Bush vs. Science

This interesting editorial by Harold Evans illustrates how dangerous this administration's disregard for science is and what its consequences could be.

Chief among them, the decline of the US as the worldwide leader in the scientific community.

Like others I spoke with, he is less concerned with the international league tables and the familiar salami processes of the budget, than the well-documented readiness of the Bush administration to manipulate and suppress scientific findings - manifestly to appease industrial interests and religious constituencies.

This is not just on global warming and stem cells, currently in the news, but on a whole range of issues - lead and mercury poisoning in children, women's health, birth control, safety standards for drinking water, forest management, air pollution and on and on.

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Of similar mind is Russell Train, an administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under Republican Presidents Nixon and Ford. He says: "How radically we have moved away from regulation based on professional analysis of scientific data... to regulation controlled by the White House and driven by political considerations."

God only knows how history will regard Bush and his tenure. Surely, his legacy will be tainted by all this muddling.

And the conclusion of the article:

"Science relies on freedom of inquiry, and one of the hallmarks of that freedom is objectivity - government relies on the impartial perspective of science for guidance..." Those are the words of President Bush in 1990 - George Herbert Walker, the father - not the son.

Big surprise there. We always knew the father is a better man and was a better President.