This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Scientists have come under loads of scrutiny, if not criticism, for their recommendations on vaccines to combat the Covid pandemic.

Some of it is deserved.  Some of it is not.

Just ask Anthony Fauci.

The Washington Post showed up this week with a column on the subject and it contained this helpful paragraph:

“How can two esteemed scientists look at the same evidence and come to such different conclusions?  Public health officials today are saddled with the unenviable task of providing clear, simple directives in response to a complex and constantly evolving pandemic.  No matter where they draw lines, the terrain under their feet is likely to shift.  The continuing booster debate is perhaps the clearest example of these challenges.”

Note the line – “no matter where they draw lines, the terrain under their feet is likely to shift.”

That’s the harsh reality.

If scientists twist data or lie, shame on them.

But, it they try to do the best they can with shifting sands, good for them.  They should not be subjected to media criticism when they try to negotiate the shifting sands.

I choose to rely on what looks to me to be reputable science, then make my own decisions.

Which is why my wife and I got the second booster shot last week – our fourth vaccine….two basic shots and two boosters.

Let solid science prevail.