85 posts tagged “bush”
Still Prestident Bush has a few parting shots in his arsenal... It will never cease to amaze me how much the Bush people just hate the planet. I don't know if I will ever understand this conservative orthodoxy. Scary.
George Bush is working at a breakneck pace to dismantle at least 10 major environmental safeguards protecting America's wildlife, national parks and rivers before he leaves office in January.
With barely 60 days to go until Bush hands over to Barack Obama, his White House is working methodically to weaken or reverse an array of regulations that protect America's wilderness from logging or mining operations, and compel factory farms to clean up dangerous waste.
In the latest such move this week, Bush opened up some 800,000 hectares (2m acres) of land in Rocky Mountain states for the development of oil shale, one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet. The law goes into effect on January 17, three days before Obama takes office.
The timing is crucial. Most regulations take effect 60 days after publication, and Bush wants the new rules in place before he leaves the White House on January 20. That will make it more difficult for Obama to undo them.
The flurry of new rules - known as midnight regulations - is part of a broader campaign by the Bush administration to leave a lasting imprint on environmental policy. Some of the actions have provoked widespread protests such as the Bureau of Land Management's plans to auction off 20,000 hectares of oil and gas parcels within sight of Utah's Delicate Arch natural bridge.
Other presidents have worked up to the final moments of their presidency to impose their legacy on history. But Bush has been particularly organised in his campaign to roll back years of protections - not only on the environment, but workplace safety and employee rights.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration cut short the timeframe for public comment. In one instance, officials claimed to have reviewed 300,000 comments about changes to wildlife protection within the space of a week.
The new regulations include a provision that would free industrial-scale pig and cattle farms from complying with the Clean Water Act so long as they declare they are not dumping animal waste in lakes and rivers. The rule was finalised on October 31. Mountain-top mining operations will also be exempt from the Clean Water Act, allowing them to dump debris in rivers and lakes. The rule is still under review at the OMB. Coal-fired power plants will no longer be required to install pollution controls or clean up soot and smog pollution.
Yet another of the new rules, which has generated publicity, would allow the Pentagon and other government agencies to embark on new projects without first undertaking studies on the potential dangers to wildlife.
Announcements of further rule changes are expected in the next few days including one that would weaken regulation of perchlorate, a toxin in rocket fuel that can affect brain development in children, in drinking water.
There has been a lot of talk recently about a possible bail-out of the big three Detroit automakers. There are a lot of reasons for and against helping them out, but I'd have to say, it sure seems like the pro-bailout argument wins.
First, I'm actually glad that the republicans and still-president Bush are blocking a bailout right now. It seems to me that the CEO's of the big three are really pushing to get a deal now because they think that they'll be able to get an easier time from the republicans. It sure seems that way. Though Bush is standing on his lame free-market orthodoxy in public, I think a lot of the reasons why the republicans are against this is based on politics. They hate unions. Practically the only powerful union left in the country is the UAW. If the big three go under, well then, the union is dead. So these guys would rather watch a million jobs go down the tubes for their political gain, than do something to help. That, my friends, is the Rove way. Can you say "Katrina"? I knew you could.
Now, as far as I'm concerned, I don't mind that the republicans are blocking this right now. I'd be fairly surprised if GM goes under in the next two months. By February, we'll have Obama (can it be true???) as the President, and a Democratic congress. They will actually pass some legislation to help Detroit. It honestly doesn't make much sense not to. If Detroit goes under, all those jobs die. Not only the people who work directly for them, but all of the suppliers of parts. What little is left of our manufacturing base in this country will die with them. Sure, Toyota and Honda have US factories... but they are in the South, with no unions, low pay, and little benefits. They use some US parts, but have a lot more imported parts in their cars.
Just for the record, I do not own an American car. I'm not crazy. Let's just say that Detroit made its own bed here. They have made crappy cars that pale in comparison to the Japanese for about 30 years. I've had my share of American disappointments - mostly Fords.
However, I think that with the right leadership, this is a golden opportunity. I'm sure Obama's team is working on the details right now. How about predicating any bailout on Detroit getting its house in order? Forcing them to give up fighting against fuel economy standards? Forcing them to give up fighting against a national health care plan? Essentially forcing them to give up their stances that, while in line with their executives' political predilictions, were disasterous for their companies.
Let's face it, one of the big problems that Detroit has faced is that they have huge "legacy costs". That is, they have to pay tons of money out for the retirement benefits for their retired employees. They fought against the Clinton health plan. How much would passage of that 15 years ago have saved them in health insurance costs? Detroit has also fought tooth and nail against raising fuel economy standards so they could focus on building huge SUV's. How's that worked out for them? They made huge profits on those dinosaurs, but what did they do with the money? This was a huge failure of leadership. While Toyota plowed a billion dollars into development of the Prius... GM dumped a billion into development of the Hummer brand. Explain to me why the GM executives still have jobs...
So basically, Obama will have a choice. Spend billions to prop up the big three, or spend more billions in unemployment benefits, social services, and support for the great lakes states which will implode if Detroit goes under. It is kind of a no-brainer. However, with Detroit on the ropes, it will be the prime time to strike a tough bargain. They get US help, if they give us something in return. What will Obama ask for? We'll see in two months!
Remember way back in 2000, when the republicans were pushing the hogwash that Bush would be the first "CEO President"? Uh-huh, I guess he was snoozing through all of those business classes... or just skipped them, like he skipped the meetings on the Iraq war in the White House.
Not that we didn't know this already, but there was an article in the paper today about some of the vast mis-management that is still going on in Iraq...
A former Iraqi official estimated yesterday that more than $13 billion meant for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or stolen through elaborate fraud schemes.
Salam Adhoob, a former chief investigator for Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity, told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, an arm of the Democratic caucus, that an Iraqi auditing bureau "could not properly account for" the money.
While many of the projects audited "were not needed -- and many were never built," he said, "this very real fact remains: Billions of American dollars that paid for these projects are now gone."
So now, with that in mind, these jokers are seriously asking the taxpayers to hand over $700+ billion (with a "b") to them? Oh, and by the way, the stipulation is that the Bush administration can spend that money however they see fit, with absolutely no oversight. If this goes through, the headlines from two years from now just sort of write themselves don't they?
Seriously, is Congress going to fall for this song and dance again? The "mushroom cloud" that Colin Powell destroyed his reputation to describe is now morphed in to "financial collapse" from the lips of Henry Paulson. Can we believe a word these guys say???
This is a sad day, but the Democrats needlessly caved in to Bush on his illegal wiretapping. Totally pitiful. What is even more pitiful is that Obama voted in favor of granting immunity to the telecoms and giving Bush retroactive authority to break the law. Totally disgusting...
So here we have our (still) president Bush using some of his time as he runs out the clock to cement his "legacy." That is, to give medals to some of the heroes of his term in office.
We know that he previously gave medals on Dec. 14, 2004, the president bestowed medals on George J. Tenet, the longtime director of central intelligence who built the case for going to war based in part on assessments that Iraq possessed deadly unconventional weapons; Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the overall commander of the invasion of Iraq; and L. Paul Bremer III, the chief civilian administrator of the American occupation of the country.
You know, those folks sure did deserve medals, mainly because those three really did a wonderful job helping us with the whole Iraq war thing. Mission Accomplished and all that.
So now, there are a few more luminaries to add to the list.
Gen. Peter Pace, who was denied a second term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a year ago because of the war in Iraq, will receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, the White House announced on Wednesday. General Pace, a retired marine, is one of six medal recipients who will be honored by President Bush on June 19, the White House said. Two Democrats are among the six. Donna E. Shalala, president of the University of Miami in Florida and a former president of Hunter College who was secretary of health and human services under President Bill Clinton, is one.
The sixth recipient is Laurence H. Silberman, a senior federal appeals court judge who was co-chairman of a commission appointed by President Bush in 2004 to study failures in intelligence before the Iraq war. The commission’s report was The sixth recipient is Laurence H. Silberman, a senior federal appeals court judge who was co-chairman of a commission appointed by President Bush in 2004 to study failures in intelligence before the Iraq war. The commission’s report was highly critical of the American intelligence bureaucracy.
So we have another failed general who supported Bush's misguided policies getting this award. Super. But what really jumps out at me is the award to Silberman. Note that he authored a report which was "highly critical of the American intelligence bureaucracy." Also note that Bush previously awarded the same award to George Tenet, who headed said intelligence bureaucracy during the time in question. You just gotta love Bush. Of course, there are ulterior motives all around. Bush gave the medal to Tenet in order to shut him up as the CIA was being blamed for the fiasco in Iraq. And Silberman's report was used as cover for that deflection of responsibility on Bush's part. See folks, it wasn't Bush's fault that we got in a war in Iraq... he had "faulty intelligence." Of course we all know that is a lie.
Just as a side note, Donna Shalala, one of the only Democrats to get the award from Bush, is a pretty funny choice on his part. She may have been in Clinton's cabinet, but she's had a pretty dubious history since. She was embroiled in scandals at the University of Florida due to her extravagant lifestyle on the the University's dime. She also was infamous for fighting the janitor's union at the school. Nice for a supposed Democrat. She most recently has been named in a mini-scandal regarding politicians getting favorable rate on mortgages from Countrywide Financial, a prime mover in the mortgage crisis. Let's give that woman a medal!!
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was taking questions at a town hall meeting in Wisconsin yesterday when he fielded a rather unexpected question about who he might have helping implement his Iraq policy.
A questioner asked if Obama would send George W. Bush to Iraq, as ambassador, after the president leaves office. Obama, who was sipping from a bottle of water, seemed to almost do a spit-take at the absurdity of the suggestion.
Some of us knew this all along... but now finally, it is confirmed. So my only question is why this didn't come out before the last election???
Senate committee: Bush knew Iraq claims weren't true
WASHINGTON— A long-awaited Senate Select Intelligence Committee report made public Thursday concludes that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney made public statements to promote an invasion of Iraq that they knew at the time were not supported by available intelligence.
A companion report found that a special office set up by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld undertook "sensitive intelligence activities" that were inappropriate "without the knowledge of the Intelligence Community or the State Department."
“Before taking the country to war, this administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced. Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence,” said committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV, D- W. Va.
It's long been known that the administration's claims in the runup to the Iraq war, from Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to al Qaida to whether Iraq had an active nuclear weapons program, were incorrect, and White House spokeswoman Dana Perino suggested the problems were faulty intelligence.
"We had the intelligence that we had fully vetted, but it was wrong," she said. "We certainly regret that and we've taken measures to fix it."
But the Senate report, the first official examination of whether the president and vice president knew that their claims were incorrect at the time that they made them, reached a different conclusion.
“There is no question we all relied on flawed intelligence. But, there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate," Rockefeller said in a statement.
But Rockefeller called the administration’s statements delibrate, writing: "There is no question we all relied on flawed intelligence. But, there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate."
Wow... just chalk this up to one more in the seemingly never-ending list of reports out of the Bush administration which could have been posted in the Onion.
Detainees released from the prison at Guantanamo Bay have complained about inhumane conditions there, but according to the admiral in charge, their living situation is "pretty much" like that in a fraternity house.
"We don't have any solitary confinement down here in Guantanamo," Buzby replied. "What we have is single cells. I mean, there's one person to a cell. All the cells are all right next to each other."
"That's like having a single apartment in a fraternity house," suggested Lubin.
"Pretty much," Buzby agreed.
You know, the writers for the Onion, the Daily Show, and Colbert Report are going to really have to work for a living when the Bush guys are gone...
People wonder why the rest of the world hates us... I can't even imagine how insensitive crap like this gets covered in the Middle East. This guy is an idiot. Guantanamo needs to be shut down... now...
By the "standards" of the Bush administration, this is just another day at the office... but you really have to be amazed that they are doing this crap. It is almost like they know that there is no way that McCain is going to get elected, so they don't mind being completely oblivious to public outcry... I mean, let's face it, as long as the MegaCorp (tm) is happy, then the Bush people are happy. And as for average citizens? Who? As for any government worker who actually tries to do her job... well she clearly has not gotten the Bush & Co. memo which directs them to either do nothing, or actively try to sabotage any publicly beneficial functions.
SAGINAW, Mich. - The battle over dioxin contamination in this economically stressed region had been raging for years when a top Bush administration official turned up the pressure on Dow Chemical to clean it up.
On Thursday, following months of internal bickering over Mary Gade's interactions with Dow, the administration forced her to quit as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Midwest office, based in Chicago.
Gade has been locked in a heated dispute with Dow about long-delayed plans to clean up dioxin-saturated soil and sediment that extends 50 miles beyond its Midland, Mich., plant into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. The company dumped the highly toxic and persistent chemical into local rivers for most of the last century.
Gade, appointed by President Bush as regional EPA administrator in September 2006, invoked emergency powers last summer to order the company to remove three hotspots of dioxin near its Midland headquarters.
She demanded more dredging in November, when it was revealed that dioxin levels along a park in Saginaw were 1.6 million parts per trillion, the highest amount ever found in the U.S.
Dow then sought to cut a deal on a more comprehensive cleanup. But Gade ended the negotiations in January, saying Dow was refusing to take action necessary to protect public health and wildlife. Dow responded by appealing to officials in Washington, according to heavily redacted letters the Tribune obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
Regional EPA administrators typically have wide latitude to enforce environmental laws, but in April Gade drew fire from officials in Washington after she sent contractors to test soil in a Saginaw neighborhood where Dow had found high dioxin levels. The levels in one Saginaw yard were nearly six times higher than the federal cleanup standard, and 65 times higher than what Michigan considers acceptable.
