Friday, March 30, 2007

“I’m not an environmental scientist, but I play one in the Bush administration…”

Good lord. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Bush administration hack that it seems was only put in their position solely to destroy their department from the inside.

An Inspector General’s report released yesterday found serious conflicts of interest and manipulation of science by a deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The IG found evidence that she repeatedly pressured senior scientists and changed reports to make them industry-friendly.

In an especially blatant instance of conflicting interests;

…according to Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall, MacDonald tangled with field personnel over designating habitat for the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher, a bird whose range is from Arizona to New Mexico and Southern California. When scientists wrote that the bird had a "nesting range" of 2.1 miles, MacDonald told field personnel to change the number to 1.8 miles. Hall, a wildlife biologist who told the IG he had had a "running battle" with MacDonald, said she did not want the range to extend to California because her husband had a family ranch there. (emphasis added).

The insidiousness of these political hacks will not be palliated when the end of an error comes to a close and the Bushies leave Washington forever. These partisan flaks are pushing out the people who are dedicated not to politics but to their jobs. The ones who have served faithfully no matter who was in charge are leaving in disgust, and you just know they are not being replaced by dedicated public servants. They are being replaced with partisan flaks that will be weak links in the civil service system for years to come. It will be decades before we are rid of these worthless patronage whores.

Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work,

and then get elected and prove it. –P.J. O’Rourke

5 comments:

Me said...

Seriously, nothing these assholes do ever surprises me anymore. Outrages me, yes. Surprises me, oh hell no.

Anonymous said...

It's true, it seems like it never ends. It will take decades, if ever, if there is long enough even, to unfuck all the fuck-ups these heartless fucks have fucked up. And thank you for helping expose the assholes.

Three Score and Ten or more said...

This is the way it has been for a century. There is an old saying,"If you can, do. If you can't do, teach, if you can't teach, either be a bureaucrat or an administrator." As a lifelong teacher I used to be bothered by that, but as a lifelong citizen that has had to work with bureaucrats and administrators, I see the truth in that, and if you find politics in it, you haven't been paying attention.

opit said...

Threescore and ten or more is a dear soul - whom I disagree with on this point completely. Working with bureaucrats isn't the same as having been in the system. The bosses have been 'tuned in' but most people believe in what they are doing and resent the very devil their efforts going to waste. The political saboteurs can be targeted very quickly by disgruntled ex-employees. There will have to be quite a clearing out at the first opportunity.

Dan O'Donnell said...

One thing that seems to be occurring with some frequency lately is that career bureaucrats are leaking documents and inside stories to the press and Congressional staff. This seems to be happening most noticeably right now with the DOJ - which is probably the least likely agency to have such truth-tellers. But the agencies such as NASA and F&W have staff who are more committed to truth, science and serving the country than the boatload of Loyal Bushies that appear to now comprise the DOJ.

I hold out hope that now that this one transgression of a Loyal Bushie has come out, that other notable political acts against the agency and the citizenry will be leaked as well.an