Below is a re-post of my diary from yesterday about "scientist" Congressman Dan Benishek.
The other side's low information voters frustrate me, but don't really make me angry, because they are under the influence of the other side's paid liars, who are really good at their jobs.
The ones that piss me off are the ones that have or claim expert credentials, and know better, or have carefully avoided knowing better.
Benishek is one, Bobby Jindal is much worse. Don't miss the end of this diary, new today, where I discuss the Governor of Louisiana with the Honors Ivy League education in Biology.
This has been submitted to The Mining Journal of Marquette Michigan, the leading paper in the Congressman's district, for consideration as an Op-Ed piece or a letter to the editor. No word yet on whether they will publish.
No, Congressman Benishek, I’m a scientist and you’re a liar.
I’m so junior a scientist you have to go the ranks of undergraduate science majors to find actual scientists junior to me, but we all know that you are a liar. By the time someone has a reason to consider themselves “actual scientists,” they have learned that the scientific peer-review literature is the most valuable tool in every scientist’s toolbox.
And all of us scientists, ol’ colleague, ol’ buddy, all of us know that if we are looking into a subject that is not right in the middle of our own area of competence, there is one proper scientific way to proceed. It may sound difficult, but for any scholar with any familiarity with our most precious scientific tool, it is a simple exercise. And, I’m sure, that, as a scientist, none of this is news to you.
So the scientific way to proceed, with the help of a good reference librarian at a research university, is to identify the leading journals in the field, and read the recent invited reviews by recognized experts in the field.
That you did not do this is obvious from your position, so just the phrase “I am a scientist,” used in this context makes you a liar right out of the gate. You did nothing that remotely resembles a reasonable scientific examination of the topic.
The phrase “You know, I believe in peer-reviewed science…” is even worse, because it is probably true.
And if it is true, it shows you to be a wholly corrupt whore, selling the future of your constituent’s children for a few shekels from the Koch brothers.
“But, I don’t see any peer-reviewed science that proves there is man-made catastrophic climate change.”
This phrase does make me pause. There is of course, the remote possibility that I’ve got you all wrong…
Maybe you went to the literature, did your due diligence as a scientist, and your position is your honest assessment of the state of the science, arrived at by applying the skills you have used to stay current throughout your career in surgery.
If so, please accept my sincere apology.
However, if so, please surrender your medical license today, because you are an idiot, and should never be allowed near a patient with a scalpel again.
Jim Cassidy is a writer, filmmaker, retired Fire Service captain and a very, very junior scientist. His current project is the documentary A Most Convenient Convergence.
Now about Bobby...
Governor Jindal has an Honors degree in Biology from Brown University. He has never been accused of being stupid.
He signed legislation allowing creationist attacks on the theory of evolution to be taught in Louisiana's Biology classes.
My film, A Most Convenient Convergence, is almost finished, In it, I take my sincere best shot at making Bobby desperately wish he had majored in Art History.
My sincere best shot is pretty good...
Please help me get that best shot onto the big screen. Follow this link to my Kickstarter project and help out a fellow kossak on a mission from FSM - https://www.kickstarter.com/... .