Meet a science committee that doesn't get science

In general, we only become aware of a politician's position on scientific issues during the campaign season. And, with a few exceptions like energy and climate policy, they rarely become campaign issues for anyone other than presidential candidates. So for the most part, it's rare to have a good picture of what our elected representatives think about science and technology.

If only that were true this year.

And from the Show-Me (how to think) state, we have another reason that government is always the last option for anything. 

Missouri's Todd Akin, a Representative running for Senator, made headlines through his bizarre misunderstanding of biology, specifically that of the female reproductive system. Overcome by his desire to believe that pregnancy (and thus abortion) shouldn't be an issue for rape victims, he infamously claimed that the female body could somehow block pregnancy in the case of "legitimate rape."

I'm not sure if this falls more under science, religion, or politics, or whether three have collided at an intersection, leaving little recognizable of any higher thinking...

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Original Page: http://arstechnica.com/staff/2012/10/editorial-meet-a-science-committee-that-doesnt-get-science/