The New York Times just came out with an amazing and rage-inspiring story about the Bush Administration trying to silence James E. Hansen, the top climate scientist at NASA. It seems that Hansen has committed the heresy known as "speaking the scientific truth," namely that "without leadership by the United States, climate change would eventually leave the earth 'a different planet.'" Reportedly, Hansen was threatened with "dire consequences" if such statements continued. The Bush Administration, of course, simply denies the massive amounts of scientific evidence that indicates the earth is round...er, revolves around the sun...er, is experiencing potentially disastrous global warming caused by man.All this reminded me of Galileo, who of course discovered that the earth revolved around the sun, and not the other way around as Church orthodoxy held. In response, the Roman Catholic Church threatened to ban Galileo's ideas, imprisoned him, ordered him to recant his views, charged him with "heresy," placed him under house arrest for 9 years (until his death), and forbid him to publish any of his works. Sound familiar? If not, let me state it clearly: the Bush Administration is the modern day Roman Catholic Church of 1633, and James E. Hansen is Galileo. Which side are you on?
P.S. Legend has it that Galileo muttered the phrase, "eppur si muove" ("and yet it DOES move!") under his breath, after being forced to recant, in front of the Inquisition, his belief that the earth moved around the sun. Dick Cheney as Grand Inquisitor, anyone? Torture chamber and all?