TPP is proposing a new scientific term “Brounian movement” – the directional movement of science from its current state of knowledge to that of the dark ages.  Now the fact that Paul Broun thinks evolution is a “lie straight from the pit of hell”, thereby making biologists such as myself demons spreading Satan’s message, is no big deal because every culture has its atavistic knee-biters, but this fellow is a Republican (no surprise here) congressman, running unopposed for re-election, and here my fellow residents of the world it gets worse, and for this TPP feels the need to apologize for our culture, not because of what it is, but for the undue influence it has on other citizens of the world, because this guy and a bunch of other Bible beaters are members of the House Committee on Science and Technology.  Yes, about 25% of this committee are religious fundamentalists who deny science.  Sorry, world.  People in the USA put foxes in charge of chickens.  One of the problems with our culture is a deep seated anti-intellectualism that thinks good-old-boy street smarts is just as valid as science.  So please, do not look to the USA for much leadership, for much creativity, for much forward thinking, because just as in other countries that we too often denigrate, way too many of our citizens would sell democracy down the river for a theocracy, so long as it was their theology.  What do you say to people who say evolution is a lie straight from the pits of hell?  TPP can think of nothing that would make an impression on such a mind set.  Along with my colleagues we set down the botanical perspective on evolution.  What part does Congressman Broun think is a lie?  Natural selection?  That’s only been demonstrated a few thousands of times.  Do they think descent with modification is a lie?  Then why does every data set, all kinds of fossil data, and all kinds of developmental studies seem to fit with descent with modification?  And as for the Earth only being 6000 years old, well good luck with that one.  Broun claims that as a scientist, something he isn’t although he has science degrees, he has seen evidence of a young Earth.  Want to bet?  The only geologists that might agree also think the Earth is flat.  In fact so much evidence exists it is perfectly reasonable to say that people like Broun are cranks, people who stubbornly refuse to acknowledge that science knows anything, until he needs an antibiotic.  So sorry, my fellow citizens of Earth.  The USA may well be letting you down in the area of science, not that there are many shining examples of really scientifically literate countries elsewhere around the world.  Religion holds such a sway upon minds that they are unable to appreciate or accept what is known.  How depressing. 

The war on science continues

Molly Ivins once said, "Let me say for the umpteenth time, George W. is not a stupid man. The IQ of his gut, however, is open to debate. In Texas, his gut led him to believe the death penalty has a deterrent effect, even though he acknowledged there was no evidence to support his gut's feeling. When his gut, or something, causes him to announce that he does not believe in global warming -- as though it were a theological proposition -- we once again find his gut ruling that evidence is irrelevant." Well, there can be no question that Rick Perry is cut from the same bolt of cloth. A scientific report on the state of Galveston Bay was so heavily redacted by political officials of Texas, all of the scientist-authors protested and had their names removed from the report. Even basic facts were removed when inconvenient like the level of the bay is rising. Oh, that nasty sciency thing of using data rather than just acting upon your gut instincts, and the terrible burden of having to fit reality into your political Procrustean bed. So this pretty much tells you how Perry will act as president, policies will be based on the ideology of his gut; facts be darned. So this is how it goes in political circles these day because facts are bloody hard things to argue with; so much easier to deny we know anything than to explain a lack of policy. As a nation don't we deserve better? HT to PZ. Good job Mother Jones.

And where would the budget cuts in education come from?

If education budgets get cut under the "leadership" of elected GnOPers, no question about it, science would take a hit. If evolution is just a theory, and the "alternative" is so easy to teach, e.g., "fill-in-the-blank shows the Creator's intelligence", biology departments could all be trimmed by eliminating all those troublesome ecologists and systematists, those people who don't believe in "kinds" and bring up all those inconvenient ideas about how not to bring about the "end-times" by destroying our environment. Geologists and climate scientists would be toast too except for those who help find oil in the deposits left by Noah's flood. So what is a decent biologist to do? Just what us educated academic elites always do, make fun of the dummies.

1984 revisited - Legislating what science knows

The GnOPe war on science continues unabated. In an effort to strip the EPA of any power to regulate air-borne pollutants, especially greenhouse gases, a bill has been introduced by those towering legislative intellects Upton & Imhof that would define greenhouse gases out of existence as pollutants. Of course the problem won't disappear, but any need to take action will have been removed, which is more than anyone can say about greenhouse gases.
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) tried to use a sarcastic reponse that you just have to love for all the good it did.
"Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to a bill that overturns the scientific finding that pollution is harming our people and our planet.
However, I won’t physically rise, because I’m worried that Republicans will overturn the law of gravity, sending us floating about the room.
I won’t call for the sunlight of additional hearings, for fear that Republicans might excommunicate the finding that the Earth revolves around the sun.
Instead, I’ll embody Newton’s third law of motion and be an equal and opposing force against this attack on science and on laws that will reduce America’s importation of foreign oil.
This bill will live in the House while simultaneously being dead in the Senate. It will be a legislative Schrodinger’s cat killed by the quantum mechanics of the legislative process!
Arbitrary rejection of scientific fact will not cause us to rise from our seats today. But with this bill, pollution levels will rise. Oil imports will rise. Temperatures will rise.
And with that, I yield back the balance of my time. That is, unless a rejection of Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity is somewhere in the chair’s amendment pile."
The bill was approved just after. You might as well declare that the value of Pi is 3. Apparently to the likes of GnOPers you just don't know what the laws of physics will be like in the future. Legislators get away with this type of behavoir because there are no consequences; no one who matters (i.e., the voters back home) are calling them out on the carpet except those damn educational elites and they already know how to put them in their place. So folks, especially you who voted for them, you are to blame, and maybe, just maybe, everyone else out there who shares this planet should begin complaining about how stupid, easily misled 'Mercans are quickly making sure that our country will be a leader in degrading the only place we can call home. Sort of makes you proud, donit?

Deny, deny, deny, then deny you deny.

Have you heard that congress is having hearings on global warming? This if a good way for politicians to become informed, to learn from experts, to find out about different ideas for action. But it's become a way to justify you initial ideology rather than a way to learn anything, and this is granting a big assumption which is that some of these people can actually learn anything. This is the modern way, the neoconservative way, of dealing with anything any expert tells you that you don't like. You deny they know anything, you deny anyone knows anything, you deny any scientific concensus and you deny any data presented, and then of course you deny you deny. It's simple effective way to deal with anything. Rather than argue about policy, about the consequences of action or non-action, you deny there's a problem, you deny there's any way to change the situation, you deny anything needs to be changed at all, and then you deny you deny it. If you voted for any no-nothing jerk like that, then you get everything you deserve, and the rest of us, the rational part of the population, well, we get screwed. There's a GnOP war on science, but they'll deny it.

Letting foxes run the hen house - the Republican war on science and the environment continues

On Monday last the AP reported on new draft rules being proposed by the Bush administration to gut the Endangered Species Act. This would be the biggest change to the groundbreaking legislation since 1988, and would not require the approval of Congress. Currently, federal agencies are required to consult with an independent agency — the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) or the National Marine Fisheries Service — to determine whether a project would harm an endangered species. The AP reports that under the new rules, agencies would simply be able to “decide for themselves”.

Wow! Let's not drag any inconvenient scientific data into the discussion, let's just let government agencies, run by political appointees acting under super, double secret orders to make sure everything conforms to official ideological policy. More than any previous administration, the Bush administration has tried to create their own reality. And woe be to anything that stands in their way. If you don't like the results of studies by government sciences, well, just edit the final report to reflect your wishes.

The way the Bush administration has operated in other arenas, I'm surprised they didn't just define species out of existence. All of this shows the contempt this adminstration has for the American public, a majority of which actually support environmental protections. Congress won't pass such legislation, then find a way to change things such that congressinal approval is not needed.

Until Sen. McCain condems the Bush approach to governing this country, he doesn't stand of chance of getting my vote.