SONICFROG DOT NET

Obama and Scientific Openness And Transparency – More “Same As The Old Boss”

Remember how the Bush administration was accused of silencing critics within the administration when dealing with disagreements on science issues?  James Hansen (who appeared on 60 minutes to declare his being censored)  I’m looking your way.   Remember how Obama pledged that his administration was going to be open to scientific debate? Well, the administration is open to all points of view… as long as they tow the party line on policy. The EPA is trying to squelch two critics of the administrations  “cap and trade” bill.  The two EPA officials, with over twenty years dealing with global warming climate change issues, agree with critics who say that the pending legislation will do nothing to prevent climate change. They made a video expressing their thoughts, but were told to either take it down, or face disciplinary actions. The original video video appears to be gone, but some plucky internet hacker copied the video before it was pulled. It’s grainy, but here is the copy.

And BTW, this is the second time someone has fallen victim to the policy police, Alan Carlin being the first (that we know of) to fall into the vortex of silence.  Hmmm, two in nine months. At this rate, the Obama administration may break Bush’s record of censorship.

PS. There is good news here. It appears the Obama administration can do SOMETHING without the need to appoint yet another Czar, A Censorship Czar. Hmmmm. It does have a nice ring to it, though I probably shouldn’t give them any ideas.