Maine Writer

Its about people and issues I care about.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Topsham, MAINE, United States

My blogs are dedicated to the issues I care about. Thank you to all who take the time to read something I've written.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Republicans: "F" in Science and Proud

"I regret that my poor choice of words caused some people to understand what I was saying"
Although we assume most Republican politicians are college graduates, many, apparently, skipped science classes or received failing grades. 

Moreover, they're evidently proud of it, because no accredited college or university would claim Creationism as being anything other than Biblical legend. 

 Ann McFeatters writes how the Republicans are now an anti-science party. http://www.salemnews.com/opinion/x321548065/McFeatters-Why-are-Republicans-anti-science

"For a nation that values the traditional science and technology edge over most of the world, it's astonishing that so many Republican politicians treat science as unproven theory or disregard it completely," writes McFeatters.

Anti-science thinking was once corralled into the concrete belief in Creationism over Evolution, about how God created man. Now, newly concocted theories about conception have entered this anti science curricula.

Former Republican Presidential candidate Governor Mike Huckabee proudly raised his hand when a debate moderator  asked who, on the panel, disagreed with evolution? 

Reporting in a Oct. 23, 2007, "Salon", http://www.salon.com/2007/10/23/huckabee_3/:
Johnathan Alter said Huckabee “raised his hand in a debate when the candidates were asked en masse if they believed in intelligent design.”

Wait, there's more!

Now, Missouri Congressman & Senatorial candidate Todd Akin is, thankfully, cut off by his own party faithful after expressing a nutty belief about women having weird magical power over their reproductive system, during the assault of a rape.  Akin even used the neologism "legitimate" rape  while re-inventing women's physiology. 

A New York Times report by John Eligon and Michael Schwirtz:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/us/politics/todd-akin-provokes-ire-with-legitimate-rape-comment.html
"KANSAS CITY, Mo. — ....Representative Todd Akin, the Republican Senate nominee from Missouri, provoked ire across the political spectrum on Sunday by saying that in instances of what he called 'legitimate rape,' women’s bodies somehow blocked an unwanted pregnancy."


Missouri legislative Democratic minority leader Mike Talboy, said that he had spoken to members of both parties about Mr. Akin’s comments and had found uniform outrage. “Nobody has defended him,” Mr. Talboy said. “That, I think, is pretty telling.”

While Republicans vigorously campaign about how their ideas will improve the nation's economy, voters cannot assume the GOP will ignore fundamentalist and anti-scientific ideation, if ideological zealots are allowed to influence public policy.

Which is exactly why Americans must fully understand the important political choice we are faced with in our 2012 leadership election. Tragically, far too many voters are easily led by failed science politicians, like Mike Huckabee or Todd Akin.

Blogs like this and Ann McFeatters are read by people who agree with us, but our challenge is to reach voters who need a reality check about the Republican's anti-science beliefs.  

Fact: There's simply no way the earth was created in 7 days, or years or months. Fact: Women have zero ability to physiologically prevent a rape forced pregnancy.

Unscientific beliefs are not isolated concepts.  Creationists and people who fall victim to magical thinking about a woman's reproductive system, are dangerously capable of manufacturing any number of other strange science notions.  

Another horrible specter of past unscientific thinking, bringing shudders to my skin, is right wing zealots who might even re-invent eugenics. Given the scientific ignorance evident in Creationism and reproductive physiology, anything else is possible.

Republicans who refuse to consider cuts to defense spending are eager to jump on "stimulus money" or "entitlements". This ideation comes from the same magical thinking as those among them who believe in Creationism or reproductive magic.

Fact: defense spending comes from the same revenues as entitlements!  Defense spending is stimulus for the friends of Republicans who own big corporations while entitlements help the middle class. 

It's time Republican magical thinkers join the 21st century.  

We've sent men to the moon, there's a tech-speaking rover named "Curiosity" roaming around on Mars, but Republicans, like Huckabee, insist that evolution didn't happen and Akin says women can physiologically prevent pregnancy during a rape.

Americans should demand to see the college degrees from both Huckabee and Akin, before allowing either one of them to take any future oaths for political office.










  







Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home