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Fast Walker 52

(7,723 posts)
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 02:54 PM Oct 2015

The House GOP science committee-- a clear and present danger


http://www.vox.com/2015/10/26/9616370/science-committee-worse-benghazi-committee


The thing is: The Benghazi committee is not even the worst committee in the House. I'd argue that the House science committee, under the chairmanship of Lamar Smith (R-TX), deserves that superlative for its open-ended, Orwellian attempts to intimidate some of the nation's leading scientists and scientific institutions.

The science committee's modus operandi is similar to the Benghazi committee's — sweeping, catchall investigations, with no specific allegations of wrongdoing or clear rationale, searching through private documents for out-of-context bits and pieces to leak to the press, hoping to gain short-term political advantage — but it stands to do more lasting long-term damage.

In both cases, the investigations have continued long after all questions have been answered. (There were half a dozen probes into Benghazi before this one.) In both cases, the chair has drifted from inquiry to inquisition. But with Benghazi, the only threat is to the reputation of Hillary Clinton, who has the resources to defend herself. With the science committee, it is working scientists being intimidated, who often do not have the resources to defend themselves, and the threat is to the integrity of the scientific process in the US. It won't take much for scientists to get the message that research into politically contested topics is more hassle than it's worth.

This year, Smith was one of the committee chairs granted sweeping new subpoena powers by his fellow House Republicans, what one staffer called "exporting the Issa model." No longer is the chair required to consult with the ranking member before launching investigations or issuing subpoenas. A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, "This change will inevitably [lead] to widespread abuses of power as Republicans infect the other committees with the poisonous process that Issa has so abused during his chairmanship."
These people are killing us with their anti-science views!


This committee also affects climate change research, and we can't allow more time wasted on the GOP's nonsense. We HAVE to get back control of the House, this should be the main goal of the Dems, after the presidency.

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The House GOP science committee-- a clear and present danger (Original Post) Fast Walker 52 Oct 2015 OP
wait till marsha blackburn chairs the planned parenthood investigation...she'll rival all committees spanone Oct 2015 #1
I'm sure they think they're very clever to have a woman chair this Fast Walker 52 Oct 2015 #2
 

Fast Walker 52

(7,723 posts)
2. I'm sure they think they're very clever to have a woman chair this
Wed Oct 28, 2015, 07:28 AM
Oct 2015

but Blackburn is generally awful on all issues, as far as I can tell. I'm sure their base will eat it up, but god help us all.

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