America’s Waters Vulnerable to Development, Pollution
Bush administration policy should be reversed

”The Bush administration is sweeping away 30 years of protection for some of our nation’s most important waters,” said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice. ”Polluters have been given a green light to ignore the Clean Water Act, even when it may affect drinking water supplies.”

Bush Administration Policy Makes America’s Waters Vulnerable to Development, Pollution

“It is ironic that while the President is touting his goal of a net gain of wetlands, his administration’s policy is exposing millions of acres of wetlands, rivers, lakes, and streams to destruction,” said Julie Sibbing, a senior legislative representative at the National Wildlife Federation. “An estimated 20 percent of America’s wetlands might be open to pollution and development.”

The EPA has estimated that some 20 million acres of wetlands in the continental United States may lose federal protection under the Bush administration’s policy. In addition, tens of thousands of miles of seasonal and headwater streams and countless numbers of small lakes, and ponds could be left without federal protection from water pollution.

“The Bush administration is pursuing a short-sighted policy aimed at satisfying oil industry and other polluter interests bent on dismantling our fundamental clean water safeguards,” said Robin Mann, chair of Sierra Club’s Clean Water Campaign.

Note the following is a different subject, though clearly related in what it says about ‘straight-shooting’ Duhbya. mjh

ABQjournal: Fed Panel Weighs in on N.M. Drilling

The prospect of natural gas development in the Valle Vidal has drawn opposition from Gov. Bill Richardson, other state leaders and a broad coalition of local sportsmen, environmental groups and businesses.

Allan Lackey, a Raton businessman and former Valle Vidal outfitter, said other uses of the forest land and the voices of local people are being ignored.

“It’s been a pattern that the Bush administration has established all across the West to expand oil and gas drilling,” said Lackey, a Republican. “It’s an all-out raid on our public resource.”

El Paso Corp. was hoping the White House task force could help it speed up a decision on whether the Valle Vidal could be opened to oil and gas leasing.

ABQjournal: Bush Sends Mixed Messages By Leslie Linthicum, Journal Staff Writer

The president praised the federal [Indian housing] program, saying it showed that the American dream of home ownership was ‘valid for everyone.’

He didn’t say that his administration has proposed slashing money for the program for next year.

‘Mixed messages’ — is that like a flip-flop or a lie? mjh

Oakland Tribune Online – Local & Regional News

Bush accused Democratic Sen. John Kerry of pandering to Nevada voters by playing both sides of the issue, part of a broader effort to cast the Massachusetts senator as someone who bends to the political winds.

“He says he’s strongly against Yucca here in Nevada, but he voted for it several times,” Bush claimed.

That is not exactly true.

Each time Kerry has faced the simple choice of voting whether or not to send waste to Yucca Mountain, he has voted against it. But he has voted for some measures that had provisions to allow nuclear dumps there. Some 16 years ago, Kerry voted for an overall budget bill that included a provision favoring putting the nuclear waste in Nevada.

Be sure to re-read that bold line: ”That is not exactly true.” Wow, the media calls Bush on a lie. mjh

”Those who threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more sensitively. They need to be destroyed,” he said.

mjhQuick — who said that: bin Laden or Cheney?

The Advertiser: Cheney’s terror attack on Kerry backfires [14aug04]

”Dick Cheney’s desperate misleading attacks now have him criticising George Bush’s own words, who called for America to be `sensitive about expressing our power and influence’,” a [Kerry] spokesman said.

”Dick Cheney doesn’t understand arrogance isn’t a virtue. Alienating allies makes it harder to hunt terrorists and bring them to justice.”

Tri-Valley Herald Online – Local & Regional News

Bush has suggested that overhauling the tax code would be a second-term priority if he is re-elected. While campaigning in Florida on Tuesday, he said replacing the income tax with a federal sales tax is “an interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously.”

Kerry seized on Bush’s comments even as White House officials denied that any such plan is under consideration.

Do you really want Bush and a Republican Congress overhauling the tax code and Social Security? mjh

The Poll Watchers
Youth Is Fleeting for Bush (washingtonpost.com)
By Richard Morin, Claudia Deane and Christopher Muste, Washington Post Staff Writers

Four years ago, network exit polls found that Bush and Democrat Al Gore split the vote of 18- to 29-year-olds, with Gore claiming 48 percent and Bush getting 46 percent — the best showing by a Republican presidential candidate in more than a decade.

But that was then. In the latest Post-ABC News poll taken immediately after the Democratic convention, Kerry led Bush 2-1 among registered voters younger than 30. Among older voters, the race was virtually tied. …

Surveys suggest that Bush’s popularity has plummeted among 18- to 29-year-olds in the past four months, posing a new obstacle to the president’s bid to win reelection and an immediate challenge to Republicans seeking to win over impressionable and lightly committed young people during their upcoming convention.

[Thanks, Jas.]

Youth Is Fleeting for Bush (washingtonpost.com)

As President Bush took office in January 2001, Newsweek asked: “Which one of the following do you think should be Bush’s top defense and national security priority? Should his top priority be: Developing a high-tech missile defense system to protect the United States from nuclear attack (34 percent); reconfiguring US military forces so they can move more quickly to deal with crisis situations around the world (29 percent); or improving our ability to identify and counteract terrorist threats (31 percent)?”

And in May 2001, the Pew Research Center asked: “Do you think that international terrorism is a major threat, a minor threat, or not a threat to the well being of the United States?” Prescient answer: 64% major threat, 27% minor threat, 4% not a threat.

Yet some say we had no idea about the threat of terrorism before 9/11. mjh