Bush appointee trying to push Creationism on NASA


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/science/04climate.html
....
The Big Bang memo came from Mr. Deutsch, a 24-year-old presidential
appointee in the press office at NASA headquarters whose résumé says he
was an intern in the "war room" of the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election
campaign. A 2003 journalism graduate of Texas A&M, he was also the
public-affairs officer who sought more control over Dr. Hansen's public
statements.

In October 2005, Mr. Deutsch sent an e-mail message to Flint Wild, a
NASA contractor working on a set of Web presentations about Einstein
for middle-school students. The message said the word "theory" needed
to be added after every mention of the Big Bang.

The Big Bang is "not proven fact; it is opinion," Mr. Deutsch wrote,
adding, "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."

It continued: "This is more than a science issue, it is a religious
issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be
getting one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had
failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual
information the most."
....

The only response came from Donald Tighe of the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy. "Science is respected and protected and
highly valued by the administration," he said.

--
David M. Palmer dmpalmer@xxxxxxxxx (formerly @clark.net, @ematic.com)
.

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