RL: No, you weren’t right. This is someone else’s idea… Phil’s just linking to it. And I don’t think he takes it too seriously…

Then, all the anti-science people will have a hizzy fit, when they discover that these are two…liberal…skeptics who can hold their own.

Yeah, you’ll do; your political stance will fit right in, with the coming administration’s politics.

Whistling as I fade away.

That’s a given doesn’t make it alright. Isn’t this about “change,” or at least a change from the last 8 years?

I’m not naive to understand that politics will enter into the situation, esp. in Washington DC. The point I am trying to make is that if you say (as Phil does) that the politicization of science is bad, then you would want someone as science advisor to Obama to be as politically neutral as possible. BA does not make the cut in this regard.

But Carl Sagan is dead!

I really don’t think your definition of “neutral” exists in the science world. after all, both Bush an McCain have done their best to look anti-science.

And having an actual scientist (and a popular one, at that!) at the head of science would be at least sensible.

BA in the HOUSE!

http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/cancomsrs

If you sort the numbers from most money to least you get the following list. So Obama outspent McCain by $153 million or 42 percent. He outspent Hillary Clinton by $279 million or more than double. There were a total of 143 presidential candidates. Four of them (Obama, McCain, Clinton, and Romney) spent more than $100 million. Twenty of them spent more than $1 million. 111 of them spent less than $100,000. Thirty of them spent exactly $0 – I guess they were counting on name recognition to carry them over the top (with a name like Hoa Tran Giannibicego why wouldn’t you? – you’re sure to lock down the half-Vietnamese/half-Italian vote).

If you take the top two Democratic spenders (Obama and Hillary) they spent a combined $764 million compared to $482 million for the top two Republican spenders (McCain and Romney). Thus, the top two Democrats spent 58 percent more than the top two Republicans. So I’d better not hear any Democrats complaining about campaign finance anymore – that horse is dead and Obama has the smoking gun gripped in his hand.

Candidate Name Net Receipts
——————————————– ————

OBAMA, BARACK 521,869,310
MCCAIN, JOHN S. 368,609,473
CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM 242,517,659
ROMNEY, MITT 113,605,272
GIULIANI, RUDOLPH W. 64,463,489
EDWARDS, JOHN 62,237,632
PAUL, RON 35,119,157
RICHARDSON, BILL 24,585,985
THOMPSON, FRED DALTON 24,439,260
DODD, CHRISTOPHER J 18,457,188
HUCKABEE, MIKE 16,460,354
BIDEN, JOSEPH R JR 14,132,893
TANCREDO, THOMAS GERALD 8,447,279
KUCINICH, DENNIS J 5,509,630
BROWNBACK, SAMUEL DALE 4,451,259
NADER, RALPH 4,109,285
HUNTER, DUNCAN 3,044,949
BARR, BOB 1,240,265
THOMPSON, TOMMY G 1,227,228
VILSACK, THOMAS J 1,038,467
COX, JOHN H 620,036
JUDD, KEITH RUSSELL 532,837
GRAVEL, MIKE 497,490
KEYES, ALAN L 465,765
GILMORE, JAMES S III 404,879
LAMAGNA, DAL 382,310
JINGOZIAN, MICHAEL PAUL 255,442
BALDWIN, CHARLES OBADIAH 241,934
PHILLIES, GEORGE DAVID JOSEPH 211,173
MCKINNEY, CYNTHIA 187,852
GILBERT, DANIEL AYERS 183,060
CLARK, WESLEY K 112,122
IMPERATO, DANIEL J 88,995
FENDIG, H NEAL JR (CAP) 84,031
ROOT, WAYNE A 79,091
ALLEN, JONATHAN EDWARD 75,482
DEAN, HOWARD 65,420
CURRY, JERRY RALPH 58,817
KLEIN, MARK IRWIN 55,598
BLYTH, JOHN DOUGLAS 48,219
ALLEN, DONALD KENNETH 45,382
WUENSCHE, VERNON EDGAR 38,845
SHEPARD, JACK 31,925
KOENIG, WILLIAM RONALD 30,743
BUSH, GEORGE W 27,097
WILLIAMS, JOMO K MANUAL 24,500
LA RIVA, GLORIA ESTELA 24,231
SMITH, CHRISTINE 17,583
MCCALL, JAMES HATTON 16,776
SCHRINER, JOSEPH CHARLES 16,019
GEPHARDT, RICHARD A 15,959
GRASSO, PETER SAMUEL JR 13,466
WILSON, D WAYNE 13,297
ASHBY, BLAKE 12,189
LAROUCHE, LYNDON H JR 11,545
KUBBY, STEVEN WYNN 11,130
LINK, ALDEN 10,389
HEWES, HENRY 10,280
MOORE, BRIAN PATRICK 9,516
MESPLAY, KENT PHILIP 9,133
SWIFT, KAT 8,840
KINGERY, DANIEL MELZINE 8,787
ROSENBERGER, PAUL RUSSELL 8,500
CARTER, WILLIE FELIX 8,353
MCENULTY, FRANK EDWARD 7,440
POWELL, MICHEL ANISSA I 7,404
HATCH, ORRIN GRANT 7,300
ZILAITIS, FRANK 7,050
ARNOLD, KEITH L 6,744
DORNAN, ROBERT K 6,000
BACON, DANIEL AVERY 5,683
BAUER, GARY L 5,541
PARKER, GLENDA GAIL 5,479
SMITH, RICHARD MICHAEL 5,382
FLEHARTY, RICHARD EARL 5,316
LYNCH, FRANK 5,150
ARANJO, ROLAND 5,011
WILES, VIRGIL L R 5,000
SHARKEY, JONATHON THE IMPALER 4,810
MULLINS, GROVER CLEVELAND JR 4,673
SPRANKLE, KEITH ROBERT 4,468
WASHINGTON, LANAKILA 3,821
CROW, RANDOLPH W 3,665
BOWLES, JOHN TAYLOR 3,305
DUCEY, SUSAN GAIL 2,844
FELLURE, LOWELL JACKSON 2,773
BROUGHMAN, DEWEY R 2,760
VAUGHN, CORROGAN R 2,288
HUNTER, D R 2,285
RUFF, GARY 1,448
BEIL, JAMES FRANCIS 1,325
MCKINNEY, RAYMOND LOUIS 1,310
MUZYK, GEORGE ALEXANDER 1,225
RAGHAVAN, RAJESH SRINIVASA 1,097
KRUEGER, KARL EVERETT 1,029
HOWARD, MILDRED (MILLIE) 898
FORRESTER, MICHAEL KEITH 649
SMITH, CHRISTOPHER POPHAM 595
GREENSPON, JON ADAM 400
SMITH, MICHAEL CHARLES 397
CLARK, RICHARD HOWARD 200
MILLS, WILLIAM LOUIS JR 175
CRUISE, CLAIRE 159
CARROLL, JERRY LEON 140
ADAMS, STEPHEN PAUL 115
FURNISS, DAVID ERNST 108
BANKS, JEDIDIAH ELIJAH WENDELL KENNEDY 100
GONZALEZ, MATT 100
JOHNSON, JERRY ROLAND 20
MIANNAY, ANDY CLOWN 20
BUCHANAN, PATRICK J 1
BARNETT, DANIEL JAMES 0
BAYH, EVAN 0
BEHM, KARL 0
BERG, WILLIAM F 0
BLACK, GREG 0
BORMAN, MATTHEW JAY 0
BRAUN, CAROL MOSELEY 0
CARTER, JAMES (JIMMY) HARLIN 0
CHERRICKS, LIZA DAWN 0
CLINTON, WILLIAM JEFFERSON 0
COBB, DAVID KEITH 0
EPSTEIN, PHILIP 0
FERGUSON, BENNIE LEE BEN 0
FORTHAN, BOB LEONARD 0
GARZA, IDA CECILIA 0
GIANNIBICEGO, HOA TRAN 0
GODWIN, WRENDO JOHNSON P 0
HINCHY, CLARENCE ALLEN 0
HOFF, SAMUEL B DR 0
HOWARD, ALBERT 0
JACKSON, ROBERT G 0
KOCH, DAVID ALAN 0
LEONAITIS, JOSEPH FELIX 0
MACMILLAN, STEPHEN D 0
MALONE, YEHANNA JOAN M M 0
MITCHELL, JAMES CREIGHTON JR 0
MUHAMMED, JESUS BILAL ISLAM ALLAH 0
SANDERS, COLONEL LAUNEIL 0
STATH, JEFFREY DENNIS 0
WILLIAMS, DANIEL E 0
LIEBERMAN, JOSEPH I -119,757
KERRY, JOHN F -9,140,729

This picture needs a caption contest!

Phil: before you get serious about that job, have a chat with Alan Stern…

Or is “our” politics better than others?

But I’m pretty sure with health care, Africa, and global warming on the table they’ll go with Peter Agre (and he was on Colbert already so….).