Know Your Hacks

You may have heard recently about NASA trying to silence their top climate scientist, James Hansen. The heat was coming from a NASA public affairs officer, so who is that? Why, it's 24 year old Bush appointee George Deutsch, a hack who was an intern in Bush's 2004 campaign.

Deutsch doesn't just try to silence climate science though. Check this out from The New York Times:

In October 2005, Mr. Deutsch sent an e-mail message to Flint Wild, a NASA contractor working on a set of Web presentations about Einstein for middle-school students. The message said the word "theory" needed to be added after every mention of the Big Bang.

The Big Bang is "not proven fact; it is opinion," Mr. Deutsch wrote, adding, "It is not NASA's place, nor should it be to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator."

It continued: "This is more than a science issue, it is a religious issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be getting one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual information the most."

Why in the world would NASA be supplying the religious side of the debate? It's not a church. They do science, period.

I think Deutsch should be on the first manned mission to Mars. I should warn him though, we'll be using an experimental rocket powered by gasbag Pat Robertson's hot air. Should be safe enough for him.