North Carolina Republicans Seek to Outlaw Scientific Research

Seriously.

They are.

It’s kinda’ like the gun saying, albeit with a peppermint twist:

“When ‘they’ outlaw science, only outlaws will be scientists.”

The whole scientific process means that folks get up and argue about it, and demonstrate their findings, and argue their conclusions, and implications for the same.

This is a prime example of Republican idiocy.

Utter stupidity brought to you by TEApublican TEAvangelical radicals.

Yes, radicals.

What’re these people?

Stupid?

Wait… that was a rhetorical question.

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In North Carolina, a fight over sea levels and science

After a state report predicts higher ocean levels, based in part on global-warming data, new legislation seeks to all but outlaw such projections. The bill has drawn ridicule, as well as scrutiny of the state’s new political climate.

By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times

5:00 AM PDT, June 24, 2012

RALEIGH, N.C. — When scientists at a state commission predicted that North Carolina’s sea levels could rise 39 inches by 2100, coastal business and development leaders weren’t alarmed at the prospect of flooding. They were outraged by the report itself.

They complained to state legislators, saying the projection could trigger regulations costing coastal businesses and homeowners millions of dollars.

Waves lap against Johnnie Mercer’s Pier at Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington, N.C. (Paul Stephen / The Star-News / May 29, 2012)

The result is House Bill 819, a measure that would require sea level forecasts to be based on past patterns and would all but outlaw projections based on climate change data.

The bill, now under discussion by a legislative conference committee, has been ridiculed nationwide. It was mocked by comedian Stephen Colbert and savaged in a Scientific American blog post titled “N.C. Considers Making Sea Rise Illegal.”

It has also focused attention on the political shift in North Carolina, where Republicans in 2010 won control of the state Legislature for the first time in a century.

Lazy, mediocre, “psychotic” Islamofascist

Dr. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Islamofascist psychiatric Army physician accused of murdering 13, and wounding 29 other soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood, TX recently, was described by former colleagues and professors at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center as lazy, mediocre and “psychotic.”

The Associated Press is reporting that the source spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the incident, and wrote that Dr. Hasan “had a reputation for being a mediocre student and lazy worker.” The AP is also reporting that Dr. Hasan “as a psychiatrist in training was belligerent, defensive and argumentative in his frequent discussions of his Muslim faith.”

NPR is reporting that because of a “cumbersome and lengthy process for expelling doctors, involving hearings and potential legal battles,” Walter Reed Army officials and others “decided it would be too difficult, if not unfeasible, to put Hasan on probation and possibly expel him from the program.”

Published reports from the AP, NPR and others indicated that Army officials and others were:

• concerned of potential fratricide

• concerned of treason potential if deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan

• from Spring 2008 to Spring 2009 fellow physicians questioned whether Hasan was “psychotic” and mentally fit to be an Army psychiatrist;

and reported that Dr. Hasan was:

• described as disconnected, aloof, paranoid, belligerent and “schizoid”

• “as a psychiatrist in training was belligerent, defensive and argumentative in his frequent discussions of his Muslim faith”

• repeatedly given poor evaluations and warned about substandard work

• “behavior…  perceived as intense and combative”

Because Dr. Hasan’s actions are not presently linked to external terrorist networks, he will be tried in a Courts Martial, rather than a civilian court.

Doubtless, there will be changes to Army, governmental and civil procedures as a result of this man’s actions – as well they should.

* UPDATE * 11/15/09

At this juncture, I predict that Dr. Hasan’s defense will use the Insanity Defense – his colleagues attest to witnessing his behavior over a period of time that points to serious mental derangement – and am concerned of the possibility that he could very well be found “not guilty.” Concerning the mass murders, I think such actions were once called “Criminal Insanity.” Regardless of any trial or outcome, I sincerely doubt he’ll walk the streets as a free man again.