Amit Ghate has left a new comment on your post "Feelings over Facts":

Hi Galileo,

WRT to your first point, I think that when feelings are the standard by which speech is allowed or not, there are only two choices: either silence everyone on any issue which might be controversial, or allow force to determine who can speak and who can't. In practice some of each happen (but always to the detriment of the man of reason who wants to peacefully explore reality without bowing to other men's whims). The sterile politically-correct campuses (ignoring their attacks on capitalism and Western values) are examples of what happens when the former course is chosen, the violent threats and actions of many Muslims and the fear they engender is the result of the latter type of choice.

Your namesake is, of course, a prime example of the type of person who loses in either situation.

Posted by Amit Ghate to Thrutch at 3:34 PM

Galileo Blogs has left a new comment on your post "Income Inequality":

Looking at the data in the New York Times article, I see that income inequality peaked in 1928, the year before the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression.

Let's see. The 1920s were a period of rapid increase in wealth, when even the average American could buy cars and radios, and benefit from the rapid deployment of electricity. But rich people got even richer.

Now with the Great Depression, we had mass impoverishment, unemployment approaching 1/4 of the population, soup kitchens, starvation. But there was greater income equality then.

I wonder, what is the true objective of those who protest income inequality?

Posted by Galileo Blogs to Thrutch at 9:22 AM

Amit Ghate has left a new comment on your post "Income Inequality":

Thanks Galileo, that's a great and telling observation...

Posted by Amit Ghate to Thrutch at 3:18 PM

Galileo Blogs has left a new comment on your post "Feelings over Facts":

That concretizes the importance of the right of free speech, and the importance of always upholding the truth, period.

Interestingly, the cited article also describes teachers being afraid of Muslim students who express anti-Semitic comments when the Holocaust is taught. It sounds like the teachers are afraid of the little Muhammeds and [insert female Muslim name] in their classrooms. Even little Muslims terrorize, in Western classrooms.

As to restricting speech in order to avoid offending sensibilities, let's add the elimination of references to Japanese World War II atrocities in their classrooms. That has been a story for some time, but the textbook deletions apparently continue.

No younger Japanese alive today is responsible in the slightest degree for what their grandparents did in World War II. Yet some of these younger Japanese and apparently plenty of older Japanese (deservedly so, in some cases) subscribe to a collective or racial theory of guilt. Therefore, they want to change the history books that remind them of what for most of them is truly unearned guilt.

Posted by Galileo Blogs to Thrutch at 9:13 AM

Amit Ghate has left a new comment on your post "Government "Science"":

Hi L.S.

To answer your question, I don’t think we’re at the stage yet where a government agency will come out and overtly say that they are denying funding because of a scientist’s conclusions. However there are many people who say that it is done tacitly, and there definitely are documented cases of the government using its force to change scientific opinions and/or suppress scientists from sharing their objectively reached conclusions. Moreover, I don’t think it’s an accident that most scientists who do speak out loudly against the politically correct “consensus” view are of the emeritus variety, that is their jobs no longer depend of government funding. (It would be awfully coincidental for so many scientists to change their opinions just as they retire, much more likely that they couldn’t freely speak their minds while in the government’s thrall.)

I’m no expert on the field, but here are a few examples of which I’m aware:

Oregon and Delaware want to remove state climatologists for opposing views:
http://climatesci.colorado.edu/2007/02/07/political-correctness-for-state-climatologists-in-order-to-force-these-positions-to-embrace-global-warming-as-summarized-by-the-ipcc-%E2%80%93-a-chilling-development/

Also: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003618979_warming15m.html

Richard Lindzen dragged into congressional hearings by Gore and then subject to bogus lawsuits: http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/08/30/mits_inconvenient_scientist/

Christopher Horner cites several instances in the “Consensus Lie” chapter of his book “The Politically Correct Guide to Global Warming”. First Gore smears Singer in the Revelle affair. Full story said to be available in Politicizing Science (though I haven’t received my copy yet so I can’t confirm personally). Second, Gore as VP chased Dr. William Happer out of the US Dept. of Energy because his views didn’t fit Gore’s alarmism. Happer remarked at the time: “I was told that science was not going to intrude on policy”.

Here’s a link to the Politicizing Science book which should have much more info:

http://www.amazon.com/Politicizing-Science-Policymaking-Michael-Gough/dp/0817939326/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3997026-1163303?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174256792&sr=8-1

Richard Lindzen claims that funds disappear for dissenters, see e.g. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/11/ngreen211.xml

Art De Vany (former UCI prof.) has commented that he’s heard the same.

I’ll blog other examples as I run into them, but I hope that’s of some help for now.

Posted by Amit Ghate to Thrutch at 9:03 PM

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Government "Science"":

I'm glad someone posted this cartoon, because I wanted to comment on it, and C&F don't permit comments.

I have a simple question: is there actually evidence that any scientist has been denied funds for opposing man-made global warming? Perhaps there is, I just haven't heart it.

NS



Posted by Anonymous to Thrutch at 11:18 AM