Surgeon general was 'gagged by White House'

Bush always seems to dismiss any complaints against his administration by claiming, "That's just politics" carrying the clear implication that this administration is somehow above politics. It certainly goes against that image when one discovers that the Bush regime have been manipulating the surgeon general to make statements that suited the White House's purposes and to gag him when he intended to do the opposite.

The Bush White House banned Dr Carmona from speaking or issuing reports on stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, prisons, mental health and international health issues, he has revealed. For years, the White House also tried to "water down" a key report on the dangers of second-hand smoke, he said. When it was published last year , the report stated that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke can cause immediate harm.

When Dr Carmona tried to address the subject of embryonic stem-cell research, deeply controversial among the religious right, he said he was "told to stand down and not speak about it". He explained: "Much of the discussion was being driven by theology, ideology, [and] preconceived beliefs that were scientifically incorrect... I thought, 'This is a perfect example of the surgeon general being able to step forward, educate the American public'... [but] I was blocked at every turn. I was told the decision had already been made - 'Stand down. Don't talk about it.' That information was removed from my speeches."

He was also told that global warming was a "liberal cause" and to decline invitations to attend scientific discussion meetings on the subject.

Dr Carmona is the latest in a long line of officials claiming that political considerations take precedence over scientific facts at the Bush White House.

And this is being done by an administration that accuse others of engaging in "politics" as if they are above such a thing.

Indeed, they even objected to the surgeon general getting involved in the Special Olympics because it received considerable support from the Kennedy's.

"I was specifically told by a senior person, 'Why would you want to help those people?'" Dr Carmona testified.

Politics of the grubbiest kind, ignoring the truth when it didn't suit their political purposes, whilst all the time publicly claiming to be above the fray.

The truth appears to be meaningless to this administration.

During a nine-month trial of the US tobacco industry, Dr Carmona was heavily leant upon not to testify. The same went for sex education: "However, there was already a policy in place that did not want to hear the science but wanted to preach abstinence only, but I felt that was scientifically incorrect," he said. "Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalised or simply buried," Dr Carmona said. "There is nothing worse than ignoring science or marginalising the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds."

This administration is simply too moronic to be leading the world's only superpower. Ideologues uninterested in anything that doesn't support their own narrow agenda.

It's exactly the mindset that led them into Iraq. Believe only that which confirms your own preconceived notions and ignore the rest. It's the rationale of idiots.

So we shouldn't be surprised that the surgeon general was treated in such a shoddy way by these morons.

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