Remember poor George Deutsch, the NASA PR guy who tried to, what was it again? Oh yes, suppress climate scientist Jim Hansen? And what was the other thing he did…? Oh yeah, he tried to make sure the word "theory" was put after every mention of Big Bang on a NASA site, specifically because of his religious leanings.
Yeah, that George Deutsch.
Well, he testified in front of Congress today. I would give a million bazillion dollars to have been there for that, but unfortunately my real life intervenes. Maybe I’ll catch it on a CSPAN rerun, or it’ll show up on YouTube sometime.
This oughta be very interesting.
March 19th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
I refer to the Big Bang as a model. Any objections?
March 19th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070319103734-13686.pdf
The above is Deutsch’s written opening comment. I too will be interested in how close that whitewashed version is to the version which comes across as he answers specific questions. He sounds like Mr. innocent in this written statement.
I can buy the not updating the resume thing. Once you are in a job and you transfer internally, it’s conceivable a resume could be forwarded to your new job application without being updated. And if you were really only missing a couple credits/one class it isn’t like completely faking a degree altogether such as numerous people in government jobs have been discovered doing to up their pay grades.
It’s harder to buy the claim he only cared about a little terminology issue with the Big Bang material given his religious background. And Bush is responsible for putting numerous unqualified people into positions solely because of their political/religious affiliations. This guy looks to be no exception on that count. It’s another reason to think he saw instilling religious correctness as part of his mission.
Whether he had the authority being suggested in news accounts describing his actions should be easily ascertained. In his statement he claims it was his boss who was taking actions and Deutsch was merely an underling.
March 19th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
He seems pretty green for the position. It seems to me obvious why he was appointed.
Good proof that a religious litmus test (as prohibited by the constitution) is a bad idea. And more proof that religion should be a private family matter.
I think the entire bane of the Bush administration and its failures can be attributed to the very rigorous way it has pursued the spoils system. The head of FEMA having no emergency experience. The recent attorney general scandal is along the same vein. (Firing attorneys in the administration if they don’t tow the Bush line and go easy on republicans)
March 19th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Aargh! Yet another example of the word “theory” being used correctly to undermine science :@ . It is as if a thief walked into my home, stole a gun, and mugged me with it the next day. Frustration, thy name is ignorance!
March 19th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Am I the only person who reads his name as George Douche?
March 19th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Skeptigirl misses the point. The point is Deutsch lied, pure and simple. He invented a degree he did not have. The only difference between Deutsch and the other bushies who lie is that he got caught. The rule set down by disgraced ex VP Spiro Agnew a few decades earlier is simple–”DON’T GET CAUGHT!!
March 20th, 2007 at 1:31 am
>â€DON’T GET CAUGHT!!”
That’s the 11th Commandment ;o)
March 20th, 2007 at 1:49 am
‘Am I the only person who reads his name as George Douche?’
How about Douche Georgex2, flushing two stones with one …
March 20th, 2007 at 2:35 am
skeptigirl said: “his statement he claims it was his boss who was taking actions and Deutsch was merely an underling.”
And yet he was perfectly happy to go on the radio with his persecution fundie martyr complex and mouth off about Hansen and NASA and how “The public depend on NASA for factual information at the most” I believe he said. Their theories should not exclude the possibility of an intelligent designer (yes, I know – banging head against the wall). How on earth global warming and the big bang are against the idea of a God, I’ve no idea. If I can find the link I’ll post it if anyone’s interested in a good laugh.
Wow, just reading his statements:
“I think we will all agree that everyone is entitled to their own personal and religious views, but in hindsight, a NASA e-mail was certainly not the best place to share them.”
Not a problem in him sharing them, but the fact that he shared the same religious opinion with the web-designer AND THEN proceeded to change the words ‘Big Bang’ to ‘Big Bang theory’ on the website for all the public can see without, as far as I can tell, either of them checking with his superiors.
“I did not ask that Intelligent Design be inserted.” but he mentioned it quite happily on the radio that it shouldn’t be excluded.
“Senior NASA officials – specifically Strategic Communications Director Joe Davis and Press Secretary Dean Acosta – conveyed to me that they were unaware of the release of this information being coordinated with Headquarters or peer reviewed.”
Wow, NOW a creationist wants peer review.
“During my time at NASA, Administrator Mike Griffin released a “Statement on Scientific Openness†in which he said, “It is not the job of Public Affairs Officers to alter, filter or adjust engineering or scientific material produced by NASA’s technical staff. To ensure timely release of information, there must be cooperation and coordination between our scientific and engineering community and our Public Affairs Officers.†These two sentences capture my feelings exactly.”
Yeah, right. Just forget about that stuff we did to the website. Biggest idiot to ever be allowed to work in a scientific institution?
March 20th, 2007 at 3:18 am
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2006/02/10/people-at-nasa-must-be-breathing-a-sigh-of-relief/
The interview links seem to be still there.
March 20th, 2007 at 3:23 am
Could we just have the word theory put after Gravitation? That way when they say “Ah it’s only a theory, look they admit it” about evolution or the big bang, we can show them that we say the same about Gravity… and everything else. Proving exsistance is impossible, we can mearly approximate and model to attempt to disprove.
Also does that mean the job’s free now? Would they be willing to hire a partially quallified physicist instead? An ignorant but trying instead of a stupid and stubborn. Or maybe they should give the BadAstronomer the job…
March 20th, 2007 at 4:58 am
“Am I the only person who reads his name as George Douche?”
I do as well.
March 20th, 2007 at 5:11 am
You can watch it at C-SPANs website. At the moment it is not on the front page, but if you click “Recent Programs” it is only a few from the top.
March 20th, 2007 at 5:23 am
Unfortunately, this story is not getting much play in the mainstream media. This mornings’ Washington Post had a short 1 paragraph item on page 4.
March 20th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Skeptigirl, I will disagree with you: it’s not hard to buy, it’s impossible. He made it very clear he was basing his decision on creationism in the thin veil of ID. His butt should have been tossed at that precise moment. That’s when he violated the First Amendment– a government employee promoting religion.
March 21st, 2007 at 3:04 am
Allan Says:
Skeptigirl misses the point. The point is Deutsch lied, pure and simple. He invented a degree he did not have.
The Bad Astronomer Says:
Skeptigirl, I will disagree with you: it’s not hard to buy, it’s impossible.
Good grief, I only meant to give the guy the possibility of doubt re the resume. And I was only commenting on what evidence I had, I wasn’t saying this is what I’ve concluded based on a thorough look.
Being skeptical of news accounts should include skepticism of the accounts you tend to agree with just as much as you are skeptical of the ones you know are BS.
I didn’t read the guy’s resume. Did you read it Allan? Does it say I have a degree or does it say I will have my degree in x months? That is the only part of his rationalizing written testimony I referred to when I said, I could buy it was the resume and I said “could” not do.
Re harder to buy vs impossible to buy, I’ll take your word for it, Phil. It’s not that I don’t agree, I just didn’t want to refute the guys claims based solely on the news accounts I’ve read. You have much more information than I do.
March 21st, 2007 at 9:52 am
Being skeptical of news accounts should include skepticism of the accounts you tend to agree with just as much as you are skeptical of the ones you know are BS.
I’m skeptical of your skepticism. No wait, I’m also skeptical of my skepticism. Maybe I should back up. I’m skeptical that skeptigirl exists. I’m also skeptical of my skepticism of skeptigirl’s existence. I’m highly skeptical of skepticism in general, but now even more so because I tend to agree with skepticism.
March 21st, 2007 at 9:36 pm
One other thought. When oh-so-religious Deutsch lied about a degree he did not have, he also violated that Commandment “Thou shalt not bear false witness. . . . ” Deutsch lied. Deutsch got caught. Fool!
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:22 pm
[...] been doing so well in the public relations department lately, if you hadn’t heard. George Deutsch, Lisa Nowak, budget cuts, some odd management decisions… NASA could use a PR [...]
March 24th, 2007 at 2:29 am
Allan Says:
One other thought. When oh-so-religious Deutsch lied about a degree he did not have, he also violated that Commandment “Thou shalt not bear false witness.
It is incredible, isn’t it? The amount of false witnessing going on in that whole crowd.
March 26th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Yep, hypocrisy thy name is Republican :
Seems its okay for them to lie about things and get the nation into a pointless, needless murdeous and counter-productive war affecting two entire nations but NOT ok for Clinton to lie about a consenusal sexual affair that affected just him and his family.
Okay for them to spread hateful and intolerant religious ideology but not for Osama Bin Laden (an ex-CIA employee like Saddam) to do the same.
Okay for Israel to defend itself – and have nuclear weapons and other WMDs to do defend itself with but NOT okay or Iran, Iraq and other nations to do the same …
Okay for them to violate international law and UN resolutions (against torture, opression, imperialistagggression) but not for Iraq & others to do exactly the same.
Okay for them to advocate, incite and even committ assassination of democratically elected leaders (Salvador Allende, Pat Robertson against Hugo Chavez) but not for others …
Nobody does spin and double standards better (or should that be worse) than the Republicans. Nobody falls for it worseor better than the all too often ignorant, guillible & uncritical US masses. (Excluding the good readers here, naturally!)
Time is way , waay, waaa-aaay overdue thatsituation changed. That y’all got mad as hell amnd refusedtoput up with it anymore.
Impeach “Presi-King” George Bush II (the Mad)
Do it now.
Better yet get a time machine and do it yesterday or back when Al Gore won that first “election” and was robbed by a Republican-corrupted court system… The world needs Bush & his Republican neo-Fascists gone now.