Bush Attempted to Water Down Climate Change Science

What a shock. Despite the protestations of the renowned climatologists, Dr Melanie 'Fuck the Muslims' Phillips (incidentally what is it with her and her 'down with the kids' language??) and Dr Timbo 'Do You Want Free Publicity' Bliar (that's a deliberate typo for all you right-wing fruitcakes), Bu$h Corp have been instrumental in playing down the evidence of climate change. According to The Guardian:

The Bush administration ran a systematic campaign to play down the dangers of climate change, demanding hundreds of politically motivated changes to scientific reports and muzzling a pre-eminent expert on global warming, Congress was told yesterday.

But it was all so plausible. Who would have thought that George 'friend to the oil companies' Bush would take action to protect oil companies? Not me. Who would have thought that a former oil industry lobbyist (Philip Cooney) would actively play down the science?

Documents released yesterday show that in 2003 Mr Cooney and other senior appointed officials imposed at least 181 changes to a strategic plan on climate change to play down the scientific consensus on global warming. They made another 113 alterations to minimise the human role in climate change, and inserted possible benefits of climate change. "These changes must be made," said a note in Mr Cooney's handwriting. "The language is mandatory."

Some of the statements deleted on Mr Cooney's instruction were non-controversial, such as: "Climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment." He also deleted references to models indicating that temperatures have been rising for the last 1,000 years. However, amid such deletions he chose to highlight a study funded by his former employer, the American Petroleum Institute.

Under heated questioning, Mr Cooney admitted yesterday that the changes were all intended to cast doubt over the impact of global warming. He denied they were directly coordinated with the White House but said he had regular conversations with a senior White House aide. "We got notes from them," Mr Cooney said.

I'm sure Dr Phillips will have an entirely plausible explanation.