What is it with conservatives and science

If you follow the Republican primaries, listen to conservative talk shows or read the conservative media you cannot fail to notice a deep pervasive thread running though all their discourse - a distrust of science and scientific thought.

The current batch of Republican presidential nominees seem to be falling over each other in trying to prove how “anti-science” they are. It is got to the point where other rational people feel compelled to actually defend science and scientific thought. See the article by Krugman or the one by Katrina vanden Heuvel.

The situation borders on the bizarre. Imagine Rick Perry, a sixty one year old male, clad in a business suit, who also happens to be the Governor of a US State, declaring with a straight face evolution is “just a theory with gaps” and “God is how we got here”. Or Michele Bachmann, a congress woman no less, reasoning that since carbon dioxide is a natural product and is good for plants it cannot produce global warming. QED. I do not know what is more scary, the possibility that these grown ups actually believe what they say or that they feel compelled to take these positions to win a presidential nomination. I also suppose that these positions conveniently dovetail with other priorities like oil company profits has got nothing to do with it.

Teachers on Strike

There is an article about a group called “Stand For Children” which was started in 1990 in Oregon and its subsequent evolution at Rethinking Schools. It is an interesting article that talks how apparently the goal of the organization changed.

I am firmly in favor of labor rights, but I have not been able to bring that whole hearted support to the concept of teachers striking. The most obvious reason is that the bargaining chip teachers have is the education of kids. Like nurses going on strike, to something is inherently wrong. Teachers and their working conditions have been under attack recently, including the very public struggle in Wisconsin against Governor Scott Walkers legislation and the ongoing negotiations for longer school hours in Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

Obama's Jobs Bill

When President Obama unveiled his “jobs bill” in a special address to Congress, he introduced it as a bipartisan legislation, one which has ideas that have been “supported by both Republicans and Democrats” in the past. Overall it was. But while there were ideas there that typically have enjoyed Republican support, it was laced with provisions that are anathema to them - such as taxes on the rich. So this bill serves at least two purposes, ostensibly to create jobs and draw a starker distinction between Democrats and Republicans and their priorities.

Chevron Ads - I do not agree

Chevron is airing a series of advertisements on television (just before the News Hour on PBS) and possibly other channels. They have links to these on their site too. The tagword - We agree, do you?. I emphatically do not.

I believe these started airing right around the time of the Deep Horizon well blowout and is obviously an attempt to repair the public image of oil companies. I do not know why, but I have grown to dislike the advertisements. Whenever they air, I feel uncomfortable and mute the television. I believe it is a gut reaction to something intrinsically dishonest.

"Inside Job" makes me mad

I recently watched the Inside Job by Charles Fergusson and it left me mad. And as recent events in New York demonstrate I am not the only one. At first I couldn’t figure out what or who I was mad at but eventually I identified the offenders and politicians and bankers were there at the top. In addition to the documentary, the inexorable march to the crisis was lucidly described in the book “Fault Lines” by Raghuram Rajan. In an ironic twist this book won the Goldman Sachs Business book of the Year in 2010. Raghuram Rajan does go beyond the politicians and bankers in his analysis though.