The Great Treasury Heist

A greater number of Americans are travelling overseas, but they are still a minority of the population. This may explain why few people are alarmed about the drop in the value of the dollar. The price of a cup of coffee in Paris or breakfast in London seems of minor importance. That is until you speak to real estate brokers in coastline areas. Foreigners by the boatload are buying up prime real estate, not just the condo in Florida, no thousands of acres of the best real estate going cheap. One result of the irresponsible management of the American economy. The great giveaway of first the country's wealth to greedy corporations and the well connected, and now its land to speculators from overseas is an affront to American pride. So why is there no uproar? In a word the answer is radical individualism, in another age called selfishness. Americans have just one focus today, taking care of number one. So what if Mexicans are reclaiming the south west without firing a bullet, as long as they will do the work for a fraction of what it would cost an American to do the job, it's no problem. So what if the dollar is dropping, as long as the prices at Walmart stay low, that's all that matters. The thought that corporations are selling our invaluable technology at cut rate prices to a potential rival such as China and what we get in return are cheap toys and clothes makes no difference. To the selfish American, the 21st Century American its a win win, we spend, we pawn our assets and the extra we borrow, they loan the money then we spend more. It's like an Addiction.
Lost in all this is the sinister motive of the present Government in undertaking all this spending, after all Republicans are supposed to be the financially responsible party. There is method to the madness of the "Great Treasury Heist". By the time the Bushocrats have finished there will be no money for Government agencies to function. The goal of Libertarian Republicans is to 'get government off our backs' this is one way to do it, bankrupt it. Their policies assure no money for the pesky, Environmental agency, the IRS, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the SEC or any other agency except the Defense Department. At the current rate the government will be broke and out of business within four years. Then, those wimpy Democrats will have no way to get to the Bush Robber Barons, no way to stop the Bush carpetbaggers from moving their wealth into tax shelters, no way those tree huggers will be able to stop the rape of the Alaska, open season on our natural resources, no way to fund anything, because the debt will be so large. It will be left to the Democrats to raise taxes on the Middle Class and the poor, just to keep the government afloat. After four years of that the Robber Barons will be voted back in power to get what is left. Who cares, obviously the American people don't care, if they did they would raise their voices. Instead all that is heard is the Roar of Silence. So what are you going to tell your children when they ask, how did the USA become a Third World Nation?

The Underlying Concern

Within the scientific community, there is a growing anxiety that powerful reactionary forces tied to certain religious beliefs are trying to undermine three hundred years of scientific progress, even possibly usher Western civilization into a new dark age.
The requirements to teach creationism or intelligent design in schools in place of, or, in addition to evolution, the restrictions placed on embryonic stem cell research are, they contend, the latest evidence of this trend. Many scientists feel that religious beliefs have no place in their field of expertise and the views of their opponents are imaginative fabrications or worse the product of the manipulation of the weak minded and the ignorant. On the other side, there is a growing concern and alarm, that science has devalued human life. Cherished principles some thousands of years old are ignored and trampled in a quest for scientific knowledge that has no apparent or at best questionable purpose. What is most interesting about this struggle is that history, surprisingly, tilts more to the latter. The Roar of Silence has concluded that, if scientists were less apt to dismiss these criticisms and actually reflect on them, their work would be more appreciated and their role in society enhanced. Most importantly, it would enable them to understand widespread underlying concerns, that if not addressed will batter science in the 21st century
The present debate about stem cells is a good starting place. Scientists in favor of embryonic stem cell research offer a seductive vision; the possibility of cures for dreaded diseases. What greater good is there than that? And what possible harm could it cause? The Roar of Silence has concluded it can cause great harm, possibly catastrophic. Let’s go back to the beginning of the 20th century and revisit a similarly seductive argument. Back then it was nuclear power, the line was slightly different, imagine a clean, cheap, efficient source of energy that would light and warm homes and power industry. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century those promises seem hollow. Not a single nuclear power plant built in nearly forty years in the US. Many communities with upscale, educated residents like those near Indian Point in Northern Westchester County, New York want them closed forever. A history of leaks, rarely admitted until recently, the memory of Three Mile Island, the fear of terrorist attacks are reasons enough to shut them down. Nuclear power introduced the world to unimaginable horrors, destruction of life never before contemplated. Historians have only recently discovered how close the world came to destroying itself during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Renowned scientists like Oppenheimer lived out the later days of their life trying to reverse the implications for their nuclear handiwork. In April 2005, we learned that terrorists were planning to explode a dirty radioactive bomb in New York. Should the terrorists eventually succeed, there will be a demand to abolish nuclear power forever, end all scientific research in this area, period. Does wanting to end research on nuclear power make someone a fundamentalist or a realist? The Roar of Silence believes the evidence is clear, and the only sane conclusion based on historical facts is that human beings are not ready to handle the awesome power that drives the Universe. So we ask why should these same human beings be allowed to unlock the secrets of the only known biological life processes in the Universe? Why should we expect the outcome to be any different?

Science can be irresponsible, and scientists too often fail to think through or seem to care what the impact of their work will be on humanity. When things go wrong, they brush off responsibility, or worse run for cover. The bottom line is, that regardless of its shocking failures scientific research just barrels on, damn the consequences. The Roar of Silence has some words of advice, skepticism by the scientific community about embarking on grandiose and potentially harmful ventures is needed. Think, could not stem cell research face the same fate as eugenics? A little soul searching and reflection is needed on the harm caused to millions of people by the misguided research in eugenics. It is time the scientific community admitted to its failings and acknowledged its checkered past. By and large, scientists have been given the benefit of the doubt, but for how much longer? Science without ethics it has been demonstrated is a dangerous proposition. If the major scientific bodies around the world continue to ignore the need for a universal ethical standard for scientific research, exercise a greater say in how their discoveries and inventions are used backed up with credible action, others such as religious fundamentalists will force the issue. And they have the arguments of history on their side, so says The Roar of Silence