At least Punxsutawney Phil doesn't lie about the weather

In a happy harmonic convergence, Groundhog Day falls only two days
after the State of the Union Address this year. Some days, I'd feel
better with Punxsutawney Phil in the Oval Office -- at least he
doesn't lie about the weather. The Bush administration is now trying
to stop NASA's top climate scientist from speaking out on the need for
prompt action on global warming. As far as we know, the groundhog
isn't suppressing anyone, he just calls it as he sees it.

James E. Hansen, longtime head of the Goddard Institute for Space
Studies, gave a speech last month calling for immediate reduction in
emissions of greenhouse gases because global warming is so pressing.
He says since then NASA has reviewed his coming lectures, papers,
postings and requests for interviews from journalists. "They feel
their job is to be this censor of information going out to the
public," said Hansen. The top P.R. guy denies it, saying, "It's about
coordination."

Yep, it sure is about coordination. According to the Environmental
Working Group's Website, there's a coordinated, multimillion-dollar
campaign funded by polluters to convince us that global warming
doesn't exist -- or if it exists, it's not serious, or if it's
serious, it's not an immediate threat. And so we get into another one
of those weird debates where something as clear as elementary addition
suddenly becomes, "Well, some say ... but then, other's say."

For instance, some call it domestic spying, whereas others call it a
terrorist surveillance program. Actually, it's a domestic spying
program being conducted without warrants.

The problem is not just keeping track of everything the Bushies are up
to, but trying to evaluate the damage. For example, the man who has
headed the Justice Department investigation into the dealings of
corrupt Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff for the last two years has
been removed from his job. The Bush team decided to put him on the
federal bench, so the Abramoff investigation will be headed by someone
less senior and less experienced.

Now, is this real damage? I don't think so. The investigation
continues and would be damned hard to bury at this point. This gesture
is just Bush flipping the bird to the Democrats and the public: "See?
Ha! I can do whatever I want, no matter how it looks." Whereas, six
years of dragging, delaying and disinforming about global warming --
now that causes irreversible damage.

Some damage is harder to see than others -- and I offer two cases of
suppression. First, there's a congressionally mandated report on
outsourcing high-tech jobs. It was supposed to be released before the
'04 election but wasn't, because it was politically embarrassing. More
than a year later, they are still stonewalling, ignoring the federal
law that ordered the study done and be released before November 2004.

Second case: According to the Project on Government Oversight, the
Congressional Research Service has warned a senior analyst to avoid
describing his research findings. The analyst, whose job it is to
describe research findings of the nonpartisan service, specializes in
separation-of-power issues, but was criticized over a report and
comments he made concerning the plight of national security
whistleblowers.

"It is undeniable that unprecedented numbers of government
whistleblowers face retaliation with no adequate protections. We are
stunned that the Congress is offended to hear the truth about its
failure to help whistleblowers and are even punishing their own
seasoned researchers for talking about it," said Danielle Brian,
executive director of the project.

What we have here are two small examples of an entire climate of
secrecy and fear being created by this administration. As government
officials keep more and more information from us, they are in turn
increasingly less accountable for what they do, since we have no idea
they're doing it. Those are small things with grave consequences.

And then there are the consequences that can never be counted. The New
York Times broke a sad story about a duplicitous Bush policy that
helped drive the elected president of Haiti, Jean Bertrand Aristide,
out of his country.

Haiti has since descended into abysmal chaos. Perhaps no one person or
policy should be blamed for Haiti's long-developing problems, but it
has sunk to a new low after its one noble grasp at real democracy,
which Bush claims to support. How sad. The worst damage is always the
small, starving children.

Molly Ivins

© 2006 The Columbus Free Press

Source: The Columbus Free Press
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2006/1307
.

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