This statement was made by US congressmen Steve Pearce (R-NM) at a hearing on the Endangered Species Act. I am quoting this from Onearch (fall 2005, page 10, a publication of the Natural Resources Defense Council).

"If extinction is happening at a greater rate now, why is our supply of fossil fuels decreasing?"

How can we combat this kind of grotesque ignorance?

To quote Mark Twain. (or perhaps a slight paraphrase.)

"Dear Reader. Suppose that you were an idiot. And suppose that you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."

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"I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind." - William Thompson, 1st Baron Lord Kelvin

"If it was so, it might be, and if it were so, it would be, but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!" - Tweedledee

This isn't right. This isn't even wrong. - Wolfgang Pauli

As a retired Fed bureaucrat/technocrat, I can tell you such statements are not rare, and that covers both politcal parties. There are many opf the guys/gals who must get help finding their way to their offices each day.

There are some notable exceptions, but they are indeed exceptions. I suspect that qualities needed to get elected and re-elected do not include an inquiring mind, basic knowledge of disciplines such as economics, history, orbiological and phyisical science. And sometimes, knowledge of how anything works.

One "gentleman," still serving in the U.S. Senate, once advocated abolishing the National Weather service, since people needing weather information could get it from the newspapers or TV news shows.......

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Standing on the shoulders of giants...

I look at it this way, better them being in Washington, than being your boss.

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"The universe is driven by the complex interaction between three ingredients: matter, energy, and enlightened self-interest." - G'Kar

Personally, I think knowledge of economics would seriously harm a politician's chances of being elected...

let us vote them all out. if we start fresh our country will be better off.

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"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

Thats not as bad as the congress person from the Houston area, who asked if the Pathfinder rover would be able to take a picture of the flag the astronauts left on the moon.

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I'm not a scientist, but I play one on the internet.
http://www.rrac.org

Does anyone think there hope in changing this travesty of incuriosity in the government? Would public outreach to schools from observatories, laboratories, and universities help the next generation? Or are we forever doomed to representatives that are intellectual lazy?

Maybe I should write a letter to the good congressmen and correct his error.

Hmm. I can definitely comiserate, but this truism seems to apply: "You deserve who you vote for". While little may be done piecemeal, the public must learn to insist upon a higher quality of candidate, and then follow through.

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And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling [faces] lyin' to ye' everywhere ye' go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

I agree 100% Moose! I think the answer lies in general knowledge. There should be a standard of University education as a minimum requirement for a start!
Specifically relating to government I mean!

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taurus26

Dedicated to Graham Kennedy.

Could it be that people who lack intellectual curiousity are more likely to go into politics? Most polititians I've met didn't seem too bright, whereas most scientificly literate people I know, show little or no interest in being involved in politics.

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I'm not a scientist, but I play one on the internet.
http://www.rrac.org

On the contrary Superluminal, In our country we have some superb intellects in politics! It is probably the same around the world. Unfortunately the idiots drag the rest down to their level!

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taurus26

Dedicated to Graham Kennedy.

not only that, but the uneducated often despise the educated. Sometimes it is just rivalry as in the military.

But to be honest, the average man and woman in the country distrusts scientists.


that may be related to church or something else. I do not know the answer. But on other message boards I frequent (motorcycle related), educated people are put down.

__________________
"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

Or it could be that superb intellects just don't capture the fancy of the average Joe. I met Bill Clinton twice when he was gov. I didn't think much of him, but he had that slick persona, and thats what kept getting him re-elected.

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I'm not a scientist, but I play one on the internet.
http://www.rrac.org

That's what I find so unrealistic about The West Wing.
President Bartlett is way over qualified to be a politician.

I understand that in the US 90+% of all politicians are lawyers?

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Join the Illuminati

I heard this VP quote in a video interview on NBC, aired a second time about 15 years ago:

"Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe."
-- Vice President Dan Quayle, 8/11/89

It's more like 45%

Well, if regular "empirical" scientists thought more of "political" science then perhaps we'd get more scientists in politics.

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"What you think you thought you saw you did not see." Agent J, MiB - Manhatten Bureau

Dan Quayle doesn't count, he's even considered an idiot by other politicians.

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Its better tae meddle wi the deil............

That is just so sad, it almost makes me want to cry. He's probably a Creationist and thinks that the Earth is only a few thousand years old, and so the conversion of dead flora/fauna to fossil must be pretty much instantaneous. Which makes me think that Creationists shouldn't be allowed to use fossil fuels as a matter of principle.

I'm constantly amazed by people who feel compelled to spout off on topics about which they know absolutely nothing. Perhaps they've never heard the adage that "It's better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and confirm the notion."

As someone who's been involved in politics, I'll say that, as a whole, Senators tend to be very intelligent people. Congresspeople, on the other hand, are a VERY mixed bag. Most of the statements like the one above come out of the House.

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Two things we know are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. And we're not sure about the universe.

Good point. I was wracking my brain trying to follow the logic of that statement, and I think you've hit it on the head. Interesting that he represents New Mexico; as someone who has lived in New Mexico for many years, I can attest to the sad fact that it sits on the borderland between the insane Christian right and the educated, informed moderates. For a radius of maybe a hundred miles from Santa Fe you have a highly literate and cultured core, supplanted by the PhDs over at Los Alamos and Sandia Labs, but outside there you essentially pass into the 14th century. Alamagordo put itself on the international scene a few years back by organising a mass burning of Harry Potter novels. It's a strange place. I remember attending a lecture on anthropology at the University of New Mexico (a lovely place, by the way) and then walking out and being confronted by a very calm and reasonable middle-aged woman who assured me that the universe was "three thousand years old, perhaps four."

I went camping this week in Brighton, MI and because I forgot to bring a book, I took every free thing to read in one party store's foyer. Well it seems as if I picked up a copy of a local evangelical paper and in it was an article written by a high school student that had gone on a dinosaur dig. Near the end of the piece was the inevitable explanation for the dinosaur fossils: they are the remains of the animals that drowned in Noah's Flood about 4000 years ago. Ok, even if this was so, which it sure ain't, where are the drawings and figurines? Lots of pictures and other representations of other fauna and flora, but no dinosaurs? Hmmm

It does worry me greatly that these types of beliefs are becoming even more common place in this country's leaders. But there does seem to be a lot of truth in the fact that many people are scared or dubious of intellegence and education. I once had sombody I knew tell me that if I didn't act so smart I would probably have a better chance at getting a date. I thought, why would I want to be with anyone who couldn't hold a conversation about more than movies or fashion?

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"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." Carl Sagan

"If people only spoke about subjects that they knew, the silence would be deafening."


--- a friend of mine

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"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

The peace and quiet would be nice for a switch.

__________________
And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling [faces] lyin' to ye' everywhere ye' go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

Just to let folks know there is some scientific brainpower on the Hill (despite my quote of Twain above) two members of Congress are physicists: one on each side of the aisle as they say. They are Vern Ehlers (R) of Michigan and Rush Holt (D) of New Jersey. Despite the party split, they form a sort of mini "science caucus" on issues related to science and research.

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"I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind." - William Thompson, 1st Baron Lord Kelvin

"If it was so, it might be, and if it were so, it would be, but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!" - Tweedledee

This isn't right. This isn't even wrong. - Wolfgang Pauli

Does anyone remember seeing the movie Thirteen Days? There was a scene during the Cuban missile crisis in which Jack and Bobby Kennedy and another fellow sat down and tried to reason out what to do. They were looking at all the variables, weighing their importance, questioning the advice of the career military men and generally just thinking things out logically.
I wonder how often politicians bother to do that.

Well I would guess Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice do that.

Can anyone think of any UK scientists who are MPs?

There are several medical doctors (Liam Fox, Evan Harris etc.) and I think John "attack dog" Reid has an engineering doctrate. Lembit Opek is the grandson of an astronomer. Also Robert Winston is a Lord but I can't think of any MPs who are scientists.

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Its better tae meddle wi the deil............

Reproduction.

Discussing cinema and fashion can be intellectually stimulating. Movies are exercises in human emotions employing the disciplines of sociology, psychology, political science, and whatever sciences may be protrayed in the film such as physics (good or bad). Fashion is an exercise not only in sociology and psychology, but also engineering and materials sciences. Fashion also opens up to biology, anatomy and neurosciences.

Remember, there's a difference between acting smart and being smart.

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"What you think you thought you saw you did not see." Agent J, MiB - Manhatten Bureau

Yeah! And besides, what's so wrong with wanting to look nice every once and a while, huh? Everyone could use a little extra funk in their life.

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"The plan does not involve mayonaise."
"... I knew there was a catch."

You can't take the sky from me.

I got plenty of funk. Problem is I cannot get rid of the funk.



now, a pretty girl that likes astronomy... I could use some more of that.

__________________
"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross