The New Scopes Trials

From the Nation:

What if the research agenda of the University of Texas College of Natural Sciences were drafted not by the professors who actually conduct the studies but by, say, the alumni who funded the department? We might end up with research on the stickiness of Mr. Big's brand of glue instead of the development of an AIDS vaccine. Luckily, most research universities don't work that way. The federal government, however, occasionally does. In the Bush Administration, when the religious right or big business weighs in on a matter of science, politics usually prevails. So while this President may lack the powerful eloquence of William Jennings Bryan, in the world of science he's the modern equivalent of the Great Orator defeating the infidels of evolution in the Scopes Trial of 1925.

Scientific panels and committees have proven especially susceptible to political manipulation by the White House.

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This reminds me of how conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and others hire some of the .01% of scientists who believe that global warming isn't happening and then trumpet their utterly marginal views far more loudly than their minority status would validate. But this is on a much bigger scale. Bush and his buddies are trying to change science to fit their dangerous political views...and they're succeeding.

Creepy, huh?

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