[Superman]

Interesting, this intepretation of yours. As another data point for you to remember......or forget......I can tell you that my definition of "open mind" is like yours. The lemming thing appears, according to my observation and that of quite a few people frankly, to be a right-wing phenomenon. Indeed, I just figured out why there is such a vigorous backlash here to the global warming thing. It is, in fact, a matter of propaganda.

I watched and listened to a lecture on TV last night. The speaker was a psychologist, fairly well respected nationally and internationally. She is also a professor. She's a liberal, of course. Obviously. Anybody with that much experience in education would never be a conservative. As you guys have mentioned before.

Her topic was AIDS. AIDS research and AIDS treatment and AIDS prevention. Apparently, the current "administration" has mandated that in order to receive federal funding, prevention programs are required to focus exclusively on abstinence. They are premitted to mention condoms only to announce their failure rates and their overall ineffectiveness. That's a pretty interesting requirement in light of the fact that prevention programs which discuss alternatives besides abstinence result in greater success on EVERY MEASURE than abstinence-only programs. Not just for the prevention of disease and pregnancy, but in the promotion of marriage. Interesting. It seems like the federal mandate flies right in the face of all the legitimate research.

Another interesting thing she discussed for perhaps twenty minutes including some fairly powerful observations by others including some fairly notorious conservatives, and using many many examples, is the very different approach being taken by the current "administration." Apparently, and in an unprecedented fashion, political appointees are showing up on boards that have historically been 100% filled with scientists. In other words, political appointees are substituting their judgement for that of professional scientists and researchers in the field.

Scientific data and conclusions are being suppressed and mis-stated deliberately. I guess I found out why there is such a vocal outcry about scientists' conclusions regarding global warming. That comes from two sources. First, the scientific community is being discredited in a wholesale fashion. We're dismissing them as "liberals." The other source is that this global warming thing has been impossible for the "administration" to summarily crush. Like it has done to many other important research findings that industry finds inconvenient.

The damage, as with many other forms of damage this "administration" had done to my country, will be long-lasting. Science, which has historically been regarded with respect and objectivity by political organizations, is being discredited wholesale. It will take us some time, if ever, to return to the use of this data with objectivity.