Science, Intelligent Design Style
The NYT has a follow up article on NASA's public affairs office trying to control the dissemination of scientific intormation from the Agency, in NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness. In one instance:
This comes out a week after it was reported that James Hansen, a top NASA climate scientist, revealed that "the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming." See: Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him.In October, for example, George Deutsch, a presidential appointee in NASA headquarters, told a Web designer working for the agency to add the word "theory" after every mention of the Big Bang, according to an e-mail message from Mr. Deutsch that another NASA employee forwarded to The Times.
* * * *
The Big Bang memo came from Mr. Deutsch, a 24-year-old presidential appointee in the press office at NASA headquarters whose résumé says he was an intern in the "war room" of the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. A 2003 journalism graduate of Texas A&M, he was also the public-affairs officer who sought more control over Dr. Hansen's public statements.
In October 2005, Mr. Deutsch sent an e-mail message to Flint Wild, a NASA contractor working on a set of Web presentations about Einstein for middle-school students. The message said the word "theory" needed to be added after every mention of the Big Bang.
The Big Bang is "not proven fact; it is opinion," Mr. Deutsch wrote, adding, "It is not NASA's place, nor should it be to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator."
It continued: "This is more than a science issue, it is a religious issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be getting one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual information the most."
(Via Eschaton)
Additional information on George Deutsch can be found at World O'Crap.
1 comment:
Misguided fools would not be what most Americans think of other Americans. But two incidents tend to illustrate how stupid and gullible Americans are - despite top notch educations.
1) The premise that Burr killed Hamilton in the 1804 duel is rubbish, and does much to glorify Burr's marksmanship as well as to endow Hamilton as a fallen hero worthy of worship. The fact that Hamilton died the next day merely proves how awful the health care of the day was, and how men's feuds often result in unnecessary harms, and dangerous disputes.
2) Former President George W. Bush's remark about immigrants being what America is made of is also factually inaccurate, by virtue of the fact that it ignores all of the historical emigration of the Dutch, the Germans, and the French, not to mention the English way before the Revolution. 3/4 of the American population has family in those countries including Ireland, Scotland, etc., that would make America more nearly the continuation of its British colony status but for the Revolutionary War, and the creation of the Constitution despite continued family affiliations which remain in place today in spite of our hyped up history and the fallacy of the visible boundaries upon which the Monroe Doctrine relies.
If Americans are to think, they should be encouraged to think outside the box, not inside by virtue of historical propaganda and current inflamatory rhetoric.
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