I have read that President-elect Obama is considering Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for Interior or EPA. This is a man who has held big rallies about vaccines causing autism. If this happens it would be disastrous. You can argue that Bush's FEMA appointments were not experienced, but that's not even close to how inappropriate it would be to having an anti-science moron at the head of a major U.S. post.
I'm really worried about this.
6 comments:
From a blog I read on the subject:
The bottom line is that environmental advocacy is all about the science, and the Democrats have been whining for eight years that the Republicans have been distorting environmental science for their ideological purposes. This position requires someone who understands science and the proper role of science as a tool of effective regulation and specifically environmental advocacy. Putting a known antiscientific crank in this position is inexcusable, and would strongly signal that perhaps we cannot look forward to the change we were hoping for.
I agree this would be a shitty appointment. Then again, rumors.
I've heard Robert Kennedy Jr talk a lot about the environment and how it makes good sense from an economic point of view as well as from a save the planet point of view for us to convert to green technologies.
The autism stuff is very bad, but it alone is a long way from me saying someone is an anti-science moron. Do you have something other than the blog to tell you that he is an anti-science moron?
My problem with him is I've heard him talk. To be perfectly honest, it might be just that I hate his voice so much. And the vaccine thing drives me nuts, so combine those, and I gotta give the guy the thumbs down. Not that you were asking me ;-)
There are numerous examples, including the speeches he gave very recently at the "Green our Vaccines" rally in DC, where he willfully ignores science to promote the antivaccine ideology. On the environment, he also seems to cherry pick his evidence to suit ideology, particularly his attitude to NIMBY (not in my backyard) to alternative energy espoused in his editorial on wind farms he wrote for the NY Times.
I used the form linked to on pharyngula (goes to www.change.gov ) to write the transition team and voice my concerns.
Fair enough. You learn something everyday.
Post a Comment