Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:02:01 -0400
From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
To: "gt-pfrc at ml.gt.org" <gt-pfrc at ml.gt.org>,
 WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>,
 WSFA Official List <wsfa-forum at yahoogroups.com>, bsfsgeneral at bsfs.org
Subject: [WSFA] Who profits from killing Pluto?
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Excerpt:
You may recall (as I and my offspring do) the controversy about six
years ago around the demotion of Pluto. There seemed to me to be
reasonable arguments on both sides, and indeed, my household included
pro-Pluto partisans and partisans for a new, clear definition of
=93planet=94 that might end up leaving Pluto on the exo-planet side of th=
e line.

At the time, Neil deGrasse Tyson was probably the most recognizable
advocate of the anti-Pluto position, and since then he has not been shy
about reaffirming his position. I had taken this vocal (even gleeful)
advocacy as just an instance of a scientist working to do effective
public outreach, but recently, I=92ve been made aware of reasons to
believe that there may be more going on with Neil deGrasse Tyson here.

You may be familiar with the phenomenon of offshore banking,<...>
--- end excerpt ---

<http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/doing-good-science/2012/04/01/who-pr=
ofits-from-killing-pluto/>

mark
--
Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the
powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.  - Paulo
Freire