White House Clamps Down On USGS Publishing

An anonymous reader writes "The White House has begun implementing a new policy toward the U.S. Geological Survey, in which all scientific papers and other public documents by USGS scientists must be screened for content. The USGS communications office must now be 'alerted about information products containing high-visibility topics or topics of a policy-sensitive nature.' Subjects fitting this description might include global warming, or research on the effects of oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve."

Comments

Re:Riiight

[mordors9]

This isn't strictly a reply to this post, but an observation arising from several in this thread. I work for a Fortune 500 company. I am not allowed to post any information anywhere that would be related to the company or its policy. Period. End of Story. So for the Head of the Executive Branch to take the same position for any of his employees does not seem all that earth shattering. Congress or the Press can all expose these policies so that we can consider this when we evaluate what the agency says in their "findings". Actually that is why most members of the Public really don't know what to believe. You have government agencies issuing findings that support the government's policies. You have Universities and Research Centers reaching the findings that the people paying them were hoping for or findings that will bring in more donations and grants.

Re:It may be....

[ArcherB]

Sad to see that all of the west's criticism towards the Soviet Union, Iraq, North Korea, etc. is hypocritical considering this form of censorship.
At least in the SSSR you had some kind of social justice...

I guess you mean the USSR? How's that working out for them?

Hundreds Detained Ahead of Moscow Rally

I thought the US was the police state and GWB was the only one infringing on human rights.
(OT I'm sure, but I was responding to a previous post that evidently is NOT OT (Score:2, Interesting). We are either both OT or neither of us are.)

Re:It may be....

[ArcherB]

The US is showing you amateurs how to do censorship correctly.

First you subvert the population, then you censor. None of this "revolution by force", "censorship by edict", oh no. The correct way to do it is get the population on board with a completely bogus set of threats and rationalizations they think are their own -- "terrorism", "homeland" security, "for the children" -- then the population's own representatives willingly subvert the country's founding documents and the people like it.

Everywhere I look, I see sheep.


As opposed to just killing them outright.

Poisoned spy 'had information on Kremlin figure'

At least in Russia, they are given the freedom to protest. I mean, only in the US does the police arrest and detain people who have not committed a crime right?
Hundreds Detained Ahead of Moscow Rally

Yeah, we are so good at taking rights away that the public is actually happier and seemingly better off without them! What's your complaint again?

(Before you mod me OT, keep in mind that I'm responding to a post that is modded well(Score:5, Insightful). How could that post be ON Topic and mine not?)

Re:It may be....

[ArcherB]

You won't be modded down for being offtopic, as much as being illogical. Offtopic is just the closest pre-defined moniker the mods can hit you with.

The parent's point wasn't that the US was the only state engaged in subversive activities and censorship, but rather that they are pioneers in the field, or at least an outstanding modern example. Showing a recent copycat move by another state just reinforces the GP's point. You would have been amazingly on-topic, if you said "Look how well the US censors. Other totalitarian governments worldwide are starting to emulate them."

Cute! You are correct that is only recently that Russia (formerly known as the USSR) has had any sort of human rights violations. It is amazing the way Stalin slaughtered millions of farmers, in almost exactly the same way that Hoover did a few years earlier in what was later called "Black Friday". The way we put up that wall splitting Berlin and the way we shot anyone seeking freedom in the booming East Germany economy was such a great idea that the Democratic Republic of China put up a similar wall. That was a Great Wall they put up there! Speaking of China, anyone notice how similar that Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 crackdown they had was an exact copy of the way Bush had the secret police fire on the crowds protesting the GOP national convention in 2004?

Of course, this has nothing to do with the way the North Koreans imitated us after we eliminated all Bosnian Muslims in the 90's. The UN called it Genocide. We call it "population adjustment". I don't know if any country can follow the way we carpet bombed Baghdad, nuked Fallujah as to not lose any of our own troops there, the way we made Afghanistan a state after we conquered it and enslaved their populations. All fine examples of the fictional American Imperialism and human rights abuses you speak of.

Of course, seeing as how you were arrested and your counter-revolutionary remarks were deleted by the government censors you speak so highly of, I guess you won't be reading this after all.

I'm so glad you opened my eyes to the US abuses of power and the government's crackdown on the population. We are by far the worst nation in the world and Bush is the biggest terrorist by far!