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Ex-Surgeon General Accuses Bush Officials of Censorship
WASHINGTON - President Bush's first surgeon general alleged yesterday that administration officials prevented him from providing the public with accurate scientific and medical information on such issues as stem cell research and teen pregnancy.
"The reality is that the 'nation's doctor' has been marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas," Dr. Richard H. Carmona told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological, or political agenda is ignored, marginalized, or simply buried.
"The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds," said Carmona, who served from 2002 to 2006. "The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party."
Carmona testified alongside former surgeons general C. Everett Koop and David Satcher, who served in the Reagan and Clinton administrations, respectively. They also told the committee that they faced political interference, particularly on morally charged issues such as sexuality and drug use.
But Carmona said some fellow surgeons general told him the interference rose to new levels during his tenure.
"The surgeon general has to be independent if the surgeon general is going to have any credibility," said Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and the committee chairman. The panel is considering changes that would insulate the surgeon general from political crosscurrents.
Administration officials had no immediate comment on Carmona's denunciation, but the Health and Human Services Department was expected to issue a statement. The House hearing occurred two days before a Senate panel is to meet to consider the nomination of Kentucky cardiologist Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr. to succeed Carmona. Holsinger already has drawn political fire from leading Democrats and gay and lesbian organizations. As a lay member of the United Methodist Church, Holsinger has strongly opposed the liberalization of church policies toward gays.
Surgeons general are viewed as public-health advocates who serve, in essence, as the nation's family doctor. Previous surgeons general have played pivotal roles in debates about smoking, drunken driving, mental health, and disparities in medical treatment between whites and minorities.
Carmona said that he expected that would be his role when he came to Washington, but that his attitude was politically naíve.
When the issue of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research came up early in Bush's first term, Carmona said, he felt he could play an educational role for administration officials and the public by openly discussing the latest scientific research.
Stem cells can be grown into any type of cell in the body, and some scientists see the promise of a cure for Parkinson's and other diseases in them. But producing embryonic stem cells has involved the destruction of human embryos, raising moral issues that some, including many religious conservatives, find profoundly disturbing. In 2001, Bush limited federal funding for stem cell research and has since blocked attempts by Congress to lift the restriction.
Carmona said he was told to stand down from playing any educational role because a decision had already been made. He also said administration appointees who reviewed the text of his speeches deleted from them references to stem cell research.
Likewise, on the issue of preventing teen pregnancy, Carmona said he was not allowed to deviate from the administration's position that abstinence was the best approach. In fact, he said, he believes a variety of approaches are needed, including contraception for sexually active teens. The administration did not want to hear the science, but wanted to preach, Carmona said.
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
28 Comments so far
Show AllFirst the head of NASA, then the head of the hurricane forecasting center, then the Surgeon-General, all science-based agencies whose heads are typically non-politically sensitive (as oppossed to things like the Secy of State, Treasury, Defense, or Agriculture)
I get the impression that what makes both these scientists and their neocon masters so anathma to each other is the neocon fascination with religiously correct magic. Don't wonder why only b'leeve!
We now have a federal guvmint whose policies are as fully indoctrinated in irrational ideology as any Stalinist, Maoist, or Islamic government ever hoped to be.
Scary!
Ha, ha, ha, tell us something we didn't know. In most cases it's not just censorship. It's outright secrecy!
So let me get this clear in my mind. The "good Doctor" was "in office" for four years; and now he speaks up? Why now?
This seems to me to be a "re-write" of the "Tenet revelations"-----"oh by the way, the barn burned down----last year".
Mr. Bush is a perfect example in the false "myth of a dictator's power"----Mr. Bush needed help in every abuse he has committed that the rest of us know about-----as well as the one's we do not know about. The "good Doctor" was simply an accomplice who now has "found his conscience".
A pathetic man at best.
By the way; would you like to set an appointment to see the " good Doctor"?
Sure, where would he like the "stool sample deposited", would his desktop be alright, or how about the front seat of his Mercedes?
He seems to be eating a nice big "sandwich" of some of that "material" presently.
Yellow Horse
I wonder if the whisle blowers are surfacing now in larger numbers, because it is "now" that "we the people" may listen to their toots?
I don't care so much that they waited so long to spill beans, I care that they had any need to spill them in the first place. Many things that have happened with this criminally insane adminsitration should never have occurred. We can primarily blame,___ Rove, Cheney, Rummy, Coni, Bush___ and our slothful, "high tech" methods of counting votes.
Sing out guys and gals, we are now ready to hear your stories, as I'm certain there are going to be many more to listen to in the near future. (Given time,___courage often developes.)
Everything has become politics. It used to be that science and medicine were pretty much independent of politics. That is no longer true.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has a list of abuses of science.
http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/interference/specific-examples-of-the-abuse-of-science.html?print=t
Science, when passed through a filter a religious or political dogma ceases to be science.
Is it possible to turn this around? The Bush administration has altered so much that I am no longer sure of it.
My initial reaction is to concur with Yellowhorse's skepticism of those who are now confirming what many of us knew all along. I agree that some of the suspects (Colin Powell, George Tenet for example) not only waited too long, but are now rewriting history to make themselves look better (have your anti-acid pills on hand if you listen to Colin Powell's July 5 speech at the Aspen Idea Festival).
I will, however, give each whistleblower the benefit of doubt until they have made their case. My main motivation for doing so is that when Secretary of Treasury Paul O'Neill exited Bush's cabinet in 2003, he blew the whistle in a very professional and easy to understand fashion and the war drum beating media downplayed it. O'Neill was an outstanding corporate citizen prior to joining the cabinet. As CEO of Alcoa he turned the company around by hiring MORE people and didn't fleece the taxpayers (bailout) or the company (golden parachute)in the process. O'Neill's successor, CSX Railroad CEO John Snowjob, had turned CSX into the poorest performer in the industry during his tenure and walked away with a huge golden parachute. Had the media given this story "legs", it could have turned the tide against Bush in the 2004 election.
Hopefully the media will now give whistleblowers' stories "legs", and Evelyn Smith's observation that now may be the right time to blow the whistle proves true.
So, the criminals have invaded every part of OUR government. There is NO DOUBT that a great percentage of these people are guilty of treason, bribery, and/or numerous other "high crimes."
Do we have to flee OUR country and leave it to these criminals? I do not understand how a bunch of moralists like us can really be contained by an OBVIOUSLY CORRUPT group of people.
I guess we just have to wait for "Revolutions for Dummies" to come out.
If they stamped "TOP SECRET" on the forehead of all Bushies then this nation of sheep would understand what was really going on. I think that HoneyBee has the right idea . . . "Revolutions for Dummies."
Why now, exactly. Makes one wonder how many more people in chief positions are hiding information regarding anything important. Looks like we have a nation of sheep in authoritative positions who aren't willing to spill the beans until their tenure is over and they need to write a book or get paid for television interviews.
Linda Tripp,___ Linda,__ Linda ___where are you? Come back Linda, come back, momma needs you.
Great comments Poet.
Is it Carl Rove or Paul Goebbels? Is it Dick Cheney or Hermann Goring? Is it George Bush of Adolf Hitler? No difference. One and the same. A bunch of criminals.
These cowardly weenies keep coming out of the woodwork. Why not speak up and resign when it might actually do some good?
It's doing a lot of good, been on all of the news channels today. It helps us people see the truth._____ "IF" we block out the idiotic commercials.
Doctor's should stick to bloodletting and such if they don't want their science from getting edited by Bu$h the inferior.
Since Bush's handpicked regime are pretty much all Christians, they are not only afraid that God will get them if they disagree with W's 'word,' but that Bush will get them, too. It appears that in the long run, he has gotten all who dare to publicly disagree with him.
Religion is the product of man's need for power. Bush is certainly using that power to the greatest (and worst) extreme.
But wait. The people are beginning to speak out loud against the W. Must be time for another 9/11 to put us back in our cowering places.
What the l.a.times article failed to include was testimony by Dr. Carmona explaining that he was told to mention Bush at least 3 times on every page of any speech he made. Now, that is even more egregious that editing his material. Call it propaganda or psy-ops or whatever, it just underscores the devious character of the players. Many other news outlets did mention such testimony.
Yup, the writing is on the tubes... the 9/11 czar hath spoken, there's another 9/11 in the works...
Absolutely right that we're getting too uppity and need to be shown, once again, that the W is the all powerful. Pay no attention to that man behind the shotgun!
We only ever get to see the tip of the iceberg. When your head's against the ceiling and the water level is at your upper lip...
Seems like we better get some survival skills and quickly. We should, perhaps, consider that the "professional branch" of our shadow government will be ready to handle any uprisings from the folks over here after they've had years of training in the middle east since 2002. (That's where all the education funds go, to send students to the School of the Americas. Some get to study abroad.)
I doubt that Dr. Carmona has had the forum since leaving office. The MSM won't help. It takes testifying before a congressional committee. Even so, do we know how wide spread this report will be? The majority of Americans don't see or hear many of these whistleblowers' reports. For that matter, from the posts I see, the FACT that Bush never won either the 2000 or the 2004 election, with many millions of votes suppressed and hacked in 2004, mostly in swing states, seems to have eluded many of those here on the internet. Hitler's (Rove's, Cheney's, Bush's etal) method of repeating big lies works. Fortunately, there are many Americans who understood and worked to make a difference during the 2006 elections. Even so, at least 3 million votes or about 4% were hacked. A minimum of 10 congressional seats were stolen by Republicans. The 13th district in Florida was just the most glaring example. While there is very little voter fraud, the vote fraud, primnarily using computer hacking, has been rampant. It is critical that we secure our election systems, establish paper trails and consistent audits. Go to election.solarbus.org to explore articles, analytical reports and links.
This administration secured two very important controls in order to minimize the affect of any whistle blowing or malcontents within the ranks of bureucrats. First, Bush did not move to protect any whistle blowers, making sure that the coporate culture, which put Bush/Cheney in power, made whistle blowers pay dearly for their "disloyalty." Second, added layers of political appointees replaced long-term professionals, who actually thought they were to be pro-active within their area of influence.
I wonder how many administrations it will take to rid our government of the Bushies. This is the natural process of fascism--government of, by and for the corporatists. People are always surprised when they hear me, a Christian minister, refer to Bush as a fascist tyrant, whose religion is anything but Christian! It's one thing to use religion as an excuse to destroy our country's heritage and honored past with his illegal war and occupation. But he has poisoned the adminisstrative and judicial branches of our country.
I have little sympathy for our former Surgeon General. I suppose we should be prepared for a lot of worms crawling out of the word work claiming that their actions was a result of political and "theological" arm-twisting. As a matter of fact, there is nothing "theological" about that bunch of religionists!
Tell me___ what would Dr.Carmona have to gain by speaking out now? If he was going to write a book, he wouldn't have to testify before a committe, he'd just write the book. This was the oppertune time for him to speak out, kick em when they're down. If he'd spoken out earlier, the Bush team would have nullified it with propaganda and lies. They are attempting to do that now, but it isn't flying. Tony Snow is looking bad at the press conferencs. Real bad!
Quote:
"Yellow Horse July 11th, 2007 1:52 pm
So let me get this clear in my mind. The "good Doctor" was "in office" for four years; and now he speaks up? Why now?
This seems to me to be a "re-write" of the "Tenet revelations"—–"oh by the way, the barn burned down—-last year".
Mr. Bush is a perfect example in the false "myth of a dictator's power" —- Mr. Bush needed help in every abuse he has committed that the rest of us know about —– as well as the one's we do not know about. The "good Doctor" was simply an accomplice who now has "found his conscience".
A pathetic man at best.
By the way; would you like to set an appointment to see the " good Doctor"?
Sure, where would he like the "stool sample deposited", ...?
..."
End Quote.
Funny; and I mean it, and not sarcastically. NICE colour too, 'yellow'; and 'horse', IS great animal, and very good friend, when treated WELL! My grandfather grew up from nearly baby and for decades with horses being his means of transportation and work helpers, and always treated them right, and once ceasing to employ them, still always treated all he came across with total respect; almost as if brothers. I saw him when he was elderly and going to a neighbour's horses, and you could see the affection he had for them.
Makes sense if we know about Francis of Assis, with brother wolf, sister moon, etc., etc., too; IMO. The ox is a great work animal, as well as the horse, etc., BUT TREAT THEM RIGHT; ELSE EXPECT PROBLEMS, and they can be serious. They are NOT DUMB; not as much as humans anyway. And plenty of brilliant humans were brutally rendered into slavery, but never became DUMB. The DUMB do such things to others though, and have armies of DUMMIES for enforcement.
Lovely situation, eh. NO.
Yellow's GOOD. Want to be a cyclist on busy roads? Wear YELLOW. Want to go wilderness canoeing and [portaging] further, wear yellow life-vests, so that if you get in to a troublespot situation, make sure to put on that vest if you detect anyone within eyeshot. When I worked in Ottawa, Ontario, Ca, I was member of a non-profit canoe club of this sort and we trekked on two and three day portaging circuits (one being a 7 day'er but only in August, and I didn't make it); but also road-biked, for fitness, rec. And I eventually came across a book, of official enough, if not totally, source, and it said that the best SIGNAL colour IS YELLOW.
Put aside flourescent, ..., tech., just taking natural colours. Which stands out most immediately, quickly, and therefore SIGNALS? YELLOW.
"Yellow horse"; interesting combination that makes. Who's the wise and therefore peaceful, constructive, ... one to employ such name, I wonder. Conceptually; a name with a LOT of meaning that only requires a little thinking about to understand. Only those IN TUNE with Nature and harmonious Nature will SEE. But such wonderful naming can also be misused, though YH does seem to have shown that he or she does seem to realise what's really going on.
There's much going on alright. Try the following excellent article by Mike Whitney, f.e. And I'd say that it IS MUST READ.
"Bush-Putin Summit in Kennebunkport: The New Cold War", by Mike Whitney, July 11 2007,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6289
READ and WEEP, fellow Americanos, because Putin's making pure putrid (Drummondville, Quebec, Ca, originated) poutin (that'll kill ya with high fat bs) out of Bush et al. Yep, don't eat that crap Qc poutin, but DO ABSORB and sanely so the comparitively GREATNESS of Ru. Pres. Vladimir Putin, compared to the "West's" SCHMUCKS, who've not only crushed their countries, but are making total fools of themselves. Well, if we're going to be crushed, then it'd sure be good that the schmucks doing this to us make themselves into FOOLS worldwide, too; else, only the latter part, thanks. I don't want us to be suffering because of those BASTARDS, maudits bartards de chiens d'enfer, unless they burn with the hell they belong to. (Excuse my lingo.)
This horse, here, is not happy. But all fellow horses, whatever their colours are, for horses never betray one another, at least NOT intentionally; they're all welcome, imo. Be you the natural horses of any part of this world, including zebras (fancy fellows they are), etc., all are welcome, imo. None of them BETRAY. I guess we could consider long-necked horse, aka, giraff, included, and of course Mr and Ms Camel. Etc.
Oh, for that matter, why not also brother goat (and -ess), and RAM (sounds good to me), etc.
Sperm whales eat giant squid. Well, although Bush, Cheney, ..., at least half of Congress don't fit the size, individually, we could still try to wrap them up in outfits to try to make them seem like giant squid; and hope the large sperm whales would finish off the job. Maybe?
Okay, I fantasize therein; I admit. But if you dress them up that way and give me authority over the boat to take these disposable and to be disposed-of items to drop off to the drop-off zone, whereever sperm whales FEED, then I'll accept; if you teach me how to navigate, along with teaching me any other little incidentals that I would need to know.
NO, well, while that'd be interesting, it's not needed. If it's not already happening, done, it's because there are plenty of people who could have done much before; but they ONLY LOOK OUT FOR THEMSELVES, while pretending to really care for others and therefore the nation.
That is the reality. Americans are ready to serve in the military and MURDER, massacre, ..., peoples in other countries; heh, no problemo. When it comes to MINUTEMAN order of self-governance, "where are the citizenry? They've ALL disappeared". It's not quite that extreme, but it is what mostly exists in the USA. 23% totally opposed the launch of the war on Iraq, Feb. 15, 2003. 77% supported the launch; and while Roman Catholics were among the least supportive of SO-CALLED Christians, they were still in the 60+% range.
Americans and PUTRID "Christians" (of West) are ready to MASSACRE other peoples, but these damn bastards are NOT ready to really fight where the only justifiable direction applies. NOPE, "oops, oh, I've got to go out and buy milky for my daughty, or ..." EXCUSES; SPINELESS American.
And Putin's making putrid Quebecois poutin for the West, i.e, Washington, CFR, ETC.
DO NOT TOUCH that Qc poutin; you might want to try a fry or two, but tell them to stick it back up Drummondville's ASS. Thank you. Stupid schmucks there, too.
No, it sounds like I'm exaggerating in terms of Drummondville, but I'm NOT. The 'poutin' nonsense that originated there and spread en masse, and can be made to be tasty, seeming fun to eat, it's NO WAY, JOSE, zone bs. It's deep-fried "french"-fries in hellish fats, topped with a lot of unhealthy fatty gravy, and LOW quality cheese. Sounds cheesy, and it is, but it is JUNK, BS, NOT food. NOTHING in this poutin crap is of any health value, but it rakes in bucks, and the govts have not banned this crap, as any SANE govts would.
I don't have a problem with potatoes, but I don't need or want JUNK food, either.
Well, Ru. Pres. Putin is showing that the West is MOSTLY junk poutin.
WHAT?___ NEVER MIND, PLEASE DO NOT REPEAT IT.
Excuse me, Evelyn, but if you're referring to my post, then do the least sensible thing and MAKE IT CLEAR WHO YOU ARE REFERRING TO, and do not go around giving orders to others BLINDLY. You have a particular problem with my post, THEN SPECIFY what your putrid little peculiarities are. And then I'll address them, item by item.
Otherwise, take you're fancy butt elsewhere, because YOU ARE NO QUEEN, BABE.
NOR is the so-called 'Queen' of England. THERE ARE NO QUEENS, little girl; NONE! And there are NO KINGS! NONE!
Don't like canoeing? Don't like learning about the visibility of yellow when lost out in the wilderness? Don't like the fact that my grandfather LONG lived and worked with horses? What the HELL is your problem little queenie americanie?
YOU ARE NO QUEEN UNTO NOT EVEN ANTS, little girl.
So do not reply to me with your whining queenie NONSENSE. Be Specific, or not, and if not, then the true honest person shuts UP.
Do NOT preach to me. Teach, but don't preach.
Oh Mikecorbil, I was not givng orders or preaching to you sir. I just did not understand what points you were attempting to make on this issue of Dr. Carmona. And I asked you nicely to please, not repeat it because, I wanted to study it and you had already posted it so well. I'm terribly sorry, but I read it three times and I still don't get it.
Please do not comdemn me, I am just a little girl and not well schooled. I love horses, and my grand father was a horseman and trained coach horses. I love the color yellow too, I used to always carry a nice, ripe, yellow pear when I went to school in eighth grade, that is as far as I got. And when I got in the school yard, the boys would always whistle and say, "Hey, there's Evie, look at her nice pair". And I had a lot of boy friends too. Thank you for writing something that made no sense to me, but I did enjoy it anyway and I can tell that you are very wise.
I wish I wa a wise guy like you.___ Nite
We have been dealing with Government censorship since George Bush arrived at the White House. We have been exposing scientific misconduct, falsification, fabrication and misrepresentation in planetary science since at least 2002 and naturally we have been the targets of well coordinated attacks from political and academic sources funded by NASA and the NSF.
For instance on the FOX television controversy of whether or not we really landed on the Moon. Dr. Randy Korotev from Washington University St. Louis marginalized the skeptics by claiming the Government could not make or re-produce lunar rocks of soils because the material is too complicated. (On our website you can find a document which describes the chemical composition of lunar soil made in the US, approximately 27 tons of it and called JSC-1). The lunar soil simulant matches the lunar maria material by ~98%. This was a grave error on his part mainly because he never retracted it and instead sought to ignore it.
In addition after extensive research (in and out of the lab) we were able to ascertain and verify that indeed we (humans)did land on the Moon at least once but we were unable to verify any landings beyond that.
Incidentally that 27 tons of JSC-1 was enough to fill a hollywood style stage? The Bush administration is completely untrustworthy in scientific matters, and the politicized federal agencies and ensuing censorship skirmishes shows that.
Cordially,
S. Ray DeRusse
www.bccmeteorites.com
Why is it these folks don't come clean until AFTER they have made the big bucks doing the dishonest and illegal things? Why don't they talk sooner, rather than later, when they might stand a chance of actually doing some good. I'm so sick of these weak little tattle-tales who stand up for what is right when it is too late.
"The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party."
Yes, and the job of Congress is to engage their constitutional duties and powers of checks & balances upon the Executive Branch.
This administration will go down in history for having the most whistle-blowers stepping forward in an effort to expose the deceptions of this alleged Democratic-Republic.
Thank you, Dr. Carmona, for your patriotic gesture.
The perversion of the public service to serve partisan political agendas seem to be a neo-con preoccupation in North America. This same kind of paranoid interference happened in Ontario during the neo-con dominated Mike Harris administration in Ontario. Bush the Inferior's political hacks' fervour, however, is unmatched.