Posted on 12/15/2016 7:14:20 AM PST by AndyJackson
… In terms of qualifications, Mr. Perry, a former governor of Texas, doesn’t come close to his immediate predecessors. He would follow President Obama’s two energy secretaries: first, Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate physicist, and then Ernest J. Moniz, a distinguished nuclear physicist from M.I.T.
There are reasons the appointment of scientists to this position was and is particularly appropriate, especially now. While investment in new sources of energy (a subject on which both Mr. Chu and Mr. Moniz are experts) is a part of the energy secretary’s portfolio, by far the largest part of the department’s budget involves the stewardship of nuclear weapons, and research and development associated with the nuclear weapons complex. Moreover, the Department of Energy is the chief source of support for research in the physical sciences in the United States, providing far more money than the National Science Foundation, and supporting, among other things, fundamental inquiry in areas ranging from particle physics to cosmology.
…[R]emember Secretary Moniz huddling with Secretary of State John Kerry, and engaged in long meetings with his Iranian counterpart, another nuclear physicist, to appreciate how important it was to have someone there who actually knew what was required to produce viable nuclear weapons from nuclear reactor products, and what was required to ensure that treaty violations could be detected.
In the present climate, when nuclear tensions are higher than they have been since the height of the Cold War, when the Iran deal is under attack and proliferation in unstable countries like Pakistan and North Korea will affect plans for our own arsenal, we need someone who is better prepared to handle the challenges. This is also the case as the government makes decisions about supporting research that will affect the future of fundamental inquiry for much of this century.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
There is much to be said about this. In the first place Secretaries Chu and Moniz were at the very bottom [or top depending on perspective] of ineffective secretaries of Energy, exactly because they were college professors who never ran anything where they were accountable for stuff getting done. They were in charge of running a major department with extensive national security responsibilities and both utterly ignored those responsibilities.
As an example they were responsible for continuing the problems noted in the Norm Augustine and ADM Rich Mies Congressional panel report on on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise
Chu's principal accomplishment was establishing the process that created the Solyndra mess and simlar liabilities for solar plants in the U.S.
Yes, Moniz spent his time working for Kerry negotiating the Iran deal. Even if that was creditable service, it wasn't his job. His job was running the Department of Energy, which apparently continues to run amok.
There shouldn’t even be a Department of Energy.
The thing about opinions in the NY Times is that they are always WRONG, and this is no exception.
No one cares what the Fake News thinks about anything.
Most Americans realize real wold accomplishments far out weight academician theorizing.
If anyone at the NYT is against it, I am for it.
They’re too consistently upside down and backwards to pass up as a lead indicator by contrary.
It seems that if it were treated as a national security issue, which it is, by people who DIDN'T hate this country it would be a good thing. I think that help is on the way.
And Rick Perry’s greatest real world accomplishment, which defines both him and every one of his advocates...is instituting Sharia courts in Texas.
Oh in D.C. we care about what the Compost and Slimes think about us. Positive press their is better than 100 snowflake participation awards. The voters, well they can go to hell. Who do they think they are? It's hard work running their lives for them.
The the NYT is a bad choice for a newspaper.
An excellent endorsement in Governor Perry’s favor.
All the crap about “man made global warming” has convinced me that the science establishment is as corrupt as the political establishment.
If the Times is against it, it must be a perfect choice.
NY Times opposition, is a great recommendation.
The egghead ivory tower academics that the left prefers are specialists at pontificating and posturing, but produce lousy results.
Intellectuals, Yet Idiots (IYI) as Nassim Taleb called them.
Newt Gingrinch recommended Taleb’s article (https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577#.q580o9s2u), to understand why Trump won.
Here’s a taste:
“What we have been seeing worldwide, from India to the UK to the US, is the rebellion against the inner circle of no-skin-in-the-game policymaking “clerks” and journalists-insiders, that class of paternalistic semi-intellectual experts with some Ivy league, Oxford-Cambridge, or similar label-driven education who are telling the rest of us 1) what to do, 2) what to eat, 3) how to speak, 4) how to think… and 5) who to vote for.
But the problem is the one-eyed following the blind: these self-described members of the “intelligentsia” can’t find a coconut in Coconut Island”
You are the perfect candidate if the Slimes hates you.
The problem is that the "scientific establishment" for the most part are not qualified practicing scientists. They are government promoted hacks who meet a three-prong test:
1. Diversity. 2. In the tank for climate change 3. Look good in a cheap suit.
The Slimes says Perry is a bad choice; that we must follow what past Secretaries have done. Therefore, Perry must be good for We the People.
The 2017 DOE budget request is for $32.5 Billion, of which a measly $600 million (1.85%) is for fossil fuels. The rest can be better done in the private sector. Drill, baby, drill.
If Trump’s picks don’t workout they’ll be replaced . Obama hardly ever replaced anyone because it was very difficult to find people dumber than himself
“Get out of my way.”
—John Galt
1. Margaret Sanger--the founder of the predecessors of Planned Parenthood--was a well-known racist against blacks based on her writings.
2. Trofim Lysenko--a Soviet-era agronomist whose totally wrong views on genetics ruined Soviet agriculture for decades.
3. The scientists in Nazi Germany that tried to promote the German people of Aryan origin as "superior" to other peoples.
That's why I have my major skepticisms of the climate change crowd.
If the nyslimes opposes him, I am 100% in favor of him.
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