NYT: A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA

[deminks]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/politics/08nasa.html

George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to a top climate scientist and told a Web designer to add the word "theory" at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said.

Mr. Deutsch's resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his résumé on file at the agency asserted.

The resignation came as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was preparing to review its policies for communicating science to the public. The review was ordered Friday by Michael D. Griffin, the NASA administrator, after a week in which many agency scientists and midlevel public affairs officials described to The New York Times instances in which they said political pressure was applied to limit or flavor discussions of topics uncomfortable to the Bush administration, particularly global warming.

Mr. Deutsch, 24, was offered a job as a writer and editor in NASA's public affairs office in Washington last year after working on President Bush's re-election campaign and inaugural committee, according to his résumé. No one has disputed those parts of the document.

[Wilms]

1. Google has 21 links for "George C. Deutsch".

Where do they find these guys? :crazy:

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

4. He was in a bag

nm

[0rganism]

8. cracker jack mystery surprises?

I've been wondering what they put in the cracker jacks these days.

"Hey Enrique, we've got another pallette of young republican zealots on the loading dock."

"OK, put it by the window with that other crateful of bush campaign ops. We'll wrap 'em and pack 'em for next week's shipment."

[Wilms]

11. Exactly!

[0rganism]

31. LOL! So THAT's where Scooter got Plame's ident!

:rofl:

Heck, he shoulda used that with the Fitz.

[Kolesar]

43. "Hey Enrique"

:rofl: Good one, Organism. And thanks, I needed the laugh.

[bloom]

58. You just need to work on a Bush campaign

and for some (all?) jobs - you have to say you agree with Bush*s policies, etc.

[Wilber_Stool]

2. Somebody has to be making this shit up.

[hatrack]

22. No, this is "science" in BushWorld

And we wonder why the Chinese are kicking our asses.

[Arkansas Granny]

49. Do you reckon anyone ever told him:

You're doing a heckuva job, George.

[gr8dane_daddy]

3. Well as we say down here in Texas....

Pooooooooooooooooor Agggggggggggggggies

[txindy]

29. Heh.

Yep, sounds familiar. :toast:

[Shakespeare]

64. C'mon, now--Deutsch was OUTED by another Aggie.

First, the link to the guy who did the NYT's job for them:

http://scientificactivist.blogspot.com/2006/02/breaking-news-george-deutsch-did-not.html

There aren't as many of us as there used to be, but we liberal aggies actually take to heart the Aggie code of Honor. Deutsch is a lying tool, and he's getting exactly what he deserves.

There are several liberal ags on this board--careful with the broadbrushing.

Class of '86 and former Batt writer and editor here....

[Gopens]

89. Class of 88 here

And former Batt writer, as well!
So, yeah, enough with the Aggie-bashing. This guy wasn't one, anyway.

[truthisfreedom]

5. bwa-hahahahahahahaha. what a hoot! ass-exposure everywhere!

rove has got to be pacing tonight.

[shanti]

35. rove is worried about his own

ass. they are cornered rats.

[0rganism]

6. are there any among these scumbags who are honest about their past?

Betcha George Deutsch posts to freeperville, too.

[gtar100]

33. Isn't it interesting that they know they *can't* be honest

They know what they're doing is wrong and they know what is right because they use what is good and correct as titles to their so-called programs. It's not just that they say one thing and do another; what marvels me is that they actually conceive of what is good and right and proceed to sell their ideas as such yet in the actual workings they are destructive and achieve only corruption. Willing to do or say anything for a buck is what it comes down to. Not until their inevitable downfall will they realize how wrong they were. But that will not save them from a long trip through hell, that place of universal cleansing and transformation of trash into ash.

[Toots]

47. Reminds me of the drug smugglers that had "Just say no" and "Dare to say n

plastered all over their packages containing drugs. :shrug: Who would have thunk that politicians say what you want to hear and then do something entirely different. It happens that the Bush* Cabal is just really over the top about it..

[rodeodance]

7. my gawd!!!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Walk of shame, walk of shame.

[rodeodance]

10. nominated

[rodeodance]

12. "the broader issue of political control of scientific information" !

.....A copy of Mr. Deutsch's résumé was provided to The Times by someone working in NASA headquarters who, along with many other NASA employees, said Mr. Deutsch played a small, but significant role in an intensifying effort at the agency to exert political control over the flow of information to the public.

Such complaints came to the fore starting in late January, when James E. Hansen, the climate scientist, and several midlevel public affairs officers told The Times that political appointees, including Mr. Deutsch, were pressing to limit Dr. Hansen's speaking and interviews on the threats posed by global warming.

Yesterday, Dr. Hansen said that the questions about Mr. Deutsch's credentials were important, but were a distraction from the broader issue of political control of scientific information.

"He's only a bit player," Dr. Hansen said of Mr. Deutsch. "He's amusing because he goes to these extremes, but the problem is much broader and much deeper and it goes across agencies. That's what I'm really concerned about."

[rodeodance]

13. Deutsch bag was trying to limit talk on climate control

Such complaints came to the fore starting in late January, when James E. Hansen, the climate scientist, and several midlevel public affairs officers told The Times that political appointees, including Mr. Deutsch, were pressing to limit Dr. Hansen's speaking and interviews on the threats posed by global warming.

[northzax]

63. actually, what got him to fame and fortune

was insisting that NASA's website refer to the Big Bang as a theory every time they used the words Big Bang.

[Hekate]

38. Damn. This is so much like the old USSR it's not even funny

My motto is not "We can do better," but "We are SUPPOSED TO BE better than that, by God!"

What the @!#$%! do these *holes think they are doing to my country?!

Hekate

[Nomen Tuum]

46. You got that right! It's CHRISTIAN LYSENKOISM run wild

and remember how Lysenkoism destroyed the USSR!

[alcibiades_mystery]

50. "He's amusing..." (ROFL)

:rofl:

Twist the knife, Hansen! Twist the knife!

Imagine the feeling of a 24-year old fraud who's managed to wield some power when an older person notes that he is "amusing." God, that must sting poor little George. Amusing! Indeed.

[DainBramaged]

56. Someone one should have locked him in a locker

How many more Buckaroo Bushai appointees are complete frauds? Not just the obvious ones like Brownie, but the stealth ones who flat out lied on their resumes and control some part of our government because of their ties to Le Bushbot's campaign.

[texpatriot2004]

14. Another Bush Crony, did he work with horses too before being

appointed by the Thief in chief?

[catnhatnh]

15. Beyond all the Bullshit tomorrow....

...Where is the headline "Bush appointee forced to withdraw over credentials"....???

[stop the bleeding]

16. That "splains all that there talk 'bout no Global Warmin existin" MmHm

WASHINGTON -- Recording the warmest January on record allowed Americans to save on their heating, but like all good things, last month's mildness seems to have been too good to last.

The country's average temperature for the month was 39.5 degrees Fahrenheit, 8.5 degrees above average for January, the National Climatic Data Center said Tuesday. The old record for January warmth was 37.3 degrees set in 1953.

On the other hand, while much of the United States was basking in warm weather, parts of Europe and Asia were being battered by bitter cold. Climate details for the rest of the world for January are expected to be available next week.

During the month the jet stream, a strong high-altitude wind that guides weather fronts from west to east, stayed unusually far to the north, keeping the coldest air in Canada and Alaska, the agency said.

Read rest here:


January Was America's Warmest on Record

[fishnfla]

17. In theory the assmunch had a degree

what cabal was he with inside NASA? That the bigger ?

[tanyev]

18. He's probably mystified because nobody in the Bush re-election

campaign cared that he lied on his resume. Heck, that could be where he got the idea.

[alittlelark]

19. I almost feel sorry for him - he's just a kid

He was likely raised by parents that FORCED him to go in the direction he went.

He was ripe fruit for the neo-cons. They sniff out these sorts.

I hope he has an epiphany and revolts against the 'dark side'.

My hopes are not high, but they are with him.

[hatrack]

23. I can't feel sorry for him. Carcinoma of the brain is too good for him.

He deserves a slow, truly painful demise - for instance, starting a small business in today's economy.

[alittlelark]

30. I understand the 'small business' analogy

but, come on... it's a 24 year old borderline child.


How mature were you at that age?

I was supporting myself, but had NO worldview or even concept of a 'world-view'

[hatrack]

48. Sorry, I am fresh out of compassion, empathy or understanding for fools

I just plain will not treat with these idiot ideologues any more. I have tried to understand them, tried to talk with them, tried to be rational and reasonable and all I have come away with are the following points:

1. They are righteous and always correct, we are depraved and always wrong.
2. God speaks to them and inspires their every action, while we are guided with the assistance of Satan Beelzebub Astoreth, LLC.
3. There is nothing wrong with this country that cannot be solved by cutting more taxes and giving away more public assets.
4. Facts are unimportant.
5. The fervor with which one holds a belief justifies the validity of that belief.
6. It's all about getting theirs, and to hell with everyone else.

Here we have a sniveling little 24-year-old who just knows everything there is to know about how the world "really works", with his ears still wet from the Circus of Smear that was the Bush/Cheney campaign of 2004. He lied about his resume when he applied for the job - not that this mattered until he was busted. He also, being over the age of 21 - free to marry, enter into contracts and the like - didn't have to take the job.

He was hired to stifle the statements of America's greatest living climatologist, a man who nearly 20 years ago predicted much of what we are seeing around us today as the planet's climate destabilizes. There could not be a subject of greater importance for every man, woman and child on the planet than what is happening to our climate, and you're asking me to be sympathetic to a man who lied, who got paid to lie and suppress critical information for shoddy, short-term political ends.

Sorry, I'm fresh out of sympathy for people like this. You may well be a better person than I am, little lark, in that you can still do it, but it's just not in me any more. People who do this kind of damage deserve justice, not sympathy.

[alcibiades_mystery]

51. woot!

well said, friend!

exactly. exactly. exactly.

[oneighty]

53. Gee 24

I was on my way into eight years in the navy at 24-nearly half way to military retirement. And I was not alone.

180

[Toucano]

59. 24 year old "borderline child"?

I think maybe the worldview you have is defective.

I'm not trying to be mean, but the concept of a 24 year old "borderline child" is absurd.

[kcass1954]

70. I remember 24 - not very mature compared to today at 51. But.....

I had a really good grasp of the difference between right and wrong, between telling a lie and telling the truth, between telling the truth and telling the whole truth, etc, etc, etc.

He's a moran, and deserves what he gets.

[alittlelark]

92. I've had 6 posters saying the same.

I can only say that I believe that ppl can 'grow up' they can look at the world around them and realized that they were duped.

I am doubtful that he can.... but I am hopeful.

We are products of our upbringing - if you are shielded from the outside world by way of your own parental-imposed world view and those that are now surrounding you that echo that world-view..... you are fucked.

This guy needs to meet the right girl, or be in the right place at the right time - or meet a cool guy that chats w/ him w/ the real world perspective that he so sorely lacks.


He is young enough to not give up on.


PS - Think of the book he could write! :evilgrin:

[AnneD]

77. Nope...still nothing...

My giveadamn is busted.

[Blue_Tires]

81. no sympathy at all in this situation

he was happy enough to cash his checks do the administration's bidding, regardless of his lack of qualification...I wouldn't be surprised if this 'borderline child' (I'm 29, btw) wasn't taking home between $80-100 grand a year in this plum, high-profile assignment, while I'm still out of work after a year...

I mean, FFS, whatever happened to background checks? I've been given more scrutiny trying to get an hourly job with the school system!

[DainBramaged]

57. Running a fruit stand in Brooklyn and trying to survive

[antonialee839]

28. Scumbag Rove was just a kid once too.

[alittlelark]

32. Rove matured past the 'point of no return'.

I hope this misguided kid does not go down that dark path.

I am hoping for an epiphany.

[slor]

39. Fuck him...

he worked to conceal the biggest threat to the WORLD. Fuck him!

[yardwork]

88. My 12 year old has a much better ethical compass than this moran

When I was 24 I was married, had earned a college degree, and was working. I considered myself a Socialist. I did not vote for Republicans nor would I have been tempted to lie on my resume and go shill for Reagan. Sorry, no sympathy here!

[applegrove]

20. Scum sticks to scum.

[grytpype]

21. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

I'm sure we haven't seen the last of him, they'll run him for president when he turns 35. I'm sure of it. And the TA&M records will be shredded so no one can prove he didn't graduate.

[mitchum]

24. Good! Now that dirtbag can go enlist in his boyking's eternal war

[No Exit]

52. Hear, hear! But... nah, he'll start a church and become a televangelist

In fact, I think this boy is top-flight fundie televangelist material: ignorant, deceptive, intolerant, and allergic to facts.

[blackhorse]

25. How sweet it is

One neocon fundie unmasked and removed from a position for which he was completely unqualified.

BH

[AnnieBW]

26. Doing a heckuva job

He's doing a heckuva job over there at NASA.

[donco6]

27. Sounds like regular cronyism to me . . .

Liar appoints Liar.

Or would that be nepotism?

[jdadd]

34. I 'm Shocked!

Mr. Deutsch's resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his résumé on file at the agency asserted.

But He did stay at a Holiday Inn Express.... :rofl:

[davidinalameda]

60. you get my vote for post of the day!

:woohoo:

[Roy]

73. But He did stay at a Holiday Inn Express....

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[EC]

36. Isn't this the second fake degree in this administrations choices

for jobs? I seem to remember another one.

[tanyev]

45. Second--that we know of.

[Nothing Without Hope]

37. And even if he HAD graduated from Texas A & M, it wouldn't give him

credibility in denying and suppressing the truth about climate change and so much more.

He's a lying Bushie agent, whether he got a piece of paper from a college or not.

The WH is going to try to paint this as "the problem is solved - we didn't know he lied about his diploma - now he's gone - move on"

[Shakespeare]

66. Excellent point.

Deutsch absolutely deserves to be canned for lying about a diploma he didn't receive, but it obscures the larger--and more important--question about why on earth this wet-behind-the-ears punk with no science background was placed in this position. WE all know why, but more daylight needs to be shone upon BushCo's institutionalized cronyism.

[bklyncowgirl]

40. Whooo Hoooo another Brownie unmasked

Where do they find these guys--oh never mind it's right here.

Mr. Deutsch, 24, was offered a job as a writer and editor in NASA's public affairs office in Washington last year after working on President Bush's re-election campaign and inaugural committee, according to his résumé. No one has disputed those parts of the document.

Unbelievable--you can't make this stuff up.

[bklyncowgirl]

41. Whooo Hoooo another Brownie unmasked

Where do they find these guys--oh never mind it's right here.

Mr. Deutsch, 24, was offered a job as a writer and editor in NASA's public affairs office in Washington last year after working on President Bush's re-election campaign and inaugural committee, according to his résumé. No one has disputed those parts of the document.

Unbelievable--you can't make this stuff up.

[Zech Marquis]

42. shaking my head

this * wingnut who told was telling NASA to censor well trained NAA officials to limit access to a climate change report AND inject religion (I use that term loosely here) to discuss the Big Bang, has been exposed to having NOT graduated from college as he stated on his resume?! Why are these facists so afraid of science and practical knowledge? each day these creeps keep setting a new low for absolute, sheer madness! :eyes:

[AndyA]

44. Yer doin' a heck of a job, Deutschie!

Yet another unqualified Bush appointee. Anyone beginning to see a pattern develop?

Of course, what can we expect from a man who has failed in everything he's ever done, past and present?

[ypsiguy]

54. Out of a job Georgie?

Plenty of openings in Iraq...

[sui generis]

55. whose dick was he sucking? that's what I want to know.

You can be certain there is some kind of seedy connection.

[donkeyotay]

61. Another incompetent crony caught. Whatever happened to restoring dignity

and honor?

The few, the proud, the GOP:
Wrecking democracy
Acting like a crime family
Practicing party nepotism
Republican crooks
GOP crime syndicate
bribes
kickbacks
pay to play
black lists and black mail?
selling the American people out to Bush's base, the Have and Have Mores.

Now, they're coming after us to pay their bills. I just got to laugh at the local republicans who are waking up to a Bush Hangover. He used them; they voted for him, twice. Stupid shits. Now he's throwing them away.

[Orion The Hunter]

62. Ahhh the end result of crony-ism at its finest!

What an ass this Deutsch guy is....

[madmark]

65. another incompetent, unqualified buscho crony

[Marie26]

67. Brownie, Jr.

Displying that wonderful combination of arrogance & ignorance that all Bush appointees seem to have.

[jackstraw45]

68. Brownie, Jr...too funny...nt

nt

[warrens]

69. Typical Repuke

I've always said that Greg Maddux couldn't throw a straight fastball if his life depended on it. These clowns couldn't come up with a true, spin-free, honest statement if their lives depended on it. God, I loathe the whole bunch of them.

[ClintonTyree]

71. Another phony crony.........

what a shock! :boring: If bush actually gave a job to someone that WAS qualified I'd be shocked. This.......just another day in bushamerika. :shrug:

[lonestarnot]

72. And these are the freaking people that slingshot 72 pounds

of plutonium around the earth.

[dave29]

74. simple - what goes up must come down

especially if it is dead weight

[MindPilot]

75. Self-delete -- dupe

[centristo]

76. 24?

How did this guy have ANY say over these types of things? Also, what kind of schmuck lies on a resume to NASA? You can get away with that at Kinko's or something, but c'mon dude. Smarten up.


George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to a top climate scientist and told a Web designer to add the word "theory" at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said.

[snippy]

78. Reminds me of that asshole who claims to have fulfilled his TANG

obligation during Vietnam.

[Amonester]

79. No Kidding!!

How many of 'em '24' do you think still post at Freeptards'?

Back in the US
Back in the US
Back in the USSR...

:puke:

[skids]

80. Two decades from now...

...I can just see the conversation:

Physicist: So as it turns out, we were wrong, there never was a Big Bang.
Wacko: HAHA! We told you so! Adam and Eve rode Dinosaurs to Church.
Physicist: No, actually, the new theory is that the Universe just always existed.
Wacko: Uhhh... what does that mean.
Physicist: It means it's not 12-15 billion years old. It means it's older.
Wacko: What? How much older.
Physicist: Well, infinitely older.
Wacko: You're just doing this to piss us off, then?
Physicist: Fer sure, diggity!

[merwin]

82. kick

[Judi Lynn]

83. Bush appointee at Nasa resigns over censorship

Bush appointee at Nasa resigns over censorship
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles

Published: 09 February 2006

A Bush administration appointee at Nasa has been forced to resign after accusations that he tried to censor scientists who took issue with the White House line on global warming and the origins of the universe.

George Deutsch, a public relations officer at Nasa who previously worked on President George Bush's re-election campaign, was accused of trying to keep the media away from the agency's chief climate change scientist, James Hansen, after Dr Hansen called publicly for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
(snip)

According to an e-mail shown to The New York Times, he also told a Nasa web designer to add the word "theory" to every reference of the Big Bang - the most prevalent scientific explanation of the origins of the universe, which is hotly contested by creationists, including many right-wing Christian supporters of the President.
(snip)

Nasa officials refused to be drawn on the reasons for his resignation, but its chief administrator recently sent an e-mail to all his staff assuring them it was not the job of public affairs officers "to alter, filter or adjust engineering or scientific material produced by Nasa's technical staff".
(snip/...)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article344220.ece

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

84. I am sure that Poor George...

Will land on his feet at somewhere like Halliburton. The repukes take care of those who take one for the team.

[muntrv]

85. Yo Deutsch,

NASA is a SCIENTIFIC organization, not religious.

[blue cat]

86. Many have resigned in protest to King Bush's policies

but our piss-poor media won't educate the American people.

[Moderator]

87. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2092885

[LongTomH]

90. Outrage from the pro-science blogosphere!

There are some great links over at Phil Platt's Bad Astronomy Blog.

Phil's http://www.badastronomy.com/">Bad Astronomy website and his blogs are among my favorite science sites. Recently, he's been taking on the creationists for going after astronomy and cosmology.

[LongTomH]

91. Ooops! Bad link!

It's Bad Astronomy Blog. Forgot to remove the "http://"