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The Republican Chairman of the Senate Environment Committee has said that only god, not humans can change the climate. This flies in the face of scientific cons

The Republican Chairman of the Senate Environment Committee has said that only god, not humans can change the climate. This flies in the face of scientific consensus. To the Republican chairman of the Senate Environment Committee, science is irrelevant.

wyager 12y ago
Just because some Republicans are stupid doesn't mean they all are. I'm sure there have been some Democrat senators that were dumb as rocks as well. Do Republican senators as a whole actually support scientific funding substantially less than Democrat senators?
- guelo 12y ago
  Since all they talk about is cutting taxes and reducing the size of government I'm going to guess yes.
  - m_myers 12y ago
    Too bad the government is the only entity that can fund research.
  - wyager 12y ago
    Just because they nominally support minimizing government spending doesn't mean they actually do it. Republican and Democrat senators all need pork barrel money to buy votes.
  - hga 12y ago
    Since all they talk about is cutting taxes and reducing the size of government.... You can only believe that if you don't actually listen to them or pay attention to what they do. There's a reason Bob Dole acquired the reputation of "Tax Collector for the Welfare State", and for current events, look no further than the Republican Senators like John Thune who are salivating for an increase in the Federal gasoline tax, more tolerable now that prices have dropped. And why the Republican establishment's loathing of the "Tea Party" vastly exceeds that of the Democrats (.e.g ask the primaried Republicans who are now spending more time with their families, especially once powerful ones like Senator Lugar or #2 in the House Cantor). You're confusing general propaganda against Republicans vs. what they, professional politicians, say, vs. what they actually DO. Believing either of the first two is unwise. To end with some inconvenient facts, it wasn't Republicans who killed the Superconducting Supercollider, it was Republicans who funded the James Webb Space Telescope (started in a Republican Congress), and Reagan (and I think both Bushes) signed off on increases in the non-defense science budget. NIH funding is a good proxy for that, e.g. look here: http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/approp_hist.html http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/approp_hist.html

wyager 12y ago

Just because some Republicans are stupid doesn't mean they all are. I'm sure there have been some Democrat senators that were dumb as rocks as well. Do Republican senators as a whole actually support scientific funding substantially less than Democrat senators?

guelo 12y ago
Since all they talk about is cutting taxes and reducing the size of government I'm going to guess yes.
- m_myers 12y ago
  Too bad the government is the only entity that can fund research.
- wyager 12y ago
  Just because they nominally support minimizing government spending doesn't mean they actually do it. Republican and Democrat senators all need pork barrel money to buy votes.
- hga 12y ago
  Since all they talk about is cutting taxes and reducing the size of government.... You can only believe that if you don't actually listen to them or pay attention to what they do. There's a reason Bob Dole acquired the reputation of "Tax Collector for the Welfare State", and for current events, look no further than the Republican Senators like John Thune who are salivating for an increase in the Federal gasoline tax, more tolerable now that prices have dropped. And why the Republican establishment's loathing of the "Tea Party" vastly exceeds that of the Democrats (.e.g ask the primaried Republicans who are now spending more time with their families, especially once powerful ones like Senator Lugar or #2 in the House Cantor). You're confusing general propaganda against Republicans vs. what they, professional politicians, say, vs. what they actually DO. Believing either of the first two is unwise. To end with some inconvenient facts, it wasn't Republicans who killed the Superconducting Supercollider, it was Republicans who funded the James Webb Space Telescope (started in a Republican Congress), and Reagan (and I think both Bushes) signed off on increases in the non-defense science budget. NIH funding is a good proxy for that, e.g. look here: http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/approp_hist.html http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/approp_hist.html