Schiavo in context: the war on science

from the Guardian, viaThe Smirking Chimp:

The interference by the White House in the case of Terri Schiavo - the woman at the centre of America's latest right-to-die controversy - marks another milestone in President Bush's campaign for faith over fact. More concerned with the wonder of miracles than Schiavo's 15-year irreversible vegetative state, Bush and his allies have blithely overturned multiple court decisions to maintain artificial feeding and let evangelical populism triumph over medical opinion.

Thanks to the policies and prejudices of the Bush administration, science has become a dirty word. The American century was built on scientific progress. From the automobile to the atom bomb to the man on the moon, science and technology underpinned American military, commercial and cultural might. Crucial to that was the presidency. From FDR and the Los Alamos laboratory to Kennedy and Nasa to Clinton and decoding the genome, the White House was vital to promoting ground-breaking research and luring the world's scientific elite. But Bush's faith-based, petro-chemical administration has reversed that tradition: excepting matters military, this presidency exhibits an abiding aversion to scientific inquiry that is in danger of affecting the entire country.

I'm not sure why, given the debacle of undermanned Iraqi forces, and the billions spent on "shoot down bullets with bullets" weapons systems, why the author exempts the military. but never mind.

I think there is an additional nefarious aspect to the Schiavo case. Think about the perfect American from the Republican standpoint -- compliant, obedient, cranium filled with tapioca -- sound familiar? Terry Schiavo isn't filing FOIA requests or asking awkward questions about Social Security. Rush has pointed out that by supporting abortion, Democrats are murdering potential liberal voters. The Republicans won't make that mistake. indeed, I'll wager they will try to find a way to let her parents fill out ballots for her.