Robert Kennedy, Jr: For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind

[Jack Rabbit]

From The Huffington Post
Dated Monday August 29

For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind
By Robert Kennedy, Jr.

As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, it’s worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bush’s iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2.

In March of 2001, just two days after EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman’s strong statement affirming Bush’s CO2 promise former RNC Chief Barbour responded with an urgent memo to the White House.

Barbour, who had served as RNC Chair and Bush campaign strategist, was now representing the president’s major donors from the fossil fuel industry who had enlisted him to map a Bush energy policy that would be friendly to their interests. His credentials ensured the new administration’s attention.

The document, titled “Bush-Cheney Energy Policy & CO2,” was addressed to Vice President Cheney, whose energy task force was then gearing up, and to several high-ranking officials with strong connections to energy and automotive concerns keenly interested in the carbon dioxide issue, including Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Commerce Secretary Don Evans, White House chief of staff Andy Card and legislative liaison Nick Calio. Barbour pointedly omitted the names of Whitman and Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, both of whom were on record supporting CO2 caps. Barbour’s memo chided these administration insiders for trying to address global warming which Barbour dismissed as a radical fringe issue.

Read more.

[gumby]

1. Thank You

Every time I've seen that cotton-mouthed thug ginning his worn-out fascist/Mr.Big/Mafioso, extraction/extortion routine, I wonder when AMERICA will EVER get a clue.

Oh, yeah, I forgot. Extreme bigotry (rather than co-option by "Communist" regimes) gets one "elected." After all, as we have all seen, only (mostly) the 'dark skinned' are 'washed away.'

Iraq and Mealy-Mouth have something in common today. And it's very, very, very ugly.

[Eloriel]

2. OMG

Gives me chills.

I saw a clip of him today and he didn't seem to be doing so well. A reporter asked, "Gov., what's your worst fear?" There was a long pause -- way too long for anything televised, and he replied "That there are dead people over there." I think they were discussing an area that they hadn't been able to reach and hadn't heard from. He also didn't look so smiley-faced as he always was as GOP chair. It was as if the wind had been taken out of his sails.

Well, 3 months left to go of hurricane season (June 1 thru Nov. 30, IIRC). November has been very, very calm over the years I have been paying any attention, but things are heating up (literally), so we'll see how much more non-global warming Mr. Barbour has to deal with during his term.