Bush to Scientists: Fuck Off

This Washington Post article shows that even science is not immune from the sleazy politics played by the administration. John Marburger released what is supposed to be a line by line refutation of a report issued by the Union of Concerned Scientists back in February. The Post's report makes it clear that the supposed refuation is just more hot air and lame opinion from the White House.

As long as government funds scientific research there will be politics. However, when a clear consensus emerges in the scientific community, it is imperative that research dollars go to fund projects that reflect this consensus. Bush policies, in contrast, fail in this regard. The most egregious example is probably their position on global warming. It is clear, based on the data, that global temperatures are rising. Whether or not this is a natural phenomenon or the result of human impact might be debatable, but the data doesn't lie. But Bush denies global warming, period.

Another example of politics trumping science is the EPA report on conditions at ground zero following the September 11th attacks. Common Dreams notes that the Bush administration made announcements about air quality while lacking adequate data, and ignored hazardous conditions at the site, potentially exposing folks like the rescue and recovery team to things like asbestos.

As someone who believes strongly in scientific principles, this sort of stuff should be reason alone to fire the pResident and put someone else--anyone else--in the office. But with this administration, it is merely ANOTHER reason, besides his disasterous domestic and foreign policies, to give it the boot.