Great cartoon - "NEXT UP: SCIENCE PRIVATIZATION!"

[Nothing Without Hope]

Found at today's issue of the great AllHatNoCattle.net site:

[atommom]

1. With this administration in power, I'm afraid we already have that...

[Nothing Without Hope]

2. True, but the American Science Establishment is still alive and kicking

though in sad decline from what it should be, in significant part due to the blivet**'s disastrous policies and schemes.

Not too late, but it's getting there. I do think it's encouraging to see this editorial cartoon - indicates that "people" are taking the crisis in science seriously.

[atommom]

3. Good point. I'm feeling discouraged lately,

especially with the evolution debate heating up here in Kansas again. But it's encouraging to see that others are alarmed too.

[Nothing Without Hope]

4. Yes, a LOT of people are alarmed, and they are the smart ones

and many of them have powerful connections. Andin fact, destroying science inthis country is bad for everyone, including the military-industrial complex guys! So very powerful, connected, clever people are fighting this stupid policy.

Re being discouraged, I recommed trying to remember that the constant message that nobody gives a damn, that there's no resisting the blivet**, that it's all inevitable and supported by the "mandate," is pure propaganda. There is so much of this generated daily in this country that it's difficult to get the truth at all. I believe that the truth about behind-the-scenes resistance to the blivet**'s science policies is that it is strong and growing.

As an example of how the propaganda machine deliberately tries to distract and distort signs of strong resistance to administration policies, check out what I wrote in a reply in another thread today about a story about the Black Baptists:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=314258&mesg_id=314327
The person who started the thread in which this post appears is a Chilean who survived Pinochet and is now fighting despair at what he sees happening in this country, like a nightmare repeating itself. I was trying to cheer him up, true, but the fact is, it's easy to be deceived and depressed by the constant barrage of disinformation. I fight it daily myself, as we all do.

[Squeegee]

5. Seeing that the military-industrial complex

... along with our economic growth depend on technological advancements, anything that impdedes progress is bad for business.

[david_vincent]

6. This is already happening

It's been noted elsewhere that the so-called "creative class" are passing up American cities in favor of taking up residence in Dublin and Sydney. These innovators do a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of bringing new ideas to fruition, so we're already setting ourselves up for a shortfall in the future.

[Hans Delbrook]

7. That IS the current situation

Sad... I can't even laugh. How did it happen that America - the original big idea, open mind society has sunk this low?