Mind Vomit by the ikss ~ a journal
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Thursday, Feb. 05, 2004Bush�s Bullshit
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"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
--Theodore Roosevelt, 1918
REGISTER TO VOTE
"The time is always right to do what is right"
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The "seven social sins": Knowledge without character,
Science without humanity,
Wealth without work,
Commerce without morality,
Politics without principles,
Pleasure without conscience,
Worship without self-sacrifice."
--Gandhi
"We have not inherited the world from our forfathers -
We have borrowed it from our children."
--Kashmiri, proverb
Why even bother going through the motions and wasting money?
Nobody will investigate this war fully until after he is out of office and even then scapegoats will be found in an effort to deflect blame from the people who are really at fault. Anyone remember the Iran-Contra affair?
BUSH SABOTAGES WMD COMMISSION BEFORE IT STARTS
Over the last two days, President Bush and the White House have claimed that they are going to establish an "independent" commission to promptly investigate the over-hyping of intelligence before the Iraq war. But as details come out about the White House's proposal, it appears the commission will be neither independent nor prompt.
Specifically, the president will appoint the entire commission himself, breaking the previous tradition of allowing lawmakers from both parties to appoint commission members. Although lawmakers have raised objections to the commission's lack of independence, the White House is moving forward with its plans.
Additionally, despite the fact that the commission's work will be critical to national security, the president will only authorize a commission that produces a report after the election -- so as to minimize any political fallout for himself. This contrasts sharply to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is putting national security ahead of politics. As the Los Angeles Times reports, "in contrast to a bipartisan investigating committee announced by Bush, the British panel is to announce its conclusions by July. That would put any damaging disclosures for Blair's government well in advance of parliamentary elections, expected in 2005." It also contrasts with similar investigations in the United States. In 1983, after the terrorist attacks on U.S. troops in Beirut, a commission was appointed and finished its work within 3 months.
As one major newspaper editorial board summed up, "The president's goal is to delay any objective findings about prewar intelligence until after the election, leaving him free to decide what the administration knew and didn't know and who is to blame." And the President's continued misleading on WMD could come at a price. As Republican Senator Chuck Hagel said, a failure to convince the public that Bush did not "exaggerate" the case for war "would put the president in a very bad position. He said people would start asking, "Do we trust his word? Do we trust him to lead this country?"
Visit Misleader.org for more about Bush Administration distortion
~~~
Updates from the NRDC:
WESTERN ARCTIC RESERVE
In March 2003 we asked you to send comments urging the Bush administration to balance energy development needs with wildlife protection in the 23.5 million acres of the Western Arctic Reserve. More than 9,000 of you responded (thank you!), but on January 22nd Interior Secretary Norton nevertheless signed off on a plan to open almost nine million acres in the region to oil and gas development. The plan would produce less than six months worth of oil while ruining this incomparable wilderness area that supports hundreds of thousands of caribou, migratory birds and waterfowl, as well as Native Alaskans that depend on the area for subsistence hunting and fishing. NRDC is reviewing the administration's decision and considering options for preventing it from moving forward. Stay tuned.
~~~
Bush Environmental Budget Generating Controversy
The Bush Administration released its proposed budget for fiscal year 2005 on Monday. Environmental and energy spending plans are generating considerable concern. Over the next several days, BushGreenwatch will examine the impact of the Bush environmental budget.
Arctic drilling: In his budget projections, President Bush includes $2.4 billion in revenues from oil lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the year 2006. Such sales have been repeatedly blocked by the Senate, but Administration officials said they would push Congress again this year to open the refuge to drilling.[1]
"When he assumes, yet again, that oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is going to be a big money maker, the president is ignoring the clear will of the American people, who don't want to trash one of the wildest places left in America," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife.
The policy director for REP America, the national grassroots organization of Republicans for Environmental Protection, questioned whether it is fiscally responsible to include money in the budget that is unlikely to be realized. He urged the president to focus instead on conservation and efficiency to meet the nation's energy needs.
"Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling is not the answer to our nation's energy problems," Jim DiPeso, policy director of REP America, told BushGreenwatch. "Arctic or no Arctic, we will remain on the foreign petroleum treadmill as long as we continue using so much oil so inefficiently."
Superfund: The Superfund program to clean up the nation's most toxic waste sites would increase about 10 percent under the Bush budget, to $1.38 billion in FY 2005. But the entire amount would come from the general treasury, rather than continuing the 24-year practice of requiring polluting industries to contribute to a trust fund that picks up the tab when a site's polluter cannot be located or is defunct.
Since Superfund was created in 1980, every administration has supported the principle of "polluter pays" for the hazardous waste trust fund. Mr. Bush is the only president not to ask Congress to reauthorize the tax on polluting industries and instead put the burden solely on taxpayers.[2]
SOURCES:
[1] "Bush Budget Calls for Oil Drilling in Alaska Refuge", Reuters, Feb. 4, 2004
[2] U.S. PIRG fact sheet
~~~
Word of the Day for Thursday February 5, 2004
censure SEN-shur, noun:
1. The act of blaming or finding fault with and condemning as wrong; reprehension; blame.
2. An official reprimand or expression of disapproval.
transitive verb:
1. To find fault with and condemn as wrong; to blame; to criticize severely.
2. To express official disapproval of.
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