-Caveat Lector- http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=12458
Passive-aggressive rule Laura Flanders - WorkingForChange 12.05.01 - John Ashcroft will address the Senate Judiciary Committee this Thursday. It's unlikely that he'll be questioned on anything other than his so-called "war on terror." However much heat he gets, it'll be worth it to the Administration. Terrorism, anthrax and Afghanistan have provided priceless cover for a rollback of every Justice Department duty the Bush administration would prefer did not exist. George W. comes to the White House from an anti-regulatory family. As vice president, his father did business' bidding as head of a special committee called the Committee on Regulatory Relief. The committee put scores of supposedly cumbersome regulations onto the chopping block, and so eviscerated the enforcement power of agencies like OSHA and the EPA, that obeying laws like the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, became virtually a question of corporate will. Twenty years later, George junior's colleagues are also using their spell in government to dismantle government rules, but they've honed their tactics and they've got a war against terrorism that's pretty convenient. A month after September 11, the Attorney General announced a "wartime reorganization" at the Justice Department. "When terrorism threatens our future, we cannot afford to live in the past," he said. "We must focus on our core mission and responsibilities, understanding that the department will not be all things to all people. We cannot do everything we once did, because lives now depend on us doing a few things very well." In the name of "reorganizing," Ashcroft said Justice would abandon or reduce manpower devoted to many of its current responsibilities. Think civil rights enforcement, think prosecuting those who pollute. "The war against terrorism is a perfect smoke-screen," Todd True, senior attorney at Earthjustice, told Working Assets Radio Tuesday. Relaxing regulatory enforcement when there's a war on sounded so reasonable apparently, that there's been precious little follow-up by either politicians or the press. A quick look at the Bush crew's first year in office reveals a concentrated effort to dismantle hard-won environmental laws that is moving ahead, war or no war, and with or without Congress. It started on day one. On Inauguration Day 2001, GW suspended half a dozen directives issued by President Clinton in his final weeks in office — among them, the long-overdue reduction in the arsenic content of drinking water. This past October, Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced the reversal of more Clinton era regulations, this time involving hard-rock mining for minerals like gold, copper and lead. Norton's chums claimed that Clinton's rules, which would have given federal officials the power to block mines likely to cause "substantial irreparable harm" to water and other natural resources, were "11th-hour" concoctions. Of course, they'd been in the works for years — for far too long, in fact. Where it's been politically awkward to reverse laws by White House fiat, (the arsenic standard reversal turned out to be a misstep), Norton and Ashcroft have taken an alternative route to the same end: they've done nothing and let like-minded industry do the work. Here's how it works: Ticked-off industries are always suing to reverse regulations that they think hurt their business. Rather than defend such legislation, Bush's team has used those lawsuits to weaken Congress's rules through private settlement talks. Take the plan to phase out loud, gas-spilling snowmobiles from Yellowstone National Park. The public overwhelmingly approved the idea, but the Snowmobile Manufacturers Association did not and sued. The Bush administration announced this summer that it was going to settle with the snowmobile-sellers in private rather than defend the Park's protections in court. In the settlement, Norton's folks agreed to study the harmfulness of snowmobiles all over again. "They're using industry-initiated lawsuits to reverse Congressionally-passed regulations," said True. Just this week, the Washington Post revealed that Bush's new regulatory czar, John D. Graham approved inviting a dozen business lobbyists to a closed-door meeting to "identify and rank" regulations they'd like to repeal or radically change. The Family and Medical Leave Act and the Davis-Bacon Act's "prevailing wage" rules were on the list When Ashcroft takes the stand before the Senate it's probable that none of this will come up. The subject is the Justice Department's anti-terror tactics, military tribunals, interrogations, mass detention and the like. The government must do whatever it takes to wage a war to thwart those who would destroy American values and American way of life, Ashcroft can be expected to say. But what is going at the Justice Department is a reversal of the popular will on protecting the environment. Ashcroft and Norton's back-room deals undermine the promise of US democracy no less. In a different world a Senator would ask on behalf of her voting (not necessarily her campaign-funder) constituents: "What do you say to those who've seen the terrorist and he's you, Mr. Attorney General? Where do those American-loving people sign up?" © 2001 workingforchange.com URL: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=12458 <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
