Feb. 4, 2006, 1:34AM
Gagged prophet
The Bush administration continues to ignore climate change while trying to silence government scientists

Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

NASA's top climatologist, James E. Hansen, recently urged swift action to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. When he did, the agency's public affairs machinery went into overdrive.


NASA officials ordered Hansen to submit for review any lectures, Internet statements and journalists' requests for interviews. Hansen recently posted a widely quoted report on a NASA Web site stating that 2005 was the hottest year since comprehensive weather records were first kept.

A NASA political appointee, William Deutsch, nixed an interview with Hansen on National Public Radio. Deutsch reportedly told another NASA public affairs officer that NPR was "the most liberal media source" in the nation and that his job "was to make the president look good." If Deutsch said that, he is wrong. The job of government public affairs officials is to inform the public and make available public information.

Hansen, who holds a doctorate in physics, has been issuing warnings of the consequences of man-made pollution of the atmosphere for 15 years. He rightly refused to comply with the gag order. "They feel their job is to be this censor of information going out to the public," he told The New York Times, noting that "public concern is probably the only thing capable of overcoming the special interests that have obfuscated the topic." According to Hansen, many scientists within the government have been pressured to avoid public discussion of climate change. ... Balance of article here.

In an article called The Worst Shame of the Bush Administration a blogger discusses the culpable consequences of the EPA telling New Yorkers it was safe to go back into Southern Manhattan while the air there was still heavily toxic.

The Toledo Blade , in an editorial, discusses the views of two professors on the hazards of the Bush Administrations distortive impact on the balance of powers, and the checks and balances system of the U.S. Government.

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