Shocking!

Not really. That's sarcasm, which doesn't come across well on the web or in writing for some people unless you spell it out for them.

The former Surgeon General for the Shrub, one Richard H. Carmona, testified for a Congressional panel yesterday on his experiences in the Bush administration. The NY Times article deserves to be read in full, but I'll quote just the beginning of it:

Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday that top Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations.

The administration, Dr. Carmona said, would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues. Top officials delayed for years and tried to “water down” a landmark report on secondhand smoke, he said. Released last year, the report concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke could cause immediate harm.

Dr. Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings.

And administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization’s longtime ties to a “prominent family” that he refused to name.

“I was specifically told by a senior person, ‘Why would you want to help those people?’ ” Dr. Carmona said.

And there you have it. All you need to know about the culture of life folks.

Note for all you wonks: He was not the only one who testified. Read the article and you'll see that members of the Clinton and Reagan administrations also complained of political interference. The difference being the degree of retaliation and level of interference.