(or, Why I'm Voting Democrat in 2004)
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Tommy Thompson and Tobacco
When one commissioned study showed that his program to dock welfare benefits when children were truant from school seemed to be having the effect of increasing truancy, he simply terminated the research contract.
Carrying signs that read, "Wanted: Bush and Thompson for Murder and Neglect of People With AIDS," they shouted, "Money for AIDS, not for war. Fund the Global Fund."
HHS has been stung by criticism that it gave muddled and contradictory information after the U.S. anthrax attacks, with information provided by Thompson and his aides sometimes conflicting with information from CDC scientists. Thompson also found himself embarrassed during the public debate over human embryonic stem cell research when his characterization of President Bush's new policy was rosier than that of some NIH researchers who spoke to the media.
Valuable scientific information is being stricken from government Web sites because it does not support the Bush administration's political agenda, a dozen House Democrats have charged.
Secretary Thompson appeared at a White House briefing last Thursday and described the case as "isolated" six times. He mentioned that the anthrax victim, tabloid photo editor Bob Stevens, was an "outdoorsman" and "drank water out of a stream when he was traveling through North Carolina." Thompson stated emphatically that "there is no evidence of terrorism."
