More on Lysenko and Deutsch

Well, well, well.  It turns out the parallels between George Deutsch and Trofim Lysenko were closer than we knew.  As james_nicoll reports, it turns out Deutsch's qualifications were, shall we say, overstated, much as Michael Brown's were .... though it's widely reported -- and his resume on file with NASA claims -- that he's a graduate of the Texas A&M school of journalism, it turns out he was SCHEDULED to graduate in 2003, but ended up leaving in 2004 without achieving a degree.

It also transpires that Texas A&M confirmed to NASA yesterday that Deutsch did not, in fact, graduate and that his diploma was falsified, whereupon Deutsch resigned in disgrace late yesterday.  NASA, with entirely undeserved grace, is declining to discuss the reasons for his resignation.

Yesterday, Dr. Hansen said that the questions about Mr. Deutsch's credentials were important, but were a distraction from the broader issue of political control of scientific information.

"He's only a bit player," Dr. Hansen said of Mr. Deutsch.  "The problem is much broader and much deeper and it goes across agencies.  That's what I'm really concerned about."

"On climate, the public has been misinformed and not informed," he said.  "The foundation of a democracy is an informed public, which obviously means an honestly informed public.  That's the big issue here."

One wonders when, and where, the next skirmish in this administration's war on truth will take place... or perhaps I should say rather, "be exposed".  I have no doubt it's already ongoing.

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Footnote:  james_nicoll comments, "If I were a bored journalist, I would compare the resumes of every Bush appointee to their actual records, just to see what popped out."  I think that's an excellent idea.

Blame the victim

The Charleston Gazette, of Charleston, West Virginia reports on West Point graduate 1st Lt. William Rebrook, who was forced to take a medical discharge after being wounded in Iraq last year ... and was forced to pay for his body armor because no-one recorded that medics cut it off his body and burned it as a biohazard.

Rebrook was standing in the turret of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle when the roadside bomb exploded Jan. 11, 2005.  The explosion fractured his arm and severed an artery.  A Black Hawk helicopter airlifted him to a combat support hospital in Baghdad.

He was later flown to a hospital in Germany for surgery, then on to Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington, D.C., for more surgeries.  Doctors operated on his arm seven times in all.

But Rebrook’s right arm never recovered completely.  He still has range of motion problems.  He still has pain when he turns over to sleep at night.

Even with the injury, Rebrook said he didn’t want to leave the Army.  He said the “medical separation” discharge was the Army’s decision, not his.

So after eight months at Fort Hood, he gathered up his gear and started the “long process” to leave the Army for good.

Things went smoothly until officers asked him for his “OTV,” his “outer tactical vest,” or body armor, which was missing.  A battalion supply officer had failed to document the loss of the vest in Iraq.

“They said that I owed them $700,” Rebrook said.  “It was like ‘thank you for your service, now here’s the bill for $700.’  I had to pay for it if I wanted to get on with my life.”

Rebrook says other troops have also been forced to pay for equipment destroyed in battle.

“It’s a combat loss,” he said.  “It shouldn’t be a cost passed on to the soldier.  If a soldier’s stuff is hit by enemy fire, he shouldn’t have to pay for it.”

You know, it must really suck to be the driver of an M1A2 Abrams or an M2 Bradley lost in combat.  Those things are expensive.