Obama has been a joke so far.


Big Oil and Industry Cheer Salazar pick:

http://dpatterson.blogspot.com/2008/12/sal...rior-ok-by.html


From Reuters: Big oil executive 'BP America Chairman and President Robert Malone... expressed approval for U.S. Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, Obama's nominee for secretary of the interior... Also, Malone called for access to the Outer Continental Shelf for energy exploration...'

From NPR: 'The only ones pleased with the rumored pick were those in the agriculture and mining industries. During the campaign these folks, generally, were counted as supporters of Republican John McCain.'

"Salazar is the first name mentioned that we could support," said Laura Skaer, executive director of the Northwest Mining Association.

"Of all the names mentioned, Salazar is the one we're happiest with," said Dan Keppen, head of the Family Farm Alliance. Note: Keppen was formerly the head of Klamath Water Users Association, the group that worked with the Bush administration to manipulate science and overturn salmon restoration efforts in the Klamath Basin (leading to the deaths of as many as 70,000 salmon before they could spawn in September of 2002). His current group was launched to be the lobby front for agribusiness interests that get Bureau of Reclamation water.

From the Arizona Daily Star: Patrick Bray of the (anti-conservation) Arizona Cattlemen's Association on Salazar, "We feel that he understands the issues very well and that he would be a very viable candidate."

Colorado wildlife biologist Dr. Nicole Rosmarino in Denver: "Ken Salazar does not bring the change we need at Interior. Salazar will not take strong stances on behalf of science and environmental protection and is not up to the task of undoing the enormous damage the Bush administration has done to public lands, endangered species, and the credibility of the Department of the Interior over the last 8 years."

Also in the Star: Jon Marvel of the Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project says: Salazar "will completely undermine Obama's message of change. He will not bring change to the public lands of the western United States." He called the appointment "a travesty."

Coloradan Rob Edward of WildEarth Guardians says: "President Elect Obama is set to stick it to wildlife and public lands in the West, by appointing Senator (and rancher) Ken Salazar to head the Department of the Interior."

Arizonan Ron Kearns, a former wildlife biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, an Interior Dept. agency, says: "As a 30-year Republican, I will regret having voted for Obama if this happens."

Coloradan Phil Doe, who formerly worked with Interior agency Bureau of Reclamation says of Salazar: "He's green washed himself of late with his stand on the BLM oil and gas leases, but he is at bottom the same cautious careerist he always has been, aimlessly testing each decision for its potential impact on his slow steady rise to the top of the pond.

"He is anathema to many Dems here, especially for his support of the the war, his avuncular embrace of the little torture maestro, (Alberto) Gonzalez.., and his insistence that he is the senator for rural America. The latter is code for big ranching and farming America, the same people who are rewarded lavishly every year with a bundle of goodies from Washington. It sure as hell doesn't mean rural labor, among the poorest of the working poor. ...he is outright disliked by activist Dems.

"One thing is for sure, he would make the traditional big farm and ranch interests happy. And it is probably from this group that his name surfaced. From my own vantage, I would make book that the O man's promise of infrastructural restoration in the west would mean more dams and probably some irrigation at the public's expense if Salazar could influence the nature of the expenditures, and why couldn't he. He ain't much, and there is a place reserved in hell for his kind, the parsers. The O man needs to toss the west a bone, and Salazar sure as hell isn't it."



Arizonan Kieran Suckling of the Center for Biological Diversity says: "The Department of the Interior desperately needs a strong, forward looking, reform-minded Secretary. Unfortunately, Ken Salazar is not that man. He endorsed George Bush's selection of Gale Norton as Secretary of Interior, the very woman who initiated and encouraged the scandals that have rocked the Department of Interior. Virtually all of the misdeeds described in yesterday's Inspector General expose occurred during the tenure of the person Ken Salazar advocated for the position he is now seeking."

"Obama’s choices for Secretary of Energy and his Climate Change Czar indicate a determined willingness to take on global warming. That team will be weakened by the addition of Ken Salazar who has fought against federal action on global warming, against higher fuel efficiency standards, and for increased oil drilling and oil subsidies."

Also from Suckling: 'In addition to his misstep on Norton, Salazar endorsed the elevation of William Myers III to the federal bench. Myers was a former Interior Department Solicitor and lobbyist for the ranching industry. Senator Leahy called him ''the most anti-environmental candidate for the bench I have seen in 37 years in the Senate." Bizarrely, Salazar praised Myers' "outstanding legal reasoning" regarding endangered species, Indian affairs, federal lands and water, timber, and fish and wildlife issues. The American Bar Association rated Meyers as "not qualified." Salazar later supported Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General, introducing him at his Senate confirmation hearing.'

"One of the most important jobs of the Secretary of the Interior is to help pick dozens of critically important political appointees to oversee America's conservation system. His past misjudgments of Norton, Meyers and Gonzales give us little confidence he will choose wisely in the future," says Suckling.



As an ecologist and supporter of Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva as the best choice for Interior, at this time I don't support Salazar, but I will give him a chance to change his ways if he is nominated and confirmed as Secretary.

If Obama nominates Salazar, add it to the questionable pick of Lisa Jackson for EPA for a somewhat shaky start for his energy and environmental agenda.

With all due respect Mr. Obama and transition team, these picks are not the most courageous, and are not 'the change we need or can believe in' on energy and the environment.

Obama supporters fuming over Salazar pick:


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=98347731

Adds Kieran Suckling of the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity: "Ken Salazar is very closely tied to ranching and mining and very traditional, old-time, Western, extraction industries. We were promised that an Obama presidency would bring change."

Among those cheering the apparent Salazar nomination are the mining and agriculture industries, which generally backed Republican John McCain for president.

"I first heard it Monday and was excited because I have worked with him when I used to live in Colorado," said Laura Skaer, executive director of the Northwest Mining Association. "I know that he's fair and balanced."

I think Paul Vallas would have been a great pick, but maybe he'd be more useful as our next governor.

Time named Obama "Man of the Year." No surprise, but congrats to BO!

montana, outside of salazar & possibly vilsack, which of obama's appointees have you found to be so disappointing?

Not surprisingly, selective facts and distortions from Montana, who assumes we'll overlook them because, you know, where he goes the roads are gravel. Sure, Salazar has ties to both ranching and mining. GASP! A Rancher. Ranching, of course, is environmentally damaging, but it's also a simple reality of the administration fo federal public lands, and it's historically been the most widespread public land management activity in the western United States. Salazar's record on ranching issues is far more nuanced than his critics or Montana allow. And it's simply untrue to say that "all environmental groups are outraged." He has fairly high ratings from several significant wilderness and conservation lobby groups: American Wilderness Coalition 100 percent , American Wind Energy Association 100 percent, 70 to 80 percent rating with League of Conservation voters, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund 60 to 73 percent.

Anyhow, he's a capable adminstrator and is by no means demonstrably beholden to the interests or industries he has historically been tied to: his voting record and public actions belie any assertion to the contrary.

He's not perfect. His support for Gail Norton was alarming, and I certainly think we'll need to keep a watch on his adminstration of the BLM and the award of resource contracts and entitlements. But he's generally a middle-of-the-roader who tries to balance the interests of all of the constituencies and interests over which he has jurisdiction and pretty consistent with many of Obama's cabinet picks so far, which have tended to be very centrist. I think all of the hue and cry about his nomination is pretty alarmist.

on a more positive note...

The Hideout will bring a Chicago-style celebration of Barack Obama’s inauguration to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19. “The Big Shoulders Ball: Chicago Celebrates Change” will take place on inauguration eve at the Black Cat in the nation’s capital. Performers will include a Chicago-centric lineup of Tortoise, the Waco Brothers, Eleventh Dream Day, Jon Langford, Sally Timms, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Ken Vandermark, Freakwater, Icy Demons and Judson Claiborne. The celebration is a collaboration between the club and Interchange, a volunteer group that promotes political participation through the arts.

Tickets ($50) go on sale via www.blackcatdc.com at 4 p.m. Wednesday or at the Hideout, 1354 W Wabansia. Part of the proceeds will go the Chicago Public Schools marching band program and the Future of Music Coalition. Two buses will be chartered to transport performers, staff and patrons to the event.

Those are the two most important to me. Also, there's a very real lack of progressives in his cabinet. That's not "change".

The two most important there are LOCV and DOW, and both of those are shitty scores.




Probably because you are misinformed on this issue. Off all the things Bush has fucked up, the DOI and USFS are the worst. We needed a progressive set on reversing 8 years of mayhem, and we got shit.

Although everyone Obama has picked is going to be a step up in the competence department, only Chu really delivers on the outside the box thinking we were hoping for from this administration.

I am not misinformed, I'm at least as informed if not more informed than you. We have different assessments of Salazar's merits as an administrator. I agree that Bush's adminstration of Federal Public Lands was a trainwreck. I disagree that we need a total environmental interest group-sanctioned adminstrator to bring about meaningful change and improvement to the adminstration of public land.

http://www.hpj.com/archives/2007/apr07/apr...muptohelppr.cfm


"Farmers and ranchers are the original conservationists. They know best the habitat needs of many of our threatened species because they live and work on the same lands," said Senator Ken Salazar.

More of the same. This isn't change.

Yeah, he's been heading up some amazing research @ LBL. Some time ago I posted a youtube of a symposium he spoke at about it--they're working on some awesome ideas.

I wasn't hoping for that at all. Obama's not stupid nor naive, and he's enough of a student of history to recall how the first 2 years of Bill Clinton's presidency went while trying to have 'outside the box' thinkers in terms of health care among others. Obama going the competence route was exactly what I had in mind for him in the first term. Granted he did market himself as Mr. Change and perhaps it was naive of many of his supporters to let their imaginations get carried away with how much change he was going to bring about in his first term. But as far as I'm concerned I'd rather see a productive president than a big-thinking president forcing more gridlock with unrealistic legislation in mind.

This cabinet looks ready to get some stuff done. That's change enough for me.

^ correct

there's a reason why a competent bureaucrat like tom daschle is a more promising pick than a progressive reformer like ira magaziner

Pragmatism is the great protector of the status quo.

time will tell, obviously, but just for fun, for those of you who think obama is too pragmatic/centrist (or his cabinet is), what are the policy objectives that you would like to see a 'progressive' administration tackle within the next 2-4 years? because looking at what obama and his staff are saying everyday, no one is backing down from what obama had been promising all campaign long. and feel free to be specific

tell me what your idea of change looks like

the excellent is the enemy of the good

Ratifying the Roadless Initiative
Passing NREPA
Removing Bush's weaking of the endangered species act
Removing Bush's approval of concealed weapons in national parks
Removing the "Healthy Forests" initiative.
Increasing protections for endangered species


and.....


http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200409/bu...ecord_print.asp


THE BUSH RECORD

More than 300 Crimes against Nature


Source: Natural Resources Defense Council

JANUARY 20, 2001
White House freezes all rules set at end of Clinton term–including tougher ones for raw sewage

JANUARY 20, 2001
Bush proposes opening Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling

FEBRUARY 12, 2001
Energy Department puts off enforcing new efficiency standards for air conditioners

FEBRUARY 15, 2001
EPA delays new rule protecting wetlands from mining and development

MARCH 7, 2001
Fish and Wildlife Service withdraws report calling for protection of endangered salmonids

MARCH 9, 2001
Bush appoints oil and mining lobbyist as deputy secretary of Interior

MARCH 13, 2001
Bush reneges on campaign promise to reduce carbon dioxide emissions

MARCH 16, 2001
Bush administration refuses to defend in court rule protecting 58 million acres of wild forest

MARCH 20, 2001
Bush withdraws proposed stricter limits on arsenic in drinking water

MARCH 28, 2001
Bush administration rejects Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change

APRIL 9, 2001
Bush budget proposal cuts $500 million from EPA

MAY 10, 2001
Bush administration refuses to name industry participants in Cheney energy task force

MAY 12, 2001
Bureau of Land Management allows continued grazing on endangered-tortoise land in California

MAY 17, 2001
Bush releases energy plan heavily favoring fossil fuels and nukes

MAY 17, 2001
Forest Service reduces citizen and scientific participation in decision-making

MAY 22, 2001
EPA officially suspends stricter limits for arsenic in drinking water

JUNE 19, 2001
States and others sue Energy Department over air-conditioner rules (see FEBRUARY 12, 2001)

JUNE 21, 2001
Timber lobbyist Mark Rey appointed to key post in Forest Service

JULY 2, 2001
Oil drilling off Florida coast proposed by Bush administration

JULY 23, 2001
Bush budget proposes cutting 270 EPA inspector jobs

AUGUST 2, 2001
Army Corps of Engineers kills plan to protect Missouri River wildlife by changing stream flows

AUGUST 8, 2001
Army Corps of Engineers weakens wetlands protections by slackening permit requirements

AUGUST 12, 2001
National forests opened to roadbuilding and logging by Forest Service rule changes

AUGUST 14, 2001
EPA delays tougher rules for toxic power-plant emissions

AUGUST 17, 2001
Federal judge's decision to ban drilling off California's coast appealed by administration

AUGUST 27, 2001
Cattle still grazing on tortoise habitat in California, despite BLM agreement to move them

AUGUST 28, 2001
Bush administration proposes missile-defense test installation in Pacific; environmentalists sue

AUGUST 28, 2001
Bush administration reconsiders ban on recycling radioactive metals into consumer products

SEPTEMBER 13, 2001
EPA lies about Manhattan hazards after 9/11, calls area safe despite extreme toxic pollution

SEPTEMBER 20, 2001
Forest Service proposes further reduction in citizen participation in policymaking

OCTOBER 25, 2001
Interior Department weakens environmental rules for mining operations

OCTOBER 31, 2001
Arsenic flip-flop: Under public pressure, EPA adopts higher standard after all (see MAY 22, 2001)

NOVEMBER 2, 2001
Army Corps of Engineers retreats from policy of "no net loss" of wetlands

NOVEMBER 5, 2001
Bush signs bill to boost spending for national forests, but with harmful logging riders

NOVEMBER 29, 2001
Minnesota's Voyageurs National Park reopens winter lakes to snowmobiles

DECEMBER 3, 2001
Army Corps of Engineers decides not to decommission Snake River dams in Pacific Northwest

DECEMBER 14, 2001
Administration announces weaker standards for nuclear waste storage at Nevada's Yucca Mountain

DECEMBER 14, 2001
Forest Service announces more roadbuilding on undeveloped forestlands

JANUARY 9, 2002
Administration backs hydrogen-car research, but most hydrogen to come from fossil fuels

JANUARY 10, 2002
Study shows big drop in enforcement of environmental laws under Bush

JANUARY 10, 2002
Bush administration fights in court for new oil drilling off California coast

JANUARY 14, 2002
Report shows Interior secretary squelched her own agency's criticism of weaker wetlands rules

JANUARY 14, 2002
Wetlands protections weakened nationwide in flip-flop from Bush campaign promise

JANUARY 14, 2002
Park Service okays more oil drilling in Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve

JANUARY 21, 2002
BLM preliminarily approves gas drilling in Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, Montana

JANUARY 22, 2002
Forest Service sues to overturn ban on salvage logging in Montana's Bitterroot National Forest

JANUARY 28, 2002
Bush supports Cheney's refusal to release secret energy-task-force records

FEBRUARY 4, 2002
Bush slashes environmental-education spending

FEBRUARY 4, 2002
Bush budget proposes cutting $1 billion from environmental spending

FEBRUARY 4, 2002
Bush budget proposes $404 million to support timber sales in national forests

FEBRUARY 11, 2002
Environmentalists sue Park Service for allowing motorized vehicles in Georgia wilderness

FEBRUARY 14, 2002
Bush gives power plants ten more years to cut mercury and sulfur dioxide emissions

FEBRUARY 14, 2002
White House unveils global-warming plan that lets C02 emissions continue at present rate

FEBRUARY 15, 2002
Bush endorses plan to store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste in Nevada's Yucca Mountain

FEBRUARY 15, 2002
Forest Service approves mining exploration in Missouri's Mark Twain National Forest

FEBRUARY 16, 2002
Bush administration asks court to delay endangered-species protection in California

FEBRUARY 19, 2002
Phaseout of snowmobiles in national parks delayed

FEBRUARY 22, 2002
BLM proposes to let states allow vehicles in previously off-limits federal lands

FEBRUARY 23, 2002
Bush's budget asks that taxpayers pay for Superfund cleanups instead of polluters

FEBRUARY 27, 2002
Top EPA official resigns to protest Bush's effort to weaken rules for polluting industries

FEBRUARY 27, 2002
Federal judge orders Bush administration to release Cheney's secret energy-task-force records

MARCH 12, 2002
Bush administration belatedly complies with court order to protect desert tortoise

MARCH 18, 2002
EPA exempts large category of power plants from lawsuits for Clean Air Act violations

MARCH 25, 2002
Discovery that White House misspent $135,612 of clean-energy funds to print its energy plan

MARCH 29, 2002
Pentagon seeks exemption from environmental laws

APRIL 1, 2002
Deadline passes for administration to set first new fuel-economy standards since 1996

APRIL 11, 2002
Army Corps of Engineers approves mining limestone in 5,400 acres of Florida's everglades

APRIL 14, 2002
White House kills program that funded environmental research for graduate students

APRIL 22, 2002
EPA citizen-watchdog resigns in protest, charging that agency |officials muzzled him

MAY 3, 2002
New EPA rules allow mining operations to dump waste in waterways

MAY 13, 2002
Administration asks judge not to limit waste-dumping from mountaintop mines

MAY 13, 2002
Bush signs farm bill that pays big subsidies to polluting agricultural operations

MAY 21, 2002
Ban on mining in and around Oregon's Siskiyou National Forest ends

MAY 23, 2002
Energy Department cuts air-conditioner efficiency standards

MAY 24, 2002
Bush-Putin summit produces nuclear treaty that puts no long-term limit on nuclear weapons

MAY 24, 2002
Bush administration drops plan |for contractors to put environmental protection into projects

JUNE 3, 2002
Oil drilling leases on more than 500,000 acres in Alaska signed by Interior Department

JUNE 7, 2002
Interior secretary rejects proposal to limit offshore oil drilling in California

JUNE 13, 2002
Missouri River restoration halted indefinitely by Army Corps of Engineers

JUNE 13, 2002
EPA proposes weakening clean-air rules for 17,000 power plants

JUNE 13, 2002
Judge halts Bush administration move to end habitat protection on 500,000 acres in California

JUNE 17, 2002
Judge rejects Army Corps of Engineers plan to allow mine-waste dumping

JUNE 24, 2002
EPA abandons plan to clean up storm-water pollution

JUNE 25, 2002
Bush administration blames wildfires on environmentalists

JUNE 25, 2002
Snowmobiling allowed to continue in national parks, though with some restrictions

JUNE 25, 2002
EPA ombudsman testifies Bush administration pressured him to halt study of radiation standards

JULY 1, 2002
Bush administration cuts funding for toxic cleanups to half of that requested by EPA

JULY 2, 2002
Bush administration rescinds 4 million acres of protection for endangered California frog

JULY 10, 2002
Judge orders administration to protect 400,000 Calif. acres for endangered Alameda whipsnake

JULY 15, 2002
Navy given permit to use low-frequency sonar, a known threat to whales

JULY 17, 2002
Bush administration opposes Senate bill to require 10 percent renewable energy by 2020

JULY 22, 2002
Bush's State Department says it will withhold $34 million from UN family-planning program

JULY 25, 2002
Another top EPA official quits in protest

JULY 26, 2002
Bush administration backs congressional proposal to exempt companies from disclosing hazards

AUGUST 7, 2002
EPA proposes weakened water-cleanups; asks for "voluntary" efforts

AUGUST 15, 2002
Conservatives praise Bush for skipping United Nations summit on sustainable development

AUGUST 22, 2002
Interior Department claims new power plant won't harm air at Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky.

AUGUST 22, 2002
Bush calls for increased logging in name of fire prevention

AUGUST 27, 2002
U.S. opposes targets for renewable energy use at World Summit on Sustainable Development

AUGUST 29, 2002
Interior Department approves billion-dollar plan to store water under Mojave Desert

AUGUST 30, 2002
Foe of ecological restoration Allan Fitzsimmons named head of federal wildfire prevention

SEPTEMBER 3, 2002
White House asks exemption from Freedom of Information Act in energy-task-force suit

SEPTEMBER 4, 2002
Federal officials reject call to add white marlin to endangered list

SEPTEMBER 9, 2002
States' EPA air-quality inspections shown to have dropped by 34 percent

SEPTEMBER 13, 2002
EPA weakens proposed anti-pollution standards for off-road vehicles

SEPTEMBER 15, 2002
EPA deletes global-warming section from pollution report

SEPTEMBER 17, 2002
Bush replacing most scientists on chemical-hazard panel with those tied to chemical industry

SEPTEMBER 18, 2002
Bush executive order cuts citizen involvement in review of road and airport projects

SEPTEMBER 21, 2002
Killing of 34,000 salmonids results from federal diversion of Klamath River water in Oregon

SEPTEMBER 27, 2002
Interior secretary okays gold mining on sacred Indian site in California

SEPTEMBER 30, 2002
New EPA water-quality report shows U.S. waters are getting dirtier

OCTOBER 1, 2002
Fish and Wildlife Service reverses order to increase Missouri River flow to protect species

OCTOBER 3, 2002
Conservationists urge White House to release $36.5 million in conservation funds for farmlands

OCTOBER 4, 2002
Bureau of Land Management approves largest oil and gas drilling exploration ever in Utah

OCTOBER 8, 2002
EPA water administrator says war on terror leaves little money for water cleanup

OCTOBER 8, 2002
Bush stacks panel on lead poisoning with people tied to the lead industry

OCTOBER 8, 2002
Federal workers reveal memo from EPA chief encouraging them to support president when off-duty

OCTOBER 9, 2002
Bush administration sides with auto industry in suit against California's emission rules

OCTOBER 10, 2002
Administration failed to assess vulnerability of chemical facilities to terrorists, GAO says

OCTOBER 15 2002
Superfund cleanups drop to 42 per year from average of 76 under Clinton, report shows

OCTOBER 16, 2002
Judge finds Forest Service violates Endangered Species Act by not protecting spotted-owl habitat

OCTOBER 17, 2002
Bush administration told by federal judge to release energy documents in Sierra Club lawsuit

OCTOBER 31, 2002
EPA halts funding at seven Superfund sites

NOVEMBER 1, 2002
Bush administration threatens withdrawal from historic UN population accord

NOVEMBER 5, 2002
Polluters paid 64 percent less in fines under Bush than in last two Clinton years, report shows

NOVEMBER 11, 2002
Bush administration supports renewed elephant-ivory trade

NOVEMBER 12, 2002
National Park Service proposal would allow 1,100 snowmobiles a day in Yellowstone, Grand Teton

NOVEMBER 21, 2002
Natural-gas drilling at Padre Island National Seashore in Texas approved

NOVEMBER 22, 2002
EPA proceeds with weakening Clean Air Act rules for power plants

NOVEMBER 27, 2002
Forest Service proposes rule changes to increase logging, grazing, mining on 192 million acres

DECEMBER 2, 2002
Bush administration plan for oil drilling off California coast ruled illegal by federal judges

DECEMBER 4, 2002
Bush administration asks for five more years of study before acting on global warming

DECEMBER 12, 2002
Federal court rules against administration, upholds roadless rule for 58.5 million acres

DECEMBER 12, 2002
White House proposes tiny increase in automobile fuel economy: 1.5 mpg in five years

DECEMBER 13, 2002
Federal judge blocks Army Corps of Engineers' Snake River dredging plan in Pacific Northwest

DECEMBER 16, 2002
EPA's new factory-farm rule favors big agribusiness polluters

DECEMBER 18, 2002
White House budget office values elderly lives 63 percent less in environmental cost-benefit analysis

DECEMBER 20, 2002
Federal judge blocks Interior Department from permitting oil exploration in eastern Utah

DECEMBER 30, 2002
EPA proposes two-year exemption of oil and gas industry from storm-water pollution rules

JANUARY 6, 2003
Bureau of Land Management rule change gives states leeway for new roads in wildlands

JANUARY 10, 2003
Bush budget requests $6.4 billion for Energy Department's nuclear weapons activity

JANUARY 10, 2003
Bush administration proposes pulling federal safeguards from 20 percent of U.S. wetlands

JANUARY 13, 2003
Pentagon plans to ask for exemption from environmental laws on millions of acres

JANUARY 16, 2003
Environmental personnel scratched from USAID policy bureau

JANUARY 17, 2003
Interior Department proposes oil exploration on up to 9 million acres of Alaska's North Slope

JANUARY 19, 2003
Pentagon continues lobbying for exemptions from environmental laws

JANUARY 21, 2003
EPA refuses to ban weed-killer atrazine, a possible carcinogen

JANUARY 22, 2003
EPA retains unsafe limits for toxic perchlorates

JANUARY 24, 2003
Manatees get federal protection, thanks to lawsuit settlement

JANUARY 27, 2003
Bush administration proposes privatizing thousands of National Park Service jobs

JANUARY 27, 2003
California's giant sequoia threatened by Forest Service proposal to resume logging nearby

JANUARY 29, 2003
Bush administration wins court ruling that legalizes mountaintop-removal mining permits

JANUARY 30, 2003
Bureau of Land Management proposes rollback of Clinton-era restrictions on grazing

JANUARY 30, 2003
Exemptions to phaseout of ozone-destroying methyl bromide planned by Bush administration

FEBRUARY 11, 2003
EPA drafts new rules to relax toxic-air-pollution standards

FEBRUARY 20, 2003
National Park Service finalizes rules allowing snowmobiles in national parks

FEBRUARY 25, 2003
National Academy of Sciences panel strongly criticizes Bush's global-warming plan

FEBRUARY 27, 2003
Bush's "Clear Skies" plan allows much more pollution than if Clean Air Act were enforced, critics charge

FEBRUARY 27, 2003
Transportation Department speeds up environmentally harmful road projects

FEBRUARY 28, 2003
Oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge his "greatest wish," says high-ranking Interior official

FEBRUARY 28, 2003
Wilderness protection for millions of acres in Alaska's Tongass forest rejected by Forest Service

MARCH 4, 2003
National Park Service slaughters 231 Yellowstone bison

MARCH 7, 2003
Paul Wolfowitz tells military leaders to find reasons to exempt military from environmental rules

MARCH 10, 2003
EPA exempts oil and gas industry from President Clinton's tighter water-pollution rules

MARCH 13, 2003
EPA withdraws another Clinton-era water-pollution cleanup rule

MARCH 13, 2003
EPA official testifies in Congress in favor of exempting military from environmental laws

MARCH 18, 2003
EPA allows sludge dumping in Potomac River to continue for seven more years

MARCH 18, 2003
Fish and Wildlife proposes removing protections from endangered wolves

MARCH 18, 2003
Federal judge orders Interior Department to continue protecting manatees

MARCH 18, 2003
GAO again criticizes Bush administration for failing to reduce security risks at chemical plants

MARCH 25, 2003
Park Service adopts plan for Yellowstone/Teton allowing1,100 snowmobiles a day

APRIL 1, 2003
Bush administration drops court battle to allow California offshore drilling

APRIL 1, 2003
Bush administration barely raises SUV gas mileage requirements, to 1.5 mpg more by 2007

APRIL 3, 2003
Bureau of Reclamation again diverts water from Klamath River, where salmonid kill occurred

APRIL 4, 2003
New U.S.—Mexico pollution treaty signed, but lacks funding

APRIL 7, 2003
Bush administration asks UN to remove Yellowstone from endangered world heritage status

APRIL 8, 2003
Protection plan for 76-mile stretch of California coast abandoned by National Park Service

APRIL 9, 2003
Interior Department paves way for new roads on federal lands in Utah

APRIL 10, 2003
U.S. Fish and Wildlife signs off on plan to reopen Imperial Sand Dunes to off-road vehicles

APRIL 20, 2003
Toxic cleanups still lagging: 41 percent fewer Superfund sites cleaned up by EPA, report says

APRIL 21, 2003
Sharp criticism of Bush administration air-pollution policies by independent panel

APRIL 24, 2003
White House unveils pro-industry chemical security bill

APRIL 28, 2003
White House bans EPA from discussing perchlorate pollution

MAY 2, 2003
Vehicle fuel economy drops to 22-year low of 20.8 mpg, says EPA report

MAY 2, 2003
Permits for cross-border power lines from Mexican power plants illegal, says federal judge

MAY 5, 2003
Navy's use of sonar causes "stampede"–and possibly death–of marine mammals in Puget Sound

MAY 7, 2003
EPA drops "senior death discount" calculation (see DECEMBER 18, 2002)

MAY 13, 2003
Fish and Wildlife Service signs off on mining in Montana's Cabinet Mountains Wilderness

MAY 14, 2003
White House's $247 billion transportation plan slashes environmental protection

MAY 14, 2003
EPA proposes easing, delaying smog-control rules

MAY 21, 2003
Christine Todd Whitman, embattled EPA chief, resigns

MAY 30, 2003
Park Service opens Maryland and Virginia's Assateague Island National Seashore to Jet Skis

MAY 30, 2003
Forest-fire plan eliminates environmental review of logging projects under 1,000 acres

JUNE 2, 2003
Energy Department announces$2 billion to $4 billion plan to build new "mini" nukes

JUNE 3, 2003
Energy Department funds study on how to ease effects of global warming for Alaska oil drillers

JUNE 5, 2003
Forest Service plan would triple logging limits in California's Sierra Nevada

JUNE 9, 2003
USDA reverses Clinton ban on most logging and roadbuilding on 58.5 million acres

JUNE 20, 2003
Defense Department reneges on plan to test for perchlorate pollution at U.S. bases

JUNE 23, 2003
Bush administration again deletes references to dangers of global warming from EPA report

JUNE 27, 2003
Federal judge halts timber sale in Montana's Kootenai National Forest

JULY 1, 2003
Autopsies link Navy sonar to porpoise deaths, environmentalists charge

JULY 8, 2003
Federal court rejects Cheney's argument for keeping energy-task-force records secret

JULY 12, 2003
EPA refuses to regulate perchlorate and other drinking-water contaminants

JULY 17, 2003
Energy Department lobbies Congress for law to get around court ruling on nuke waste

JULY 17, 2003
Federal judge rules administration must redo water plan for Oregon/California Klamath River

JULY 22, 2003
Army Corps of Engineers ruled in contempt for defying order to change Missouri River flows

JULY 24, 2003
Bush administration softens demand for outsourcing of federal jobs, including at national parks

AUGUST 8, 2003
Bush administration settlement of timber suit could double logging in Northwest

AUGUST 11, 2003
Bush taps anti-environmental Utah governor Mike Leavitt to head EPA

AUGUST 26, 2003
New EPA rules ignore mercury pollution from chlorine plant

AUGUST 27, 2003
EPA excludes 17,000 facilities from upgrading pollution controls when installing new equipment

AUGUST 29, 2003
U.S. court rules against EPA's loopholes in mountaintop-removal-mining regulations

SEPTEMBER 2, 2003
EPA weakens ban on selling polluted sites by reinterpreting law

SEPTEMBER 2, 2003
EPA refuses to regulate ballast-water discharges from ships

SEPTEMBER 4, 2003
EPA finds 274 violations of laws for dumping mountaintop-mining debris

SEPTEMBER 22, 2003
White House's own study concludes benefits of environmental regulations far outweigh costs

SEPTEMBER 23, 2003
Forest Service estimates $2 million lost in timber sale from Alaska's Tongass

SEPTEMBER 24, 2003
White House recommendations would undermine public participation in environmental planning

SEPTEMBER 25, 2003
EPA proposes deal that would let polluting factory farms avoid prosecution

OCTOBER 1, 2003
Bush fails to renew energy-conservation program that saved government $300 million a year

OCTOBER 6, 2003
EPA rules that farmers can't sue pesticide makers if chemicals fail to meet stated claims

OCTOBER 10, 2003
Interior Department overturns limits on acreage where gold mines can dump waste

OCTOBER 10, 2003
Judge orders Interior Department to stop stalling on owl habitat protection

OCTOBER 10, 2003
EPA proposal to allow warmer waters behind Oregon dams threatens salmonids

OCTOBER 10, 2003
EPA inspector general criticizes agency for lax enforcement

OCTOBER 13, 2003
Bush administration proposes lifting ban on importing endangered species

OCTOBER 13, 2003
$18.6 million Forest Service study says outsourcing its jobs would rarely be cost-effective

OCTOBER 17, 2003
EPA announces it will not regulate dioxins in sewage sludge dumped on land

OCTOBER 31, 2003
EPA declines to restrict use of pesticide atrazine

NOVEMBER 4, 2003
Superfund cleanups lag for third straight year

NOVEMBER 4, 2003
Environmentalists criticize revised everglades-recovery plan for failing to ensure natural water flow

NOVEMBER 13, 2003
Park Service workers charge that Bush policies will "destroy the grand legacy of our national parks"

NOVEMBER 14, 2003
Bush administration loses bid to increase ozone-depleting methyl bromide

NOVEMBER 18, 2003
Administration admits blame for kill of 34,000 salmonids in Klamath River (see SEPTEMBER 21, 2002)

NOVEMBER 18, 2003
EPA proposes looser regulations on dumping low-level radioactive waste in landfills

DECEMBER 3, 2003
Bush signs "Healthy Forests" bill: more logging, less species protection on millions of acres

DECEMBER 4, 2003
EPA seeks to reclassify mercury as "nontoxic"

DECEMBER 5, 2003
Bureau of Land Management proposes weakening rules for grazing livestock on federal land

DECEMBER 9, 2003
Federal violation notices to polluters down almost 60 percent; almost 30 percent fewer fines

DECEMBER 16, 2003
White House abandons plans to weaken Clean Water Act protections for wetlands

DECEMBER 17, 2003
Defense Department urged to protect endangered tortoise during robot race

DECEMBER 17, 2003
Federal judge overturns administration decision not to protect orcas in Puget Sound

DECEMBER 19, 2003
Forest Service opens grizzly bear habitat to snowmobiles in Montana's Flathead National Forest

DECEMBER 23, 2003
Forest Service continues to allow logging in Tongass, world's largest temperate rainforest

DECEMBER 24, 2003
Federal court blocks EPA plan to weaken Clean Air Act by exempting power plants from review

JANUARY 1, 2004
Only 50 companies agree to Bush administration's voluntary plan to cut global-warming emissions

JANUARY 8, 2004
$175 million Superfund shortfall prevents cleanups at 11 sites, slows down others

JANUARY 7, 2004
White House proposes overturning ban on mining near streams

JANUARY 9, 2004
Pentagon to seek more environmental exemptions

JANUARY 9, 2004
Forest Service limits citizens' right to challenge logging plans by appeal or in court

JANUARY 13, 2004
Federal court overturns Bush administration's weakening of energy efficiency for air conditioners

JANUARY, 21 2004
Interior secretary asks to triple number of gas-drilling permits in Wyoming

JANUARY 22, 2004
EPA scales back monitoring of smokestack pollution

JANUARY 22, 2004
Interior Department opens 9 million acres on Alaska's North Slope to oil drilling

JANUARY 23, 2004
Forest Service plans to boost logging on up to 3.2 million acres of Appalachian forests

JANUARY 27, 2004
White House says EPA doesn't have to study pesticide effects on imperiled wildlife

JANUARY 29, 2004
Bush administration proposes letting contractors police federal nuclear-plant safety

JANUARY 30, 2004
Parts of EPA's mercury-pollution plan lifted verbatim from industry memos

FEBRUARY 2, 2004
Bush budget proposes $10 million cut in funds for endangered species

FEBRUARY 5, 2004
EPA admits twice as many children (630,000) in danger from mercury exposure

FEBRUARY 6, 2004
Clean Air Act changes undermining enforcement, says former EPA official

FEBRUARY 9, 2004
Energy development allowed inside Colorado and Utah's Dinosaur National Monument

FEBRUARY 11, 2004
Forest Service plan allows mining, drilling in Alabama's national forests

FEBRUARY 13, 2004
EPA no longer to require "worst case scenarios" from industry

FEBRUARY 15, 2004
Forest Service allows poisoning of prairie dogs in four states

FEBRUARY 16, 2004
White House ignores threat from gasoline additive MTBE

FEBRUARY 18, 2004
U.S. Navy plans to dredge endangered turtle habitat in Key West

FEBRUARY 18, 2004
20 Nobel Prize—winning scientists say administration distorts science for political gain

FEBRUARY 24, 2004
Federal mine-safety official demoted after questioning mine accident investigation

FEBRUARY 27, 2004
Missouri River management plan ignores fish protections

MARCH 3, 2004
Administration proposes to relax rules on killing wolves in Idaho and Montana

MARCH 9, 2004
358 conservation scientists urge administration to halt plan to import endangered species

MARCH 10, 2004
Forest Service hires PR firm to promote Sierra Nevada plan that would triple logging

MARCH 11, 2004
EPA inspector general says agency's rosy drinking-water assessments used false data

MARCH 12, 2004
Forest Service relents: no snowmobiles in grizzly habitat in Montana's Flathead National Forest

MARCH 15, 2004
Court rules BLM illegally opened Montana area to off-road vehicles

MARCH 16, 2004
EPA approves plan to inject toxic waste underground in Michigan wells

MARCH 19, 2004
FDA warnings on mercury in tuna not strong enough, scientists charge

MARCH 24, 2004
NRDC sues Bush administration for withholding records on perchlorate in drinking water

MARCH 25, 2004
BLM suspends plans for energy development at Dinosaur National Monument, Colo. and Utah

MARCH 26, 2004
Delay in phaseout of dangerous methyl bromide pesticide negotiated by United States

MARCH 30, 2004
Federal court orders Bush administration to release forest-planning documents

MARCH 31, 2004
Federal judge orders Energy Department to release more Cheney energy-task-force records

MARCH 31, 2004
EPA prosecution of environmental crimes even weaker under new administrator

APRIL 1, 2004
Bush administration worked behind scenes to weaken European Union chemical safety rules

APRIL 1, 2004
Mining whistleblower accuses Bush administration of cover-up in huge coal-sludge spill

APRIL 2, 2004
Bush administration sells 155 acres in Colorado to Phelps Dodge Corporation for $875

APRIL 6, 2004
EPA weakens safety rules for rat poison at industry's behest

APRIL 7, 2004
White House downplays effects of mercury from coal-fired power plants

APRIL 8, 2004
Interior secretary allows aerial hunting of Alaska wolves to continue

APRIL 9, 2004
Interior Department blocks release of data on oil drilling to Environmental Working Group

APRIL 11, 2004
Bush administration budget asks for $35 million cut in lead-poisoning prevention

APRIL 13, 2004
Administration spending more on nuclear weapons research than in Cold War, report says

APRIL 15, 2004
Fish and Wildlife Service rejects protection for Yellowstone trumpeter swans

APRIL 19, 2004
39 state attorneys general urge denial of Pentagon's request for environmental exemptions

APRIL 20, 2004
Yellowstone Park employees advised to wear hearing protection from snowmobile noise

APRIL 22, 2004
National Council of Churches strongly criticizes Bush's air-pollution policies

APRIL 28, 2004
USDA weakens organic-food standards, allowing hormones, feed raised with pesticides

APRIL 28, 2004
Interior Department limits designations of critical habitat for endangered species

APRIL 29, 2004
Report shows that more than half of all Americans live in areas with hazardous levels of smog

MAY 3, 2004
Power companies have raised $6.6 million for Bush, Republicans, report says

MAY 12, 2004
Scientists say Yucca Mountain nuclear facility could leak far sooner than Energy Department claims

MAY 21, 2004
Whistle-blowing federal biologist quits over politicized decision-making

MAY 21, 2004
EPA officials with timber ties weaken toxic formaldehyde standards for plywood industry

MAY 26, 2004
USDA backs down, keeps organic-food standards (see APRIL 28, 2004)

MAY 27, 2004
U.S. Army retracts order to cut some environmental-protection practices

MAY 28, 2004
Army Corps lets sewers, ditches "mitigate" loss of streams to mountaintop-removal mining

MAY 28, 2004
A dozen major national parks hit by cutbacks to visitor services and staffing

JUNE 1, 2004
Federal court rejects EPA's proposed snowmobile standards

JUNE 1, 2004
Administration delays greater protection for marbled murrelet to benefit timber industry

JUNE 2, 2004
Exemption of military from migratory-bird-protection rules proposed by administration

JUNE 2, 2004
New EPA rules allow more fine-particle pollution from 1,000 industrial plants

JUNE 3, 2004
Bush's 2005 budget zeroes out funding for research on abrupt climate change

JUNE 7, 2004
Bush wins ruling to allow Mexican trucks into U.S. without meeting clean-air standards

JUNE 8, 2004
Reduction in Snake and Columbia River water releases, harming Northwest salmon, announced

JUNE 15, 2004
Administration's pro-oil, pro-nuke energy proposal stalled in Congress

JUNE 24, 2004
Supreme Court ruling allows Cheney to keep energy-task-force secrets until after election

JULY 8, 2004
Bush team pushes one of biggest timber sales in U.S. history under guise of fire protection

JULY 12, 2004
Administration proposes forcing states to pay 2.5 times more for public transit than for roads

JULY 12, 2004
Administration to eliminate Clinton-era roadless rule, ending protections for 58.5 million acres

JULY 16, 2004
Fish and Wildlife Service to end protection for eastern wolves and abandon reintroduction plans

JULY 16, 2004
Bush refuses to release $34 million for international family planning appropriated by Congress

NOVEMBER 2, 2004
ELECTION DAY





That's just the first four years.....

Think Salazar is up to the task?

Been reading this whole debate about Salazar and getting schooled. All I know is I get uncomfortable when environmental "advocates" dress like cowboys at press conferences. It sends a message, and not the one I'm hoping to hear.

and are these things that obama (or any other candidate) has talked about on the campaign trail or other places? i ask because, i have no idea. i understand this is your pet issue, but considering we are in the midst of two wars & a recession, chances are that these particular issues may not hit the top of the priority list. we'll see though

but yeah, if you're a single issue voter, and a guy like salazar is put in charge of that one issue, i could see how you'd be disappointed

Upper-tier salaries for corporations really need to be "re-imagined." They are, in the cold-hearted language of the Republicans, incommensurate with the "global economy." Some of that needs to be "re-assigned," especially in the case of shit like investment banks, who can currently hold the Fed hostage on a whim.

Speaking of "global economy," I'm all for rethinking that fool's paradise, in the way other world paradises are currently mocked by this world capitalism junta, such as communist cloudcuckoolands and Jihadi caliphates. That is to say, erode the fuck out of NAFTA. Shit ain't working. Least of all for Americans (says my self-interested self).

I'm a big fan of the long-term infrastructure upkeep that's been bandied about.

Health care; insurance companies need a kneecapping in the worst way. Probably a massive overhaul of the health care system is needed in order break the current clusterfuck of blame over who's driving up costs.

i doubt nafta will be going anywhere, but i'm optimistic w/ both obama's infrastructure plans & health care plans

I'm not a single issue voter. However, there's no question that the most damage done by Bush has been public lands/environment and foreign policy. The recession is just a product of a society that produced too little/spent over their heads for too long.

Republican strategist thrilled with Obama picks:

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/pop...16&src=news

"It's change that's really, really familiar"


Is this the kind of change we deserved? Why are democrats the ones pissed off right now instead of Republicans? Ask yourself that question.

I read this sentence 4 times and I still don't know what you're trying to say here besides 'erode NAFTA' but only because you specifically said it afterwards.

If I may? I think he (she?) is scoffing at the idea of anything remotely resembling a 'global' economy when only a handful of people in a handful of nations see any benefits from 'globalization'.

edit: except he (she?) will most likely use bigger, cooler words than I did.

Sorry, I was typing too quickly. What I mean is that the current ruling class in the West enjoys berating and scoffing at other "world paradises" which they oppose like caliphates and classless communist/socialist Edens on earth; yet, the current ruling class, in my opinion, is pitching a similarly insidious "paradise," that of free trade and shareholder overlords; a place where the shareholder's bottom line always comes before the pay, safety, and health of the worker or the quality of the product for that matter. I want no part of that bill of goods.

I'm not sure if I'm saying something relevant to what you're saying, but my belief is that the global economy is not an idea but something that is inevitable. With technology and trade proliferating like it has in the last 20 years, complaining about globalization is about as fruitful as complaining about the weather.

Before I go on, am I being relevant to what you're talking about?

Marx felt communism was inevitable, too. It really isn't inevitable, though that's what the Masters of the Universe want you to believe.

Marx was correct for about 35-40% of the world. And he was writing before Capitalism had yet to produce a selling point as enticing as a Middle Class.

As India, China, and European Union more intensely develop their capital and resources it's as good as inevitable. It's already here in fact. The snow sure made my commute home yesterday a bitch, didn't it?

So the most powerful nation should do nothing as its own workers descend into a caste system, where its working class is eventually making that of Malaysian stitchers?

As far as the progressive-credentials of the Obama team assembled so far, what concerns me is that they are incrementalists at a time when sweeping change has never been more called for and necessary. If they can't stop the bleeding tinkering around the edges like that and things are worse in 2012, the right wing counter-revolution will make the days of Bush & Gingrich seem like the New Deal & the Great Society rolled into one.

FTR, I have no problem appointing a few conservatives to the cabinet, but at the expense of no progressives, the very people who got you elected? It just seems like a big FU and the cherry on top is picking an anti-gay bigot fundementalist to speak at your inaugural, the same guy who in a highly public forum over the summer threw softball questions at McCain while trying to get Obama to trip up on abortion and stem cell research.

Montana maybe you'd like to be Obama's pick for Secretary of The Wilderness?

The guy's not even in office yet, Jesus fuck. I don't remember him being elected on a platform environmental issues, his in-tray has The US Economy on the top of it. Despite this appointment there's little doubt that he'll be an improvement on Bush in an area like this.

Not at all, I think the most powerful nation should invest in its intelligence and its schools. I agree the working and middle classes are getting the worst squeeze out of globalization, but when you have developing countries whose said stitchers consider those wages an improvement in their lifestyle, it's going to be very hard for workers in the US to compete with that. The US has come to a point where it's not as reliant on itself, and the world isn't as reliant on the US as it used to be. That's just a harsh reality that must be accepted. There will be no revolt against it. It's economically inevitable. Therefore, this country has no choice but to getting moving on becoming innovative again. Through, I believe, alternative energy and stem cell research we can form new markets, create a refreshed working and middle class, and make the country competitive in the global economy. I'm still not sure if we're debating the same topic though...

how does everyone feel about Obama having right wing bigot Rick Warren handling the prayers?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...mesg_id=4669958

So far, the only thing Obama has managed to do is to piss off democrats.

Obama pick for Ag Sec outrages organic and family farmers:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...mesg_id=7988548



Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

Mitch, the public lands and environment has been hit the hardest under Bush other than foreign policy. Even now he and his pals are taking turns with last minute rules, kicking and shitting all over it. In the last few days, Bush has gutted the endangered species act, forced concealed weapons in national parks, forced a rule allowing drilling next to world class Utah parks and removed the enitre concept of reintroducing bighorn sheep to the west. All the other crap this failed administration has started is letting up a bit. But not there. It's still getting kicked in the head.

With that in mind, we needed a proactive DOI and Sec of Ag that would immediately begin turning back the destruction. Neither of the choices are even in that ballpark.

Sad fact of life, in the grand scheme of things, no-one gives a fuck. Item #1 on the agenda is the economy followed by foreign policy. Whatever he does with this it won't move his approval points .1% in either direction. To judge his not even started yet presidency on this is ludicrous. Hopefully something good will come your way on this soon but it's a nothing issue right now.

#2 and #3 not possible without #1.

I can't believe you dropped this.

point being, if it's not going to affect his approval rating (except with Montanas) why not get someone who is going to push a pro-environmental policy?


Of course, we have no idea what they are going to push, so maybe we shouldn't rush to judgement?

I and many others in the conservation community are hoping that Salazar and Vilsack will be pro science, pro environment, even though many of their past actions say they really aren't. But right now,based on their records, we have to wonder "why"? Even more important is the lesser appointments below them, suchas head of USFS and BLM.

The current griping is simply based on their own words and actions, and the fact there were superior choices on the table. The last we expected is for industry to be cheering the Obama picks for Ag and DOI. Wtf? It seems to work in with the Rick Warren angle as well. Another WTF?

If the shoe fits....

At least that's how it's playing out so far. Let's hope that the actions of these appointees are different than their record.

as far as anti-gay bigot fundamentalists go, though, he's quite moderate

Not true - loads of folks are more concerned with, say, dwindling mountain gorilla numbers and land & water conservation than anything else. Every time somebody throws red paint on a fur coat an angel gets its wings.

edit: or cougars! Crap...how could I forget the Chicago Cougar Escapade w/re to this. That cougar was more valuable to this planet than 7 truckloads of accountants.

Selective quote alert

"Sad fact of life, in the grand scheme of things, no-one gives a fuck"

I'm not talking about accountants I'm talking about real people that are worse off now then they were in June 2007 (and probably December 2000). They are and should be Obama's priority.

Fair enough but that was the bit that, obviously, jumped out at me.

Montana's consistent concern about ecological & environmental matters strike a chord with me is all - just as pretty much everywhere else on Earth, his struggle for a share of voice over real issues like these are met on this website with dismissive shrugs. "Oh, we'll get around to that after _________"

While I sympathize with the current economic situation, am saddened by it and hope it remains a top priority, the personal finances of people right now has no real bearing on our progress as a civilization and wether we make it out of a Type Zero to a Type One.

Taking proper care of the place we call home *does*.

After being painted as an animal trampling manic in April it's worth me mentioning that those issues are not trivial, Global Warming being a much more important than the War on Terror by a country mile. You don't need to convince the majority of people on this website of these things. It's just barmy to expect, let alone hope that things like that are top of the to do list. It would be great if the world woke up from the way it's been living beyond it's means in terms of economy, energy and environment but 7% unemployment, falling house prices, 31.5 millions using food stamps. These are the things that the people alive now won't forgive Obama for not fixing. It may be two generations down they will be lambasting these appointments but now, when they aren't even at office seems like more of Montana's trolling.