Andrew Revkin/NYT: 11 weak science questions for Obama (dot Earth)

Andrew Revkin writes the "dot Earth" blog for the New York Times, and he offers "11 Questions for Obama’s Science Team" (link). As one might expect, all of the questions are to one degree or another variations on, "Comrade Lysenko, tell us of the wonders of your system." About the only slightly tough question concerns ethanol. None of the questions challenge fundamental assumptions or expose flaws in the reasoning of Obama or his science selections. Rivkin probably isn't going to have much trouble getting answers from the Obama team; he might even get a pat on the head for providing them with such puffballs.

Note also that the questions were selected in this thread, and were done so based on the number of recommendations. Even non-boffins should be able to recognize the flaws in such an approach; see the popular voting systems summary for more.

The questions were also linked by Insty, which shouldn't be much of a surprise since he's never shown much of an interest in asking politicians tough questions: pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/65087/

Fri, 01/02/2009 - 20:54 · · Importance: 4