I guess I would have to say I stopped being surprised by the brazenness of this administration long ago, but then I would have to recall countless times that I have thought that true only to have been surprised by them again. Maybe that is more because I thought there was nowhere else for them to go, but they find a way. Too bad they can't use that ability to find us a way out of Iraq. Hmm... But I digress. I was just reading an article from the NY Times entitled Former Surgeon General Says He Was Muzzled . I know, what's so new about that? Well, follow me below the jump and I'll let some pent up anger flow through my fingertips and onto the internet page.
I will admit that I am liberal minded. Not the bad liberal that so many media outlets would have it termed, but liberal minded in the sense that I believe in knowledge. I believe knowledge is the key to everything, and it appears that this administration must know that. Otherwise why would they seek to muzzle the Surgeon General and keep him from educating the public or speaking out on things like Embryonic Stem Cell Research and sex education.
*WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The first U.S. surgeon general appointed by President George W. Bush accused the administration on Tuesday of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like embryonic stem cell research.
"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation's top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee.
*
"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. The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party," Carmona added.*
I wonder how the President has continually gotten away with this stuff. Oh yeah, everyone is too busy to pay attention to what he is doing.
*"Political interference with the work of the surgeon general appears to have reached a new level in this administration," said Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to which Carmona testified.
"The public expects that a surgeon general will be immune from political pressure and be allowed to express his or her professional views based on the best available science," he said.*
Perhaps that last part should be that the public has the right to expect their surgeon general to be immune from political pressure. But as we have learned from the lengths this administration has gone to prevent us from knowing what is going on, or from being given the facts about things (not just the facts they manufacture or cherry pick.)
So here we are again, being made privvy to something after the fact which shows us how dangerous knowledge and facts seem to be to this administration. If people know what is going on, they might not just blindly follow dear leader. But honestly, I fear that no one will pay attention, as they have failed to pay attention the other times. What is it going to take to get people's attention!!