Science ruined

When science is politicized, it's ruined. If somebody's idea of political-moral merit is allowed to trump scientific merit, the whole enterprise is undermined and destroyed. All truth becomes political, and 2 + 2 = 5.

The Lancet, the venerable Brit equivalent of JAMA, has become suddenly famous for publishing phony research on Iraqi civilian deaths, research which we now discover was funded by George Soros. The research I'm referring to is the project that now refuses to release its data for others to evaluate (the #1 scientific sin), and whose research the Lancet agreed to publish with minimal refereeing, with a further agreement to a hurry-up publication schedule timed to influence the 2006 US elections.

How could a respected and prestigious scientific publication be turned into this kind of whorehouse you ask? Take a look at the first minute or two of this video of THE EDITOR of The Lancet speaking at an anti-war rally, and all will become crystal clear. This is the sort of thing that has virtually destroyed the social sciences and literary studies, but the infection is spreading.