Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Bush: Train more science teachers. Me: Wha!?
I was at work so I had the good fortune of missing the state of the union address. However while bopping about the internets, my attention was really grabbed by the first paragraph in this article which included this doozy:
This administrations war on science is simply legendary. Ask James Hansen head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He says:
Let us consider what president Bush really is saying when he calls for the training of science teachers. He believes creationism should be taught in science class. As demonstrated with the two links above he also believes that science is only useful if it serves his ideological goals, which rarely happens. Therefore, when the president calls for the training of science teachers, are we to believe they will be ideologically suited for this administrations goals? Science is science! I believe truth be told, that the neo-cons are more interested in seeing to it that science is discarded, and perhaps the president meant to call for the training of 70,000 theologians rather than teachers of the very subject that he so disdains.
Believe it or not, this even applies to the call for math teachers. I certainly am not mathematically inclined, but I'm well aware that mathematics are based upon basic groundrules that must be adhered to in order to accurately reach a calculation. However, when this administration does the math, you really can not expect to get actual results based upon real numbers. If perchance an administration member were to be so bold as to actually rely upon real numbers, they have the example of Lawrence Greenfield, former leader of the Bureau of Justice Statistics to consider. What did he do to earn a premature exit from his position? He reported factual numbers and statistics on racial profiling during traffic stops. Unacceptable in Bushworld... out the door with this fella! But what do you expect from this crowd? Before the Iraqi quagmire the Mitchell Daniels, then director of the Office of Management and Budget told us the total cost to the American taxpayer of the war would be $50 - $60 billion. Perhaps hindsight helps in this matter, but the fact is that in yet another issue where-in a statistic was called upon from this administration, their initial estimate was woefully shy of the true state of affairs.
So the example set by this administration is that of fudging numbers and ignoring science in order to fit their distorted world view. And now this president calls upon 70,000 more science and math teachers? I say I'll believe that when I see it. And I don't want to see all these teachers graduating from Bob Jones, Liberty, and Oral Roberts university.
President Bush on Tuesday called for training 70,000 math and science teachers to improve the nation's competitiveness
This administrations war on science is simply legendary. Ask James Hansen head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He says:
"In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now,"Ask Susan Wood, who resigned her position as director of the FDA's Office of Womens Health. Her resignation letter includes the following quotes:
"I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff here, has been overruled," snip "The recent decision announced by the Commissioner about emergency contraception, which continues to limit women's access to a product that would reduce unintended pregnancies and reduce abortions, is contrary to my core commitment to improving and advancing women's health."This administrations willful ignorance of the overwhelming scientific evidence of human caused global warming has set the entire world on a course for calamity. I'm certain a simple Google search using the words Bush administration & science would load thousands of pages with all sorts of good stuff that shows the absolute disdain this administration has shown for the scientific community.
Let us consider what president Bush really is saying when he calls for the training of science teachers. He believes creationism should be taught in science class. As demonstrated with the two links above he also believes that science is only useful if it serves his ideological goals, which rarely happens. Therefore, when the president calls for the training of science teachers, are we to believe they will be ideologically suited for this administrations goals? Science is science! I believe truth be told, that the neo-cons are more interested in seeing to it that science is discarded, and perhaps the president meant to call for the training of 70,000 theologians rather than teachers of the very subject that he so disdains.
Believe it or not, this even applies to the call for math teachers. I certainly am not mathematically inclined, but I'm well aware that mathematics are based upon basic groundrules that must be adhered to in order to accurately reach a calculation. However, when this administration does the math, you really can not expect to get actual results based upon real numbers. If perchance an administration member were to be so bold as to actually rely upon real numbers, they have the example of Lawrence Greenfield, former leader of the Bureau of Justice Statistics to consider. What did he do to earn a premature exit from his position? He reported factual numbers and statistics on racial profiling during traffic stops. Unacceptable in Bushworld... out the door with this fella! But what do you expect from this crowd? Before the Iraqi quagmire the Mitchell Daniels, then director of the Office of Management and Budget told us the total cost to the American taxpayer of the war would be $50 - $60 billion. Perhaps hindsight helps in this matter, but the fact is that in yet another issue where-in a statistic was called upon from this administration, their initial estimate was woefully shy of the true state of affairs.
So the example set by this administration is that of fudging numbers and ignoring science in order to fit their distorted world view. And now this president calls upon 70,000 more science and math teachers? I say I'll believe that when I see it. And I don't want to see all these teachers graduating from Bob Jones, Liberty, and Oral Roberts university.
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