Science Bad!

Poll question... what do you think the Bush administration hates more? Checks and balances? Or science? Lots of the former in the news this week, but ABC News has the latest on the latter as well-

Bush administration officials throughout the government have engaged in White House-directed efforts to stifle, delay or dampen the release of climate change research that casts the White House or its policies in a bad light, says a new report that purports to be the most comprehensive assessment to date of the subject...

...The group says it has identified hundreds of instances where White House-appointed officials interfered with government scientists' efforts to convey their research findings to the public, at the behest of top administration officials...

..."Directives and signals" from White House offices, like the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget, are handed down to political appointees and politically-aligned civil servants through off-the-record conversations, the report says. Frequently, those giving the direction have little or no scientific background, according to the report...

(More from the Government Accountability Project- here.)

And then there's this news from The Guardian (UK) paper: "By the end of the century up to two fifths of the land surface of the Earth will have a hotter climate unlike anything that currently exists, according to a study that predicts the effects of global warming on local and regional climates. And in the worst case scenario, the climatic conditions on another 48% of the land surface will no longer exist on the planet at all."

You know what that means.... Time to discuss things some more! Wooooo!

[PS- An economist warns biofuel production may inadvertently raise food prices. We'll deal.]