DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

The new book is out. Do your local democracy a favor and buy a copy today. It’s sure to induce fits of stammering and denials from anyone who’s still a fan of the Bush Regime.

Peter Phillips, the director of Project Censored, told me last Fall that the project’s bandwidth fees skyrocket this time of year, as the world tunes into the website for the annual book release. So, although you can read the book online, ~$19 would go a long way toward ensuring the project’s success.

Here’s just one of the eye-opening stories you didn’t read about in the mainstream press: The US is spending more money in Iraq than on securing the homeland. National security spending has risen just 4% since September 11, 2001. “There are many [U.S.] chemical plants that have no fencing requirements, cameras, and no guards.” We have a “department of Homeland Security,” but whose homeland is getting secured? Hint: I won’t tell you its name, but its initials are not U, S, or A.

According to the Independent (article was originally here but now pay-per-view; see archived copy here):

Toxic chemicals in the New Orleans flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a decade, a US government official has told The Independent on Sunday. And, he added, the Bush administration is covering up the danger.

In an exclusive interview, Hugh Kaufman, an expert on toxic waste and responses to environmental disasters at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the way the polluted water was being pumped out was increasing the danger to health.

The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make public the results of those it had analysed. “Inept political hacks” running the clean-up will imperil the health of low-income migrant workers by getting them to do the work.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone with a memory; the Bush Administration did the same thing after the WTC attacks in 2001:

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, the White House instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to give the public misleading information, telling New Yorkers it was safe to breathe when reliable information on air quality was not available.

That finding is included in a report released Friday by the Office of the Inspector General of the EPA. It noted that some of the agency’s news releases in the weeks after the attack were softened before being released to the public: Reassuring information was added, while cautionary information was deleted.

Hugh Kaufman has worked at the EPA for 30 years. He investigated Love Canal in 1977. His credentials as an expert on toxic waste would be difficult to question.

In contrast, President Bush is well-known for suppressing and distorting science to suit political ends.

In a radio interview with Living on Earth, Kaufman describes the scope of the problem:

…first of all you have a large amount of hazardous materials in the area. Industrial discharges to the sewers have now been released. Sewage that would go into the sewers and into wastewater treatment plants, all of that is being released. You have oil and gas from gasoline stations, and waste oils that have been released. You’ve got household hazardous materials; you’ve got pesticides; you’ve got chemicals. There’s a lot of hazardous materials storage areas in the area. So what you have is a witch’s brew of water that not only contains bacteria and viruses from sewage, but you also have heavy metals and other toxic hazardous materials.

Any sane recovery plan will need to address these problems.

This is just too good:

A businessman has asked the town of Weare, N.H., to seize the home of U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter in order to build a hotel and museum on the property. (local mirror)

Seriously, go read the whole thing. It’s the best thing you’ll see all week.

“Just Desserts.” Ha!

(Backstory.)

Quoting an emergency dispatch from the California Solar Center:

The California Million Solar Roofs bill (SB1), which would provide ten years of incentives to help Californians install one million solar rooftops by 2018, is facing a critical vote in the State Legislature. On Monday May 23, the bill goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee for a vote.

The opponents of this bill argue that California can’t afford to provide incentives for solar energy. But when all the costs of our dependence on fossil fuels are taken into account, the truth is that we can’t afford not to. Please let the Senate Appropriations Committee know how important it is for California to become the cradle of the clean energy technologies of tomorrow and pass the California Million Solar Roofs bill.

There are two ways to contact California’s senators:

• the renewableenergyaccess.com site
• the Union of Concerned Scientists’ solar action center

Earlier this month, Bush repealed the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, opening up nearly 60 million acres of formerly protected national forests to the possibility of development.

Arnold Schwarzenegger declared on May 5 that California’s roadless lands would remain protected:

California’s forests are one of our state’s most treasured and valued resources. I am committed to protecting the vibrant health and sustainable future of our forests. In keeping with that commitment and the assurances we have from the U.S. Forest Service, roadless areas in California will remain roadless.

This is a big win for generations of Californians and the state’s remaining 4.4M acres of forest land. And it’s a curious turnaround for Schwarzenegger, who previously said he wouldn’t do what he just did.

Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Utah governors: we’re looking at you.

For more information, see the Chron’s piece on this issue, Bush carves up the backcountry (in which George Bush is dubbed “Chainsaw in Chief”).