Monday, December 03, 2007

Weird science From the White House

Along with the overt war on global terrorism, the Bush administration has engaged in a covert war on science.

The Flat Earthers in the administration have tried to keep their interference under wraps. Their anti-science antics have been aided by a press distracted by Rudy’s fuzzy math and with the deeper meaning of Hillary’s plunging neckline.

These are serious matters, I assure you.

But do, please, pay attention to the ghosts this White House put into the machine. The loyal Bushies have found countless ways of silencing or undercutting researchers whose findings run counter to Bush-Cheney politics. They have manipulated data on food safety, weather, climate change, health, conservation and more.

So arrogant are these mediocre minds that they actually think they are smarter than our rocket scientists. Who needs physics when you’ve got political capital, right? Who needs an "A" in science when you can just hack into the computer and change the grade from a "C"? What loyal Bushies are doing to science amounts to the same thing, except it’s worse than cheating.

The Bush apparatchiks have left fingerprints on everything from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the Food and Drug Administration to the Smithsonian Institution. Just to name a few.

What in the name of Copernicus are they up to? Politics, as usual.

When NASA physicist James Hansen started getting noticed for his claims of global climate change and the consequences, the Bushies put the screws to him. As director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Hansen had been a consistent bellwether since the 1980s on this issue.

But when the physicist’s claims collided with the 2004 presidential campaign and the interests of Dick Cheney’s energy pals, NASA’s loyal Bushies hung out Hansen to dry. This administration cares more for science fiction than science. Which begs the question: Why doesn’t the SciFi Channel televise the State of the Union?

Yes, it’s hard to believe that the same White House that dispatched red-state governors to mock global warming as a liberal hoax would stoop so low. But this is war, people! So it’s either us or the white-tailed prairie dog.

Everybody knows that if you’re for the white-tailed prairie dog, the terrorists win.

The white-tailed prairie dog was one of at least seven species that were considered endangered until politics stepped in. The Interior Department’s inspector general investigated eight questionable decisions by a former Fish and Wildlife Service director. The conclusion: Julie MacDonald, a Bush appointee, consistently overruled scientific findings affecting endangered species determinations.

Her actions "may have improperly influenced" decisions about which species and habitats warrant special protection.

As reported by The Washington Post, the inspector general’s report found that an original recommendation of "substantial" proof of the species endangered status was changed. "The change to ’not substantial’ only occurred at Ms. MacDonald’s suggestion." MacDonald faces a congressional inquiry. Meanwhile, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would revise seven decisions on species protection made during her tenure.

I know you’re just as concerned as the next person about the Hawaiian picture-wing fly. And you’ve lost sleep over the fate of Preble’s meadow jumping mouse out West. But closer to home, you’ll find more politics at work.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration still have some explaining to do about a speedy 2004 decision to allow companies to package meats using carbon monoxide to keep them red and looking fresh. The government made its decision, despite concerns from companies that benefited from it but still had some safety questions.

You do know where hurricanes come from, don’t you? They are caused by unrepentant gay activists, according to some in the Religious Right. The Double R’s, who favor Bush, also claimed that Katrina, shown on weather maps as an endangered fetus, struck New Orleans as punishment.

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