h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"If you haven’t been living under some sort of rock (and really, it’s been millions of years since our ancestors did that) then you probably heard of one George Deutsch, Public Affairs Officer for NASA. He became suddenly and embarrassingly famous when he tried to squelch the findings of NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen, who is quite outspoken about anthropocentric global warming. Hansen claimed (and has evidence to back it up) that Deutsch denied him interviews with the media, and a lot of NASA scientists have come forward – again, with documentary evidence – corroborating Hansen’s story.

Deutsch also wanted another NASA scientist to make sure he put the word “theory” on a website everywhere the Big Bang was mentioned. Not because it is, after all, a scientific theory, but because the Big Bang is “not proven fact; it is opinion… 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.”

Yes, you read that correctly. Deutsch wanted the Big Bang to take a back seat to Intelligent Design. At NASA.

Speaking of intelligent, Deutsch resigned a few days after this news came out, when it came to light that he lied on his resume; he claimed he graduated from college when in fact he dropped out to take the NASA post.

So we have

1. a 24 year old college dropout, who
2. has no scientific credentials at all, and
3. no scientific experience at all, and
4. no public affairs experience at all

telling NASA scientists what they can and cannot say about their scientific findings.

How could someone possibly get into a position of such authority with absolutely no qualifications whatsoever?

If you guessed “political appointee,” stick a gold star on your forehead.

Deutsch was given this position by the current Administration because he worked for the Bush/Cheney ticket in the 2004 campaign. That’s it. That’s his sole qualification for being put in a place where he could distort and suppress science."
Dr. Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer
http://www.randi.org/jr/2006-03/030306plait.html

yeah, I saw that on the JREF. And I read a few similar bits on Dr. Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy website.

Not sure which is worse, science filtered and gardbled by the govt before public consumption or science filtered and garbled by the press for public consumption. I guess the press don't actually suppress science though.

So it seems largely the case atm that only those who make the effort to go out there and check all the available sources get anything like the real story.