Sunday, March 16, 2003 “The Academy Laughed at My Theories – Well, Who's Laughing Now?”   The statement that trees are a primary cause of air pollution routinely makes people’s top-five lists in the extremely competitive category of dumbest utterances of Ronald Reagan. Apparently, it may be true, according to this study. While the facts are certainly not conclusive, the mere fact that the idea is worthy of serious consideration must be considered vindication of Reagan’s ahead-of-his-time views on environmental science. The Gipper’s intellectual curiosity and lack of formal academic training combined to point him in some unusual directions. In this case, it may be that one of the long shots finished in the money.   In the spirit of intellectual honesty and willingness to admit mistakes, let me publicly suggest that those who sneered at this (albeit improbable) remark , thinking it was merely an absurd justification for Reagan’s timber-industry-friendly environmental policies, sold the man short. I was one of them. Sorry Ron – looks like we should have listened. 3:13:28 PM    Emphasize This! [] My Country Right or ? To be right, you have to risk being wrong. It's not just a matter of intellectual honesty - it's how we learn from our mistakes and avoid making new ones. When ideology blinds us to the possibility of error, we no longer risk failure - we risk catastrophe. Much more on this subject. 2:52:29 PM    Emphasize This! [] © Copyright 2006 Rob Salkowitz. Last update: 11/28/2006; 6:35:58 PM. Emphasis Added Theme designed by Andrew Lueck and Rob Salkowitz.	SITE RESOURCES: March 2003 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat             1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31           Feb   Apr   ABOUT EA ABOUT ROB ROB'S OTHER WRITING: Work Comics Reprinted Blog Posts EA REFERERS TECHNORATI EA LINKS   SALON BLOG RANKINGS SALON (The Mothership) THE RAVEN INTERLUDE POST-SALON BLOG COMMUNITY GUILT BY ASSOCIATION Those with the excellent taste to link to Emphasis Added. Orcinus Shakespeare's Sister Mark A.R. Kleiman/SameFacts Corrente Two Glasses Real Art (and politics and culture) Busy Busy Busy How to Save the World Rayne Today Filchyboy BreadCrumbs Some Watery Tart The Disgruntled Chemist FIONA Marijo's Nashvlog This is Class Warfare Real Live Preacher Fried Green Al-Qaedas Dr. Omed Perils of Caffeine in the Evening Impetus Green Room Love During Wartime Ojo Caliente Havard Simensen Commentary Cool Aqua John Baker's Blog Rush Limbaughtomy Why Your Wife Won't Have Sex... Clever Title Goes Here Different Strings Paulapalooza Rich Pure and Simple Lawnorder Moderate of All Nations Unite! Little Hippocrat Live from the Nuke Free Zone Modulator Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart Catnmus Brent's Polemics Dick Jones' Patteran Pages Andrew Bayer JoKer's Blog Fitznseizures Playing with My Food and Other Things Seablogs Blog Cabin Kitsap Pundit Glimpse in a Mirror Timetheos The Data Port Tom's Political Blog Dialogic Doubly Gifted Letters from Jericho Choosing Hope Susan the Human       If you would like to be on this honored list, add a link to Emphasis Added in your blogroll and drop me a line.   RELIABLE SOURCES Big Media, Bloglords, Media Watchdogs, news and opinion cites I frequent, comment on and recommend. ADVOCATES Daily Kos Glenn Greenwald/Unclaimed Territory AmericaBlog Atrios/Eschaton Josh Marshall Talking Points Memo Kevin Drum/Washington Monthly Steve Clemmons/Washington Note MyDD Left Coaster Hulabaloo (Digby's Blog) Brad Delong Sadly, No Altercation Steve Gilliard Oliver Willis No More Mr. Nice Blog The Shrill Blog Rude Pundit Dave Sirota Michael Berube The Blogging of the President Max Speak! Liberal Oasis Open Source Politics Crooked Timber Suburban Guerilla Ariadne's Labyrinth Donkey Rising/Ruy Teixera James Wolcott The Sideshow Billmon   AUTHORITIES: Juan Cole (Middle East) Taegan Goddard (US Politics) Ernie the Attorney (Legal) A Fistful of Euros (Economics) SCOTUSBlog (US Supreme Court) Nathan Newman (Labor)   AGGREGATORS: Tapped TPM Cafe The American Street Cursor Arts and Letters Daily New Republic Online BuzzFlash Slate The Gadflyer The Huffington Post   MEDIAWATCH: The Daily Howler Media Matters Pre$$titutes Factcheck.org   PARTY TIES: WA State 34th District Dems WA State Dems DNC MoveOn.org   CONTRARIAN PERSPECTIVES Reasonable conservatives, libertarians, and wingers I like, or stuff I read to find out what the Dark Side is up to. Secular Blasphemy Jacqueline Passey Happy Carpenter Matthew DeLuca Tacitus Reason American Conservative Weekly Standard National Review Online Opinion Journal (WSJ) Red State Christopher Hitchens The Economist   AVOCATIONS & OBSESSIONS Various amusements in areas that interest me. BOOKS AND WRITERS. Scala House Press Michael Chabon William Gibson Dan Rasmus   COMICS-RELATED: Neil Gaiman Peter David Mark Evanier The Beat Grant Morrison Warren Ellis Will Eisner Denis Kitchen Agency Comicartville Ellen Forney San Diego Comic-Con Exhibit A Press Z-CULT FM   SPORTS: The USS Mariner Lookout Landing Baseball Prospectus SuperSonicSoul   MUSIC: Dragnet Records/A-Frames John Wesley Harding Laura Cantrell emusic         < £ Salon Bloggers & > Rate Me on BlogHop.com! help? Is my Blog HOT or NOT? Click here to visit Blogster.Net - Top Blogs! Blogroll Me!