CELEBRATE - AT 7:55 A.M. ET:  There are indeed things to celebrate.  We learned this morning that a Milwaukee-born American, Thomas A. Steitz, of Yale, will share this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  That means that Americans have shared in all three of the 2009 science Nobels announced so far, chemistry, physics, and medicine.

Americans should take pride in the accomplishments of American science.  For a country disparaged in certain circles as anti-intellectual, or even anti-education, we do awfully well in the big leagues. 

These triumphs should increase our wariness, however, at attempts to politicize science, or substitute junk science for real science. 

It would be nice if the White House would note the great week this country has had in the Nobels, but don't hold your breath.  The president might then have to concede that there's something good about the United States.

October 7,  2009