It's natural to wonder what George W. Bush does all day--between his morning workout and his afternoon nap. Yesterday it became clear that another function we assumed occurred in the White House was actually conducted by Dick Cheney's office. So I'm left wondering if most of his day is spent listening to his minions (especially the women in his life) telling him how wonderful and powerful he is.
Yesterday's byte: NASA toadies including neophyte politico Philip Cooney, testify to Henry Waxman's Oversight and Government Reform committee that everything they did was coordinated not through the White House, but through Cheney's "Energy and Environment" office. (A strange mix, isn't it?)Cooney, like all good politicos, has left NASA to make real money working for Exxon. But his testimony lives on.
Since the hearing seems to have escaped the notice of everyone but the astute reporters at the New Zealand Herald (per this morning's Google), you may want a quick update.
The star witness was global climate scientist James Hansen, who had his access to radio and other interviews blocked, and his papers censored, by Cooney--a former oil company lobbyist appointed to NASA for specifically that purpose.
A former White House official accused of improperly editing reports on global warming defended his editing changes yesterday, saying they reflected views in a 2001 report by the National Academy of Sciences. House Democrats said the 181 changes made in three climate reports reflected a consistent attempt to emphasize the uncertainties surrounding the science of climate change and undercut the broad conclusions that man-made emissions are warming the earth.
This includes evidence that Cooney and other CEQ officials made at least 181 edits "to exaggerate or emphasize scientific uncertainties." He pointed to at least 113 edits "to de-emphasize or diminish the importance of the human role in global warming" in the administration's July 2003 guide to research into the effects of climate change, according to a memo from the Democratic staff. Major changes were also made in a draft 2003 EPA report and a fiscal 2003 report to Congress from the administration on the status of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.
Edits to the EPA report were so egregious, according to testimony, that the participating scientists disowned it, indicating that it no longer reflected real scientific information.
When testimony by NASA Scientist James Hansen indicated that he had been censored "in a manner akin to the government of Nazi Germany," Republican Chris Cannon of Provo, Utah jumped on Hansen:
Republicans targeted a NASA director who testified about administration pressure, accusing him of political bias, of politicizing his work and of ignoring uncertainties in climate change science. And they disputed his contention that taxpayer-funded scientists are entitled to free speech. "Free speech is not a simple thing and is subject to and directed by policy," said Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah
But that's not the news--at least not the headline in New Zealand today (since almost all American reporters seem to have ignored it.) Under probing questioning, Cooney admitted that the bulk of his direction came from the office of the Vice President, who coordinates all of the nation's energy and environmental policy.
So it's left to us to wonder--What does the president do all day? Given the fact that his babysitter, Cheney, is busy in an undisclosed location, I can only imagine that Laura, Condoleeza, and perhaps Harriet just keep soothing his ego, telling him that he shouldn't worry about the small details of world politics or environmental crisis, because when something really big happens (like, perhaps Miami is treading water) he can be the "decider."
Perhaps more importantly, I wonder what we can actually impeach Bush for. The more you pick, the more you find that he's been sitting on the sofa in the Oval Office having people peel grapes for him for six years. Of course, ignoring the country while it crumbles around you is probably a high crime or misdemeanor in itself.