The scientific community — a segment of the “reality based community” the Bushies are so hostile to — is bracing for another four years of bullshit.

The Bush administration and the scientific community have never had an easy relationship. For the past four years, scientists have accused the Bush White House of ignoring widely accepted scientific studies in favor of fringe theories that support the administration’s political agenda. Meanwhile, government officials say scientists are exploiting research for political purposes. Never was this rift more clear than at an American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in September, when former House Science Committee chairman Bob Walker, speaking on behalf of the Bush re-election campaign, warned scientists that their moaning about the government’s treatment of science could lead to a “push back” from the federal government. More at Wired News

This administration’s tendency to view scientific findings in conflict with ideology as “politically motivated” pops up with alarming frequency, and reminds us that we have right-wing religious nutbirds in charge. Which is, apparently, the way 51% of the electorate wants it. It’s important at this point, we reckon, to note that it’s not so much that our country was founded by those seeking religious liberty; we were founded by people who were too uptight to be British. It’s this legacy that sends us into fits over sex on TV, Janet Jackson’s boob, gay marriage, medical pot, and science that disturbs our ideologies; what this means for the future of our country is left as an exercise for the reader.

We continue to fear fundamentalism of all stripes, and are pretty sure the ones we ought to be watching the most aren’t in the Mideast; it’s the ones in Washington.