"Colin A. Reed" wrote:
>
> Of course. But they don't then go and investigate the people they took
> money from. To do so effects an appearance of impropriety, which dooms
> any results to uselessness, since people who don't like the results have
> an excuse not to listen to them, and others just can't tell what the
> truth is.
Shrug. I find most people (on ALL sides of the political spectrum,
including mine) will discount studies by any group with a contrary
ideology, regardless of who is funding them. I mean, be honest -- would
you expect "The Peoples Global Environmental Peace And Love Research
Institute" to ever issue a report saying "Nuclear Fission Plants Are
Perfectly Safe"? Or, contrariwise, the "Montgomery Burns Nuclear
Research Institute" to issue a report saying the opposite?
As someone on /. noted...if this had been about Microsoft hiring a PI to
dig up dirt on Netscape or Oracle, there would be no one making excuses
for them. (Note, BTW, that Oracle isn't exactly "the little guy"
standing up to Evil Goliath Microsoft. Oracle is as rapaciously
capitalist as any other Silicon Valley firm)
