Who Will be America's Next Science Idol?

There's a fun event going on over at the Union of Concerned Scientists, kind of a corollary to all the serious events that always go on over there. It's the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Science Idol Contest. The contest is coming to an end, all over but the voting, which will continue until Saturday, September 30, 2006 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

All summer amateur cartoonists submitted their takes on the current lack of scientific integrity in this administration, and then a panel of four editorial cartoonists (including one of my personal faves, Tony Auth) winnowed the entries down to twelve. It's up to us to choose the winning Idol, although all twelve finalists will be featured on a calendar from the UCS. Mine is #2, pictured above. If you vote, you will be eligible to be one of fifty winners of the 2007 calendar - a reminder of the scientific malfeasance in government every single month!

So, here's where to see all twelve cartoons and vote for your top choice, the fun part. You don't think I'm going to let you off that easily, however, surely not? No indeedy, I'm going to ask you to read some of the material on the site concerning the abuses of scientific integrity, some of which was published in two reports in 2004, much of which has surfaced during the following two years. We're talkin' here about unprecedented manipulation, distortion, and suppression of government science in agencies such as the EPA, FDA, NOAA, Fish and Wildlife, many of which may have dangerous impacts on our nation's health, safety, and environment.

Spend some quality time wandering through the whole Scientific Integrity program on the site, and please sign one of the two statements there. If you are a scientist, at any level whatsoever, go to the Scientists' Sign-On Statement. If you are a concerned citizen without scientific creds, but deep interest in the whole problem of political interference threatening the integrity of government science, this one is for you: Citizens' Call to Action.

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