Post by Randall Lord on Feb 5, 2006 15:22:13 GMT -5
Bush has already made it clear that he doesn't like evolution, and
thinks "intelligent design" should be taught in schools. Now there is
an indication that at least some members of the administration are
going after the "Big Bang". See this story from the New York Times.
It's past the part about global warming.
NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: February 4, 2006
A week after NASA's top climate scientist complained that the space
agency's public-affairs office was trying to silence his statements on
global warming, the agency's administrator, Michael D. Griffin, issued
a sharply worded statement yesterday calling for "scientific openness"
throughout the agency.
"It is not the job of public-affairs officers," Dr. Griffin wrote in
an e-mail message to the agency's 19,000 employees, "to alter, filter
or adjust engineering or scientific material produced by NASA's
technical staff."
The statement came six days after The New York Times quoted the
scientist, James E. Hansen, as saying he was threatened with "dire
consequences" if he continued to call for prompt action to limit
emissions of heat-trapping gases linked to global warming. He and
intermediaries in the agency's 350-member public-affairs staff said
the warnings came from White House appointees in NASA headquarters.
Other National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists and
public-affairs employees came forward this week to say that beyond Dr.
Hansen's case, there were several other instances in which political
appointees had sought to control the flow of scientific information
from the agency.
They called or e-mailed The Times and sent documents showing that news
releases were delayed or altered to mesh with Bush administration
policies.
In October, for example, George Deutsch, a presidential appointee in
NASA headquarters, told a Web designer working for the agency to add
the word "theory" after every mention of the Big Bang, according to an
e-mail message from Mr. Deutsch that another NASA employee forwarded
to The Times. . . .
. . .The Big Bang memo came from Mr. Deutsch, a 24-year-old
presidential appointee in the press office at NASA headquarters whose
résumé says he was an intern in the "war room" of the 2004 Bush-Cheney
re-election campaign. A 2003 journalism graduate of Texas A&M, he was
also the public-affairs officer who sought more control over Dr.
Hansen's public statements.
In October 2005, Mr. Deutsch sent an e-mail message to Flint Wild, a
NASA contractor working on a set of Web presentations about Einstein
for middle-school students. The message said the word "theory" needed
to be added after every mention of the Big Bang.
The Big Bang is "not proven fact; it is opinion," Mr. Deutsch wrote,
adding, "It is not NASA's place, nor should it be to make a
declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that
discounts intelligent design by a creator."
It continued: "This is more than a science issue, it is a religious
issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be
getting one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had
failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual
information the most."
The memo also noted that The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel
Manual specified the phrasing "Big Bang theory." Mr. Acosta, Mr.
Deutsch's boss, said in an interview yesterday that for that reason,
it should be used in all NASA documents.
The Deutsch memo was provided by an official at NASA headquarters who
said he was upset with the effort to justify changes to descriptions
of science by referring to politically charged issues like intelligent
design. Senior NASA officials did not dispute the message's
authenticity.
Mr. Wild declined to be interviewed; Mr. Deutsch did not respond to
e-mail or phone messages. On Friday evening, repeated queries were
made to the White House about how a young presidential appointee with
no science background came to be supervising Web presentations on
cosmology and interview requests to senior NASA scientists.
The only response came from Donald Tighe of the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy. "Science is respected and protected and
highly valued by the administration," he said.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/science/04climate.html
thinks "intelligent design" should be taught in schools. Now there is
an indication that at least some members of the administration are
going after the "Big Bang". See this story from the New York Times.
It's past the part about global warming.
NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: February 4, 2006
A week after NASA's top climate scientist complained that the space
agency's public-affairs office was trying to silence his statements on
global warming, the agency's administrator, Michael D. Griffin, issued
a sharply worded statement yesterday calling for "scientific openness"
throughout the agency.
"It is not the job of public-affairs officers," Dr. Griffin wrote in
an e-mail message to the agency's 19,000 employees, "to alter, filter
or adjust engineering or scientific material produced by NASA's
technical staff."
The statement came six days after The New York Times quoted the
scientist, James E. Hansen, as saying he was threatened with "dire
consequences" if he continued to call for prompt action to limit
emissions of heat-trapping gases linked to global warming. He and
intermediaries in the agency's 350-member public-affairs staff said
the warnings came from White House appointees in NASA headquarters.
Other National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists and
public-affairs employees came forward this week to say that beyond Dr.
Hansen's case, there were several other instances in which political
appointees had sought to control the flow of scientific information
from the agency.
They called or e-mailed The Times and sent documents showing that news
releases were delayed or altered to mesh with Bush administration
policies.
In October, for example, George Deutsch, a presidential appointee in
NASA headquarters, told a Web designer working for the agency to add
the word "theory" after every mention of the Big Bang, according to an
e-mail message from Mr. Deutsch that another NASA employee forwarded
to The Times. . . .
. . .The Big Bang memo came from Mr. Deutsch, a 24-year-old
presidential appointee in the press office at NASA headquarters whose
résumé says he was an intern in the "war room" of the 2004 Bush-Cheney
re-election campaign. A 2003 journalism graduate of Texas A&M, he was
also the public-affairs officer who sought more control over Dr.
Hansen's public statements.
In October 2005, Mr. Deutsch sent an e-mail message to Flint Wild, a
NASA contractor working on a set of Web presentations about Einstein
for middle-school students. The message said the word "theory" needed
to be added after every mention of the Big Bang.
The Big Bang is "not proven fact; it is opinion," Mr. Deutsch wrote,
adding, "It is not NASA's place, nor should it be to make a
declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that
discounts intelligent design by a creator."
It continued: "This is more than a science issue, it is a religious
issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be
getting one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had
failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual
information the most."
The memo also noted that The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel
Manual specified the phrasing "Big Bang theory." Mr. Acosta, Mr.
Deutsch's boss, said in an interview yesterday that for that reason,
it should be used in all NASA documents.
The Deutsch memo was provided by an official at NASA headquarters who
said he was upset with the effort to justify changes to descriptions
of science by referring to politically charged issues like intelligent
design. Senior NASA officials did not dispute the message's
authenticity.
Mr. Wild declined to be interviewed; Mr. Deutsch did not respond to
e-mail or phone messages. On Friday evening, repeated queries were
made to the White House about how a young presidential appointee with
no science background came to be supervising Web presentations on
cosmology and interview requests to senior NASA scientists.
The only response came from Donald Tighe of the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy. "Science is respected and protected and
highly valued by the administration," he said.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/science/04climate.html
