Friday, 4 May 2001

1. SCIENCE POLICY: THE WEEKLY DISASTER REPORT.
The science community seemed to lapse into a sullen silence after the Bush administration announced missile and energy initiatives that would have led to cries of outrage in the past. There is still no White House Science Advisor. Anyone chosen now will presumably support these new policies; that's unlikely to make the science community happy.

2. ENERGY: VICE-PRESIDENT CHENEY ANNOUNCES ENERGY STRATEGY.
What would you expect two Texas oilmen to come up with? Exactly. The Vice-President, speaking in Toronto on Monday, explained that energy policy will emphasize production. Oh, conservation may be "a personal virtue," he said, but it won't solve the problem: "Americans demand more energy." So clean coal technology, drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and even nuclear energy, are part of the strategy, but there will be no talk of renewables or efforts to reduce reliance on SUVs. By the end of the week, however, conservation made a weak comeback. The President yesterday directed Federal agencies in California to reduce energy consumption. Conservation, it seems, is quick.

3. STAR WARS II: PRESIDENT CALLS FOR A GLOBAL MISSILE SHIELD.
And he wants it in space, in the air, at sea and on land. The threat of attack by third world crazies was cited as creating an urgent need for such a defense. Let's see, we have spent $100B or so already to develop such a system. What we learned is that, if the enemy will put homing beacons on their missiles, we might stop one out of three. But an Administration spokesman explained that the defense doesn't really have to work, it only has to create uncertainty. Well, it certainly does that. Even if it could be made to work, it would only guarantee that a different delivery system, such as a Ryder Rental truck, would be used.

4. LOW NOTE: KEYNOTE SPEAKER LEAVES AAAS MEETING IN A HURRY.
Larry Lindsey, Economic Policy Advisor to the President, was the Keynote speaker at the AAAS Science Policy Meeting. He warned that the Kyoto protocol could damage our collective prosperity and does little to promote development of new energy technology. But of course, it was the Administration that slashed the renewables and energy efficiency budgets by 50%. Lindsey left hurriedly following his talk, without taking questions.

5. NASA SURVIVORS: HAS GOLDIN BEEN VOTED OFF THE ISLAND?
It is rumored that the White House has hired a headhunter to find a replacement for Dan Goldin as NASA Administrator. Goldin is the only high-level survivor of the last Republican Administration. Meanwhile, high-tech bungee jumper Dennis Tito's stomach problems have hogged the news all week, making one wonder if too much disposable income isn't becoming a problem.



Bob Park can be reached via email at whatsnew@bobpark.org
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the University, but they should be.