Environment -- Restoring The Land

December 18, 2008

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, Ryan Powers, and Brad Johnson

ENVIRONMENT

Restoring The Land

Yesterday, President-elect Obama selected Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) as Secretary of the Interior and former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture, describing them as "key members of his energy and environment team." The Department of the Interior controls oil, gas, and other mining on millions of acres of federal lands and waters, while also enforcing the Endangered Species Act, handling Native American relations, and managing the National Parks. Two-thirds of the Department of Agriculture budget goes to food assistance, with most of the rest going to crop subsidies, conservation, and biofuels. These two men will have key roles in steering the United States -- from amber waves of grain to purple mountains majesty, from sea to shining sea -- to a low-carbon economy. First they must undo the damage of the corrupt practices of their Bush administration predecessors, "ensuring that the policies being shaped at the Departments of Agriculture and Interior are designed to serve not big agribusiness or Washington influence-peddlers," as Obama explained yesterday, "but family farmers and the American people."

AGENCIES IN TATTERS: Under secretaries Gale Norton and Dirk Kempthorne, the Bush administration returned the Department of Interior to levels of corruption not seen since the Teapot Dome Scandal of President Harding. Overseeing the riches of the American lands, the Department of Interior spread the wealth for political gain, leading to the Abramoff Indian tribes scandal, the Klamath River debacle, and the sex-for-oil scandal, among others. Political appointees ravaged the national parks and repeatedly suppressed and altered the work of staff scientists to prevent the protection of endangered species and lands. Kempthorne fought tooth and nail to avoid responding to the threat of global warming, only admitting that wildlife are threatened by climate change under great protest. Last week, the Department of Interior issued rules to "prohibit federal agencies from evaluating the effect on endangered species and the places they live from a project's contribution to increased global warming." The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is hardly better off, as "political appointees with backgrounds in the agri-food industry have used their positions at the USDA to advance industry interests at the expense of farmers, consumers, workers and the environment." The USDA's Forest Service "has worked steadily to chip away at the Roadless Area Conservation Rule" and "adopted regulations that drastically cut public involvement and environmental studies associated with developing national forest plans." The Bush USDA watered down the definition of organic food, issued the "largest beef recall in its history," and eliminated hunger -- by naming it "very low food security."

INTERIOR SECRETARY SALAZAR: Salazar, who joined the U.S. Senate in 2004 after serving as Colorado Attorney General, "will inherit a department riddled with incompetence and corruption, captive to industries it is supposed to regulate and far more interested in exploiting public resources than conserving them." Salazar is a strong proponent of renewable energy and has noted that global warming "requires urgency on the part of the nation and the planet." However, "[o]il and mining interests praised Mr. Salazar's record," with Luke Popovich, spokesman for the National Mining Association, calling him "a man who understands the issues." Many environmentalists have expressed concern with Salazar's nomination. Daniel Patterson of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said Salazar is a friend to "oil and gas, mining, agribusiness and other polluting industries," and the Center for Biological Diversity calls Salazar's record "especially weak in the arenas most important to the next Secretary of the Interior: protecting scientific integrity, combating global warming, reforming energy development and protecting endangered species." Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians warned: "Ken Salazar does not bring the change we need at Interior." The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), by contrast, believes Salazar, with an 81 percent lifetime LCV record, "will restore the Department of the Interior's role as the steward of America's public resources."

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY VILSACK: As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has argued, the nation now needs a Secretary of Food, not of agribusiness. It remains to be seen whether Vilsack, steeped in the realpolitik of Iowa agriculture, will be that choice. Vilsack has called for major changes in the agriculture industry, supporting Obama's plan to prohibit "packers from owning livestock" and "has shown consistent support for reforming farm programs." At The Nation, political blogger John Nichols criticized the selection of Vilsack as "at best, a cautious pick," saying, "Obama could have done better, much better." The Organic Consumers Association decried Vilsack's record in favor of "dangerous, untested, unlabeled genetically engineered crops," saying "Our nation's future depends on crafting a forward-thinking strategy to promote organic and sustainable food and farming, and address the related crises of climate change, diminishing energy supplies, deteriorating public health, and economic depression." However, food politics leader Tom Buis, the president of the National Farmers Union, praised Vilsack's selection: "With the severe economic conditions in rural America, it's good to have someone who understands the challenges we face."

ADMINISTRATION -- CHENEY: IT 'WOULD HAVE BEEN IMMORAL' FOR US NOT TO TORTURE: Earlier this week, Vice President Cheney admitted to personally authorizing the torture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other detainees. In a new interview with the Washington Times, Cheney stridently defended the program, saying, "I feel very good about what we did," adding that he would "do exactly the same thing again." He specifically defended the morality of torture. "I think it would have been unethical or immoral for us not to do everything we could in order to protect the nation against further attacks like what happened on 9/11," Cheney said. He claimed that torture was "directly responsible for the fact that we've been able to avoid or defeat further attacks against the homeland for 7 1/2 years." In fact, torture has endangered, not protected, American lives. Military experts say that U.S. torture policies have been the single greatest recruiting tool for al Qaeda. A former interrogator who worked in Iraq stated unequivocally last month, "The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001."

RADICAL RIGHT -- ANTI-GAY, ANTI-CHOICE, PRO-ASSASSINATION PASTOR TO GIVE INAUGURAL INVOCATION: Pastor Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church will deliver the invocation at President-elect Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20, a role that the New York Times wrote "positions Mr. Warren to succeed Billy Graham as the nation's pre-eminent minister and reflects the generational changes in the evangelical Christian movement." In August, Warren "made headlines when he interviewed Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), asking about issues important to conservative voters." While he is a recognizable celebrity and best-selling author, Warren also advocates a number of deeply anti-progressive views. He supported California's anti-gay marriage Prop. 8 and has likened gay marriage to polygamy and incest. Human Rights Campaign called Obama's invitation "a genuine blow to LGBT Americans." Warren is also strongly anti-choice, and has equated abortion with the Holocaust. He supports the assassination of foreign leaders; during a December 3 interview he agreed with Sean Hannity's assertion that "we need to take [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] out," saying that stopping evil "is the legitimate role of government."

INTELLIGENCE -- DRUNK GEORGE TENET CALLED BUSH'S NEOCONS 'THE JEWS' WHO TRIED TO 'PIN THE IRAQ WMD FIASCO ON HIM': Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg recently picked up a copy of Patrick Tyler's forthcoming book, A World of Trouble, which focuses on "America's tortured relations with the Middle East." Goldberg says that the book's prologue contains a "whopper of a scene" featuring former CIA director George Tenet "drunk on scotch, flailing about Prince Bandar's Riyadh pool, screaming about the Bush Administration officials who were just then trying to pin the Iraq WMD fiasco on him." Tyler reports that Tenet also "mocked the neoconservatives in the Bush administration" as "the Jews." A footnote in Tyler's book says that Tenet "initially denied staying at Prince Bandar's palace, then denied that he had said anything in the pool." "He disputed the remarks attributed to him and denied that his memory might have been affected by the amount of alcohol he was reported to have consumed on top of a sleeping pill," reported Tyler. In a statement posted on his website yesterday, Tenet again denied Tyler's allegations, calling them "ludicrous" and "completely false." He also posted a statement from a spokesman for Prince Bandar denying that Tenet made "denigrating remarks about member of the Bush Administration or the Jews to any Saudi Government Officials."

"I didn't compromise my soul to be popular," President Bush told Fox News in an interview yesterday. "Look, everybody likes to be popular," he said. "I mean, do people approve of the economy? No. I don’t approve of the economy. ... I've had, hell, a lot of serious challenges."

At a press conference today, President-elect Obama is expected to announce securities-industry regulator Mary Schapiro as his choice to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Obama also plans to name economic adviser Dan Tarullo to an open seat on the Federal Reserve Board and Gary Gensler to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) will not appoint anyone to fill the Senate seat vacated by Obama. When asked if an appointment is forthcoming, Blagojevich's lawyer Ed Genson said, "No. Harry Reid said that they're not going to accept anybody he picks. Why would he do that?"

Iraqi shoe-throwing journalist Muntader al-Zaidi has reportedly "apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for embarrassing him before the watching world." Writing to Maliki, Zaidi pleaded, "I remember in the summer of 2005, I interviewed your Excellency and you told me, 'Come in, this is your house.' And so I appeal to your fatherly feelings to forgive me."

A new military plan for troop withdrawals from Iraq presented to President-elect Obama this week falls short of the 16-month timetable he outlined during his election campaign. The plan, proposed by Gens. David Petraeus and Ray Odierno, envisions withdrawing 7,000 to 8,000 troops from Iraq in the first six months of 2009, but "would leave 12 combat brigades in Iraq by June 2009." More »

President Bush will convene a gathering of ex-Presidents next month to discuss the transition. Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George H. W. Bush will attend, along with Barack Obama. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said "the gathering will be a chance for them to discuss life in the White House, politics, and domestic and world affairs."

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) turned down a position in the Obama administration to be U.S. Trade Representative. "My concern is how much weight this position would have had, and I reached the conclusion that it would not be a top priority, or even second or third priority," Becerra said. The Obama team "may have already soured on Becerra thanks to his hemming and hawing over the post."

Media Matters named Sean Hannity the 2008 Misinformer of the Year. In bestowing the honor upon Hannity, the media watchdog organization writes, "Never has he so enthusiastically applied his talents for spreading misinformation as he did to the 2008 presidential race, focusing his energies primarily on President-elect Barack Obama."

And finally: During a private gathering of former White House chiefs of staff, Vice President Dick Cheney -- a former chief of staff to President Ford -- had some sage advice for incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. "The best thing you can do is keep your VP under control," he said, causing the room to break up in laughter.

A panel commissioned by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after Blackwater's infamous September 2007 Baghdad shootout has called for the security firm's contract not to be renewed next year.

THINK PROGRESS: Bill O'Reilly's producer: "We saved Christmas last year."

WONK ROOM: Why did bailout beneficiary Goldman Sachs pay only a 1 percent effective tax rate in 2008?

YGLESIAS: Did achievement gaps grow in Education Secretary nominee Arne Duncan's Chicago?

ATTACKERMAN: Intelligence analysts were kept in the dark about whether the information they were analyzing was obtained through torture.

ILLINOIS: State Supreme Court rejects Attorney General Lisa Madigan's attempt to have Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) declared unfit for office.

CALIFORNIA: University of California, San Francisco will build a state-of-the-art lab for stem cell research.

MASSACHUSETTS: Gov. Deval Patrick's (D) "wish-list" for stimulus projects includes "putting hundreds of thousands to work building new roads, repairing old schools, and making public buildings more energy efficient."

"I think Guantanamo has been very well-run."
-- Vice President Cheney, 12/15/08

VERSUS

"For almost seven years, I was at the end of the world, at the worst place in the world."
-- Former Guantanamo detainee Mustafa Ait Idir, 12/17/08

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