On October 23, 2007 Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Atlanta-based CDC told a Senate hearing that climate change "is anticipated to have a broad range of impacts on the health of Americans."
Her intention was to give the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee details of the effects that climate change could have on the spread of disease. But, the White House Office of Management and Budget severely edited her testimony removing specific scientific references to these potential health risks. The editing was so severe that her testimony was cut from 14 pages to just 4.
Why would the White House suppress findings from its own premier disease monitoring agency? What is the White House covering up? The very fact that the White House did remove finding from the report tells us that they are covering up something.
What was struck from the report was the broad range of health problems that could result from climate change which includes fatalities from heat stress and heart failure, increased injuries and deaths from severe weather such as hurricanes; more respiratory problems from drought-driven air pollution; an increase in waterborne diseases including cholera, and increases in vector-borne diseases including malaria and hantavirus; and mental health problems such as depression and post-traumatic stress.
She tried to paint a very depressing picture of the negative effects of global warming. She is trying to give us the worst case scenario without exaggerating. Finding out what we are facing is a very necessary factor in tackling a very serious problem. But George doesn’t want to face this problem. He would rather stick his head in the sand and pretend the problem is not real. He wants the problem to wait for the next president.
George has been denying the severity of climate change and he doesn’t want anyone to contradict him.
Doesn’t this sound like business as usual? If you are not going to tell him what he wants to hear then he doesn’t want anyone to hear it. He did the same thing with our military leadership, going through top generals until he found one who will mimic his rosy view of how the Iraq War is progressing. He reminds me of Nero fiddling away while Rome burns.
He is living in a fantasy world trying his best to ignore any and all negativity and surrounding himself with yes men who will tell him only what he wants to hear.
This choice of lifestyle is not healthy. In his position, this lifestyle choice is extremely unhealthy for the country.
I’ve written before about how Dubya doesn’t follow scientific studies because he doesn’t understand science speculating about how he was a failed science student in school. I now think the problem goes deeper and is much more sinister than this. In his mind he is an Emperor, a little Napoleon, if you will, who wants to decide what his public will hear and believe. He wants us to see only a rosy view of our world as long as it suits him. He will even go so far as to edit out scientific facts from a report that is attempting to prepare us for what our future holds so he doesn’t have to face the fact that it is taking place under his leadership.
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