Christopher Hitchens, I Salute You

I have been meaning to write about Palin's latest moronic remark about fruit flies and the backtracking she and others around her did to try to spin her ignorance into truth. The newly ratified colloquialism "EPIC FAIL" comes into mind. Christopher Hitchens has beaten me to the punch. His latest post at Slate, http://www.slate.com/id/2203120/, accurately portrays how most scientists feel about her. Dumb. She initially stated that fruit fly research (in Paris) is funded by earmark spending and gave the impression that it should be cut back. At a time when the NIH and NSF have been working on a tight budget and not funding enough research as it is, she has the audacity of cutting research dollars. Scientists have been speaking out and saying that Drosophila research is not only important in understanding developmental biology, but also leads to breakthroughs in transitional research for biomedical advances further down the line. While there are many people who are uninterested in the biological sciences for the sake of pure knowledge, I'm sure that almost everybody believes that medical breakthroughs that stem from this research is important to the quality of life for all people.

As soon as Palin realized her gaffe, she and those around her knew she had to backtrack. Her response was that the funded research was studying the effects of fruit flies on olive trees...in Paris---holy fucking shit commie foreigners. It's difficult to know whether or not she initially meant what she claimed in her response, but even if we take her word for truth, like she does with some version of the bible, and regardless of how poor her communication skills are, her statement is still a prime example of idiocy. According to the UC Davis IPM website, Bactrocera oleae is a major pest and "the olive fruit fly occurs in at least 41 counties in California and threatens virtually all commercial and fruit-bearing ornamental olive plantings". You would think that the government would support American businesses and help them survive. You would think that Mrs. Palin would want to keep these jobs in the country and like her major goal of keeping oil drilling local, why not keep olive production local. That way would wouldn't have to support the Euro-commies, or whatever they call them in Wasilla.