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: 10-20-2008
Mon, 10-27-2008 - 11:31pm
ny
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Mon, 10-27-2008 - 11:35pm

You mean like this - from a "Christian" college???


iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2008
Mon, 10-27-2008 - 11:37pm

If Palin did not mock the research, then why did she make faces as she said "I kid you not"? in response to the laughing . What was she doing, then?


iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Tue, 10-28-2008 - 7:58am

"Once again you have it wrong. It is very easy to be a right winger these days. See we look at things logically. We also tend to vote with logic and not emotion. Can't say that about a liberal."

I will go around and around as long as it takes to reveal the truth melanie230. Your boilerplate rant against liberals is long on rhetoric and short on reality. It does not address what I wrote. Your failure to address or rebut what is consistent with the right wing these days. Here is the truth for you again in case you choose to try to address the issue we were discussing:

"I've got to give you credit for your gusto melanie230. What do you do when you get caught saying something that is, well, let me be a lot nicer about this to you than you were to me, let's just say fibbing a little? You double down and go full bore saying what I posted was a "LIE" in all caps.

Here is the cold hard truth:

1. Palin trashed money fruit fly research in France. Palin did not just trash research in France. She trashed "fruit fly" research. You can see from the clip that she obviously is saying the fact that fruit flies are involved sounds like outrageous pork. As usual when it comes to Republicans these days, the opposite is true. The fact that fruit flies are involved in research is wholly consistent with credible research. Fruit flies are standard fare in genetic research. Palin either didn't know or knew and was trying to whip people up. Either way, it's pathetic. And it's in her first major policy speech as VP nominee no less.

2. In her speech Palin champions herself as a special needs advocate. Attacking funding for fruit fly research is not helpful to the cause at all. In fact, it is damaging to the cause. In her attacks on fruit fly research during her special needs speech, Palin neglects to mention that important promising research involving fruit flies is being conducted. And the research is right here within the United State.

3. Now it turns out Citizens Against Government Waste, CAGW, the group you are citing to show the funding is pork is a right-wing front. Another poster found that. I should have known better than to trust any of your sites without checking. Shame on me. Anyway, you already know this I'm sure but for everyone else:

"Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States. It functions as a think-tank, 'government watchdog', and advocacy group for fiscally conservative causes. The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) is the lobbying arm of CAGW, organized as a section 501(c)(4) organization, and therefore permitted to engage in direct lobbying activities. CAGW has been criticized for its links to the tobacco industry and to lobbyists including Jack Abramoff. According to their web site, "CAGW is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization representing more than one million members and supporters nationwide. CAGW's mission is to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in the federal government.""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAGW

Notice how just like the right-wing Fox which calls itself fair and balanced, the site claims to be non-partisan.

4. Lastly, another poster found the defense of the Congressman who supported the fruit fly reseach indicating that the particular fruit fly research in France had nothing to do with autism (why did Palin mention it in her speech?), and was in fact was quite valuable. The research was performed at a USDA facility there. Here is a quote:

“The Olive Fruit Fly has infested thousands of California olive groves and is the single largest threat to the U.S. olive and olive oil industries,” he said. “I secured $748,000 for olive fruit fly research and irradiation in the (fiscal year 2008) appropriations bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA will use some of that funding for their research facility in France. This USDA research facility is located in France because Mediterranean countries like France have dealt with the Olive Fruit Fly for decades, while California has only been exposed since the late 1990s. This is not uncommon; the USDA has several international research facilities throughout the world, including Australia, China and Argentina.”

Thompson’s office said Citizens Against Government Waste did not contact the congressman before it issued the award.

“Had the CAGW spent any time even talking to the USDA, they would have learned that our government does research in multiple USDA facilities around the world and that none of this money goes to other governments or for other government projects,” Thompson said.

Olives are the second-largest cash crop in Napa County, running a very distant second to wine grapes.

Dave Whitmer, Napa County Agricultural Commissioner said, Napa County had more than 220 acres of olive groves, and that the olives mostly go into olive oil production.

“(For) most of the coastal counties and a lot of the valley counties and the foothill counties that have olive producers, this olive fly is really turning out to be a really significant pest for olive producers to got a handle on,” he said. “Particularly for people who do fresh olives or olive oil production.”

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/04/09/news/local/doc47fc6ca1ad0ee555305173.txt"

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Tue, 10-28-2008 - 9:53am
Yes exactly like that.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Tue, 10-28-2008 - 9:54am
I said she did NOT mock the research in NC.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Tue, 10-28-2008 - 9:56am
Of course it doesn't address what you wrote.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Tue, 10-28-2008 - 10:44pm

"Of course it doesn't address what you wrote. I am only reading about the first 3 to 5 sentences. I already told you that I am moving on. You can go round and round all you like....but you need someone that is willing to do that with you. I am not. You can try all you like to link what Palin said to the research in NC and you would be wrong, dead wrong. That is indeed a fact. Spin doesn't work here. "

This is more boilerplate rant against liberals - long on rhetoric and devoid of facts. It does not address what I wrote or what Sarah Palin actually said and didn't say. Your failure to address or rebut what I wrote speaks volumes. Here is the truth for you again in case you choose to try to address the issue we were discussing instead of ignoring it:

"I've got to give you credit for your gusto melanie230. What do you do when you get caught saying something that is, well, let me be a lot nicer about this to you than you were to me, let's just say fibbing a little? You double down and go full bore saying what I posted was a "LIE" in all caps.

Here is the cold hard truth:

1. Palin trashed money fruit fly research in France. Palin did not just trash research in France. She trashed "fruit fly" research. You can see from the clip that she obviously is saying the fact that fruit flies are involved sounds like outrageous pork. As usual when it comes to Republicans these days, the opposite is true. The fact that fruit flies are involved in research is wholly consistent with credible research. Fruit flies are standard fare in genetic research. Palin either didn't know or knew and was trying to whip people up. Either way, it's pathetic. And it's in her first major policy speech as VP nominee no less.

2. In her speech Palin champions herself as a special needs advocate. Attacking funding for fruit fly research is not helpful to the cause at all. In fact, it is damaging to the cause. In her attacks on fruit fly research during her special needs speech, Palin neglects to mention that important promising research involving fruit flies is being conducted. And the research is right here within the United State.

3. Now it turns out Citizens Against Government Waste, CAGW, the group you are citing to show the funding is pork is a right-wing front. Another poster found that. I should have known better than to trust any of your sites without checking. Shame on me. Anyway, you already know this I'm sure but for everyone else:

"Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States. It functions as a think-tank, 'government watchdog', and advocacy group for fiscally conservative causes. The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) is the lobbying arm of CAGW, organized as a section 501(c)(4) organization, and therefore permitted to engage in direct lobbying activities. CAGW has been criticized for its links to the tobacco industry and to lobbyists including Jack Abramoff. According to their web site, "CAGW is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization representing more than one million members and supporters nationwide. CAGW's mission is to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in the federal government.""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAGW

Notice how just like the right-wing Fox which calls itself fair and balanced, the site claims to be non-partisan.

4. Lastly, another poster found the defense of the Congressman who supported the fruit fly reseach indicating that the particular fruit fly research in France had nothing to do with autism (why did Palin mention it in her speech?), and was in fact was quite valuable. The research was performed at a USDA facility there. Here is a quote:

“The Olive Fruit Fly has infested thousands of California olive groves and is the single largest threat to the U.S. olive and olive oil industries,” he said. “I secured $748,000 for olive fruit fly research and irradiation in the (fiscal year 2008) appropriations bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA will use some of that funding for their research facility in France. This USDA research facility is located in France because Mediterranean countries like France have dealt with the Olive Fruit Fly for decades, while California has only been exposed since the late 1990s. This is not uncommon; the USDA has several international research facilities throughout the world, including Australia, China and Argentina.”

Thompson’s office said Citizens Against Government Waste did not contact the congressman before it issued the award.

“Had the CAGW spent any time even talking to the USDA, they would have learned that our government does research in multiple USDA facilities around the world and that none of this money goes to other governments or for other government projects,” Thompson said.

Olives are the second-largest cash crop in Napa County, running a very distant second to wine grapes.

Dave Whitmer, Napa County Agricultural Commissioner said, Napa County had more than 220 acres of olive groves, and that the olives mostly go into olive oil production.

“(For) most of the coastal counties and a lot of the valley counties and the foothill counties that have olive producers, this olive fly is really turning out to be a really significant pest for olive producers to got a handle on,” he said. “Particularly for people who do fresh olives or olive oil production.”

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/04/09/news/local/doc47fc6ca1ad0ee555305173.txt"

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