Bush Accused by Lords of the Bar
By Nat Hentoff for the Village Voice.

The [president’s] constitutional argument [in the case of Jose Padilla] would give every President the unchecked power to detain, without charge and forever, all citizens it chooses to label as “enemy combatants.”

Bush Lauds Mich. Power Plant As Model of Clean Air Policy
But Opponents Say It’s a Polluter Excused by ‘Clear Skies’ Plan
By Dana Milbank for the Washington Post. (Eric Pianin also contributed to this report.)

Bush came to demonstrate how, under his policies, power plants could be expanded and upgraded without any increase in air pollution. He said Monroe is a “living example” of why the administration this summer eased clean-air rules for the nation’s oldest, coal-fired power plants — allowing the plant to modernize and “continue doing a good job of protecting the quality of the air.”
“You’re good stewards of the quality of the air,” the president told the Detroit Edison workers and executives.
Environmentalists and a number of Democratic lawmakers see Bush’s visit here as a symbol of something entirely different. They say the Monroe plant is one of the nation’s dirtiest polluters and, under Bush’s plan, would not have to reduce pollution for the next 17 years. According to projections by Bush’s Environmental Protection Agency, the plant is predicted to continue pouring its current annual level of 102,700 tons of sulfur dioxide into the air each year through 2020.
“It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Bush administration would hold an event to tout an initiative called ‘Clear Skies’ at a facility that will actually maintain its current levels of pollution over the next two decades,” said Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who is vying to challenge Bush in next year’s election.
At issue are two major Bush policies regarding energy production and the environment. One is Bush’s “Clear Skies” initiative now awaiting congressional action. The plan aims to cut power plant emissions by 70 percent beginning in the year 2018, reducing the largest pollutant, sulfur dioxide, to 3 million tons that year from 11 million now. Heavy polluters could purchase pollution rights from clean plants. The second policy, Bush’s decision this summer to roll back “new source review” rules, means old power plants can make improvements and boost production without automatically adding expensive pollution-control equipment…
Environmental groups said Monroe is an example, but not a good one. They cited a 2000 study by Abt Associates, a group the EPA has used to gauge health effects of pollution, showing that the amount of pollution from the plant is responsible for 293 premature deaths, 5,740 asthma attacks and 50,298 lost workdays each year. They also cited an EPA model of Bush’s initiative that showed the plant was not forecast to cut its sulfur dioxide.
The plant also produces 45,900 tons of nitrogen oxide and 810 pounds of mercury, the other two pollutants covered under Bush’s initiative, and 17.6 million tons of carbon dioxide, which is not capped under Bush’s plan.
“I’m amazed that the president would choose this plant to highlight, given how dirty it is, and how much dirtier it could become because of the administration’s rollbacks of clean-air rules,” said Becky Stanfield, a lawyer with U.S. Public Interest Research Group…
Bush’s plan faces a difficult course in Congress. Sen. James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.), ranking minority member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement today that Bush “has chosen to push a divisive agenda that puts politics before public health.”

Continue reading →

Federal Budget Disaster Seen, but Won’t Be Heard
By Janet Hook for the LA Times.

Even though the government is on track to run a record deficit in excess of $500 billion next year, neither President Bush nor congressional leaders have proposed doing anything to balance the budget anytime soon. Their strategy: to wait for a vigorous economy to do the job for them.
That makes David M. Walker, head of the General Accounting Office, Congress’ investigative arm, a rare Cassandra. He is giving a speech today warning that the nation’s long-term fiscal outlook is seriously out of whack. And he challenges the assumption that economic recovery will solve the problem painlessly.
“We need a wake-up call,” Walker said in an interview. “We need to come to terms with reality: The gap is too great to grow our way out of the problem. Tough choices will be required.”
His is a lonely voice on Capitol Hill, where deficit-expanding initiatives are growing like crabgrass, unchecked amid new budget demands for the war on terrorism and the reconstruction of Iraq.
Bush and lawmakers from both parties continue to press for a $400-billion, 10-year expansion of Medicare to provide prescription drug benefits. House Republicans are pushing yet another round of tax cuts

The Shrub took time out from his busy schedule to give a speech launching the new football season.
Jimmy Kimmel took time out to chide him a bit for it. Thanks, Jimmy.
This is from the September 4, 2003 program. (I was just lucky to catch it because I came on after the Patriot Act Nightline with Ted Koppel.)

The Shrub’s Football Speech (Small – 2 MB)



Jimmy Kimmel Live Official Web site

2004 Deficit Could Near $500B
By the Associated Press.

The federal government is heading toward a record $480 billion deficit in 2004 and will rack up red ink of almost $1.4 trillion over the next decade, according to the latest analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.
The estimate may even break the half-trillion dollar mark, a newspaper reports.
Congressional aides with access to the CBO report said it also confirms earlier estimates that the federal deficit for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 will be $401 billion, well above the previous record of $290.4 billion set in 1992.
The 2004-2013 deficit estimate of $1.397 trillion by the nonpartisan office reverses previous predictions that the federal budget, battered by economic recession and rising defense and security costs, would edge back into the black over the coming decade.
According to The New York Times, the CBO will actually provide two estimates. One ignores the cost of the military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, which are running at a combined $4.9 billion a month.
Another assumes that war costs this year will continue at the same amount for the next 10 years.
Both assumptions are considered somewhat unrealistic. The method assuming a 10-year war cost could push the deficit over $500 billion.

Continue reading →

Utility Officers Gave to Bush
By Mike Allen for the Washington Post.

The top two executives of FirstEnergy Corp., the Ohio-based utility that is a focus of investigations into last week’s cascading blackouts, are key financial supporters of President Bush, according to campaign records.
H. Peter Burg, chairman and chief executive, was one of three hosts of a $600,000 fundraiser for Bush’s reelection campaign in Akron, Ohio, on June 30. Vice President Cheney was the featured speaker.
Anthony J. Alexander, FirstEnergy’s president and chief operating officer, was a “Pioneer” for Bush’s last campaign, meaning he raised at least $100,000. Alexander also contributed $100,000 to Bush’s inaugural committee.
The Energy Department has dispatched teams of investigators to the Midwest and Northeast. Democrats have questioned whether Bush’s administration coddled electric companies because of his long personal ties to the energy industry.
FirstEnergy’s ties could increase Capitol Hill scrutiny of the White House handling of the blackout aftermath.
Bush’s campaign had no comment.
Records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics show that FirstEnergy executives contributed about $50,000 to Bush’s last campaign. Energy and natural resource interests gave the campaign more than $3.6 million, according to the group’s figures.

Continue reading →