Image: Albert Einstein, Person of the Century, Time Magazine
A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...
I believe in Spinoza's God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind....
All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom. It is no mere chance that our older universities developed from clerical schools. Both churches and universities — insofar as they live up to their true function — serve the ennoblement of the individual. They seek to fulfill this great task by spreading moral and cultural understanding, renouncing the use of brute force....
Some Quotes from Albert Einstein
Hard Rain Journal 12-17-06: The Scientists are on the Ramparts -- 52 Nobel Laureates & 10,000 Other Scientists Demand Freedom from Thought Control -- 2+2=4
Several important stories emerged from the American Geophysical Union's recent annual fall meeting in San Francisco:
Former Vice President Gore...urged scientists to communicate the climate crisis "in ways that arouse appropriate alarm that can motivate changes in behavior.''..."For civilization as a whole, we've somehow persuaded ourselves that we don't have to care about what happens to future generations,'' he said to about 7,000 scientists, including 3,000 in an overflow room...(San Francisco Chronicle, 12-15-06)
A statement by Nobel laureates and other leading scientists calling for the restoration of scientific integrity to federal policy making has now been signed by 10,600 scientists from all 50 states, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) announced... (Union of Concerned Scientists, 12-12-06)
The U.S. administration is clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, who study everything from caribou mating to global warming, subjecting them to controls on research that might go against official policy. (Associated Press, 12-14-06)
The right-wing has been waging a war on science since the Bush-Cheney regime was unconstitutionally installed by a 5-4 of decision of the US Supreme Court in 2000.
Why?
The answer is as simple as 2+2=4. That's the mathematical law that the Thought Police wanted Winston Smith to forsake in George Orwell's 1984.
War is peace, love is hate -- it is all easy to accept once you have accepted the lie that 2+2=5. Eventually, they broke Winston Smith (with torture).
Will they break you?
Who are they?
There are three types of people involved in the effort to suppress freedom of scientific thought and compromise the integrity of scientific research:
-- Christian religious extremists who seek to escape the nature of the universe and the contents of their own psyches in an strange Christianity that has little at all to do with the teachings of Jesus either in the Bible (whether you use the King James or the Jefferson) or the Gnostic Gospels;
-- Corporatists whose greed has blinded them even to knowledge that would benefit their own enlightened self-interest;
-- Political leaders who manipulate the Christian religious extremist constituency to serve the appetites of the corporatists.
Surely true conservatives can join with centrists, progressives, and libertarians in protecting the integrity and freedom of scientific thought, speech and research?
Here are brief excerpts from seven stories, with links to the full texts, including the three AGU conference news items mentioned, and four other news items from the last several years, all of which underscore the Orwellian effort to suppress knowledge and hamper its pursuit:
Former Vice President Gore, presidential candidate turned climate crusader, spoke at the annual meeting of the world's largest scientific society, the American Geophysical Union.
He urged scientists to communicate the climate crisis "in ways that arouse appropriate alarm that can motivate changes in behavior.''..."For civilization as a whole, we've somehow persuaded ourselves that we don't have to care about what happens to future generations,'' he said to about 7,000 scientists, including 3,000 in an overflow room.... Jane Kay, Gore implores scientists to raise alarms Ex-VP calls for research to be used for policy change, San Francisco Chronicle, 12-15-06
A statement by Nobel laureates and other leading scientists calling for the restoration of scientific integrity to federal policy making has now been signed by 10,600 scientists from all 50 states, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) announced today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. The announcement came as the scientists group released an "A to Z" guide that documents dozens of recent allegations involving censorship and political interference in federal science....
The integrity of science statement has grown steadily since it was first released in February 2004. Signatories now include 52 Nobel Laureates, 63 National Medal of Science recipients, and almost 200 members of the National Academies of Science. Union of Concerned Scientists, 12-12-06
The U.S. administration is clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, who study everything from caribou mating to global warming, subjecting them to controls on research that might go against official policy.
New rules require screening of all facts and interpretations by agency scientists. The rules apply to all scientific papers and other public documents, even minor reports or prepared talks, documents show....
"I feel as though we've got someone looking over our shoulder at every damn thing we do," said Jim Estes, an internationally recognized marine biologist who works for the geological unit...."Our findings could be embarrassing to the administration." John Heilprin, Scientists Worried about Bush Clampdown at Publication, Associated Press, 12-14-06
Under President Bush’s proposed budget, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is slated to shut down its network of libraries that serve its own scientists as well as the public, according to internal agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). In addition to the libraries, the agency will pull the plug on its electronic catalog which tracks tens of thousands of unique documents and research studies that are available nowhere else....
EPA currently operates a network of 27 libraries operating out of its Washington, D.C. Headquarters and ten regional offices across the country. The size of the cuts will force the Headquarters library and most of the regional libraries to shut their doors and cease operations. Each year, the EPA libraries –
Handle more than 134,000 research requests from its own scientific and enforcement staff;
House and catalog an estimated 50,000 “unique” documents that are available nowhere else; and
Operate public reading rooms and provide the public with access to EPA databases.
“Access to information is one of the best tools we have for protecting the environment,” added Ruch, calling the cuts the “epitome of penny wise and pound foolish.” “By contrast, closing the Environmental Protection Agency libraries actually threatens to subtract from the sum total of human knowledge.” BUSH AXING LIBRARIES WHILE PUSHING FOR MORE RESEARCH — EPA Set to Close Library Network and Electronic Catalog, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), 2-10-06
The Bush administration's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has dangerously undermined U.S. scientific enterprise and national security by abridging the constitutional and academic freedoms that have long fostered the nation's technical superiority, according to a report released yesterday by the American Civil Liberties Union. Rick Weiss, 9/11 Response Hurting Science, ACLU Says, Washington Post, 6-22-05
From environmental hazards to sex education, the federal government in the past several years has been twisting science to political ends. The ends are sometimes ideological - as in the suppression of information about condoms and sexual safety - and sometimes simply take the form of favors to business interests that would like to see less environmental, public health, or workplace safety regulation. But the pattern has become so pervasive that much of the scientific community is up in arms. The question is, what can be done to stop it?
Concern about the current administration's manipulation and distortion of science goes back at least to July 2003, when the Interior Department introduced a new book into the Grand Canyon National Park's official bookstore. Titled Grand Canyon: A Different View, the book takes issue with extensive geological evidence that the canyon evolved over several million years, and instead argues that the canyon was forged by a single "catastrophic" event only a few thousand years ago: the great flood of biblical fame.
Marjorie Heins, The Attack on Science, Common Dreams, 12-21-04
The American people depend upon federal agencies to promote scientific research and to develop science-based policies that protect the nation’s health and welfare. Historically, these agencies — such as the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency — have had global reputations for scientific excellence.
However, leading scientific journals have questioned whether scientific integrity at federal agencies has been sacrificed to further a political and ideological agenda. As the editor of Science wrote in early 2003, there is growing evidence that the Bush Administration “invades areas once immune to this kind of manipulation.”
In August 2003, at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the Democratic staff of the Government Reform Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives assessed the treatment of science and scientists by the Bush Administration. The resulting report -- Politics and Science in the Bush Administration -- found numerous instances where the Administration has manipulated the scientific process and distorted or suppressed scientific findings. The State of Science Under the Bush Administration, Committee on Government Reform Minority Office, Presented by Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member, Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, 8-03
Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net
Global Warming, Energy Security, Environmental Security, Alternate Energy, Sustainability, Green Power, Renewable Resources, Climate Change, Weather, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, Extreme Weather, Crisis Management,Carbon Freeze, NASA, EPA, NOAH, Rep. Henry Waxman, Albert Einstein, PEER, ACLU, AGU, Corporatism, Religion, Science, Politics, U.S. Geological Survey, Union of Concerned Scientists, Bush, Cheney, Richard Power, Words of Power
