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Your science has no mouth and it must scream

Aristotle on 2006-07-14T12:34:09

Phil Plait:

In March, I wrote about (Democratic Representative) Brad Miller looking into science suppression in government-funded agencies. Miller went farther this week, introducing an amendment to a bill that would basically prevent the government from punishing whistle-blowers who want to report any suppression of scientific findings that were made using government funding. The bill was to formally recognize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a government agency, and was being considered by the House Science Committee. […] This seems like a good idea to me, especially since the government has been suppressing scientific findings for some time now, and more allegations of it surface on a weekly basis. In fact, there have been issues with the NOAA specifically about the government suppressing global warming findings.

[…]

The amendment was rejected, 17-13. Every no vote was from a Republican. Every yes vote was from a Democrat.

Why?

Ovid on 2006-07-14T13:07:46

What I want to know is why the Republicans voted against this. I'm seeing a few possibilities.

Bullies
They really aren't that keen on limiting the government's ability to intimidate people.
Petulant
They don't want to show support for an initiative started by a Democrat.
Prostitutes
They're so busy giving figurative blowjobs to their corporate sponsors that they they want to reassure nervous business people that the Republicans are still in the business of suppressing information which might harm business interests.
Principled
They feel a compelling need to stand up for the rights of, er, something or other.

My money's on prostitution (so to speak). Not that the Democrats in the US are that much better, but at least they're a little more discreet about the carpet burns on their knees.

Re:Why?

VSarkiss on 2006-07-14T13:45:40

I'm betting on "herd mentality": if you want to be re-elected, stick with the herd.

I also believe most if not all the democrats voted yes for the same reason.

Re:Why?

Ovid on 2006-07-14T13:48:14

I do agree with the herd-mentality, but that still means someone needs to lead the herd. Who was that and why?