So far, Bush has not found the science
There is a great article, titled “Science Wars II,” on CSICOP about the Bush adminstration’s total disregard for scientific data, and scientists and researchers are getting pretty sick of it. The author makes a conclusion:
We don’t have to postulate a nefarious conspiracy, then, to explain the war on science that has manifested itself during the Bush administration. We need only point to an army of political appointees in government agencies who are going about their jobs the only way they know how—i.e., talking a lot to their industry or religious right allies and frequently rewarding their lobbying attempts in scientific areas. In short, it’s a politico-scientific spoils system. And as this particular spoils system proceeds to allocate rewards, it simultaneously undermines, cheapens, and compromises federal agencies as reliable, public-oriented sources of scientific analysis and information.
To which I would add, a huge segment of the conservative movement in America is aimed at the dismantling of the federal government. So the very act of being pro-business and anti-fact is helping conservatives make more money while destroying the institutions that they hate. It feeds into itself. Since we can’t trust the government to remain neutral in matters affecting our health or environment, we have to ask ourselves, “Just what good is government at all?” And this very question helps the conservatives who designed the government to fail for the American people. Party of Lincoln, my ass.
Posted by Jonathan at 03:57 PM, 23 July 2005
