The latest in a line of Bush administration censorship of science. US Geological Survey scientists must now submit work for screening before it can be published.
The famously oppressive Qing dynasty in China used secret police to crack down on any science which could possibly be construed to show that the Qing emperors were less than benificent and legitimate. This was at a time when an earthquake or a two-headed calf could be a sign of heaven’s disapproval of the dynasty. This contributed to Chinese science being set back hundreds of years and losing its previously huge lead on western science. Scholars studied the trivial and safe because they could not afford to risk offending the court.
Our Emperor is no more secure than the Manchu, and acts similarly out of fear, but today’s earthquakes and two headed calves may indeed show nature’s displeasure at our emperor’s policies and should not be supressed.