Facts have no agenda

Science has no agenda

The Bush Administration has once again suppressed a report that undermines (bad) government policy. The report linked global warming with the increase in hurricane strength and frequency. From the AP:

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has blocked release of a report that suggests global warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes, the journal Nature reported Tuesday.

The possibility that warming conditions may cause storms to become stronger has generated debate among climate and weather experts, particularly in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

In the new case, Nature said weather experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration part of the Commerce Department in February set up a seven-member panel to prepare a consensus report on the views of agency scientists about global warming and hurricanes.

According to Nature, a draft of the statement said that warming may be having an effect.
In May, when the report was expected to be released, panel chair Ants Leetmaa received an e-mail from a Commerce official saying the report needed to be made less technical and was not to be released, Nature reported.

Leetmaa, head of NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in New Jersey, did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

NOAA spokesman Jordan St. John said he had no details of the report.

NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher is currently out of the country, but Nature quoted him as saying the report was merely an internal document and could not be released because the agency could not take an official position on the issue.

However, the journal said in its online report that the study was merely a discussion of the current state of hurricane science and did not contain any policy or position statements.

No policy or position statements, just facts. But if the facts don’t support Bush’s predetermined conclusions (the lead up the Iraq war comes to mind), those facts are disregarded, suppressed, or slanted to support the original position. This is not the only reason why these people scare the shit out of me, but it is a big one.

So to lighten the mood a bit, I give you Will Ferrell as Bush on the environment. A soul patch, lava flows and Frisbee golf all in three and a half minutes. Enjoy!