NationStates Jolt Archive

Bush faces censorship probe

TWO US government agencies are investigating whether the Bush administration tried to block government scientists from speaking freely about global warming and censor their research, a senator says.
Democrat Frank Lautenberg said he was informed that the inspector general for the Commerce Department and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had begun “coordinated, sweeping investigations of the Bush administration’s censorship and suppression” of federal research into global warming.

“These investigations are critical because the Republicans in Congress have ignored this serious problem,” Lautenberg said.

Republicans have controlled Congress for most of Republican president Bush’s five years in office.

Lautenberg said the investigations “will uncover internal documents and agency correspondence that may expose widespread misconduct.” He added: “Taxpayers do not fund scientific research so the Bush White House can alter it.”

Kristen Hellmer, a spokeswoman for the White House Council for Environmental Quality, said early yesterday that the administration had supported the scientific process in its approach to studying climate change.

“We have in place the most transparent system of science reporting, and claims that the administration interfered with scientists are false,” she said.

“Our focus is on taking action and making real progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The nearly-two billion-dollars worth of climate science we publish annually leads the world and speaks for itself.”

Carbon dioxide and other gases primarily from fossil fuel-burning that scientists say trap heat in the atmosphere have warmed the Earth’s surface an average one degree over the past century.

The total US emissions, now more than 7 billion tons a year, are projected to rise 14% from 2002 to 2012.

In February, Republican Sherwood Boehlert, chairman of the Science Committee in the House of Representatives, and other congressional leaders asked NASA to guarantee scientific openness. They complained that a public affairs officer changed or filtered information on global warming and the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe.

Why do I think this will not be as big an issue as the Clinton affair.If the charges are proved to be correct shoule Mr. Bush be impeached??

A few mid-level people of no real significane will be blamed and promptly fired.

Why do people think that the right to free speech includes the right to make others listen? The government paid for the research, a business it should not be in, and it can determine the outcome of the research products.

Why do people think that the right to free speech includes the right to make others listen? The government paid for the research, a business it should not be in, and it can determine the outcome of the research products.
No the tax payer paid for the research and they are entitled to know the results of the research..

Why do people think that the right to free speech includes the right to make others listen? The government paid for the research, a business it should not be in, and it can determine the outcome of the research products.
Not to be a bother, but doesn't that kinda maybe pervert the most fundamental ideals of scientific inquiry? Sorta?

Not to be a bother, but doesn't that kinda maybe pervert the most fundamental ideals of scientific inquiry? Sorta?

He is saying that the government shouldn't do scientific research because they could doctor the results. Which every other organisation can do just as easily.

No the tax payer paid for the research and they are entitled to know the results of the research..

Is the taxpayer then entitled to know everything about anything that his money funded for the government? No. So what makes this case special?

He is saying that the government shouldn't do scientific research because they could doctor the results. Which every other organisation can do just as easily.
In an ideal world the government is supposed to be an organisation which serves the best intrests of the people not the best intrests of the government.

He is saying that the government shouldn't do scientific research because they could doctor the results. Which every other organisation can do just as easily.

Actually, it isn't a proper function of government to do a lot of the research that they do sponsor. There are always exceptions and we could argue that climatology is one of them.

In an ideal world the government is supposed to be an organisation which serves the best intrests of the people not the best intrests of the government.
Show me the world.

Is the taxpayer then entitled to know everything about anything that his money funded for the government? No. So what makes this case special?
But they are entitled to know that results of the research that are being presented to them are not being fudged to serve the intrests of those presenting it.

Show me the world.
True, hence my choice of words.;)

But they are entitled to know that results of the research that are being presented to them are not being fudged to serve the intrests of those presenting it.

The question is 'Was it censored, supressed, or altered?'. The three aren't equivalent.

This is clearly just a vain an effort to undo the damage that Pelosi and Kerry have done to the Democratic Party steamroller.

TWO US government agencies are investigating whether the Bush administration tried to block government scientists from speaking freely about global warming and censor their research, a senator says.
Democrat Frank Lautenberg said he was informed that the inspector general for the Commerce Department and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had begun “coordinated, sweeping investigations of the Bush administration’s censorship and suppression” of federal research into global warming.

“These investigations are critical because the Republicans in Congress have ignored this serious problem,” Lautenberg said.

Republicans have controlled Congress for most of Republican president Bush’s five years in office.

Lautenberg said the investigations “will uncover internal documents and agency correspondence that may expose widespread misconduct.” He added: “Taxpayers do not fund scientific research so the Bush White House can alter it.”