Bush's exit strategy: Do as much damage on the way out as possible
By David Neiwert Tuesday Dec 09, 2008 1:30pm
MSNBC's Contessa Brewer yesterday was discussing George W. Bush's plan to let the EPA rule against cleaning up perchlorate from Americans' drinking water, even though its toxic effects are well documented.
Even John Feehery, the "Republican strategist" brought on to explain this last-minute ugliness, admitted:
Once again, I don't know the specifics of this particular one, but it doesn't really sound good, does it, Contessa?
Brewer later returns to Feehery and asks:
Brewer: John, do you think there should be some shame in a president doing something like this? It reminds me of the big scandal that erupted when Clinton was leaving office with all the pardons. You know, why are you gonna do something in your -- the very last few weeks that just ... makes you look bad?
Simple answer: Because George W. Bush doesn't care what you think. He never has.
If you want more information on Bush's vandalism of the American political landscape on his way out the door, check out the Pro Publica site with a complete rundown.
Its first entry is on perchlorate:
At Issue: Perchlorate is a chemical component of rocket fuel that can contaminate water both naturally and, more frequently, through improper disposal at rocket test sites, military bases and chemical plants. Cleaning it up would cost billions of dollars. But the contaminant has been linked to thyroid problems in young children, pregnant woman and newborns, leaving critics concerned for the developmental health of those most vulnerable to the chemical's effects.
Here's the EPA's official justification:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted extensive review of scientific data related to the health effects of exposure to perchlorate from drinking water and other sources and found that in more than 99 percent of public drinking water systems, perchlorate was not at levels of public health concern. Therefore, based on the Safe Water Drinking Act criteria, the agency determined there is not a "meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction" through a national drinking water regulation.
But as Brandon Keim at Wired reports, this is a classic skewing of methodology to achieve a predetermined outcome:
Critics accuse the EPA of ignoring expert advice and basing their decision on an abstract model of perchlorate exposure, rather than existing human data.
"We know that breast milk is widely contaminated with perchlorate, and we know that young children are especially vulnerable. We have really good human data. So why are they putting a model front-and-center?" said Anila Jacobs at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. "And they used a model that hasn't yet gone through the peer-review process."
The ruling is one of dozens planned for the final days of the Bush administration. Others include a relaxing of air pollution standards for aging power plants, and a reduction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's traditional role in evaluating the impact of federal projects on endangered species.
These have received more attention than the status of perchlorate, a chemical found mostly in jet rocket fuel and detected in 35 states and 153 water public water systems. It is known to lower thyroid hormone levels in women; it poses a particular threat to pregnant women and breast-feeding children, whose long-term neurological development can be stunted by youthful hormone imbalances.
As many as 40 million Americans may now be exposed to unsafe levels of perchlorate, and the EPA's own analysis puts the number at 16 million. The most comprehensive human exposure study, which measured unexpectedly high perchlorate levels and correlated them with thyroid hormone drops, was concluded by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2007.
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http://theprogressivepost.blogspot.com/2008/1...
I really fucking hate that fucking prick. I've never trusted him and never will.
The US army often leaves its old bases contaminated, like this, when they move to a new base in Korea (and they're doing that now, and spending $billions$ doing it). All sorts of military pollution and chemicals. It is a major bone of contention with their Korean hosts, and brings much ill-will and anti-American sentiment. It costs the Koreans a fortune to rehabilitate the land, and clean up the toxic messes left behind. It leaves a very bad image, not to mention the deadly residues that sink into the ground water. It's like they simply don't care if they poison the locals. Too bad!
He's a serial rapist of the environment, amongst other things. Doesn't he realize his grandchildren will be the victims of some of this hell on earth he's so busy creating.
"Doesn't he realize his grandchildren will be the victims of some of this hell on earth he's so busy creating"
The whites-only sundown towns they'll reside in don't have perchlorate contamination issues, buddy.
You've obviously never heard the phrase "fuck you, i've got mine"
he's a bag of bollocksy bollocks. If we're lucky, the girls won't reproduce.
"What a guy!".....signed SATAN. Laura,DO SOMETHING WITH HIM,lock him in his room...something!...he still has his hands on 'The Atomic Button!!!!!'.
When I was 16 (1962), I made rockets fueled with a mixture of potassium perchlorate (a good oxidizer), powdered magnesium (filed from a block), sulfur, and powdered charcoal.
Whoosh! Way up in the air.
Sounds like the rich spoilsport asshole he's been all along. Everybody is doing the countdown to when he is finally out of office. I guess if we aren't going to 'lionize' him on the way out the door, as he must feel he is deserved, then he'll show us! Really, it is his his way or no way and don't you forget it!
Bush and the GOP are insuring that they consolidate their agendas before losing power as much as possible. Quiet expected, not all that surprising. What is surprising is the level of support and the number of idiots out there still supporting the GOP tactics. Their supporters are a pretty ignorant group politically, socially and religiously.
And they are all unemployed too! Just like my idiot in-laws.
Seven of them have lost their jobs (most with degrees), have no forceable future, but six of them voted GOP again! They do nothing but complain about democrats and unions, and how horrible things are.
They are SOOOO ignorant of what the hell is going on in the world, that it makes you wonder how they can function at all.
Everytime I point out how Bush has fucked them, they just get this stupid "I'm impervious to logic or intelligent thought look on their face," and stare off into space. They never ever take any of my bet challenges because they know I would not only take their money, but they would end up seeing another piece of proof that the GOP is screwing them royally, and they can't handle the truth.
I believe Bush could sell their families off into slavery, burn their house down in front of them, and they would still curse the democrats.
Apparently the kool-aid still runs strongly in their veins. It's a powerful neurotoxin, that Republican Kool-Aid. It rots your brain and makes you do things like agree with Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly.
If the Bush regime were an Al-Queda sleeper cell they could hardly have done more damage to this country.
I guess scorching the earth the past eight years wasn't enough, they decided to bounce around the rubble on the way out too. What despicable and hateful people.
When he gets away with lying to us about 9/11 why would he stop now. He thinks we'll never hold him accountable. He may be right. Most blogs don't delve into the darker territory. We'll see how that works out for us.
George W Bush never, ever cared about we the people. What is absolutely mind numbing is that Congress has capitulated to these tryants Bush/Cheney/Rove/Gonzales. Pelosi and Reid, Schumer et al should be kicked out of public office. They may be as as negligent as the republiCONS.
Amen!!
And I predict Harry and Nancy will be more of a problem than the members of The Republican Crime Syndicate in congress.
Both Harry and Nancy are useless!!
There's a difference between conservatives/neocons/"centrists" and progressives/liberals. The first only care about money and the second care about people. And the GOPers wonder why their party is headed towards extinction.
Everything that the arch-criminal Bush does can be undone. If Obama is ahead of the curve - per his apparent usual, he's already got people working on it.
Bush is merely securing his standing as the worst, most mean-pirited villain in american history. Some legacy.
just curious where the money aspect is coming from these rules? possible ties to manufacturers? equity stake in Britta filters?
Will brittas even work against this chemical?
I wonder how much perchlorate is bottled drinking water, which i hear is not covered under the clean water act.
if you have answers please post them here, i am genuinely curious about these things.
he knows almost everyone hates him...so he is making sure that our lives will be miserable
i say we all get up in masse, march on dallas...and burn his new digs to the ground
what are they gonna do...throw 10k into prison?
What can I get you for Christmas? :-)
I think Bush is trying to set it up so Obama has to spend his whole first term undoing the damage Bush has done in the final months and does not have time to actually implement his own agenda.
Because we have been conditioned to laugh at him.
Laugh at bush.
Disregard him.
Get more of him in the future.
at Bush's apparent lack of ability - and rightly so. But he's been surprisingly effective in those few areas that are most important to his handlers (e.g. Big Oil and other captains of industry).
waiting for Bush.
This is evil at its purest.
May I use the "C" word?
It's only reserved for very special occasions, and there has rarely been a more worthy candidate.
Coincidentally, many other worthy "C" word candidates seem to be associates of his.
I hate making that comparison, because it is so warn out and overused, but I can't help it. His conduct here at the end for me evokes memories of accounts of Hitler's bitterness toward his beloved "Aryan" Germans who turned out not to be "worthy of his efforts" because they failed to win. So end the end, his attitude toward saving his "homeland" could be summed up in two words: "Fuck Them"
..it isn't just GW Bush who's being an asshole here. He's just the most blatant right now. What about all of the other corporate fascists, military people, and government folks from the elistist cabal around the world who are willing to overlook any kind of risk to make a buck???!!
Somehow, they all seem to think they are impervious to putrid water and gunky air. Maybe they really are reptiles after all!!??
I lived in southwest Louisiana for a short time. All the locals knew a lot of jobs depended on the oil and chemical companies and also knew the damage to the environment. They were well aware the big bosses didn't live anywhere near where the plants were located. The 'Bigs' lived clear over in Houston so their families didn't have to breath the toxic stink everyone else had to.
Thats probably 'w's mindset too. Not his problem so who cares. Pig. (apologies to pigs)
Like Halliburton who supports the troops by serving them dirty, untreated riverwater and rotten tainted meat?
When all you care about is the bottom line, you become impervious to the idea of harming your fellow humans.
...anything this shameless pig does on his way out the door. If this were to happen, or granting blanket pardons to anyone related to torture, or any other such nonsense...this pathetic, disgusting, corrupt politician needs to be held ACCOUNTABLE.
We need to make lots of NOISE!!!
fire sale going on.....come on, take the money and run...think there was a song about that once.....
In fact, my post is titled "Exit Strategy." I compare what he's doing to the burgler who, after stealing everything in your home, shits on your bed on the way out.
we'll remember. I doubt he cares what THEY think either.
Remember the outrage over the fake shit the outgoing Clinton staff was alleged to have done, the missing 'W's on the keyboards (They
liedsaid) the piece of paper taped to an office door that said 'Office of Strategery,' the pardon of 'Scooter' Libby's client Marc Rich?Fake Fake Fake outrage and bullshit. They were all puffed up over shit that never occurred, and the pardon of one of their own (the guy invented oil futures and is therefore responsible for the bullshit gas prices and oil company profits).
And then the POS they hustled into office does a true burn job on the entire US. As far as I'm concerned, Bush should be arrested and jailed before he commits any more crimes against us.
How do you remove a single letter from a keyboard, anyway? Is is even possible? We aren't talking typewriters...how many of those thing ares in the White House these days?
Take a screwdriver and pop any single letter you want. Actually it would have been hilarious if it were true!
I listed all the shitty things that bush, the Worst. President. Ever. has done over the last eight years in response to someone who said that his legacy would be his AIDS relief in Africa!!!
The thing which got the most blowback was me stating that Bush was ultimatly at fault with Katrina due to the fact that he chose Michael Brown to run FEMA. You would not BELIEVE some of the resposes l got!!!
There are still quite a few people out there who will do all they can try to negate the incredibly poor record of goerge w bush.
That's why Bush will get away with this and much worse on his way out the door. The MSM is totally distracted by other things, and even if it weren't, it knows that covering this kind of stuff isn't 'sexy' enough to have legs with the American people. IOW...there are no ratings in covering this.
and the tragedy is that there are in fact gigantic ratings for stories like this.
People love to hear and read about obvious evil-doing in government.
The press ignores it because this story is anti-corporate.
And corporate sponsorship is all they care about.
Corporations and corporate owned government.
A happy couple.
Not a peep about this sort of story from the leaders of the democraps either.
Naturally. All cosy in bed with the repubs and the corporations that pull their strings.
It must have really made Bush angry when people in this country and around the world were celebrating that Bush was leaving. So he's taking out his crayons and doing some decorating on the way out.
Worst. President. Ever.
had a great skit last night. Bush vs. Obama was President Goofus vs. President Gallant. That pretty much sums it up.
Don't get me started on bottled water. You're better off with a good filter on your faucet. If you drink a lot of bottled water, a good faucet will pay for itself within a year. I am a master plumber with a license, don't play one on TV and my name's not Joe.
By the way ^5's to John and the crew for the wonderful job they've done on this site.
Drink enough of the stuff and we can go back to the moon.
I've worked in municipal water treatment for years. It's one of the most rigorously tested product available, and in most cases tastes better than bottled water at a fraction of the price.
Bootros Bootros Goly!
Except for those two chemicals that ruin the taste of water: chlorine and flouride.
they're using too much sodium hypochloride in their process or not de-chlorinating after disinfection.
That one day george gets rewarded for all his acts!
This is the kind of thing that pinheads and blowhards like Gibson should be asking Bush.
"Why are you interested in letting toxins be in our drinking water?"
David Gregory: You have a plum job. You are representing yourself to be "The Press".
Invite Bush or one of his idiot supporters and ask about these last minute horrors that Bush is inflicting on an already degraded populace.
I hate the press.
the repugs care if they're perceived as anti-environment. When preznit Goofus appointed former NJ governor Whitman as EPA chief, one of her first speeches concerned the stricter water regulation rules Clinton signed into law on his way out of office. She actually said that if you give Republicans a choice between more poison in their water or more regulation, that they would have to think about it.
And yes, the media, especially TV, is awful.
regarding arsenic, until he was pummeled by a massive public outcry. Remember, he was pummeled a lot during 2001, until 9/11. Remember, Bush tried to do this stuff literally from Day 1. He has by no means waited until the end of his term to wreck the environment.
how 9/11 was such a gift to this idiot. It's a good thing for him he did everything he could to prevent it. :)
David,
more links to your and Sarah's work at your previous place, please.
It was/is quite an astonishing spot to hang out.
Thanks for keeping it going.
And the SPLC thanks you and the ACLU thanks you atd.
Just goes to show you that, once again, Conservatives, while perpetually obsessed with fetuses, give less than a shit about the women that carry them or the babies once they've left the womb.
Why do you hate America?
Ok, I think I am pretty damn liberal.
And, I have been researching environmental ClO4- (perchlorate) for the last 8 years. If, during the world wars and early in the industrial revolution they had put their waste salts in constructed wetlands instead of on the ground, bacteria would have bioremediated the problem by reducing the ClO4- in carbon rich, oxygen depleted environments. But, they didn't. Now it is all over the place, particularly in the Colorado River catchment, and that worries people.
But, understand its effects: it inhibits uptake of iodine in the body, which is important in healthy function of the thyroid. If your thyroid is impaired, your hormone system is affected. So, make sure you have lots of iodine in your diet, cuz there are lots of things working against your thyroid. It can be removed from water with activated carbon filters--so make sure you have one. Change it frequently. That's a good idea anyway to remove organics and trihalomethanes from your tap water.
ClO4- is not new to the human environment. It is naturally occurring in arid regions, because lightening + rain + soil with chloride in it (a very common ion) = perchlorate. So, that perchlorate you are hearing about in milk is often a result of perchlorate in the soil or irrigation water of semi arid regions where wheat is grown, taken up in the wheat or forage, and then fed to cows.
It is also found in Chile, naturally occurring, where studies have been done to try to determine if ClO4- has negative effects on infants, no correlation could be made between harm and ClO4- exposure. That is the real problem--no correlation can be made (so far) between harm and ClO4- exposure (at environmentally occurring concentrations) exposure.
But, but, but, you say, it can be taken up over iodine! and iodine is important in the body! (and the ecosystem for frogs, newts, etc.). Well, yeah, but policy is almost always determined based on the human effects. And although at very high concentrations effects can be sussed out, at the concentrations seen in the human food chain, from milk and salad crops and other irrigated row crops common in the diet, ClO4- just isn't correlated with harm, and believe me, people have been looking for it.
The statement folks have made, for instance, at DailyKos they called it a "potent neurotoxin," which it is not, and above someone says, "it's proven effects," which have not been proven, really show a lack of understanding about how policy is made. We want to call GW Bush a dick, and by god we'll use any excuse, even if it makes us look like poorly informed retards, to do it.
The statement that 99% of the areas where ClO4- is found, concentrations are well below observable effect levels, is true. In the other 1% of the locations it is observed, cleanup programs are long in the works.
You should be concerned about goitrogens--Fl-, Cl-, NO3-, Br-, etc., all common anions found in many foods and in the water we drink. ClO4- is probably in the food you eat. So make sure you get lots of I- in the food you eat, like shellfish and seaweed. For pete's sake, that is why they put it in salt! Better yet, use sea salt (but, you should know, that ClO4- is found in seawater near volcanoes, something about the heat meeting the seawater generating it).
And, if you really care, stop using fireworks (because they need ClO4- to make them burn). Get a non-chemical emergency flare to carry in your car, because the ones they use on the highway are enough to contaminate 2 acre-feet of water to the levels that amphibian populations are affected. By the way, an acre-foot is 325,851.4 gallons of water.
There is a ton of information regarding ClO4- on the EPA web page. Educate yourself. Face the fact that we have done a great job of polluting the environment and it is going to take a whole lot more than the EPA setting a low standard for one relatively innocuous contaminant to clean it up. The resources that would be necessary to completely remove ClO4- would be much better used cleaning up dioxins, PCBs and a shit load of other really toxic contaminants that people don't get excited about because they fail to think about them.
Or, if you really cared, you could get a couple degrees studying them and go to work cleaning it up.
You just know W is going to be peeing in the corners and hiding rotten eggs under the floorboards of the White House.
Our Glorious Leader, frat boy to the end.
damages the thyroid, among other things. Which would make more people have to take thyroid meds, which is good for the med industry... some Bush Crony is probably benefitting from this.
That being said, regulations of pollutants have been systematically relaxed since the Republicans took over Congress in 1994. That is when the republicans started using a phrase: "risk-based analysis" which relaxed many tighter controls that even the states had for many many pollutants. It will take many years to restore the protections for people's health that previous laws did.
Not to mention that our own military is one of the worst polluters of any industry.
This is the other half of his water-poisoning presidency.
March, 2001. Bush ends arsenic limits in drinking water
It's perfect symmetry.
What a grade-A dick he is.
W
This is not just about damaging things for the sake of reckless destruction... it is a well laid plan meant to destroy whatever vital resources the commons has and in doing so enrich himself and his buddies in corporate high places.....Bush has been an oil man for years-- but the writing is on the wall about what is going to happen with that resource. As soon as policies allowing implementation of alternative energy sources are up and running with government mandates that no oil company can sit on and squelch... then that industry and it's profits will become seriously diminished.... These neo-cons have and always will be all about controlling the resources-- not only to become filthy rich but also to have power over the masses....(plus I really think they get a secret thrill out of seeing people suffer) The current great profit frontier they are salivating over in terms of Resources is WATER..... Bechtel and other private corporations have already been around trying to privatize third world country water systems... in Bolivia the masses revolted and won and Bechtel withdrew..... If they let their corporate buddies go ahead and pollute all the water supplies including here in the US then we will be in the unfortunate position where we will HAVE to BUY clean water to survive... FROM THEM!!! Hey... and guess what... coincidentally..... Bush secretly bought over 100,000 acres of land (next to the Reverend Moon's huge acreage) down in Paraguay-- right near the world's 4th largest fresh water supply..... Hmmm? Check these sites out for good information about the water wars that are being waged under our collective radars: http://www.worldwaterwars.com/ and here about the Bush-Paraguay connection....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/oct/23/m...
http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B2D...)&language=EN
I think this is a clear continuation of a skull and bones type of corporate piracy mentality. Skull and Bones = Jolly Rogers Flag = sign for Pirates-- in this case Corporate Pirates who use boardrooms and government offices as their ports of call and steal from the masses....Their main goal seems to be to ruin every agency that works for the people so that they can profit by bringing in privatized groups to do the job..
Also I agree with the poster in this thread who stated W. and friends will further enrich themselves through pharmaceutical stocks of medicines that will be used to treat pollution-caused illnesses....
Sick.....This seems so obvious-- The media should start playing up the interesting connection between W's polluting policies and his land grab in Paraguay....Why won't anybody expose these people and hold them to account?
The Bush family should be forced to live with the maximum level of contaminents permitted by the regulations W has pushed through during his malevolent Administration.
But will never happen.
King George is pushing through regulations that would damage the environment while giving interviews to the networks to try and appear more human and to save his blackened legacy. I agree with those who say this twisted frat boy is a sociopath with no regard for life but his own and (maybe) his immediate family.
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