Background:
Ebola; The Perfect Example Of How The GOP Is Reacting Out Of Fear Rather Than Through Reason & Science (GOP Are Basically The Anti -Science Party!)

The GOP & the anti-vaccine movement - As the U.S. battles its worst measles outbreak in 20 years, Chris Christie and Rand Paul are defending what they call parents’ right not to vaccinate their children.

VACCINES - A growing number of parents opt out of vaccinating their children, thanks in part to a discredited study linking vaccines to autism. (6:50):

Vaccine science becomes GOP point of debate - Rachel Maddow reports on the litany of declared and expected Republican candidates for president in 2016 who seized upon the unexpected contention over the validity of vaccinations to clarify (or run from) their positions on the matter.

Anti-vaccination concerns not based in fact - Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, talks with Rachel Maddow about the health risks associated with not being vaccinated, and the importance of dispelling the myths behind the anti-vaccination argument.

The origin of the anti-vaccine movement - Chris Hayes is joined by Retro Report’s Bonnie Bertram to trace the current anti-vaccine movement back to one debunked, discredited study published in 1998.

MSNBC: The next phase in the war on science

For supporters of modern science, the prevailing political winds have to be discouraging. For example, congressional Republicans not only reject climate science en masse, but each of the incoming GOP senators are climate deniers.
 
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) likes to mock NIH research as a punch-line. Republicans spent weeks balkingat the science of the Ebola virus. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) doesn’t want to say whether he believes in evolution – and he was a biology major. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is poised to take over the Senate panel on science, and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) will chair the Senate Environment Committee.
 
It’s been several years since my friend Chris Mooney wrote a terrific book called, “The Republican War on Science,” and I’m starting to think it may need a sequel. Michael Hiltzik reported yesterday:

Nothing is easier, if you’re a political philistine playing to an audience of anti-intellectual rubes, than to ridicule scientific research projects by caricature.
 
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who frighteningly enough is chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, appears bent on polishing this methodology to a lustrous glow. As detailed in a thoroughly unnerving report by Science’s Jeff Mervis, Smith has his staffers compiling a spreadsheet of National Science Foundation grants vulnerable to being lampooned as, in Mervis’ words, “silly, obvious, or of low priority to society.”

Not surprisingly, officials at the National Science Foundation and the Association of American Universities aren’t pleased and have begun pushing back. They warned yesterday that the inquiry pushed by Smith and his colleagues “is having a destructive effect on NSF and on the merit review process that is designed to fund the best research and to remove those decisions from the political process.”
 
Republicans spent a year responding to questions about the climate crisis by saying, “I’m not a scientist.” But when it comes to evaluating the validity of research, suddenly they are scientists?

Background:
Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe Takes A Know Nothing Approach To Climate Change (& Facts!) 

Democalypse 2014 - South by South Mess: Malady on 34th Street
When a doctor returning from West Africa is diagnosed with Ebola in New York City, the media and government fail to handle the situation gracefully. (8:28):

Moment of Zen - Catching Ebola
Dr. Natalie Azar explains the conditions required to successfully transmit Ebola on MSNBC's "The Daily Rundown." (0:18)

Fox News, Bill O Reilly & Rush Limbaugh (see links to past posts, below) - not to mention the rest of the media using fear to gain some viewers - have been scaring the pants off people using non-scientific facts about Ebola. It's like how they handle Climate Change, i.e. 'I am not a scientist' which means that they lack the ability to comprehend science no matter how many scientists try & explain it to them. John Oliver demonstrates:

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Climate Change Debate

Normally a test is to determine something...

Rachel Maddow: Student tests negative for Ebola, quarantined anyway
Ryan Boyko, a Yale student quarantined by order of the state of Connecticut despite having tested negative for Ebola and having no symptoms of the disease, talks with Rachel Maddow about inconsistent and irrational Ebola quarantine rules in the U.S.

Chris Hayes: Christie and Cuomo face quarantine backlash
After Governors Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie impose a mandatory quarantine derided by the medical community as well as its first victim, the Governors shift positions.

Rachel Maddow: Rachel Maddow Fear-driven governors make Ebola policy mess
Rachel Maddow describes the confusion over Ebola quarantine policy for people returning to the US from countries crisis with Ebola as state governors abandon science-based recommendations and scramble to appease irrational public fears.

I have been posting on Bill O Reilly's talking points on another blog and they show that the steady fear mongering of Bill O Reilly was a factor in the Ebola fear reaching epic proportions;

Rush Limbaugh Mistakes & Smears On Czars - Past & Present

BILL O'REILLY & A BUNCH OF HIS ALLIES IN THE MEDIA DO AN EBOLA FEAR MONGERING CAMPAIGN 

COMMENTARY ON BILL THE LIAR'S "WHY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS NOT PROTECTING AMERICA - OCT. 13, 2014"

COMMENTARY ON BILL'S "THE EBOLA FACTOR" - OCT. 16, 2014

COMMENTARY ON BILL'S OCT 15 TALKING POINTS & BASIC EBOLA CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES OUTLINED FOR TEXAS HOSPITALS 

COMMENTARY ON BILL THE LIAR'S "LATEST ON THE EBOLA DEBACLE" FROM OCT 14, 2014


Video Showing How Obvious Bill O Reilly's Fear Mongering On Ebola Was:
Watch Stephen Colbert Make Fun Of Bill O Reilly's Ebola Fear Mogering By Acting Like Him IN A Satirical Manner...

Some more proof that the GOP has become the Anti Science Party &/Or Pro Hysteria Party

Article: Scientists have sold their souls – and basic research – to business A devil's bargain struck by scientists with government has led to the downgrading of basic research

You’d never know we were Ebola free
As Dr. Craig Spencer is sent home from the hospital, today is officially “Victory from Ebola Day” in the U.S. But according to the media, you’d never know.

The media’s ‘totally rational’ response to Ebola
With the number of Ebola cases in the U.S. back at zero, Chris Hayes takes a look back at the media coverage.

Textbook tearing crosses line for even reddest voters
Rachel Maddow reports that the school board that voted to tear out pages from the honors biology textbook to remove mentions of abortion has lost its tea party majority, leaving the censorship plan in question. ArizonaHonorsBiology.com remains, just in case.