Luddites...

It is not secret that I was extremely motivated to see Senator Obama elected president. I had many reasons for why I chose to put my time and money into making that happen, but honestly the biggest reason would probably be this, the chance at having a pro-science president/government.

In his selection of Dr. Stephen Chu, Nobel Prize winning physicist, the President-Elect had this to say:

"His appointment should send a signal to all that my administration will value science, we will make decisions based on the facts, and we understand that the facts demand bold action."

I have to echo Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly when he says:

"Now, I realize this may sound like the soft bigotry of low expectations, but we've reached a point at which hearing a president praise "science" and "facts" emphatically is so refreshing, and so encouraging, it raises hopes about the new-found importance of reality in government."

It seems like a very small thing to say. That this is such a radical departure from what has become the status quo from the Bush administration is the truly sickening thing. We have become a country of Luddites. Where dogma and ideology supersede, actual observable data. That is the world this administration has brought us to.

So yeah, I am happy that there are some real scientist heading up science agencies under and Obama administration. Not saying they will be perfect, but what has been happening has been disheartening to say the least. At a time when we need innovation and scientific know how we are sorely ill-equipped for it.

With all that being said, this little article just reminds us of what a sorry state our educational system is in .

37% of Americans can't find America on a map

--Yes I know it is satire....but tell me you didn't kind of believe it at first.....