Fixing Science

First we have Bush and his buddies "fixing intelligence" on the Iraq War, and now we have them fixing science on global warming and greenhouse gases.

A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against
limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate
reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global
warming, according to internal documents.

[...]

The dozens of changes, while sometimes as subtle as the insertion of
the phrase "significant and fundamental" before the word "uncertainties,"
tend to produce an air of doubt about findings that most climate experts
say are robust.

[...]

In a section on the need for research into how warming might change
water availability and flooding, he crossed out a paragraph describing the
projected reduction of mountain glaciers and snowpack. His note in the
margins explained that this was "straying from research strategy into
speculative findings/musings."

[...]

Mr. Cooney's alterations can cause clear shifts in meaning. For
example, a sentence in the October 2002 draft of "Our Changing Planet"
originally read, "Many scientific observations indicate that the Earth is
undergoing a period of relatively rapid change." In a neat, compact hand,
Mr. Cooney modified the sentence to read, "Many scientific observations
point to the conclusion that the Earth may be undergoing a period of
relatively rapid change."

Crafty, isn't he? And such a stunning command of the English language as these examples illustrate.

And Myron Ebell, who has long campaigned against limits on greenhouse
gases as director of climate policy at the Competitive Enterprise
Institute, a libertarian group, said such editing was necessary for
"consistency" in meshing programs with policy.

That's rich!! It's necessary to deceive and exaggerate in order to match the madness that is Bush's environmental policies. At least someone is finally admitting it.

Is there no end to the depths that these clowns will stoop?

via Blogenlust