« Swaggering idiots | Main | The word - of Steven Colbert »
February 8, 2006
Infested swamp
by Sylvia S Tognetti
Digby raises the issue that scientific agencies are undoubtedly infested with pests like George Deutsch, "not only in pr but in positions that require serious decision-making." He calls them mosquitos. I think of it more as a hydra-infested swamp - that will require a Herculean effort to eradicate (DC was built on a wetland...) Just a hunch but, somebody who has time or gets paid to investigate such things might take start by taking a look at the qualifications of political appointees at the Office of Management and Budget - which has an awful lot of power over what the science agencies do. As Digby also says:
Let's be clear about this. This is the kind of incompetent behavior that right wing ideologues, obsessed with ideology and appearance over reality, repeat again and again and again. And it has consequences.... Bush's wholesale trashing of US science policy -climate change research is just one area- has the potential to lead to serious threats to our national security.Addendum: On second thought - lest we forget New Orleans, it already has. As I have blogged in earlier posts - both before and after Katrina, there was no lack of scientific early warnings - or even plans for coastal restoration or proposals for funding mechanisms - years in advance. I saw Mary Landrieu on CSPAN last week - still asking for a share of revenue from offshore oil and gas receipts to fund the restoration plan - as she did long before Katrina. How about we hear it from some non-Louisiana senators and representatives? Maybe we need a Mardi Gras parade through the halls of congress or something....
[Correction: I think the above was not from Digby but from "Tristero" posting on Digby's blog, Hullabaloo.]
Posted by Sylvia S Tognetti at February 8, 2006 2:03 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.postnormaltimes.net/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/84