Chris and Sheril have been working tirelessly to make a Presidential Science Debate happen, and there's been real progress:
ScienceDebate2008 is now co-sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academies, and the Council on Competitiveness. We were looking at venues, and finally settled on an offer from the Philadelphia-based Franklin Institute--named, of course, after one of this country's first and greatest scientists. We can't think of a more appropriate venue.
Our proposed date is April 18, 2008, which is just before the Pennyslvania primary. So any candidate who agrees to come to the event will stand the chance of improving his or her showing in this critical state.
The candidates we've invited are (in alphabetical order): Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Barack Obama.
There's a lot to like, here. They've drawn some attention to the sorry state of science discussion among the political elite, they've picked a good time and venue, and they didn't invite Ron Paul, which pisses off annoying Internet libertoonians and their creepy neo-Confederate friends. It's all good!
The only thing they need now is for the candidates to sign on. They can use help with this, so if you have any influence over one of the candidates-- well, if you have serious influence, get them to play me in basketball, and as a bonus, they can debate science with my dog. But if you only have ordinary-people influence, go to Chris and Sheril's post, and check out their list of things you can do to help make the debate happen.
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That Dr. Ron Paul, Chad. DOCTOR. :)
The well known line, "Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard," is from the Three Stooges' 1934 short 'Men in Black' (1934), in which the trio play doctors. This line is frequently echoed in the media.
[see wikipedia: "Three Stooges in popular culture"]
Men in Black. Good title.
Now that I've been on-topic and cited people much funnier than I, please allow me to give Yet Another Personal Anecdote.
When my wife was in lengthy labor with our about-to-be born son, circa 19 years ago, at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, the following Three Stooges-ish Abbott-and-Costello-ish scene ensued.
Nurse (to me, glancing at Chart): You must be Mister Carmichael.
JVP: No, I'm Jonathan Vos Post, the husband of Doctor Carmichael.
Nurse: I'm not talking about who the doctor is.
Prof. Christine M. Carmichael:
No, I'm the patient, and also Doctor Carmichael.
Nurse, to CMC, pointing at JVP:
But if he's Mister Post, then you must be Mrs. Post.
CMC: I'm that too, but I prefer to be referred to as Doctor Carmichael or Professor Carmichael, as I earned my PhD under my maiden name.
Nurse: but then who is the doctor?
JVP: There is a physician assigned to Doctor Carmichael.
Nurse: are you the doctor? Who is the doctor?
JVP: No, Who's on first. What's on Second. I don't know... Third base!
Nurse scowls and practically runs out of the room.