Political edge

A recent article about a speech that Sandra Day O'Connor purportedly made caused me a bit of pause. A couple of recent items stand out for me that make coincidence more like a trend in my mind:

1. This speech coming from a Republican -- and one who was responsible for upholding our Constitution
2. Oddly inconsistent behavior wrt Dubai ports deal
3. Wire tapping debacle
4. Education and Research
1. A recent seminar in which Dr. Judith Curry, Chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, discussed the current administration's crack-down on science from her perspective. In particular, the US is seen as
   completely out of touch when it comes to the issue of global warming. In some cases, we won't allow our scientists (within gov't control) to travel to international conferences on the subject. Here's a kicker. When W set up an advisory team on the issue, 1 of 3 out of the group was a novelist. Now, Michael Crichton is quite intelligent, a good novelist with in-depth research, and is certainly entitled to his knowledgeable opinions. But, given the depth of experience and knowledgeable actual scientists who have dedicated their lives to this issue, I find it hard to believe that he actually represented 33% of our highest qualified people on the topic...
2. Recent trends in education to reduce, subsume, confuse people about evolution are alarming at a minimum. Here in Georgia, we have major issues, with a county not more than 2 miles away (Cobb) trying to change science into religion. It seems that the courts are upholding their end by striking these down, but it's scary how often they have to do it.
   
3. Stem cell research...need I say more?
4. Funding -- I don't know enough of the details on education and research funding, but I do know that both are areas I'd like to see more focus on. Our research institutions must spend a large chunk of their productive time hunting down funding (at less than 10% funding rate from key funding sources such as NSF). We must lose a large amount of productivity due to this institutional behavior.
   
5. Continued reduction in information available via Freedom of Information Act
6. Indefinite detention in Guantanoamo Bay (seems to go against our constitution)
   
7. Iraq war (a person could point to a number of things here from pre-war build up, planning, execution, post-war, etc.)

I'm sure I'm missing things, and sorry that I don't have references yet, but wanted to get this into the ether. The one thing that is heartening, is that W's ratings have dropped precipitiously, perhaps as the evidence mounts, those of us who don't generally go for conspiracy theories start to really wonder...

Kipp