Death to the environment

“WASHINGTON (AP) -- The resignation of a top EPA enforcement official, who complained about White House interference in pursuing violations at power plants, is prompting Senate hearings into the Bush administration's environmental record.

Eric Schaeffer, the Environmental Protection Agency's director of civil enforcement, resigned after a dozen years at the agency, complaining that the White House "seems determined to weaken the rules we are trying to enforce."

Schaeffer, in a letter to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, said that the message being sent by the Bush administration has prompted utilities accused of clean air violations "to walk away from the table" and refuse to negotiate settlements.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Connecticut, called the resignation which surfaced Thursday "a disheartening development" and "direct confirmation ... that this administration is not fulfilling its responsibilities to enforce critical environmental laws."

He said his Governmental Affairs Committee will begin a series of hearings next week "on the administration's troubling environmental record."

EPA spokesman Joe Martyak on Thursday disputed many of the assertions made by Schaeffer, a career civil servant, and said the agency "remains committed to enforcement (of air pollution laws)... in a major way."

Martyak, said Whitman had seen Schaeffer's letter but would have no direct comment.

Reached at his home Thursday, Schaeffer said the problems he outlined in his resignation letter "reflect the views of just about all the civil servants working in enforcement" at the EPA.

"This is the kind of thing you can't say when you're in government, and it is something I really feel needs to be said," added Schaeffer, a lawyer who began working at the EPA in 1992 during the first Bush administration and prior to that had been a staffer in Congress.

Only last August, Schaeffer received an award from Attorney General John Ashcroft for exemplary public service because of his work in getting settlements involving pollution violations at a number of refineries.

In his letter to Whitman, the enforcement chief strongly criticized a White House proposed overhaul of a regulation that requires power plants, as well as refineries and industrial sources, to install new pollution controls when they make significant improvements or expansions that result in additional chemical releases.

During the Clinton administration, the EPA had aggressively begun to use those rules in a series of enforcement actions against a dozen electric utilities, mainly those using older, much dirtier coal-fired plants.

Four of the utilities already had agreed to make improvements that would have led to a cut of about 1 million tons of pollution and the lawsuits involving the others was expected to cut another 4.8 million tons, Schaeffer maintains.

"Fifteen months ago it looked as though our lawsuits were going to shrink these dismal (pollution) statistics, ... yet today, we seem about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory," he wrote Whitman.

Schaeffer said that two of the companies that had tentatively agreed on a settlement have refused to sign a final agreement "hedging their bets" that the rules now will be weakened. "Other companies with whom we were close to settlement have walked away from the table," he wrote.

"We are ... fighting a White House that seems determined to weaken the rules we are trying to enforce," Schaeffer complained. He said the changes being considered by the White House would open "loopholes that would allow (older) plants to be continually rebuilt and emissions to increase without modern pollution controls."

Dubya, you backpacking republicans must be real proud of this winner. I hope the acid rain Bush is allowing doesn't eat away at your tent's rainfly. Or worse, the acidic lakes might dissolve the inside of your water filter and let bacteria find their way through.”

“WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal judge has ordered the Energy Department to release information related to Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, a move that environmentalists hailed as a victory for the people's right to know.

The Energy Department said it always intended to comply with a request for documents from the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that sued in December to obtain them.

But the judge who issued the ruling, released Wednesday, said the energy agency moved "at a glacial pace" to comply with the group's request.

"Justice has finally been served," said Rob Perks, a spokesman for the environmental group. "We consider this a victory for America's sunshine laws. The American people have wanted to know who wrote the energy plan, and now we expect the information to reveal what went on behind closed doors at the task force meetings."

The judge's order comes nearly a week after the General Accounting Office -- the investigative arm of Congress -- filed a separate lawsuit against the vice president, calling on his office to turn over a list of who the energy task force met with and the dates and times of those meetings. White House officials have refused requests for information made by some members of Congress.”

“EDINBURGH, Scotland - A local council in Scotland on Tuesday approved tycoon Donald Trump's plans to build "the world's greatest golf course" on a stretch of remote and stunning Scottish coastline that is home to some of the country's rarest birds.

But the proposal still requires the approval of the Scottish government, which is expected to make its decision by early January.

The billionaire property developer wants to turn sand dunes at the Menie Estate, 15 miles north of Aberdeen, into a $2.1 billion golf resort complete with two 18-hole courses, a luxurious 450-bedroom hotel, 950 vacation homes, 36 golf villas and 500 upscale homes costing from $827,000 to more than $2.1 million each.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21914297/”

“The wealthy and the wannabe-wealthy do seem to instinctually desire to deface and degrade the remaining wild places of the world.

Take heart, the now unfolding worldwide economic decline combined with die-offs of signifigant numbers of people will allow the return of wildness to many places.”

“Take heart, the now unfolding worldwide economic decline combined with die-offs of signifigant numbers of people will allow the return of wildness to many places.”
hillsidedigger
8:04:10 PM
11/25/07

There are many places where there is negative population growth. In other words, births are not keeping pace with deaths. The are massive generational changes looming.”

“Rev,

The current populations of places like America and Europe may have nearly achieved a no-growth rate but both places are allowing themselves to be overwhelmed by natalistic immigrants.

It won't continue for much longer until the die-offs kick in.”

“I have but one life to give for my nation!”

“Perhap a redtailed hawk will make an impromptu nest on Trump's head.”

“Since when does the desire to build a golf course equal hating something? How do you even know this would cause the birds any harm?

Oh the drama! Oh the hysterics!”

“I used to look forward to Armageddon, until I decided to enjoy what we have.

Fore!”

“ Mankind 'shortening the universe's life'
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 21/11/2007Page 1 of 2

New Scientist reports a worrying new variant as the cosmologists claim that astronomers may have provided evidence that the universe may ultimately decay by observing dark energy, a mysterious anti gravity force which is thought to be speeding up the expansion of the cosmos.

The damaging allegations are made by Profs Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and James Dent of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, who suggest that by making this observation in 1998 we may have determined that the cosmos is in a state when it was more likely to end. "Incredible as it seems, our detection of the dark energy may provide evidence that the universe will ultimately decay," says Prof Krauss.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/21/scicosmos121.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox

Thats right...we may be doing damage to El Planeto EARTH..but Tilty and his ne'r do wells are wiping out the UNIVERSE....”

“It looks like one already has, Tilt.”

“Tilty has ne'r do wells?

Cool!”

“Of course the universe is decaying and of course it is the fault of human action. What else is new? It amazes me that we are only now coming to that conclusion when it has been known for centuries. Sheesh...”

“They should never have built I-20. �It makes it too easy for McDuffie County goobers to find their way here.”

“The UN will be wild again?- Well ground my jets and burn my motorcade, smog in the valley is starting to fade.”

“Is McDuffie County where they filmed Deliverance?”

“A bit further south ----

According to their Chamber of Commerce website, it's famous for being only a 25-minute drive from Augusta, � LMAO

http://www.thomson-mcduffie.com/artman/publish/tour-retire.shtml

They wanted to build a hazardous waste incinerator upwind of us a number of years ago but that plan was "terminated" somehow.”

“Meanwhile, back in Michigan..
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/D/DOW_DIOXIN?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-11-26-04-22-55”

“As usual Tilty has been sniffing his balls again. McDuffie County is a great place. Okay they do like their own freedom and they do own private firearms (OOOOH BAD Freedom loving Americans).....

And being a first class SFB he missed the fact that the incinerator was in WARREN COUNTY...a bit further down I-20.”

“Just a stench from upwind is what we'd call it. ��How far out in the boonies do you have to be to consider Augusta "the Big Bad City". �That's just pitiful.”

“so the boonies is just a place to go and hike, but if you want to live their there must be something wrong with you? You really are a piece of work.”

“You would rather live in Disgusta than in the boonies?”

“I do so love it when Tilt makes fun of the goobers down there. That's like the mildly retarded making fun of and looking down on the severely retarded.

The cracker makes fun of the goobers. priceless!”

“Death to the environment

LOL!”

“death by inches

fore!”

“Death to the Environment.

Cheers.”

“The best part is the City of Augusta is the only area that tends to LOSE productive citizens...yeah they show a growth rate of total population but most people buy or live in surrounding areas. WHY? The attitude TILTY shows here is predominant in the County Commission. Hell they can't even find people to apply for major jobs from outside who want to stay more than long enough to get another job elsewhere.....”

“The standard behavior for people leeching off the city is to benefit from industries that pollute and support politicians that are fond of relaxing regulations on their pollution (Bush's "Clear Skies Initiative" etc).... but they live in Columbia County so they don't have to breathe it.

They reserve the right to live in polluted areas for the poor.”

“It's always Bush's fault, LOL.”

“the poor can move out to the country and be poor there. No one has to live in the inner city.”

“And don't forget Bush loading up the EPA with polluters' lobbyists.....

Sorry kids; that's a documented fact.”

“Sure, inner city poor people are highly mobile just like everybody else.

They are such fakers!”

“Death by HOT WINGS!
I'm outta here...


Oh yeah...
Po peeps live urbanically for the benefits of mass transit, easier access to health clinics, public housing, etc.
last edited: 11/27/07 1:21:26 PM”

“tilt...okay ya gotta level with us....how do you keep all the pollution inside the Borders of Richmond County...no really is there a bubble over the city we can't see? (LOL)”

“Katrina demonstrated exactly how mobile, even in an emergency.”

“haha, they could have left, but CHOSE not to.”

“Sure.......sure, all those welfare Cadillax were all gassed up and ready to go.”

“could have insisted that all those school buses that ended up flooded and useless come and get them.”

“Inner city poor people are also politically well-connected and informed.
All they had to do is pick up the phone and demand those buses.
Instead they all chose to climb on their roofs as the water rose and make a party out of it.”

“you act as if they have no representation. The inner city poor gets their voice heard a lot easier than I get mine. If there had been an outcry to be evacuated before the landfall the ACLU, civil rights groups, liberal media, etc would have gotten their message out. Instead all the calls that they should evacuate were ignored.

But that is beside the point. No one is forcing anyone to live in the inner city. But to feed at the teat of society with out giving back its where you will need to be.”

“Young children of teenage mothers chose to live in poor neighborhoods, they kinda like the broken glass and doggy doo on the sidewalks.”

“There are no fences around public housing projects. Young children live where there parents make them live. No one made them become teenage mothers. Its attitudes like yours that maintains modern slave quarters”

“"We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."

�Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA)”

“�There are no fences around public housing projects. Young children live where there parents make them live. No one made them become teenage mothers.Its attitudes like yours that maintains modern slave quarters�
Hyway
8:43:45 PM
11/27/07

I'm your scapegoat, HyWay.
You fall right in with the Fourteen Points Of Fascism, Rule #3........suckuh!

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause

The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people�s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice�relentless propaganda and disinformation�were usually effective.”

“See Marky mark....you need to get out of your libraryman costume for a minute. What Hyway is saying is that People are FREE in this country to decide their path.

What Hyway is so excellently pointing out is that "there are no guns" holding them there. The VERY fact that people DO get out (granted the system of Government Sponsored Slavery is very difficult to circumvent) means it IS possible.

In New Orleans we saw a local government (oh so representative of the majority of the citizenry who were leeches on society) which WAITED for someone else to do something.....remember this photo?



School Busses...after Katrina....Property of New Orleans that could have and SHOULD have been used to move people.

marky mark, stick with stuff you know. Feelings about ways to stack books and the best things to do to make a happy household...(LOL)”

“You fall right in with the Fourteen Points Of Fascism, Rule #3........suckuh!

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause

The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people�s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice�relentless propaganda and disinformation�were usually effective.�
MarkO
7:16:22 AM
11/28/07




Sure.......sure, all those welfare Cadillax were all gassed up and ready to go.�
MarkO
4:56:35 PM
11/27/07

Inner city poor people are also politically well-connected and informed.
All they had to do is pick up the phone and demand those buses.
Instead they all chose to climb on their roofs as the water rose and make a party out of it.�
MarkO
8:22:25 PM
11/27/07


Young children of teenage mothers chose to live in poor neighborhoods, they kinda like the broken glass and doggy doo on the sidewalks.�
MarkO
9:35:07 PM
11/27/07”

“MarkO, seriously, what is your experiences with the disenfranchised poor? Do you get your knowledge first hand or just from books and internet sites? You don't sound like you spend any time around the people we are talking about?

My mom's side of the family (she was one of these poor raised on a farm with 11 sisters and 2 brothers). Some of her sisters ended up living in public housing and/or on the edges in #&%!$ poor neighborhoods. As a kid it was my worst nightmare to visit them... they were usually drunk as hell and sponging off the welfare state. My kids went to an "inner city" school for 6 years where the minority enrollment was 60%. I had lots of experience then with the lack of desire for an education shown by many inner city kids and their parents. At several stages in my life, after life changing situations, I have worked for minimum wage side by side with the working poor. I have seen promotions that I was up for go to both deserving and non-deserving people due to affirmative action. I have hired people over more deserving people due to affirmative action. I have seen sisters of friends become teenage single moms and choose living in public housing instead of doing it the hard way and getting a job. I have seen my ex sis-in-law work under the table at crappy jobs and live with someone she would have preferred to marry instead of giving up the social security check she got every month after her first husbands death (at 26). I have seen and worked with plenty of people who worked under the table while receiving unemployment checks. I have lots of experience being poor, working with the poor, being around the poor, seeing the system be abused and what that does to the abuser.

Tell me you know what you are talking about and I will give your input on this some value. But if your experience is simply hearsay and book learning then save it.”

“*cough*ad hominum*cough*”

“What's you're point, NonCon?

Could it be the consistancy of my sarcasm?

Sure XLax, those busses should have been used.
Are you saying that citizens of New Orleans without adequate transportation should have just commandeered those busses?
For a government weenie you don't seem to grasp who has authority over those busses.
You too are a pretty good scapegoater, Government Boy..........blame the victims.”