Feb

15

Bush Hands Out Medals

[From The J-Walk Blog]

This morning at the White House: President Bush Presents National Medals of Science and Technology.

Our nation has a vital stake in the research and discovery that makes these advances possible. And so in my State of the Union I encouraged our nation to stay on the leading edge of technology and education. I’ve talked about an American Competitiveness Initiative that will double over the next 10 years the federal commitment to the most critical, basic research programs in the physical sciences. I think that’s a good use of taxpayers’ money.

But, of course, anyone can give a speech that lauds science. This article from Time is more revealing: The Political Science Test.

Starting when he was a presidential candidate in 2000, George W. Bush has often assured voters that his policymaking would be guided by “sound science.” Last week, in his State of the Union address, the President pointed to scientific research as the way to “lead the world in opportunity and innovation for decades to come.” Yet growing numbers of researchers, both in and out of government, say their findings–on pollution, climate change, reproductive health, stem-cell research and other areas in which science often finds itself at odds with religious, ideological or corporate interests–are being discounted, distorted or quashed by Bush Administration appointees…

In the past two years, the Union of Concerned Scientists has collected the signatures of more than 8,000 scientists–including 49 Nobel laureates, 63 National Medal of Science recipients and 171 members of the National Academies–who accuse the Administration of an unprecedented level of political intrusion into their world

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