Palin still ignorant about Scientific Research

Basic research on fruit flies, that's a "wasteful earmark" according to Palin.
Think Progress has a factual story on it:
"Memo To Palin: Fruit Fly Research Has Led To Advances In Understanding Autism"
Pharyngula, which I love, has a MUCH MORE Poignant and angry version:
"Sarah Palin: Ignorant and anti-science"

Best ignorant statement by Palin on her impassioned subject of Special Needs research :
"Where does a lot of that earmark money end up anyway? […] You’ve heard about some of these pet projects they really don’t make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not."

Best reply from Myers:
"This idiot woman, this blind, shortsighted ignoramus, this pretentious clod, mocks basic research and the international research community. You damn well better believe that there is research going on in animal models — what does she expect, that scientists should mutagenize human mothers and chop up baby brains for this work? — and countries like France and Germany and England and Canada and China and India and others are all respected participants in these efforts.

Yes, scientists work on fruit flies. Some of the most powerful tools in genetics and molecular biology are available in fruit flies, and these are animals that are particularly amenable to experimentation. Molecular genetics has revealed that humans share key molecules, the basic developmental toolkit, with all other animals, thanks to our shared evolutionary heritage (something else the wackaloon from Wasilla denies), and that we can use these other organisms to probe the fundamental mechanisms that underlie core processes in the formation of the nervous system — precisely the phenomena Palin claims are so important."

Every time this willfully ignorant and hypocritical woman opens her mouth, she digs herself deeper and deeper. "Ready to be President"? Not even of the Wasilla Rotary Club!

Dr. Desert Flower got a huge kick out of this. =)