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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated

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From: LindyBill	3/10/2009 3:19:05 PM
	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) of 793678

Politics-Free Science? By John Tierney President Obama today today announced the signing of a memorandum instructing the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to "develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision-making." He promised to "base our public policies on the soundest science" and to "appoint scientific advisors based on their credentials and experience, not their politics or ideology." Well, that sounds very nice, but what does it mean? Let me know what you think. You can read the White House's summary of the new science policy here If you've read my previous column and posts on the president's new scientific advisers, you can guess that I'm skeptical of how open this administration — or any administration — really is to science that doesn't conform to its agenda. Conservatives' spinning of science has been widely criticized, but see, for instance, Ronald Bailey's account in Reason of how liberal politics trumped scientific findings about silicone breast implants and second-hand smoke. Perhaps, though, I'm being too cynical. I was interested to see that this new memorandum instructs agency administrators to "have appropriate rules and procedures to ensure the integrity of the scientific process within the agency, including whistleblower protection." Do you suppose this protection will inspire any government scientists to question Mr. Obama's claim that global warming is causing "storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season"? How many government economists will speak about the theoretical and practical advantages of a carbon tax over the cap-and-trade system being promoted by the administration? How many federal scientists discuss the environmental problems blamed on the ethanol subsidies favored by Mr. Obama? If there are whistleblowers feeling newly empowered, please feel free to post comments here. tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com

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