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NASA Public-Affairs Appointee Resigns in Disgrace
belmolis writes "George C. Deutsch, who tried to muzzle top NASA climate scientist James Hansen and ordered NASA web designers to add the word 'theory' to every mention of the Big Bang, has resigned. The New York Times reports
that NASA declines to discuss the reasons for his resignation, but that it came the same day that Texas A&M University, from which Deutsch claimed on his resume to have graduated, revealed that he had attended the university but did not complete his degree."
The New York Times reports it today, but as of yesterday, it was the Times that had unquestioningly passed along the falsehood of Deutsch's graduation, and it was the blog Scientific Activist whose investigation revealed he'd left before graduating to work on the Bush reelection campaign. For more on the 24-year-old political appointee's interesting viewpoints, see World O' Crap; on Monday, we covered the anger over his attempts to squelch science -- something that, sadly, Jim Hansen has gotten used to.
is it pronounced as douche?
Discothèque means "Discbrary".
It's a combination of the French words for "disc" and "library".
Le français vous intéresse?
Meta-moderation ought to take care of the moderator.
Troll? I think not. I wouldn't moderate up, but I wouldn't moderate down, either.
This looks like a copy/paste troll.
Is this the appropriate time to start a slow clap?
I mean, Jim Henson, everyone loves the guy...
I guess its not easy being green...
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
The increasing availability and ease of access of information is making it increasingly difficult to get away with lying.
This is why I hope privacy will become a dirty word in the future. The rich, well-connected and crooked have always been able to invade our privacy.... privacy laws only prevent us from spying on them. However, technology is finally starting to level the playing field. What we need to do is encourage their use and stop lobbying for things like strong encryption, which only gives the illusion of privacy. The strongest cipher is useless if a fly on the wall records your password as you type it. Such methods only encourage an arms race that we cannot win.
The mistakes found in slashdot stories are really getting out of hand.
The guy's name is not "George C. Deutsch".
It's "George C. Dusch"
Lets get it right, people.
He did it before, why not do it again?
Nothing to see here. Please move along.
I work in the Exploration Systems dept. at NASA.
So I am really getting a kick out of most of these replies.
Some of you guys are very good at making it sound like you know what you are talking about.
Tell me about it. I have worked on technical aspects with some influence of my findings going into some of the biggest technology related court cases which slashdot has reported on in the last couple of years and the replies in those slashdot stories are astounding! All these Score:5 Interesting's and Insightful's which I can say with absolute authority are complete and utter garbage.
There are a lot of armchair judges, lawyers and expert witnesses here who have an incredible ability to summarize a case without fault and without any evidence mind you, in about 5 minutes. Makes the real judges, lawyers and experts involved seem downright stupid when they take more like 5 years to come to their conclusions. ; )
From time to time I have heard the lawyers in these cases actually read slashdot and joke about it and its readership around the break areas, because of so many of the fools here who believe the crap they hear and read and then perpetuate it. To the people actually involved with these stories on BOTH sides, the slashdot readership (focus on a large percentage of those that post) are a bunch of morons. They say the empty can rattles the most. I think a lot of other empty cans are also moderating the most.
The people who actually do have something insightful or interesting to say, often seem to be ignored or moderated down because they put forth a less sensational or less popular opinion or fact. I've sometimes "set the story straight" as an Anonymous Coward with insider knowledge and just get ignored, modded down or otherwise "debunked" by some moron who then shoots to Score:5 like a rocket because his drivel adheres to the popular party line.
{{ ... Oh, never mind.
Yes, I realize that James Henson isn't Jim Henson (at least, he's not "The" Jim Henson -- the grown man who played with dolls.
}}
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
Unfortunately on slashdot if you insult and belittle someone's beliefs you get modded up as funny or interesting or even insightful. However, do the same for any kind of science theory or point out that maybe insulting others beliefs is not funny in your opinion, and you will get quickly modded down as a troll or flamebait, much as this post will.
Last time I looked, my comment wasn't modded at all.
(you do have a point, however. Slashdot is indeed like that)
Ah, and *now* there's moderation on my comment. It looks more mixed than expected, though:
:-)
40% Funny
30% Overrated
20% Insightful
Perhaps I can instigate a mod-war as well
That wasn't Flamebait. There should be a Mod category of something along the lines of "I don't agree with this post so I'm going to mod it down irregardless."
This guy is way out there