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Environmental labs caught faking data—private labs hired by corporations to test air quality, water supplies, petroleum products, and other materials routinely reported test results that favored industry.  David Uhlmann, chief of the Justice Department’s environmental crimes section (and clearly not a political appointee), notes that “labs are oftentimes in bed with the people who hired them, and conspired to commit environmental crime”.

Pentagon data project raises issues—Adm. Poindexter’s Total Information Awareness group is raising eyebrows, including those of Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA).  Grassley isn’t reassured by what he hears from DoD’s inspector general, Joseph Schmitz, pointing out that the TIA “only heightens my concern about the blurring of lines between domestic law enforcement and military security efforts”.

Bush plan could take much of the wild out of wilderness—using an obscure 1866 law as their excuse, the Interior Department rules that it might be OK to build roads in all sorts of previously near-pristine wilderness, such as Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Monuments.  Interior will employ a very broad definition of “right-of-way claims”.  The 1866 law was repealed in 1976, but claims could be grandfathered in if there was already a right-of-way present in 1976.  Interior intends to define as “roads” such things as wagon tracks, deer paths, and dogsled routes.  Not only that ... once defined as a right-of-way, it can be improved (graded, paved, widened).  No surprise that oil drilling machinery may soon be rolling down those newly-defined roads.  The Bureau of Land Management is tasked to determine whether right-of-way claims are valid and also whether new roads may be built, but the BLM’s history hardly inspires confidence in their status as protectors of wilderness.

GOP holds sway in Senate fight over budget bill—Senator John Edwards (D-NC) tried to delay new EPA regs that let power plants get away without upgrading pollution controls; it was defeated 50-46.  Tom Daschle (D-SD) wanted to double the allocation for drought-stricken farmers but was defeated 56-39; an alternative amendment by Thad Cochran (R-MS), which refocused the existing allocation toward large growers and ranchers, passed 59-35.

Nominee to AIDS panel called disease ‘gay plague’—Pennsylvania marketing consultant Jerry Thacker, a former employee of Bob Jones University, has been chosen to serve on the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV and AIDS.  He has called homosexuality a “deathstyle” and suggested that “Christ can rescue the homosexual”.  The newsstory, which originated at the Washington Post, reports that Mr. Thacker’s website was cleansed soon after his appointment; for example, “gay plague” lost its first word.

R.I.P. to two great, and very different, cartoonists:

Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) drew actors and musicians, his fine lines evoking the essence of their personas with wicked good humor.  He is survived by (among others) Nina, his daughter whose name was sought for and counted off in thousands of drawings by millions of eyes.

Bill Mauldin (1921-2003) captured the realities of warfare as experienced by Willie and Joe, the quintessential Army grunts in the field.  His work rang true to the soldiers in the field, whether they were stuck in muddy France or sun-baked Tarawa.  When George Patton tried to close down his Stars and Stripes feature cartoon, Dwight Eisenhower insisted that Patton lay off.

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Masters of the bluff and masters of the proposition, but the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency. — Slow Train (1979)

The swift don’t win the race. It goes to the worthy, who can divide the word of truth. — I and I (1983)

I think you will find when your death takes its toll, all the money you made will never buy back your soul. — Masters of War (1963)

Let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late. — All Along the Watchtower (1967)

Trying to create a next world war, he found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor, he said I never engaged in this kind of thing before, but yes I think it can be very easily done. — Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

All that foreign oil controlling American soil. — Slow Train (1979)

Come Senators, Congressman, please heed the call, don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block the hall. — The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964)

Democracy don’t rule the world, you’d better get that in your head. This world is ruled by violence, but I guess that’s better left unsaid. — Union Sundown (1983)

In the home of the brave, Jefferson turning over in his grave. — Slow Train (1979)

Patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. — Sweetheart Like You (1983)

Steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king. — Sweetheart Like You (1983)

We weren’t on the wrong side, sweetness, we were the wrong side. — Driftin’ Too Far From Shore (1986)

Ain’t it hard when you discover that, he wasn’t really where it’s at, after he took from you everything he could steal. How does it feel? — Like a Rolling Stone (1965)

And of course we can’t end without this one, which garnered tremendous applause every time Dylan sang it during his Fall 2002 tour:

Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked. — It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) (1965)

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The very first words of the very first item in the Bill of Rights are “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”.  Ashcroft is enthusiastically and fervently in support of the last portion of the phrase, but conveniently forgets (more accurately, it seems, tramples upon) the start of it.  Of course, he’s well practiced at that, blissfully ignoring the phrase “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,” whenever he invokes the Second Amendment.

Considering the source, I don’t suppose I’m surprised by this.  Ashcroft has constructed his entire political career on selecting his few favorite pieces of the Bill of Rights and the rest of the Constitution while blithely ignoring and/or violating the rest of it.  In his shorthand, there’s really only one Amendment in the Bill of Rights, and even that one is pared down to his unswerving support of guns in all forms, in all places, in anyone’s hands, without “interference” by anyone. 

What’s troubling is that, by and large, We the People put up with Ashcroft’s bludgeoning of our American rights.  He and Dubya and the rest of the cabal have wrapped it all in 9/11, and will continue to ride that excuse as long and as far as they can.  Their public relations approach has been impeccable—truly a marvel to behold, if it wasn’t so damn frightening.

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George W. Bush probably would have been a pretty good Commissioner.  He opposed (and may even have voted against) the wildcard, doesn’t particularly like the designated hitter, and was in general a savvy baseball owner.  Had he been made Commissioner, it’s highly unlikely that he and his minions would be occupying the White House today.  Even better, it would have kept the horrid Bud Selig out of the Commissioner’s office, which would have been a tremendous boon for baseball.

Bush’s baseball ownership history is instructive.  After Poppy was elected President, Dubya used his and his father’s Yale connections to put together a syndicate (mainly from Cincinnati and New York) that bought the Rangers from family friend and fellow Texas oilman Eddie Chiles for $89 million in 1989.  At that time, the Commissioner was Peter Ueberroth, architect of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, mastermind of the late-1980s baseball owner collusion scheme, and a fellow Yalie.  Bush only put up $500,000 himself, and even that relatively small stake was borrowed from a Texas bank, perhaps using as collateral his proceeds from ditching his shares of Harken Energy a bit earlier.  Bush became the club’s managing general partner, which meant that he was the public face of the Rangers, the one who attended baseball meetings and cast votes in the decisions of Major League Baseball.  For that, he paid himself a nice little $200,000 annual salary.  Dubya put in another $100,000 the next year, and added $6302 to his investment in 1992.  He was instrumental in pressing for a new publicly-financed stadium for the team; The Ballpark in Arlington was built in time for Opening Day in 1994.

After he upset Richards to take the governorship in 1994, Bush resigned his post as the managing general partner of the Rangers, but retained control of his equity stake in the team.  His $606,302 investment had gotten him 1.8% of the club’s stock, but Bush also had a side deal in which he would gain an additional 10% of the stock (plus accumulated interest) if the Rangers were sold.  Which is what happened in 1998, while Dubya was preparing for his gubernatorial reelection.  The buyer was Dallas billionaire Tom Hicks, head of media oligarch Clear Channel Communications and heavy contributor to Bush-related PACs.  The price paid by Hicks was $250 million, and the net profit to George W. Bush (enhanced by a subsidy enacted by the Texas legislature at the urging of the Governor) was a tidy $14.9 million.  Just another example of how bidness happens in the world of Texas oil, I guess.

Sadly, we’ll never know how different things might have been under Commissioner Bush ... would that the baseball owners had cottoned to him back in 1993.

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