NASA Inspector General scandal

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...020202721.html
I'd like to be in charge of ethics for the Bush White House: "Now, that
waterboarding of the prisoners is okay, but I have some ethical
questions about the bamboo under the fingernails part."
Global Warming, what global warming?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/sc...rtner=homepage

" 'It is not the job of public-affairs officers,' Dr. Griffin wrote in
an e-mail message to the agency's 19,000 employees, 'to alter, filter or
adjust engineering or scientific material produced by NASA's technical
staff.'

The statement came six days after The New York Times quoted the
scientist, James E. Hansen, as saying he was threatened with 'dire
consequences' if he continued to call for prompt action to limit
emissions of heat-trapping gases linked to global warming. He and
intermediaries in the agency's 350-member public-affairs staff said the
warnings came from White House appointees in NASA headquarters.

Other National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists and
public-affairs employees came forward this week to say that beyond Dr.
Hansen's case, there were several other instances in which political
appointees had sought to control the flow of scientific information from
the agency.

They called or e-mailed The Times and sent documents showing that news
releases were delayed or altered to mesh with Bush administration policies."


Meanwhile, from further down in the article....was it The Big Bang or
God that made the universe?:

"The Big Bang memo came from Mr. Deutsch, a 24-year-old presidential
appointee in the press office at NASA headquarters whose résumé says he
was an intern in the 'war room' of the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election
campaign. A 2003 journalism graduate of Texas A&M, he was also the
public-affairs officer who sought more control over Dr. Hansen's public
statements.

In October 2005, Mr. Deutsch sent an e-mail message to Flint Wild, a
NASA contractor working on a set of Web presentations about Einstein for
middle-school students. The message said the word 'theory' needed to be
added after every mention of the Big Bang.

The Big Bang is 'not proven fact; it is opinion,' Mr. Deutsch wrote,
adding, 'It is not NASA's place, nor should it be to make a declaration
such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts
intelligent design by a creator.'

It continued: 'This is more than a science issue, it is a religious
issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be getting
one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had failed to
properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual information
the most.'

The memo also noted that The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual
specified the phrasing 'Big Bang theory.' Mr. Acosta, Mr. Deutsch's
boss, said in an interview yesterday that for that reason, it should be
used in all NASA documents."

Pat