War on Science? Not at the Pentagon

The Republican War on Science is well documented. The fact that America's national security is endangered by that war is certainly less widely. The Pentagon has seen a dwindling in interest in science and of scientific expertise - both vital for our military - and has taken some unorthodox steps to preserve our scientific leadership.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

the triumvirate of Messrs. Gundersen, Barker, and Singer is serious about getting science - and scientific heroes - into the movies. In fact, they see it as vital to the health of American technological prowess, to say nothing of national security.

So what they've done for the past three years is convene a three-to-five-day screenwriting class at the venerated American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Called the Catalyst Workshop, it's a lot like other screenwriting classes that have become a cottage industry across the nation. But here's the twist - all participants in this one are actually scientists. Hardcore, PhD-laden, lab-certified scientists. Here's the second twist - the training was all paid for by the Pentagon.

These screenwriting classes are indeed your Department of Defense tax dollars at work. Egregious example of DOD waste? Some bizarre recruiting promise? The cinematic equivalent of $700 toilet seats? Actually, it's the Pentagon's way of trying to enhance the nation's science-and-technology adroitness.

***

America, it turns out, is suffering from a science and engineering shortage. Students are bypassing the sciences for sexier and more lucrative jobs in law, venture capital, and competitions to be on "American Idol." That means, in addition to national deficits in sleep, fitness, and the federal budget, we have a dearth of particle physicists and electromechanical engineers.

If the Pentagon says we're short on scientists, I'm inclined to believe them. When it comes to engineers, I know we're short on them from personal experience.

I graduated with a degree in Architecture got a good job making a decent salary. Friends of mine, graduating from the same university at the same time with engineering degrees were recruited by multiple companies, and easily make twice as much as I do.

The law of supply and demand doesn't lie.

And, I suppose, it was my choice to pick the sexy profession (architecture) that cost me the money. I never really thought of architecture as sexy, but it really kind of is. Have you ever noticed how many commercials for things completely unrelated to architecture have (physically attractive) architects in high-rise offices with big glass windows locking out over cities? Maybe it's just me...

And being a mechanical engineer is definitely un-sexy. It's like the old joke says: "How can you tell the difference between and architect and an engineer? - The architect's clothes match." The stereotypes aren't flattering.

Anyway, back to the point.

The Republican Party has allowed certain internal elements and interests to degrade science in general (and science education in particular) to such a degree that the Pentagon is sponsoring scientists' screen plays.

Think about that.

I don't think it's a bad idea. It's a sort of 'under the radar' P.R. campaign for science, something many other areas of study and/or professions use all the time.

Of course a sound education and more affordable college educations might be a better way to get similar results...

Science Engineering Pentagon

Jeebus & Intelligent Design - UPDATE

In the wake of 3 separate school shootings, the President has decided to hold a conference on school safety tomorrow.

If the President was coming at the problem with honesty and a real desire to prevent school violence, it would be a wonderful development. Unfortunately, I'm guessing your going to see this become a study in absurdity.

People at this conference will tell you that stricter gun laws won't prevent school shootings - but talking to Jesus during the morning announcements will. People will tell you that the cause of school violence is notdisturbed children in need of help and therapy - it's that schools have taught the Devil's Idea, evolution, which teaches that human life isn't of value.

What will be said won't just be false. It will be so far from the truth that to believe what will be said requires willful ignorance.

The White House is convening a conference on school safety Tuesday. Federal officials, school workers, parents, law enforcement officials and other experts are to gather in Chevy Chase, Md., a Washington suburb noted for exceptional schools.

The conference is being hosted by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. Bush and his wife, Laura, are expected to attend part of it.

With that cast of characters, I don't see how anything good can come from this.

UPDATE: 1:32 pm - CNN reports that a 13 year old in Joplin, Missouri has been the latest child driven to violence by being taught evolution instead of prayer in school:

A 13-year-old student fired an AK-47 inside his middle school Monday morning after confronting two others students and his principal, but no one was injured, authorities said.

The student was wearing a mask and pointed the assault rifle at Principal Steve Gilbreth, Assistant Superintendent Steve Doerr and two students, saying, "not to make me do this," Superintendent Jim Simpson said.

Simpson said the teen then fired a shot into the ceiling, breaking a water pipe, and said again, "Please don't make me do this."

"It was a very close call," Simpson said.

I don't mean to sound glib in the face of so much horror. My wife is a teacher. School violence is no laughing matter, but I believe that the inability for some to come to grips with the reality of this situation: 13 year olds shouldn't have access to AK-47s. Shit! Nobody should have access to AK-47s.

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania. I'm comfortable around guns. My family owns guns. I do not have a problem with that. I'm probably more opposed to gun control than a majority of Democrats. But that doesn't mean that I'm not for sensible gun control. I'm sure any reasonable person could agree that a ban on AK-47s is reasonable for the same reason we don't let people own Stinger Missles and Rocket Propelled Grenade launchers.

Education George W. Bush School ViolenceGun Control

The Evils of Children Reading

Conservatives know the danger of Children getting cozy with books. They're full of all sorts of varied ideas and divergent viewpoints. They promote critical thinking and fact based analysis. That's why when children find a book that they like to read, it's best to do everything you can to take that book away. Reading should always be drudgery, something unpleasant assigned by teachers. That way children will be less likely to read books (and even newspapers) later in life - making them much more pliable sheeple.

Via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

In Harry Potter's world, the Ministry of Magic governs things. In Georgia, the state Board of Education rules over public schools.

These two worlds come together Tuesday when the state board has a public hearing on a parent's request to remove the popular series from Gwinnett County public school libraries. The hearing officer presiding over the appeal will make a recommendation to the state board, which is scheduled to rule on the case during its December meeting.

The Harry Potter books are among the most popular in children's literature. Six of the seven books planned in the series have been published. The seventh is expected to provide some resolution for Harry Potter.

Mind you the effort is not to prevent the book from being read in the classroom or used as assigned reading for students. The Board of Education is deciding whether the most popular children's book in history should be given a spot on school library shelves.

• Harry Potter and the Loganville mother: Laura Mallory, a Loganville parent, challenges the books in September 2005, saying the stories promote and glorify witchcraft. She wants the books removed from her children's school, J.C. Magill Elementary, and all Gwinnett public school libraries.

• Harry Potter and the Magill panel: A Magill Elementary review panel says the books have merit and should be available to children. The panel is comprised of parents, community members and school staff members. Mallory appeals the decision to the district.

• Harry Potter and the Gwinnett panel: A district-wide media panel reviews the books and says the books should stay in school libraries. Mallory appeals to the Gwinnett County school board.

• Harry Potter and the hearing of the ban: In April, the school board conducts a hearing on the issue. Mallory and her supporters say the books need to go because the stories are dark, violent and inappropriate for children. The school system and Potter fans defend the books as modern literature.

• Harry Potter and the officer's report: The school board's hearing officer strongly recommends the books stay. She says removing them would open the school system to ridicule.

• Harry Potter and the order of the school board: The Gwinnett school board in May unanimously rules in favor of the books. Board members say they have merit because they promote reading and improve students' literacy skills. Mallory appeals to the state Board of Education.

• Harry Potter and the state of Georgia: The state board hearing officer will listen to oral arguments related to the appeal at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Education Department's executive board room, Suite 2070, Twin Towers East, Atlanta. The hearing, which should last about an hour, is open to the public, though the public cannot comment. Who knows how this battle will end?

Sounds like sanity has won out at every stage. No wonder Laura Mallory is so furious.

Has Laura read Grimm's Fairy Tales? Those stories have witchcraft, violence and dark themes far in excess of anything J.K. Rowling has put to paper. Is Shakespeare in school libraries? That guy had his share of violence, witchcraft, suicide, dark themes and - gasp!- sex. Maybe he should be taken out too.

If a parent doesn't want his or her child to read Harry Potter, it's their responsibility to tell their child not to read the book. It doesn't promote sex or drug use. Any arguements about Harry Potter's depiction of violence could be equally applied to any number of children's stories and/or books read by children with a reading ability advanced enough to actually read the Harry Potter stories.

All that leaves is the arguement that Harry Potter is anti-Christian. Whether it is or isn't is beside the point. Books should not be removed from public school libraries because they contain ideas that certain people find blasphemous.

My hope is that the Georgia Board of Education will see that at every step Laura Mallory's position has been found to be without merit and tell her to go find something of real importance to worry about.

Laura Mallory Harry Potter Georgia Book Banning Christianists

News Americans DO NOT Care About

Because it doesn't involve sex, creepy old guys trying to get sex, missing/dead blonde girls, TomKat, or the contents of Paris Hilton's cell phone.

Via the Washington Post:

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Americans John C. Mather and George F. Smoot won the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for work that helped cement the big-bang theory of the universe.

Mather, 60, works at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Smoot, 61, works at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.

Their work was based on measurements done with the help of the NASA-launched COBE satellite in 1989. They were able to observe the universe in its early stages about 380,000 years after it was born. Ripples in the light they detected also helped demonstrate how galaxies came together over time.

And in Yesterday's Washington Post:

Two American scientists -- one of whom graduated from Fairfax High School -- awakened early yesterday to learn they will share a Nobel Prize for their discovery of a gene-regulating mechanism inside cells, an advance that in just eight years has revolutionized genetics and led to several experimental treatments for diseases.

Craig C. Mello of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester -- whose father, a paleontologist, served for years as an associate director of the National Museum of Natural History -- and Andrew Z. Fire of Stanford University's School of Medicine will share the $1.36 million Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their serendipitous discovery of RNA interference, or "RNAi."

In a series of experiments on nearly microscopic soil-dwelling worms, conducted at the Carnegie Institution of Washington's laboratories in Baltimore, the team stumbled upon a naturally occurring mechanism that allows cells to shut down individual genes.

There are only five Nobel Prizes - Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, and Peace. To have two prizes go to Americans is a great honor and an indication that some of the most advanced research by the smartest people is going on in America.

I say that not to be self aggrandizing but to recognize the ability of American institutions to attract the best and brightest from around the world.

Yet how many Americans know that four Americans won two of the Nobel Prizes? How many Americans know that there are more Nobel Prizes than the Peace Prize? How many Americans think that the government funding of the winners of the Prize in Physics should probably be revoked because the research isn't important (at best) or (at worst) that it furthers the blasphemous idea of the 'big bang' instead of supporting what is obviously true - that the world was created by God over the course of a week 6,000 years ago.

Maybe I'm a Liberal Elitist but the amount of anti-intellectualism in this country is astounding. I do not claim to be an expert on all matters but I like to think that I understand the basics of most fields of science. I couldn't explain the physics that Mathers and Smoot are investigating nor understand the details of Mello and Fire's research into RNA but I understand what the big bang is and why RNA is important. I understand that both of those advances increase human understanding of the world around us (and within us) and is therefore both important and valuable.

I got that from a good public education, both at public schools and at a public university. How long will that be available to America's young people? I listen to those on the far Right rail about U.S. Department of Education should be abolished and I read what Freepers write about pulling children out of public schools in favor of home schooling. I wonder if the future holds as many American Nobel Laureate as the past does.

Nobel Prize Anti-intellectualism Education

Christian Threats of Violence

I never would have guessed that the judge in the Dover, Pennsylvania case striking down 'intelligent design' would have Christianists threatening to kill him. From the Witchita Eagle:

LAWRENCE, Kan. - A judge who struck down a Dover, Penn., school board's decision to teach intelligent design in public schools said he was stunned by the reaction, which included death threats and a week of protection from federal marshals.

Pennsylvania U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III told an audience in Lawrence Tuesday that the case illustrated why judges must issue rulings free of political whims or hopes of receiving a favor.

[...]

Jones didn't focus on that debate but instead discussed the fallout, which included the death threats and a verbal lashing from conservative pundits around the country.

He said much of the criticism showed a lack of understanding about the role of judges, who he said should rule based on the Constitution and legal precedence - not on personal whims or political favors.

Jones said many people expected him to rule differently because he is a longtime Republican and was appointed by President Bush.

"These criticisms point at something in the way that both the pundits and the public tend to perceive judges," he said. "It is false, it is debilitating and if unchallenged, I believe it will ultimately tear at the fabric of our system of justice in the United States."

People have a right to disagree with judges, particularly by filing appeals, but the level of debate needs to rise above personal attacks, he said.

"As we spend time, as we did in the Dover case, debating what to put in the science curriculum in our schools, we had better start paying attention to the curriculum of civics and government, as well as history," he said.

First, it's good to see a judge, especially a Bush appointee, standing up for an independent judiciary. He should be on Sunday morning talk shows, bringing that message to the people. Actually, if he's going to actually reach voters, he'd do better on Oprah.

That said, even if new guidelines for civics and government classes in public education were drawn up, they would be subject to the same underlying problem that forced John Jones to rule that science is science and religion is religion and the two shouldn't mix in publicly funded schools.

Forces on the Right are intolerant of anything presented in a public school with which they disagree. I can't imagine that any examination of civics and government drawn up by sane people could possibly do anything but enrage them.

My high school government class (I didn't have civics) was great. I spent a month learning (and reading) the Constitution. I read some of the Federalist Papers. My teacher, Miss Beaver, was great. We examined all three branches independently, throughout their history.

This was as Republicans were jockeying for the nomination in 2000. We discussed how these abstract ideas, some hundreds of years old, fit into modern politics. Miss Beaver was tremendously even handed. She had no agenda other than education. I credit her class, plus George W. Bush, as the reason why I'm a political junky.

This post is suffering subject drift.

When Pam wades into Freeper Land for "Actual Freeper Quotes" if the subject touches on education, there's always a comments encouraging parents to get their kids out of public schools, invariably called 'government schools' and into (presumably) a home-schooling situation.

Do we run the risk of having a generation of Americans of which a significant portion have a 'Madrasah' education?

Christianists Evolution Home Schooling Education

Local News, Wingnut Press

Thanks Pam, for pointing out something taking place in my back yard that made it into the Agape Press:

Maryland County's Sex-Ed Material Not Yet Out of the Woods

CAUTION...This story contains terms that some may find offensive

By Jim Brown
September 19, 2006

(AgapePress) - A group that sued Maryland's largest school system over its controversial sex-education curriculum is applauding some proposed changes to the new curriculum and raising concerns about others.

Last year a federal judge issued an order blocking implementation of the Montgomery County, Maryland, sex-ed program. Michelle Turner is president of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, one of the two groups that filed a successful lawsuit alleging the program denigrated conservative religious beliefs about homosexuality and contained misinformation about health risks posed by condom use.

[...]

"We're running into some concerns with the written part of the curriculum," Turner adds. "There still seems to be an interest on the part of the school system to introduce anal and oral sex."

According to Turner, liberal groups are still pushing for condom-based, homosexuality-affirming sex-ed in the classroom. For example, groups like the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and "Teach the Facts" want the county's new sex-education program to include discussion of anal and oral sex, she says. But if the changes advocated by those two groups are adopted, the citizens group leader contends the district may be in violation of the terms of last year's court-ordered settlement.

"It all depends on whether or not they are introducing homosexuality and homosexual acts and the homosexual lifestyle without telling students that it is possible to leave the lifestyle -- and that there are agencies and organizations that can assist with that," she says.

And yes, that big red warning was in the article.

It wasn't to long ago that I was in high school. I went to high school in Pennsylvania. The community was much more conservative than Montgomery County. The high school was literally right next to a cow field. When the wind blew just so, you knew it. And in that idyllic, pastoral version of the American High School, oral sex was something beyond common.

Montgomery County's sex ed program wants to address oral sex? GOOD! Most students (yes, most) are doing it. That's the facts on the ground. Students should know the risks and how to address them. And while I'm guessing anal sex is less pervasive, those who are having it should know what precautions to take.

That means condoms. I have yet to understand why schools shouldn't encourage condom use for students having sex. Do 'Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum' want students to end up pregnant or with STDs?

I would argue that they do. They want young people, especially women, punished for their sins. If that means they end up pregnant or infected, that's God's righteous punishment for sins of the flesh.

Vengeful Christianists aside, since when is oral sex (or anal sex for that matter) a 'homosexual act?' The sex lives of these people must be terrible. I mean, hell, if you want to wait until you're married, that's your business, but really! Not having oral sex because it's 'gay' is ridiculous. Can you say repression?

'Married and Missionary Only' efforts are the main thrust (ha!) of Agape's article, but the most alarming part is this:

"Last year a federal judge issued an order blocking implementation of the Montgomery County, Maryland, sex-ed program. Michelle Turner is president of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, one of the two groups that filed a successful lawsuit alleging the program denigrated conservative religious beliefs about homosexuality and contained misinformation about health risks posed by condom use." Emphasis mine.

I have no evidence, but I'm guessing Montgomery County didn't write "thinking that sex is bad and that homosexuality is wrong is a foolish opinion held only by mindless twits stuck in the 18th century" into the curriculum. Presenting facts about practices the student population is engaging in IS NOT denigrating conservative religious beliefs.

It's frightening how successful mindless twits stuck in the 18th century have been in having any mention of something they find 'icky' removed from school curriculums.

Are these people afraid that their children will somehow discover that their parents have been keeping them in the dark all their lives? Are these people so afraid of their children thinking for themselves that they don't even want their children exposed to 'ungodly' ideas? If you're any sort of decent parent, your kid can go to school, hear that condoms are incredibly effective at preventing both disease and pregnancy, then come home and you, the parent, can explain to him or her that 'our family's religious beliefs teach us that even if the sex is 'safer' it should still be saved for marriage.'

Just because a kid knows what a condom is doesn't mean that he or she is going to start having sex! Knowing that there are homosexuals in the world doesn't turn a kid into one.

Luckily Montogomery County won't ever accept a 'abstinence only' approach to sex ed. There are lots of places that would. The kids living there are no less deserving of the facts than kids here in the rather progressive suburbs of D.C. Every time a young person who never had access to the information they needed ends up pregnant or with an STD, it's on the heads of people like Michelle Turner, president of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum.

Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum Sex Education Culture War

Anti-Muslim Bigotry

It's always strange to read about what is, for me, local news in far-flung sources. Though I hadn't heard about it in local news, ABC 7 out of Denver reports on events in my own back yard:

A Maryland substitute teacher was arrested after an alleged anti-Islamic tirade in front of high school students.

Carol Joan McVey, 49, was charged with resisting arrest, trespassing, disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.

Police said McVey became upset when she heard some students at Gaithersburg High School, who were being assisted by another teacher, practicing a speech and using some Arabic words.

[...]

Charging documents allege McVey shouted, "Islam doesn't mean peace, it means killing everyone for peace" and "Because of you, our families died in New York!"

After being told by the principal told McVey that her services were no longer needed, she was escorted out of the school by the educational facilities officer. At that point, she thought it might be a good time to yell at a teacher of Hispanic descent about talking to students in a language other than English. Then she tried to re-enter the school. The educational facilities officer had to call in an additional officer to arrest her.

Hmmm... Recognize any key election issues brought strikingly to life in this incident?

Bigotry Religion Education Republicans

More Evolved Educational Standards

Ok, I'm really done with the obnoxious titles for a while.

The Washington Post reports that conservative Republican members of the Kansas Board of Education have been voted out of office:

Conservative Republicans who approved new classroom standards that call evolution into question lost control of the State Board of Education in Tuesday's primary election.

A victory by pro-evolution Republican candidate Jana Shaver over conservative Republican Brad Patzer, who supported the standards treating evolution as a flawed theory, meant conservatives would at best have five of 10 seats on the board.

Five seats were up for election in the primary, the latest skirmish in a seesawing battle between faith and science that has opened Kansas up to international ridicule.

Good news, of course. Sad that the article didn't ever bother to mention that 99.9% of all respected scientists support Evolution as a key concept in our understanding of biology, bio-chemistry, genetics, and countless other important fields.

Worse yet, the article finished with a blurb about the Discovery Institute, the anti-Evolution fiction factory in Seattle.

Perhaps the Washington Post assumed that it's readership was both well enough educated to know that on their own. I do know this: School children in Kansas are very well educated when it comes to the impact of political propagandising on their education.

Kansas Evolution Republicans Democrats

Do You Know What Century We're In?

A question a lot of us would love to ask when talking to Christianist whackos. The thing is, the want to change it. Literally. From the AFA website:

The Kentucky Board of Education has voted to take the first step in redefining how America dates time. The board voted to include a new secular system of dating the calendar, BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era), and added it to the BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini, Latin for "in the year of our Lord") method.

The new secular system of time dating will appear in the curriculum and other materials used by Kentucky educators. This new system is already being included in textbooks across the nation.

The new method will replace the birth of Christ as the dividing point in history. For example, the new system would change 2006 AD (Anno Domini) to 2006 CE (Common Era).

It also opens the door for the ACLU to find a liberal activist judge who will forcefully remove the use of BC and AD. The ACLU types will claim that the use of BC and AD are a violation of the First Amendment because it dates history based on the birth of Christ.

I'm going to ignore the fact (they always ignor facts, so can I) that as near as can be determined, Jesus was born (assuming he existed) sometime around 4 BCE, not the year 'zero.'

These people call themselves Christians. It seems to me that a real Christain would be more concerned with the hungry, the poor, the homeless and the truly oppressed and less concerned about what letters follow dates that are already arbitrary.

We should be concerned that that most Americans couldn't tell you what AD, BC, CE or BCE stand for. We should be MORE concerned that people don't know history in general! What happend in 476? What happened in 1066? What happened in 1492? If people don't know, what the hell diference does it make if those years are Anno Domini or Common Era?

American Family Association History Christianists

Even the Fundies do it

I will now, in all seriousness, without mockery or condescension, blog about news from Agape Press:

"To a large degree, we're missing it," Weathersbee says. "The young people are receiving the data, but they're not translating it into values that result in a lifestyle of purity and holiness."

Yup, that's right. Agape Press runs the headline "Apparently True Love Doesn't Always Wait" and follows it up with a story about a study done among newlywed Baptists by the chaplain at Baylor University. Some figures:

* 100 percent professed faith in Christ
* 99 percent attended church
* 84 percent grew up in church
* 87 percent grew up in a two-parent home
* 62 percent of males had premarital sex
* 65 percent of females had premarital sex

Only 27 percent of the young people surveyed entered marriage "chaste," having refrained not only from intercourse but also from other sexual practices such as oral sex.

I'm always baffled by the hangups that these Christianists have about sex - nobody's asking newlyweds if they've refrained from planting two crops in the same field - and their incredulousness when they discover that their own kids have sex. During the time when the Christian Church had the most power over people (often referred to as the Dark Ages) it happened. Of course these kids all probably had abstinence only education and therefore didn't take any precautions. And they claim they're trying to end abortions...

Christians Abstinence Sexuality

Quick! Name the Five Freedoms!

Via the Political Wire, a survey by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. Twice as many people could name more than one member of the Simpsons family.

One in five (22%) of those sampled could name all five (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie) but only 1 in 1000 could name all five freedoms (speech, religion, assembly, press, petition for redress of grievances.)

Here's the breakdown:
Freedom of Speech: 69%
Freedom of Religion: 24% (Ha!)
Freedom of the Press: 11%
Freedom of Assembly: 10%
Freedom to petition for redress of grievances: 1%

This is the reason Republicans can so easily take them away. People didn't know they had them to begin with. I'm tempted to blame our public education system but it really isn't that. People don't want to know. Our society reveres ignorance. Seriously. What other society could possibly see a kid teased by calling him or her "Einstein?"


Ignorance Freedoms McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum