Bush memos, waterboarding, & defanging the Endangered Species Act

It was reported today that secret memos from the White House in 2003 and 2004, show clearly that Bush and his administration endorsed the water boarding of terrorist suspects.

The cynical among us do not find that surprising, of course, for we long ago made it policy to disbelieve any public statement made by the Bush team until that statement could be verified by sundry non-partisan sources. We've know from the beginning that George W. Bush, like his father, is a congenital liar.


Now, from the McClatchy Washington Bureau: "New legal memos by top Bush administration officials say that the Endangered Species Act can't be used to protect animals and their habitats from climate change by regulating specific sources of greenhouse gas emissions, the cause of global warming."

While all of this came to light some time ago and we wrote about it then, these new legal memos offer "the official legal justification for limiting protections under the Endangered Species Act."

What this means is that any federal agency can do whatever the hell they want to negatively impact endangered species sans consulting with the agencies involved in administering the Endangered Species Act, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Act.

So, if the Defense Department purports to blow up the world in which the bald eagle lives...well, tough shit. Bye, bye, bald eagle!

The cynical among us find none of this surprising, either. The Bush administration has been an environmental disaster from Day One and every time the Bushites claimed they did something to protect the environment, all the species ran away to hide.

Even though Bush is just about out of office, he and his cronies continue to try to pave with road with pearls for his corporate benefactors and industry polluters.

This latest Bush attack on our environment does not require Congressional consent.


Please note: Senator Barack Obama has promised to "undo the rule change if he were elected." John McCain's campaign has no comment and is not returning calls."

Naturally.