Palin Takes on Fruit Flies - and Loses

Scientific American ^ | October 27. 2008 | Lisa Stein

[NewHampshireDuo]

Amid the hoopla about Sarah Palin's very un-hockey mom $150,000 campaign wardrobe, the Republican veep candidate managed to drop another flammable tidbit that set off the science community, not to mention the blogosphere. (Continued at Link)

[NewHampshireDuo]

Scientific American hit piece on Sarah's scientific knowledge. Anyone have any info to counter this?

[SeminoleSoldier]

The scientific reasearch for autism is done on common fruit flies. This was for research in France on a different species, one that targets grapevines. Why this couldn’t be done in California is a question worth asking.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/10/28/palin

[Blueflag]

< sigh > Let it go. The boat sinks. He dies.

[Auntie Mame]

Hi NHD: Unless you’re just trying to get hits at your link, how about taking another minute of your time and telling us in your own words what you’re talking about and what the article is about. If it’s not too much trouble.

[MHGinTN]

The left leaves nothing to chance. They realized Sarah Palin is a huge threat to them in the future so they will maintain the character assassination work right through to 2012. Don’t help them.

[papasmurf]

Where's the "science" in that hit piece? There is NONE! Only an opinion...

She vowed – as she has many times -- that if she and running mate John McCain are elected, they will nix such fat that's tacked onto budget bills by lawmakers eager to win points back home-- projects that "really don't make a whole lot of sense" and have "little or nothing to do with the public good. . . things like fruit fly research in Paris, France."

"I kid you not," she declared with a chuckle.

One problem: the research she chose to highlight as a waste of cash just happens to have borne some, well, fruit. And for special needs kids, no less. Among such projects: a 2007 University of North Carolina study that researchers said might be key to better understanding the root of autism spectrum disorders.

Might isn't a very scientific classification AFAIK.

[ansel12]

Counter what, what is it about? Is it worth going to the link?

[FrankR]

"Scientific American hit piece on Sarah's scientific knowledge. Anyone have any info to counter this?"

Nobody gives a fruit fly's a$$ whether Palin is a fruit fly expert or not...give it a rest, the election is O-V-E-R.

[steve-b]

The scientific reasearch for autism is done on common fruit flies. This was for research in France on a different species, one that targets grapevines.

The problem is that Palin wasn't articulating an analysis of which lines of research are and are not worth spending money on -- she was simply tossing out a cheap "geez, them silly egg-heads are spending money to study fruit flies" line to the peanut gallery.

That's the sort of thing that keeps feeding the media narrative that she's a hopeless lightweight. Maybe she can train herself out of such bad habits, but if so she needs to get to work on that ASAP.

[steve-b]

This election is over. It remains to be seen who does, and does not, have a significant role in the next one.

[Question Liberal Authority]

Once McCain helped to ram a $700 Billion bailout plan through congress and promised to buy every mortgage in America, any argument about a couple million spent here and there on fruit fly research became ridiculous.

[Enchante]

The real point that needs to be made is that earmarks are a corrupt process, period.

There are plenty of science advisory panels of real scientists to evaluate proposals made to NSF, NIH, etc. etc. etc

Large agribusinesses and other companies going to the earmarks are simply using political influence to get pet projects approved without a scientific peer review process.

[dennisw]

Autism is very very hot. Relatives who are shrinks tell me so. So calling their research autism related is very cute

[papasmurf]

“Autism is very very hot. Relatives who are shrinks tell me so. So calling their research autism related is very cute.”

That’s my take on it, as well. It only helps to justify the Gov’t welfare they received.

[DBrow]

“the election is O-V-E-R.”

Our enemies are planning right now for the next one. Look at the YEARS spent positioning Obama and hiding records.

If we don’t immediately start fighting the next election, we’ll be as surprised as Eisenhower was when he heard Sputnik beep- how could that be?

Whatever party is going to take over from the RNC has got to hit the ground running.

[dennisw]

Matter of fact my relative who is a child psychiatrist (not psychologist) says the diagnosis of retardation has been replaced with autism. Not in all cases of course but in very many

So the autism field has exploded

[Salgak]

Of course, the MSM or SciAm never bothered to mention that the particular earmark was for research on controls for the Olive Fruit Fly, placed there by a Congressman with a great many Olive Groves in his district. Adding to that, that a good chunk of that money was to go to a research facility in France.

It might have been a worthwhile expenditure. . .in the Agriculture Bill for the year. Instead, it was stuck into other legislation. . . .

[Question_Assumptions]

I don’t buy Scientific American. They think they are a political magazine. They need to stick to science.

[NewHampshireDuo]

SciAm lost it about 20 years ago. I subscribed for about 30 years but cancelled when I couldn’t stomach it any longer (and I got in it twice).