News & Views item - August  2004

 

 

When the Skipper Meets the Sheriff and Bambi Meets Godzilla. (August 7, 2004)

    Among The New York Times' stable of columnists is the acerbically witty Maureen Dowd. Summing up her stint at the Democratic national convention in Boston where John Kerry was anointed the party candidate for President she wrote:

So here's the race: the Skipper takes on the Sheriff.

(And, of course, the undercard in the fight: Bambi meets Godzilla.)

Now whether or not science ever makes it to the so-called presidential candidates' debates (or if Bambi and Godzilla will face off on scientific issues in the backing gig) remains to be seen but don't hold your breath.

 

On the other hand Teresa Kerry who could write a non-elastic cheque to fully finance her husband's campaign should she feel the necessity, and who prides herself on direct speaking took the opportunity during her party piece to  laud the Hubble Space Telescope and the Cassini mission to Saturn, while President Reagan's son Ron put in a plea for the support of research on human embryonic stem cells to work toward alleviating the misery of those suffering from degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

 

In the meantime a group calling itself Scientists and Engineers for Kerry, fuming over what it considers the Bush administration's treatment of science, are focusing their anger into a political force. They intend to recruit scientists across the US to deliver speeches on Kerry's behalf and to campaign for his election. A recent letter from 48 US Nobel prize-winners endorsed the Kerry campaign while the Union of Concerned Scientists has now gathered well over 4,000 signatures of scientists backing its report detailing what it considers to be inappropriate politicisation of science by the Bush administration.

 

See:

Pre-eminent US Scientists Protest Bush Administration's Misuse of Science.

Students and High Flying Academics Continue to Rail Against Bush Administration's Science Policy Machinations.

White House Issues Rebuttal to Allegations of Systematic "Misrepresenting and Suppressing Scientific Knowledge".

US Union of Concerned Scientists Confront Bush with New Cases of Scientific Abuse.

48 US Nobel Laureates Become Politically Active, Back John Kerry.