by Teh Nutroots | More goofiness from Sarah Palin, who doesn't realize that a little knowledge is a very little thing. Here she mocks the earmarking of funds for fruit fly research while arguing for more spending on autism.
Science blog Pharyngula is a bit less polite than Maddow:
This idiot woman, this blind, shortsighted ignoramus, this pretentious clod, mocks basic research and the international research community. You damn well better believe that there is research going on in animal models — what does she expect, that scientists should mutagenize human mothers and chop up baby brains for this work? — and countries like France and Germany and England and Canada and China and India and others are all respected participants in these efforts. Yes, scientists work on fruit flies.
Some of the most powerful tools in genetics and molecular biology are available in fruit flies, and these are animals that are particularly amenable to experimentation. Molecular genetics has revealed that humans share key molecules, the basic developmental toolkit, with all other animals, thanks to our shared evolutionary heritage (something else the wackaloon from Wasilla denies), and that we can use these other organisms to probe the fundamental mechanisms that underlie core processes in the formation of the nervous system — precisely the phenomena Palin claims are so important. (Pharyngula)
Wackaloon! I like it. Loon wackaloon wacka wacka loon wackaloon....
From The Seventh Sense:
Fruit flies are used to study genetic research. In fact...
About 75% of known human disease genes have a recognizable match in the genetic code of fruit flies (Reiter et al (2001) Genome Research: 11(6):1114-25), and 50% of fly protein sequences have mammalian analogues. An online database called Homophila is available to search for human disease gene homologues in flies and vice versa. Drosophila is being used as a genetic model for several human diseases including the neurodegenerative disorders Parkinson's, Huntington's, spinocerebellar ataxia and Alzheimer's disease. The fly is also being used to study mechanisms underlying aging and oxidative stress, immunity, diabetes, and cancer, as well as drug abuse.
Fruit fly research has also been instrumental in discovering the source of autism.
Fruit flies--ha ha ha!
Yeah. Fruit flies.
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Sorry, much of earmark funding deserves to be mocked. You're simply regurgitating the same misogynistic blather we've come to expect from MSNBC. Good job.
Oh, and finally SNL has done a skit of appropriate satire: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/road-to-the-white-house/787141/
Posted by: Close Observer | October 26, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Whereas you're making the misogynistic mistake of assuming that all women are Sarah Palin and that no woman can EVER be attacked for her views.
That is nonsense and is the opposite of what real feminists want. She's not some delicate little hothouse orchid that no one can breathe on. She's a hard-bitten politician who has put herself out there. Since she gets SO MANY THINGS WRONG, there's nothing "misogynistic" about pointing this out. And there's nothing anti-feminist about doing everything possible to prevent Palin from being elected.
But don't mind me. I love listening to right-wingers go on about feminism...!
Posted by: Damozel | October 26, 2008 at 03:55 PM
Criticizing the earmark process is perfectly reasonable. It makes sense to fund everything through an open budget process, as oppose to earmarks. But these studies SHOULD be funded.
Cherry-picking genetic studies, in particular studies involving Drosophila, as the exemplar of bad earmarks, just reveals her ignorance. Studies like this are the foundation of modern biological research. And of course, it's awfully hypocritical given how many federal earmarks she went after when she was a mayor and governor in Alaska.
Posted by: Adam | October 28, 2008 at 12:41 AM