ASS and Chair
341 Five-star accommodations: Scott C. Yates, “The Marlboro Hombres,” Westword, August 21, 1997.
Carla Crowder, “Tobacco Funded Aragon’s Trip to Costa Rica,” Albuquerque Journal, August 6, 1997.
341 “something called the something monkey”: Deposition of Ulf Whist (Andrew Whist), State of Oklahoma v. R.J. Reynolds et al., June 29, 1988. Philip Morris Records, Bates No. 3990136738. 72.
341 crystal goblets cupping Marlboro cigarette: Tatiana S. Boncompagni, Jill Abramson, “Tobacco-Funded Group Gives Legislators Free Trips,” The Wall Street Journal, August 4, 1997.
341 on safari across Africa: Steve Schultze, Daniel Bice, “Thompson Was Among VIPs Who Traveled Through Groups Backed By Firm,” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 30, 1997. The four lucky governors hailed from Wisconsin, Nevada, Iowa and Mississippi.
I like the headline from another in the series; it stuck in my head for weeks. Steve Schultze, Daniel Bice, “‘On Future Trips Like This We Should Know Who’s Paying,’ Governor Says,” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 1, 1997.
341 “I have a very soft spot”: Scott C. Yates, “The Marlboro Hombres,” Westword.
342 “I value your loyalty and friendship”: Steve Schultze, Daniel Bice, “Free Thompson Trips Have Risen Sharply: Value of ‘95-’96 Travel Nearly Four Times Higher Than All Previous Journeys,” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 30, 1997.
342 a Philip Morris lobbyist wearing flippers: David Pace, “Thompson Has Strong Tobacco Ties,” Associated Press, January 10, 2001. Jack Lenzi was the lobbyist. Thompson wrote with a prose buddy-slap; the governor was “especially grateful you agreed to take the scuba diving plunge with me.”
342 “A particularly nice cruise”: Deposition of Ulf Whist, State of Oklahoma v. R.J. Reynolds et al., Bates No. 3990136738. 73.
342 with almost one hundred percent: Steve Schultze, Daniel Bice, “Thompson Was Among VIPs Who Traveled Through Groups Backed By Firm,” July 30, 1997. Tatiana S. Boncompagni, Jill Abramson, “Tobacco-Funded Group Gives Legislators Free Trips,” The Wall Street Journal, August 4, 1997. “The nonprofit New York Society, it turns out, receives almost all of its funding from Philip Morris.”
342 “It’s basically me”: Deposition of Ulf Whist, State of Oklahoma v. R.J. Reynolds et al., 36. The Philip Morris exec adds, a page later, “There’s not a great deal of things I can’t do myself.”
342 to pay the society a visit: The reporter from Westword tried the phone. Also no luck. Scott C. Yates, “The Marlboro Hombres,” Westword, August 21, 1997.
“While that group has a Manhattan telephone number and address, it is actually a dummy operation funded by Philip Morris. Calls to the society are answered by a machine. A person who gave her name only as Lori returned a call from Westword, but said she didn’t know anything about the Costa Rican trip or anything else about the society, save for the name of the president, Andrew Whist.”
342 “a chair in my apartment”: Tatiana S. Boncompagni, Jill Abramson, “Tobacco-Funded Group Gives Legislators Free Trips,” The Wall Street Journal, August 4, 1997.
342 headquartered in a chair: Tatiana S. Boncompagni, Jill Abramson, “Tobacco-Funded Group Gives Legislators Free Trips,” The Wall Street Journal, August 4, 1997.
Whist tried for greater vagueness with government lawyers. When asked the address of the New York Society for International Affairs, he answered with the more broad “in my apartment.” (36.) And he was a deft legal fencer—which shows how maddeningly tricky funding detours can be. They make it tough to establish the money’s garage of origin. “Q. Philip Morris provides most of the funding to the New York Society, doesn’t it? A. That’s an entirely different issue. Q. Who paid for the trip? A. New York Society.”
343 “I am creating a coalition”: Garry Carruthers TASSC Letter, “I am creating a coalition,” The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, May 21, 1993. Bates Number: 2024233657.
343 They batted this around for months: Through February and March, they were still calling it the Restoring Integrity to Science Coalition, which spells RISC.
Ellen Merlo, to Distribution; February 19, 1993. Philip Morris Records, Bates Number 2021252097.
343 “This cynically named movement”: David Michaels, Doubt Is Their Product, Oxford University Press 2008. Chapter Five, “The Enronization of Science,” 58; 85.
343 “the vilification of any research”: David Michaels, Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health, Oxford University Press 2008. Introduction, xii.
344 “The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition”: Naomi Oreskes, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, Bloomsbury 2010. Chapter Five, “What’s Bad Science? Who Decides? The Fight Over Secondhand Smoke,” 150.
344 “the Philip Morris agenda”: APCO, “Revised Plan for the Public Launching of TASSC (Through 1993),” October 15, 1993. Philip Morris Records, Bates No 3990027598.
345 the Times of India: Binoy Prabhakar, “How an American Lobbying Company APCO Worldwide Markets Narendra Modi to the World,” Economic Times, December 9, 2012.
345 “APCO,” you read: Elaine McKewon, “The Big Oil-Backed climate denier who hoodwinked Fairfax,” Crikey, January 13, 2014.
345 George Monbiot exposé: George Monbiot, “The Denial Industry,” The Guardian, September 19, 2006.
345 “misrepresented our relationship”: Anthony Owens, APCO, “Letters,” The Guardian, September 29, 2006.
345 in the APCO office for four years: Thomas Goetz, “After the Oprah Crash,” The Village Voice, April 29, 1997.
345 “I think we fell out of alignment”: Trial Testimony of Ellen Merlo, Boeken v. Philip Morris Inc., May 2, 2001. Bates Number: MERLOE0050201. 8.
345 “We were out of step”: Trial Testimony of Ellen Merlo, Boeken v. Philip Morris Inc., May 3, 2001.Philip Morris Records, Bates Number: MERLOE050301PM. 30.
345 “We just didn’t listen”: Trial Testimony of Ellen Merlo, Boeken v. Philip Morris Inc., May 2, 2001. Philip Morris Records, Bates Number: MERLOE0050201 14.
345 “We got very defensive”: Trial Testimony of Ellen Merlo, Boeken v. Philip Morris Inc., May 2, 2001. Philip Morris Records, Bates Number: MERLOE0050201. 14.
345 about “founding”: Karen Kreeger, “Watchdog Group on Lookout For Misuse of Science in Policymaking,” The Scientist, August 22, 1994.
345 “appeared on fundraising material”: Rene Romo, “Carruthers Led Effort Backed By Tobacco Firm—NMSU President Hopeful Says He Didn’t Know Philip Morris Was A Client,” Albuquerque Journal, May 2, 2013.
Carruthers was paid $5,000 per month for this non-engagement. Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, Trust Us, We’re Experts, Putnam 2001. Chapter 10, “Global Warming Is Good for You,” 240.
Margery Krauss, APCO Associates, To: Victor Han, “Letter regarding: Outline of APCO Associates Inc.’s (APCO) proposed activities on behalf of Philip Morris, USA for 1994,” September 23, 1993. Philip Morris Records, Bates Number: 2024233682.
345 “We thought it best”: Jack Lenzi, To: Ellen Merlo, Tom Borelli et al, Subject: TASSC Update, Philip Morris, November 17, 1993. Philip Morris Records, Bates Number: 2024233664.
345 They wrote checks totaling: Elisa K. Ong and Stanton A. Glantz, “Constructing ‘Sound Science’ and ‘Good Epidemiology’: Tobacco, Lawyers, and Public Relations Firms,” American Journal of Public Health, November 2001 Vol. 91 No. 11.
346 Q. Isn’t it true: Draft Q & A For Philip Morris and TASSC, Philip Morris, 1993. Philip Morris Records, Bates Number: 2078848223.
346 “The issue of Junk Science”: PR Newswire, “TASSC Names Executive Director,” March 3, 1997. Also in Sheldon Rampton, John Stauber, “How Big Tobacco Helped Create ‘The Junkman.’” PR Watch, 2000;7(3).
346 “pioneered by the tobacco lobby”: Franklin Foer, “Closing of the Presidential Mind,” The New Republic, July 5, 2004.
346 “We will target resources”: The Federal Page, Campaign ‘96, “Platforms Diverge On Modernizing Government,” The Washington Post, August 28, 1996.
346 “eliminate the use”: CNN, AllPolitics, “The 1996 Republican Party Platform,” 1996.
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/conventions/san.diego/facts/gop.platform/platform.all.shtml
Accessed 7-14-22.
347 “The majority G.O.P.”: Frank Rich, “Bennett’s Moral Filter,” The New York Times, December 9, 1995.
347 the “Salute to Newt”: Morton Mintz, “Where There’s Smoke: In Which We Go Behind the Scenes with a Team of Memo-Writing Tobacco Lobbyists . . . “, The Washington Post Magazine, December 3, 1995.
347 seating was made available: Timothy Noah, Phil Kuntz, “Democrats Take Aim at the Tobacco Industry, a Big Contributor to Republican Party Causes,” The Wall Street Journal, July 26, 1995. “Indeed, it seems that whenever Republicans call, tobacco companies are ready to help.”
347 “Coincidentally or otherwise”: Chris Mooney, The Republican War on Science, Basic Books 2005. Chapter Six, “Junking ‘Sound Science,’” 65.
“The lack of shame with which the Gingrich Congress carried out its assault on scientific expertise had little precedent. In fact, one of the most telling signs that the conservative war on science had attained a new level of intensity was that it now had an official slogan.”
347 “environmental buzzwords”: Heather Dewar, “Republican Buzzwords Signal Effort To Water Down Environmental Laws,” Knight Ridder News Service, November 10, 1994.
347 What type of science: Reuters, “Gingrich Wants GOP Environmental Agenda for 1996,” March 30, 1995.
Congress Daily, The National Journal, “House GOP Environmental Group Releases Vision Statement,” March 30, 1995.
347 “the Gestapo of Government”: Herbert A. Sample, “Election 1996: The Challenge Ahead / Environmental Protection’s New Common Ground / Activists, GOP Working on Difficult Reforms,” Scripps-McClatchy News Service, September 29, 1996.
347 Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole: Chris Mooney, The Republican War on Science, Basic Books 2005. Chapter Six, “Junking ‘Sound Science,’” 69-71.
Bruce Alpert, “Voters Support Rules On Pollution GOP Attacks Not Popular,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 24, 1995. Bob Dole, “There’s No Law Against Common Sense,” The Washington Post, March 5, 1995.
Glenn Frankel did a long examination of Senator Dole’s connections with the tobacco industry.
Glenn Frankel, “Dole’s Link to Big Tobacco Aged In Years of Dealmaking,” The Washington Post, May 18, 1996.
Over the course of four decades on Capitol Hill, Dole has become an important ally of the tobacco industry. As a supreme legislative dealmaker, he has been instrumental in setting its taxes and its subsidies. He has also supported its dramatic expansion into overseas markets and has fought its enemies, such as Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David A. Kessler, architect of the proposed ad ban. In return, the industry has made significant contributions to his campaigns and has supported him with corporate plane trips and six-figure donations to foundations he has established. Indeed, Dole even owes the Senate majority leader post he is leaving to senators from tobacco states.
Dole is near the top of the list of lawmakers who receive campaign contributions from the tobacco industry. Its executives and political action committees have donated more than $100,000 to Dole’s campaigns over the past decade and another $250,000 to Dole’s Better America Foundation, the conservative think tank he founded and later disbanded after critics charged it was serving as an arm of his presidential campaign. The industry also contributed a record $2,369,534 last year in so-called “soft money” to the Republican National Committee and other GOP institutions to help pay for the party’s nominating convention, voter registration and dissemination of political literature, all of which will indirectly assist Dole.
Philip Morris’ Director of Washington Relations described Dole as “too valuable a friend to alienate.”
347 “a superb job in marketing”: David Michaels, Doubt Is Their Product, Oxford University Press 2008. Chapter Five, “The Enronization of Science,” 58.
347 “I have found extremely misleading representations”: U.S. House of Representatives, Hearing Before the Subcommittee On Energy and Environment, “Scientific Integrity and Public Trust: The Science Behind Federal Policies and Mandates,” September 20, 1995, Government Printing Office, 1996.
347 “Well,” the Republican answered: U.S. House of Representatives, Hearing Before the Subcommittee On Energy and Environment, “Scientific Integrity and Public Trust: The Science Behind Federal Policies and Mandates,” September 20, 1995, Government Printing Office, 1996.
Aaron M. McCright, Riley E. Dunlap, “Defeating Kyoto: The Conservative Movement’s Impact on U.S. Climate Change Policy,” Social Problems, Vol. 50 No. 3 August 2003.
348 “My assessment is from”: William K. Stevens, “G.O.P. Bills Aim to Delay Ban on Chemical in Ozone Dispute,” The New York Times, September 21, 1995.
348 Dr. Singer was a science advisor: Naomi Oreskes, Erik Conway, Merchants of Doubt, Bloomsbury 2010. Chapter Five, “What’s Bad Science? Who Decides? The Fight Over Secondhand Smoke,” 151.
348 So was skeptic Patrick Michaels: James Powell, The Inquisition of Climate Science, Columbia University Press, 2011. Chapter Seven, “Tobacco Tactics —The Scientist Deniers,” 56.
Michaels also helped draft the TASSC’s “Five Guiding Scientific Principles.” The Catalyst (TASSC Magazine), “TASSC Issues ‘Five Guiding Scientific Principles,’” Vol. 1 No. 3 Fall 1994. Philip Morris Records, Bates Number 2070270138.
The Union of Concerned Scientists lists, along with TASSC, a number of other teams and organizations Seitz, Singer, and Michaels served with. Union of Concerned Scientists, Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco’s Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science, Union of Concerned Scientists 2007.
348 “by a factor of two”: Robert McClure, “Video Didn’t Kill the Star-Skeptic of Global Warming,” Seattle Post Intelligencer, July 31, 2006.
348 Frederick Seitz took a seat: James Powell, Inquisition of Climate Science, Chapter Seven, 56. Naomi Oreskes, Erik Conway, Merchants of Doubt, Bloomsbury 2010. Chapter Five, 151. Steven J. Milloy, To: TASSC Board Members, “Annual Report,” January 7, 1998. Bates Number: 2065254885.
348 The Sierra Club picketed: Brian Ford, “Guarding the Environment: Feds Overreact, Coalition Claims,” Tulsa World, April 25, 1996.
348 the top prize, Perennial Exaggerated Scare: PR Newswire, “Science Watchdog Group Cites Best, Worst of 1996,” December 19, 1996.
They handed out statuettes in ‘95, too. Kirsten Thistle, APCO To: Lance Pressl, Philip Morris. Subject: TASSC Awards, January 4, 1995. Philip Morris Records, Bates Number 2047070878.
348 “I don’t know”: Rene Romo, “Carruthers makes pitch for NMSU president seat,” Albuquerque Journal, April 23, 2013.
348 Same change in news coverage: Aaron M. McCright, Riley E. Dunlap, “Defeating Kyoto: The Conservative Movement’s Impact On U.S. Climate Change Policy,” Social Problems, Vol. 50 No. 3 August 2003.
348 “Politically, global warming was dead”: Naomi Oreskes, Erik Conway, Merchants of Doubt, Chapter Six, “The Denial of Global Warming,” 215.
348 From the Union of Concerned Scientists: Union of Concerned Scientists, Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco’s Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science, Union of Concerned Scientists 2007.
348 “ExxonMobil has always advocated”: Katie Jennings, “How Exxon went from leader to skeptic on climate change research,” Los Angeles Times, October 23, 2015.
Thirty years in, you still find it on their website.
https://energyfactor.exxonmobil.com/energy-innovation/rd/sound-science-suzzy-ho/
Accessed 7-12-22.
Accessed 7-21-22.
349 a day-long Junk Science conference: Ronnee Schreiber, Righting Feminism: Conservative Women and American Politics, Oxford University Press 2011. Chapter Six, “Representing Women’s Health Interests,” 130. National Press Club, February 17, 1999. Catchy name: “Scared Sick.”
349 Sponsored by the conservative Independent Women’s Forum: John Schwartz, “If You Seek the Truth, Don’t Trash the Science,” The Washington Post, February 21, 1999.
There’s a fascinating reverse detail here:
The IWF contends that many women don’t understand complex scientific issues and have developed unfounded fears about illnesses because of a cabal of liberals, environmental extremists, feminists and trial lawyers.
But the scientific foundation for those broad claims was scant—even, one might dare to say, junky. The proof that many women don’t “get” science came down to a single survey cited by presenter after presenter, a report from the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis that found women tended to rank the risk of a series of environmental issues as a greater hazard than did men. Only lunch speaker Marcia Angell, executive editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, pointed out that the differences between the perceptions of men and women were quite small—and that the study could just as well indicate that men underplay risk.
—which is fascinating because research suggests the above to be the case. This is from the McCright and Dunlap paper called “Cool Dudes: The Denial of Climate Change Among Conservative White Males.”
Specifically, our research question is this: Within the U.S. general public, are conservative white males more likely than other adults to espouse climate change denial? In answering this question, we engage two bodies of scholarship. We draw upon a recent theoretical argument in the risk perception literature—the identity-protective cognition thesis (Kahan et al., 2007)—that explains the ‘‘white male’’ effect, or the atypically high levels of technological and environmental risk acceptance among white males. We also draw upon recent work in political psychology on the system-justification tendencies of political conservatives (Jost et al., 2008), which lead them to defend the status quo and resist attempts to change it. We believe the integration of these two arguments—the latter about conservatives and the former about white males—provide theoretical justification for what we call the ‘‘conservative white male’’ effect.
Then, in the footnote:
According to the vulnerability thesis, white males feel less vulnerable to many risks than do females and non-whites because of their dominant position in the social structure; they are, therefore, more accepting of such risks.
Aaron M. McCright, Riley E. Dunlap, “Cool Dudes: The Denial of Climate Change Among Conservative White Males in the United States,” Global Environmental Change, 2011.06.003, 2011.
349 “Philip Morris has been a friend”: Claudia Barlow, Independent Women’s Forum To: Kirk Blalock, Philip Morris, March 22, 1999. Philip Morris Records, Bates No 2065243729.
349 Exxon paid for groups supporting: Union of Concerned Scientists, Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco’s Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science, Union of Concerned Scientists 2007.
349 the wiliness of the veteran: Union of Concerned Scientists, Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco’s Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science, Union of Concerned Scientists 2007.
349 director of ASS activities: Steven J. Milloy, To: TASSC Board Members, “Annual Report,” January 7, 1998. Bates Number: 2065254885.
349 “since 1992, when lobbyists”: Iris Kuo, “It’s a Real Persuader,” Knight Ridder Newspapers, May 3, 2006.
The phrase has been on a roll since 1992, when lobbyists for the tobacco industry argued that no “sound science” showed that secondhand smoke is a health hazard.
Within a year, a group called “The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition” — backed by the Philip Morris company, based in Virginia — was invoking “sound science” . . . The secret of the term lies largely in its power to cast doubt on the certainty or completeness of existing scientific evidence.
There’s also Chris Mooney in The Washington Post. (In 2020, Mooney won the Pulitzer Prize for his Post work on climate change.)
Dig into the origins of the phrase “sound science” as a slogan in policy disputes, and its double meaning becomes clearer. That use of the term goes back to a campaign waged by the tobacco industry to undermine the indisputable connection between smoking and disease. Industry documents released as a result of tobacco litigation show that in 1993 Philip Morris and its public relations firm, APCO Associates, created a nonprofit front group called The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC) to fight against the regulation of cigarettes. To mask its true purpose, TASSC assembled a range of anti-regulatory interests under one umbrella. The group also challenged the now widely accepted notion that secondhand smoke poses health risks.
Since then, other industry groups have invoked “sound science” to ease government restrictions.
Chris Mooney, “Beware ‘Sound Science.’ It’s Doublespeak for Trouble,” The Washington Post, February 29, 2004.
350 “It doesn’t have any”: Iris Kuo, “It’s a Real Persuader,” Knight Ridder Newspapers, May 3, 2006.
350 “Winning the Global Warming Debate”: Frank Luntz, “The Environment: A Cleaner, Safer, Healthier America,” The Luntz Research Companies—Straight Talk, 2002.
350 “viewed by Republicans”: Elizabeth Kolbert, “Climate of Man—III,” The New Yorker, May 1, 2005.
350 “recipe for success”: Editorial, “Environmental Word Games,” The New York Times, March 15, 2003.
350 “It was a great memo”: PBS Frontline, “Hot Politics: Interviews Frank Luntz,” April 24, 2007.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hotpolitics/interviews/luntz.html
Accessed 7-12-22.
351 Dobriansky gave the U.S. position: Kolbert, “The Climate of Man—III.”
351 “How do we get ‘bad science’”: Philip Morris, Meeting, “Project Down Under Conference Notes,” Philip Morris Inc., June 24, 1987. Bates Number: 2021502102. U.S. Exhibit 20,346.
351 “When we make decisions”: George W. Bush, “Remarks Announcing the Clear Skies and Global Climate Change Initiatives in Silver Spring, Maryland,” The American Presidency Project, UCSB, February 14, 2002.
Accessed 7-12-22.
Eric Pianin, “Moving Target on Policy Battlefield: Increasingly, ‘Science’ Used by Proponents and Critics to Score a Shot,” The Washington Post, May 2, 2002.
PBS Now with David Brancaccio, “The Politics of Global Warming,” April 22, 2005. With another plug for Frank Luntz—he must have been, at the turn of the century, a fun person to be. “Enter George Bush, a former oil man. Early in his administration he infuriated leaders of the industrialized world by pulling the U.S. out of the Kyoto Treaty. Among the reasons?” Brancaccio asks. “It turns out the President may have had help articulating his position. This 2001 memo by Frank Luntz, a well known Republican consultant, advises the White House on how to ‘address global warming.’”
351 “not based on Sound Science”: Frank Bruni, “Pushing His Missile Plan In Spain, Bush Calls Arms Treaty a ‘Relic,’” The New York Times, June 13, 2001.
It was his thing. Associated Press, “Bush Rejects ‘Fads’ In Environmental Policy,” April 25, 2001.
President Bush said Tuesday he’s committed to clean air and clean water but will “make decisions based upon sound science, not some environmental fad or what may sound good.”
. . . Bush said Tuesday that his biggest mistake since taking office was “allowing people to define me as somebody who’s not friendly toward the environment.”
“We need to be good stewards of the land,” Bush said at the White House. “But we’ve also got to understand that if we don’t bring more natural gas to the market, we’re going to have blackouts. . . . We’re going to make decisions based upon sound science, not some environmental fad or what may sound good.”
351 Karl Rove talked it: Jon Ralston, “It Was Sound Political Science,” The Las Vegas Sun, January 11, 2002.
351 the secretaries of Agriculture: Pacific Shipper, “Bush Presses Tokyo on Beef; Philippines Lifts Restrictions,” November 26, 2007. Acting Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner: “I applaud Philippine Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap for making a decision that is based on sound science and in line with international guidelines.”
351 Commerce: Kurt Kleiner, “More Smoke and Mirrors: Is the Bush Administration Investing in Climate Science to Get Answers or to Manipulate Opinion? The Tobacco Industry Holds the Key,” New Scientist, January 4, 2003.
351 Education: U.S. Federal News, “Education Secretary Issues Statement On Third Anniversary of No Child Left Behind Act,” January 8, 2005. “The No Child Left Behind Act has not just taken root, it has borne fruit. Eighty-four percent of the states credit it with improved academic performance. Reading and math test scores are up, with the greatest gains made by those once at greatest risk of being left behind. Programs like Reading First are uniting sound science with greater resources to yield real results.”
351 Energy: U.S. Federal News, “Energy Secretary Speaks at Generation IV International Forum,” January 14, 2005.
351 Health and Human Services: Food Chemical News, “Beltway Notebook. (Appointments Of Mike Johanns And Michael Leavitt To New Bush Administration),” January 24, 2005.
U.S. Federal News, “Leavitt Discusses His New Role As HHS Secretary,” January 19, 2005. “At FDA, our goal must be to inform consumers about risks and benefits. Our foundation must be sound science. Our motto must be independence.”
351 Transportation: U.S. Federal News, “Transportation Secretary Comments On Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program,” August 23, 2005.
351 Labor: T. Shawn Taylor, “Labor Secretary Elaine Chao Has Some Big Issues to Tackle,” Knight Ridder Business News, September 5, 2001.
Interior did too, but I figured it was enough. If you’re curious: U.S. Newswire, “Secretary Norton Commends Programmatic Regulations Issued by Army Corps of Engineers for Everglades Restoration,” November 4, 2003. “This process will ensure the interim goals are based on sound science with input from stakeholders and the public.”
But then, Secretary Gale Norton was an old TASSC alum.
351 Vice President Dick Cheney: PR Newswire, “Remarks by Vice President Cheney at a Victory 2004 Rally,” September 3, 2004.
Richard Cheney, “Remarks by the Vice President At A Victory 2004 Rally,” The Cashman Center, Las Vegas, NV, September 3, 2004. George W. Bush White House Archives.
https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/09/text/20040903-10.html
Accessed 7-16-22.
351 “Laura, my wife”: Alan Chernoff, “George W. Bush Delivers Remarks to the Future Farmers of America re: Economy & Trade,” CNN Financial, July 27, 2001.
351 “It’s founded on Sound Science”: Political Transcript Wire, CQ Roll Call, “First Lady Laura Bush Delivers Remarks at the Fifth Annual Reading First National Conference,” July 29, 2008.
Laura Bush, “Mrs. Bush’s Remarks at the Fifth Annual Reading First National Conference,” Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee, July 28, 2008. George W. Bush White House Archives.
https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/07/20080728-10.html
Accessed 7-15-22.
There’s a cool, spooky photo.
Accessed 7-15-22.
351 The program the Bushes promoted: Here’s George Bush again: “A good school has a curriculum that emphasizes the basics and is based upon sound science. In other words, a good school is a school that has adopted a curriculum which works.”
George W. Bush, “President Promotes Reading First Program in Florida,” Read-Pattillo Elementary School, New Smyrna Beach, Florida,” October 17, 2002. George W. Bush White House Archives.
https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021017-5.html
Accessed 7-14-22.
352 “almost comically skewed”: Michael Grunwald, “Billions for Inside Game on Reading,” The Washington Post, October 1, 2006.
Bush administration officials frequently say that Reading First does not play favorites or intrude on local control, that states and districts are free to choose their own textbooks and programs — as long as they’re backed by sound science . . . Five years later, an accumulating mound of evidence from reports, interviews and program documents suggests that Reading First has had little to do with science or rigor. Instead, the billions have gone to what is effectively a pilot project for untested programs with friends in high places.
352 “Kick the shit out of them”: Sam Dillon, “Report Says Education Officials Violated Rules,” The New York Times, September 23, 2006.
Kevin Drum, “The Phonics Wars,” Washington Monthly, September 23, 2006.
Anthony Pedriana, Leaving Johnny Behind: Overcoming Barriers to Literary and Reclaiming At-Risk Readers, Rowan & Littlefield Education 2010. 74.
352 “The claim that global warming”: You can read the whole Jenga thing here, if you’d like.
James Inhofe, “Senator Inhofe Delivers Major Speech on the Science of Climate Change,” July 29, 2003, U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2003/7/post-5222db62-e758-437a-9b37-47bee0d3339a
Accessed 7-15-22.
Just the highlight:
Coral Davenport, “Climate Change Denialists In Charge,” The New York Times, March 17, 2017.
352 how the White House was meeting: Sound Science had of course reached upper Manhattan and Jim Hansen and NASA.
This comes from his book, the scientist’s feelings during the fall of 2004. “It seemed to me that NASA’s Office of Public Affairs had become its Office of Propaganda . . . it seemed that by ‘sound science’ the administration meant science that gave the ‘right’ predetermined answer.”
In a March 2006 email to colleagues, Hansen discussed the science atmosphere generally. At EPA “double-speak (‘sound science,’ ‘clear skies’ . . . ) has achieved a level that would make George Orwell envious.”
Similar problems at NOAA—the “battle to achieve open communication between government scientists and their employer, the public, is far from won.”
James Hansen, Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity, Bloomsbury 2009. Chapter Six, “The Faustian Bargain: Humanity’s Own Trap,” 94.
Mark Bowen, Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming, Dutton 2008. Chapter Seven, “Congratulations for Your ‘Non Award,’” 175.
352 “help us continue to place”: U.S. Newswire, “Remarks by the President in Swearing-In Ceremony for the EPA Administrator,” May 23, 2005.
