Silence The Horrible Truth

Americans don't like to dwell on unpleasant problems. We watch the news, we absorb about a third of it, and then we eat dinner and watch "Entertainment Tonight".

It's odd to write about a pending ice age when the weather is so pleasant. Who doesn't love a 60 degree day in January? But on this balmy day, the front page of the Washington Post reports that the debate on climate change has changed from if, to when. Many scientists think we will soon reach a point where any action to reduce emissions will be too late. Our Green Goddess Marigolds has put a link on Blues News.

One of the many important facts presented in the article is one pointing out the Administration's attempt to keep our top scientists from speaking about this gloomy topic. One of NASA's top scientists, James E. Hansen has been ordered to pull information from his website because it did not jive with the policy of the Administration.

When Hansen posted data on the Internet in the fall suggesting that 2005 could be the warmest year on record, NASA officials ordered Hansen to withdraw the information because he had not had it screened by the administration in advance, according to a Goddard scientist who spoke on the condition of anonymity. More recently, NASA officials tried to discourage a reporter from interviewing Hansen for this article and later insisted he could speak on the record only if an agency spokeswoman listened in on the conversation.

Censorship of scientists? Not in America. We just hate bad news. And the remedy for climate change? Give up our SUV's? It'll snow in July before we do that.