Dear Colleagues and friends of Warren:
Linda Brinen has given us a poignant example of Warren's exceptional
eloquence and humanity from a perspective so personal that it leaves
one in silent awe.
Like everyone else here, I have benefitted immensely from Warren's
frequent communiques and already miss our usual banter, typically
initiated by one of my many inane comments on the mailing lists, but
always ending with Warren's profoundly clever insights.
I remember one time in particular we were discussing whether the CCP4
mailing list might be more dynamic if it worked like a website-based
bulletin board. He suggested, perhaps half-seriously, a
crystallographer's social networking site be created and named www.myreciprocalspace.com
.
Warren also had a very deep and profound sense of community that
extended far beyond our field, to all of humanity. When a number of us
were expressing concern in March of 2003 about the events unfolding,
Warren minced no words, and he wrote the following at a time when this
type of analysis, far from seeming obvious, was considered by many to
be quite subversive. Keep in mind this is when he was first trying to
build up his DeLano Scientific business profile, and he put a premium
upon speaking potentially unpopular opinions ahead of ingratiating
himself to potential customers. I will remember him always as an
exceptionally creative scientist (he was every bit as an exceptional
molecular biologist, I came to learn, as he was a crystallographic
programmer) of extraordinary principle.
Here is what Warren DeLano wrote on March 28, 2003:
Fellow Scientists,
I share the opinion that scientific mailing lists are not the place
for
heated political discussions, but I do think all scientists, in
America
and around the world, need to think seriously about the changes in the
American psychology and government which have occurred since 9/11, and
should consider corrective action.
This world is in great peril, but it is not weapons of mass
destruction
which threaten the peace. It is America's abandonment of the
principles
of civil liberties, human rights, and limited government, in the
name of
self-defense and with a consuming fear of terrorist attacks.
I, for one, would rather risk the fireball of a terrorist nuke than
spend
the rest of my life living under an oppressive government which
claims to
be protecting me at the cost of my basic rights and freedoms.
Sure, we could focus on opposing the war in Iraq, but no one can
dispute
the brutality of Saddam's regime and the benefit to the Iraqi people
if a
representative government can be formed once the fighting stops.
Iraq is
simply a red herring -- a decoy which distracts us.
The real issue is why the American government, with broad popular
support,
is acting in a manner so clearly not in America's own self-interest by
defying world opinion, by invading another nation without clear
provocation, by risking the precious lives of our men and women, and
by
spending hundreds of billions of dollars on top of a major budget
crisis?
Today in America, citizens can be held indefinitely without due
process or
the protection of an attorney.
Today in America, intelligence agencies are assembling centralized
networks to monitor patterns of travel, financial transactions,
internet
communications, and other expressions of freedom.
Today in America, laws which strip us of fundamental American
freedoms and
protections are dressed using misleading labels such as the "Patriot
Act",
the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act", and the "Domestic Security
Enhancement Act".
Today in America and in Iraq, members of the press and the military
are
eating, sleeping, and working as a unified team.
Today in America, talk show hosts who publicly challenge government
policies receive intimidating visits from government agents.
Today in America, the Bush administration is directing funds to
favored
religious groups through so-called "Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives".
The Iraq war is merely a symptom of a deep and troubling change in
this
country -- a change which left unchecked threatens the peace and
security
of the entire world. Whether by conscious choice, or simply through
lack
of vigilance, we are granting terrorists a victory that they could
never have achieved by force alone: the destruction of America.
Just imagine for a moment what the world's greatest nuclear superpower
might look like under fascist control. No, we are not there yet,
but we
are moving in that direction, and soon it may be too late for reason
and
wisdom to prevail...
Warren L. DeLano, Ph.D.
I regret that I will never get the chance to vote for him for U.S.
Senator or President.
Yours faithfully,
William G. Scott
Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
and The Center for the Molecular Biology of RNA
228 Sinsheimer Laboratories
University of California at Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California 95064
USA
phone: +1-831-459-5367 (office)
+1-831-459-5292 (lab)
fax: +1-831-4593139 (fax)
