Anti-abortion, birth control, etc. because that is anti-life. But do everything possible (wreck the economy, poison the environment, unaffordable health care, etc) to make living a nightmare once you’re born. Unless you can afford the very best, of course. Pass the caviar, please.

Feds Set to Eliminate Water Regulations for Neurotoxin

Among the Bush administration’s final environmental legacies will be a decision to exempt perchlorate, a known neurotoxin found at unsafe levels in the drinking water of millions of Americans, from federal regulation.

The ruling, proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency in October, was supposed to be formalized on Monday. That deadline passed, but the agency expects to announce its decision by the year’s end, before president-elect Barack Obama takes office. It could take years to reverse.

Critics accuse the EPA of ignoring expert advice and basing their decision on an abstract model of perchlorate exposure, rather than existing human data.

“We know that breast milk is widely contaminated with perchlorate, and we know that young children are especially vulnerable. We have really good human data. So why are they putting a model front-and-center?” said Anila Jacobs at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. “And they used a model that hasn’t yet gone through the peer-review process.”

The ruling is one of dozens planned for the final days of the Bush administration. Others include a relaxing of air pollution standards for aging power plants, and a reduction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s traditional role in evaluating the impact of federal projects on endangered species.




  1. azdavesoulsearcher says:

    Uncle Dave,
    Will your life have any meaning at all once Bush is gone?

  2. boredreader says:

    Is there really absolutely nothing else going on in the world? Bush will no longer be president soon, none of this matters. Dvorak’s definition of General Interest seems restricted to either anti-Republican or anti-Religion. I don’t care either way, its just not interesting to only read the anti-Republican or anti-Religion stories.

    If you are anti-Republican – you won. Obama is president and the left controls congress. Be happy for your win, I’m sure there are positive left stories out there. Right? Anyone? Come on, don’t be shy.

    If you are anti-Religion – be happy that you have found the answer and that billions of other people haven’t. You don’t have to worry about donating money to a church or volunteering. Let it go, whether or not you are religious the hate is going to eat you up and its just not worth it.

  3. JimD says:

    A “Salute” from Bush and Cheney:

    Lady Liberty weeps !!!

  4. Phydeau says:

    Jesus H Christ on a pogo stick, the Bushies are giving the country a hearty “F*ck You” on their way out…

  5. Shubee says:

    I’m not surprised that Nazi medical ethics were bought at Loma Linda University and that a major Seventh-day Adventist institution was complicit in a corporate strategy to relax existing environmental regulations and to permit long-term perchlorate contamination.

    http://www.ewg.org/book/export/html/8153
    http://thyroid.about.com/cs/toxicchemicalsan/a/perchlorate.htm

  6. Paddy-O says:

    “It could take years to reverse.”

    An exec order will take YEARS to countermand by a new Pres? Where is the BS meter on this story?

  7. Carcarius says:

    Filters… use filters in your home. If you have a refrigerator that can be installed with a filter, only drink from the refrigerator-drawn water. As far as I know perchlorate is only an issue for ingested water so bathing in it should be OK.

  8. Gaolbird says:

    Time to move to Montana..

  9. Carcarius says:

    #7 – or Alaska. At least we know that the water can’t be blamed for Palin. It must be something else. 🙂

  10. Mister Mustard says:

    #4 – Paddy-RAMBO

    >>An exec order will take YEARS to countermand
    >>by a new Pres? Where is the BS meter on this
    >>story?

    The bullshit meter is superglued to your forehead, Paddy-RAMBO, just like always.

    This is not an “executive order”, it’s a regulation to be implemented by the limp-dicked EPA, kowtowing, as usual, to Dumbya’s puppet-masters. Just ask Christine Todd Whitman.

    As such, it will take years of battling through the courts by environmental groups to overturn Dumbya’s toxic-industry-friendly policy. As people slowly die their neurotoxic deaths. Just like Dumbya’s gift to the coal industry, the feeble “regulations” governing mercury emissions in coal burning. That one was supported by groups representing the utility industry and seven states with large coal-burning power plants, coal mines or coal-dependent utilities, including Alabama, West Virginia and Wyoming.

    Dumbya and his court of jesters are a cancer on America. Good fucking riddance. We can’t take much more of that yellow dog.

    Let’s just hope he isn’t able to destroy the country in the next 47 days.

  11. Angel H. Wong says:

    It is well known that you need dumb down folk in order to vote Republican, Bush is just doing a long term investment for the Party.

  12. Mr. Fusion says:

    Please Congress, get some backbone and impeach this guy while we still have some of the country left.

    *

    Mustard,

    Cow-Paddy, Ignorant, … is partially correct. Apparently there is a law on the books that any regulation instituted by the President in his last six months in office may be overturned by Congress without having to have hearings. I don’t know the details but plan on investigating it some more.

  13. athrillofhope says:

    Gotta love Mr. Dvorak. He’s the Dick Morris of Techies. 🙂 That’s a compliment, coming from me. But AHEM–geez, talk about SPINNING REALITY. “Wrecking the economy”? Let’s get to some facts. Most economists I have read trace the current economic disaster to a LACK OF CREDIT. The Lack Of Credit is traced directly to the sub-prime lending practices forced upon us by (drum roll, please) the CLINTON ADMINISTRATION. Democrats vehemently defending these practices all through the late 90s and into 2005 when calls for change were being made by “the other camp.” Guess who was one of the Senators who fought hard to keep the moronic Clinton lending policies protected? The BIG O-BAMA! And you want HIM to realize change in our economy? LAY BACK, OPEN UP YOUR WALLET AND RELAX. You may as well enjoy it if you’re going to be raped.

    I’m no Bush or Republican defender. They should have being much more forceful in their demands for change in the Clinton policies that got us to where we are. But what is an incessant behavior that I see among liberals is the denial this was caused by Clinton and other liberal politicians. We can also trace 9/11 to Clinton’s lax military and foreign policy.

    I am not holding my breathe for American to ever be honest about placing blame where it belongs. Bush was horrible in so many ways. But let’s not blame him for what others have done, either. You only lower yourself, your integrity and credibility.

  14. James Hill says:

    After the way the angry liberals have behaved, do you really blame Bush at this point? After all, he’s not a lame duck if he’s fucking you over.

    #8 – She probably got one of those ice worms in her brain, causing the Minnesota accent.

    Nevertheless, water in Alaska is better than anywhere.

  15. MikeN says:

    Relying on models rather than human data, where have I seen that before…

  16. Mister Mustard says:

    #11 – Mr. Fusion

    >> Apparently there is a law on the books that
    >>any regulation instituted by the President in
    >>his last six months in office may be
    >>overturned by Congress without having to have
    >>hearings.

    Well, let us know. AFAIK, this is not a “regulation instituted by the President”, it is an environmental regulation implemented by the EPA. Since it is destructive and harmful to the US population, of course Dumbya supports it, but it’s not “his” regulation, it’s the EPA’s.

    A “regulation instituted by the President” is more like Dumbya’s Executive Order concerning the “President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and Intelligence Oversight Board” issued in February of this year, where he stripped any power from the civilian board responsible for protecting the rights of American citizens from being subjected to illegal spying.

    Unfortunately, that was not issued in the six months for Dumbya’s reign of idiocy, so it won’t be very easy to overturn.

  17. MikeN says:

    >But do everything possible (wreck the economy, poison the environment, unaffordable health care, etc) to make living a nightmare once you’re born

    No that’s done by liberals who want to stuff poor people into tiny cars, or buses and subways, and small apartments. Then in those small apartments they have to use water restricted toilets and showers, dim light bulbs, and eat expensive food.

  18. Paddy-O says:

    # 9 Mister Mustard said, “#4 – Paddy-RAMBO”

    Get a clue how our gov’t functions.

    Like I said, BS meter needed on this story.

  19. James Hill says:

    #15 – In all seriousness, don’t you have confidence that Obama can get this stuff overturned if it genuinely needs to be? I do, and I didn’t even vote for the guy.

  20. Mister Mustard says:

    #12 – Thriller

    >>Gotta love Mr. Dvorak. He’s the Dick Morris
    >>of Techies.

    Oh gosh. Are you saying he likes sucking prostitutes’ toes and performing a rousing version of “Popeye the Sailor Man,” in his underpants?

    Who knew?

  21. Mister Mustard says:

    #17 – Paddy-RAMBO

    >>Get a clue how our gov’t functions.

    I have a very good idea how our gov’t functions, Paddy-RAMBO.

    Perhaps YOU are the one who should be getting a clue.

    And take that damned bullshit meter off your forehead. You look like a fool.

  22. Paddy-O says:

    # 20 Mister Mustard said, “I have a very good idea how our gov’t functions, Paddy-RAMBO.”

    Afraid not. You think it takes years to reverse a Policy that can be changed by the Executive or Congress in DAYS when the both will want it changed.

    Please, just say no to mind altering drugs.

  23. Mister Mustard says:

    #16 – Lyin’ Mike

    >>No that’s done by liberals who want to stuff
    >>poor people into tiny cars, or buses and
    >>subways, and small apartments.

    Lyin’ Mike, when you move out of Mom’s basement into one of those fine single-wide trailers, you will realize that there’s a whole world out here of people who live in apartments and who use energy-efficient means of transportation, and they’re a lot happier than you are. And a lot more well-off than you are. You will realize that having a big old rusted-out ’81 Cadillac is not the key to happiness, not even if you get the special add-on horn that plays “la Cucaracha” when you toot it.

  24. James Hill says:

    #19 – Hey, that toe sucking is what kept Colmes on Fox News so long.

    Now answer the question I asked of you. I command you.

  25. codoocoel says:

    Bla bla bla, everything’s Bush’s fault. You idiots babble on and on and on about this incessantly. Get a life.

  26. Mister Mustard says:

    #24 – Angry James

    >>Now answer the question I asked of you. I
    >>command you.

    Oh, OK. If you command it, that’s a whole different kettle of pescado.

    I suppose Obama can get some of the damage done by Dumbya overturned eventually. After the requisite number of people have died a horrible neurotoxic death.

    He can’t get it overturned right away, as bullshit artist Paddy-RAMBO suggests, because it is not an EXECUTIVE ORDER, it is a regulation promulgated by Dumbya’s Environmental “protection” Agency. As such, it will require a lengthy court battle, with people dying horrible neurotoxic deaths with each passing day.

    Now stop being so pissy. I realize it’s unpleasant to have your fragile ego shattered like Humpty Dumpty’s shell, but that’s what happens when you are pwned, owned, and dominated on a regular basis.

    Just deal with it.

  27. Paddy-O says:

    # 26 Mister Mustard said, “Agency. As such, it will require a lengthy court battle, with people dying horrible neurotoxic deaths with each passing day.”

    Wrong again. A law passed by Congress trumps ANY Regulation written by the EPA. Thus, DEms have TOTAL control over the regulations.

    Must suck to have such basic misunderstanding of the Constitution…

  28. Mr. Fusion says:

    Mustard,

    It is the Congressional Review Act of 1996, passed by the Republican Congress because they were afraid Clinton might do some last minute nasties. That was an election year if you recall.

    Long story short – the CRA potentially helps Obama repeal last-minute regulations in two ways: (1) it extends the “effective date” of Bush’s “major” regulations; and (2) it gives Congress a limited window to veto any newly-enacted regulation, regardless of whether it’s already become effective. …

    To back up, the CRA requires that agencies submit copies of new regulations to Congress before they can go into effect. With respect to #1 above, the CRA requires that “major” rules cannot go into effect until 60 days after this submission. As Professor Shane notes, if “Congress adjourns for a new session within 60 days,” then the review period restarts on the 15th day of the next session. In short, it’s as if the rules had been submitted to Congress for the first time around Day 1 of the Obama presidency. That means any last-minute “major” rules won’t be “effective” when Obama takes office. Thus, he can postpone (and presumably kill) them immediately.
    However, #2 is arguably more important because it covers rules that have already gone into effect. For any new rule (major or not), Congress has a limited 60-day window to repeal it via joint resolution (which must be signed by the president). Here too, if Congress adjourns within 60 days of receiving the rule submission, the whole thing starts again on Day 15 of the next congressional session.
    In short, Congress and Obama can repeal any new rule in the next congressional session for up to 60 days. Even better, no filibuster – Senate debate is explicitly limited to 10 hours. I presume the legal eagles working for Obama know all this – but it can’t hurt to remind them.

    I love it when Republicans end up getting a taste of their own medicine.

  29. grog says:

    i understand why conservatives get so bent out of shape when we liberals point out to them that selling your souls to the almighty dollar at the expense of the health of millions of your fellow citizens.

    if i had sold my soul to corporate america, i’d be sensitive too.


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