The July 28 issue of Time magazine reports the the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has put out two reports critical of the U.S. Department of Labor.The Labor Department's Wage and House division "regularly mishandled complaints of improper payments by employers and delayed its investigations--leaving thousands of workers unable to recoup lost wages."
That statement by the GAO contains two words that describe not only the Department of Labor but almost every other governmental agency in the Bush administration: "mishandled," and "delayed."
One and one half years ago the Guardian reported that "The Bush administration was ... accused of systemic tampering with the work of government climate scientists to eliminate politically inconvenient material about global warming."
Various scientists and advocacy groups told Congress that the White House engaged in a campaign "to remove references to global warming from scientific reports and limit public mention of the topic to avoid pressure on an administration opposed to mandatory controls on greenhouse gas emissions."
On July 12, 2008, the Washington Post reported that "Members of Vice President's Dick Cheney's staff censored congressional testimony by a top federal official on the health threats posed by global warming."
Jason K. Burnett, former EPA deputy associate administrator stated that last October, an "official" in Cheney's office removed six pages from the testimony given by Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gerberding intended to make no bones about the fact that the CDC believes climate change to be "a very serious public health concern."
This egregious activity on the part of the Bush administration is nothing new, of course. eFlux Media reported today that "A new congressional report reveals that the Bush administration changed their initial standing on issues related to global warming and pollution to please their acolytes in the oil industry, under pressure from Vice President Dick Cheney's office.
The report came from the U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, headed by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto called it "laughable," not denying it, notice, but also showing the American people the depth of vacuousness to which the Bush administration has fallen.
The Bushite depravity comes clear in another new report by the EPA which climate change is going to have a fearsome effect on the health of Americans -- a conclusion backed by numerous scientific studies. "The 149-page document presents the grave health problems that global warming poses to people, affecting also the food and water that are indispensable to human life."
Unfortunately, we are stuck with George W. Bush for a few more months. Even more unfortunate is the fact that he has those months to further destroy the United States and the world.
George W. Bush is a buffoon. As the recent G-8 meeting in Japan ended, Bush grinned his simpy grin and pumped his fist in the air as he said to the assembled dignitaries:
"Goodbye from the world's greatest polluter."
1 comment:
I read this and feel hopelessness come over me like a wave. I have felt that these things were happening for a number of years but see no action taken by our Congress or any authority. The result is what we have today. It is obvious that Impeachment will never get past the Houses of Congress. It also seems obvious that our new Attorney General will do nothing to enforce laws the administration does not like. We sit and pray that somehow we will muddle though the remaining months until a new administration takes over. Even that seems to be a toss up as to whether we will or will not get change. I wonder if there is anything we can do. Must we sit and watch it happen? I think we do have to sit and watch. The twp parties are still voting in lockstep rather than serious debate as to how to make things better. In the meantime, we see banking scandals. We see more debt, fewer good jobs, delays in making changes that will affect us for generations. We argue over drilling for oil that can not add one ounce to our supply for years; while older fields are not being used and our Alaska oil goes overseas. Why not concentrate on everything that we can do NOW to save energy, regardless of cost? Other nations have been doing that for years, while we sat by making enemies rich on our weakened dollar. Almost all the technology being proposed now to fix our energy problems, were known thirty years ago!!!! How do we change this situation?
Bob Poris
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