The War on Science
tlambert | May 7, 2009Wednesday was an unusual day at the Australian, with two pro-science pieces published. First, Leigh Dayton, their science writer, raises some scientific objections to Ian Plimer's book. Plimer will, no doubt, continued to deny the existence of these problems:
Plimer also repeats the inaccurate "fact" that the global warming peaked in 1998. Yes, it was a global scorcher, thanks to a heat-inducing El Nino. But after a dip in 1999, data collected by US and British climate centres shows an upward trend, despite year-to-year variations.
She also corrects Greg Roberts' misleading stories:…
tlambert | May 4, 2009The Australian has a printed a response by Plimer to some of the criticism he has received. Plimer opens with:
In Heaven and Earth - Global Warming: The Missing Science, I predicted that the critics would play the man and not discuss the science.
Then he proceeds to play the man and not the ball, calling his critics "arrogant pompous scientists", saying that they lack "common sense" and the scientists who criticised him on Lateline were merely "an expert on gravity, a biologist and one who produces computer models".
And how does he respond to the numerous specific criticisms of all the…
tlambert | May 3, 2009One of the favourite tactics employed by the Australian in its war on science is quote mining. See, for example, Kininmonth's effort this week. Not surprisingly the Australian's Cut and Paste column is a big on quote mining. For example
Environment Minister Peter Garrett, on ABC1's Lateline on Monday, forecasts sea level rises of 6m:
TONY Jones: The report of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research will be released today.
It says that in west Antarctica the attribution of ice lost to human-driven warming is now strong, and it warns that a number of climate influences could amplify…
tlambert | April 29, 2009On his column in the Financial Review last week, John Quiggin wrote about those who think global warming is some sort of hoax:
While most media outlets give at least some space to these conspiracy theorists, the central role has been played by The Australian. Not only its opinion columnists (with a handful of honorable exceptions) and its editorials, but even its news reporting is dominated by the idea that mainstream science is on the verge of being overturned by the efforts of a group of dedicated amateurs, publishing their findings not in the peer-reviewed literature but through blogs,…
mikethemadbiologist | April 28, 2009Surly Amy mixes swine flu and homeopathy:
Do you suppose the homeopaths are diluting a smidgen of a pig in water right now?
See, Twitter does have its uses....
mikethemadbiologist | April 27, 2009Republican Senator Susan Collins went along with Karl Rove and cut or eliminated funding from the stimulus package for pandemic influenza spending. While Democratic Congressman Obey was able to restore $50 million for infection reporting, all state and local funding was eliminated. Nicely done, 'moderate' Senator Collins (italics mine):
Did Rove, Collins and their compatriots want a pandemic?
Of course not.
They were just playing politics, in the exceptionally narrow and irresponsible manner that characterized the Republican response to the stimulus debate - and that, because of Democratic…
mikethemadbiologist | April 27, 2009ScienceBlogling PalMD does a good job of eviscerating the false claims of expertise by woo practioner 'Dr.' Patricia Fitzgerald and the rest of the witch doctors over at The Huffington Post, so I thankfully don't have to (so many fucking morons, so little Mad Biologist...). But PalMD neglected to mention one thing about 'Dr.' Patricia Fitzgerald:
She is the "Wellness" editor of The Huffington Post.
That's right: a full-blown woomeister is the equivalent of The Huffington Post's medicine and health section. Is she an M.D.? Nope. Is she a Pharm.D.? Uh-uh. Maybe a Ph.D.? Guess what? No…
tlambert | April 17, 2009Today was the day of the Big Push in the Australian's war on science. They published two news stories that distorted scientists' views on Antarctic ice, a long piece promoting "silenced" Ian Plimer's denialist book, an absurdly over the top piece from Christopher Pearson about how Plimer's book is the turning point that leads to global warming being recognized as a mass delusion as well as an editorial touting Plimer's views.
The debunking of this rubbish is outsourced to Harry Clarke.
mikethemadbiologist | April 14, 2009While I'm away on vacation, here's a blast from the past:
Once again, the science framing wars have flared up. While I'm not allergic to the concept of framing as some are, one of the major reasons why I'm not a big fan of dwelling on the topic is that obsessing over language reminds me of the late 80s and 90s when the Left won the battle of words, and the fundamentalist Uruk-hai took over the damn country.
I've been doing some thinking about the 'progressive' concern with media communication (including my own)--and it is important, no doubt about it. But, as the 2006 elections have shown,…
tlambert | April 11, 2009The collapse of the Wilkins Ice Shelf has prompted the Australian to launch yet another attack on scientists -- it seems they are "tabloid media ambulance-chasing" and the ice shelf collapse was entirely natural.
every natural phenomenon, such as the ice shelf split this week, is interpreted as a disaster and all who do not agree are denounced as an enemy of the planet. And so it is easier for people in public life to acquiesce rather than address the evidence - as Mr Garrett's Lateline performance proves. The result is the intellectual equivalent of tabloid media ambulance-chasing. We are at…
mikethemadbiologist | March 25, 2009LA Governor Bobby Jindal is looking dumber by the day:
Thanks to "something called volcano monitoring," to use the denigrating language of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, passenger jets did not fly into ash clouds when Alaska's Mount Redoubt erupted earlier this week.
Volcanic ash creates conditions akin to flying into a sand blaster. A KLM flight lost power in all four engines after it flew into the cloud created by a 1989 eruption of Redoubt.
The plane dropped by more than two vertical miles before its crew could restart the engines and land in Anchorage. No wonder Alaska Airlines canceled 19…
mikethemadbiologist | March 23, 2009After reading these two posts by ScienceBlogling Sheril (and the many comments) about scientific literacy, I suppose I'm in the minority about what scientific literacy. Unlike most of the commenters, I think scientific literacy revolves primarily around a core set of knowledge, and not 'critical thinking skills.' More importantly, to combat anti-science, facts are vital.
Now, that core set of knowledge should include a basic understanding of what hypothesis testing and the scientific method are. But, in my experience, stupidity regarding science (no need to be polite about it) stems…
mikethemadbiologist | March 15, 2009There has been a lot of commentary about George Will attacking the observed phenomenon of global warming by referring to a poor analysis of research findings--an analysis that has been refuted by the study's authors. This has been followed by discussions of the future of journalism and other such rending of garments. For me, what L'affair Will highlights is the conflict within the newspaper business about how to remain viable.
There seem to be two models (and these are admittedly caricatures):
Have a diversity of opinion even if some opinions are nothing more than misinformation or…
mikethemadbiologist | March 4, 2009...and you listen. If you're unaware of this, the confirmation of two good science appointees, Jane Lubchenco for NOAA Administrator and John Holdren for Science Advisor, are being obstructed by anonymous Senate holds (one isn't so anonymous and is by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). ScienceBlogling Mike Dunford has all of the details--go contact some senators.
On a personal note, whatever little legitimacy scientists have was given to Democrats in 2008 (not to mention some money and time). It's time those ungrateful motherfuckers pay up (although be polite when you contact Senate offices).…
mikethemadbiologist | March 2, 2009One of the few saving graces of being a Democrat is that we're typically not anti-science. And then there's Democratic Senator Harkin (who is very good on other issues). Along with Republican Senator Bill Frist, Harkin was the driving force behind the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). However, Harkin doesn't like what NCCAM has found:
Sen. Tom Harkin, the proud father of the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, told a Senate hearing on Thursday that NCCAM had disappointed him by disproving too many alternative therapies.
"One of the…
mikethemadbiologist | February 26, 2009In the commentary about LA Governor Bobby Jindal's disastrous response to Obama's speech Tuesday night, we keep hearing how smart he is. So what do we call a supposedly bright person who is a creationist and believes that an exorcism cast out cancer? And this is personal:
Jindal and I both received degrees in biology with honors from Brown in the exact same year. Having gone through that program at the same time, there is no conceivable way that he received his degree not knowing that there is overwhelming evidence from the fossil record for evolution regardless of his focus ("the most…
mikethemadbiologist | February 25, 2009
Creationists say my head will explode. OH NOES!!!!
Driftglass bravely dove into the shallow end of the gene pool that is the Conservative Political Action Conference, which he describes perfectly:
For all nine-minutes of bullshit, faux-introspection chin-music that came from the Right about change, future and vision after they got hog-slaughtered in the last two elections, if you want to know what is really at the corrupt, oozy heart of the American Conservative movement (and its filthy little avatar, the Republican Party) look no further than their ideological trade show: the Conservative…
mikethemadbiologist | February 20, 2009One of the more promising trends I've seen is that the various forms of denialism that scientists regularly decry (including those of us here at ScienceBlogs) are starting to be recognized by non-scientists. I don't know if there's a direct cause-and-effect here, or if like-minded people are coming up with the same idea (the most depressing cause would be if this got started with a stupid blog comment...). Anyway, I bring you public policy professor Mark Kleiman (italics mine):
One largely unremarked aspect of global-warming denialism (as exemplified by George Will and demolished by Mike…
mikethemadbiologist | February 12, 2009But he's not willing to let the rest of us know what this vital information is:
So we called Barnes and asked him what he was referring to.
At first, he cited the fact that it's been cold lately.
Perhaps sensing this was less than convincing, Barnes then asserted that there had been a "cooling spell" in recent years. "Haven't you noticed?" he asked.
Asked for firmer evidence of such cooling, Barnes demurred, telling TPMmuckraker he was too busy to track it down.
We pressed Barnes again: surely he could tell us where he had found this vital new information, which could upend the current debate…
mikethemadbiologist | February 6, 2009Via Greg Sargent, we learn that Blue Dog Democrat Senator Ben Nelson is still a repulsive person.
Total Reductions: $80 billion
Eliminations:
Head Start, Education for the Disadvantaged, School improvement, Child Nutrition, Firefighters, Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Prisons, COPS Hiring, Violence Against Women, NASA, NSF, Western Area Power Administration, CDC, Food Stamps
*****************************
Reductions:
Public Transit $3.4 billion, School Construction $60 billion
Fucking unbelievable. Intelligent Designer knows that Democrats can be pretty screwed up, but,…