Andrew Leonard reminds us that one of the three winners of this year's Nobel Prize in medicine, Elizabeth H. Blackburn, deserves extra recognition: she was one of the first scientists to expose the Bush Administration's "war on science" mentality. She criticized Bush's "President's Council on Bioethics" for being little more than a front for parroting the preconceived political notions the Bushies had on such issues as stem cell research. For speaking out in this manner, she was fired from the Council.
Definitely worth reading and following the links within.
[Added] For historical interest, and for a reminder of the importance of what was at stake, you might also see this post from the Union of Concerned Scientists, this article in USA Today, and especially this column from Farhad Manjoo, all published shortly after the firing, to see how Blackburn's courage in publishing her views and taking the Bush bullet led numerous other scientists to wake up to what was going on.
So far, this valuable reminder from Leonard hasn't caused the usual suspects to ramp up their usual howl: "The Nobel Prize is liberally biased!!!1!" Nope. For the moment, at least, they're working another meme: because the three winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine are Americans, this proves our health care system is ALREADY THE BEST IN THE WORLD!!!1! Yup. Jammie Wearing Fool went there, and so did Althouse.
No need to click those last two links unless you don't believe me, or have yet to be convinced of the depths of idiocy to which the denizens of Wingnuttia will descend.
(h/t: KK, via email)
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