For those who might be interested, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scienti=
sts, September/October 2005, Volume 61, No. 5 http://www.thebulletin.org/past_issues/061_005.htm has as its cover s=
tory, an excerpt from Chris Mooney's book, "The Republican War on Sci=
ence".
<http://www.thebulletin.org/index.htm> =20
Gordon Johnson
Westmoreland County Community College
Youngwood, PA 15697
________________________________
=46rom: Forum for Physics Educators on behalf of Brian Whatcott
Sent: Sat 9/17/2005 1:31 PM
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: Science Under Seige (NS Sep 10 Issue)
NewScientist 10 Sep 2005 p21 "Comment & Analysis"
Science Under Seige
"The next time a politician in the US launches an attack on science,
you can bet the interests of industry or the Christian right are
not far behind, says Chris Mooney."
"TO UNDERSTAND the troubling schism
that has emerged between the US
Republican party and the nation's
scientific community, look no farther
than the senate majority leader Bill
Frist. Frist is a medical doctor, a heart
surgeon, and yet he has become
notorious for abusing medical science
in the interests of politics. Not only
did he publicly question the diagnosis
by Florida doctors of vegetative patient
Terry Schiavo, apparently after
watching a videotape of her in hospital,
he also hesitated and stammered when
asked by ABC'S George Stephanopoulos
to debunk the nonsensical notion -
promoted in some Christian right
abstinence education programmes -
that HIV can be contracted from
sweat and tears.
Something appeared to shift for
Frist in late July. He staggered the
party's Christian conservative base by
parting company with President Bush
and supporting expanded federal
funding for embryonic stem cell
research. Suddenly Frist seemed to have
become the scientific community's
ally - but not furlong. After a few brief
weeks, Frist could be found siding in
favour of the teaching of intelligent
design alongside evolution in the
nation's public school science classes.
Any temporary favour he may have
gained with scientists evaporated,
but assuredly it won him back support
=66rom the Christian right.
What is going on here? Can a
Harvard-trained doctor like Frist really
believe that ID can rival evolution? This
may be beside the point. The fact is that
Frist has repeatedly taken stances on
questions of science that seem carefully
tailored to the Republican party's
political base. That's the way he plays
these issues, with only rare exceptions.
And it's not just Frist: a strict adherence
to constituency politics appears to
explain much of the growing gulf
between the Republican party - and
especially the Bush administration -
and the scientific community in the US."
[continues...]
C Mooney, author of
The Republican War On Science.