They claim this research helps insect pest control, protection of horticultural regions, and so on. It is clear that the anti-science crowd now controls the Republican Party. These folks are intellectual bullies on subjects where they are ignorant of the facts.
- kebinusan, on 10/25/2008, -0/+4This is interesting as well:
Palin made the comments Monday in Colorado against Amendment 51 which seeks to raise the sales tax by one cent on every $10 spent in each of the next two years.
The money would go to help the roughly 12,000 kids and adults in Colorado who currently are on a wait list to receive state services such as home nursing care and job training. They suffer from autism, Down syndrome and mental retardation.
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=102 ... - harronoob, on 10/25/2008, -0/+4They need someone in the campaign to do a little research on the topics that they talk about... Drosophila (fruit flies) are ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR animal models in biological research.
- splendora, on 10/25/2008, -0/+4Even worse, the research is conducted in Paris, France, so it's SUPER evil (only Freedom Data for us, thanks).
If there's a gay scientist involved, will her head explode? - ruthazer, on 10/25/2008, -0/+3When asked by Couric what newspapers she reads she replied "all of them".
Just the answer reveals her parochialism. - EarlOfLade, on 10/25/2008, -0/+3I bet she was busy witch hunting...
- grbradsk, on 10/25/2008, -0/+3One shoots native dogs (wolves) from airplanes. The other doesn't.
- darkciti2, on 10/25/2008, -1/+4One thinks unborn babies diagnosed with terminal diseases should be born so they can die 6 months later, because it's the will of an invisible zombie man in the sky.
The fruit fly leaves that decision to the experienced professionals. - EarlOfLade, on 10/25/2008, -0/+3Well, she claims that evolution is a fantasy and that creationism is "real science" so you know what time it is..
- EarlOfLade, on 10/25/2008, -1/+4But But... Sarah Palin believes that mental retardation is punishment from god, so what good will some damn fruit-flies do?
- ruthazer, on 10/25/2008, -0/+3The 1995 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to two Americans and a German specifically for their research on Drosophila genetics. A McCain/Palin administration would have cut their research funding.
- EarlOfLade, on 10/25/2008, -0/+3It's like her brain has been eaten by.... fruit-flies..
- AmericanElitist, on 10/25/2008, -0/+2that would be government, not politics, that funds earmarks and subsidies
- BoulderSue, on 10/25/2008, -0/+2mainely, I don't think the controlling wing of the Republican Party has been verry favorably disposed toward science in a long time. Look what happened to James Hansen of NASA when he wanted to put out his research on global climate change! And some of them still believe there are vast reservoirs of oil beneath our soil or just off-shore. Darwin's theories somtimes have to compete with creationism. But it's not just the Repubs. A majority of people believe in Biblical literalism, against all empirical evidence. No wonder we are more and more rapidly losing our status as a leader in the world in the realms of science and research.
- GawtMilk, on 10/25/2008, -1/+2Why, so they don't get earmarks and subsidies in the first place?
- cmootoo, on 10/25/2008, -3/+4Yeah. They're still working on the treatment for stupidity though so you gotta hang on for a bit.
- ruthazer, on 10/25/2008, -1/+2One provides evidence for evolution while the other is evidence against evolution.
- Insightful, on 10/25/2008, -1/+2You are right. I hope she runs in '08 and '12. Palin/Bachmann '08 has a nice ring to it.
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