Censoring Science and Nobody Cares

I don’t know why a bigger fuss isn’t being made over this.

Blood Equity, Heritage, and American Values: Hard Won or Otherwise

A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man…. Capt. Richard C. Pratt, Founder Carlisle Indian Industrial School

There have been several Op-Eds creating some off-the-wall arguments about Americans, American culture, and DNA among other things. There are a number of common threads binding these Op-Eds together. Starting with the total lack of knowledge about genetics, culture, and for that matter American history.

The Fallacy of the Excluded Middle: A Response to Mooney and Nisbet

There have been a wide variety of responses to the PZ incident. Quite a large number of us a busy laughing at the irony of it. There has been some criticism, for example see here, here, here, here, and here. The critics argue that we are playing into the creationists hands by providing free publicity (much the same way christian protests over The Last Temptation of Christ ended up promoting the movie and increasing attendance). They also argue that we should be seeking the middle and joining with liberal and moderate christians who value science. When we point to, say Cheri Yecke, Ken Ham, or William Buckingham, we get told we are focusing on the extreme outliers, that we should work with people like Francis Ayala or Ken Miller. So, okay, let’s look for the middle. Since I live in Missouri let’s start there.

The Bush War on Science Comes to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

I kid you not!

Bush Administration Tampers with Everglades Report

According to Science News Daily the number three person at the Interior Department edited a National Park Service report on the Everglades:

Albert Gonzales and the Discovery Institute

Via Red State Rabble comes the news that Abu Al is going to Seattle to give a speech sponsored by the Discovery Institute…

Marbled Murrelet to be Delisted?

According to Yahoo News the Marbled Murrelet is, again in danger of being delisted.

Henry Frankenstein and the War on Science

Americans have a love/hate relationship with science and scientists and this often spills over into pop culture representations.

Competitive Enterprise Institute Distorting Science

I don’t normally write much about global warming, but since this is kind of close to home I thought I’d mention it.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch a university of Missouri – Columbia professor is crying foul over the way the Competitive Enterprise Institute is using his research in their ad campaign.

Funding for Anthropological Research in Danger

Added Later: Duane over at Abnormal Interests has an interesting discussion of the bill…
Via Kambiz at Anthropology.Net comes news of impending cuts that would strip money for behavioral research from the NSF budget.
The American Anthropological Association has this to say about it:

OPPOSE the Hutchison amendment to S. 2802 (the “American Innovation and Competitiveness Act of 2006”) which excludes the behavioral and social sciences from consideration in the awarding of NSF research grants, and undercuts their role in advancing national innovation and competitiveness.
SUPPORT the amendment to S. 2802 sponsored by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) which would eliminate the section of S. 2802 that prescribes research priorities to the NSF.