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Myths and science

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Re “Our science fictions,” Opinion, Feb. 27

Joel Stein rightly points out that both liberals and conservatives hold strange, anti-scientific views, but he misses an important difference. The weird beliefs held by liberals are mercifully confined to the lunatic fringe, while those held by conservatives have found their way into the political mainstream.

There’s no way any politician who believes in the legalization of drugs because “they come from stuff that grows in the ground, man,” or who thinks the destruction of the Twin Towers was a government plot will ever have influence outside of places like Santa Monica or Berkeley.

But just two months ago, we had a president who was, at the very least, highly skeptical about both evolution and global warming.

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Jason Daly

Pasadena

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Your article on liberal science-haters reminded me of a discouraging conversation I once had with my sister, who asked her water-quality-expert brother if she should install a costly filtration system at home to protect my little nieces from L.A.’s certainly toxic drinking water.

After explaining that the federal and state safe-drinking-water laws and regulations -- and the billion-dollar city filtration and disinfection systems her taxes bought under those rules -- not only guarantee safe water but that she could review analytical data herself in the DWP’s annual report, she replied, “Well, I think I’ll get the filtration system anyway, because it just makes me feel better.”

David Kay

Playa Vista

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