Bloomberg: Science under attack in politics [View All]

Using strong language but naming no names, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took powerful aim Thursday at those who attack science, criticizing them for ignoring global warming, restricting stem-cell research, interfering in the life and death of Terri Schiavo and challenging evolution. Speaking to graduates at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Bloomberg's anti-"political science" screed was his latest salvo on some issues closely aligned with his own Republican Party.

Today we are seeing hundreds of years of scientific discovery being challenged by people who simply disregard facts that don't happen to agree with their agendas," he told the graduates, according to a copy of his speech provided by aides. "Some call it pseudoscience, others call it faith-based science, but when you notice where this negligence tends to take place, you might as well call it political science." Bloomberg -- a Johns Hopkins alumnus who donated $100 million to the university earlier this year, part of which was to be used for stem-cell research -- has lately been increasingly vocal on national issues such as gun control and immigration reform.

He appeared on CNN and Fox News on Tuesday, the same day an article he wrote appeared in The Wall Street Journal, urging amnesty for undocumented immigrants and dismissing Congress' plans to do otherwise as "ludicrous." He has hammered away at the need to control the spread of illegal guns, organizing a conference of mayors to address the issue and traveling to Washington to lobby for gun control. "Part of the reason he was reelected with such a wide margin is because he speaks his mind, calls them as he sees them, isn't afraid to tell the truth, and he does so without keeping his eye on the political consequences," Stu Loeser, Bloomberg's chief spokesman, said after Thursday's commencement.

At Johns Hopkins, the mayor took those who inject ideology into science firmly to task. On stem-cell research: Government "has a duty to encourage appropriate scientific investigations that could possibly save the lives of
millions." On global warming: "Despite near-unanimity in the science community, there's now a movement, driven by ideology and short-term economics, to ignore the evidence and discredit the reality of climate change." On Schiavo, the Florida woman over whom a protracted legal battle was waged concerning removal of her feeding tube: "Was there anything more inappropriate than watching political science try to override medical science in the Terri Schiavo case?" And on the movement to teach intelligent design as an alternative to evolution: "Think about it! This not only devalues science, it cheapens theology."

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