Ripping the Lid Off Years of Secrecy

The Democrats held their first investigative hearing since taking control of Congress and what they heard wasn't very flattering to the Bush regime.

The hearing was to examine the role of the White House in shaping the US government's position on global warming and its efforts to control the government's scientists. The evidence they got plainly showed that the fix was in.

It appears there may have been an orchestrated campaign to mislead the public about climate change," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. Waxman is chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and a critic of the Bush administration's environmental policies, including its views on climate.

At the House hearing, two private advocacy groups produced a survey of 279 government climate scientists showing that many of them say they have been subjected to political pressure aimed at downplaying the climate threat. Their complaints ranged from a challenge to using the phrase "global warming" to raising uncertainty on issues on which most scientists basically agree, to keeping scientists from talking to the media.