what s happening in american culture to account for this shift? one of the interesting things, maybe bill can address this, is what i see as a lack the loss of scientific authority. it used to be a scientist told us something after investigating it and going through the scientific method and we went oh, that s real. global warming is real. evolution is real. i think todd akin s comments relate to this because what s startling about them is how much it reveals him to be totally ignorant of human physiology. it s not the use of the word legitimate. it s the idea that women can t get pregnant by rape and other people came out and said well, i disagree with him, as if it s a point to be debated. it s not a point to be debated. it s wrong. so we have a loss of scientific authority where we can t even agree that science can give us an answer through that method and i m wondering if bill has any theory about why that s happened. that s a great question from eric about the role of scienc