Remember, Obama is a Harvard educated smooth talker, it pretty much guarantees the man is ignorant of science and its implications, but is really good at wrapping that ignorance up into impressive sounding sound bites – which are misleading at best. Now we have a way to prove this is the case since Obama has responded to 14 questions on science and national policy. Let the fisking begin (by your resident Biologists who is also an engineer for NASA space systems):

1. Innovation. Science and technology have been responsible for half of the growth of the American economy since WWII. But several recent reports question America’s continued leadership in these vital areas. What policies will you support to ensure that America remains the world leader in innovation?

[Obama]  Ensuring that the U.S. continues to lead the world in science and technology will be a central priority for my administration. Our talent for innovation is still the envy of the world, but we face unprecedented challenges that demand new approaches. For example, the U.S. annually imports $53 billion more in advanced technology products than we export. China is now the world’s number one high technology exporter. 

Right out of the gate our Harvard educated slick talker is incredibly wrong and misleading. China is the top exporter of commercial technology – low end tech. But they do not export what they do not have – and that is high end technology. The United States actually doesn’t allow export of high end technology in any form, it is restricted under what is known as ITAR – the International Traffic and Arms Regulations. Even high end commercially available computer and communications systems are restricted since they can be used be our enemies to threaten us.  All space related information and technology is restricted – all of it.

The fact China exports more CD/DVD/MP3 players than we do has nothing to do with our technological edge over the entire world – which is right now incredibly large across many sectors (especially medical and military).

2. Climate Change.  The Earth’s climate is changing and there is concern about the potentially adverse effects of these changes on life on the planet. What is your position on the following measures that have been proposed to address global climate change—a cap-and-trade system, a carbon tax, increased fuel-economy standards, or research?  Are there other policies you would support?

[Obama] There can no longer be any doubt that human activities are influencing the global climate and we must react quickly and effectively.

I don’t even need to go into why this is a PR lie. As CO2 levels have continued to rise through the last DECADE, the Global Temperature has actually fallen. For those who know, one cannot wonder why Jupiter and Mars are seeing the same Global Warming that is supposedly man-made? Who pushed all that hot air out to those other planets? More here.

3. Energy.  Many policymakers and scientists say energy security and sustainability are major problems facing the United States this century. What policies would you support to meet demand for energy while ensuring an economically and environmentally sustainable future?

[Obama] First, I have proposed programs that, taken together, will increase federal investment in the clean energy research, development, and deployment to $150 billion over ten years. This research will cover:

• Basic research to develop alternative fuels and chemicals; 

• Equipment and designs that can greatly reduce energy use in residential and commercial buildings – both new and existing; 

• New vehicle technologies capable of significantly reducing our oil consumption; 

• Advanced energy storage and transmission that would greatly help the economics of new electric-generating technologies and plug-in hybrids; 

• Technologies for capturing and sequestering greenhouse gases produced by coal plants; and 

• A new generation of nuclear electric technologies that address cost, safety, waste disposal, and proliferation risks.

One has to wonder why exploiting our native oil reserves is not on this list.  Clearly Obama wants high gas prices to fund this boondoggle. Most of these are underway and have been proposed over and over again all through President Bush’s 2 terms. It has been Democrats blocking these because some had the common sense to include “drill here, drill now” policies. What is truly interesting is at his Convention Obama went and promised the ridiculously impossible end to US reliance on foreign oil in ten years. Does anyone outside the brain-washed left think people will have all new, zero oil-product cars in ten years?? That is not policy, it is fantasy.

8. Stem cells.  Stem cell research advocates say it may successfully lead to treatments for many chronic diseases and injuries, saving lives, but opponents argue that using embryos as a source for stem cells destroys human life.  What is your position on government regulation and funding of stem cell research?

[Obama] Stem cell research holds the promise of improving our lives in at least three ways—by substituting normal cells for damaged cells to treat diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, heart failure and other disorders; by providing scientists with safe and convenient models of disease for drug development; and by helping to understand fundamental aspects of normal development and cell dysfunction. 

For these reasons, I strongly support expanding research on stem cells. I believe that the restrictions that President Bush has placed on funding of human embryonic stem cell research have handcuffed our scientists and hindered our ability to compete with other nations. 

Embryonic Stem cell research is not restricted at all in this nation, which is a horror in itself. The fact is stem cells from Embryos are incredibly complex to control to make any form of viable and helpful target cell type. The variables from taking a stem cell to a neuron cell are incredibly large in number, creating near infinite combinations that must be worked out. The wrong combination has shown to produce cancers, not cures. To this day not a single therapy as been produced from this path. In fact, the only thing made in large quantities has been tumors and failures.

Adult stem cells are cells that have taken much of the transformational problem off the table. They have transformed into a intermediary stage, and can be triggered to complete transformation into a productive form that are now in numerous therapies coming out of research. In addition, scientists have found a way to take normal (and reproducing) skin cells and turn them into equivalents of embryonic stem cells.

Why America should allow factories to be built to create human beings and then slaughter them at their earliest stage of life to create spare parts for other human beings is beyond me. Especially now that we have numerous proven alternative paths to the same new therapies. Only greed can be fueling the desire to harvest young humans for spare parts, not that Adult Stem Cells and Human Skin have shown there is no need for the embryos anymore.  More here.

I was going to do more, but the man is a big blow hard who can use a lot of words to say absolutely nothing and promise Nirvana.  Sadly, thanks to our education system, too many don’t understand his mistakes and their ramifications. This is what happens when you rely on journalism majors to try and communicate issues of science, engineering and technology. You get the product you ask for with that one.

Tags: Election 2008, Global Warming, Obama, Science Policy, Stem Cells