We Need More Republicans in the Science Field …

… and then maybe we wouldn’t have to beat them over the head so much when they make ridiculous statements about science. This past week, the Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, gave the Republican response to President Obama’s address to the nation. I couldn’t take my eyes off the man. It was not because he was fascinating or intelligent, but because I couldn’t believe my ears. Po, the red Teletubby, who often gets into trouble, couldn’t find a Po’cooter fast enough for a getaway. The deliverance reminded me of a teacher reading a story to a kindergarten class:

Now class, they want to build something called a magnetic levitation line to Disneyland! The kindergarten class erupts into joyous cheering and visions of flying Mickey Mouses in their heads …

My jaw dropped when he expressed his displeasure over the suggested $140 million held for ‘volcano monitoring.’ If Louisiana had a similar disaster monitoring system in place in 2005, it may have prevented many lost lives during Hurricane Katrina. But this isn’t the first time a rising young Republican dissed science. In October of 2008 Sarah Palin stuck it to science when, during a speech in Pittsburgh, she was critical of tax dollars that went “to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good — things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.”

Mrs. Palin, meet American geneticist, Hermann J. Muller. Dr. Muller won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his groundbreaking experiments with the Drosophila melanogaster, or the common fruit fly, an ideal insect for genetic study on several levels. Simply, Dr. Muller was able to study genetic mutations in the fruit fly caused by exposure to x-rays.

Fruit flies, Mrs. Palin, are very important. If you don’t think so, I challenge you to spend many days in an x-ray room without the benefit of protection. I bet you would decline. When I was young my dentist never gave me protective covering when x-rays were taken of my teeth. Although radiation from dental x-rays is low, my dentist eventually died of cancer, I’ve heard, caused by the constant exposure. Mr. Jindal, who graduated from Brown University with honors in biology, should have been Palin’s adviser during her march to the White House.

The previous resident of the White House and his cronies were responsible for staggering examples of misrepresenting science, but I digress. I only hope that when the cure for the common cold comes out in a blue capsule form that it will be very hard for Republicans to swallow.

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