X-no-Archive:yes
Click, click, click. I feel my skeptimeter pegging out again. As for
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/, the USGS web page in question, it now
reads:
The contents of this website are undergoing review and will be reposted once
their scientific credibility has been ensured.
Thank you for your patience.
Dr.  Jay B. Hestbeck
Chief of Research
U.S.G.S. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

> This represents about 3 years worth of work and 20,000
> plus maps
20,000 maps divided by 200 work days per year, divided by three years, works
out to about thirty-three a day. That in itself is interesting.

> In addition, I was fulfilling
> roughly a dozen requests for geospatial data and information from
colleagues,
> other researchers and the general public each day.
Was that in the job description, innocent fun, or part of an agenda, or a
crusade? In any case, it seems to have kept him busy.

> I have received no written explanation (or even an email)
> stating the exact reasons for the termination decision and I understand
that
> even though this would be a reasonable courtesy to expect, it is unlikely
to
> be forthcoming.
I don't know if contractors can file for unemployment, but generally, the
employer must state their reason for terminating an employee.

> From my viewpoint my dismissal was a high-level political decision to set
an
> example to other Federal scientists. I base this belief on the following
> information I received from a colleague in Alaska who is a leading
researcher
> on the issues involved:
> "I really hope you don't get fired.  In fact, had the timing of what you
did
> not been so inappropriate based on everything else that was going on, I
doubt
> that anyone would have noticed.  Your work showed a lot of initiative..."
> "...the fallout would not have been so great had the subject matter not
been
> one of the three USDOI super hot topics with the new administration and
had
> we not been briefing the Secretary at the nearly exact time your website
went
> up.  Everyone is nervous and as I mentioned earlier, consistency in
> presentation is paramount."
High-level political decision? Why, whatever could he mean by that? The
highest level would be Dubya himself... Was this researcher THAT naive? The
other researcher quoted certainly perceived a risk, really hoping that what
did in fact happen would not happen, and "everyone is nervous". And what
could the other researcher have meant, "consistency in presentation is
paramount."? Did he perhaps, in fact, do something different with these
particular maps that just might have seemed suspicious? They certainly
seemed inappropriate to the quote researcher.

> So now, I believe my only recourse is to appeal to the general public in
the
> hope that in the future what just happened to me will not happen to
others.
Or, find another avenue for sticking it to high-level politicos...

> Please feel free to forward this email to other lists and media contacts!

Spread the word, celebrate the cause.

> I would also be grateful if anybody who misses all
> the maps I put on the internet please contact the USGS to let them know
and
> to ask that the maps be reposted.
I don't doubt that there are copyright issues involved, but copyright can be
overwhelmed by sheer number of mirror sites (did no one mirror this info?),
and if just one of them is in another country, even the indefinitely deep
pockets of the federal government can only approach this at a certain pace,
and thru approved channels.

Greg Stigers
http://www.cgiusa.com
my thoughts and opinions, but the disclaimers are standard