Government should be transparent.
“Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset.
My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use.
Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public.
Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.”
BARACK OBAMA <Source: White House>
The two most often words used by the Obama Administration in discussing the current state of our economy, other than the words George Bush, are transparency and accountability.
Ignore the talk, watch the walk …
So why isn’t the President of the United States, Barack Obama, or members of his Administration doing anything about a suppressed report which raised serious questions about global warming? Questions which could have drastically altered the debate over the Waxman-Markey Energy Bill. Questions which raise serious doubts about the actions of the Administration and the Congress.
The big question: is global climate change natural or man-made and can man mitigate or reverse the current course of nature?
It was not so much that the report provided the answers needed to formulate public policy, but it questioned the underlying assumptions that were driving the debate.
“We have become increasingly concerned that EPA and many other agencies and countries have paid too little attention to the science of global warming. EPA and others have tended to accept the findings reached by outside groups, particularly the IPCC and the CCSP, as being correct without a careful and critical examination of their conclusions and documentation. If they should be found to be incorrect at a later date, however, and EPA is found not to have made a really careful review of them before reaching its decisions on endangerment, it appears likely that it is EPA rather than these other groups that may be blamed for this error.”
“We do not maintain that we or anyone else have all the answers needed to take action now. Some of the conclusions reached in these comments may well be shown to be incorrect by future research. Our conclusions do represent the best science in the sense of most closely corresponding to available observations that we currently know of, however, and are sufficiently at variance with those of the IPCC, CCSP, and the Draft TSD that we believe they support our increasing concern that EPA has not critically reviewed the findings by these other groups.”
This is a courageous document, not so much for disputing some facets of the global warming science, but because it seems to challenge a bureacracy following a leadership with a political agenda – regardless of the accuracy and trustworthiness of the underlying science – and flying in the face of media-driven opinion.
Even assuming that the report contained errors, misrepresentations and distortions … was it not incumbent upon our elected officials and members of Congress to at least read the 98-page report before they blindly signed-off on a major piece of legislation which they freely and openly admit that they have never read.
An even bigger question: Is a political ideology driving the Administration and Congress into using global warming to advocate for a political agenda which is damaging to the social and economic welfare of the United States?
Considering that the 1200-page-plus Waxman-Markey legislation, H.R. 2454, the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009” (ACES) comes with an estimated cost that is at least ten times more than its benefits, one can demonstrate that this bill is toxic to the American people.
It mandates a system which allows gross-polluters to continue to pollute as long as they charge their rate-payers and the general public for the price of political indulgences and agree to serve as an unofficial tax collector for Uncle Sam.
This bill amounts to the largest tax increase in the history of man and is quite likely to have little or no affect on reducing the mean global temperature.
So where is the transparency?
Where is the same type of analysis that is contained in a single 98-page report that would support the Waxman-Markey legislation?
Why was the last 300-page Amendment from the democrats crafted in secret, without the participation of the Republicans, and dropped in the hopper at 3:00 a.m. prior to the vote.
Why was this bill not presented to the American Public prior to the vote as per the rhetoric coming from Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi?
And where is the accountability?
We know that it is likely that some legislators will simply lose their elected offices over this legislation. But what about the members of the Administration and departmental functionaries who help craft and support this work?
What sanctions can be applied to those who were complicit or complacent in subverting the science, crafting special interest legislation and spending the taxpayer’s hard-earned money on a bogus cause?
Who will hold these people to account?
Right now, I will settle for removing our elected officials who have failed to represent the American people as they pandered to the special interests to achieve their own personal and political agenda.
It is time we took back our government from those on both sides of the aisle who have sold us out to the highest bidder – and it is truly amazing how cheap the price was.
It is now up to YOU to let them know that they are no longer representing you. It is doubtful that they will ever be held accountable in this life – but we can fix the system.
-- steve
A reminder from OneCitizenSpeaking.com: a large improvement can result from a small change…
The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
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OneCitizenSpeaking: Saying out loud what you may be thinking …
Reference Links …
Proposed NCEE Comments on Draft Technical Support Document for Endangerment Analysis for Greenhouse Gas Emissions under the Clean Air Act -- Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation; Office of the Administrator; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Washington, DC 20460 (March 9, 2009) Based on TSD Draft of March 9, 2009
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