<\/a>
\nI think that one of the great tragedies of American political life is the almost complete lack of scientific\/technical literacy on the part of our elected policy makers. With a re-election rate in the House of 98%<\/a> (and I’ve heard that the turnover in the Senate slower than the UK House of Lords, where you only leave in a pine box!), it’s perhaps not terribly surprising that both bodies are dominated by people (OK, let’s be honest: Old White Men) for whom e-mail is still a recent novelty and blogging is a mystery, and whose vision of a national scientific initiative dates back to the space program and the cold war.<\/p>\n

As a truly depressing example of how incredibly out of touch our legislators can be is found in this piece<\/a>, which includes a transcript of some truly incoherent comments from that genius Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). I particularly love this gem:<\/p>\n

\nI just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Luckily, I don’t think that anyone’s ever tried to send me an entire Internet, since I don’t think the U’s mail servers would cope very well. Unfortunately no small excerpt really captures how entirely out of whack Stevens is, so I recommend at least skimming the full transcript.<\/p>\n

Now I certainly wouldn’t argue that we should fill the halls of our legislature with 20-something pastey white boys, but if those houses are to be representative of our populace, we certainly need to do better than we are now. Any suggestions on questions we should be asking our candidates this fall?<\/p>\n

Tip of the cap to Ellery<\/a> for the pointer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think that one of the great tragedies of American political life is the almost complete lack of scientific\/technical literacy on the part of our elected policy makers. With a re-election rate in the House of 98% (and I’ve heard that the turnover in the Senate slower than the UK House of Lords, where you … Continue reading “One could despair of any sensible tech policy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-science"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p90sy-5I","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":745,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/12\/12\/science-debate-its-about-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":0},"title":"Science Debate: It’s about time!","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"12 Dec 07","format":false,"excerpt":"w00t! There's a group pushing for a presidential science debate focused on the many scientific issues that face us nationally and worldwide. Their call: Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing America and the rest of the world, the increasing need for accurate scientific information in political decision\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":770,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2008\/01\/10\/we-have-to-help-them-understand-science-matters\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":1},"title":"We have to help them understand: Science matters!","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"10 Jan 08","format":false,"excerpt":"I highly recommend \"Science, delayed\" over on Science- Progress.org. It's a short, clear case by Chris Mooney for how seriously messed up the U.S. Congress is when it comes to science, and how important it is for us all to speak up. 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I wrote about a zillion drafts, and WeatherGirl expertly poked holes in one after another, sending me back to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education"","block_context":{"text":"Education","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":387,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2006\/10\/26\/on-the-mighty-value-of-the-liberal-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":3},"title":"On the mighty value of the liberal arts","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"26 Oct 06","format":false,"excerpt":"We always argue (hope?) that all this wonderful stuff we're passing along at a liberal arts college will have some value down the road, often in strange and unexpected ways, but it's awfully nice when concrete examples come our way, as two have done this week. First, Kirsten Jaglo (UMM\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Monkey River Town fun fotos!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.flickr.com\/89\/267293181_ec3605f372_m_d.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":834,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2008\/04\/16\/mirages-as-both-science-and-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":4},"title":"Mirages as both science and art","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"16 Apr 08","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're never been over to BibliOdyssey I highly recommend a visit. The sub-title for the blog is \"Books~~Illustrations~~Science~~History~~Visual Materia Obscura~~Eclectic Bookart\" which, well, sums it all up rather nicely. Lots of neat old illustrations, often (but not always) on scientific themes. The themes are interesting, the background info excellent,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":626,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/08\/22\/there-are-good-lawyers-and-there-are\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":5},"title":"There are good lawyers, and there are…","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"22 Aug 07","format":false,"excerpt":"In the recent and ongoing efforts preserve, rehabilitate, and ultimately strengthen the Morris Theatre, two local lawyers have played (and continue to play) crucial positive roles. They have donated time, expertise, and enthusiastic support, and it's hard to imagine any of this progress being made without their assistance. Every profession\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}