Where do the presidential candidates stand on science?

[x-posted on The 2 Dollar Bill]

Comic from XKCD.com, info from Nature.com:

Climate change and Energy policies
Hillary, Obama, Edwards and Richardson support a reduction in emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050 via a cap-and-trade system.

Dennis Kucinich is interested in a carbon tax. He's also advocated halting all mining and logging on public lands while retrofitting buildings with solar and wind power sources.

By far, Kucinich seems to be the most aggressive with green changes.

Not surprising to me is the stance of Bill Richardson, former Sec. Energy under Clinton. He suggests a mileage increase to 50-mpg by 2020, setting renewable energy targets to be hit by 2040 .

John Edwards says no to nuclear power and also wants to push for a climate-change treaty to include developing nations.

Hillary says that she supports increases in mileage and renewable energy efforts... but is fairly soft on the mark.

Obama lays it out with $150 Billion for renewable energy research over 10 years (is that a lot of money? I don't know) and mentions working on a cleaner coal system.

Biden mentions ethanol. Why?

On the Republican side... it's hardly worth my time. Guiliani, Huckabee, and Paul all look to increase nuclear energy and ethanol subsidies. Romney has a questionable history on climate change... and Thompson and Paul seem to pish-posh any climate-change notion at all. In fact, Thompson shows his out-of-touch stance when he said,

“[Reports of rising temperatures on other planets have] led some people, not necessarily scientists, to wonder if Mars and Jupiter, non-signatories to the Kyoto Treaty, are actually inhabited by alien SUV-driving industrialists who run their air conditioning at 60 degrees and refuse to recycle.”

(gong)

McCain seems to be the only relative star of the bunch who nearly toes the line of the leading Dems with the emission reduction and cap-and-trade system. He said,

“Inaction could be disastrous.”

Stem Cells
All Dems support fed funding of embryonic stem cell research... some with dollar figures behind the mention.

Republicans who also support federal funding are: Guiliani & McCain. All others directly oppose funding... or like Paul, suggest that it should be left up to the states.

Space
Clinton, Edwards, Richardson, and Biden... along with Guiliani, Romney, Huckabee, McCain, and Paul all support the space exploration program.

Obama wants to stay the program and put the money toward eduaction saying

“We’re not going to have the engineers and scientists to continue space exploration if we don’t have kids who are able to read, write and compute.”

Kucinich wants NASA to focus on our home a bit more, but doesn't mention cutting exploration entirely.

“More people in this country have seen UFOs than I think approve of George Bush’s presidency.”

What has science ever done for you?
Everything. Like the internet? That's what I thought.

Plain and simple stuff here, folks. Science can not, must not be and will not be ignored.

Choose a candidate who understands that math and science will ensure that "the American Way" you love triumphs over ignorance and arrogance not only here at home, but 'round the world.