Sad Contrast and A Hand Over Scientists' Mouths?

Last weekend I went to see one of the most phenomenal movies I've seen in a long time. The fact is, I'm frugal in many ways - i.e. I buy all my clothes at thrift stores, buy generic brand labels, and most importantly in this case, only attend movies at the dollar movie house after they've LONG expired from "first run" status. However, I had to relent in this rigid first-run movie policy by attending the movie "Bobby" last weekend. Why? Because Bobby Kennedy has long been a hero of mine, also because I look on the late 60's - and the entire 70's period as a revolutionary, innovative and exciting time in our recent history, and it's especially sharp in my mind because I grew up as a liberal/polically aware kid during that time period.

We watched the Evening News every night when I was growing up. Even though I was young, I vividly remember the Vietnam war, as well as specific events such as Martin Luther King's assasination - and Bobby Kennedy running for office. My memory of JFK's assination is very hazy. All I remember of it was little John-John (who was my exact age of 3 at the time) seeing him salute his father's casket at the funeral. I saw that on TV.

But I digress (oh hell, when do I NOT digress?) It wouldn't be a Chelle story if I didn't.

The reason I'm blogging about this today is because I loved that Bobby movie. It brought back to me, on a very emotional level, the late 60's idealism and hope the sense of real HOPE that existed when Bobby Kennedy and his ilk had a chance of leading the country. One can't help but imagine, what might have been, had he not been killed so tragically. Would the world have been different? I dunno. But he had a sense of real vision and such bright, burning intelligence. I think he would have far exceeded the leadership ability of his brother, John.

And compare that to now . . . (shudder, shudder, shudder). I seldom write about politics on here, because frankly, I'm heartsick over it. I can't talk about it, write about it, or think too much about it. Plus, I don't want to turn this into a political bitching blog - that's boring.

But here's the latest astonishment coming from the Bush administration, and this I feel I MUST talk about because it involves coming "new rules" used by the Interior Department's scientific arm to ensure that release of scientific information is monitored and controlled by the administration. Considering who we have in office right now, I see a huge potential for a large governmental "thumb" to be held over scientists for political purposes. This is scary - extremely scary - to me.

According to the AP story, which you can read about directly by going HERE, the Bush administration is going to clamp down even MORE, to filter or screen all facts and interpretations, all scientific papers and other documents and information, before it is released to the public.

What can we do about this? I don't know yet. I don't know if this is something we can write to our Congressman and complain about even, because I don't think it involves legislation. Wow. I'm just flabbergasted by this.