White House Seeks Control on Health, Safety

[Walt Starr]

The Office of Management and Budget wants to have the final say on releasing emergency declarations to the public.

by Andrew Schneider

WASHINGTON - Under a new proposal, the White House would decide what and when the public would be told about an outbreak of mad cow disease, an anthrax release, a nuclear plant accident or any other crisis.

The White House Office of Management and Budget is trying to gain final control over release of emergency declarations from the federal agencies responsible for public health, safety and the environment.

The OMB also wants to manage scientific and technical evaluations - known as peer reviews - of all major government rules, plans, proposed regulations and pronouncements.

Currently, each federal agency controls its emergency notifications and peer review of its projects.


http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0112-08.htm


This is terrifying. This will make the OMB the Bureau of Political Spin on Emergencies.

Mad Cow is too much of a political probem? No information is given to the public.

Anthrax attacks are happeneing left and right and the FBI has no clue? Fine, just don't release the information.

Knowledge is Ignorance.

Welcome to 1984 twenty years later...

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Well, my confidence level just took a dive. I don't trust the Bush

Administration to put the public's interest, first.

[Walt Starr]

2. Exactly

This totally freaks me out. We'll get no information because political issues are more important to the bastards than the public good.

[question everything]

3. And to screen travelers

This was an editorial in the Orange County Register

Mr. Orwell, report to the ticket counter

http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=75919§ion=COMMENTARY&subsection=COMMENTARY&year=2004&month=1&day=13

It's not just the name - "trusted traveler" - that has an Orwellian ring to it. The program and the color-code program promoted by the Transportation Security Administration are troubling from a civil liberties standpoint. The TSA idea is the worst of the two, in that it creates a new massive government database, and gives the government broad powers to monitor personal information about average citizens who have done nothing other than tried to board an airplane.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

4. Now that is some scary shit!

Wow! Control the information, control the message.

If this goes through we will NEVER hear about another public safety emergency again. Chemical release in your neighborhood? Hey, if no one ends up in the hospital, why should we say anything?

Now THIS is the ultimate "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

They had been working on something like this from the start, but nothing this sweeping.