Nobel Winners Back Kerry, Say Bush Ignores Science
 

DENVER (Reuters) - Democrat John Kerry picked up the endorsement on Monday of 48 Nobel Prize-winning scientists who attacked President Bush for "comprising our future" by shortchanging scientific research.

"The Bush administration has ignored unbiased scientific advice in the policy-making that is so important to our collective welfare," the 48 scientists, who have won Nobels in chemistry, physics and medicine dating back to 1967, said in an open letter released by the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign.

The scientists, who included 2003 chemistry winners Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon, accused the Bush administration of undermining America's future by reducing funding for science and turning away scientific talent with restrictive immigration policies.

"John Kerry will change all this," they said. "John Kerry will restore science to its appropriate place in government."

Kerry, on his first public campaign visit to Colorado, told supporters at a rainy rally in a downtown Denver park that the United States was losing its scientific lead over other nations. He promised to put the country once again "at the forefront of scientific discovery."

The Massachusetts senator argued that greater technological innovation could transform the economy, creating jobs, cleaner energy and medical advances.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=5476374

I wish more politicians would ignore science, and leave it to the scientists. They can start with stem cell research.

Yah. I am sure Bush hopes Nancy Reagan doesn't push harder for stem cell research during the campiagn.

One thing about Bush that I don't like (among many things actually) is that he really wears his religion on his sleeve. Whatver the flavor of the day is for "Born again Christians", that's what he's doing.

It still pisses me off that I have to choose between him and Kerry. All this complaining about how there are no liberals anymore... well there are no conservatives either! Bush is a Evangelical Executive -- they vote conservative more often than not, but if it came to a conflict between conservative values and down home Christian values I have no question which way he'd vote.

Who cares? What do they know?(hahaha) Anyways this is no suprise as professors, scientists, and teachers generally support democratic candidates.

So, you're saying that some of the arguably brightest generally support democratic candidates? What does that tell us?

Just b/c you're bright in a scientific field doesn't mean you have political savy. For the most part, professors and researches support Democratic candidates b/c they usually offer fewer budget restrictions when it comes to research.

You're right. It also doesn't mean they don't.

Isn't research important?

I'm not real sure you can back up your claim about how academics vote, but if you can, I'd be interested in seeing the statistics.

90 percent of professors who taught arts and sciences in elite universities vote Democrat. I also know Democrats and professors don't deny it and say their political views don't affect anything and that often it's because of the applicant pool.

I don't care what political opinions science and math profs carry. Facts are facts and I'm happy a proof in math can't be one sided. I do care about other profs that make you feel uncomfortable or who will grade you differently based on political views or use their teaching position to profess the views. That I take a huge issue with.

-Rudey

More scientists protesting against Bush administration...
 

Group: Science policy swayed by politics
4,000 scientists, 48 Nobel laureates join protest
Friday, July 9, 2004 Posted: 10:08 AM EDT (1408 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Bush administration is still packing scientific advisory panels with ideologues and is imposing strict controls on researchers who want to share ideas with colleagues in other countries, a group of scientists charged on Thursday.

The Union of Concerned Scientists said in a report that the administration's policies could take years to undo and in the meantime the best and the brightest would be frightened away from jobs in the National Institutes of Health and other government institutions.

The union, chaired by Dr. Kurt Gottfried, Emeritus Professor of Physics at Cornell University, said more than 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel laureates, had joined the call for "restoration of scientific integrity in federal policymaking."

"I don't think one should simply assume that the problem ... will go away if there is a new administration in office," Gottfried told reporters in a telephone briefing.

"What is happening under this administration is a cultural change. We have to address this cultural change and fix it."

Gottfried's group previously leveled similar charges against the Bush administration in February.

Two recently appointed members to the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research, Dr. Richard Myers of Stanford University in California and Dr. George Weinstock of Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, said they had been asked inappropriate questions when they were nominated.

Weinstock said a staffer at the Health and Human Services Department called to ask "leading political questions."

"There is no doubt in my mind that these questions represented a political litmus test," he said in a statement.

Myers said he received a similar call in which he was asked about his opinion of embryonic stem cell research, which the White House opposes.

"Then the staffer asked questions that really shocked me," Myers is quoted as saying in the report. "She wanted to know what I thought about President Bush: Did I like him, what did I think of the job he was doing."

Dr. Gerald Keusch, former Associate Director for International Research at NIH, said NIH staffers in Bethesda, Maryland, were being forced to put in travel requests to visit the offices of the Pan American Health Organization "just a Metro trip away" in downtown Washington, D.C.

"You are now required to submit a travel request six weeks ahead of time," said Keusch, who resigned last year.

"These are increasing bits of evidence of attempts at control over the way the business of science, the open communication between scientists, is being conducted."

White House science adviser Dr. John Marburger and HHS spokesman Bill Pierce have denied the administration is distorting science. Pierce says HHS is seeking a diversity of opinions.

But Robert Paine, an ecologist at University of Washington who chaired an advisory panel on endangered salmon and trout, said his team was warned by the government to remove facts that undermined policy.

"We were told to strip out specific scientific recommendations or see our report end up in a drawer," Paine said.

The report includes accusations of administration interference on strip mining, drug approvals and protection of endangered species.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science...eut/index.html