Comments on: Did George Bush Break the Clean Air Act?

By: readerOfTeaLeaves

readerOfTeaLeaves — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:57:26 +0000

Indeed.
Sorry, too tired last night to explain how it is that ozone could end up affecting air quality and asthma. It’s not as obvious a connection as really ‘doh’ air pollution like smoke stacks, but the linkages exist even if they’re a bit more complex to tease out.

Boy, do we need leadership in a hurry.

By: klynn

klynn — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:28:06 +0000

And then there are the costs that do not have a price tag…

By: readerOfTeaLeaves

readerOfTeaLeaves — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:30:30 +0000

He just set more precedent, that it’s perfectly okay to lie and prevaricate and thumb one’s nose at Congress

I know some people he should discuss ‘costs’ with — pediatricians, pediatric nurses, researchers, parents, and American kids with asthma.

Outtamyarse costs for ONE kid with asthma, for one year (out of pocket costs) — $400 to cover co-pays for: physician visits, steroid meds (anti-inflammatory), blood tests (to test liver and kidney function b/c of steroid meds), and inhalers.
The insurance company costs ran $1800/year.

The ‘costs’ of poor air quality start to add up pretty quickly if you look at the entire US population. It’s worth keeping in mind that this simple exercise doesn’t even begin to count in costs for lung cancer, emphysema, or other heart/lung complications.

Maybe Waxman needs to hold his next hearing in a hospital ward at a local children’s hospital. Perhaps if Johnson saw a few kiddos gasping for breath and sucking on their inhalers, he might get a clue about the consequences of his willingness to screw over public resources for the sake of a few shareholder dollars.

By: PJEvans

PJEvans — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:15:20 +0000

I’d say that the question isn’t ‘Did George Break’ but “Why Did George and Dick Break’. But I live in LA, and this is important to me.

Who’s running against Issa?

By: JohnLopresti

JohnLopresti — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:01:40 +0000

Here is a topic the is the outcome of torture, capital in this instance, little documented in places I have seen on the web, and maybe a lot to organize in the time until the post at the new site, though the book salon had some interesting directions a few days ago, with respect to published books rather than things available on the internet. I economize on time, or would read the aclu more. A blog will help them organize their information.

By: freepatriot

freepatriot — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:12:01 +0000

see what happens when you get a life

you miss all kinds of stuff …

By: emptywheel

emptywheel — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:51:50 +0000

Nah, I already did that post–a week ago.

By: freepatriot

freepatriot — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:47:38 +0000

here’s a place to start

Why Was the 20th Hijacker Not Charged?
By David Kurtz

you could probably develop a pretty good list of potential suspects and overt acts outta something like this

By: Hugh

Hugh — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:37:02 +0000

A common pattern I see in most of the Administration’s current actions is an effort to tie the hands of the next Administration and force a continuation of this Administration’s disastrous policies. Starting trials of Guantanamo detainees was a way to lock in the military commissions process. We warned the Bush Administration from the beginning that torture and the extra Constitutional status of detainees would poison the proceedings and this is what we are seeing play out.

This is something they brought on themselves. They were so obsessed with the phantasm of gaining “actionable intelligence” through torture that they didn’t bother to notice or know that torture doesn’t work or that they would have to trash our country’s reputation and Constitution to do something that ultimately was criminal, abhorrent, and futile.

By: bobschacht

bobschacht — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:15:40 +0000

I guess I’d suggest that you focus on the evidence that the Yoo memo was an ex post facto CYA maneouvre, looking at the documentation you’ve already written about, showing that they were doing torture before the Yoo memo.

Bob in HI