The similarities between the Bush administration and Soviet Russia are amazing. In both cases, you have political enforcers sitting there, approving or disapproving decisions. Nothing is too small to be missed by the political enforcer who makes sure the programs fit the political agenda. And the results, well, they're predictable.
Environmentalists cheered the departure of MacDonald, who they say tried to bully government scientists into altering their findings, often without scientific basis.Pick the issue - Iraq, Katrina, global warming, food safety, US Attorneys, etc - and it is always the same. What ever happened to competence instead of politics?
"Julie MacDonald's reign of terror over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is finally over," said Kieran Suckling, policy director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Endangered species and scientists everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief."
MacDonald, a civil engineer with no formal training in natural sciences, had served in her post since 2004. She was a senior adviser in the department for two years before that.
