There is nothing more reality-based than science. Perhaps that is why George W. Bush has such a big problem with science, continually subverting scientific work and conclusions for the sake of his religious and ideological prejudices. Scientists, naturally enough, have grown very upset over this.

Space.com reports on a speech made by James E Hansent, director f the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York:

"In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now," James E. Hansen told a University of Iowa audience. ... Hansen said the administration wants to hear only scientific results that "fit predetermined, inflexible positions." Evidence that would raise concerns about the dangers of climate change is often dismissed as not being of sufficient interest to the public. "This, I believe, is a recipe for environmental disaster."

A person ignores reality at their own peril. Unfortunately, when such a reality-impaired person has power and authority like that of the President of the United States, large numbers of others must share that peril. Despite what ignorant creationists or postmodernists might claim, science is not an ideology — it is a process and it is the best process we have for learning about the world around us. People who subvert science in name of ideological preferences only do harm to themselves and everyone else around them.

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