RFK Jr., The Junk Science Of GW Bush

[G_j]

THE JUNK SCIENCE OF GEORGE W. BUSH
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., The Nation

Flat-earthers in the Bush Administration -- along with hired guns and conservative think tanks -- are engaged in a campaign to suppress science that is arguably unmatched in the Western world since the Inquisition.

http://www.alternet.org/members/story.html?StoryID=17949

As Jesuit schoolboys studying world history we learned that Copernicus and Galileo self-censored for many decades their proofs that the earth revolved around the sun and that a less restrained heliocentrist, Giordano Bruno, was burned alive in 1600 for the crime of sound science. With the encouragement of our professor, Father Joyce, we marveled at the capacity of human leaders to corrupt noble institutions. Lust for power had caused the Catholic hierarchy to subvert the church's most central purpose ? the search for existential truths.

Today, flat-earthers within the Bush Administration ? aided by right-wing allies who have produced assorted hired guns and conservative think tanks to further their goals ? are engaged in a campaign to suppress science that is arguably unmatched in the Western world since the Inquisition. Sometimes, rather than suppress good science, they simply order up their own. Meanwhile, the Bush White House is purging, censoring, and blacklisting scientists and engineers whose work threatens the profits of the Administration's corporate paymasters or challenges the ideological underpinnings of their radical anti-environmental agenda. Indeed, so extreme is this campaign that more than sixty scientists, including Nobel laureates and medical experts, released a statement on February 18 that accuses the Bush Administration of deliberately distorting scientific fact "for partisan political ends."

I've had my own experiences with Torquemada's modern successors, both personal and related to my work as an environmental lawyer and advocate working for the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Waterkeeper Alliance.

At the time of the World Trade Center catastrophe on September 11, 2001, I had just opened an office at 115 Broadway, cater-corner from the World Trade Center and within the official security zone to which access was, afterward, restricted for several months. Upon returning to the office in October my partner, Kevin Madonna, suffered a burning throat, nausea and a headache that was still pounding twenty-four hours after he left the building. Despite the Environmental Protection Agency's claims that air quality was safe, Kevin refused to return and we closed the office. Many workers did not have that option; their employers relied on the EPA's nine press releases between September and December of 2001 reassuring the public about the wholesome air quality downtown. We have since learned that the government was lying to us. An Inspector General's report released last August revealed that the EPA's data did not support those assurances and that its press releases were being drafted or doctored by White House officials intent on reopening Wall Street.
...more..

[OneTwentyoNine]

1. You know...a one on one debate with RFK Jr and Limbaugh.....

On a stage with a moderator. No screaming over the top of the other,no moderator stopping the debate when a Dem gets in good points,no quickly going to a commercial,no cutting the mic.

I'd pay big bucks to see lardass go toe to toe with Kennedy,I saw him take out Hannity on his show in about five minutes,probably take less with Pigboy.

David

[JHB]

7. In your dreams

Pigboy only operates in a sealed, sanitized environment. He's a political bubble-boy -- any pointed resistance and he pops.

[chelsea0011]

2. I just wish one media type would ask the question

:crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

Everytime the "sound science" talking point is made the media sits on their collective hands or just sucks their thumbs. Sound science must mean the corrupt administration has scientists and published studies to rely on. Doesn't it? Well, why doesn't the press corps follow up with the question...Show us the goods? Instead they take it as gospel that the Bushies know what they are talking about. . Nice job again, media. Thanks for nothing.

[Mr_Scarecrow]

3. Old news for Bush Inc.

The earliest I remember repukes pulling this was Reagan with SDI. Remember? 99% of scientists said it wouldn't work, waste of time, etc. but Reagan had to have his missile shield. I wonder when this started for Republicans? Perhaps at some point they were more respectful of science. Does anyone know?

[G_j]

4. remember when Ronnie

showed his complete ignorance by stating that missles could be stopped or turned around (I forget the exact wording) once they ad been launched. At least the media called him on that one. Today Bush says things equally stupid or evenmore outrageous and gets away with it.

[Nevernose]

5. Then again, Bonzo also once claimed

That trees were the biggest threat facing the environment, and referred to Hawaii as "our strongest ally in the Pacific." And Bonzo STILL looks like a mental giant when compared to the Shrub.

Sigh.

[G_j]

8. I heard that someone

had made fortune cookies containing these Reagan gems.

[snippy]

6. The Bushshit science is because Turd Blosom Rove is the chief scientist.

The scientific method consists of polling to develop a hypothesis and using fund raising to test it. Turd Blossom Rove presents polling data and campaign strategy to government agencies to dictate their decision making.
http://www.pcffa.org/RoveWSJ07-30-03.htm

[H2O Man]

9. Robert Kennedy, Jr. ....

....is a great guy. He is one of the very best environmental advocates in the world. I'm hoping that President Kerry will consider him for a serious job .... perhaps the EPA? If anyone could straighten it out, it would be Robert.

[G_j]

10. agreed

he would be the best choice to head the EPA, IMO

[G_j]

11. RFK Jr., A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW

And under Roman law, if you were a citizen of Rome, the Emperor himself, whether you were humble, noble, rich or poor, could not stop you from crossing a beach flowing at an ebb and taking out the fish. Everybody had a right to use those resources. Nobody had a right to use them in a way that would diminish or injure their use and enjoyment by others.

<snip>

Under the Bush Administration, we’re seeing the same thing that happened in this country during the 1880s and 1890s, during the Gilded Age, where now -- as then -- large corporations have an undue influence on government officials, and where they are literally stealing things that belong to the public.

<snip>

There are over 200 major environmental rollbacks that are now being promoted by the Bush Administration, and they’re listed on NRDC’s website. They’re getting away with this because the media isn’t paying attention. And the reason I say that is that polling, including the Republican Party polls taken by Frank Luntz, consistently shows that Americans across party lines favor strong environmental protection and strict enforcement of our laws. Republicans and Democrats favor strengthening our environmental laws by margins upwards of 75 percent. So the White House proceeded with an understanding that its anti-environmental agenda is unpopular with the American people and has successfully concealed its agenda through a series of stealth attacks designed to eviscerate 30 years of environmental law.

<snip>

All of our federal agencies have now been captured by the industries that they’re intended to regulate. The head of the Forest Service is a timber industry lobbyist. The head of our public lands is a mining industry lobbyist. The chief of staff in the White House, Andrew Card, was chief counsel to General Motors and its top lobbyists. And 22 of the top 38 White House officials all have energy industry pedigrees. We have a president that says that he doesn’t listen to TV, and he doesn’t get his news from the newspapers, but gets it from his staff. Unfortunately, all of his staff are from the energy industries, and the rest of them have corporate pedigrees. So they, of course, have a rosy view of what’s going on in our country, and their opinions about how our nation ought to work may not always reflect the best interests of the American public.

more:

http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/12/int03325.html