Two books at once
Friday I finished “reading” two books in the same day. I had been listening to one from Audible while at the same time reading one that had come up on reserve for me at the library. It was a bit interesting reading these two books at the same time, since they’re both (sort of) two angles on the same problem and they made some complementary points…
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Chain of Command by Seymour M. Hersh – Interesting read, although a bit depressing. Details the obsession of the Bush administration to justify the start of the war in Iraq by any means necessary before (and particularly after) 9/11. Lots of unnamed sources (their authenticity is discussed in an interview with the author after the core book is over) point out the single-minded obsession with getting it done in Iraq, and how this led to all sorts of abuses (Abu Ghraib, etc). Sad, but I have few doubts it’s very true, given all else that happened in the last 5 years…
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The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney – They didn’t have this one available at Audible so I had reserved it from Seattle Public Library a few months back and just got it at the end of April. The principle, and terrible, point of this book is that there is a lot of good science and science process out there — and that the political administration of GWB has done more to politicize it (ie – squelching science that doesn’t suit their policy desires and trumping up weak and contrarian science that meets their needs) than has ever been done in previous administrations. This reality should surprise nobody who has followed the various science decisions made by the current administration (ie – kyoto/global warming, planB emergency contraception, stem cell research). In each of these and many other examples, the administration has ignored overwhelming peer-reviewed science analysis in favor of one or two “sound science” contrarian, often industry or religion supported, science papers that agree with their desired policy position.
Sad. Sad. Sad.
Evan Dodds - Non-work-related blog » An Inconvenient Truth said,
June 19, 2006 at 7:54 am
[...] Actual, “sound” science. It tied together with a few other things I’d read lately, like Chris Mooney’s Republican War on Science. (quick refresher – many folks are in denial that this is actually happening, and once it becomes unmistakable that it is through scientific data… these folks attack the scientific data, the scientific process, and even the scientists). And make no mistake about it, “these folks” who are disparaging scientific research are our elected officials. [...]