You gotta love this

The strange case of George Deutsch described in today's NY Times is the Bush administration in a nutshell. 24 year old is appointed to NASA's public affairs office on the strength of his work on the Bush reelection campaign and innauguration committee. (At some point in his interview process I imagine he was asked about his meagre credentials and responded "Hey, it's not rocket science!"). In that post he becomes part of an administration campaign to silence NASA scientists on politically charged issues, limiting Dr. James Hansen's contact with the press after he argued based on his three decades of research in the field that the US should do more to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and insisting that NASA's website repeatedly refer to the Big Bang as a theory so as not to rule out the possibility that the universe was created by God in six days. Now it turns out that Mr. Deutsch was not only grossly underqualified to be ordering NASA scientists around, but lied on his resume, claiming he had graduated with a degree in journalism from Texas A&M when in fact he had not finished his degree. So he's fired. Who oh who will they get to replace him: the guy who judged Arabian horses? The veterinarian who was passed over for the FDA position on women's health issues after an outcry from women's groups? The Supreme Court nominee who called Pres. Bush the smartest president ever? I can't wait.