White House science advisor is climate and energy specialist  

Bruce reports that Obama has made some positive moves on the science administration front (with his interjections marked betweeen parentheses as per usual) - White House science advisor is climate and energy specialist.

(((Okay, this isn't the customary BEYOND THE BEYOND freakout parade, but I'm blogging it for the sheer satisfaction of reading it in my own blog.)))

http://planetark.org/wen/51003

CHICAGO - President-elect Barack Obama underscored on Saturday his intent to push initiatives on climate change by naming John Holdren, an energy and climate specialist, as the new White House science adviser.

Holdren is a Harvard University physicist who has focused on the causes and consequences of climate change and advocated policies aimed at sustainable development. He has also done extensive research on the dangers of nuclear weapons. (((Gosh, how handy.)))

Obama pledged to put a priority on encouraging scientific breakthroughs in areas such as alternative energy solutions and finding cures to diseases, as he announced the pick of Holdren and other top science advisers in the Democratic weekly radio and video address.

"Today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation," Obama said. (((What a sensible thing to say.))) "It's time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America's place as the world leader in science and technology." (((Yeah, maybe, if we beg really hard, we can lure back some of our Chinese and Indian scientists!)))

"From landing on the moon, to sequencing the human genome, to inventing the Internet, America has been the first to cross that new frontier," Obama said.

Obama said that government has played an important role in encouraging those breakthroughs and could do so in the future....

The Bush administration has had a rocky relationship with the scientific community... (((Yeah, they caught it so hard in 8 years of Lysenkoist culture-war that I'm not sure what's to be done for 'em. Maybe somebody should consider *arming* the scientific "community" and turning it into the world's first scientific army.)))