DISQUS

tlsintx · 1 year ago

and the knock against Paris, France...
that's just getting old...

grandma · 1 year ago

May contribute to the understanding of autism.....

Isn't that what Palins' sister's child has?.....and McCain mistakenly said was what Palin's baby had.

EvilPoet · 1 year ago

Yup.

"Palin's eyes well up as she talks about her sister's son, Karcher, who has autism. "'My sister and I have talked a lot about this. It makes me cry thinking about it,' Palin said. 'She asked with tears in her eyes, she says, "What happens when Kurt and I, though, are elderly, then what happens to Karcher?"' "Palin calls that the story of millions of Americans. Her hope is to strengthen the National Institutes of Health 'to make sure we're researching everything about autism and make sure we find out what causes it.'" http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10...

houstonray · 1 year ago

tlsintx you beat me to it! I noticed the little "Paris FRANCE" at the end of her comment...

That's SO 2002...

gumbygirl · 1 year ago

Are they freedom fruit flies?

houstonray · 1 year ago

Good one! :-)

tlsintx · 1 year ago

haha! totally.
it's so bill o'reilly...blech.

Indigo · 1 year ago

Wait! Wait! Don't tell me!
Fruit fly is fundie-lingo for gays.

What did I win?

houstonray · 1 year ago

I was watching "Life on Mars" the other night (great show BTW) and it was about a gay bashing murder. The show is set in 1973 and they tossed around "fruit fly" as a derogatory term several times. I'm sure that's what she grew up hearing so yeah, to her, it's probably a gay thing...haha.

RobertSanDimas · 1 year ago

Ok, all you scientists out there get your a**es on tv and tell America just what a (dangerous) moron the GOP has on the ticket. Actually there are two.

grandma · 1 year ago

Sarah Palin's Sister Speaks About Autism, Politics

Sarah Palin's sister Heather Bruce, who has a 13-year-old son with autism, gave an hourlong interview on Autism One Radio yesterday where she talked about her own experiences with her child and how her family situation has affected her sister's views.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2008/10/s...

Sarah needs a tutor.

grandma · 1 year ago

The Right keeps spinning it that the media has been so cruel to poor Sarah......Sarah's own ignorance is what did her in.....no matter what Bay Buchanan says.

She has been characterized as 'incurious' .....same as has been said of GWB

Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas · 1 year ago

Bay Buchanan? Major league closet dyke. Major league.

dad · 1 year ago

the r n c has devoted $177,000.00 on how sarah palin looks.

but the republican party still looks like ashley todd.

lilyannerose · 1 year ago

According to an article on Huffington Post , Sarah has decided to rebel against her handlers, she thinks it's their fault that she has been so ridiculed, so she's been going off message.

I say You Go, Girl! The more newts and frogs of ignorance that jump from your mouth the less viable you are as a future GOP hopeful!

BarrieT · 1 year ago

Next she will be calling for legislation making pi equal to exactly 3.

houstonray · 1 year ago

Sarah LOVES Pi....Apple, Pecan, Blueberry, she just loves her some Pi...yep! You betcha!

CobaltBlue · 1 year ago

People of the conservative right, christian fundamentalists have such an extraordinarily restricted and narrow view of existence and reality. For someone of that subspecies, such as palin, to be in a position of power would be devastating, as seen from her idiotic comments on scientific research (which probably somehow spawn from her deep, extreme religious beliefs.) I am doing all that I can to encourage others to Vote Obama. I sincerely hope that mccain loses and that palin will never again have an opening for national political office.

Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas · 1 year ago

I know PTA moms who are better qualified than this uppity moosebitch to run for office. The political blunder of the millennium.

An_American_Karol · 1 year ago

Palin gives voice to the marginal racists and ignorant bottom feeders in this Nation.
The very idea she was brought out to run with McCain defies logic. Nothing she says surprises me.

wtreat007 · 1 year ago

Slightly off topic, but when I see "fruit flies" in the news I recall my high school biology teacher. Picture it: 1975, a guy with beard and long hair. I remember seeing him bent over the lab bench doing something with the flies...they were all buzzing around his head. It was kinda funny then, and I recall him fondly now. He was a great teacher.

So, yeah, fruit flies are important things to study, and Sarah can go back to Alasker and doncha know also continue home schooling her brood.

grandma · 1 year ago

Republicans are still living in the ME generation...me, me, me...it's all about 'me'.

Hopefully we are evolving.....no thanks to them.

red_dwarf · 1 year ago

"She is a freaking idiot."

What else do you need to know?

OT: They're getting a little nervous over at Brad Blog - seems vote flipping and other electronic phenomenom is on the increase yet Obama's lawyers are no where to be found. They better start paying attention.

scytherius · 1 year ago

Yeha what's up with the Dems doing nothing about the vote flipping? In the past, I'd just chalk it up to stupid Dems. But this time, the Obama people are top-notch. there has got to be a reason.

If for some bizarre reason McCain cheats his way into the white house, there is NO way we sit back and let it go for 4-8 years. Time for Plan B.

red_dwarf · 1 year ago

scy - Plan B is a revolution.

shrrrr · 1 year ago

There will be outbreaks of revolt if there's cheating. You can feel it just under the surface. Not even Obama himself could calm it down before it got out of control.

vkobaya · 1 year ago

<iLThere will be outbreaks of revolt if there's cheating.

Then, I hope you kept your powder dry because there is no question there is Republican voter fraud. Only thing is if it is even possible for the Republicans to commit enough voter fraud to cost Obama the victory since the vote for him will be massive with much of it absentee, paper ballot and other things that the Republicans can't touch. They would have to throw out about 4/5 of those votes to give the victory to McCain, probably would do it too, but will look very suspcious when McCain receives 23 million votes to Obamas 20 million and thus McCain is the winner. In the 2004 election 118 million voted. 58 million voted for Bush to 50 million for Kerry, therefore Bush won when Kerry didn't have the guts to contest missing 10 million votes.

scytherius · 1 year ago

Oh don't I know it. If we sit back one more time and let that go, there is no America. How would Marsellus Wallace put it? "Time to go Founding Fathers on their ass."

DougStamate · 1 year ago

If the Obama campaign's legal advisors are "no where to be found", then they are probably gearing up for election day. If there is no advance notice the Republicans will think they are getting away with anything they might be planning and that can lead to sloopiness.
It is one thing to steal votes, electronically or otherwise, but it's something else to be called on it as soon as/when it occurs - makes it very hard for all the criminals to coordinate their stories.
Once the stories start falling apart and the attempts to blame someone/anyone else will begin. It will be interesting to have it documented just how high up in the Republican Party the corruption goes.
As for Gov. Palin, if you don't believe in evolution, then funding genetic research in fruit flies is just wasted money, dontcherknow? I just wish she was as harmless as she is stupid.

ldlten · 1 year ago

I'm a molecular biologist in NYC. There are thousands of examples I could cite for the overwhelming importance of the fruit fly (and other model organisms like the mouse, the worm, baker's yeast, etc.) in biomedical research, but one pretty compelling example is that the 2004 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was given to Linda Buck and Richard Axel, whose most recent research into the molecular basis of olfaction (for which the prize was given) relies almost exclusively on maps of the Drosophila (fruit fly) brain. The entire second half of Axel's Nobel lecture, linked below was about his lab's findings from fruit fly research. Admittedly, this work didn't take place in Paris, France (Palin sure knows how to excite the base), so maybe it's okay in Palin's book. What a disgrace this woman and this campaign are. If you're going to cite an example of pork, at least talk to someone who knows WTF the money was used for before making yourself look like a complete fool.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/lau...

red_dwarf · 1 year ago

I have a bckgrd in Biochem as well - my first response when I heard this was "...she can't be that fu(king stupid." Of course she can, and of course her handlers are as well. Anyone with a 5th grade education would laugh at a statement so insane. Idlten - thanks for the link on the Nobel lecture - unbelieveable isn't it?

ldlten · 1 year ago

An interesting angle in all of this is that the Atwaters of the world who got this lunatic fringe ball rolling decades ago never actually believed any of the shite they were peddling, they just used it for electoral advantage. Palin is the vanguard of a generation of extreme right-wing Americans who've grown up with know-nothingism as the only religion they've ever really (not) known, and she is clearly its apotheosis. The hateful chickens unleashed by Atwater and his crew have come home to roost, and as a result the entire Repuglican party has a really bad case of bird flu. It's about freakin' time!

Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas · 1 year ago

Daily quote from Missy Caribou Barbie..."but I am against fruit flies because they are homahseckshul and what the fuck is a noble prize (sic)."

osage · 1 year ago

Paris, France? Is that like New York, United States of America? In what American classrooms were Republicans taught that being ignorant and lazy is what their teachers wanted them to be? Who taught Republicans that repeatedly demonstrating their intellectual and emotional deficiencies was preferrable to being knowledgable, having a command of the facts and being disciplined and conscientious enough to actually take the time and make the effort to learn and understand what they are talking about? Republicans haven't deliberately lowered the standards of intelligence and competence in goverment; they've simply accepted the fact that they are intellectually inferior as if it was acceptable and even preferrable. I wonder how their grade school and high school teachers felt when they refused to do their homework because they didn't want to be smart enough to grow up and become Democrats.

buckguy · 1 year ago

I attended a Midwestern university which, in the depths of acrushing recession in the '80s) came up with the money to fund a drosphilia center and acquire an huge archive from another university. Why? Because they knew it was an important resource that would enable them to build science departments at a time of tight budgets and attract external funding. In other words, it was an investment. Palin obviously has lousy advisers or simply doesn't listen to them--her track record suggests both. The US has been losing ground in a variety of areas (conservation, alternative energy, basic biology) because of the marriage of corporate interests and faith-based science. This is the future of our country and we can't let people waiting for rapture or short-term profits based on speculation to be guiding our future course.

An_American_Karol · 1 year ago

On a similar note, the Fundies are beginning to panic with the thought of losing their hold in Washington. They have stepped up their attacks on Obama by lying and frightening people into voting for McCain "Palin".
"Christian right intensifies attacks on Obama"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27369927/

MGBYG · 1 year ago

One of the greatest minds we have today is Canada's David Suzuki:

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/

And his whole career was began with that (anti-american?) little fruit fly...

JuliannK · 1 year ago

Isn't Palin's father a retired science teacher?

houstonray · 1 year ago

Not a very good one, apparently...

bunnyjump · 1 year ago

The gift that keeps on giving.....

Older_Wiser · 1 year ago

Pretty ignorant for someone whose own father was a biology teacher (allegedly, that is, he probably neglected biology for coaching). That's why I couldn't believe this pathetic POS is a creationist when I found that out.

Meanwhile, driving the 6-7 miles to the nearest grocery store just now, I was stunned to see more McBush/Pathetic signs. This is where I'm forced to live...not one Obama sign. And everyone at the grocery store was ANGRY--the ambience was thick as fog, like people were afraid to talk to each other for fear of saying the wrong thing.

ianasdfg · 1 year ago

She's not stupid here - quite the opposite

- fruit flies are the nemesis of creationism - she's dog whistling to all those who see atheism as a threat - that's going to motivate a lot of people to work on her behalf.

- just as some more centrist would be Obama voters will think that by not voting they'll temper his landslide in the name of checks and balances.

Republican stratergists are extremely smart people - write them off at your peril!

MyVoice · 1 year ago

As a parent of an high functioning autistic son, I know that the acts are passed but remain underfunded. All that is needed is to include the funding in the budget- no new acts or laws need to be debated right off. I like the fact that these issues are getting heard but it is from the wrong messenger.

Gridlock · 1 year ago

It cost 150,000 dollars for her to look that stupid?

bluevistas · 1 year ago

Sarah Palin--"Ooops, I guess I should have studied harder."

I think the country is ready for some smarter people--like Obama and Biden and more.....

Mickey7 · 1 year ago

Open letter sent to Anchorage Daily News and Arizona Republic (and Daily Kos) regarding this:

October 25, 2008

Dear Governor Palin,

I applaud your interest and stated commitment to improving the quality and availability of care for children with special needs. As the mother of a now grown special needs child and the founder and director of an organization dedicated to research on her disorder, I know firsthand the challenges families of these children face. Unlike trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), my daughter’s disorder, a rare genetic disease called primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), does not enjoy broad public awareness, which makes finding health services and funding for research even more difficult.

Last week, in a policy speech, you indicated that certain research expenditures were wasteful and foolish. The specific example you used was fruit fly research. Because I believe you are sincere in your desire to help those with special needs, I was dismayed to hear your perspective on basic science research. When my daughter was diagnosed in 1991, we were told that her disorder was so rare there would never be genetic research done on it. Finding a patient group large enough for human genetic studies would most likely be an insurmountable challenge. But people were working on PCD genetics--albeit indirectly. Basic scientists were unraveling the genome of a single-celled algae called Chlamydomonos. This organism was simple and plentiful and scientists could grow pools full of it for research. In 2002, the first PCD gene was discovered in an ortholog of Chlamydomonas. Since then, several more have been identified, resulting in the first-ever genetic test for PCD and the promise of genetic therapies for this incurable condition in the future. It can not be overstated that these advances are the direct result of research on, quite literally, pond scum. It would be heartbreaking to me to hear a candidate for national office make a joke of these efforts simply to score political points and I was saddened beyond measure for the families relying on basic science research in fruit flies that you chose to single them out for this unwarranted ridicule.

Translational research, applying the discoveries of basic science to human populations, is a critical element of medical science advancement. In this country, we have suffered through the William Proxmire “Golden Fleece” awards and other attempts by politicians to gain political points by criticizing science they simply don’t understand. Because I was hopeful that you would be a true ally to special needs community, I was particularly dismayed to see you participate in this activity and ask you to spend some time speaking with the individuals involved in basic science research and educating yourself on the promise these activities offer to people with rare, genetic and incurable diseases.

A recent article by the Massachusetts General Cancer Center published in the peer-reviewed journal Current Opinion in Genetic Development states that “more than 60% of genes implicated in human disease have Drosophila orthologues.” A very short list of human diseases with fruit fly genetic correlates includes neurological and neurodegenerative disorders (including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and spinal muscular atrophy), birth defects, development delays (including autism), tumor suppressor genes (ironically in melanoma, your running mate’s genetic curse), infertility polycystic kidney disease, deadly and catastrophic lipid metabolism disorders, and Huntington’s chorea. Again, this is a short list.

I am not an expert at fruit fly research, but was able to compile this list in about five minutes by doing a simple Internet search of the government-maintained National Library of Medicine database of scientific publications (PubMed:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=PubMed&itool=toolbar). I do not think it is too much to ask our national leaders who will be responsible for establishing crucial health and science policies to do at least that much.

Special needs communities have never had adequate representation in this country. Attempting to manage the extraordinary challenges of caring for chronically or catastrophically ill family members leaves us short of the financial resources and time required to mount effective lobbying efforts. As a result, we do not wield political clout and end up being an invisible minority group with few supporters. Your high-profile status gives you the opportunity to change that for us and I ask you to consider working with the groups who are engaged in daily efforts to improve the lives of special needs individuals through important research initiatives, rather than undermine those efforts.

Michele Manion, Executive Director
Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia Foundation
Phoenix, Arizona

For more information on PCD: www.pcdfoundation.org

Dave of the Jungle · 1 year ago

Complete Idiot

woodroad34 · 1 year ago

They use fruit flies because GOP brains are inadequate.

KeithNovo · 1 year ago

Whoopie! It's not bad enough that the vast majority of Americans are scientifically illiterate. Now Paling must encourage it.! Then again, ignorance is bliss in the coalition of rednecks and the plutocracy!

ColoradoDem · 1 year ago

Modern conservatism has raised scientific illiteracy to an art form. It's genuinely jaw-dropping. Not sure what to say except, "good luck with that, guys".

Sarrellec · 1 year ago

Republicans respect the money that power gained by pandering to the stupid gives them. Palin also changed the location of the fruit fly research to...where else?...Paris, France.
Of course, this is a direct call to the stupid regarding our supposedly universal derision of France because they surrendered during WWII.
It never occurs to these air-heads that without France backing the American Revolution with their armada, it quite possibly could have failed.
Did I say "occurs"? Screw that. History is about as important as science to the blitherdiots.
The jingoistic catch-phrases and bumper sticker mottos of the Right keep marching on--regardless of their veracity or even logic.
One more that I find entertaining is Palin assuring us how frugal she is with her own money and this somehow is supposed to ameliorate her scandalous spending of the public money of Alaska and of the RNC and those that donate to it.
Of course, one has nothing to do with the other. But it sure does sound good--to the stupid.

cole3244 · 1 year ago

i really hate the terms airhead and bimbo but if the shoe fits.