Nature endorses Barack Obama

The editorial board of the highly respected scienctific journal Nature have made public their endorsement of the junior senator from Illinois. It appears this is the first time Nature has officially endorsed any political candidate.

The crux of this anomaly came in this resounding bit of text.

"The core values of science are those of open debate within a free society that have come down to us from the Enlightenment in many forms, not the least of which is the constitution of the United States."

In light of Governor Sarah Palin's recent vocalizations regarding constitutional interpretation I can understand why these editor's have chosen to endorse her opponent.

Palin on amendment 1

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told AM talk radio host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

By this interpretation of the constitution all political candidates should be immune to media criticism? How do we keep discussions about Sarah Palin objective when objectivity itself is what is at stake?

I felt embarrassed for the Governor when I heard this today.

Palin vs Science

WOW!!!
The level of ignorance displayed here surpasses anything I have heard slip out of George W. Bush's mouth yet. Modern genetics is built on the work done on Drosophila Melanogaster aka "fruit flies." This is the same ignorance that perfuses so many minds attached to bodies that vote. The fear and ignorance on display here explain much of the reason the epidemic of evangelism has spread so fervently in the United States over the past several decades. A union of scientists should coalesce around this soundbite of stupidity and rally with all their might against Sarah Palin, I kid you not!



Yeah who cares about understanding the biochemical mechanisms of disease? If someone gets sick or is born with a congenital defect it was God's will. Right?

Who are these people and why do they have any political clout at all?
And what happened to Renaissance statesmen/women?

Thomas Jefferson once said "Science is my passion, politics my duty."
This philosophy is worth reviving!!!

See Keith's take on this.

Palin as herself on SNL

The entirety of the Fey - Palin exchange!



and act 2



The build-up to this Palin performance might be even more funny than the skits themselves. Below is the "word salad" the governor served up when asked how she felt about her much anticipated SNL debut. I first read this quote here

“Oh, man. I'm excited for tomorrow night, I have no idea what to expect because I haven't seen any scripts or anything else yet, but it will be fun. The opportunity to show American television watchers anyway that you get to have a sense of humor through all of this or even just this really would be wearin’, tearin’ on you, so an opportunity to show that sense of humor and that side of all of this, I look forward to it.”
-Sarah Palin 10/17/2008

I have never been 100% perfect at "on the spot" English speaking, but I do believe the inability to place pronouns and adjectives in coherent sentence structures demonstrates serious deficiencies in normal neural network architecture.

"And that Spirit of Prophecy, Also" - Sarah Palin.

Shame on you America!

The vice presidential candidate debate, or debacle last night was a complete mockery of the US political system. I am absolutely amazed that Sarah Palin is actually a vice presidential candidate. While this complete failure of a debate reinforced my hope that Barack Obama and Joe Biden will emerge victorious on Tuesday November 4th, it actually made me ashamed to be a citizen of this great country. Is this the best the US political system is capable of? It is very clear who dominated this "debate," it is also very clear that there was only one legitimate participant. Sarah Palin simply avoided the moderator's questions most of the time and the moderator made no attempt to "moderate" the debate in this respect. What is the point of even asking a question if Sarah Palin is allowed to talk about whatever she pleases? It is completely absurd that last night's showing was passed off as a debate! Even in her "topic of choice speeches," Sarah Palin struggled to display the ability to formulate any rational thought and seemed capable of merely tossing out buzz words, often times in a completely incoherent manner. This is certainly not an isolated incident, check out the poetry of Sarah Palin. Human nature may have many of us laugh at her comments, when it may actually be more appropriate to cry. Check out the treatment of Sarah Palin's logic and decor in this New Yorker article by George Saunders. Very laughable, until you realize this is a vice presidential candidate of THE UNITED STATES of AMERICA, then the shame sets in. America!? You are ignorant by choice! Please wake up from your slumber!

Remember Miss South Carolina 2007?