Friday, May 03, 2013

Rant against anti-science

            Okay, I realize this should have been on the Weekly, but it was just brought to my attention this morning. Oh yeah, lovely way to wake up, believe me. If you don't want to get really mad, really fast, I suggest you bypass this one. If you just got up, go eat, etc first. If not, you may not be able to eat breakfast. And if you are on your way to work, I suggest also you read this when you get home, not before going in. No reason to get yourself fired, which I guaranteed would after the first stupid thing was said to me. If you are reading this before work, then STOP RIGHT NOW. Pick up your phone and call in sick. Just do it. Trust me, you will be after reading this any way.
             And I remember a few people that asked about what I meant when I said there is a push against science in this country. Here is another prime example of what I am talking about there.
Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas, hates science. He doesn't understand the scientific method, theories, laws, or any of it. So what does he do you ask? He submits a bill draft titled “High Quality Research Act” which would in effect add a politician into scientific studies. Here is the second paragraph from the article word for word.
The bill says that any research done using federal funds (which is the majority of research done in the United States) must have its results and finding approved by the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives. If the findings are not agreed to, the research is taken from the researchers and disposed of by Congress as it sees fit.
Okay, Now I am being calm here. Yeah, the smeg I am. I am half of my rocker this morning after reading this. It was pointed out to me by a friend of mine. So, to avoid a tirade here, that I know I will not erase or delete, and since I refuse to say certain things on this site, especially when it comes to mass revolution and destruction, I will leave it for you all to see and decide. In the meantime, I’m going to go take some things out on some boards. Yes, feel sorry for the boards. Oh I could rant and rave here for hours. And believe me folks, I want to as well. But I am keeping this one short, as I am sure all of you are with me on this, so there isn't much I really need to say. Hope you all have a great day, and a better weekend. I'm off to damage boards now.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/05/02/republican-congressman-introduces-bill-to-require-political-approval-of-scientific-papers/

4 comments:

Dave Tackett said...

Before I have to challenge your source here, I want to note that I absolutely despise Lamar Smith. He is the piece-of-garbage that introduced SOPA (and other internet crippling bills) in Congress.

I will give the author of the original article credit for linking to a copy of the proposed bill archived online at The Huffington Post. This bill, though flawed for other reason, does not in any way suggest that any research will "have its results and finding approved" nor does it mention anything even vaguely like "research is taken from the researchers and disposed of by Congress as it sees fit." Read it for yourself; shockingly, it's only two pages long!

All the bill does is make the director of the NSF certify online that each individual approved project is 1. "in the interests of the United States" 2. is of "the finest quality, ground breaking" etc. and 3. is "not duplicative of other research projects being funded by the Foundation or other Federal science agencies." All reasonable guidelines, but a tedious waste of time to publish for each approved grant.

I think your source was so blinded by dislike of Smith (a feeling I share) that he completely misread the bill.

kallamis said...

It's possible. But they should never have any say in any way about what gets published in any way. And give me a link to that. I couldn't find the thing this morning. But then I had to restart 5 times today so far. But I will never back anything, and Bush tried this as well with limiting what can be put out without his approval, about stopping science from making known all that it finds.
I feel that all science that is discovered, or formed, or made, or researched should be available instantly.
And by the way Dave, I have a question.
Where the smeg have you been lately? And glad to hear that you despise this idiot as well.

Dave Tackett said...

Sure the link is http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/HQRA.pdf

It's also hyperlinked in my last comment. It's the words "proposed bill" but if your browser settings are like mine, it's hard to tell.

I agree completely that research should be available as soon as possible, preferably at the same time it is submitted to peer review, not after as is now the norm.

Ideally there would be absolutely no politics in science, that is unfortunately impossible, especially when public funding and political appointees are involved.

I've been reading the articles here, but have often been too short on time to comment.

kallamis said...

Ahh. I get that. I didn't get my weekly done till almost 3 last night. My fault too. I made a mistake, lined them all up in the browser, and then by the time I got back, the whole bloody thing was locked up. So this week, I'm storing all my links on Notebook.
But good to have you back here man. We've missed you. And thanks for that link too.