Think Progress

ENVIRONMENT -- CHENEY QUIETLY MANEUVERS FOR INCREASED CONTROL OVER ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES:  The White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is a "super-powerful office" that reviews all major federal regulations of "non-independent federal agencies" on a range of issues, from workplace safety to water quality. OIRA and agency representatives regularly meet with "outside stakeholders" to solicit opinions on regulations. Vice President Cheney's office has recently taken an interest in these meetings. In June, The Progress Report noted that lobbyists for major polluters visited the White House to lobby against tighter smog standards. At that time, Clean Air Watch observed how unusual it was for a representative from Cheney's office to attend that meeting. "Also sitting in on that meeting was a representative of Vice President Dick Cheney, long considered the go-to-guy for big industries opposed to tougher environmental standards," wrote Clean Air Watch. This incident was not isolated. As OMB Watch has noted, OIRA has "held more than 540 regulatory review meetings since February 2002." Prior to Feb. 2007, Cheney's office attended just three meetings; since that time, it has attended eight. In the past, Cheney has taken "full advantage of the president’s cluelessness" to control the administration's environmental agenda and stop progress against global warming. Cheney likely has a sympathizer in current OIRA head Susan Dudley. In her previous job at the industry-backed Mercatus Center, Dudley opposed tougher smog standards, air bags in cars, and regulations for arsenic in drinking water.

ETHICS -- NAVY INSTRUCTOR: 'WATERBOARDING IS TORTURE,' SHOULD BE BANNED: Testifying to the House Judiciary subcommittee yesterday, Malcom Wrightson Nance, a former Navy instructor of prisoner of war and terrorist hostage survival programs, unequivocally stated, "Waterboarding is torture, period." Nance called the technique a "terrifying, painful, and humiliating tool" and said that it often results in subjects lying to interrogators to make the torture stop. "Contrary to popular opinion, it is not a simulation of drowning. It is drowning," he said. The subcommittee had also called on Lt. Col. Stuart Couch, a former Guantanamo Bay prosecutor, to testify about his observations of interrogations at the prison camp, but Pentagon counsel WIlliam Haynes blocked his testimony at the last minute. Nevertheless, following the hearing, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the subcommittee chairman, and Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA) introduced a bill mandating that all U.S. interrogations -- including those run by the CIA -- conform to the Army Field Manual on Interrogation, which explicitly bans waterboarding and other forms of torture.

RADICAL RIGHT -- RIGHT WING TRUMPETS TV WEATHERMAN'S GLOBAL WARMING DENIAL: On Wednesday, Weather Channel founder John Coleman wrote an article for the International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment project, a right-wing climate change skeptic site, arguing that the claim of man-made global warming "is the greatest scam in history." He backed up his statement by asserting, "I have read dozens of scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it." Conservative bloggers heralded Coleman's junk science yesterday, with Newsbusters, Red State, Qando, Sister Toldjah, and the Free Republic all approvingly linking to the piece. Unfortunately for the right wing, Coleman's credentials are limited to weather, not climate change science. In fact, The Weather Channel -- which he refers to as his "baby" -- would be unlikely to hire Coleman today, since the station has taken up the "mandate" of fighting against global warming. Hedi Cullen, the channel's climate change expert, wrote last year that the American Meteorological Society should not give its "seal of approval" to any meteorologist who "can't speak to the fundamental science of climate change."

"Rudy Giuliani refused to say if he'd consider pardoning his old friend Bernie Kerik -- who was indicted Thursday on federal corruption charges -- if elected President." "It wouldn't be fair to ask that question at this point," Giuliani said.

In a 53-40 vote last night, the Senate confirmed Judge Michael Mukasey as attorney general, despite criticism of his refusal to explicitly call waterboarding torture. Six Democrats voted for Mukasey.

Michael Hirsh writes in Newsweek, "Condoleezza Rice is, by her own admission, not 'that self-reflective.' But in an interview in her office on Thursday the secretary of state took a moment to contemplate the improved security situation in Iraq." "I'm sure there are lots of things we might have done better," she said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that the "economy was going to get worse before it got better, a message that received a chilly reception from both Wall Street and politicians." He said the economy was about to "slow noticeably," adding inflation was likely to "increase overall."

"House leaders are pressing the Senate Democrats to force Republicans to stage more filibusters" when they use procedural maneuvers to block passage of bills. "That is the only way you can give Americans a clear view of who is obstructing change," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said. 

Pakistani security officials barricaded former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto inside her home "behind barbed wire, concrete blocks and armored cars on Friday morning," thwarting her planned protest rally. Bhutto's party -- the Pakistan Peoples Party -- claims as many as 5,000 party workers had been arrested across the country over the last three days.

"An internal investigation into a fake news conference staged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency during last month's California wildfires found that the agency's press secretary directed aides to pose as reporters, secretly coached them during the briefing and ended the event after a final, scripted question was asked, according to a senior FEMA official."

More than 100 Stanford University students demonstrated against Donald Rumsfeld's appointment as a visiting fellow at the school's Hoover Institution. "To date, nearly 4,000 Stanford faculty, students and alumni have signed a petition begun by a faculty member to reject Rumsfeld's appointment."

And finally: "One thing is for certain about the post-presidency of George W. Bush: 'Under no circumstances' will first lady Laura Bush spend her retirement years living at the much-ballyhooed Texas ranch that she and the president have been 'escaping' to for the past seven years." The Washington Times reports that the Bush family will settle down in Dallas and visit the Crawford ranch for weekend getaways.