Sarah Palin insults fruit fly studies in science, health

[Dean]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/24/palin_details_special_needs_po.html?hpid=topnews

"That's more than the shortfall to fully fund the IDEA," she said. "And where does a lot of that earmark money end up? It goes to projects having little or nothing to do with the public good -- things like fruit fly research in Paris, France, or a public policy center named for the guy who got the earmark. In our administration, we're going to reform and refocus. We're going to get our federal priorities straight, and fulfill our country's commitment to give every child opportunity and hope in life."

...

As soon as Palin spoke, Democrats issued a long list of examples in which McCain had voted against fully funding IDEA and other special education programs. They also noted that scientific studies involving fruit flies are helping further researchers' understanding of autism, a disorder that both Palin and McCain speak of frequently while campaigning. Palin's nephew has autism, something she mentioned in today's speech.

"Tragically, McCain and conservatives have spent their careers voting against the exact policies and programs Palin discussed today," wrote Eddie Vale, a spokesman for the advocacy group Progressive Accountability, in an e-mail.

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown that a protein called neurexin is required for..nerve cell connections to form and function correctly.

The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, as recently, human neurexins have been identified as a genetic risk factor for autism.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/24/palin-fruit-flies/



The Mess will probably... mess himself. Tee-hee. :P

[The_Mess]

Lawl

And here's where being ignorant about science makes you look like a right royal retard. I'd also suspect that in order to get her to understand why we can use fruit flies for looking at neurexins you'd have to try explaining evolution, though I suspect a fairytale would go down much easier...

[Dean]

She thinks dinosaurs and man inhabited the earth at the same time, I'm fairly sure.

I mean, the woman doesn't believe global warming is affected by man. She not only doesn't believe in evolution, but believes in creationism strongly enough that she wants it taught in school alongside evolution in science classrooms. And now this.

Hilarity.

[Fool's Requiem]

I could have sworn I've stated this before. Religion should never take part in a discussion regarding Politics. What a person believes should never be a deciding factor in who you are going to vote for.
Dean, you created a thread about the study of Fruit Flies and Palin's failure to understand that the studies could help us get a better understanding of autism and completely turned the thread on it's head by making that comment about what Palin believes in. WTF, Dean?

That said, Palin is just talking out of her ass. She is obviously oblivious to the fact that she need to understand what it is she is talking about before she makes outlandish statements like those. That's lazy and disrespectful.

Edit: BTW, Dean, I'm not questioning your role as the mod of this forum. I'm questioning your sudden shift from Fruit Flies to Creationism, and I mean no disrespect.

[Chris!]

FR's point reminds me of a thread I need to make.

Anyway, Palin is continuing to not make any sense at all. Just goes to show how much hockey moms know about science.

[shortkut]

mess, correct me if i am wrong, but she just criticized the very thing that has lead to most of our understanding of genetics?

[Fool's Requiem]

mess, correct me if i am wrong, but she just criticized the very thing that has lead to most of our understanding of genetics?

I'm not The Mess, but that sounds about right. Also since Palin's Nephew has autism, I believe that would make her a hypocrite.

[Dean]

I could have sworn I've stated this before. Religion should never take part in a discussion regarding Politics. What a person believes should never be a deciding factor in who you are going to vote for.
Dean, you created a thread about the study of Fruit Flies and Palin's failure to understand that the studies could help us get a better understanding of autism and completely turned the thread on it's head by making that comment about what Palin believes in. WTF, Dean?

That said, Palin is just talking out of her ass. She is obviously oblivious to the fact that she need to understand what it is she is talking about before she makes outlandish statements like those. That's lazy and disrespectful.

Edit: BTW, Dean, I'm not questioning your role as the mod of this forum. I'm questioning your sudden shift from Fruit Flies to Creationism, and I mean no disrespect.

That's cool. You have every right to question my decision to talk about a broader topic. I'll go ahead and explain my reasoning, and I'll start off by saying I didn't intend to offend anybody. You're clearly free to believe whatever you like; that's one of the many great things about America.

I'm saying this is part of a larger theme here. It's not so much that Sarah Palin is religious - that's fine. But it's that she wants her religion to influence policies. She wants creationism taught in schools. She wants an outright ban of abortion, even in the case of incest and rape. And even outside of religious topics, she doesn't think certain species (like polar bears) should be on the endangered species list.

It's part of a bigger theme with her and her policies that are shaped by rather ignorant views, in my personal opinion. I know people can't help but use their personal beliefs when they shape their ideas for policies. But she's ignoring scientific evidence again and again and just showing how unfit she is as chief executive of a state, let alone a country.

Again, I apologize for the pseudo religion bashing that could have been perceived from my comments. But when she's constantly ignorant of the topics she talks about the most - energy (along with global warming), "family values", abortion/abstinence/lack of sex ed, and more recently, autism and other diseases, she's just a blatant ignorant hypocrite who is not fit to be in any position of power. That's what I'm getting at... so again, sorry for offending people out there. I re-read my posts, and I should've made a clearer description in what I was saying.

[The_Mess]

mess, correct me if i am wrong, but she just criticized the very thing that has lead to most of our understanding of genetics?
Yep, fruit flies have been one of the major work horses of 20th century genetics research. Heck, if you're doing genetics course at university and there's no Drosophila melanogaster involved, one suggests getting your money back :tease:

But yeah, teh mind, it boggles when going through just what this tiny flies has been used for, particularly before we even understood what the unit of transmission (aka genes) was...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_genetics

Also, I saw this course
(http://www.dartmouth.edu/~bio70/) while googling
/drool

[shortkut]

Yep, fruit flies have been one of the major work horses of 20th century genetics research. Heck, if you're doing genetics course at university and there's no Drosophila melanogaster involved, one suggests getting your money back :tease:

But yeah, teh mind, it boggles when going through just what this tiny flies has been used for, particularly before we even understood what the unit of transmission (aka genes) was...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_genetics

Also, I saw this course
(http://www.dartmouth.edu/~bio70/) while googling
/drool
i was being sarcastic. i'm actually playing with Manduca sexta and seeing what appendages arise from imaginal discs or not. i don't need Drosophila. GO PALIN :rolleyes:

[The_Mess]

i was being sarcastic. i'm actually playing with Manduca sexta and seeing what appendages arise from imaginal discs or not. i don't need Drosophila. GO PALIN :rolleyes:

Neat! Though I'd probably more interested in changes in hox gene (and other master switch genes) expression in the imaginal discs :P

[shortkut]

but we are not sure if legs come from imaginal discs or from the caterpillar's prolegs. we know the eyes are developed internally, since they are compound eyes and the caterpillar has only ocelli.

[The_Mess]

Ah, yeap I see exactly what you're looking for. Hmmn, if I wasn't trying to get started on hist.sci.phil study I'd probably try and hunt down some papers on it. btw, undergrad or postgrad project?

[shortkut]

Ah, yeap I see exactly what you're looking for. Hmmn, if I wasn't trying to get started on hist.sci.phil study I'd probably try and hunt down some papers on it. btw, undergrad or postgrad project?
undergrad. i have some papers, but thanks. if i need help, i'll be sure to ask you

[The_Mess]

Ah, thanks? Though I said that as more meaning to do it out of personal interest and I don't have any background learning on this.

Anyhow, if you don't already have it, Consoulas et al 2004 (http://www.springerlink.com/content/4g7eaf2albgn1k3h/) might be of use :)

[Suburban Reject]

Since I don't wanna waste a thread:

I haven't heard much about her education. What college is she from? (Rephrased the question to avoid sounding "Sexist")

[Dean]

She went to Wasilla High School in Wasilla.

As for higher education, I seem to remember she went to a rather large number of institutions to get her degree...

EDIT:

Hawaii Pacific College - First semester (unknown major)
North Idaho Community College - Two semesters (general studies)
University of Idaho - Two semesters (unknown major)

Then she won the Wasilla Beauty Pageant and placed third in the Miss Alaska 1984 pageant and won a college scholarship for a Miss Congeniality award...

Matanuska-Susitna Community College in Alaska - One term
She returned to University of Idaho and completed a bachelor of science degree in communications-journalism in 1987.

[Suburban Reject]

Lost me, negro. Where'd she actually get the degree?

[Dean]

She got her bachelor's from University of Idaho. I'm not sure how much time she actually spent studying there, though.

[Suburban Reject]

Alright, so she's college educated to boot.

That's kinda scary...

[Dean]

Yeah, she actually has more education than I do... but apparently she wasn't required to take a biology class during her four years hopping from college to college to get a communications degree.

[The_Mess]

http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2008/10/palin_autism_and_fruitflies_it.php

And I'm way too tired to think of a decent description...

[Pochitos]

When will she stop saying these, hypocritical, and stupid things. Clearly, she does not listen to herself when she talks.

[shortkut]

obviously god gave us the knowledge we have now, not fruit fly research... though a flying apple would be something even god would be amazed at