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135 Comments
- Junkyarddawg, on 10/10/2007, -7/+67Truth.
However, the biggest damage the Bush administration has done to science in the US is probably the neutering of the federal research agencies - EPA, FDA, even NASA has been muffled, and scientists who did not change their results to be in tune with policy have been fired, demoted, passed over, or had their funding cut. - jmpeagle, on 10/10/2007, -2/+38more like religious interests. Businesses could have profited rom embryonic stem cell research. Also, the whole removing any geological age from the Grand Canyon National Park so as to not offend the Creationsists was kind of ridiculous.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -7/+42Bush don't need no stinking science Bush got rapture!
- dallascorbin504, on 10/10/2007, -6/+39It's really sad. I can only imagine how much further medical science would have advanced if the policy on stem cell research wasn't so strict. I can't wait for 1/20/09.
- toolegittoquit, on 10/10/2007, -6/+35Hopefully this mini-dark age will end soon. Go out and vote FFS.
- Gadren, on 10/10/2007, -6/+33Sigh... sometimes I wonder what science would be like right now had Gore been inaugurated.
- Kewlduderules, on 10/10/2007, -7/+34Couldn't agree more. This administration has done more damage to the advancement of science and new technology- all in the name of pursuing their business interests, i.e., oil!!!
- iamlutheran, on 10/10/2007, -2/+26I don't blame Bush - I blame the stupid American people that actually voted for this moron.
- luther70, on 10/10/2007, -0/+22What really gets me about Bushs stem cell stance is if he really believe that a fertilized egg is life then he should push a ban of fertility clinics and invitro fertilization.
- wendelgee2, on 10/10/2007, -2/+23But, but Clinton...
THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT! Clinton also began the faith-based initiatives, and hell yeah I'm pissed at him for it. The Left doesn't sanctify their politicians the way the Right does, buddy. Say anything you want about Clinton, it has nothing to do with my beliefs. - luther70, on 10/10/2007, -3/+23Do you sycophants ever get tired childish phrases like BDS and Moonbat?
- originaldna, on 10/10/2007, -5/+23it's over for the U.S, it takes small things to make a society crumble, and it's always from within and they all fall when they are the most powerful force on the planet.
Pack your bags kids. - notque, on 10/10/2007, -12/+30Intelligent Design? by Noam Chomsky
President George W. Bush favours teaching both evolution and "Intelligent Design" in schools, "so people can know what the debate is about." To proponents, Intelligent Design is the notion that the universe is too complex to have developed without a nudge from a higher power than evolution or natural selection.
To detractors, Intelligent Design is creationism — the literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis — in a thin guise, or simply vacuous, about as interesting as "I don’t understand," as has always been true in the sciences before understanding is reached. Accordingly, there cannot be a "debate."
The teaching of evolution has long been difficult in the United States. Now a national movement has emerged to promote the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools.
The issue has famously surfaced in a courtroom in Dover, Pa., where a school board is requiring students to hear a statement about Intelligent Design in a biology class — and parents mindful of the Constitution’s church/state separation have sued the board.
In the interest of fairness, perhaps the president’s speechwriters should take him seriously when they have him say that schools should be open-minded and teach all points of view. So far, however, the curriculum has not encompassed one obvious point of view: Malignant Design.
Unlike Intelligent Design, for which the evidence is zero, malignant design has tons of empirical evidence, much more than Darwinian evolution, by some criteria: the world’s cruelty. Be that as it may, the background of the current evolution/intelligent design controversy is the widespread rejection of science, a phenomenon with deep roots in American history that has been cynically exploited for narrow political gain during the last quarter-century. Intelligent Design raises the question whether it is intelligent to disregard scientific evidence about matters of supreme importance to the nation and world — like global warming.
An old-fashioned conservative would believe in the value of Enlightenment ideals — rationality, critical analysis, freedom of speech, freedom of inquiry — and would try to adapt them to a modern society. The Founding Fathers, children of the Enlightenment, championed those ideals and took pains to create a Constitution that espoused religious freedom yet separated church and state. The United States, despite the occasional messianism of its leaders, isn’t a theocracy.
In our time, the Bush administration’s hostility to scientific inquiry puts the world at risk. Environmental catastrophe, whether you think the world has been developing only since Genesis or for eons, is far too serious to ignore. In preparation for the G8 summit this past summer, the scientific academies of all G8 nations (including the US National Academy of Sciences), joined by those of China, India and Brazil, called on the leaders of the rich countries to take urgent action to head off global warming.
"The scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify prompt action," their statement said. "It is vital that all nations identify cost-effective steps that they can take now, to contribute to substantial and long-term reduction in net global greenhouse gas emissions."
In its lead editorial, The Financial Times endorsed this "clarion call," while observing: "There is, however, one holdout, and unfortunately it is to be found in the White House where George W. Bush insists we still do not know enough about this literally world-changing phenomenon."
Dismissal of scientific evidence on matters of survival, in keeping with Bush’s scientific judgment, is routine. A few months earlier, at the 2005 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, leading US climate researchers released "the most compelling evidence yet" that human activities are responsible for global warming, according to The Financial Times. They predicted major climatic effects, including severe reductions in water supplies in regions that rely on rivers fed by melting snow and glaciers.
Other prominent researchers at the same session reported evidence that the melting of Arctic and Greenland ice sheets is causing changes in the sea’s salinity balance that threaten "to shut down the Ocean Conveyor Belt, which transfers heat from the tropics toward the polar regions through currents such as the Gulf Stream." Such changes might bring significant temperature reduction to northern Europe.
Like the statement of the National Academies for the G8 summit, the release of "the most compelling evidence yet" received scant notice in the United States, despite the attention given in the same days to the implementation of the Kyoto protocols, with the most important government refusing to take part.
It is important to stress "government." The standard report that the United States stands almost alone in rejecting the Kyoto protocols is correct only if the phrase "United States" excludes its population, which strongly favours the Kyoto pact (73 per cent, according to a July poll by the Program on International Policy Attitudes).
Perhaps only the word "malignant" could describe a failure to acknowledge, much less address, the all-too-scientific issue of climate change. Thus the "moral clarity" of the Bush administration extends to its cavalier attitude toward the fate of our grandchildren. - manicallday, on 10/10/2007, -4/+17How do you mess up science? You either fund it or you don't. I really don't know anything that he has done well. Almost every policy decision that he has made has been a disaster. It really isn't that hard. People will tell you what to do. A friend of mine who's a psychiatrist is convince that the man is functionally retarded. I didn't buy it at first but now I'm starting to come around. He's even too incompetent to make a sound corrupt decision. I really think that Bush will be marked as one of the worst presidents ever.
- carpespasm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13awesome. so gore would assumably have funded cloning and animal husbandry programs so well that we would have enough horses for every person in the US? damn, i think that would've solved the "daddy i wanna pony" whine from every little girl in the US.
- kuzotz, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13I find it odd that we are now operating like the USSR now except without killing the scientist...
- kaiser79, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11They forgot to mention how the Surgeon General (the 'top doctor') was forced to mention Bush at least 3 times per page in every speech he wrote. And how his speeches were edited by the White House, removing any science that could possibly stand in the way of their Christian fundamentalist policies. It goes so-much-deeper than this, it is really and truly unbelievable. I never imagined I could be so ashamed of my own country.
- peeinian, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11No ***** *****.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8If you look at the annual budget for research, the increased in research has been minuscule and a lot of the research has been redirected to either anti-terrorism or military research. It isn't doom and gloom since the US spends more on research than the EU but it is concerning.
- Aadain, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Of course they do. Any in many ways they have or will be passing us in this new field of study. It won't be American's making the discovery that cures a host of horrible diseases or finds a way to allow a person in a wheel chair to walk again. It will be someone in China or Russia or even in Canada. Now while we may all benefit from this discovery (eventually), it's a sign that these industries won't be based in the US. Potentially billions of dollars worth of jobs and income are shifted to another country. That's why it's such a shame we can't put old dogmatic views aside and attempt to deal with reality.
- kuzotz, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9hasn't done squat because it is improperly funded so it doesn't do squat...
- reddevil3, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Yes the government shouldn't be allowed to fund research...who needs NASA, the Internet (DARPA) and the Human Genome project?
- swordedge, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7We need a scientist to run for and get elected as president. They'd make both parties unhappy!
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7Using your absurd logic the human genome project hasn't done squat. The cancer research in the 1960s that led to the production of several major treatments in the 1990s didn't produce squat for 30 years.
- meantime, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Bush speaks of "sanctity of life," yet he has sent more people to death in Texas than any Governor in history.
- Ladymongoose, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7Just another reason to despise Bush. I have a child who could possibly be helped through the use of stem cell research, but Bush is helping condemn him to a ***** life because of his twisted morals. You suck Bush.
- PieterOpie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6It's not just US scientists and not just scientists in general, it is all people of all professions, trades and lifestyles in all the lands on all the continents on earth (yes, including Antarctica) that believe Bush has been a major disaster. In fact the think a whole lot worse.... Those US scientist were being extremely generous and diplomatic - kind even. I am convinced he is a product of the coupling of his grandfather and Hitler. Grandpa adored Hitler and I hear he had Hitler's baby. Bush is a direct descendant of the Fuhrer....... He once said as a child "one day Texas, then America... and then THE WORLD!!!" which inspired his mum to make him a little Nazi uniform and he play SS Death Squad with the terrified servants. It was difficult at times to replace them at the rate they vanished... eh... resigned. (GULP) He even had a lightbulb oven in which he used to burn little jewish dollies. He was the perfect child. Better than the other children.... He was a Master Child!!!! If you look in their attic you may just find some tiny Jack boots and a tiny fake moustache. How cute. Finally his childhood dreams have come true - almost.... It is said a Nazi salute makes him hard...... SHHHH you didn't hear that from me. Laura Bush is actually a robot from outer space and his daughters are real genuine sluts.
Hmmmm..... OK, so I got carried away a little. But only a little. You get the idea anyway...... - Grummond, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Yeah, but Bush created the other internets.
- luther70, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5He had the ability to commute thier sentence but he all saw fit to do that to only one criminal in his entire political career.
- biotch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Actually its a good point.... Bush has been consistently ignorant. Its the people that voted for him that are to blame.
- ryanwarnersteel, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5It sucks to be a scientist in the US right now. Stuff like evolution and human caused climate change are proven science fact, yet people don't seem to care...
- TheMeatball, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7Does this mean we'll finally see "Intelligent falling" added to High School curriculum?
- biotch, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Its an interesting contemplation given that he was responsible for a dramatic influx of funding for internet infrastructure in the 90s which prompted the quote "I created the internet" subsequently misquoted as "I invented the internet"
- Aadain, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5"Global Warming" has got to be the worst label for a climate phenomena ever. Every ultra-right wing nut job is just thrilled that we constantly use the term 'global warming". Yes, on a global scale the average temperature is going up. But what is really happening is a shift in global climates. Some areas get hotter, some get colder, others just experience incredibly odd/extreme weather (hello? F2 twister in Brooklyn?). A better term would be "global climate change". It might eventually even out, but during the transition is means extreme weather and unpredictability (even more than usual).
- luther70, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Same place where it says the government can build roads.
- BeardDob, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Do not be ashamed of your country you fool. Be ashamed of the asshats that elected your president.
- nihilite, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5usercc: i can only pity you that you choose dogma over evidence.
- OneHine, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Anti-intellectuals in the United States would never allow this to happen. Diggers would love a smart person as their president, but O'Reilly et. al. would fill the airwaves with cries of "elitist" (as if being educated were a bad thing) and "atheist" (never mind that there are plenty of religious people who don't buy into creationism).
- hotsake, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6This is like slow-boiling a frog to death. People are waiting for a defined event horizon which if we cross will doom us. Unfortunately, no civilization in history has fallen apart that way.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7Hey Bush bot idiots, how does it feel to know that you voted for a President with the lowest approval ratings in US history?
Don't you feel embarrassed?, I'll tell you what, I'll be embarrassed for you! - mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Haha WOW! Gore sure sounds evil in your world.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5That was a decade ago, and it was dealing with human cloning, not stem cells. He and wife both fervently support it now.
On another note, I'm burying your username for being inaccurate. i'm a jewish atheist. - roberto_deneero, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5We ought to enact an Amendment that forbids anyone from the states of Texas or Florida from becoming President. Also, all Presidential candidates must have at least a 12th grade IQ. If either of these were already enacted when Bush cheated his way into office, none of this embarrassing past 7 years would have happened.
- avasol, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Must be good, living in la-la land.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6This is my country, I'm sure as hell not abandoning it.
- LemonHerb, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Can you fall from the least powerful spot on the planet?
- wahidm, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6...and so say all of us...
- RetroMUFC, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Bush's presidency has been a disaster yet he has served two terms. What does that say about our once-great nation when we as a people continue voting in the elected officials that put us in this predicament?
- mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5I already despise him with every ounce of my being, I can't imagine being in your place. Bush is indirectly killing thousands, and destroying the lives of millions more.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4You mean like.. Al Gore? I think he's given up on our corrupt government and is off exploring his own dreams.
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