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Originally Posted by aceventura3
In order for the above to be correct, in that conservatives can control the debate and disable the debate across differing viewpoints you have to assume that scientist with views contrary to those of conservatives (assuming conservatives agreed on the scientific issues in question), are gutless and unwilling to take a stand against irrational conservative views. I don't believe that. I also think scientists with opposing views to those of conservatives have many outlets and forums where they can express those views and move the debate in a rational direction.
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Actually no such assumption is required, nor is it the case:
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When a leading psychologist like Harvard's Howard Gardner calls the president's science adviser a "prostitute," it's a safe bet that all is not well in the realm of government science policy. Indeed, in the past month, the United States has been engulfed by a kind of "science war," one pitting much of the nation's scientific community against the current administration. Led by twenty Nobel laureates, the scientists say Bush's government has systematically distorted and undermined scientific information in pursuit of political objectives. Examples include the suppression and censorship of reports on subjects like climate change and mercury pollution, the stacking of scientific advisory panels, and the suspicious removal of scientific information from government Web sites.
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http://www.csicop.org/doubtandabout/sciencewars/
I would say calling the SG a prostitute is pretty gutsy...particularly for a scientist. Scientists worldwide have been critical of this administrations manipulation of science for many years, and have been quite public about it. They have taken a stand on multiple occasions, most recently with a very critical report detailing the manipulation of Data that resulted from scientists doing the work they are required to do. Attempting to move the discussion away from the ethical problems created by what amounts to propaganda through the rape of scientific data, by claiming it happens all the time is disingenuous at best and ignores the implications on our ability to compete worldwide.
Imagine how many young scientists will be affected by an understanding that federal policy has the final say on the work they do. Imagine how many kids will forgo condoms in favor of abstinence...only to succumb to the natural tendency to fornicate, but continuously told that sex is wrong, and God frowns on rubbers. Imagine how we would feel if France develops a cure for cancer from embryonic stem cells, and we could have benefited financially and physically had we ignored the politics in favor of the science. Imagine the brow beating when a central American country develops a fusion reactor and we are forced to buy the technology while they reap the benefits of the research.
By exchanging the truth in science for political objectives we are selling ourselves short, and will soon force the "best of the best" to ply their trade on far away shores. When that happens, our future goes with it.