Federal Science Gets More Politicized 567
amigoro writes to let us know about the noise a group of scientists is making to call attention to Executive Order 13422, going into effect today, that gives political appointees final say regarding science-based federal agency regulations. The Union of Concerned Scientists wrote a letter to two Senate committee chairs urging that questions about this executive order be asked at the confirmation hearings for the nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget. "UCS urged the Senate committee to ask [the nominee] Mr. Nussle how he would ensure that political appointees would not interfere with the work of agency scientists." Late last month the House voted to prohibit the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs from spending federal money on Executive Order 13422. Democrats called the order a "power grab."
Re:white house edits (Score:5, Informative)
Re:So... (Score:5, Informative)
They can't. Intelligent voters are about 1% of the population.
Re:oh, how many books I read...... (Score:2, Informative)
There needs to be a 'political officer' in every department in the US. Do you know why? Because this is a democracy. People elect leaders who then direct the government through their appointed agents. I presume you prefer that government agencies not be run by agents of an elected official but are instead unaccountable to the people visa vi their elected officials.
You know, that way they can do silly things like ban cigars outright without being stopped by the head of thier agency who is appointed by someone who was chosen by the people who like cigars, right?
Stay and Fight (Score:4, Informative)
What I'd like to do is address anyone out there who works for one of these federal agencies. While orders like these usually result in mass resignations, it's important to remember that the Bush administration's goal is to eventually populate all levels of government with sympathetic lackeys (ex. DOJ). Any resignations play into their hands. The best way to fight this is by obstruction. Keep these people out of meetings. Go over their heads. Release all unedited documents to the public over the web. Do anything you can to get the real science out. This is the only way to keep Americans from being fed lies to support bad policy.
Read the E.O. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Oh so wrong. (Score:4, Informative)
I have a home in Central Missouri, in a town of 19,000 and I use my neighbors down there as a yardstick of what your "regular" Americans think. These are the folks who listen to Rush and Sean and you know what? They're getting tired of that spiel. They don't buy it like they used to. They have voted straight Republican since Reagan and now they're actually planning to vote for "any Democrat in pants" as my friend says. And they listen to AM radio and watch cable news at night and are increasingly able to see through the baloney. It would surprise you how well-informed they are. And because they are watching family lose their home to foreclosure or be forced into bankruptcy because they got a serious illness, they are becoming increasingly well-informed.
I know the bit about how most Americans don't know who the vice president is. It's also a canard. You'll notice those bits are always on tape, never live, because it takes them a good long time to come up with one person who doesn't know Dick Cheney. I teach music in a summer camp at the church in my neighborhood for kids who live in one of the worst parts of Chicago. I asked a couple of 12 year olds who the VP was and they all knew "Dick Cheney", although a few used some colorful modifiers.That's really false. The stock market is at record territory and people are still saying the economy sucks. That's because, believe it or not, most people in the US do NOT have an IRA or 401k or KEOGH. Most people do NOT own stock. This is the real divide in the US. A good rule of thumb is that if you're wealthy enough to have purchased stock, the economy is good for you. If you're not, it's not.True, but they hate getting fucked by some smiling guy in man-tan and hairspray.There are several dozen out-of-work GOP congressmen who would disagree.
Re:Surprised? (Score:3, Informative)
Because only Cheney and his idiot crew didn't realize that this is exactly what would happen? Because they ignored every expert and general who told them that they needed to adjust their strategy to account for the reality? Because they actually believed their own crap about being "welcomed with roses"? Because they didn't even start to address the insurgency, even admit it existed, until it was in full swing? Because their lack of a plan for maintaining order once Saddam was ousted resulted in months of pure chaos? Because their decision -- driven by advice from Chalabi, an Iranian spy -- to disband the Iraqi army resulted in hundreds of thousands of young, armed, Iraqi men to suddenly become unemployed, resulting in an upswing in the insurgency, exactly like all the experts said would happen and the Bush administration denied. Every failure in Iraq was predicted in advance by people who know what they're talking about, and every time the Admin said "no they're wrong it won't happen that way". Turns out they were wrong because they know nothing, and the experts were right because they know something. Weird how that works.
I'm not blaming them for the actions of al Qaeda or Iran or the insurgents or the militia death squads. I am blaming them for their own mistakes which are multitudinous. I'm blaming them for not listening to good advice. I'm blaming them for being so ignorant and blind that they thought they could waltz into Iraq, kick Saddam to the curb, and turn the place into Minnesota overnight without having so much as a plan for doing so! Nobody who knew anything about Iraq thought that would work, and these guys not only didn't know anything about Iraq, they deliberately avoided learning!
If they didn't want to take responsibility for "middle-eastern muslim infighting" then they should have stayed the fuck out of a middle eastern country. If they won't do that, then they have to deal with that reality in a realistic way, and they completely failed to do so.