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Should this be news? During the Bush regime, the number of criminal cases pursued by the EPA against major polluters has experienced an incredible and frightening decline. According to the Washington Post, "the number of civil lawsuits filed against defendants who refuse to settled cases was down nearly 70 percent between 2002 and 2006, compared with a four-year period in the late 1990's ..." As the ex-director of EPA's Office of Civil Enforcement, Eric Schaeffer, put it, "You don't get cleanup, you don't get deterence." ... This scenario is all too familiar. Only Reagan could have possibly caused more damage to EPA after appointing the infamous Ann Burford.- The dying of Slavic Village, Cleveland, is a microcosm of big city problems going into 2008. Another reason for Americans to deny a curious and epidemic form of positveness--the kind of mentality that refuses to hear anything "negative" about the world around them. Regardless, what was once a thriving community has been severely tainted--courtesy of real estate agents and developers out to make a sub-prime dollar--and is now in danger of becoming a wasteland with hundreds of foreclosed homes and streets made dangerous by drug dealers and criminals out to feast on the carcass. But does everyone know that? Compare the yahoo page of positivism about Slavic Village vs. the reality expressed here. My country tis of anomie.
- According to Politcal Animal, Cheney's pro-war lobbying organization, Freedom's Watch, is not only on the move and pushing for more Iraq war and a new front to open against Iran, but FW is also (according to the New York Times), being heavily funded by right-wing Jewish donors , one of the funders being Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas tycoon. Wow! Just even more signs that we live in a true democracy. Perhaps the White House should move to Vegas.
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