Surprise! Bush politics trumps science

Ex-surgeon general says he was muzzled by Bush administration

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — President Bush's first surgeon general testified Tuesday that his speeches were censored to match administration political positions and that he was prevented from giving the public accurate scientific information on issues such as stem-cell research and teen-pregnancy prevention.

"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, told a congressional committee. "The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party."

(More here.)