Writing in
Scientific American, Ashutosh Jogalekar
bemoans the famously terrible state of the House Committee on Science,
a farcical body stuffed with climate deniers and young Earth
creationists. At a recent hearing, committee member Randy Weber (r–TX)
implied that science couldn't really make claims about things that
happened tens of thousands or millions of years ago, because it couldn't
directly observe them. It's a terrifying position for a legislator who
sits in a position of power over national science policy to hold.
Jogalekar claims the committee is turning into a national embarrassment, but as
Chris Baker points out,
any notion of the committee changing over time is an Evolutionist lie
from Satan, because the committee are exactly as god created them at the
beginning of time, 6,321 years ago.
The farce continued with another repugican member trotting out the tired old examples of global cooling and dinosaurs:
“I remember in the ’70s, that [cooling] was the threat, the fear,”
Posey recalled. Then he pivoted. “I’ve read that during the period of
the dinosaurs, that the Earth’s temperature was 30° warmer. Does that
seem fathomable to you?”
From the described exchange it seems that the members have zero interest
in knowing the truth or understanding how science works. Sadly this
rancor, ignorance and lack of respect for science and scientists is
business as usual for repugican members of the House committee. After
all, the subcommittee responsible for climate change is, quite
appropriately enough, led by a climate change denier (this literally
sounds like something out of Orwell). 17 out of 22 members of the larger
committee either deny that climate change is happening or question that
human activities are responsible for it; the chairman of the committee
himself is skeptical about global warming. And of course, let’s not
forget committee member Paul Broun who thinks evolution is a “lie from
the pit of hell”.
No wonder that scientists like me find it refreshing when we hear about
billionaires appreciating and funding basic research. Pretty much all
politicians in this country seem to have lost respect not just for the
findings of science but for the basic nature of the scientific method,
but let’s be clear: one party disproportionately more than the other is
holding science back. It’s a little surreal to see people like Weber,
Broun and Smith on the science committee but such is the age we live in.
Nonetheless, the prevarications, ignorance and feet-dragging in that
party reflect poorly on the entire political establishment. When none
other than the House Committee on Science is stacked with people who
literally live in the Middle Ages in their ignorance of science, hearing
a kind word about science coming from any direction is a breath of
fresh air.
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