Bush Administration interferes with government scientists

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White House Tries to Rein In Scientists

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has ordered that government scientists must be approved by a senior political appointee before they can participate in meetings convened by the World Health Organization (news - web sites), the leading international health and science agency.

A top official from the Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Department in April asked the WHO to begin routing requests for participation in its meetings to the department's secretary for review, rather than directly invite individual scientists, as has long been the case.

Officials at the WHO, based in Geneva, Switzerland, have refused to implement the request, saying it could compromise the independence of international scientific deliberations. Denis G. Aitken, WHO assistant director-general, said Friday that he had been negotiating with Washington in an effort to reach a compromise.

The request is the latest instance in which the Bush administration has been accused of allowing politics to intrude into once-sacrosanct areas of scientific deliberation. It has been criticized for replacing highly regarded scientists with industry and political allies on advisory panels. A biologist who was at odds with the administration's position on stem-cell research was dismissed from a presidential advisory commission. This year, 60 prominent scientists accused the administration of "misrepresenting and suppressing scientific knowledge for political purposes."

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 04:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Fascist.

Okay that was the most obvious thing to say ever, but he bloody is.

― The Ghost at Number Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 04:59 (twenty-one years ago)

This has been going on ever since he took office. I can't even speak about it.
Me hace hierve a la mierda.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 05:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Since when has there been a more hateable president of the US?

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:02 (twenty-one years ago)

In the olden days, if you didn't like the President, you just assasinate him! Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Kennedy...

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:11 (twenty-one years ago)

reagan.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Who was the last Republican president who wasn't an idiot? I think Nixon, but someone made a good case that he was an idiot too. Democrats too, but I like Clinton and think he's kinda clever. So...why does the US elect fools to tun their country? Is it that the 'common man' ideal is mixed up with stupidity? sorry, off topic...

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Do you really think Bush personally is behind every action his government takes? A dumb president could be a better option than an intelligent one for all the Grey Emissaries, because he's easier to control.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Bush is probably behind surprisingly few - but not keeping an eye on your staff makes you as bad a president as doing all these things himself. If he's unaware of them, or aware but doesn't object, he's accountable.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, I'm sure he agrees with most of these policies, what I meant was that getting rid of him won't solve much.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, hopefully a change of staff will sort things out a little. And it's hard to imagine a lot of what's gone on recently happening without the specific personalities involved being there. If the Republicans do lose the election, I guess it could be a test to see how attached the Republican Party is to the neocon ideology - though it would probably have to be a disastrous result for an ideological shift to occur in the RP.

It's a shame really, because I've always been very impressed with the WHO reports, and their willingness to condemn world powers for their behaviour.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:37 (twenty-one years ago)

tuomas, even if it's not bush doing things himself directly - it is his staff, appointed by him, who share his political views doing these things based on his doctrine. getting rid of him will get rid of his gang of nut jobs with their ideals & replace them with a slightly less disruptive agenda.

― dyson (dyson), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 13:22 (twenty-one years ago)

six years pass...

Science funding by mob rule. What could possibly go wrong?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSYTS-nRt4o

US public asked to play judge and jury for science funding
Peter Aldhous, San Francisco bureau chief
If you had any doubts that science faces a rough ride in the next Congress, due to start work in January, watch this video.
The incoming Republican majority in the House of Representatives has selected the National Science Foundation (NSF) as the first target for a "YouCut Citizen Review", in which ordinary Americans are being asked to identify "wasteful spending that should be cut".
For several weeks now, the website of Eric Cantor, the incoming House majority leader, has featured a project called YouCut, in which people are asked to vote by text message and email on a series of proposed spending cuts. Each of the winners has been put to the floor of the House for a vote.
As long as the Republicans were in the minority, these votes were all doomed to defeat – you can see a summary of the results here. But with the balance of power poised to shift, Cantor has unveiled a new variation on the theme: asking people to delve into the records of individual agencies for examples of waste.
The selection of NSF as the first target will send a chilling message to researchers. The YouCut Citizen Review site includes a link to the NSF's Award Search site, and a form for people to submit examples of offending projects.
"If you find a grant that you believe is a waste of your taxdollars, be sure to record the award number," participants are told. "We will publish a report outlining the grants identified by the YouCut community."
The suggested search terms – "success, culture, media, games, social norm, lawyers, museum, leisure, stimulus" – and the contrast drawn between "worthy research in the hard sciences" and "questionable projects" hint that researchers funded by the NSF's Directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences have the most to fear.

― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Tuesday, 7 December 2010 06:45 (fifteen years ago)

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