Excellent, though relatively brief interview with Dr. Carmona, the last Surgeon General on how badly the White House has ignored science and the public welfare for political reasons. This according to him is nothing new, but has been particularly onerous and ideological under George W. Bush. Includes both streaming video and transcript. The NYT has a front page piece about his congressional testimony, but this interview is much better. Carmona was in the Army Special Forces, earned two purple hearts in the Vietnam War, was a trauma surgeon and a leader of the Pima County, Ariz., SWAT team.

This opinion piece allows a former member of the administration to vent, without examining the validity of his complaints, or whether he even knows about the subject in question. For example, on the stem cell issue that occupies much of the interview, he clearly knows nothing on the subject. Embryonic stem cell research has produced no significant scientific advances, only what is universally considered the biggest scientific fraud of the last 15 years. Non-embryonic stem cells continue to show advances in the clinic as well as in basic science. The administration's position allowing a limited range of Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research has been proven absolutely correct; it is not an area that deserves large ... More »