Great news from the Bush !

[Cyrus]

Remember that news item about pollution in the United States dropping off during the Bill Clinton presidency? That 1990’s drop was the first break from a continuous upward course of pollution levels across America. I wrote at the time that we should just wait for Dubya’s figures to come in and then marvel at the good that Dubya must’ve done to reverse that hideous, anti-business, and tree–hugging course.

What do you know, the figures are ! And they are truly good! (Or bad, depending on which side of the tree you’re standing!) As the Report says, “Toxic chemical releases into the environment rose 5 percent in 2002, marking only the second such increase reported by the Environmental Protection Agency in nearly two decades, and the first since 1997.”

CNN : Toxic Pollution Rose In 2002, Reversing Trend (http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/06/23/toxic.pollutants.ap/index.html)

By the way, one of Bush’s 2000 strongest supporters just announced that he is switching sides because “we need a leader who is really dedicated to creating millions of high-paying jobs all across the country."

CNN: Lee Iacocca Endorses Kerry (http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/24/iacocca.kerry/index.html)

In a possibly unrelated incident, Vice President Dick Cheney, in his capacity as President of the Senate, lost his nerve and used profanity (as in, “Go fuck yourself!”) when addressing senior Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Technically, as was later explained by Cheney aides, this was a photo-taking instant, and since the Senate was not in session, the rules about using profanity didn’t apply.

With these peculiar ideas about what is allowed and what is not, is it any wonder the Vice President got his hands dirty in Halliburton?

CNN : Cheney Curses Senator (http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/24/cheney.leahy/index.html)

[Phat Mack]

In a possibly unrelated incident, Vice President Dick Cheney, in his capacity as President of the Senate, lost his nerve and used profanity (as in, “Go [censored] yourself!”) when addressing senior Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

Yeah, but this is excusable. If you read the story you'll see that that Cheney cursed Leahy only because Leahy doesn't meet Cheney's religous standards. It's not clear if Leahy is bad because he is a Catholic, or he's a bad example of a Catholic, but either way we should all be glad that Cheney set him right.

[GWB]

Considering that Leahy has been the focal point of the Democrats efforts to block judges from serving, leaving the US with a dramatic shortage of judges and the resulting weakened ability to dispense justice, little can be said about him that goes too far.

Cheney and myself are never against a person's legitimate religion, only those who distort and dishonor their religion for personal or political reasons (be it terrorists who distort Islam into anti-Americanism or Catholics whose actions show a disrespect for Catholicism while pretending otherwise).

[elwoodblues]

I hope it wasn't broadcast on CSPAN and Cheney gets fined from the FCC.

[El Barto]

[ QUOTE ]
I hope it wasn't broadcast on CSPAN and Cheney gets fined from the FCC.

[/ QUOTE ]
You misunderstand the FCC rule. The violation comes from a media outlet broadcasting foul language, not from a person saying foul language. The fault and the fine would fall on CSPAN in your example.

[elwoodblues]

Tell that to Bono.

[El Barto]

[ QUOTE ]
Tell that to Bono.

[/ QUOTE ]
Since when did Bono pay a fine? While Bono and Stern may be at the center of controversy, it is the media company that faces the music. If they bleep the language, there is no foul, yet the foul words still left the performer's mouth.

[El Barto]

In response to Cheney, Leahy reminded Cheney that the vice president had once accused him of being a bad Catholic, to which Cheney replied either "f--- off" or "go f--- yourself."

These two possible quotes are quite different, makes you wonder about the accuracy of the reporting.

[adios]

CSPAN distributed on cable and satellite not restricted by 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM rule.

[elwoodblues]

It was a joke...take your ritalin.

[elwoodblues]

I was under the impression that both the broadcaster and individual were subject to the fines --- I stand corrected.

[ACPlayer]

Either way it was simply a "frank exchange of views" as explained to us by a Kevin Kellem, a Cheney spokesman.

I too have some frank views for exchange with the Administration /images/graemlins/grin.gif.

[Zeno]

From the CNN article on Toxic Pollution:

'The increase reversed a recent trend, and was a big turnaround from last year's report by EPA that chemical releases in 2001 had declined 13 percent from a year earlier.'

'Kimberly Terese Nelson, the EPA's chief information officer, blamed the "extraordinarily large change" on the 1999 shutdown of BHP Copper Co.'s San Manuel plant in Tucson, Arizona, where 2,000 people worked. Dismantling a plant turns components and product into waste.

"If we were to take that one facility out we would see a 3 percent decrease," Nelson said Tuesday of the releases of 650 chemicals by 24,379 facilities that EPA tracks. Last year, 25,388 facilities reported their findings.'


************************************************** **

The EPA has been doing this since 1986, which one must assume, is the baseline data for ultimate comparison along with year-to-year comparisons. But note that the number of facilities tracked each year changes, what is and what is not toxic also changes based on new unfolding regulations, studies, and laws, [and believe me, the number of declared toxic chemicals always increases along with arcane regulations] and the reporting requirements change yearly. The idea that you can track roughly 25,000 facilities, with these every changing parameters, and then toss out some percentage numbers with any degree of certainty flies in the face of sound science and statistics.

I have dealt with the EPA and it is rife with idealistic yahoos, lazy ass jerks, and bureaucratic goofballs. Some sound science is done and there is a reasonable amount of qualified people that push forward some meaningful and useful programs. But this is more the exception than the rule. Since its inception, the EPA has always been more about politics than quality science.

Not that it matters. Numbers will be tossed about and played with as political footballs by all sides to push whatever agenda they wish to spew and maul before the public. Note Ms. Nelson's comments in the above quote, for an example and also the environmentist's that constantly chant 'under reporting' from the article, etc and the list is endless really.

What can soundly be stated is that human caused pollution or toxic releases etc, however broadly or narrowly you wish to define them, have increased yearly, probably since humans started to live in settled communities.

-Zeno

[Phat Mack]

Democrats efforts to block judges from serving, leaving the US with a dramatic shortage of judges and the resulting weakened ability to dispense justice, little can be said about him that goes too far.

Good point, Booger. After the Republicans expedited all of Clinton's judicial appointments, it's an outrage that the Democrat-controlled Congress would hinder the appointments of the most intelligent administration in history.

[mikeyvegas]

[/ QUOTE ]You misunderstand the FCC rule. The violation comes from a media outlet broadcasting foul language, not from a person saying foul language. The fault and the fine would fall on CSPAN in your example.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Indecent-Programming.html




[/ QUOTE ]Under the measure, the maximum fine for both broadcasters and entertainers would increase to up to $275,000 per indecent incident, up from $27,500 for license holders and $11,000 for personalities. The fines would keep increasing for each incident until a maximum fine of $3 million a day is reached.

[/ QUOTE ]

In Mr. Cheney's case, I'm not sure if he would qualify as a personality since he doesn't have one.