Palin Trashes Science

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Palin Trashes Science
198
Sat, 10-25-2008 - 4:57pm

In her first policy speech she trashes autism research in France involving fruit flies. Sounds reasonable if you don't know anything about autism, or research.

Here is the truth:

1. The research was in the United States, not France. Can you please get your facts right Palin?

2. Fruit flies, like rats, are standard fare in basic research. Trashing research because fruit flies are involved is really dumb.

3. The research in question actually has shown great promise in discovering the causes of autism.

Here it all is in a revealing segment: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#27367248

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/24/palin-fruit-flies/

Palin is so uninformed it's ridiculous. And by the way, this is like the umpteenth thing she and McCain have said would be exempt from their "across the board" spending freeze.

PS It's a hoot that she says Republicans are for kids with special needs. She should know that Bush basically screwed us on that front by delaying embryonic stem cell research for 8 years. Bush and the Republicans held up the research on religious grounds. All the while Rove was running around calling the religious right "nuts." As David Kuo, the former faith based advisor to the White House who became disgusted with the Republicans and quit revealed, these people are just hypocrites.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Sun, 10-26-2008 - 10:41pm

"Check out how the Bush money is linked to the Nazis. "

That is a whole very strange topic indeed. At least H.W. Bush fought hard in WWII, however, unlike his son W. who no one can deny opted out of service when his father got him into business school instead. Same goes for McCain - whatever his failings at least the man put his life on the line for America.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Sun, 10-26-2008 - 10:44pm

"The original post was Olbermann's video. If you drew the conclusion on your own, then you would be wrong as well."

Actually that also is not accurate. Here is the original post and you will see there is a link to a video of what Palin actually said:

"In her first policy speech she trashes autism research in France involving fruit flies. Sounds reasonable if you don't know anything about autism, or research.

Here is the truth:

1. The research was in the United States, not France. Can you please get your facts right Palin?

2. Fruit flies, like rats, are standard fare in basic research. Trashing research because fruit flies are involved is really dumb.

3. The research in question actually has shown great promise in discovering the causes of autism.

Here it all is in a revealing segment: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#27367248

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/24/palin-fruit-flies/

Palin is so uninformed it's ridiculous. And by the way, this is like the umpteenth thing she and McCain have said would be exempt from their "across the board" spending freeze.

PS It's a hoot that she says Republicans are for kids with special needs. She should know that Bush basically screwed us on that front by delaying embryonic stem cell research for 8 years. Bush and the Republicans held up the research on religious grounds. All the while Rove was running around calling the religious right "nuts." As David Kuo, the former faith based advisor to the White House who became disgusted with the Republicans and quit revealed, these people are just hypocrites."

And by the way, your comment about Palin talking about pork also is incorrect. This is basic research into the causes of autism which is mostly in the United States and has been very promising. I suggest, as I have before, that you watch the video in the second link above. Palin makes clear none of the statements you are trying to attribute to her in a revisionist history.

Avatar for songwright
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-28-1997
Sun, 10-26-2008 - 10:46pm

Well, I for one am totally unimpressed by their 'pig book'.

~ SW

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Sun, 10-26-2008 - 10:48pm

<<Was that a snappy comeback?>>


No.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Sun, 10-26-2008 - 10:55pm
Did CAGW say anything about the Bridge to Nowhere and Palins support of it before she was agin' it????
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2001
Sun, 10-26-2008 - 10:55pm

There is wasteful spending, and one of those wastes is researching fruit flies in Paris France.


I'm still at a loss to see where you

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Sun, 10-26-2008 - 10:56pm

<>


Yes it is true.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Sun, 10-26-2008 - 10:59pm

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Sun, 10-26-2008 - 11:00pm
Why don't you look it up yourself?

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-20-2008
Sun, 10-26-2008 - 11:03pm

Regardless of whether you think she was referring to the Olive fruit fly research or the use of fruit flies for autism research or just any research with fruit flies Sarah Palin is woefully ignorant of the implications of her bashing of fruit flies. Just another reason to let her go back to Alaska where probably no fruit flies even exist.

Not from Olberman, but from Britian:
http://northbritain.wordpress.com/2008/10/25/sarah-palin-and-fruit-flies/

"“Where does a lot of that earmark money end up anyway? You’ve heard about some of these pet projects they really don’t make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go 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.”

Fruit fly research.

The fruit fly research that she is talking about must be the Olive fruit fly research. The Olive fruit fly is an invasive pest that threatening California’s multi-million dollar olive crop. In trying to save a chunk of California’s economy in these difficult times, the $211509 French grant probably is a worthwhile investment.

Besides, if you know anything about science, you’ll know that vital findings have resulted from the most tangential experiments. Who knows what benefits might come out this study?

Certainly not Sarah Palin.

If she was only aware of what research of the humble fruit fly has already given to science I bet she wouldn’t have mocked this research in her speech.

For example, progress in birth defects research. That work brought a Nobel Prize.

Progress in autism research. The very condition that Sarah Palin started her talk about. She has a nephew suffering from autism. Fruit fly research may bring vital clues to improve his life.

Diabetes research.

Cancer research. Indeed, fruit fly research has led to critical advances in the treatment of colon cancer and possibly all cancers.

Alzheimer’s research. And scientists have just cured fruit flies from Huntington’s disease, a massive leap to the treatment of humans.

And work on increasing the life-span of fruit flies may have benefits in slowing ageing in humans.

And what makes the fruit fly so ubitiquous in medical research?

Chiang Ann-shyn - director of the Institute of Biotechnology and director of the Brain Research Center at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu City, Taiwan - explains in this article:

‘One reason fruit flies were used was the similarities between their genes and human genes, Chiang explained. Although a fruit fly carries only around 135,000 genes, which might seem few in comparison to a human being’s 4 billion genes, a large number of genes that suffer from human genetic disorders can be found in the fruit fly. “Flies are cheap to breed, and their genes can be manipulated quickly,” he declared. Moreover, better understanding of genes would allow scientists to search faster for novel therapeutic drugs for healing diseases like Alzheimer’s, he added.’

I think its clear by now that Sarah Palin has no understanding of science.

Her Young Earth creationist views.
Her disregard for climate change.
Her appalling environmental record.
Her attempt to ban books from the local library in Wasilla.

And now this.

Go back to what she said at the start: “For many parents of children with disabilities, the most valuable thing of all is information.”

What Sarah Palin is promoting with her fruit fly ‘I kid you not’ nonsense is dis-information."

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