Bush vs. Science 3

"Is the Bush administration anti-science?" asks Daniel Smith in The New York Times Magazine.  

When Donald Kennedy, a biologist and editor of the eminent journal Science, was asked what had led so many American scientists to feel that George W. Bush's administration is anti-science, he isolated a familiar pair of culprits: climate change and stem cells. These represent, he said, "two solid issues in which there is a real difference between a strong consensus in the science community and the response of the administration to that consensus."

Smith cites a number of other scientists and advocates who are fed up with the right's distortions of and interference with science, including Chris C. Mooney, author of the new book The Republican War on Science (watch for a Grist Q&A with Mooney coming up soon). But Smith also gives a fair bit of space to presidential science adviser John Marburger, who continues to defend the admin's record. Guess which side makes a stronger case.

Lisa Hymas is Grist’s senior editor.

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  1. redboat Posted 2:58 pm
    05 Sep 2005

    Example #1

    Oh my god, there are so many examples of times that the Bush administration has quashed real scientific work. For an excellent summary of what is being done people should read Robert Kennedy Jr.'s book "Crimes Against Nature". Chapter 5, "Science Fiction" describes what is happeing in science. I will start watching for NEW examples and post them here.

    From the latest issue of "Sierra" magazine:

    Fishy Science - Why bother learning anything new if you've already made up your mind? That seems to be the philosophy of Dale Hall, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Southwest regional director, who in January directed staff biologists charged with protecting endangered species not to use any new genetic data discovered since a species was first listed. Critics of the decision include 163 scientists who called on Hall to rescind the policy. In July, President Bush announced he was nominating Hall to head the agency.

    eddy out, redboat

  2. redboat Posted 8:43 am
    26 Sep 2005

    Example/Resources #2

    Chris Mooney (Washington correspondent for Seed magazine and a senior correspondent for the American Prospect) has recently come out with a a highly acclaimed book: "The Republican War on Science".

    For a taste of the case he presents, check out his recent column in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette: The Bush administration's abuse of science

    eddy out, redboat

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