July 8, 2008 archive

1. The Washington Post reports a Narrow reading of the Clean Water Act thwarts enforcement. “An official administration guidance document on wetlands policy is undermining enforcement of the Clean Water Act” according to a memo written by Granta Y. Nakayama, the Environmental Protection Agency’s chief enforcement officer.

   As relayed in his memo, “Nakayama and his staff concluded that between July 2006 and December 2007, EPA’s regional offices had decided not to pursue potential Clean Water Act violations in 304 cases ‘because of jurisdictional uncertainty.’ … The administration’s guidance instructs federal officials to focus on the ‘relevant reach’ of a tributary, which translates into a single segment of a stream. In the memo, Nakayama argued that this definition ‘isolates the small tributary’ and ‘ignores longstanding scientific ecosystem and watershed protection principles critical to meeting the goals’ of the Clean Water Act.”

2. TPM Muckraker reports Waxman threatens Attorney General with contempt. “House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is wielding more than his gavel against Attorney General Michael Mukasey. In a letter to the AG today, Waxman brought out the big guns, stating that the Committee would vote to hold him in contempt on July 16, if he failed to produce a report on an interview with Vice President Cheney regarding the Valerie Plame leak scandal.”

   Of course these threats would be a lot less hollow sounding, if Congress starting finding these officials in “inherent contempt“.

3. The NY Times reports Two former secretaries of state offer plan to revamp the War Powers Act. Former Secretaries of State Warren Christopher and James Baker “have declared the War Powers Resolution of 1973 obsolete and proposed a new system of closer consultation between the White House and Congress before American forces go into battle.”

   Their proposal would require the president to consult lawmakers before initiating combat lasting longer than a week except in rare cases requiring emergency action. Congress, for its part, would have 30 days to approve or disapprove of the military action.

   The plan would create a new committee of Congressional leaders and relevant committee chairmen, with a full-time staff with access to military and intelligence material. The president would be required to consult with the group in advance of any extended strike.

   Of course, this would be moot if Congress actually used the powers it has under the Constitution, specifically to declare and fund wars and hold the president accountable.

4. The LA Times reports a U.S. soldier was killed by roadside bomb near Baghdad. “An American soldier was killed this morning when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The military also announced the deaths of four private contractors in a similar attack the previous day in northern Iraq. Eight contractors were injured in that bombing, which occurred about 15 miles south of the city of Mosul.” The contractors’ nationalities was not disclosed by the military. 4,115 American troops have now been killed in Iraq.

   The Ventura County Star reports that a Blogger is kicked out of Iraq province for war photos. After posting a picture of a dead Marine lying on his back with “his face damaged beyond recognition because of the blast” from a suicide bombin on his website zoriah.net, the U.S. Marines “immediately ‘disembedded'” photojournalist and blogger Zoriah Miller from the unit he was with and “barred from working with the military in Anbar”. Marine commanders felt he violated a “trust”.

   “I just feel this war has become so sanitized that it was important to show,” said Zoriah, who prefers to go by his first name. “My only discomfort is the idea that the family could accidentally stumble on it.” …

   “You’re a war photographer, but once you take a picture of what war is like then you get into trouble,” said Zoriah, a Denver native who has been in Iraq for much of the past year.

The Beijing Olympics

Arrests Of Dissedents

And

Air Pollution

The Perfect Sporting Event

For The Authoritarian Leader

Beijing ‘failing pollution test’

Just a month before the start of the Beijing Olympics, the city is still failing to meet international air quality standards, the BBC has found.

By James Reynolds

BBC News, Beijing

When Beijing bid for the Olympics in 2001, it said its air would meet World Health Organization (WHO) standards.

The BBC put this to the test using a hand-held detector to test for airborne particles known as PM10.

We found that the city’s air failed to meet the WHO’s air quality guidelines for PM10 on six days out of seven.

These particles are caused by traffic, construction work and factory emissions. They are responsible for much of this city’s pollution.

Industrial Nations Endorse Halving Emissions by 2050



By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: July 8, 2008

RUSUTSU, Japan (AP) — The Group of Eight leading industrial nations on Tuesday endorsed halving world emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, edging forward in the battle against global warming but stopping short of tough, nearer-term targets.

The G-8 countries — the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy — also called on all major economies to join in the effort to stem the potentially dangerous rise in world temperatures.

”The G-8 nations came to a mutual recognition that this target — cutting global emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 — should be a global target,” said Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who announced the endorsement.

USA

U.S. Seeks Data Exchange

Newer European Union Countries Want Waiver From Visa Requirements

By Ellen Nakashima

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, July 8, 2008; Page D01

The United States is negotiating deals with European countries to exchange fingerprint and DNA data in criminal and terrorist cases, and in some circumstances to transfer data on race or ethnic origin, political and religious beliefs, or sexual orientation.

Such agreements are a condition for granting citizens of newer European Union member states the right to enter the United States without visas, and for maintaining that right for older E.U. members. U.S. citizens already enjoy such a right when traveling to Europe.

You want to know what really bugs me?

The lies.

Beltway myth: "The left-wing base" vs. "the American people" on Iraq

Glen Greenwald, Salon.com

Monday July 7, 2008 07:58 EDT

How much clearer could that be? The truth is exactly the opposite of what Liasson said. Americans want to withdraw from Iraq in accordance with Obama’s timetable (if not faster) regardless of circumstances “on the ground” — not conditioned on those circumstances. But because that’s not the view Liasson and her establishment colleagues embrace, they just lie and claim that the majority view is the one held only by the “left-wing” fringe, while their own actually fringe view is the one embraced by “the American people” and thus defines the “Center.”

This is the standard propaganda tactic of establishment media stars like Liasson, and she’s hardly unique — in this way or in any other. This is how they manipulate public opinion and coerce political officials to disregard the views of most Americans in favor of the fringe, establishment view. The views of the establishment pundit class are automatically labeled “the Center” even when they’re rejected by majorities of “the American people.” By contrast, views that are actually held by majorities but which the pundit class dislikes are demonized as those of “the Left.” Thus, they argue, political candidates, in order to win elections, must embrace the views of the establishment and reject the view of most Americans. That’s how a candidate “moves to the Center.”

My emphasis.