Doesn't Pass the Aggie Test

Peter Schweitzer's new book "Do as I Say (Not as I Do) is an excellent expose of liberal hypocrisy, built on the premise that actions of leftist elites rarely match their rhetoric. For example, Schweitzer discovered that left-wing film maker Michael Moore actually has stock in Haliburton, Dick Cheney's old firm, which liberals often describe as the living embodiment of the evil military-industrial complex.

Schweitzer has uncovered other gems as well. Turns out that anti-American socialist professor Norm Chomsky has profitted from the military as well. Schweitzer reveals that Chomsky, a linguistics professor, has received several military research contracts over the decades, contracts that earned him millions of dollars. Not bad for a guy who once called the Pentagon "the most hideous institution on earth."

Naturally, Chomsky sees nothing wrong with taking money from a military he clearly loathes. "I think we should be responsible for what we do, and not for the bureaucratic question of who stamps the paycheck." In other words, Chomsky is more than happy to bite the hand that occasionally feeds him.

Admittedly, some of Chomsky's DOD contracts date back decades, when he was better known as a linguistics scholar than a radical activist. But the Chomsky revelation does raise disturbing questions; namely, why did the DOD keep giving Chomsky money in light of his views on the military--surely there are other linguistics scholars who could have completed the work for the Pentagon. And finally, there's the issue of potential bias in Chomsky's work. How can anyone who openly hates the military produce research that doesn't reflect that bias to some degree. Someone at the GAO or hte Pentagon Inspector General's office needs to determine if the taxpayers got their money's worth, and whether Chomsky's military customers (including the U.S. Army Signal Corps) received research data that wasn't shaped by the professor's radical views.

As my friends in College Station would say, the notion of hiring Chomsky to work for DOD just doesn't pass the Aggie Test.

Hat Tip: Inside the Ring.