Tallying up the
damage estimate
By Molly Ivins,
Columnists Star-Telegram.com, From the Web, February 2, 2006
AUSTIN -- 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 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 that 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. A top PR guy denies it, saying,
"It's about coordination."
Yep, it sure is about coordination. According to the Environmental Working
Group's Web site, 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, others 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 that the Bushies are up to
but trying to evaluate the damage. For example, Noel Hillman, the man who
has headed the Justice Department investigation into the dealings of corrupt
Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff for the past 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 hard to bury at this point. This gesture is just
President Bush flipping the bird to the Democrats and the public: "See?
Ha! I can do whatever I want, no matter how it looks."
However, six years of dragging, delaying and disinforming about global warming
-- now that causes irreversible damage.
Some kinds of damage are 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 in June 2004 -- before the '04 election -- but
wasn't because it was politically embarrassing. They stonewalled for more
than a year, ignoring the federal law ordering that the study be done and be
released before November 2004, finally releasing it in September 2005.
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 whistle-blowers.
"It is undeniable that unprecedented numbers of government whistle-blowers face
retaliation with no adequate protections. We are stunned that the Congress
is offended to hear the truth about its failure to help whistle-blowers and are
even punishing their own seasoned researchers for talking about it," said
Danielle Brian of POGO.
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.
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, based in Austin, writes for Creators Syndicate.
5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045.
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