Reply #118: That's not really true

[salvorhardin]

Michael Shermer's education is in psychology (BA) and experimental psychology (MA). This does make the guy a scientist, albeit one who chose not to make science his career. Early on it appears, guaging from his CV, that he went into education and over the course of a decade he transitioned into a career popularizing science and his current gig being a professional skeptic. Along the way he earned a PhD in the History of Science.
http://www.skeptic.com/DrShermerCV.htm

Science is not a thing, it is a process by which we can make reasoned arguements about how the natural world works and predictions about how it might work in the future.

Similarly, a scientist is not always someone who makes their living from science but also someone who engages in the scientific process. Michael Shermer fits that definition of a scientist in both respects.

Also, your arguement that there is something fishy about Michael Shermer debunking pseudoscience because he does not make his living as a scientist is itself bunk. Do I need to be a politician to call fraud, corruption and croneyism on the Bush administration?