US Government Teaches Us A Lesson On How To Be A Proper Editor

The Bush administration has systematically censored climate scientists' testimony in Congress. But censoring science is akin to challenging the gods. Natural disasters are now firmly linked to global warming in the public's opinion.

A draft report detailing multiple cases of censorship was issued last Monday by the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is headed up by Sen. Henry Waxman. It accuses the Bush administration of being "particularly active in stifling discussions" of a potential link between climate change and the intensity of hurricanes. The report follows after a 16-month investigation into allegations of political interference with scientific research. At the heart of the controversy are the storms that ravaged over the US in 2004 and 2005 and which are by many believed to have been triggered by cyclical, global warming induced weather patterns. The Bush administration has been coercing reporters, Waxman's committee claims. After Hurricane Katrina, those scientists who said the cyclical pattern theory is nonsense had been pushed forward. What's worse even, staff on the Senate Commerce Committee have been editing the public testimony climate scientists including that of former National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield. "The White House exerted unusual control over the public statements of federal scientists on climate change issues," according to the report. It pointed at the Council on Environmental Quality, or CEQ, as having made 294 changes to the administration's 2003 strategic plan for its climate change science program. The changes clearly showed that the Bush administration had wanted to emphasize uncertainties and to diminish the importance of the human role in global warming, the report said. Waxman said that science should be above the influence of politics. James Connaugton, the CEQ chairman refuted the allegations.