CelticBear’s Musings

Phil Plait of BadAstronomer.com posted a blog today that gets my ire up.
Reprinted here without permission:

White House tampering of science, part ∞

How many times can I use the same headline?
Evidently, it will be useful as long as we have the current White House.
Investigations into the Bush Administration’s spinning, folding, and mutilating of science have finally begun. I’m glad to see this underway, and I’m very glad someone at Congress is not only interested in this topic, but actively doing something about it.

This most likely touches on every agency that does any kind of science: NASA, NOAA, the FDA… and as fond as I am of space, it’s that last that really gets me very, very angry. The FDA is in charge of our health, and Bush’s political appointees there have been doing copious damage. From the manipulation and outright lies about Plan B to this new ridiculous program that promotes abstinence-only to people up to age 29 (when it’s been shown over and over not to work at any age).

As long as these attacks on science continue, we must be diligent. And they will go on, no doubt, forever. Eternal vigilance, fellow humans. Stay on your toes, and don’t let those antiscientists turn the clock back to the Middle Ages.

(Italics his, bold mine.)