Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Adam Carolla]

[Plain Meaning]

So, I'm not so concerned with convincing anyone of the ultimate truth of the report.

What bothers me should bother everyone: the head of the House Science Committee, Lamar Smith (R-TX), has abused his position to issue subpeonas against scientists and scientific studies he does not like. And he is not simply subpeona'ing the factual bases for their studies, but also their "communications between or among employees."

[Fallacy]

Plain Meaning: in regards to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and abuse of power claims, are you referring to instances such as the Committee on Science, Space and Technology conducting oversight of current and former senior officials at the National Weather Service (NWS), such as the CFO Robert Byrd and his deputy Peter Jiron, and alleged violations of government contracting and ethic regulations carried out by these officials "that ultimately cost the taxpayers nearly $500,000?" Chairman Smith maintains that "NWS lacks internal agency controls to prevent the kind of mismanagement" he claims is occurring there, and has used his power to widen the probe into all documents and communications related to funding matters for the agency, since the names of these two gentlemen are attached therein. The resulting discovery allowed for disclosures of proprietary research information, which Chairman Smith is now in turn using to make further requests for widening the probe further, ad infinitum. Byrd and Jiron pleaded the 5th this past July, so there may be more to this story than just an irritating right-left political antagonism of scientists and scientific studies. The quoted material above come from a letter signed by Lamar Smith and addressed to Penny Pritzker, Secretary of the US Department of Commerce dated June 5, 2015.

[Plain Meaning]

[Fallacy]

I agree with you that in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) may have been politically mercenary in his motive to deliberately "bother everyone," and eventually evidence may reveal to what extent this constitutes how he "has abused his position," but unfortunately he struck the bullseye, however blindly he may have been wildly scattering his darts at the board; so for the time being, he appears to have been earnest in his pursuit of malfeasance, and successful in taking down miscreants. Politics is more like the entertainment of sports in instances like this to me, and in that way it looks like he gets points to put up for his side on this one. The funding for research, and the research itself, along with the scientists conducting it, are not currently under accusation or indictment, but after a thorough review of all documents in discovery, even if eventual allegations are brought, all may in the end be exonerated. In the meanwhile, that some high-level administrating officials have been found in violation now provides Chairman Smith with a great deal of legitimacy in his partisan campaign. Stay tuned to see if he over-reaches, but for now, he has excellent cover to continue the rampage of annoyances.

[TheUrbanMyth]