From the nut, er, congressman who called evolution "lies from the pit of hell" comes proposed legislation to lessen the peer review requirements for public science grants. Sounds nice, but a conservative offering up federal money? Perhaps the congressman has some other design in mind...
Despite being considered wasteful spending by the dogma to which Representative Lamar Smith and his ilk subscribe, the science-denying head of the House science committee is proposing a rather curious scenario.
Stephen C. Webster with the specifics at The Raw Story:
Smith’s “High Quality Research Act,” (...) scraps the NSF’s current peer-review process, which solicits the opinions of independent experts as to the “intellectual merit” and “broader impacts” of proposed research. In its stead, a new set of non-scientific standards for science funding are proposed.
Could this bill open the door for federal funding for the "science" of Intelligent Design?
Creationists have already procured money from taxpayers in Kentucky to build a creationist "museum" in the state. And I only use "scare quotes" because that place is scary... like exhibits of dinosaurs with saddles scary.
I can only assume peer review would be a major roadblock to any credibility Intelligent Design might gain, as ID "evidence" by its very nature is not reproducible -- a key component of peers attempting review.
Since peer review is how science keeps the quacks out, the quacks attack peer review.
MF will keep an eye on this guy...
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