Archive for March 21st, 2007
If you’re looking for some good drama, there is no better place than Congress. Al Gore was invited to put on a show and he didn’t disappoint. He came armed with all the drama from his roadshow, An Inconvenient Truth.
Al’s drama is first rate. Gore follows the rules for writing a story quite well — never let the facts get in the way of a great story. He also chose the name for his traveling sideshow quite well. He used the same principles politicians use when naming new legislation; use a name that says what we want it to say, not what it really does.
Every good story deserves a good punchline and the hijinks of Gore did not let anyone down. Gore prepared himself well with a cute, but stupid metaphor.
“The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says: ‘You have to intervene here,’ you don’t say: ‘Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it’s not a problem.’
The problem with global warming is that no one knows the cause, if it is just a cyclical temperature trend or what actions could effectively deal with the unknown problem. That’s right, unknown problem, we don’t even know if it is a problem. Saying the planet has a fever is misleading at best. That implies there is a cause that we can cure.
The only science fiction we need concern ourselves with is An Inconvenient Truth. Al Gore is no planet doctor. He is a semi-adept politician keeping his name and influence at a high level during the 2008 presidential campaign season.
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Fox News was recently called on the carpet to explain its claim of presenting fair and balanced news. The issue of contention was the fact that Fox has given virtually no coverage to Ron Paul’s presidential campaign. In response, you can now watch an interview, with Ron Paul, from Fox News. Scroll down to the politics section and click the link for the video.
Update: Fox has moved the video. If anyone finds it or a copy, please leave me a note in the comments, Thanks.
Update2: Here’s the video.
Technorati tags: Ron Paul, Fox News, video, fair and balanced, interview, presidential candidate, 2008, Constitution, freedom, liberty
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Buffalo company takes on flu
ZeptoMetrix Corp. has a major role in a multi-year, multi-million-dollar federal initiative to develop a quick diagnosis of an of the avian flu, among other viruses.
The biotechnology company has been given a $4.7-million grant to grow and store virus specimens for use by companies developing medical devices to test infected patients. More than 150 viruses will be grown by ZeptoMetrix in the first of the five-year project.
The company’s work is part of a $11.4 million project being undertaken by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop speedy “point-of-care” tests to provide public health experts worldwide with information on viruses that could cause pandemics.
On the surface this sounds like a great idea. Afterall, who doesn’t want a vaccine available if the Avian Flu were to strike. My objection is that this grant money amounts to nothing more than corporate welfare.
Drug companies have a natural incentive to produce medications and vaccines that work, the incentive is profit. Government, by its very nature, is very inefficient and drives up the true cost of services and goods. When the government subsidizes medical research, it bypasses the normal profit incentive of a company and paves the way for inefficiencies and retards the timeliness of beneficial results. The researchers become dependant upon the subsidy and have a financial incentive to keep the government money flowing as long as possible, that is completely contrary to the initial mission of the research.
If all drug companies were forced to fund all of their research, less money would yield better results. The overall cost, which now must include taxes as well as the research, is driven up by the government. Government adds extra layers of costs, such as the bureaucracies that oversee the grant programs.
To further illuminate that problems associated with government funded medical research, here is a quote from Presidential Candidate Ron Paul:
Federal funding of medical research guarantees the politicization of decisions about what types of research for what diseases will be funded. Scarce tax resources are allocated according to who has the most effective lobby, rather than on the basis of need or even likely success. Federal funding also causes researchers to neglect potential treatments and cures that do not qualify for federal funds. Medical advancements often result from radical ideas and approaches that are scoffed at initially by the establishment. When scientists become dependent on government funds, however, they quickly learn not to rock the boat and stick to accepted areas of inquiry. Federal funds thus distort the natural market for scientific research.
Source: Buffalo company takes on flu - Business First of Buffalo:
