I used to work for the environmental regulatory agency in South Carolina. Basically, some folks planned to work for the agency. Others, wanted to be upwardly mobile.

The upwardly mobile path was give sweet deals to the EPA and to the corporations. Then after a few years you left the state and moved to the federal agency. In a few more years of softening things for the corporations, you left the feds and got a sweet job from the corporations.

Seems that, like Gonzo’s reference to the Geneva Conventions, the rule of law has become a “quaint” notion.

I predict this will become an issue of great importance to republicans next year, when they are casting about for things to re-energize their base. Look for a “Contract for America, II,” which attacks democrats for their weak attempts at reining in Bush, while saying nothing about their own absence of moral/ethical willpower.

Our legislative branch needs to start finding people in contempt, and now. And if, due to our corrupt justice system, this has no teeth, then inherent contempt must be employed.

If the EPA refuses to play by LAWS, then they don’t deserve to exist anymore, and should be 100% de-funded and dismantled.

Granted, I wouldn’t want this to happen without a replacement agency which WILL follow the rules, otherwise we’d wind up in Ron Paul corporate-anarchy land.

Which would suck.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/17/watergate-era-republican-backs-obama/#more-6511

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080418/wl_mcclatchy/2913186;_ylt=Al3IZILVDtoBTlhaDTEj8WMUewgF

IMHO, the EPA has already had too much time to handle this issue properly…since they didn’t, I think we deserve an accounting of whatever pathetic progress they HAVE made (which, I suspect is a lot less than what everyone expected.)

If the Global Warming Committee does not immediately use Inherent Contempt, bypassing the DoJ cabal, and throw their miserable bodies (EPA, Bush/Cheney) into the foulest jail in DC – any residual sense of Democracy is lost. Any future administration will know that the world is theirs to rule at will of the top sociopath. The USA will have lost any illusion that the people or their Representatives have any role to play other than slaves.

Not to mention that the EPA told Congress they were too stupid to interpret the documents.

“Then Bush will pardon them. You can’t pardon someone who hasn’t been convicted yet. The real trials will not start until after he is gone.”

Fran, whilst a sane person such as yourself would reasonably assume that to be the case, there’s certainly one case where a pardon was granted to someone who was NOT convicted of anything.

In his last days in office George H.W Bush pardoned Caspar Weinberger, against whom only IMPEACHMENT proceedings were being brought, but thanks to Bush’s pardon Weinberger never even faced a formal questioning under oath in front of Congress.

You see, Weinberger kept detailed notes on Reagan’s Iran-Contra deal. You should know how that went down: Ollie North went to jail for being too enthusiastic, Reagan was let-down by well-intentioned juniors and oh yeah, couldn;t remember a dsamn thing except that he was sure he was doing anything illegal , but heavens to murgatroyd, apparently he WAS acting illegally, becasue that’s what everybody says and it;s all so confusing and he’s just an old man who likes God and jellybeans.

Meanwhile Bush Sr, who ran the CIA under Reagan, was also utterly innocent. Bush Sr. had NO IDEA that the CIA was negotiating with Iran through the Israelis and that the CIA was then using the cash from the arm’s sales to pay for cocaine which was flown in CIA planes to the US where it was sold so that Reagan/Bush/Weinberger/Negroponte could then buy weapons for the Contras–contravening THE LAW PASSED BY CONGRESS SPECIFICALLY–so they could overthrow a government that the US anticommunists didn’t like.

Bush Sr. was ABSOLUTELY up to his neck in all that, and Weinberger had the documents to prove it. That’s why Weinberger faced impeachment–which had he testified and been forced to reveal his documents, would have found Bush Sr. AND Reagan too, guilty of impeahcable offenses and specific law-breaking on mnay counts.

It had taken until Bush Sr.’s last months in office for the case against Weinberger to be brought to the public, so right at the finishing line Bush Sr. pardoned (or “exonorated”) Weinberger of any “wrongdoing” which delayed things enough for Bush to ‘get out of town’. Congress then dropped the matter as the prioroty was the new Clinton adminstration and its agenda. By pardoning Weinberger, Bush effectively pardoned himself, and Reagan too and saved the three of them and the GOP of course.

A pardon without conviction, without actually even a normal legal indictment.

SOrry to disabuse you of your faith in logic and law, but that’s what happened–15-16 years ago. Today, the rules of logic and law apply even less!!

)Ongress a while for the case against Winber

then colbert ends the show, thanking everyone, “…barack obama, hillary clinton
and benjamin franklin” (that cracked me up) …

“WE TOLD YOU HOW TO THINK – NOW GO OUT AND VOTE!”
.