GEORGE BUSH: THE POLITICALIZATION OF EVERYTHING,
EVEN YOUR HEALTH AND SAFETY

In a compelling article for Rolling Stone Magazine, Tim Dickinson tracks down the lies and obfuscations which George Bush/Cheney and Company have used to make certain that the American public is confused on the issue of global warming. If the American public were not confused on the issue, they certainly would not be giving Georgie an astounding 29% approval rating. How can it be that high after all we now know about the lying, crooked George Bush regime? An intelligent, informed electorate would have him down to 10 or 15% by now. Some people do have IQs less than 70 percent, and they can be forgiven since they are too illiterate to read and understand written, complex reasoning processes—and Fox watchers. Then there all those Republican politicians who have been bought and paid for by the oil lobbyists. Maybe that is 29% of the American public? The administration’s plan is completely political, ignoring science and favoring the corporate polluters, all to the detriment of my, your and our children’s and grandchildren’s health, future and safety. Read the whole thing here.

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Cheney took full advantage of the president's cluelessness, bringing the CEQ into his own portfolio. "The environment and energy issues were really turned over to him from the beginning," Whitman says. The CEQ became Cheney's shadow EPA, with industry calling the shots. To head up the council, Cheney installed James Connaughton, a former lobbyist for industrial polluters, who once worked to help General Electric and ARCO skirt responsibility for their Superfund waste sites.

Industry swiftly took advantage of its new friend in the White House. In a fax sent to the CEQ [White House Council on Environmental Quality] on February 6th, 2001 - two weeks after Bush took office - ExxonMobil's top lobbyist, Randy Randol, demanded a housecleaning of the scientists in charge of studying global warming. Exxon urged CEQ to dump Robert Watson, who chaired the IPCC, along with Rosina Bierbaum and Mike MacCracken, who had coordinated the National Assessment.

Exxon's wish was the CEQ's command. According to an internal e-mail obtained by Rolling Stone, Connaughton's first order of business - even before his nomination was made public - was to write his White House colleagues-to-be from his law firm of Sidley & Austin. He echoed Exxon's call that Bierbaum, the acting director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, be "dealt." In the end, each of the scientists on Exxon's hit list was replaced. "It was clear there was a strong lobby and activity against me by some in the energy industry—especially ExxonMobil," says Watson.
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Photo: Wilson / Getty