What Do Scientists Know?

Unsigned [reacting to yesterday’s column]: ‘I believe that W learned a lot from Dad’s mistake and I don’t think the Dems have a hope in hell. Howard Dean sounds the most intelligent of the whole bunch, but I think they’re all stupid to criticize W for the Iraq deal…that’s just not playing at all across the country. If Kerry’s the best the Dems have, it will be a blowout of epic proportion, as average Joe cannot relate to him at all. The Democrats have made the mistake of just playing to the large urban coastal areas (and Chicago), and Hollywood, and forgetting that there is a lot of territory in between. Frankly, I’m tired of being treated like a dumb redneck who’s opinion doesn’t count. I’m not for welfare and high taxes and I’ve put the 2000 election behind me. Yes, Fox leans conservative, but frankly, that just begins to balance the bias. You and I will probably never agree on much, and I don’t have a website to tell the world how smart I am and how stupid everyone else is to disagree with me (or edit posts such as these so that they may be taken out of context, or always have the last word), but I remain convinced that you were a much better writer when you stuck to personal finance. Trust me, there are a lot of people who share this opinion, and your political bent is not helping your cause.’

And now . . .

Perhaps you, too, got this promo from The Washington Monthly a couple of days ago:

News continues to mount of a growing and dangerous gap between scientists and the Bush administration. Yesterday the New York Times reported that the Bush administration edited out passages in an E.P.A. report that described scientific concerns about the potential risks from global warming. Two days ago, the American Medical Association announced its disagreement with restrictions that the Bush administration has proposed on cloning embryos for medical research. In a penetrating, carefully reported article in the next issue of The Washington Monthly, Nicholas Thompson shows how this news fits in with a general GOP strategy (ignore expert scientific views when they challenge pre-determined administration policy) and the reasons behind the strategy: Most scientists vote Democratic. To read the story, click here.

I miss personal finance, too, and I have some blockbuster Cooking Like a Guy™ recipes saved up (Banana Bliss: Open can of chilled Hershey’s chocolate sauce. Unpeel banana. Dunk. Mmmm, MMM!) but I think my country is going down the economic tubes, and I fear the loss of separation of church and state, and so I stray.

“If this is class warfare, then my class is winning.”
– Warren Buffett