From the WSJ (h/t to Chris Horner)
The Washington Examiner reported Tuesday that the EPA under Ms. Jackson has a history of favoring groups that share the agency’s political agenda. “Conservative groups seeking information from the Environmental Protection Agency have been routinely hindered by fees normally waived for media and watchdog groups, while fees for more than 90 percent of requests from green groups were waived,” according to the report.
Government agencies like the EPA typically waive so-called Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request fees for groups disseminating information for public benefit, but it’s up to the agency to decide whether a fee-waiver is justified. At the EPA, fees were waived for liberal environmental groups like Greenpeace and EarthJustice almost always. Meanwhile, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank, “had its requests denied 93 percent of the time. One request was denied because CEI failed to express its intent to disseminate the information to the general public. The rest were denied because the agency said CEI ‘failed to demonstrate that the release of the information requested significantly increases the public understanding of government operations or activities.'”
This is important because the White House and Democrats have increasingly used regulators at the EPA to advance a green agenda that they can’t get through Congress.
Full story here
Meanwhile Pierre Gosselin writes that in Germany, something similar is going on:
If we ever needed help, it’s now…
We have a powerful Ministry now directing its full might and resources against people only because they have a different opinion. Chilling to say the least.
“Acting EPA chief asks EPA Inspector General to investigate FOIA fee discrimination against conservative groups”
http://junkscience.com/2013/05/16/acting-epa-chief-asks-epa-inspector-general-to-investigate-foia-fee-discrimination-against-conservative-groups/
Defective, agenda driven science is only a symptom of the underlying problem….for the ROOT OF THE ROT is defective government. It is impossible to comprehend the if, how and why of government lies, if you do not understand the manipulating forces that direct these government lies. Readers of WUWT have accepted that we have had government funded science lies with regard to AGW. It does not take much research to see this same fact pattern repeated across the science spectrum….and always to the benefit of the ‘powers that be’. The elites have done an effective job of limiting the visibility of this involvement by controlling not just government, but the education, information and entertainment matrix.
My last three articles, prior to Climategate, explained this defective matrix, which the East Anglia Event Horizon only amplified. Defective science is complimented by defective history knowledge. These articles, in archive at Canada Free Press, are a useful introduction to the history you were not supposed to know.
“One Pleasant Day at Runnymede”….the location of the signing of the original Magna Carta
“Nothing Up This Sleeve”….the IPCC MAGICC and other eco-dung
“Hoodwinked By Hoodlums”….Tiananmen Square is the modern Munich Accord
America was a break from the monarch-monopolist forces of Europe….and as founded, the American meritocracy is the anathema of oligarchy. This is the fundamental conflict of our time. How long will we allow this abuse of honesty and humanity ?
We’re the government. We’re here to help you. Now shut up, pay your taxes, take your medicine, and die when we think it best.
AnonyMoose says:
“Full story here” if you’re a subscriber.
The WSJ tends to paywall linked stories.
Pssst… With paywalled WSJ articles you can often do a google search on the title, and then click on the link to the article in the google search results, and magically it is no longer paywalled.
May 17, 2013 is the 40th Anniversary of Watergate.
Chris4692 says:
May 16, 2013 at 7:21 am
“Correct, but don’t forget the state/federal split, which separates powers further, or at least used to.”
Yes, originally Senators were chosen by the state legislatures (Article 1, Section 3, first paragraph). That was changed by the 17th Amendment which now makes Senators loyal and beholding only to their largest campaign donors.
Punish your enemies, reward your friends. It’s the Chicago way.
The EPA is far more than a rogue agency – it is a criminal enterprise engaged in extortion, theft and wholesale civil rights violations. Its functionaries are criminals deserving of the most draconian penalties
Related to this — I would think that anyone in government that sent an email to “Windsor” knowing it was an alias for Jackson were guilty of violating FOIA rules and should be fired to clean house in an attempt to restore some semblance of integrity.
ferd berple says: May 16, 2013 at 6:44 am
The German Pamphlet is a chilling reminder of Europe’s slide into Fascism nearly a century ago. Where governments outlawed contrary opinions. People were jailed or worse for the crime of speaking out.
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Come on, Ferd, we have had that in the UK for more than 15 years.
A certain person** in the UK complained about paedophile gang rape within ‘certain communities’, so the government took him to court for incitement to hatred. During the trial that certain person gave incontrovertible evidence that what he was talking about was true. But the judge ruled that in cases of incitement to hatred, telling the truth was NOT a defence in law. Interesting, eh? Now, some 7 years later, the UK papers are full of trial cases about paedophile gang-rape, because what he had said was true.
But the scene has already been set. The liberal elite have wormed their way into academia, the judiciary, the media and parliament, and they know that they can get away with their distortion and manipulation of society. It happens all the time now, be it though teachers force-feeding Global Warming to children, or politicians subsidising windelecs (wind turbines).
** Self snip, because of UK censorship laws.
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I’m sorry to say but nothing will be done, the best you can do is sit back and watch a documentary about the corrupt EPA.
http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/
Not just on FOI. Also wind farms.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2013/05/14/wind-farms-bird-deaths_n_3270691.html
Same over here- look at the Liberal bias (read swivel-eyed left-wing loonies) in the BBC.
Here’s a list I showing the “revolving door” between BBC & Labour:-Labour supporters and the postions they’ve occupied at the BBC since the early 90’s:-
Chairman Gavin Davies (later Labour adviser)
Chairman Sir Michael Lyons (previously Labour council chief)
Director General John Birt (later Labour adviser)
Director General Greg Dyke (previously Labour donor and candidate)
C.O.O Caroline Thomson (previously Roy Jenkin’s aide)
Head of Political Research Bill Bush (later Labour spin doctor)
Deputy Head of ditto Catherine Rimmer (later Labour spin doctor)
Director of Strategy Ed Richards (later Labour spin doctor)
Head of Corporate Planning James Purnell (now Labour Minister)
Head of Northern Ireland News Tom Kelly (later Labour spin doctor)
Scottish News Editor Tim Luckhurst (previously Labour spin doctor)
Political News Editor Joy Johnson (later Labour spin doctor)
Political Editor Andrew Marr (student Labour organiser)
Home News Editor Celia Barlow (now Labour MP)
Head of European Affairs Chris Bryant (now Labour MP)
Newsnight Producer Phil Woolas (now Labour Minister)
Foreign Correspondent Martin Sixsmith (later Labour spin doctor)
Current Affairs Reporter Ben Bradshaw (now Labour Minister)
Current Affairs Reporter Lance Price (later Labour spin doctor)
“Question Time” Editor Gill Penlington (previously Labour researcher)
Many of them actually worked for the Labour party before, after and even during their BBC employment.
Kon Dealer says:
May 16, 2013 at 12:58 pm
Missed out – St. Andrew [Marr], married to Jackie Ashley, the daughter of Jack Ashley, Baron Ashley of Stoke [a life peer and former Labour MP], and ten-year veteran of ‘The Guardian’ (not the most right-wing paper in the UK, shall we say).
They may be more . . . .
Auto
Moderator:
profusely sorry for the two links above, somehow ‘magic’ at wordpress morphs links to the ‘front’ of the paywall. Anyway, delete both above, and if you may, leave this one intact:
This is truly disgusting, but the slant of such actions have been evident for years now, to those following the AGW agenda of fraud. I so want this ( EPA, IRS, State Dept, AP ) all to reduce the current president to nothing more than an apologizing nitwit who has time for only trying to stop the government HE empowered.
And, yes, someone above rightly noted the ‘secret’ to bypassing the paywall at WSJ.
“The rest [of the requests for records] were denied because the agency said CEI ‘failed to demonstrate that the release of the information requested significantly increases the public understanding of government operations or activities.’”
The agency just cares about the public understanding and the public good, apparently, so go fly a kite.
“One Pleasant Day at Runnymede”….the location of the signing of the original Magna Carta.
WOW.I am impressed that at least one other person over here in the colonies know the proper way it is used. One of my pet peeves; putting “the” in front of Magna Carta.Ranks right up there with irregardless,and improper usage of its and it’s.
Zeke. Yeah. As if the EPA,or any gubermint outfit,wants their actions released. Now excuse me,please. I got to go measure the increase in level of the lake I am camped. It was quite a nice thunder storm.
Sure there can. Just pick any religion.
Well, something similar is appening here in Italy…. the bad thing is, each of the 20 “Regions” that form Italy, has her own “little EPA” (in fact, NOT so little…).
Actually, I believe the Media is more widely considered the “4th Estate”, though in most cases it would be better considered a “Fifth Column”. The bureaucracy pretty much runs the first three…