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With all the evidence cropping up of Bush's blatant disregard for the well being of the American people, and for science itself lately, I'm surprised to see so few commenting on it. Some people are, but the comments I've seen have all been far too easy on George and his evil toadies.

In the arena of science, Mr. Bush has once again made money his priority, and has chosen to ignore the vast majority of the world's leading scientists on a great many subjects.

When this administration encounters a report with findings considered unfortunate, they simply ignore the results, as in the case of the EPA study on mercury levels in the bloodstream.

The study found that eight percent of women have enough mercury levels in their blood to cause permanent neurological damage in their children, such as IQ loss and motor impairment.

This study has real implications for not only the coal industry, which is the nation's leading producer of mercury contamination, but for the Bush administration as well, as they are responsible for reducing regulations on coal burning power plants.

Rather than acknowledge the problem though, Bush sat on it. This study had to find its way to public awareness through the The Wall Street Journal, to whom it was leaked by EPA scientists.

And if this sneaky game of data suppression and massage doesn't work, they simply fire the people in their way and appoint others who are much less objective in their place.

For example, there is the case of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention, and the decision they seemed poised to make regarding the lowering of legal lead limits.

Two advocates of lowering the limits were removed, and in their places were put two people with close ties to the lead industry.

Of course wholesale rejection of science is nothing new for our president. This is the same man who baffled the scientific community by saying that he doesn't believe in global warming.

But things are getting uglier. Scientists are increasingly resorting to leaking research to the mainstream press in an effort to get information out from under the boot heel of their own government.

Recently, the Pentagon itself was forced to perform one of these end runs, and scientists have come to the point of leveling direct accusations of negligence at the president and his government.

On Feb. 18, 2004, a group of 60 scientists, including 20 Nobel Prize laureates, released a statement maintaining that the Bush administration had repeatedly "suppressed or distorted the scientific analysis of federal agencies to bring these results in line with administration policy," and that they had done so "for partisan political ends."

Damaging levels of mercury in eight percent of women is one thing, and a terrible thing at that. Lead levels above safety margins isn't any better, but it's something we can deal with once we find out about it.

The complete breakdown of the ocean's thermohaline conveyor caused by global warming on the other hand, and the consequent global catastrophe that will ensue is quite another, and it's precisely this that Bush is rushing us toward at a breakneck pace.

This is why I say that even the people who have picked up on this disconcerting pattern have been far too charitable to Mr. Bush. He has been warned that if we continue down this path, we are hastening the collapse of the thermohaline conveyor and catastrophic global climate change, leading to famine, flooding, disease, mass starvation, an ice age, mass extinction and possibly nuclear warfare over potable water.

But there is no effort within the administration to slow our rate of pollution. Quite to the contrary, there are actually tax breaks for people buying such destructive behemoths as the Hummer H2.

Perhaps this is because Bush favors the opinions of conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, who believe that the Earth is invincible, and that no matter what we do, we cannot harm it.

Or maybe Mr. Bush realizes we're on the fast track to an ecological disaster where countries would be in competition for food and water.

In such a scenario, it would definitely be beneficial to have the world's most powerful military at your disposal, and that certainly seems to be in keeping with the current state of things.

In the end, it doesn't matter what Bush believes. He's not an expert in any scientific field.

This is why he has science advisors and why there are committees and agencies devoted to examining these issues and solving problems.

But by refusing to accept troublesome information, by taking active measures to suppress the truth, and by stacking panels, committees and agencies with people based on ideology at the expense of qualification, Mr. Bush is politicizing science.

He is playing a poseur's game with millions of lives, and this is more dangerous than he can possibly imagine.

I believe that the astonishing level of negligence he continues to display in the face of overwhelming evidence constitutes a threat to the lives and well-being of every person on this planet.

Knowing this, I am forced to consider any and every vote cast for George W. Bush this November as a direct threat to my life, and anyone casting such a vote as my enemy.

Jim Smith is a columnist for The Daily Barometer. The opinions expressed in his columns, which appear every Thursday, do not necessarily represent those of The Barometer staff. Smith can be reached at baro.forum@studentmedia.orst.edu.

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