The Sky is (probably not) Falling!

Science is really taking a beating in the US right now. If it's a mock trial in Kansas pitting science against "intelligent design" (in which science lost!), it's the fact that more and more foreign scholars are finding it increasingly difficult to get visas to study and/or work in the US. The latter has the potential for some serious longterm consequences when you consider that study in the US has always been one way to spread American democratic ideals abroad. This lack of hospitality in the US has encouraged other countries to throw their doors wide open. France is now teaming with foreign scientist/researchers and the scramble is on for government money to put them to work.

Humourous interlude: If this administration is so against science and into shaping popular opinion, don't you think they would want to remind people that two of the 20th century's most ruthless leaders came to Marxism in Paris (Ho Chi Minh - 1917, Pol Pot - 1949)? Even Hollywood is playing that card. In the recent Sydney Pollack film, The Interpreter, we learn that the revolutionaries met during their schooling in France. It's almost become a cliché : Paris + Marxism = Revolutionary.

In the latest round of science vs politics, the White House has employed a former petroleum industry lobbyist to act as chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Policy. You can imagine where this is going. It's all rather predictable:

A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents.

Yep, that's pretty much what you'd expect. Why do they hate science? Do the scientists feel disrespected?

...the scientist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because all agency employees are forbidden to speak with reporters without clearance, said the kinds of changes made by Mr. Cooney had damaged morale. "I have colleagues in other agencies who express the same view, that it has somewhat of a chilling effect and has created a sense of frustration," he said.

Yep, disrespected. Here's an example of the type of changes Mr. Cooney made to the documents.

...a sentence in the October 2002 draft of "Our Changing Planet" originally read, "Many scientific observations indicate that the Earth is undergoing a period of relatively rapid change." In a neat, compact hand, Mr. Cooney modified the sentence to read, "Many scientific observations point to the conclusion that the Earth may be undergoing a period of relatively rapid change."

You can see the edited documents yourself if you click the link on the front page of the NY Times.

Meanwhile the trickle of foreign scientists continues. Pretty soon they'll be joined by American scientists who feel disrespected and unwelcome and within their own country. Paris wants your scientists Mr. Bush. Vive la Révolution!