The Conservatard

Olberman about says it all in last nights Special Comment.

Shut The Hell Up Bush!: Part 1

Shut The Hell Up, Bush!: Part 2

It kind of makes Mr. C. want to stand up and applaud!

Mr. C read the following article from Alternet. It reminded him of who the real movers and shakers are in this F*#$%ed up world really are. Like any crime, all that you have to do is figure out who really benefits to find the culprit.

If you are still on the fence thinking that the Bushtards have your best interests in mind then move along. If on the other hand, you know that the current US government and most others in the world really dance to the tune of another piper other than their citizens then keep following the rabbit hole.

Hedge Fund Titans Are Treating Us Like Pawns in Their Economic Chess Games

By Scott Thill, AlterNet
Posted on May 13, 2008, Printed on May 13, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/84682/

Recently, two important and related events occurred. The first is that hedge fund kingpin Cerberus Capital Management was considering buying Blackwater, the notoriously Orwellian security contractor that has become the scourge of Iraq and America alike. And the second event? As soon as the news was reported, the deal was killed.

Neither company, you see, likes the publicity. Plus, with Blackwater in its portfolio, Cerberus would have more than lived up to the origin of its name, which comes from Greek mythology. Yes, Cerberus is the three-headed demon dog that guards the gates of Hell.

“We do our best to avoid the spotlight,” secretive Cerberus founder Stephen Feinberg reportedly told his staff in a memo earlier this year, “but unfortunately, when you do some large deals, such as Chrysler and GMAC, it is hard to avoid.”

True, Stephen, true. When you bail out two of the worst environmental and economic offenders in the automotive business (and subprime debacle, in the case of GMAC), and then follow that up by looking into acquiring what passes for a private army with itchy trigger-fingers and a suspicious habit of corruption and cost overruns, well yeah, people will talk.

The irony is more than sweet; it is transparent, at least for private equity groups, hedge funds, and those that follow and capitalize upon them. As for you, if you find such talk about what on the surface looks like a financial organization to be alarmist, then it might be time you read up on hedge funds. As I wrote last year, private equity groups and hedge funds play both sides of the global economy, its destruction and reconstruction, its war and its peace, its bears and bulls. And they do so by manipulating markets, multinationals and the media with practically zero governmental regulation or oversight, to the tune of paydays that redefine opulence and waste.

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What do you do when you help a large corporation, like Dow Chemical, get out of having to clean up your mess? Well if you are a “public” aka. (corporate) servant like Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson, you just refuse to testify to congress on why you help corporations dodge to bullet of responsibility.

What do you give as your excuse? You just say that your back hurts and hand the judge your doctors excuse. Just make sure that the note is not from Dr. Strangelove. :-0 (more…)

What do you do if you if you were caught dumping toxic chemicals into the environment? Worse yet, what do you do when after delaying cleaning up your mess, the EPA finally insists that you begin cleaning up?

Well, if your Dow Chemical, or any other conservative corporation, you call your local Bush mafia representative. After all, the Bush administration is the best corporate protection racket money can buy.

Update: 05-07-2008

The Washington Post’s Al Kamen points out that the EPA said Gade was leaving for “personal reasons” about 1.5 hours after the Chicago Tribune (second story below) broke the story.

Don’t Do Any Environment Stuff

Loop Fans know to be highly skeptical of those political announcements that a top administration official is resigning “to spend more time with the family,” or maybe to “return to his first love,” coin collecting or weight lifting. These phrases are almost always euphemisms for getting the boot or being squeezed out.

But there was even greater skepticism Thursday at the Environmental Protection Agency when deputy administrator Marcus Peacock circulated this e-mail to senior officials at 5:06 p.m. about the resignation of EPA’s administrator in the Chicago region.

Subject: Region 5 Personnel Announcement

As of this afternoon, Thursday, May 1, 2008, Mary Gade has resigned her position as Regional Administrator for EPA Region 5. I want to thank Mary for her many years of service to the people and the mission of EPA.

She has worked hard to help protect human health and our environment.

Mary plans to return to private life and spend time with her family.

Bharat Mathur, the Deputy Regional Administrator, will assume the responsibilities of Acting Regional Administrator. I thank Bharat for his continued service and leadership.

Problem was, the e-mail came 1 1/2 hours after the Chicago Tribune posted a story online quoting Gade, who said she had been forced out of her job because of her aggressive stand on dioxin flowing from Dow Chemical’s Midland, Mich., plant into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron.

Gade said two political appointees at headquarters told her to quit or be fired by June 1. The EPA confirmed she was leaving but declined to discuss a personnel matter.

Gade, appointed by President Bush 18 months ago, told the Tribune: “There is no question this is about Dow. I stand behind what I did and what my staff did. I’m proud of what we did.”

Gade had been trying to force Dow to clean up several inland hot spots contaminated by the cancer-causing chemical. She told the Tribune that top aides to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson repeatedly questioned her actions against the chemical giant.

Next thing you know, she “plans to return to private life and spend time with her family.”

EPA official ousted while fighting Dow

By Michael Hawthorne

Tribune reporter

May 2, 2008

SAGINAW, Mich.

The battle over dioxin contamination in this economically stressed region had been raging for years when a top Bush administration official turned up the pressure on Dow Chemical to clean it up.

On Thursday, following months of internal bickering over Mary Gade’s interactions with Dow, the administration forced her to quit as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Midwest office, based in Chicago.

Gade told the Tribune she resigned after two aides to national EPA administrator Stephen Johnson took away her powers as regional administrator and told her to quit or be fired by June 1.

The call came as the Tribune was preparing to publish a story about the dioxin issue and Gade’s crusade.

Jonathan Shradar, an EPA spokesman in Washington, said Gade has been placed on administrative leave until June 1. He declined further comment, saying the agency does not publicly discuss personnel matters.

Gade has been locked in a heated dispute with Dow about long-delayed plans to clean up dioxin-saturated soil and sediment that extends 50 miles beyond its Midland, Mich., plant into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. The company dumped the highly toxic and persistent chemical into local rivers for most of the last century.

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