Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Government Communications The Courts United States News Politics

White House Refused To Open Unwelcome EPA E-Mail 497

epfreed writes "The White House lost a case in the Supreme Court about the need for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases. So the EPA made new rule. And now the NYTimes reports that the White House did not want to get these new rules from the EPA about greenhouse gases. So they did not open the email."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

White House Refused To Open Unwelcome EPA E-Mail

Comments Filter:
  • by Gat0r30y ( 957941 ) on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @03:54PM (#23939785) Homepage Journal
    A thought occurs:
    Bill Clinton: I thought everybody liked hummers.
    George W. Bush: I thought everybody wanted a Hummer.
    Kucinich (D-OH) has introduced articles of impeachment - and plans to keep introducing new articles (I heard 60 was the goal for the next round) until the Judiciary committee that tabled the articles puts them on the floor.
  • Re:Wait a sec (Score:4, Informative)

    by Gat0r30y ( 957941 ) on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @04:05PM (#23939975) Homepage Journal
    It wasn't actually even about rules, it was an assessment. It stated that the country would save between 500 Billion and 2.5 Trillion dollars over the next 50 or so years by implementing some environmental protections through the clean air act. The White House didn't like the sound of that - so they refused to open/read the assessment until the EPA backed down.
  • He was impeached. He was not convicted.

  • Re:Wait a sec (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @04:16PM (#23940165)
    Well, kinda. If the government doesn't publish or provide any way to read the rules, you'd be off the hook. Otherwise, you just violated Catch-22... oh, I don't have to show it to you.

    Not to be overly pedantic, but it's not a violation of Catch-22; it IS the catch -- catch 22.
  • by Kenrod ( 188428 ) on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @04:25PM (#23940335)

    Bill was impeached for lying under oath. The only place you can get impeached for getting a hummer is Alabama.

  • by ArcherB ( 796902 ) on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @04:26PM (#23940345) Journal

    OK ... to further that then.

    Where is the impeachment for LYING ABOUT WHY THE COUNTRY WAS DRAGGED INTO A PROTRACTED WAR! ... not for the war itself.

    There are two problems with that. First, if Bush lied, then a whole slew of other people lied and would deserve equal treatment. Bill and Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and even John D. Rockefeller would all be guilty of the same "crime". Funny, considering that John D. Rockefeller (chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence) even created a report to try to prove that Bush lied. It found nothing [washingtonpost.com]:

    But dive into Rockefeller's report, in search of where exactly President Bush lied about what his intelligence agencies were telling him about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, and you may be surprised by what you find.

    On Iraq's nuclear weapons program? The president's statements "were generally substantiated by intelligence community estimates."

    On biological weapons, production capability and those infamous mobile laboratories? The president's statements "were substantiated by intelligence information."

    On chemical weapons, then? "Substantiated by intelligence information."

    On weapons of mass destruction overall (a separate section of the intelligence committee report)? "Generally substantiated by intelligence information." Delivery vehicles such as ballistic missiles? "Generally substantiated by available intelligence." Unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to deliver WMDs? "Generally substantiated by intelligence information."

    As you read through the report, you begin to think maybe you've mistakenly picked up the minority dissent. But, no, this is the Rockefeller indictment. So, you think, the smoking gun must appear in the section on Bush's claims about Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to terrorism.

    But statements regarding Iraq's support for terrorist groups other than al-Qaeda "were substantiated by intelligence information." Statements that Iraq provided safe haven for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other terrorists with ties to al-Qaeda "were substantiated by the intelligence assessments," and statements regarding Iraq's contacts with al-Qaeda "were substantiated by intelligence information." The report is left to complain about "implications" and statements that "left the impression" that those contacts led to substantive Iraqi cooperation.

    Even Rockefeller himself at one point said:

    "There has been some debate over how 'imminent' a threat Iraq poses. I do believe Iraq poses an imminent threat. I also believe after September 11, that question is increasingly outdated. . . . To insist on further evidence could put some of our fellow Americans at risk. Can we afford to take that chance? I do not think we can."
    So that whole Bush lied thing no longer carries any water. It doesn't matter either way as lying to the public is not an impeachable offense. That's why Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath and obstruction of justice, NOT for saying to the American public "I did not have sexual RELATIONS with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky".

    Please move on to something else now. May I recommend something a little more On Topic. Thank you.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @04:33PM (#23940479)
    Try it in Virginia..tis a felony here!
  • by Joeyspecial ( 740731 ) on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @04:43PM (#23940675)
    Articles of Impeachment have been brought against Bush. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/11/kucinich.impeach/ [cnn.com]
  • by Red Flayer ( 890720 ) on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @05:28PM (#23941221) Journal

    IANAL, but wouldn't it fall under contempt of court? The willful blindness analogy would hold up if it were a case of someone else committing a crime in the White House and the people being prosecuted had looked the other way, but this is a case of the defendants losing the case and simply ignoring the verdict by ignoring the EPA.
    It's far worse than contempt of court, since the court in question is the Supreme Court and the violator in question is the Chief Executive.

    This is willful, blatant disregard for one of the most important principles in the US Constitution, that of checks and balances.

    The legislative branch passed a law requiring action by the exective branch. The executive branch said it was; the judicial branch found differently and told the executive to do better. The exectuive branch plugged its fingers in its ears and ignored the order.

    This is a prime example of direct non-compliance with the US Constitution.

    Now, I don't think we should waste the resources on impeachment proceedings at this point. However, I think there needs to be a full investigation by the Senate so that all the details are entered into the historical record before they disappear. As GWB has often alluded to, history will judge him. I hope he is haunted to the end of his days by what he has done and by what historians write about him.
  • by fishbowl ( 7759 ) on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @05:49PM (#23941505)

    What your media earpiece is calling "specluators" this week are more accurately called "futures traders." You might even BE one of them. Check your mutual funds, say, in your 401(k) account. Any of them invested in "the energy sector"? There are some common hedges that may make you a "speculator" (investor in oil futures). You might have even made some money on it. Oil futures are traded on very competitive, very transparent markets.

    Anything else you traded that showed gains like oil would have you celebrating. So why is high oil value perceived as such a catastrophe?

  • by shimmyshimpson ( 1305497 ) on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @09:28PM (#23943925)

    I take it by "smart" you mean "narrow minded" and by "compassionate" you mean "insular" ?
    Not all, but hey, only 18% own passports (low as %7 depending on what source you believe).
    You need to get out more.

  • by foxylad ( 950520 ) on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @10:05PM (#23944169) Homepage

    The good people of San Francisco already have GWB's legacy organised - they're proposing to name their new sewerage plant after him.

    http://presidentialmemorial.wordpress.com/ [wordpress.com]

    If you are an SF resident, do your duty, and sign up.

  • EPA != Congress (Score:3, Informative)

    by superyooser ( 100462 ) on Wednesday June 25, 2008 @11:25PM (#23944777) Homepage Journal

    This is willful, blatant disregard for one of the most important principles in the US Constitution, that of checks and balances.

    The legislative branch passed a law requiring action by the executive branch.

    Agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency operate as rogue legislative bodies. They create regulations, which generally are not laws passed by Congress.

    There are no checks and balances between the EPA and the Executive Branch, because the EPA itself is unconstitutional.

  • by ReedYoung ( 1282222 ) on Thursday June 26, 2008 @12:59AM (#23945375) Homepage Journal

    So, should ALL the people in the link I just provided, including Nancy Pelosi, Bill Clinton, Sandy Berger, John Kerry, Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy, and the oracle himself, Al Gore all be tried for treason?

    Do you think they should? [snopes.com]

    Origins: All of the quotes listed above are substantially correct reproductions of statements made by various Democratic leaders regarding Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's acquisition or possession of weapons of mass destruction. However, some of the quotes are truncated, and context is provided for none of them — several of these quotes were offered in the course of statements that clearly indicated the speaker was decidedly against unilateral military intervention in Iraq by the U.S.

    If so, on what grounds? No, they did not say "THE EXACT SAME THING." They made similar statements, when discussing the real dangers of Iraq, but they did not ignore contradictory facts and they did not run a publicity campaign for the purpose of waging a war of aggression in Iraq.

    First, nothing from the Huffington Post can be used as a source... EVER. It is opinions posted by the most ignorant of Americans, celebrities. If anything, having something said in the Huffington post should be used as COUTNER-evidence to whatever was said.

    In my opinion, discarding any one article merely because it appears in the Huffington Post [or any other source] would be to subscribe to the premise of guilt by association, which I do not. Heh, I held my nose and read the article you posted from snopes. You're entitled to your opinions. Everybody else is equally entitled to our opinions, and that includes everybody who disagrees. That's life. The subject at hand is not difference of opinion, but irresponsible and dishonest representation of fact in the pursuit of others' opinions, voters' opinions, in one of the gravest of all political matters, declaration of war. To dismiss a fact merely because it's expressed by a person, or in a journal, with which you have a difference of opinion is to make the very same type of error as we are discussing.

    However, I did notice that there was no mention of Sandy Berger, the Clinton security advisor stealing top secret documents and cutting them up with scissors during the 9-11 investigation. I guess that was no big deal, what with Bush lying and all.

    That's a disgrace, no doubt about it and no argument, but it is not currently "news." It was not omitted from that article because of Democratic bias. That was the correct professional journalistic decision.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that his intelligence service had warned the Bush administration before the U.S. invasion of Iraq that Saddam Hussein's government was planning attacks against U.S. targets both inside and outside the country.

    Vladimir Putin, no matter how friendly he may be nor how pure his soul, is primarily responsible for advancing the interests of Russia, not of the United States. As those tend to overlap these days, it is wise to be receptive to any tips he offers, to take them seriously. But because he is primarily responsible not to us but to a foreign power, the correct next step is to validate what he says independently, with U.S. intelligence assets and never take him, nor any other foreign power, on feith. "Russian President Vladimir Putin said" is not relevant rebuttal to the findings of the U.S. Congress, for this U.S. citizen.

    Granted, Saddam Hussein was not in full compliance with terms of treaties he signed. It is also worth noting, however, that his invasion of Kuwait was in response to diagonal oil drilling from Kuwait into Earth under Iraq and that oil was as much a motive for the defense of Kuwait against Iraq as it was a motive for Saddam's invasion of Kuwait [answers.com], so the U.S., and especially t

  • by the53rdcalypso ( 1315151 ) on Thursday June 26, 2008 @09:40PM (#23961175)
    Tactical genius, the White House has load of methods of dealing with bad news that are bordering on the brilliant: http://www.236.com/news/2008/06/25/the_white_house_is_rubber_ever_7365.php [236.com]

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Working...