The administration's war on science continues
By Steve Benen Tuesday Oct 23, 2007 8:30amDr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a Senate panel yesterday that climate change “is anticipated to have a broad range of impacts on the health of Americans.” If that sounds a little vague and non-specific, there’s a good reason — the White House refused to let her say what she wanted to say.
Testimony that the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention planned to give yesterday to a Senate committee about the impact of climate change on health was significantly edited by the White House, according to two sources familiar with the documents.
Specific scientific references to potential health risks were removed after Julie L. Gerberding submitted a draft of her prepared remarks to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review.
Instead, Gerberding’s prepared testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee included few details on what effects climate change could have on the spread of disease.
A CDC official familiar with both versions told the AP that Gerberding’s draft “was eviscerated.”
This might be amusing if a) it weren’t so serious; and b) it didn’t happen all the damn time.
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And here I was under the impression that this sort of thing was illegal. Silly me.
Well, if it isn't in the speech, then it must not be reality! Wow, I'm soooooo glad we have a White House that cares about us clueless citizens - you see, by taking that stuff out, they're showing they're watching out for us and not bothering us with the pesky details on that pesky non-existent thorn in the side called "global warming."
Thank you, George! What we do without you? Screw our health! Screw the future of our planet! With leadership like you and Dick at the helm, our last 20 years of breathing on our own without a mask will be the best there's ever been!
War on Terror!!! And by "terror", we mean science!!!
Let's not forget that Dr. Gerberding clearly cares more about keeping her job than she does about the health of the public.
MargeAggedon @ 1:
"Illegal" is soooo pre 9/11, didn't you get the memo? Dirty f**king hippie!
Now, wouldn't anyone with a sense of decency and honor tender their resignation rather than go in front of Congress and give testimony that they knew was misleading?
Yeah, right.......
It's clear that we won't hear the whole truth about anything until Bush is out of office. Bush's ego has gotten so out of control that he thinks he can change the weather. The effects of Global Warming will be apparent to everyone as they happen, and changing the wording in a few documents isn't going to change that. All it's going to do is make them look like idiots to future historians who look at those documents and compare them to the facts on the ground. You'd think that a president who is worried about his legacy would prefer to look like a visionary in the history books, instead of a blithering idiot
Of all the things to lie about. Of the very few things that couldn't be be blamed solely on the WarPigs, other than ignoring the situation, climate change is not one of them. It is pretty much excepted that global warming and climate change is real and it's happening faster than anyone thought. After all, Dumbya was still in college and developing his drug addiction when the first warnings of global warming were being made an issue. Maybe they are still in denial of it? I would have thought they were over that little game by now. Talk about being pathological liars. I guess it's all too 'sciencey' for their narrow little NeoCon minds. Keep it up Chimpy, we may get you and your boss Cheney impeached yet.
I wish someone would preface their speech with "This is as much as the WH will let me tell you about...." Then handout the redacted copies of their speech.
Since they didn't classify her speech (at least we haven't heard yet that they did) Why can't she just release it to the press the way she intended it to be?
What good does it do to sugar coat this stuff and due to neglect and denial have to pay an even higher price to the piper later? That makes no sense. Tell us about the bad stuff coming and maybe we can prepare for it and actually avoid it being as bad as predicted.
Okay. Let's concede that the Bush administration is going to lie to us about global warming. But lying about the health effects?
From the Washington Post article:
When would the health of the citizens of the U.S. not be a national priority of the administration?
I know. Dumb question.
Remember the fear factor of bird flu? Remember Mad Cow Disease? They didn't mind talking about that back then even though we hardly hear of it today. Why would health threats due to global warming be hidden?
the rapture bunnies think their kids will "go to Hell" if they learn science. They deny global warming and evolution because they think it's a "commie plot to make our kids atheists"
If Dr. Julie Gerberding was the director of the "Center of Intelligent [sic] Design", the reich-wingers at the White House would be wanking off with delight to hear what she had to say.
The fuhrer's White House will control the information that is disseminated to the masses.
We are now in a neo-fascist country. Is it finally time to do something about all of this? Or are we all going to be the "Good Germans" bush wants us to be?
Viruses....top dogs of the planet!
And to think there would have only been two of them on the ark!
I'm actually astonished that the "liberal" media are not focusing on the fact that her remarks had to be vetted by the White House prior to her testimony. Isn't that at least a little unsettling to ANYBODY?
But I do not want to be as dumb as the people in the White House are. I want the truth.
Naomi Wolfe on facism.
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/177.html
Speaking of 'Health Issues' and 'Evisceration', isn't it about time for us scientific-minded (read 'rational') folks to do a little medical fine-tuning on the White House denizens?
Hallelujah, Praise the Lord, Impeach the Dummy and the Dick-Head.
So Sayeth Preacher Boob, 'His' alter-ego here on ...(what planet is this?)
We, and anyone one with an ounce of sense, knows that the Bush Administration is behind these efforts to turn the–at this point–obviousness of global warming to something a little more...hypothetical.
That being said, why is it that people are still cooperating with them? I am not talking about those that have already drank the Kool-Aid, but the others. Why do they continue to tow the line? There will always be those that try to impose their will upon others, though the real problem comes when people–knowing full well that they are wrong–continue to cooperate with them.
If the United States is going to make a move toward full-blown fascism, this is how it will happen. Hitler, as an example, was only one man; it took millions of others, not directly involved, to make his insane vision a reality.
"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."
George W. Bush
"A lie, repeated often enough, will end up as truth."
Dr Paul Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda (1933-1945)
There is no way we can allow conflicting information coming out of the government, is there?
Sticks and stones v ray guns?
3410 @ 4:
I second that - while Bush and Co. sucks, we need people to stand up and start taking action. Here she is, with this audience, and she still pulls the company line.
Reslugs show just how far they will bury their heads in bullshit to ignore the truth.
Aaron @ 23:
There is no way she has a mortgage or a kid in college, is there?
I mean i know all you concerned people out there are ready willing and able to walk off your jobs and start a National Strike to end this Administration's tyranical rule (which at this point is what it would take) so you may as well call her a pussy, right?
Help me out. Besides sending the White House a copy to make it aware, why in the world would you give them a draft to amend?
16 pages to 6, that's alot of things that we now have to await either a leak that may be debunked by White House propagandists as lies, or Dr. Julie Gerberding to come forward with the true facts on a cable news network. Which will probably be followed by Michelle Malkin parading outside her house to attack her treasonous comments. Hell, mass media will probably drop the story after today.
The control reaks of Cheney. Impeach the lunatic. He belongs in an asylum with a bald pet cat.
If the "Department of the Evisceration of Very Important Information" at the Whitehouse would stop burning science books, then that alone would greatly reduce global warming.
Oh, the irony.
The 'White House Office of Management and Budget', isn't that where Perino works?
Is it possible that in addition to her heavy, heavy schedule of Non-Truth Telling, she actually has the time (and is capable of?) to read, and redact a paper containing the testimony of someone who knows the truth, and writes it?
And after a Truth-Testimony is redacted by an idiot-savant (she does comb her hair fairly well), is it still a testimony? Or merely more White House dreck?
xoites defends Constitution @ 21:
If the public could only hear these remarks would it cause the outrage necessary to remove him from power?
Why water it down, Bushies??? You love to scare!!! You wouldn't hesitate a second to embelish a terror threat or sit on a Bin Laden tape until the most convenient time politically to show it (or in Fox News's case, stupidity blowing up in your face by the need to be the first to report on a Bin Laden tape too soon).
So, why are you watering down global warming danger scenarios? Oh, I forgot - a burning planet is nothing more than an act of God. It's His will and nothing should be done to prove God infalliable! Science has nothing to do with it because, well, science doesn't exist!
I'm so stupid (head slap) stupid...(head slap)...stupid (head slap)...
If we can't trust the administration on science issues, such as global warming, stem cell research, the air quality issue/lies from Ground Zero for first responders, and now the issue of disease from the CDC,
how can we believe the reports from NIST (an administration agency under the dept of Commerce), FEMA (well known for their bungling), and the 9/11 Commission (stacked with Bush appointees and myth-makers such as Zelikow) about the real causes of the collapses of the Twin Towers, and also of WTC-7/Solomon Bros. building on 9/11??
xoites defends Constitution @ 25:
She's a doctor. Are you saying that if she chose to work somewhere other than as a shill for the Bush Administration her life would be over? I somehow doubt that. She's educated enough that, I'd imagine, that she'd bounce back rather quickly if she resigned in protest (or something of that nature) because it is hardly unusual for government officials–which is not to say that I agree with it–to segue quite nicely into the public sector.
Unless she has been blacklisted, which is another matter entirely.
Which is not to say that it would necessarily go that far, after all, after the scandal of the fired Attorneys General, I suspect the Bush Administration would be leery of firing someone along what are ideological lines.
Trust me, when we're finally done with bushco and its minions, then the Doctor Gerberlings - freshly out of a cushy, high-paying, guvment job - will come clean with their 'tell-all' books. I don't care what in hell you've got on the line with expenses, when your supposed to be looking after the country health and well-being you damn had better show some honor and integrity or else you'll never work again. Tell me, just who'll hire the woman when the truth comes out about what she did to 'go along'? And just what is Christine Whitman doing these days?
3410 @ 4:
Someone commented at the carpetbagger about that. Why didn't she just give her full report in the first place? They couldn't throw her in jail or (could they)? So what if she loses her job, working for the CDC she is probably a medical doctor and not a PhD, so she shouldn't have any problem finding lucrative employment elsewhere. Maybe she was paid off to to tote the line? Everyone has their price you know. I'd like to see the actual report.
The White House has been vetting scientific papers for a while. Remember the fuss about George Hansen - a political hack without a college degree, let alone scientific credentials - editing James Hansen's speech? It smacks of the Soviet Union and zampolits (political officers) editing/writing materials to conform with party ideology.
But 'climate change' does not exclusively mean 'global warming' - if, as the frogs-in-a-pot crowd believe, there is no global warming, we must nonetheless address a drought in Georgia, the aftermath of flooding by Katrina, the tinder-dry hillsides that are burning in California (and, probably mudslides come the rains), and other consequences of nature - whether aided by human activity or not.
xoites defends Constitution @ 25:
Thank you. While I agree that if a person had unwavering ethics they would walk away, how many of us really have balls that big or can even afford to wear them?
3410 @ 4:
If she presented the report she originally intended, the public would still get the President's version of it.
CafeenMan @ 36:
Seriously, are any of you going to walk away from your job every time you face ethical crisis? Jebus, this time of "thinking" should be reserved for the reich-wingers. She accepts the fact that globing warming has severe consequences on public health. Having someone in her position that accepts this fact is important regardless if the nimrods in the WH won't hear her. She can and will continue to fight for what his right.
The Bush White House has a history of public attacks and personal destruction.
They could put things in her record that would come up in criminal background checks. They could prevent her from flying on aircraft. They could have Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Michelle Maulkin and Ann Coulter go after her.
They could tell all prospective employers that they let her go because of associations with known terror suspects.
She could quickly find that she cannot legally work with prescription medications.
A CDC official familiar with both versions told the AP that Gerberding’s draft “was eviscerated.”
This might be amusing if a) it weren’t so serious; and b) it didn’t happen all the damn time.
Is this not what this present Administration does to everything that might cause their friends in the Corporate World have to control their filth?
I hope most of America is Fed-Up with the Republicans. They have reversed themselves. They used to be the Party who stayed out of peoples business and preached "Small Government".
They have done more to harm America than any Administration in 50 years or more. Why they are still pandering to the Theist Right-Wing I don't know, for it is that group who has help destroy what we once had, them and the NeoCon group with their "Project for the New American Century" fired up by Bill Kristol.
I can tell you this from where I am now (out in the World) ... The Rest of the World is Sick to Death of this Administration. America is now looked at much like Iran, China, Russia or any other BULLY Nation.
Take back America.
(Bob in Pai, North Thailand)
3410 @ 4:
I hate to think along this line, but I wonder if, instead of fear that she will lose her job, she fears for her life. I put nothing past the war criminals in the WH.
Now that Bushism is NOT funny. It is the means...the administrations mantra. Yes, this quote should be broadcasted again and again.
What is the point of asking these people to testify if all they can tell us is what Bush thinks we should hear? It's actually worse than not having anyone testify, because Bush controls the message and can claim that he's just listening to what the CDC (or the generals, or whomever) tells him.
xoites defends Constitution @ 25:
No one is calling anyone a pussy, but you. I think the greater point here is that she is a person in a position to influence public health, and as such, there is a certain obligation through her profession to practice that; not what an administration says.
I'm sure there is more to the story then what we know of, and I'm unsure what her situation is. I don't see how making a point translates into an ad hominem-like comment.
StirFry @ 42:
And the problem is that many people ARE like that, they will believe what they hear more than a few times without doing any research. It's tooth Fairy Science.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century
Gerberding has lied for pharma, and now she develops a conscience? Oh please.
CafeenMan @ 36:
It's what you do when your a leader at that level. If you are asked to compromise the well being of the American people, you must resign in protest. Leaking the redaction is well and good, but resignation is called for. Let the resident of the whitehouse get raked over the coals by congress and the press for his fascism.
As if the stupidest administration in the history of the planet knows anything about science.
leftminded @ 49:
Oh come on. They are experts in science. Behavior manipulation and psychology of the masses. Don't think for a minute that they don't know the truth - it just doesn't fit into their agenda/goals so they promote whatever does.
Don't believe for a minute that this administration is incompetent, because they are able to ram anything they want through the Congress and against the will of the People.
That is success.
If we know her speech was fixed by the white house, does congress know this? They are the ones who should be raising hell for not being given the whole story.
That makes the WH guilty of attempting to suborn and influence a witness into giving false or misleading testimony.
and the cloned Dr Julie said Okie Dokie.... just strip my report like the health of the country Heil Bush
Apparatchiki and our Soviet Commissariat Government
Members of the "apparat" were frequently transferred between different areas of responsibility, usually with little or no actual training for their new areas of responsibility. Thus, the term apparatchik, or "agent of the apparatus" was usually the best possible description of the person's profession and occupation.
The term was usually associated with a specific (political or social) mindset, attitude and appearance of the person; when used by "outsiders", it often bore derogatory connotations.
It is also frequently used to describe individuals appointed to positions in any government on the basis of ideological or political loyalty rather than competence.
--- Science is now vetted by political apparatchiks, heath care and child welfare, the same. We have a functioning secret police apparatus via electronic spying and recording. Connect the dots and call it what it is.
We are living under an unfolding Soviet style form of government.
--cognitorex--
Paul @ 52:
As if that really matters now. They have gamed the political system, and also the judicial system. They have a de facto (and some would argue, a de jure) police state/totalitarian state.
Dennis @ 16:
AFAIK, when you work for a government agency (I worked for DOE for a little while) you have to get all your publications (written or spoken) pre-approved. The way I understood this is to prevent someone from leaking classified or sensitive information by accident.
They can be more or less strict on this rule depending on your position but that's the rule.
Aaron @ 23:
Unfortunately, working for the Bush administration is similar to the corporate world. You must only recite the official company position or you will lose your job. As a result, I do not believe anything I hear from anyone in the Bush admin. as I know they are feeding us propaganda. Anyone in this admin has long ago sold their soul to propaganda. I do not know how anyone can respect these whores!
cognitorex @ 54:
Been part of the plan for a long time. Its just now unfolding into plain view. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and thus, more than one way to subvert the US into a dictatorship.
You don't think an American dictatorship would have all the trappings and organizations of the previous world dictatorships? No, to get it implemented would require it to be molded into a form acceptable to the people of the US, either with tacit approval, or with denial that it is occuring.
Truth Be Told @ 58:
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm
Check this article out when you get a chance....
Screw Dr. Gerberding. Doesn't anyone have any guts anymore?
We do, they don't.
Zig Heil!
"What The Fu%*#k has happened to America."
Some romans probably muttered a similar phrase too.
- JJ
When you DO tell the truth - now you are forced to APOLOGIZE. You can't even be a stand up kind of person these days without being knocked on your ass by the rightwing scum of the earth.
Since so many have overlooked this comment, I'm reposting it:
If we can’t trust the administration on science issues, such as global warming, stem cell research, the air quality issue/lies from Ground Zero for first responders, and now the issue of disease from the CDC,
how can we believe the reports from NIST (an administration agency under the dept of Commerce), FEMA (well known for their bungling), and the 9/11 Commission (stacked with Bush appointees and myth-makers such as Zelikow) about the real causes of the collapses of the Twin Towers, and also of WTC-7/Solomon Bros. building on 9/11??
I don't think it's necessarily a question of guts.
We'd all like to see ourselves as the hero in this kind of situation, the man (or woman) of principles in a den of thieves.
Gerberding is caught in a trap that shows how insidious the enemy is. While quitting might be keeping true to her principles, it would also open the door for being replaced by a tame flunky, which runs counter to the whole 'do no harm' concept of medicine.
In short, the Bush crowd is counting on us to be so principled that we end up in a brain-lock and run around in circles (kind of what the Democratic leadership is doing).
It's what the true meaning of, 'we're creating our own reality, and while you're reporting on that, we'll be off creating new realities,' is.
Tommy @ 60:
This guy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQIa_-_bnhU
Ugg not fear global warming. Sky god come take Ugg away in Rapture.
It's a shame the MSM has not not reported more on how often the Chimp and his henchmen have silenced the scientific community. This, along with Iraq and domestic spying, will be his legacy. I hope you burn your faith's Hell, Chimpy.
Ongoing GOP wars:
war on science
war on the middle class
war on the poor
war on the budget
war on the military
war on Iraq
war on Afghanistan
war on Iran (time to be determined)
war world, III (still in planning stages)
war on education
war on dissent
war on the constitution
war on civil liberties
war on the environment
war on our international reputation
war on secular thought
war on religion (unless it's a hate-based form of Christianity)
The GOP: the party of war, death and destruction.
"you see, I make all of my decisions with war on my mind." - George Bush
Ruthless People @ 69:
Don't forget to include the Democrats in this equation, they are either enablers or willing accomplices in all these that you list. This is not about political parties, it is about the accumulation of power by the state apparatus (and by its controllers, the elite and monied interests) to erode Constitutional protections and gradually do away with the concept of nation-state and sovereignty.
The Republicans and Democrats that have brought ALL of this belong to the same think-tanks and secret societies, such as the CFR, the Trilateral Commission, the Skull-n-Bones, and several others. It is a criminal enterprise networked.
Dr. Matt @ 38:
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke
noitaluspacne @ 72:
Dr. Matt is just another American who will permit evil to exist as long as he can play games on his super-duper cell phone and watch football on his HDTV.
Rusty Shackleford @ 67:
LOL!!!
Ugg make funny!!!
limbaugh's pilonidal cyst @ 5:
Well, it sure worked for Colin Powell, didn't it?
Dr. Matt @ 38:
--Get back to work you bizzy bees, or face a colony collapse....you've lost the "Create your own reality" ethic, and you're not behind by only minutes, days or even weeks-some are onto this
I imagine we're going to see lots more tropical diseases migrating north. Here, have a case of Malaria. Would you like some Dengue, or Yellow fever?
Its not the truth that matters,
ITS THE MONEY!
Good gawd. Are any of the WH memos truthful? Even the basic memos are fill with deceit and half-truths.
If chimpy isn't eavesdropping (gathering dirt to use again its citizens, chimpy may have some illegal dirt on congress) he's nanomanaging the world.
Explain to me why congress isn't stand on their desk demanding an end to chimpy's regime. Do like the many other regimes, throw a shoe at nutty repugs, at least put their shoes on the table.
Note: In announcing the latest war request, Bush prodded congress to approve the request swiftly and unconditionally.
Congress should ask for a detailed breakdown, to the last penny. Then they should deny it and only provide money for tickets for our finest to come home.
It's not a war just on science but, rather, a war on intelligence!
J.Edgar Hoover held his job as long as he did because he had something on just about everyone who could fire him. He mastered the art of warrantless wiretapping. I wonder if some of the same thing isn't going on now. It's very strange how some people in Congress cave in to Bush for no apparent reason.
One way to keep people in line is to know something about them that they don't want anyone else to ever know. It doesn't have to something illegal to be career ending.
Dr. Acula @ 80:
Ugg not need intell-- intuh-- be smart. God in sky tell Ugg all he need to know. Ugg listen Hannity for rest.
Jeff @ 77:
Malaria used to be fairly common in California. In the 1830s it wiped out about 70% of the Mono Indian population. Much of the San Joaquin Valley was swamp. It wasn't until much of the swamp land was drained and the mosquito population was controlled that it ceased to be a problem. Quinine bottles are common finds by California bottle collectors. I think we've just forgotten that it was once a problem since we haven't had to worry about it for a while.
I hereby remove the "Dr." from Julie Gerberding's name, because she just betrayed her vow to "do no harm."
Really, if she considered herself a person of integrity, then Julie should have said what she believed to be true, then resigned. The fact that she allowed her mouth to be used for the pleasure of the BushCo syndicate merely indicates that Julie Gerberding was lying about her profession in the first place.
She's not a doctor, she's a prostitute.
jimbo92107 @ 84: