She Blinded Me with Acid
Salvete remedii morti,
Just a gentle reminder that next Sunday is Darwin Day. Those of you who, like me, will be celebrating Darwin Day in Philly can find a list of activities here. Normally there are plenty o' wholesome and nutritious reasons for observing Darwin Day, but this year we have one more: America has declared War on Science.
Before you click on the Comments button to tell me that I'm being overly dramatic, hear me out on this:
Today, I learned that back in October George Deutsch, who works at the NASA headquarters press office, fired off an e-mail to a NASA contractor who was working on a web site about Einstein for middle-school students informing the contactor that the word "theory" must be added after every mention of the Big Bang because, I shit thee not, it is, despite an overwhelming mountain of evidence, "not proven fact; it is opinion," Have a heapin' helpin' of some hillbilly stupidity:
"It is not NASA's place, nor should it be to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator…This is more than a science issue, it is a religious issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be getting one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual information the most."
OK, so who, other than a dumbfuck who doesn't understand the definition of "theory" is George Deutsch? George graduated from Texas A&M in 2003 with a degree in journalism. After working as an intern for the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, he was rewarded with a presidential appointment to his current (missionary) position. In December of 2005, Deutsch began taking an interest in the career of NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen. Dr. Hansen's specialty is Global Warming.
After releasing data showing that 2005 was most likely the warmest year in at least a century, Dr. Hansen received a warning from NASA's headquarters that there would be "dire consequences" if he continued talking about Global Warming. Enter Deutsch-bag who then reportedly rejected a request from National Public Radio to interview Dr. Hansen, calling NPR "the most liberal" media source and stating that it was his job to his job "to make the president look good". Deutsch has denied saying any of this and I, for one, think we ought to give a fellow who works at NASA and is suspicious of scientific data the benefit of a doubt.
Admittedly, one guy who spent his childhood cleaning out septic tanks with a straw and now wastes his adult years and our tax dollars sending out moronic emails doesn't necessarily constitute a War. But a President who repeatedly ignores the research and recommendations of scientists, has made statements in favor of Junk Science, and who continually appoints persons with questionable qualifications to scientific committees sure as shit does.
And what are the results of the War on Science? Your neighbors are idiots.
51% of Americans believe at God created humans in our present form. While 30% of Americans believe that humans evolved, they think that a Higher Intelligence (Read: God) guided the process. Only 15% of Americans believe (understand) that humans evolved through a process that was not divinely guided.
And it gets worse…
Statistically, every other American you meet doesn't know that the Earth travels all the way around the sun once a year.
One in seven American adults (that's pretty much 25 million people, folks) cannot locate the United States on an unlabeled world map.
Only 21 % of Americans can explain what DNA is.
Only 9% of Americans know what a molecule is.
This is why, if you think about it, celebrating Darwin Day is more than just a good idea: it's your patriotic duty.
Quando cenabimus - when will we dine?