Tag Archives: science

Brownbackian Science in Kansas v. “Atheistic Theology Posing as Science”

By William K. Black

This is my fifth installment describing the assault on education, science, sex, and modernity in Kansas that was inspired by the Koch brothers.  The leader of Koch brothers’ retinue of politicians in Kansas is Governor Sam Brownback.  In my prior column I explained how Steve Abrams, a leader of the Koch’s shock troops, demonstrated the wisdom of our family’s twin rules whenever he wrote an op ed.  Our family rules are:

  1. It is impossible to compete with unintentional self-parody, and
  2. When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging

Abrams’ op eds were not the only gift to scientists and educators resisting the Kochs’ assaults on education, science, and modernity in Kansas.  Political wonks will recall that (then) U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, in a May 2007 Republican debate among candidates for the 2008 Party nomination for the presidency, was one of three of those candidates who held up his hand when the moderator asked how many of them did not believe in evolution.

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Why Understanding Fiat Currency Matters For Scientists: We Are Being Pitted Against Public Health

Cross posted from MikeTheMadBiologist.com

Because we’re being played off against food stamps by Republican congressmen:

We’re only asking for a 5 percent decrease [in SNAP] in a time of budgetary crisis, where this is being put up against funding the NIH for basic medical research, this is against putting money into defense.

But this is stupid, since it assumes the federal government can run out of money. It can’t, since it’s a currency issuer. Let’s work through a couple of thought experiments. First, the Mars rover (boldface added):

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