I know I live in a country with a decidedly anti-intellectual bent. Our greatest demogague, O'Reilly, likes to use the term "pinhead." For real. But still, come the fuck on, America. Science rules! Listen to what the nerds have to say!

The New Scientist:

"At its birth two centuries ago, this republic was governed by men who had a deeper understanding of science than most of their successors. The Founding Fathers were children of the Enlightenment, of the Age of Reason.

Today we are governed by people who do not believe in evolution. They have few qualms about distorting scientific knowledge when it does not conform to their political agenda. They speak as if they are entitled not only to their own opinions but also to their own facts."

So said Kurt Gottfried, chairman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, in the opening passage of a damning report released in July on the politicisation of science in 21st-century America. Put bluntly, Gottfried’s charge, and that of the UCS, is that President Bush does not understand science.

He has little interest in the subject, and his administration has grossly manipulated the process by which objective science informs policy. As a result, the US has made the wrong decisions over issues such as climate change, energy, reproductive health and the environment.

So let's run it down. Scientists? Bush must go. Historians? Ditto. Business Professors?

The data make clear that your policy of slashing taxes – primarily for those at the upper reaches of the income distribution – has not worked. The fiscal reversal that has taken place under your leadership is so extreme that it would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. The federal budget surplus of over $200 billion that we enjoyed in the year 2000 has disappeared, and we are now facing a massive annual deficit of over $400 billion. In fact, if transfers from the Social Security trust fund are excluded, the federal deficit is even worse – well in excess of a half a trillion dollars this year alone. Although some members of your administration have suggested that the mountain of new debt accumulated on your watch is mainly the consequence of 9-11 and the war on terror, budget experts know that this is simply false. Your economic policies have played a significant role in driving this fiscal collapse.

That's a scathing indictment. And Nobel Winners agree. I could go on like this. I wanna do the ethical/moral case against Bush too, but all this brain-weight gives me ideas for another ciritique.

In any event, it should be clear that this arrogant manchild of a president cannot listen to criticism or reason, which is clearly a pointed difference between him and his opponenet, and from my perspective this anti-factual bullheadedness is one of the most compelling reasons to work for regime change here at home.