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I Was There and You Weren't
The first in a series of
firsthand experiences. No reporting of anything that the writer didn't
personally witness.
The Californian Republican Convention by MD Oh yeah, it's safe to say I was there and you weren't. If I'd known taking on the position of editor of the LA Free Press included attending a Republican convention, I'd still be in Seattle, basking in the mist, instead of valiantly stumbling into enemy territory for your amusement. It was about 9AM, Saturday morning, September 8, when I was dropped off in front of this.  Water in the Desert As soon as you enter the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, you walk down a grand staircase to a grand lobby where you discover the California Republican Party is to your left, which is just wrong. Maybe I was supposed to go down the stairs backwards.  Republican Swag
Like most conventions, it consists of lots of tables with people hawking their wares, everything from political candidates to software for political candidates, neatly arranged, a super little "Candidates Row" where you could pick up literature on Rudy, Mitt, Ron, Fred, and John. Someone smarter than me has got to explain the thinking behind Fred Thompson giving out jaw breakers and Dum-Dums, a decision both symbolically and calorically bankrupt. I skip the munchies and the chance to bid on a framed collection of autographed photos of every Republican president since Eisenhower and head straight to the press room where they mysteriously give me credentials to wander where I choose. The room is full of tables for the press to do our work, but it's empty so I presume there's somewhere else I must be. I bypass the bagels and cream cheese (Jewish Republicans?) and head out into enemy territory. I'm GOP shy and truly hope I don't have to talk to anyone.  The Autographs of Every President Since Nixon Except for Carter and Clinton The schedule says at 9:30 there's a workshop called "Meet the Press" in the Emerald 6, which I go in search of. Turns out it's in another building, necessitating a long walk outside in the desert heat past all the swimming pools and restaurants. Good for me in my khakis and sport shirt, bad for the suited male and layered Barbara Bush wannabe Republicans who sweat up a storm, complaining in a huff that OTHER conventions are all in the same building and THEY don't make you walk outside in the withering heat past all these naked bodies.  Sidewalk of Death "Meet the Press" turns out to be a seminar with some mainstream daily reporters on how news is covered. I never felt so much like a cornerstone when the first words out of anyone's mouth were "the cornerstone of democracy is a free press," a cornerstone I wanted to drop on his head when he referred to CNN as the Clinton News Network. It was a barrage of information: you've got to engage the whole stream of media, talk to everybody, print vs. internet, everything's changing and no one knows how it's going to play out. Media is in competition for our time and everybody screens out everything that contradicts what they already think. I already think objectivity is impossible and got a good chortle when someone from the San Francisco Chronicle said "We in the mainstream media have no cause and aren't even supposed to cheer our team from the press box when covering sports." They don't print anything that's not "provable to the standards of responsible journalism." The Chronicle just laid off 80 reporters, 25% of its staff, despite the fact that "readers benefit from multiple points of view," so we'll see how that goes. It's all surprisingly rational as they discuss the difference between "reporting" and "journalism" while delivering the bombshell news that polls are suffering from the dropping number of telephonic landlines. Nobody on cell phones is ever polled, which is definitely skewing the numbers towards technophobes and illiterates. Poll results are entirely dependent upon the technology used. Conduct a poll using nothing but text messaging and Ron Paul is the clear Republican winner, not necessarily because he's the top choice but because McCain supporters haven't figured out how to text message yet. They discussed the Democratic candidates and seemed resigned to Hillary who is running a "flawless campaign" while Obama doesn't have enough ground troops. What's the difference between Dems and Repugs? "Democrats like all their choices, but Republicans think the one they like can't win and the ones that can win they don't like," whatever that means. The first question from the audience is a doozy. "We don't buy your newspapers because we don't trust you." Major applause. "How come reporters don't stand up when we recite the pledge of allegiance?" "We certainly do pledge our allegiance to the flag," came the indignant reply. Apparently we can disagree as long as we're not disagreeable. I'm nothing if not disagreeable. I walked up to the host afterwards and introduced myself. "I'm glad we had a weapons check at the door," I was told. Interesting. There WAS no weapons check at the door. Republican humor. Har dee har har. I had a question. According to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, in 2002 the Republican Party blanketed the county with voter registration tables in front of supermarkets and K-Marts. The registrars were paid $5 for every Republican registered, and every Democratic registration was simply thrown away. Hundreds of Democrats showed up at polling places on election day only to discover they couldn't vote because they weren't registered. Does the Republican Party plan on using this tactic again in the 2008 election? It went unasked because I'm attached to my skin.  Repug Books (Yes, that's Help! Mom! There's a Liberal Under My Bed) I had an hour to blow before the big luncheon with John McCain so I headed back to the press room. All the bagels were gone. Shit. Trying to find some cheap food at the Renaissance Esmeralda is like trying to find another male with a ponytail. My only hope is to weasel my way into some private function with a buffet, like "the Hospitality Suite of Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, hosted by Fresno County's Gals of the Party," which promises the music of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, & Sammy Davis Jr., with a "full bar and more." Will there be cheese dip at the reception for "Republican Women Interested in a Career in Politics?" Dare I miss the 5th Annual Ice Cream Social presented by the Asian American Republican Council of California? Will they serve Steven Colbert's Americone Dream? I opt for The Lincoln Club of Coachella Valley and the Desert Republican Coordinating Council and their special guest Mary Bono who's flyer cordially invites me to "A taste of our Southern California Heritage," but it's not till 5. What to do till then?  I walk back through the beating sun to the other building, taking a good look at the opulence of the resort, noticing for the first time the artificial waterfall behind the bar surrounded by the swimming pool, sending a mist across the pool that would sure feel good if I took off my clothes and swam to it. It was, at the very least, a picture, but there was something missing. There was nothing about it that screamed "Republican." I needed Fred Thompson in a thong lying on one of the empty lounges. I looked around and spotted a Ron Paul sign leaning against a wall. Perfect. I set it up under a palm tree and took my shot.  Walking past the waterfall on the sidewalk of death "Hey, what are you doing with our sign?" shouted some people sitting in the outdoor patio of the restaurant facing the pools. I explained and they agreed the sign looked better where I put it. I looked at their oversized Bloody Marys. I looked at the convention hall. I looked back towards the lobby. "You guys mind if I join you?" I asked. And so I spent a lovely hour schmoozing with the Ron Paul brigade. Can words contain the amazement I felt at the stunning discovery we agreed on absolutely every issue we discussed? I don't think so. What would the old readers of the Free Press, the ultimate bastion of the left wing liberal press, think about my actually considering supporting a Republican for president? Here's a good old-fashioned civil libertarian who wants to abolish the IRS and the DEA, cancel the Patriot Act, opposes NAFTA, has never voted to raise Congressional pay or increase the power of the executive branch, never taken a government-paid junket, and is against regulating the internet. His Iraqi withdrawal policy? We leave. Tomorrow. What's not to like except the rest of his party, who treat people with Ron Paul buttons like they've got the plague.  Shmoozing with the Ron Paul Brigade (Drew Alexander, Tavia Cantarini, Kevin Brondie, & Michael Dare) We had a jolly time making fun of the sweaty people walking by while discussing the intricacies of Paul's philosophy. Paul sees medical marijuana as a states rights issue, but there's a catch. He's devoted to reducing the size of the federal government and feels there's nothing wrong with California's drug laws so the feds should just butt out, but similarly he believes that if Idaho wants to make abortion illegal, there's nothing wrong with that too and the feds should butt out. It would seem that according to Paul, if you're against drug prohibition, you've also got to be against Roe v. Wade. If you see everything as a state's rights issue, step one is getting the federal government out of the issue altogether, then letting the states do what they want. As a firm believer in women's, or anybody's right to choose the specifics of their health care, I've got to admire anybody with the brainpower to get me to reconsider Roe v. Wade even momentarily. Am I willing to trade patient's rights in California for patient's rights in North Dakota? It would seem so because I can't imagine any other candidate so devoted to personal freedom. Freedom of the person is even more important than freedom of the press. I did not want to watch John McCain give a speech, especially if he was right in front of me, but if I didn't, the story would have been how I ignored my duties to party with sane people. I skedaddled to the luncheon, hung in the lobby a bit, then walked to the door. "Press? Not here. Next door." I walked to the next door. "Press? Not here. Next door."  The Press Table 10 laptop computers and one journal I headed down a hallway, turned a corner, and saw another hallway full of closed doors. I picked one and was led to the press table in back. Was I the only one without a laptop, taking notes in a paperback journal? You could say that if you were devoted to the truth, no matter how ridiculous it made you look. Holy crap, these are the rightest of the right. I'm in the corner seat, the one with the greatest perspective other than about two feet off the ground. I mean you tell me which of these shots are better. Probably the one where I was told "Please, sir, don't stand on the furniture." And that's why I still hate Republicans, because of their intolerant attitude towards artistic expression. Other than that they're cool, especially the ones who share their food and drink with the press in back, of whom there are none. Speaker after speaker, lists of names of contributors, applause, more names, a prayer, an amen, someone simply says the word McCain and gets applause. Everyone in the press types away while I scribble. Another guy walks by with a pad. Someone else who takes notes. I'm astonished. He's just returned from the front where he actually watched John McCain shove food in his mouth. "When the Senator eats the rubber chicken, you know the candidate is in trouble," he tells me. Chicken? They're eating chicken? If there's something to be said about skipping breakfast and sitting in the back of a room watching hundreds of people eat chicken while worrying about whether you've got enough food stamps to feed your kid till the end of the month, I'm sure I'll think of it. The lights went down and now was the time, the Pledge of Allegiance, everyone stood, yes, even the entire row of press, but there was this one Oriental guy who did NOT put his hand over his heart nor make a pledge to anything but his Blackberry. With liberty and justice for all, we were treated to a documentary on the life of John McCain, and like him or not, he's got a compelling tale, full of courage, faith in God, bayonettings, prison, explosions on flight decks, devotion to duty, the Hanoi Hilton, the guard who loosened his ropes because he was a fellow Christian, a thoroughly professional piece of political propaganda, a fanfare, the lights come up, the crowd applauds, a man steps to the podium, the crowd almost stands till they realize it's not John McCain but a guy introducing him (which is something the film did just fine, so John, baby, forget the shlub from now on and come out right after the film, okay?). And somebody walks in front of the press table giving us all copies of the speech we're about to hear. Oh good, I can leave, but I don't.  View from the starving press in back He stands in front of 10 American flags. He begins with "preliminary" remarks that aren't on the page. An amusing anecdote about his mother, who is 95. It seems she was visiting somewhere just yesterday and they wouldn't rent her a car because she was too old, so she bought one. This hideous slice of conspicuous consumption made me want to retch but it brought the house down. Har dee har har. How clever of her to have thought of just buying a car in that situation. Why I would have done the same thing. Somewhere in his first paragraph McCain called the man he considers to be the current president "a good and decent man," and he lost me now and forever. They must have rewritten the dictionary since I last looked. I've seen good. I've experienced decent. But not from the White House in the Bush years. Oh Christ he's only finished the second paragraph and there are three pages of fear pushing, warmongering rhetoric left that they're eating up like, well, chicken. He mentions Reagan, the man who set the loonies free and single-handedly created the entire homeless problem in Los Angeles, and they act like Oprah just gave them a car. I sat through an entire John McCain speech. Guess which one of us deserves a medal. I hung out and watched the crowd dissipate till a lady with a clipboard came up to me and said "Sir, would you like to attend the press conference?" I looked around and noticed the rest of the press had split. Silly me. Sure. Press conference. Why not? I was led down a hall to a door to another hall where McCain stood surrounded by a dozen video cameramen and reporters and photographers who had cameras looking quite different from my tacky Fujifilm QuickSnap. The closer I got to the Senator, the more disapproving glares I got from what I can only assume were Secret Service honchos and suddenly I was sweating, boy did they have their eyes on me. I felt like a gang banger driving through Beverly Hills, paranoia rising, my radar alarms at four, hands, where are your hands, keep 'em showing, no sudden moves, Christ, my right hand is holding what is clearly a cheap drugstore camera but my left, shit, my left is in my pocket, the security cameras must be zooming in on it right now so I slowly, ever so slowly take my hand out of my pocket and put it on my chest, clearly empty, there, you see, just a hand, no reason to get excited, you can let me escape the room whose size is rapidly decreasing, pulse pounding, why did I agree to do this.  I snapped this shot and split back to the press room but all the bagels were gone, which is another reason I hate Republicans, they're closet Jews who hide all the cream cheese that is the birthright of my race. The press room was sort of creepy - the place where the politicos chum it up with their minions in the press, planting stories, everyone's pals, they know the same people. I was totally distressed till they brought in food. I stuffed myself till I could hear my mother's voice saying "You're filling up on chips and dip?" So I mingled some more, finding not only the Minutemen and Californians for a Fair Gambling Policy but the mysterious presence of the Armenian National Committee and the California League of Off-Road Voters, who should definitely join forces as Serbs on Quads. One vender who worked both sides of the fence told me "the Republican conventions are all plaques and jewelry while the Democratic conventions were all T-shirts and bumperstickers." I no longer had to keep reminding myself this was hell. It was five and time to eat with Mary Bono, a premiere putz I've proudly voted against at every opportunity. The Crystal Room, a Mexican duo, harp and guitar, not enough chairs, an open bar with a long line, quesadilla, mozzarella balls, dozens of pickalittletalkalittle ladies just thrilled as Mary entered the room and smiled at me, skinnier than I thought, almost frail, all in white, sandals, no ass, good looking, highlights in her hair, surrounded by admirers, shiny foreheads, too much jewelry, red polo shirts, blue coats, then she stepped to the mike and unloaded a steaming heap of garbage that made Ann Coulter look like Hillary Clinton. I wrapped some quesadilla in a napkin for my son, stuck it in my complimentary California Republican Party bag and I was out of there.  Oh no, Bono! Not knowing how long I'd be waiting for a bus, I headed to the bathroom first. In keeping with Republican tradition, I offered to blow a black guy at the urinal next to mine. He turned out to be Secret Service so all I got was a good frisking that made me glad I left my portobong at home. It felt good to have a man's hands on my body. Hey, you get your thrills where you can. |
|
The Good News
"In a landmark decision more than 30 years in
the making, a federal judge Wednesday ruled the state can't build or maintain
road culverts that hurt fish passage or diminish fish populations because that
violates tribal treaty rights to fish.
"The case has
broad implications to spur the pace and increase the cost of state culvert
repairs already under way around Western Washington. The ruling by U.S. District
Judge Ricardo S. Martinez, expected to be appealed, could also lead tribes to
seek other habitat protections."
- Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times: Culvert
Ruling Backs Tribes -
New Texas Laws Take Effect Sept. 1
Senators Develop
Balls
"A second day of testimony by Gen. David H.
Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker yielded
some of the most biting GOP objections since the president announced his troop
buildup in January. Several Republicans joined Democrats in saying that
Petraeus's proposal to draw down troops through the middle of next summer would
result only in force levels equivalent to where they stood before the increase
began, about 130,000 troops.
"Senator
Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) told General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker that due to
deeply seated sectarian divisions, the U.S. is facing 'extraordinarily narrow
margins for achieving our goals. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said that despite
modest gains from the surge, 'this continues to be a disastrous foreign policy
mistake.'
"After meeting
with Bush yesterday at the White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) expressed similar dismay with
the Petraeus plan...
"Even Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), a
mainstream conservative who has never publicly strayed from the administration's
position on Iraq, made it clear that she would now support 'what some have
called action-forcing measures.'
"'The
difficulty of the current American and Iraqi situation is rooted in large part
in the Bush administration's substantial failure to understand the full
implications of our military invasion and the litany of mistakes made at the
outset of the war,' Dole said."
- Michael Abramowitz and Jonathan Weisman: Bush
to Endorse Petraeus Plan - Democrats, Some Republicans Seek a Faster
Withdrawal -
If
you are unhappy in your current work situation here are some career changing
ideas for you
Horse Whisperer Tug Boat Captain Pro Bowler Ice Cream Man International Man of Mystery Karaoke DJ Pro Wrestler - Thank you Charles Bressler |
The Bad News
The Wonderful World of
Escalation
"Russia tested the world's most powerful
air-delivered vacuum bomb that generates a shockwave similar to a nuclear
blast, the armed forces said, as the country moves to reassert its global
military power.
"The bomb is
'comparable to a nuclear weapon in its power and efficiency,' Alexander Rukshin,
deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, said on state television yesterday.
Unlike a nuclear bomb, it doesn't leave radioactive contamination, he added.
"The weapon is
four-times more powerful than the Massive Ordinance Air Blast bomb tested by the
U.S. military and known as the 'Mother of All Bombs,' according to the report by
broadcaster Perviy Kanal. This prompted the Russian designers to call their
device 'the Father of All Bombs,'' it said.
"Russia is
reasserting its military power with a new intercontinental ballistic missile,
upgrades to its air force and the expansion of its navy. It wants to counter the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization's expansion in eastern Europe and U.S. plans
to deploy anti-missile defense in the region.
"The new
weapon disperses a cloud of explosive material that is set off by a charge and
produces 'an ultrasonic shockwave and an incredibly high temperature,' Perviy
Kanal said on its Web site. After the blast, 'the soil looks like a lunar
landscape,' according to the report."
- Michael Heath: Russia
Says It Tested World's Most Powerful Air-Delivered Bomb -
"A US official has confirmed that Israeli
warplanes carried out an air strike 'deep inside' Syria, escalating tensions
between the two countries.
"The target of
the strike last Thursday remained unclear but Israeli media reported that a
shipment of Iranian arms crossing Syria for use by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah
militia in Lebanon was attacked.
"Syria first
reported the incident on the day, saying its air defences had engaged five
Israeli planes, but did not say what their target was. Israel remained
uncharacteristically silent, pointedly refusing to deny that its warplanes were
involved in an operation. The closest it came to acknowledging the affair
happened was when it made an undertaking to Turkey to investigate how an Israeli
long-range fuel tank was dropped on Turkish territory near the Syrian border.
"Another
theory gaining ground yesterday was that Israel was deliberately attacking the
Russian-made Pantsyr air defence system recently bought by Damascus. The sale
includes provision for the Pantsyr system to be shipped on to Iran and it is
possible the Israeli attack was co-ordinated with America to probe the
effectiveness of the system. It is believed that Iran would use the Pantsyr
system to defend its nuclear facilities.
"Syria has
sought to keep the incident in the public arena, saying yesterday that it had
complained formally to the United Nations, accusing Israel of unjustified
aggression."
- Tim Butcher: US
confirms Israeli air strike on Syria -
Unsworn
Testimony
"Swear Him In! That's all I said in the
unusual silence on Monday afternoon as first aid was being administered to Gen.
David Petraeus microphone before he spoke before the House Armed Services and
Foreign Affairs Committees.
"It had dawned
on me that when House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Missouri)
invited Gen. Petraeus to make his presentation, Skelton forgot to ask him to
take the customary oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth. I had no idea that my suggestion would be enough to get me thrown out of
the hearing."
- Ray McGovern: Swear Him In!
-
Calling All
Terrorists
"On Sept. 14, flight lines will be very quiet at
Air Combat Command bases. The entire command
about 100,000 active-duty airmen is standing down training flights and many
other operations as part of a command-wide safety day."
- Bruce Rolfsen: ACC
orders commandwide standdown Friday -
I'm Sure They'll Spend it
Wisely
"American forces are paying Sunni insurgents
hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to switch sides and help them to defeat
Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
"The tactic
has boosted the efforts of American forces to restore some order to war-torn
provinces around Baghdad in the run-up to a report by General David Petraeus,
the US commander, to Congress tomorrow...
"The Sunday
Times has witnessed at first hand the enormous sums of cash changing hands. One
sheikh in a town south of Baghdad was given $38,000 (19,000) and promised a
further $189,000 over three months to drive Al-Qaeda fighters from a nearby
camp."
- Marie Colvin and Sarah Baxter: US
bribes insurgents to fight Al-Qaeda -
Financial News: Go Into Air
Conditioning
"The Old Farmer's Almanac is relying on
time-honored, complex calculations to predict that 2008 will be the warmest year
in a century, but it also is banking on a factor anyone can understand: years
that end in '8' have weird weather.
"People still
talk about the frigid winters of 1748 and 1888, tornadoes of 1908, Northwest
floods and the Northeast hurricane of 1938. If the forecast and tradition hold
true, they'll look back on the heat of 2008.
"'At the very
least, we expect it to be the warmest year in the last century overall, so
people will talk about it for that reason alone,' said publisher John
Pierce."
- David Tirrell-Wysocki: Old
Farmer's Almanac: 2008 will be the warmest year in a century -
"In spite of all the recent talk about climate
change, the Kyoto Protocol and tight energy resources in Europe, the oil
industry continues to burn huge volumes of natural gas that rises from oil
deposits on land or under the sea. Over 20 countries have increased the practice
of 'flaring' in the last 12 years, and some burn far more gas on drilling
platforms and in oil fields than they've admitted, officially, so far.
"America's
weather-data department, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), came to this conclusion in a new report based on American satellite
data. The study was financed by the World Bank, which five years ago started a
global initiative to change the long-established practice of flaring gas and to
capture it for energy use instead.
"According to
the NOAA, oil producers torch from 150 to 170 billion cubic meters (5,200 to
6,000 billion cubic feet) of natural gas per year. This amounts to more than
five percent of global natural-gas production. 'If the gas were sold in the
United States,' write the authors, 'it would have a market value of around $40
billion.' Bent Svensson, head of the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Initiative at
the World Bank, emphasizes the sheer volume of waste: 'If we just took the 40
billion cubic meters of gas that are burned off in Africa every year, and burned
them instead in modern energy plants, we could double the energy supply in
sub-Saharan Africa.'"
"Gas flaring
also harms the climate. The report says that flaring produces around 400 million
tons of carbon dioxide per year - about half of Germany's CO2 output. 'It
amounts to 13 percent of all greenhouse gases that industrial countries need to
cut by 2012, according to the Kyoto Protocol,' says Svensson.
"There are
also oil fields where gas is simply discharged straight into the atmosphere,
which is even worse for the climate, because methane - the main component in the
hydrocarbon mixture known as 'natural gas' - has 20 times the greenhouse-gas or
'warming' potential of CO2."
- Volker Mrasek: Oil Firms Waste $40B per Year in
Gas - Up
to 170 billion cubic meters of natural gas is burned off by the world's oil
producers every year with enormous economic and environmental
costs -
9/11 History Lesson from
Hell
"Another of the men named by the FBI as a
hijacker in the suicide attacks on Washington and New York has turned up alive
and well.
"The
identities of four of the 19 suspects accused of having carried out the attacks
are now in doubt.
"Saudi Arabian
pilot Waleed Al Shehri was one of five men that the FBI said had deliberately
crashed American Airlines flight 11 into the World Trade Centre on 11
September.
"His
photograph was released, and has since appeared in newspapers and on television
around the world.
"Now he is protesting his innocence from
Casablanca, Morocco.
"He told
journalists there that he had nothing to do with the attacks on New York and
Washington, and had been in Morocco when they happened. He has contacted both
the Saudi and American authorities, according to Saudi press reports.
"He
acknowledges that he attended flight training school at Daytona Beach in the
United States, and is indeed the same Waleed Al Shehri to whom the FBI has been
referring."
"Boy, things are hectic inside the Bush regime
these days! The clock is ticking, and Corporate America is rushing to get all
the favors it can before Bush & Co. closes down in 2009. Sure enough, the
Bushites are delivering.
"It received little media attention, but the giant coal
operators (which have been reliable funders for George and the GOP) recently got
a huge goodie handed to them: Bush gave them Appalachia! His Office of Surface
Mining quietly issued a new regulation that would allow King Coal to ravage the
ancient mountains, glorious forests, and pure streams of Central Appalachia at
will.
"The action was necessary, say the Bushites, to 'clarify'
existing laws governing a greedy, ruthless, and abhorrent mining process called
mountaintop removal. This process decapitates the mountains, exploding the tops
of them, then savagely shoving the trees, topsoil, wildlife, and other rubble
down the mountainsides, burying the valleys and streams below. This is a
corporate rape and environmental mutilation but, hey, it produces quick profits
for the industry, which had been pushing since George took office to have it
legalized.
"Their stumbling block has been a 1983 environmental rule
that prohibits mining activity within 100 feet of a stream. That's only 30 yards
hardly a harsh restriction but mining barons want to bury streams, not fuss with
buffer zones. So, the gift-wrapped Bush rule explicitly states that the old
prohibition does not apply to hundreds of miles of streams coveted by coal
corporations. Instead, the companies only would have to respect the buffer zone
'to the extent practicable' which is to say, not at all.
"Grassroots groups are fighting this outrage in the
regulatory process, in the courts, and in Congress. To help, contact the
Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment at www.appalachian-center.org."
- Jim Hightower: Giving
Away Appalachia -
|
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The Best of Disinfotainment Today - 2006 A Year of Journalism with the Crap Removed  Or The Best of Disinfotainment Today - 2005, you slowpoke. |
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Contact George W. Bush - president@whitehouse.gov
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Contact Skull and Bones - president@whitehouse.gov
Contact the Carlyle Group - president@whitehouse.gov
Contact the Illuminati - president@whitehouse.gov
Contact
Satan - president@whitehouse.gov
Contact both houses of Congress -
president@whitehouse.gov
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Contact Dick Cheney - vice.president@whitehouse.gov
Contact Halliburton - vice.president@whitehouse.gov
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Contact Osama bin Laden
- thetwins@whitehouse.gov
Contact Jeb Bush - jeb.bush@myflorida.com
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Contact Kim Jong Il - eng-info@kcna.co.jp
Contact Jacques Chirac - france-presse@un.int
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Contact the old Pope - thirdlevel@hellfireanddamnation.com
Contact God - president@whitehouse.gov
Acknowledgment of the
Week
Thanks,
Democrats for Ron Paul
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