Pic Of The Moment: Scientific Fact: Lamar Smith Is A Moron

[EarlG]

Republican Congressman Introduces Bill To Require Political Approval Of Scientific Papers

Follow @demunderground

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Since he thinks the members of the Senate and House are sooooo

much smarter than scientists, why even bother with the researchers?

[ErikJ]

28. Reminds me of Galileo and Papal Infallibility.

What's next Lamar? The earth is flat too?

[kardonb]

72. flat earth

and the moon is made of green cheese ( just like his brain ).

[Auggie]

31. This bill was written by corporate interests. Smith is their hand puppet.

[lovemydog]

70. Yes, Smith is acting puppet

for corporate interests!

[rickyhall]

2. Texas

Does Texas only elect dumasses nowadays? Just wondering. BTW I was born in Fort Worth. What happened to smart people like Ross Perot?

[RoccoR5955]

25. Last I heard Texas

is changing its official name to Texass!

[paleotn]

54. I thought that was its name...

...at least according to a friend of mine from Arkansas.

[kentauros]

79. That's only according to

Texas-hating DUers. For the rest of us, it's still Texas.

If you want someone to blame, why not go for the real culprits? Tom Delay comes to mind first, and the rest that helped him gerrymander our districts.

The cities of Texas are turning blue, if they aren't all the way there to begin with. It's those that live in the rural portions that still vote republican. Luckily, more people live in the cities now than live in the country.

[lastlib]

38. Or Barbara Jordan?

We need a few more like her in office?? PLEASE tell me there are some out there?

[hrmjustin]

3. Talking about being in the pocket of big business.

[Walk away]

4. This is like some kind of weird, fascist, sci-fi nightmare!

Is he a robot??? A stupid robot?????

[timdog44]

5. Now remember,

that scientific fact has to be considered by the committee and then agreed upon.

[christx30]

9. Higgs-Boson is a myth.

The Earth is only 3000 years old. It is the center of the universe, with the sun and everything else revolving around it. The commitee has spoken.

So what happens when one of the researchers puts forth a scientific fact that the commitee disagrees with, and they don't like it? Does that fact go away? What happens when the researcher releases the research in defiance of commitee edict?
My gues would be that their funding would be pulled. Science will stall in this country and Europe will (once again) surprass us. You wanna know why this country is slipping? That joker up there.

[timdog44]

10. And do not forget

how dinosaurs were pets and beasts of burden to early humans.

[Liberalagogo]

18. And they were very musically talented.

[xxqqqzme]

43. That must be true because

dana rohrabacher said dinosaur farts caused global warming! and he's on the science committee!

[christx30]

24. Bwak! It's a living. n/t

[Progressive dog]

19. The Flintstone science

Replace peer in peer review with committee of idiots.

[whopis01]

47. Ah - I think your conclusion misses the obvious

You think that would cause science to stall in this county and other nations will surpass us.

However, I dare you to find any research study (approved by Congress of course) that will support your theory. I am sure that the only socio-economic studies that will be approved are ones that end with "In conclusion we find that USA #1!! Go America!! God Bless the USA!"

[christx30]

55. Kind of reminds me of China

saying that only they have the right to choose the Dalai lama. That congressional commitee will have exclusive right to... define scientific thought?

[AlbertCat]

59. Kind of reminds me of China saying that only they have the right to choose the Dalai lama.

Forget the lama! Try China in the late 1950's and early 60's... where they tried "experimental farming" because all that western capitalist science was not in tune with their government. It's a period usually called "The Great Chinese Famine".

[christx30]

66. That's a very apt comparison.

Science by Congressional Committee will starve the quest for human advancement as assuredly as Mao.

But I did think of a good slogan for them: "I dream of a day when churches will have all they money they need, and the Sagans of the world will have to hold a bake sale to communicate with Voyager."

Anyone else feel a slight shiver of terror? Show of hands?

[AlbertCat]

58. The Earth is only 3000 years old.

C'mon! They don't care about THAT kinda science. They are more interested in how cow farts are increasing global temps rather than fossil fuels, and about how fracking makes flowers grow.

[Cirque du So-What]

6. So much for 'limited government'

This looks like a ploy to gain control over research funding, ensuring that only 'favored' capitalistas benefit from the largesse. Mind you, I'm all in favor of public funding for basic research, as corporations are only going to conduct research on their own dime if it benefits their bottom line. I doubt that public universities would get nearly as many grants as politicians' favorite corporations and private schools if this were to become law.

[Junkdrawer]

7. Instant solution to all the Climate Alarms going off...

Turn off the alarms. And that's why he's in charge.

[n2doc]

8. And any pollution, GMO or pharma research

For now, we are fortunate that this will go nowhere. But The trend is very bad.

[libodem]

11. Somebody just doesn't get it

Idiot.

[SunSeeker]

12. Modern day witch burners. Sick. nt

[longship]

13. This country needs better science education.

That's the only practical solution to this dumbfuckery. And what I mean about better science education has to include critical thinking so that idiocy like this will die quickly, or hopefully never even be presented.

I fear for this country.
R&K

[AlbertCat]

60. has to include critical thinking

Can't they just ask god.... and pray?

[progressoid]

14. Maybe we should run it by religious leaders too.

[GodlessBiker]

15. Didn't Soviet leaders demand a say in what was scientific fact and what wasn't?

For a long time, they insisted Darwinian evolution was a western plot, and claimed that Larmarckian evolution was the true theory (which it wasn't).

Sounds like this guy is following in those Soviet footsteps.

[hobbit709]

23. Lysenkoism.

[Junkdrawer]

50. Republicans are becoming more Soviet every day....

And I mean that seriously. The Stasi-like surveillance laws, for instance.

[titanicdave]

16. A Blithering Idiot

This guy should be working on the serious problems facing our country, such as jobs, the economy, immigration reform just to name a few but the jackass plays around with trying to politicize scientific research......of course, he is from Texas which has given us such "stars" as Rick Perry, George W. Bush, and Ted Cruz just to name a few.....

[Enrique]

17. doesn't sound like a moron to me

sounds like a power grab.

[SCVDem]

20. The scientists will leave the country

Smart physicists who are greedy will go to Iran or North Korea and given free reign.

America lost manufacturing and now our R & D department.

Now we are a nation of serfs ruled by gun toting mobs.

Great vision GOP! Now go fuck yourself!

[Ilsa]

34. That pretty well sums it up. :-( nt

[Yavin4]

21. Let's just cut to the chase. The Koch bros. have to sign off on all research.

Let's do that and be done with it.

[hobbit709]

22. The return of Lysenkoism-now to be known as Lamarism.

[Kali]

26. JFK! (not the dead pres, either)

[shireen]

27. more at LA Times link

He's targeting the NSF, but they handle a biggest percentage of basic research funds.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-lamar-smith-federal-research-funding-20130501,0,78113.story


Republicans in Congress, long skeptical of the value of some taxpayer-supported research, have taken aim at the National Science Foundation with a bill that seeks to limit the scope of its grants.

A draft bill by House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), which was obtained by Science magazine, would require the foundation's grants to “advance the national health, prosperity or welfare” or “secure the national defense.” The current National Science Foundation criteria are broader and allow the foundation to weigh the “intellectual merit” and “broader impacts” of the proposed research.

[eomer]

29. Can they overturn Relativity?

That would simplify things immensely.

[AlbertCat]

61. Can they overturn Relativity?

Depends on the quantum state of Congress at the time.

[redstatebluegirl]

30. Who elects this idiots!

I know a lot of smart people from Texas where are they when it is time to vote! This guy is more than a moron, he is not fit to serve. They are piece by piece destroying our country and way of life. Canada looks pretty decent right about now. They have been heavily recruiting American Scientists and researchers for some time....

[Moostache]

64. I'm sorry, but that applies to almost the entire South / former Confederacy / GOP base / Red States.

The ass-hattery and mind blowing stupidity of these people chosen as elected representatives is stunning and only seems to be getting worse with time. They wear their ignorance as a badge of honor and then collect the speaking engagements and ghost written book deals to cash out just like their Queen bee Palin.

What is amazing to me is that serious people even acknowledge this clown car party at all any more. Their actions, statements and beliefs should qualify them for a long state in a supervised facility, yet year after year they keep on upping the ante for biggest dumb ass Republican and its already an impressive list to begin with (well in length anyway, the collective depth of thinking from these people is not enough to wash one's hands in)...

[redstatebluegirl]

77. All due respect there must be more than a few of them up North

In Wisconsin and Minnesota considering their recent track record. My husband and I moved South when jobs were offered here after he finished his post-doc. Not our choice but you go where you can earn enough to pay off student loans and make a life. Not all of us are stupid here...

[kentauros]

80. There are no "red" states.

Unless you're basing that label on the electoral map, which is taking election results to a narrow extreme.

This is a far more representative map, based on population densities of individual counties:



http://politicker.com/2012/11/the-purple-election-map/

I really wish we'd drop the totally unfair "red state / blue state" labels. The electoral map does not represent me, or any of my fellow Liberals here!

[Moostache]

81. I appreciate your sentiments, but I beg to differ on places like SC, UT, ID...

There are states in the union that defy explanation and there are others that defy logic, but the majority of those that do both reside in the south and the former confederacy. There remains a dangerous and unhinged element of the population that drives policy in those regions with utter impunity. They are not accountable to the entire electorate because there is literally ZERO chance of them losing an election. In my book, that still makes the red state - blue state distinction sadly relevant and real.

If it helps at all, I know the pain all too well living here in East Kansas, where asshats like Dana Loesch actually have supporters no matter what kind of insanity she spews on any given day.

[kentauros]

82. Then you'll have to "differ" with the person that made that map.

I stand by my assertion that there are no "red" states because using the electoral map is too narrow of an extreme for determining political affiliation for an entire area. By the electoral map, you have Wisconsin, a "blue" state, with one of the worst republican governors ever. Then there's Michigan, and New Jersey. No, they aren't the "majority" of "blue" states with repubs as governor, just examples that you can't label a state solely by the electoral map. It doesn't hold water now or ever.

I also find it (sadly) interesting how so many DUers hold on to the notion of "The South" and "Confederacy" states when the rest of us Liberals in those regions rarely refer to ourselves in that manner. We're not still fighting the civil war, and yet too many DUers that are against us seem more than willing to start it up all over again.

I don't live in a red state, no matter how much you beg to differ. I live in the Purple State of Texas, so to be the Blue State of Texas

[Moostache]

83. Good luck with all of that, really.

I hope you're right about Texas, because you people have some of the most insane shit-house crazy rats I have ever seen in government as your elected representatives and governors - from W. to Perry to Gohmert to Lamar Smith; and that's only the very recent variety - "teh stoopid" practically oozes off of them. I hope y'all down there clean house and rid the rest of us of their idiotic and malignant ideology and save the region and the nation at the same time. Best wishes.

[shireen]

32. is this for real?

I don't know where addictinginfo got their facts. According to Science Magazine, the bill does not indicate that the committee takes on a review role. It restricts the scope of the NSF (a bad thing). Science Magazine got the draft bill, and reported on it here:

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6132/534.full

The new chair of the House of Representatives science committee has drafted a bill that, in effect, would alter peer review at the National Science Foundation (NSF) by embracing a set of criteria chosen by Congress. The proposed legislation, from Representative Lamar Smith (R–TX), has angered congressional Democrats and left NSF officials wondering what Smith thinks is wrong with the current system.

The bill, called the "High Quality Research Act," is the latest—and bluntest—attack by congressional Republicans on how NSF decides which grant proposals to fund. In late March, Senator Tom Coburn (R–OK) successfully attached language to a 2013 spending bill that prohibits NSF from funding any political science research for the rest of the fiscal year unless its director certifies that the research pertains to economic development or national security.

Smith's draft bill, which has not yet been formally introduced, goes much further by applying similar language to NSF's entire research portfolio. In particular, it would require the NSF director to certify, prior to any award, that the work being funded is "ground breaking" and "not duplicative" as well as important to national interests. NSF's current guidelines, updated last year, ask reviewers to consider the "intellectual merit" of a proposed research project as well as its "broader impacts" on the scientific community and society.

"I don't know what problem he's trying to solve," says Dan Arvizu, chair of the National Science Board, a 24-member presidentially appointed body that sets policy for the foundation. "NSF's mission is to support the best research, and we feel it has done a good job doing that. There's always room for improvement, but the legislation implies that you're being unpatriotic if you don't agree to do things differently."

[synapticwave]

40. The actual text of the Bill

is here: http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/HQRA.pdf

The only things this bill does, is require that the NSF post a statement on it's website for each grant it provides that the funding is [I'm paraphrasing, see full bill for actual text] in the best interest of the country to pursue this research. And, then to report to congressional committee that he did in fact certify the webpost.

That's all this bill requires. Also, the bill was never submitted to anyone, as addictinginfo claims, so this is really much ado about nothing imho.

[Moostache]

65. I reject this premise on all levels.

I may be overly cranky and tired right now, but I read your comment and I interpret it to be about the same as arguing that when the Nazi's started having Jews moved into Ghettos and wear identifying arm bands that it was really not all THAT bad...after all, it was not really a big deal toi know where those people were and this way the government could better assist them in finding a clear and unfettered path to the goddamn gas chambers!

As soon as you politicize the very act of engaging in the scientific method, by requiring easily attached labels to its findings and conditions for its basic funding, you put a target on the backs of the people charged with investigating and reporting on reality. It does not have to be as nefarious as a panel hearing or vote on whether or not to accept the findings of a study to have a chilling effect on people. Within a few weeks, the mere act of requesting funding for even the most minutely controversial hypothesis would become an act of financial suicide for thousands of researchers.

Good science is an open-ended and free exchange of ideas, results and interpretations. Its the only way our species has any chance to be anything more than a footnote to the planet in another 100 years or so at our current resource burn rate and contamination of damn near everything. I am sorry you do not share the same opinion, but in my book anything at all that further advances the nonsense of the right's crusade against facts and science and reason is enough of a big deal to care about and to fight.

I have a much better idea, lets make every member of congress able to serve no more than 12 years in office, period. This would include House terms, Senate terms and Presidential terms. You could be elected 6 times to the House, 3 times to the Presidency or 2 times to the Senate and no combination between them that would exceed 12 years. You would also be banned from working as a lobbyist for three times the number of years equal to your overall service tenure before you could return to Washington D.C. as a registered lobbyist. (That means 36 years between leaving office and returning as a hired gun among the thousands already in Washington to begin with.

Take away the incentive for people to profit from stupidity and you might just be amazed at how different this country would be in very short order...

[geardaddy]

33. Oops, thought it said "...is a Mormon" n/t

[Rozlee]

68. No. He belongs to the Church of Christian Science.

Seriously, he does. They don't have any faith in any kind of medicine or the works of man. He's my congress critter. I hate the fucker.

[Ilsa]

35. Hates pure research. And I still can't get over

that state legislator who introduced a bill to redefine Pi as 3.0 because he's too stupid to deal with decimal points. It's the kind of stupidity that makes me want to send him a wheel with a wedge missing, just to make a point.

And now this, in part, the corporatization of science.

[donquijoterocket]

41. Or

The state legislator in Texas in opposing a bill to require teaching foreign languages in high school said that if English was good enough for Jesus it's good enough for her. Except there's some contention about the origin and reliability of the quote. Plus which in Texas they don't really speak English but several mutually intelligible or unintelligible versions of it. This supposedly was in the 1920s which goes to prove ,I guess, that things haven't changed all that much and that perhaps that degree of stupidity is genetic.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

49. That was Governor Ma Ferguson.

As a friend of mine said the other day, "Our parents and grandparents were horrified over the Scopes trial and still talked about it when we were kids."

Our parents were born in the teens and 20s and we are baby boomers. The Scopes trial was in 1925.

[whopis01]

48. The Pi == 3.0 bill was actually an April Fools joke.

It was posted on the old talk.origins newsgroup - and was intended to be a joke related to their endless debate about creation vs evolution. There was never a real bill that redefined the value of Pi.

Indiana came close back in the 19th century - there was a failed bill that put forth a method for computing the area of a circle. It wasn't correct of course, and in order to think it was, you would have to make the implicit assumption that Pi was 4.0 (if I am remembering this correctly) - but it actually didn't specify the value of Pi.

[tclambert]

62. Pi = 3.0 is in the Holy Bible.

1 Kings 7:23 and 2 Chronicles 4:2 both describe a circular pool in Solomon's temple that had a diameter of 10 cubits and a circumference of 30 cubits (not 31 and a bit).

So if you think Pi = 3.1415926536 or some such other blasphemy, I have to ask WHY DO YOU HATE JESUS?

(Some of the above may have contained a hint of sarcasm, but the Bible citations are absolutely real.)

[Ilsa]

63. Ha ha ha ha! I figured there

had to be a biblical reason for this. Thanks!

[jjewell]

75. Oh my! That was excellent.

[caledesi]

36. Oh, that's the ticket ... NOT. No wonder the world is

laughing AT us! Thanks Earl.

[KansDem]

37. Will Rep. Smith and the rest wear ceremonial garb when they render their decision?

[benld74]

39. Another part of the GOP agenda,,,,,,,

[Douglas Carpenter]

42. finally we have a way to end the melting of the polar ice caps and rising sea levels that threatens

so much of the world's population - We just pass a law that says that it's not happening. Why didn't someone think of that before?

[stevenleser]

44. I talked about this during my show this week in the Hall of Shame section

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lesersense/2013/05/05/making-sense-with-steve-leser--intl-workers-day-and-more

Starting at around 42:30

[Plucketeer]

45. That this BUFFOON is a member of the "science committee"

Renders that body a totally dismissable JOKE.

[Junkdrawer]

51. Except they hold the purse strings....

Last I checked, scientists had kids and mortgages too.

Think they won't (consciously or subconsciously) bend their results to match what the money guys want?

[Plucketeer]

57. OH! I agree with you 101%

My comment was just to say that said committee can be nothing more than a sham. It has no one but the monied's interest at heart.

[Teamster Jeff]

46. Another creepy book burner

[Half-Century Man]

52. He had a good education

I can only think of five possibilities for his current position.
1: He has sold our and our children's future to corporate america, who want stupid drones to feed them money as fast as possible.
2: He has a set number of educated people the world needs in mind.
3: He suffered (enjoyed) a traumatic head wound
4: He ingested 1473 tabs of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) within a twenty four hour period.
5: His blind faith in his religion demands our blind faith as well, since education interferes with blind faith and he can not trust us to willingly surrender our education; it is for the best not to get one in the first place.

He is a scumbag, or a victim of drugs, injury, or religion.

[Half-Century Man]

53. 2nd repost

I ask, is it a minor form of treason for the Chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology to sponsor a bill called the "High Quality Research Act" while knowing full well that the wording invalidates scientific methodology and hampers knowledge and technology and basically guarantees we can't reach space?
One would expect from the title "House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology", a group which was in favor of science, space and technology, but apparently not. I urge the members to check the definitions of "oversight" and "suppress", there might be a mix up.
Lamar S Smith of the 21st district Texas, seems like a person who would understand scientific methodology, given the high caliber of his education (Granted, the Southern Methodist University now holds the George W. Bush Library; calling into question the price of the school's moral code as well as their definition of the word library). His past committee seats on Justice, Ethics, and Budget should have given him a understanding of fair play, truth, and the fact that addressing a 0.2 % of a budget in order to balance said budget is mental masturbation (and unexciting masturbation at that, be careful your hand doesn't go to sleep). The wording of the bill indicates at least a passing knowledge of "peer review" and "research duplication", so personal ignorance seems unlikely.
Occam's razor (the simplest explanation which agrees with all the facts) insists the the right Honorable Representative Lamar S. Smith, isn't. Isn't right, honorable, or representing his constituents; merely big business interests.
At least thats how it seems to me.
New material and thoughts.
Further proof of Smith's love of money over sense of duty was his letter asking the NSF to find fault with scientific research to make his donors right.

[paleotn]

56. Just like....

...those who count the votes, control the elections. It's a ham handed attempt to control the "facts." When science doesn't tell you what you want to hear, according to your half ass ideology, control the findings. 1984 anyone?

[Jake2413]

67. Are these guys really that stupid....

or just corporate tools?

[SleeplessinSoCal]

69. A dangerous moron!

[lovemydog]

71. What's the status of this fucking fascistic

bill, and to where and whom do we register our opposition?

[Locut0s]

73. Hahahahahah ahahaha hahaha ohh lol. Where's no chance in hell of this passing right?

[krispos42]

74. Ow ow ow ow ow!

[tomp]

76. not just a moron...

...but a fascist moron. what a heinous idea!

[judesedit]

78. Idiot