US Finally Gets Smart in 2008

After every other industrialized nation on Earth being able to buy Smart cars for a decade, the auto finally comes to the US. The New York Times has a video from the Detroit road show. The video (see it here) also shows a 6′ 3” tall guy get in and talk about how much room it has inside, despite how the car’s length is 3 feet shorter than a Cooper Mini. The Smart Car web site has more info here.

The cars will cost between &11,600 and $16600 and get between 33 city / 41 hwy miles per gallon. Did I mention that Chevy is proud of how the ONLY HYBRID IN THEIR FLEET gets only 21 miles per gallon in the city and costs $50,000? Again, WAKE UP!!

Each Candidate on Science Issues

If you don’t think science matters in this election, read this from Science Magazine. Please, for the love of God, read it. Are you starting to see just how blisteringly crazy some of these folks are?

I wouldn’t have guessed that American presidential candidates in the 21st century may not accept the Theory of Evolution as much as that of Gravity. I would not have guessed that American presidential candidates in 2008 would still doubt whether or not humans have caused an increase in global temperature. I would not have guessed (yup, keep paying attention Paul fans) that any federal legislator would even dream of suggesting that any American would want to end federal funding for scientific research.

Wow.

That’s before we even get to talk about stem cells.

Don’t pretend this doesn’t matter. Science may not be political, but science policy is. Science funding is. That funding will decide whether we continue to buy our energy from despots or make it at home. It is critical for the economic survival of this nation that our president has a firm understanding of issues important to science policy.