Point of Inquiry for 1/27/05

Chris Mooney, a Washington correspondent for[i:73f04cad92]Seed[/i:73f04cad92] magazine, a senior correspondent for the [i:73f04cad92]American Prospect[/i:73f04cad92], and a columnist for [i:73f04cad92]Skeptical Inquirer[/i:73f04cad92] magazine, focuses on issues at the intersection of science and politics in his reporting. He has contributed to a number of other publications over the last few years including [i:73f04cad92]Wired[/i:73f04cad92], [i:73f04cad92]New Scientist[/i:73f04cad92], [i:73f04cad92]Slate[/i:73f04cad92], [i:73f04cad92]Mother Jones[/i:73f04cad92], [i:73f04cad92]Washington Post[/i:73f04cad92], [i:73f04cad92]Los Angeles Times[/i:73f04cad92], and [i:73f04cad92]Boston Globe[/i:73f04cad92], in addition to appearing widely in the media, on shows such as [i:73f04cad92]The Daily Show with John Stewart[/i:73f04cad92], NPR’s [i:73f04cad92]Science Friday[/i:73f04cad92], and [i:73f04cad92]Fresh Air with Terry Gross[/i:73f04cad92]. His blog, called [i:73f04cad92]The Intersection[/i:73f04cad92], was recipient of the 2005 Science and Technology web award from [i:73f04cad92]Scientific American[/i:73f04cad92], which noted that "science is lucky to have such a staunch ally in acclaimed journalist Chris Mooney."

In this interview, he discusses his first book, [i:73f04cad92]The Republican War on Science[/i:73f04cad92], hailed as "a landmark in contemporary political reporting" by [i:73f04cad92]Salon.com[/i:73f04cad92] and a "well-researched, closely argued and amply referenced indictment of the right wing’s assault on science and scientists" by [i:73f04cad92]Scientific American[/i:73f04cad92].

Also in this episode, Tom Flynn presents [i:73f04cad92]Did You Know?[/i:73f04cad92] sharing facts and figures on paranormal belief in America and recent growth of religious extremism, Benjamin Radford shares his segment [i:73f04cad92]Media Mythmakers[/i:73f04cad92], commenting on social myths regarding Barbie Dolls, and in the first of a two part series entitled [i:73f04cad92]Investigating Ghosts and Hauntings[/i:73f04cad92], Joe Nickell, CSICOP’s senior research fellow and renowned paranormal investigator, details specific investigations of haunted scenes he has conducted.

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I bought Mr. Mooney’s book last December, and I read it over quite a long period of time, owing to constantly having to set it down out of outrage!  It is a crying shame that such bold-faced hostility exists toward the small minority of people who really have to fight against such odds, just to bring us explanations to things which are occurring in our world and to develop better ways for us to live.

This country hardly deserves the scientists that it has!  We have a pretty good standard of living in comparison with other countries, as far as convenience is concerned, and we openly expect our civil engineers and scientists across the board to keep it that way; yet not only do very few of us donate or contribute to the scientific community, but more than a few of this country’s citizens think it is their personnal responsibility or right to persecute scientists on religious grounds or for want of political gain from those who believe the militantly religious or the hideously greedy (or both). 

One of the worst blows to science that has happened in recent years in the U.S.A. has been the disbanding of the O.T.A.  I was never aware of this organization’s existance prior to reading Mooney’s book and that was one of the most infuriating revelations of the entire work!  I hope that Mrs. Clinton bore this fact in mind when she spoke of reinstating “an administration that respects science...” as one of her goals, should she become our next president.  And I hope for all of us that Mr. Mooney keeps churning out books that I can barely stomach!  They are painful to read, but they are necessary to expose the true evil that lurks where ignorance dwells.

I wonder if Mr. Kurtz will be at the Atheist Convention next weekend?  I wrote a paper on the terrible threat the religious right (GOP) has to our Scientific Researchers.  I noticed that many of the Scientists who are featured on “The Science Channel” and even “National Geographic Channel” are from other nations.  The study of disasters, survival, global warming and biological and nuclear attacks are also foreigners.  I am personally glad that we have access to these television channels and we must be aware of the poor academic training the next generations are receiving here in America.

Americans are more interested in Britney Spears and O.J. Simpson than learning about the mercenary army being built by the Bush Administration to help kill Islam in the Middle East.  Bush wants a Christian Army to kill off anything but Christians.

By the way, I’m going to be security searched at the convention and during the speeches can take only my purse into the hall.  I don’t know if they think that we Atheists are the enemy or they are simply protecting us from the religious wackos.  I’ll try to find out. 

Many of the American scientists like Neal Tyson (astro physicist) are listed on the Atheist lists and many others in his field are as well.  Every day they keep looking for life from other planets and I hope they can find it to knock Intelligent Design off the school curriculums.  Aliens can’t be as dangerous to Americans as the crazy Christians. 

I wish I had time to review Kurts’ books but I will have to take Mooney’s word for his opinions.