February 19, 2006
IT'S JUST POLITICS, JAKE:
At a Scientific Gathering, U.S. Policies Are Lamented (CORNELIA DEAN, 2/19/06, NY Times)
David Baltimore, the Nobel Prize-winning biologist and president of the California Institute of Technology, is used to the Bush administration misrepresenting scientific findings to support its policy aims, he told an audience of fellow researchers Saturday. Each time it happens, he said, "I shrug and say, 'What do you expect?' "But then, Dr. Baltimore went on, he began to read about the administration's embrace of the theory of the unitary executive, the idea that the executive branch has the power or even the obligation to act without restraint from Congress. And he began to see in a new light widely reported episodes of government scientists being restricted in what they could say in public.
"It's no accident that we are seeing such an extensive suppression of scientific freedom," he said. "It's part of the theory of government now, and it's a theory we need to vociferously oppose."
As Dr. Baltimore implicitly acknowledges, science is just politics by other means. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 19, 2006 9:58 AM
He comes so, so close and then misses. The only speakers for the executive branch are the President and his delegates. It has nothing to do with scientific freedom for government employees -- it's actually important.
Posted by: David Cohen at February 19, 2006 11:05 AMthings are different in Chinatown
Posted by: toe at February 19, 2006 11:12 AMDavid beat me to it, but :
theory of the unitary executive, the idea that the executive branch has the power or even the obligation to act without restraint from Congress
It's been clear for some time -- ever since some Dem judiciary c'ttee staff flunkie trotted it out to try and Bork Alito -- that this is what the Dems want people to believe the scary "unitary executive" means, but it's astonishing that this bunk is now being repeated as gospel in the NYT.
(ok, not astonishing at all, it is the NYT, but it still is exasperating.)
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at February 19, 2006 11:28 AMThe connection between the unitariy executive and the ability of fifth level staffers to conduct policy contrary to their superiors is a bit of a stretch. But a brilliant biologist is not necessarily a brilliant constitutional lawyer.
BTW. didn't this guy (Baltimore) get slimed by congressman Dingleberry a few yrears back? Didn't he learn then?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at February 19, 2006 12:04 PMThe Left has given "viictimhood" such an artificially high value that of course Gresham's Law ("the bad drives out the good") had to come into play as everyone claims to be one.
Back when the Clinton administration was destroying the archaeological site where Kennewick Man was found, I don't recall a lot of complaints from the Left about politics trumping science.
Posted by: PapayaSF at February 19, 2006 1:20 PMPapaya:
... but Clinton was one of them, don't you know. This is all about bashing conservatives - nothing at all to do with "sacred science".
Posted by: obc at February 19, 2006 1:52 PMI had forgotten about the Kennewick man and how he was allegedly buried in grave deep enough to rival Saddam's underground palaces 70 stories under the desert. I bet he isn't even buried there, but was given the Indians to dispose of.
Destroying our past to bolster a distorted world view that's soon to be histoire.
Only Dante could describe the ring of hell awaiting Clinton and his coterie of criminals.
I see a union grievance in the making; it's the job of Poli-Sci professors to mangle the Constitution, not the Sci-Poli profs.
If Jake was serious, he'd demand that the Feds stop funding science "research" where the outcome has been pre-determined, ala "Global Warming".
And the real issue is morality. They're hiding behind "Science!". Yes, science may be able to farm human beings--but SHOULD we?
Posted by: Noel at February 19, 2006 6:36 PM