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Cheney aides "altered" CDC testimony
Members of Vice President Cheney's staff censored congressional testimony by a top federal official on the health threats posed by global warming.
Former EPA deputy associate administrator Jason K. Burnett said an official from Cheney's office edited out six pages from the testimony of Julie L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last October.
Senator Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the administration feared that Gerberding's testimony would force it to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. The White House has opposed mandatory limits and insisted that voluntary measures and increased research are the best way to address the problem.
Frank O'Donnell, who heads the advocacy group Clean Air Watch, said the latest revelations confirm that the vice president has been steering the nation's environmental policy during President Bush's tenure.
"For years, we've suspected that Cheney was the puppeteer for administration policy on global warming," O'Donnell said. "This kiss-and-tell account appears to confirm the worst."
Members of Vice President Cheney's staff censored congressional testimony by a top federal official on the health threats posed by glo... more -
Cheney wanted cuts in climate testimony
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney’s office pushed for major deletions in congressional testimony on the public health consequences of climate change, fearing the presentation by a leading health official might make it harder to avoid regulating greenhouse gases, a former EPA officials maintains.0708 11
When six pages were cut from testimony on climate change and public health by the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last October, the White House insisted the changes were made because of reservations raised by White House advisers about the accuracy of the science.
But Jason K. Burnett, until last month the senior adviser on climate change to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson, says that Cheney’s office was deeply involved in getting nearly half of the CDC’s original draft testimony removed.
“The Council on Environmental Quality and the office of the vice president were seeking deletions to the CDC testimony (concerning) … any discussions of the human health consequences of climate change,” Burnett has told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
The three-page letter, a response to an inquiry by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the panel’s chairwoman, was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. Boxer planned a news conference later in the day.
Burnett, 31, a lifelong Democrat who resigned his post last month as associate deputy EPA administrator because of disagreements over the agency’s response to climate change, describes deep political concerns at the White House, including in Cheney’s office, about linking climate change directly to public health or damage to the environment.
[article continued at link] WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney’s office pushed for major deletions in congressional testimony on the public health consequenc... more -
Cheney's Office Pushed for Trims to EPA Congressional Testimony
and the more becomes evident, the more it hurts. they dont care at all.
http://current.com/items/88796415_epa_denies_california...
then
http://current.com/items/89040046_white_house_invokes_e...
http://current.com/items/89050915_epa_silenced_by_white... and the more becomes evident, the more it hurts. they dont care at all. ... more -
911 Coincidences? You be the judge and tell a friend!
Many people on this site have commented on videos relating to 9/11. There is a stigma created by mainstream media and the Bush Administration that anyone who believes in conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 are crazy.
Please do not allow this kind of thing to continue. There is so much evidence out there about the real events of 9/11 and who was involved and why that if open and public hearings were to be held in congress without the interference of the Bush Administration, I believe that the country would be completely shocked and a total loss of confidence in the government would be experienced on a massive scale. It is no wonder that plans for "Continuity of Government" and "Private Armies, Navies, Air Force, and Space Forces" have been bought and paid for through "Black Operations" that receive billions of dollars in financial support every year. This is being done so guilty will have private military forces to protect them from us; the citizens of the United States who will be outraged to find out that the conspiracy was real.
This administration and other ones surely to come will continue with the plans already outlined for them; they will not be dissuaded.
Although I am not advocating open revolt, I am making a prediction here and now; that by 2012, if the planet hasn't caused extensive damage to the human population by then, our country could be embroiled in yet a second civil war.
They may think that people are just going to accept them, the guilty and complicit Administration, Senators and Congressmen who have either openly participated in the con job or have not had the spine and backbone to step up to the plate and support Impeachment hearings against Cheney and Bush, will just take it and move on because of "stimulus payments" or any other bribe to keep them quite has got a lot of rethinking to do. People are mad as hell and they just aren't going to take it anymore.
I see the whole thing coming to a head after this next election, especially if Obama is somehow not elected, gets assassinated, or turns out to have been lying to us all and is himself a Neo-Con masquerading as a moderate. Anyone of these three could be the hair trigger that could ignite the conflict.
I have also read and seen people posting a more positive vision of the future, one that manifests in spite of the chaos that revelations of massive government conspiracies would illicit. I really do hope that this is the real future that awaits us, peace and transcendence. But could the promise of yet another Nirvana just be part of the "Con" perpetrated by the same individuals who want us not to put up a fight and take America Back?
I don't know, you be the judge of that one for sure. I certainly don't want to tread on anyones faith. But faith needs to be tempered with reason, and viewing the evidence and being part of the jury should be the duty of every American. Watch the evidence and then judge for yourself. Be open minded, you might learn a thing or two. Many people on this site have commented on videos relating to 9/11. There is a stigma created by mainstream media and the Bush Adminis... more -
The Barack Obama Speech You Must Watch!
Obama's message of hope offers a new hope to many Americans. Those that do not agree with him or his message have the right to do so but with the current condition of this country it is time for something different. Obama's message of hope offers a new hope to many Americans. Those that do not agree with him or his message have the right to do so b... more
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BUSH, BARACK, AND THE WAR FOR AMERICA
Obama's message of hope offers a new hope to many Americans. Those that do not agree with him or his message have the right to do so but with the current condition of this country it is time for something different. Obama's message of hope offers a new hope to many Americans. Those that do not agree with him or his message have the right to do so b... more
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IF THIS DOESN'T PISS YOU OFF...
...or INSPIRE YOU then your political compass may be off....
The message of Obama is one of transformation, reformation, and hope. All may not agree with this message and that is their right to do so but unless you are truly satisfied with the current condition do you really think not voting or voting for McCain is going to help? ...or INSPIRE YOU then your political compass may be off.... ... more -
AMERICA THE NOT SO GREAT
America is a great nation but that doesn't mean that it is a perfect nation. We have experienced disasters, terrorism, and death but America has also been one of the greatest purveyors of violence in history.
Patriotism is not to be judged by one's blind loyalty to their nation but is judged by one's committment to make their nation great and stay true to the pillars of its inception. America is a great nation but that doesn't mean that it is a perfect nation. We have experienced disasters, terrorism, and death but A... more -
Secret war against Iran is underway
According to an article in the New Yorker, Seymour Hersh says Democratic Party leaders signed on to secret war against Iran.
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9/11: Total Proof That Bombs Were Planted In The Buildings!
By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials promoted the invasion of Iraq with public statements that weren't supported by intelligence or that concealed differences among intelligence agencies, the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday in a report that was delayed by bitter partisan infighting.
A second report found that a special office set up under then-secretary of defense Donald H. Rumsfeld conducted "sensitive intelligence activities" that were inappropriate "without the knowledge of the Intelligence Community or the State Department." That report revealed that Pentagon counterintelligence officials suspected that Iran might have tried to use the group to influence administration policymakers.
Committee chairman John D. Rockefeller, D-W. Va., said the administration's actions went far beyond simply being misled by bad intelligence.
"There is no question we all relied on flawed intelligence," Rockefeller said in a statement. "But, there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate."
"Before taking the country to war, this administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced," Rockefeller said. "Unfortunately, our committee has concluded that the administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence."
The White House dismissed the main report as a partisan rehash of what's already known about erroneous U.S. intelligence on Iraq.
"The majority report today is a selective view," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "The administration statements on Iraq were based on the very same intelligence that was given to the Congress. And they came to the same conclusion, as did other countries around the world. The issue . . . ultimately turned out to be false, and we have fully admitted that."
"The fact that the intelligence turned out to be wrong on WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) does not mean that anyone purposefully lied," Perino said.
Four Republicans on the committee — Orrin Hatch of Utah, Christopher Bond of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia — denounced the report as "inconclusive, misleading and incomplete."
However, two Republicans, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snow of Maine, joined Democrats to approve the report on a 10-5 vote.
The Senate report, the first official examination of whether top officials knew that their public statements were unsubstantiated when they made them, reviewed five speeches by Bush, Cheney and former Secretary of State Colin Powell between August 2002 and February 2003. It also dissected key statements made by them and other top officials, including Rumsfeld and then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers ... more -
Republican's China-Cuba oil drilling story false?
With President Bush and the Republicans calling to lift the ban on offshore drilling of oil and gas, one claim from many Republicans in support of drilling suggests that China and Cuba are either already drilling or about to start, just 50 miles off the coast of Florida. But a report in McClatchy Newspapers says that this is untrue. It states: “... no one can prove that the Chinese are drilling anywhere off Cuba's shoreline.” It adds: “China is not drilling in Cuba's Gulf of Mexico waters, period, according to Jorge Piñon, an energy fellow with the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami.” Despite these assertions Vice President Dick Cheney said in a speech to The US Chamber of Commerce: “George Will pointed out in his column the other day that oil is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida. We are not doing it, the Chinese are, in cooperation with the Cuban government. Even the communists have figured out that a good answer to high prices are more supply.” Sen. Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican against offshore drilling was quoted in the Miami Herald It states: ''Reports to the contrary are simply false, …They are akin to urban legends. China drilling off the coast of Cuba only 60 miles from the Keys, that is not taking place. . . . Any talk of using some fabricated Cuba-China connection as an argument to change US policy has no merit.'' With President Bush and the Republicans calling to lift the ban on offshore drilling of oil and gas, one claim from many Republicans i... more
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Bush impeachment debate focuses on subpoenas
MATTHEW PALEVSKY, JOURNALIST, TRNN: On June 9, Congressman Kucinich introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush on issues ranging from illegal wiretapping to torture. Surprisingly, Article 27 has gained the most traction, accusing the executive of failing to comply with congressional subpoenas. Subpoenas that have been ignored include those for White House chief of staff Joshua Bolton and deputy chief of staff Karl Rove. I spoke with David Swanson, co-founder of afterdowningstreet.org, a leading activist in the impeachment movement, and former press secretary to Congressman Kucinich.
DAVID SWANSON, CO-FOUNDER, AFTERDOWNINGSTREET.ORG: Article 27 out of the 35 already introduced is one that we're hearing a surprising amount of interest on from people who go and talk to their Congress members, including Republicans. A lot of Congress members are saying, "Look, I'm actually interested in the fact that you can impeach a president for refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas." Now, they passed three articles of impeachment against Nixon, way back when, in the Judiciary Committee, Article 3 was "refusing to comply with subpoenas." Here we have a president and a vice president who do that routinely and who order former staffers not to comply, which is obstruction of justice. This is way beyond Richard Nixon, and these subpoenas are all about impeachable offenses. And finally, I mean, it's been completely predictable, but it's taken these many months for Congress members to send the requests, have them rejected, send the subpoenas, have them rejected, send the contempt citations, have them rejected, and finally realize that, hey, wait a minute, if we've unilaterally disarmed, we've taken impeachment off the table, the White House has no reason to comply with anything else. And so we have this absolutely unprecedented situation where the executive branch refuses to pay any attention to the legislative branch. This is our power.
PALEVSKY: Is there going to be a sense of playing "gotcha" if you impeach the president on not complying with subpoenas instead of the issues that have created outrage, like illegal wiretapping and torture? In other words, could subpoenas be seen as a technicality?
SWANSON: Well, I mean, we're not playing anything. It's not a game. This is deadly serious. And if you have a president who lies us into a war, and when Congress asks for information, "Can we have the paperwork from the White House Iraq Group?"—this marketing committee that worked out of this White House behind me to sell the public a fraudulent war—and they say, "No. Go to hell," the next step in order to enforce those sorts of subpoenas is impeachment. Impeachment is the tool that the Constitution gives our representatives to hold the White House accountable. And so it's all part of the same process. The subpoenas are about turning the Justice Department into a branch of the Republican Party. The subpoenas are about the illegal war. The subpoenas are about the illegal spying. And if you can't get the subpoenas enforced, you have to go to the next step.
MATTHEW PALEVSKY, JOURNALIST, TRNN: On June 9, Congressman Kucinich introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush on is... more -
Impeach, Convict, Imprison, Sue
by johnneale Page 1 of 1 page(s)
http://www.opednews.com
Tell A Friend
Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor who won the conviction of Charles Manson, wants to try George W. Bush in criminal court for the murder of 4000 people, in his new book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.
I think that is a fine idea. Everyone should sue the President of the United States (POTUS). I would like to expand on the notion, and suggest that as many people as possible file civil lawsuits seeking damages for what this president has done to us as individual Americans.
I have suffered real anguish over our loss of national esteem. I have suffered real embarrassment, shame, and/or humiliation due to this man's policies, speeches, and pandering. I have suffered financial loss through his incompetence, from his giveaways to the rich and powerful, and from the ridiculously high level of war profiteering and official corruption associated with the "war" in Iraq.
I can't put a price tag on the erosion of my rights, from loss of habeas corpus to the agony of not knowing if my phone is tapped, but I would be willing to try!
by johnneale Page 1 of 1 page(s) http://www.opednews.com Tell A Friend ... more -
Wexler wants Cheney impeachment hearings
We need to impeach Cheney just to hear what they did, and slow them down with what they are doing still.
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TAKE ACTION: Tell Congresss to Stand Up and Check the Balance
In exactly two weeks, we are going to find out whether members of Congress have any respect for the institution they represent. We will see whether they have the courage to stand up to the Bush administration and defend the Constitution they took an oath to protect. Specifically, we will discover whether they are willing to take the measures necessary to ensure that Bush administration officials testify before Congress.
On July 10, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to investigate the firings of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006 and the questionable prosecution and imprisonment of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. Karl Rove, a potentially key figure in both incidents, has been issued a subpoena to testify before the committee. Rove's lawyer has said that Rove will not appear.
Congress has a few options here. First, if Rove fails to appear, they could pass criminal contempt charges against him, as they did against White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. This is good, but will not result in immediate testimony.
The second option is to have Karl Rove arrested, under the theory of inherent contempt, and brought to Congress to testify. This is better, but may still be eventually unsatisfying if Rove ends up testifying yet asserts executive privilege repeatedly in order to avoid disclosing important information.
Another option - and the one supported by the American Freedom Campaign Action Fund - is to tell the president immediately that he will be impeached if members of his administration do not provide full testimony before Congress by a date certain in July. This has historical precedent as one of the three articles of impeachment ultimately brought against President Richard Nixon was based on his refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas.
The final option is to do nothing and set a precedent for the future by which any administration can claim that Congress does not have the ability to force executive branch officials to testify before Congress. This would be an affront to our Constitution and Congress is dancing perilously close to this line already.
We cannot allow Congress to become subservient to the executive branch. It must exert its oversight authority and force administration officials to testify. Please tell your U.S. representative to take whatever steps are necessary to compel testimony.
Thank you for sharing your feelings with your U.S. representative.
Steve
Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund
I got the email a week ago. Sign petitions, send emails, and mail letters. heres links to legislators and bills.
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
http://www.house.gov/
http://catalog.loc.gov/ In exactly two weeks, we are going to find out whether members of Congress have any respect for the institution they represent. We wi... more -
Rage Against the Machine Guitarist Tom Morello endorses first political candidate
Tom Morello's solo project and alter ego "The Nightwatchman" will play a San Francisco benefit for anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, best known for her extended demonstration at a camp outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch. Sheehan's son, Casey was killed during his service in the Iraq War on April 4, 2004. Tom Morello's solo project and alter ego "The Nightwatchman" will play a San Francisco benefit for anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, be... more
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Time for a grand inquest into Bush's high crimes
One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's first acts upon taking the gavel was to rule impeachment off the table. She wanted Democrats to focus on challenging the president on the war and on kitchen table concerns -- from energy to education to health care. With Democrats now enjoying an increasing margin in generic polls and looking towards gaining seats in both the House and the Senate, the strategy certainly hasn't hurt politically.
But the constitutional implications are far more disturbing. This was dramatized as the Congress debated the FISA reform legislation that will provide retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies for warrantless interception of the conversations of Americans -- and by implication, retroactive acceptance of the president's authority to order such wiretaps.
We have witnessed a staggering abuse of power by this president. Even former Bush Justice Department officials now charge President Bush with trampling the Constitution. Bush has claimed the prerogative to declare an endless war without congressional approval, to designate someone an enemy without cause, to proceed to wiretap them without warrant, arrest or kidnap them at will, jail them without a hearing, hold them indefinitely, interrogate them intensively (read torture), bring them to trial outside the US court system. He claims that executive privilege exempts his aides -- even the aides of his aides and his vice president's aides -- from congressional investigation. He claims the right to amend or negate congressional laws with a statement upon signing them. And much more.
Even this Supreme Court, stacked with activist right-wing judges enamored of executive national security powers, has rebuked the president on some of these claims, particularly around the treatment of allegedly enemy combatants. But many of Bush's claims will escape judicial determination. One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's first acts upon taking the gavel was to rule impeachment off the table. She wanted Democrats to fo... more -
Kucinich: We went to Iraq for oil
Rep. Dennis Kucinich has accused the US of forcing Iraq to privatize its oil fields and keeping US troops at war to protect Iraqi oil reserves.
Kucinich who has introduced measures to impeach George W. Bush and Dick Cheney said on Thursday that oil executives who secretly met with the vice president in 2001 alongside oil company executives should be held criminally liable for pushing an illegal war.
SECRET MEETINGS
"In March of 2001, when the Bush Administration began to have secret meetings with oil company executives from Exxon, Shell and BP, spreading maps of Iraq oil fields before them, the price of oil was USD 23.96 per barrel. Then there were 63 companies in 30 countries, other than the US, competing for oil contracts with Iraq," the Ohio Democrat said during a speech on the House floor.
"Today the price of oil is $135.59 per barrel, the US Army is occupying Iraq and the first Iraq oil contracts will go, without competitive bidding to, surprise, (among a very few others) Exxon, Shell and BP."
CHENEY MET OIL COMPANY EXECUTIVES
In March 2001, two years before Iraq was invaded, Cheney met with top executives from Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell Oil Co., BP America Inc. and others on his infamous secret Energy Task Force.
Kucinich seemed to accuse participants in that meeting of plotting the invasion of Iraq. There's no indication that the participants discussed military action, although documents later released showed they did eye Iraq's oil fields.
ACCOUNTABILITY
"Our nation's soul is stained because we went to war for the oil companies and their profits. There must be accountability not only with this administration for its secret meetings and its open illegal warfare but also for the oil company executives who were willing participants in a criminal enterprise of illegal war, the deaths of our soldiers and innocent Iraqis and the extortion of the national resources of Iraq," he said.
WMD FOUND- IT WAS OIL
"We have found the weapon of mass destruction in Iraq. It is oil," Kucinich continued. "As long as the oil companies control our government Americans will continue to pay and pay, with our lives, our fortunes our sacred honor."
Rep. Dennis Kucinich has accused the US of forcing Iraq to privatize its oil fields and keeping US troops at war to protect Iraqi oil ... more -
Al Quaeda may watch C-SPAN
Maybe I should start watching it
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Celebrities ... with animal species named after them
Did you know there is a sea snail named after Boris Becker? Well, you should. To give it its full name, Bufonaria borisbeckeri was a new variant of the ocean-dwelling creature, discovered in the heady days of the mid-90s. Hit the link for frogs, spiders, and wasps with famous namesakes - and check out why Mr Dick Cheney is allegedly suing the scientist who discovered slime-mould beetles for defamation. Did you know there is a sea snail named after Boris Becker? Well, you should. To give it its full name, Bufonaria borisbeckeri was a... more
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Dick Cheney
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Dick Cheney
