As I was surfing the Net for various news articles the other day, I came across a couple that got my blood boiling.

Each of them dealt with the president̢۪s hush of the media on serious world matters.

Now, whether you are a Bush fan or not, I doubt there is a definitive argument out there that can adequately explain why his administration is trying to gag our top scientists from speaking out against global warming and the ill-fated world that lies ahead.

One of the articles I read stated that “hundreds of millions of people won’t have enough water… At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year.�

Pretty scary, huh?

Another scary thought is our president̢۪s lust for information dominance when it comes to such matters.

Any president, of course, requires a certain level of authority in the presence of such massive speculation.

But when this speculation is based on years of scientific research, why keep it from the very people who will potentially be affected?

In another article, a group of U.S. scientists came forward with documents showing how they were explicitly told not to report on anything “involving or potentially involving climate change, sea ice, and/or polar bears.�

Scientific censorship? I̢۪m inclined to think so.

All three of the crises fit under one hazardous umbrella –— global warming.

Granted, global warming and the eminent extinction of certain animal species are not new topics. These issues have raised concern all over the globe.

I personally do not think Americans have done our part to combat this, but how can we when our own president does not want us to hear about it?

In their defense, those who issued the e-mails listing the “taboo� subjects said they merely wanted to ensure that the speaker “understands the administration’s position on climate change, polar bears, and sea ice and will not be speaking on or responding to these issues.�

So what is the administration̢۪s position anyway?

I have a sneaking suspicion that these particular problems are more serious than we know about.

I cannot honestly say that I can dig up a decent argument or reason for all this.

Still, our president seems a little too pre-occupied these days to be pestered by melting glaciers and ozone-related deaths.

Maybe we have to learn how serious a condition our world is in.

Maybe we need to hear what the devastating effects will be, and how they will hit so close to home.

Maybe, just maybe, we need a president who is dedicated enough to set aside his own agenda for a minute to help combat the crises tearing this very earth apart.

Carina H. Portillo is a senior at Fresno State majoring in mass communication and journalism with an option in print journalism. She is keeping herself occupied this semester by, in her words, “doing double-reporting” — she is enrolled in two of the three classes from which The Collegian draws most of its staff writers.­