All of the news media have been reporting about global warming and the effect on polar bears since the issue of whether to put them on the endangered list first came up. A recent study now predicts polar bears could be extinct, due to eroding ice, by the end of this century if global warming continues unabated. An article in the Washington Post reports that Robert Corell, a senior fellow at the American Meteorological Society who chaired the study has warned "The Arctic is really warming now. These areas provide a bellwether of what’s coming to planet Earth." What’s been happening is that in Alaska, Western Canada, and Eastern Russia, average winter temperatures have risen as much as four to seven degrees Fahrenheit within the last fifty years and are projected to continue to increase another seven to thirteen over the next century with devastating effects on Arctic wildlife including polar bears.

So, you ask, what is the Bush Administration solution to this growing threat  to the polar bears in the Artic? It’s what you would expect from this "hide the truth" Administration. Here it is. Ready? Don’t talk about it! That’s it. They plan to take care of the problem with a gag order. You know, like the pink elephant in the room – if you don’t talk about it, it’s not there. At least that’s what Administration policy memos direct with regard to any government employee traveling on government business. Any government employee traveling to foreign countries on U.S. government business is prohibited from discussing "climate change, polar bears and sea ice." Not only that, it goes on to caution that any foreign travel "involving or potentially involving climate change, sea ice, and/or polar bears" requires special permission before they can travel. That’s it! The Bush administration solution to the global warming endangerment of polar bears is simple. Their solution is to pretend the problem doesn’t exist and to impose a muzzle order. The latest gag orders came to light when the Bush administration recently issued strict orders to federal wildlife officials who were about to attend international meetings where polar bears were on the agenda.

As Kassie Siegel, climate program director with the Center for Biological Diversity noted: "The administration should be embarrassed by public discussion of global warming, sea ice, and polar bears, since its own do-nothing approach to the climate crisis is the single greatest threat to the survival of the polar bear."

Of course this kind of censorship is nothing new for the administration. See previous post 1/30/07. It has a track record of denial, censorship and outright fraud when it comes to global warming issues that might embarrass the administration. It’s political appointees have prohibited discussions by scientists about environmental issues, revised scientific reports to fraudulently report something different and edited out of government reports facts which might contradict administration claims on polar bears. This administration has an international reputation for refusing to deal with the growing global warming threat. See previous posts of 12/9/06, 12/5/06 & 11/5/06.

By the way, do you want to know what excuse the administration gave to the media when the gag orders came to light? Administration officials said the memos were written "to ensure that U.S. representatives wouldn’t stray outside the agenda of meetings…" How about that for a big whopper. The administration expects Americans to believe that their gagging talk about global warming isn’t because they are embarrassed for their denial and foot dragging about the problem. No, we are asked to believe them when they insist it is only because of concerns over the running the meetings smoothly. If you believe that line you must have voted for George Bush.