First act: the “gag rule” forbidding funding for overseas projects devoted to family planning if talk of abortion played any role whatever.

Repeal of ergonomic standards that help prevent workplace injuries.

Boston Globe, 5/2/02, p.E5

Withdrawal from treaty setting up an International Criminal Court. 60 countries have ratified it. Reason given: it could be used against U.S. military personnel, diplomats and political leaders.

Boston Globe, 4/6/02, p. A7

Proposal for oil exploration in the Arctic Wildlife Sanctuary. It would take 10 years to extract it to yield up a 6 to 8 month supply of fossil fuels for the US. An increase of fuel efficiency to 3 more mpg would equal this.

Bill Press, Liberal Opinion

Week, 4/22/02. p.4

Only the US and Somalia haven’t ratified the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of Children which forbids use of child soldiers and child labor. Because it calls for sex education the Bush Admin. rejected it even though abortion is not part of the curriculum. Insists on abstinence as the sole teaching.

Boston Globe, 5/8/02, p. A17

The US provided logistical support to coup leaders in Venezuela . Peacework, 5/02, p. 19

The Admin. retracted pledge to protect roadless Tongass National Forest from logging and other development. 2.5 million acres of 9 million acres to be opened up.

Editorial, N.Y. Times, 5/18/02

The US has not signed on to the 22-year-old UN Convention of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that establishes a universal standard for women’s human rights. To date, 168 countries have signed on.

Amnesty Internat’l Newsletter,5/10/02

Pentagon Advisory Board: several prominent Democrats removed including Joseph Nye, US ambassador to NATO. Admin. is assigning people who agree with its policies when it was formerly bi-partisan.

Boston Globe, 4/.21/02, p.A7

The White House and some Republicans in Congress supported cigarette companies in eliminating language from a bill that would penalize cigarette smuggling and laundering of drug money.

“NOW” on PBS, 4/19/02

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a global chemical weapons control group, voted to remove Dir. Gen. Jose Bustani when US forced a vote because he had urged Iraq to join the organization. US threatened to withhold dues to UN.

Boston Globe, 4/23/02

Deletion of the prohibition against allowing waste materials to fill waterways; i.e. wetlands, streams and other waters from mountaintop removal when mining. This insulates coal companies from citizen’s law suits.

Hightower Lowdown, 4/15/02

Executive order by Pres. Bush to undo the Presidential Records Act of 1978, making it impossible to gain access to such records if the current executive forbids it or a former president decides against such access.

Boston Globe, 4/2/02, A19

Work requirement for welfare mothers increased to 40 hours without any funds for childcare.

Boston Globe, 4/2/02, A19

US has reneged on amount of aid for Afghanistan from $240 million requested by 2 US gov’t agencies to $40 million. The country is in a shambles outside of Kabul but the Admin. refuses to send peacekeepers beyond Kabul.

Marie Cocco, Lib. Op. Wk., 5/20/02. p.15

Bush Admin. with the help of Sen. Phil Gramm, tried to block a bill that would reform corporate accounting methods that use accounting gimmicks to create the illusion of growth of profits. Inclusion of stock options, for example.

P. Krugman, NY Times, 5/21/02

Admin. struck down a plan for greater efficiency for heat pumps and air conditioners, saying it would boost costs for the companies involved.

Boston Globe, 5/24/02, p. A28

Pres. Bush asked that there be no independent commission to investigate 9/11 intelligence failures.

Boston Globe, 5/27/02, A3

Admin. has gone along with the reincorporating of corporations in offshore countries like Bermuda to avoid paying US taxes. T. Oliphant, Boston Globe, 5/28/02. Under pressure, it backed a moratorium but not a stoppage of this practice.

Boston Globe, 6/8/02, D1

The budget deficit for the year is $140 billion even as Bush insists on a $1.35 trillion tax cut along with an increase in the debt ceiling.

Boston Globe,5/30/02, E1

Relevant Admin. documents in re the Enron investigation to be kept from public view by members of Congress. Repub. Fred Thompson to have veto power over possible public disclosure.

Boston Globe, 6/4/02, A6

The Admin. stood out against the Kyoto Accords on Fri., May 31st even as all EU nations ratified the pact. Here, the EPA acknowledged that greenhouse gases will increase and affect the environment but industry is asked to reduce emissions on a voluntary basis only.

Boston Globe, 6/4/02, A2

Pres. Bush rejects findings of the EPA in re global warming as the work of “bureaucrats”.

Bos. Globe, 6/5/02, A2

Bush pushing for permanent repeal of the estate tax.

Bos. Globe, 6/8/02, A3

Bush presses for preemptive strikes against terrorists without consultation with the UN and probably Congress since it wasn’t consulted about declaring the “War on Terrorism”.

Bos. Globe, 6/8/02

Analysis of estate tax: only 2% are qualified with value of estates over $1 million in 1999. Only 8% of small farms would be affected since $8 million in value is exempted.

Bos. Globe, 6/14/02

The EPA is evading earlier (Clinton era) emission requirements for coal-burning plants.

Bos. Globe, 6/14/02, A17

The Admin. wants to dismantle Amtrak, putting it in private hands. Subsidies needed. Note that airlines and highways are subsidized ($32 billion last year while Amtrak has received $24 billion in its entire 31 years.

Bos. Globe, 6/21/02, A 15

Despite the assassination of Afghan vice-president, Admin. wants to pull back from peacemaking and put responsibility on an Afghan Army. Presently, US in Kabul and not elsewhere.

Gloucester Daily Times, 7/8/02. B 4

Pres. Bush refuses to have SEC papers released about his Harken deal. 7/19/02 A15. Meanwhile, Attorney General Ashcroft urges citizens to spy on citizens while the gov’t has access to private information on the internet, names of books borrowed from libraries, etc.

US corporations paid 24% of taxes in 1960, 15% in the `70’s, and 8% now.

“Now”, 7/19/02

Bush Admin. blocking $34 million for U.S. family planning aid to UN Population Fund despite the fact that no funds have been used to encourage abortion and that China encourages rather than coerces women to have only one child.

Boston Globe, 7/23/02, A4

Mary Robinson, UN human rights chief, says U.S. wants her ousted because of her concerned stance on civil rights and treatment of prisoners of war in Afghanistan.

Boston Globe, 7/31/02, A2

Treaty for an international bill of rights for women (CEDAW) not signed by Somalia, Sudan, Iran and the U.S. It was signed by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and all other nations.

Lib. Op. Wk., 7/29/02, p. 27

Bush Admin. loosening health privacy protection protections. Written consent had been required before records could be shared with doctors, health care facilities, pharmacies and ins. companies. Now, only a “good faith effort” to obtain this needs to be made.

Boston Globe, 8/10/02, p. 1

Bush Admin. seeks to limit the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 that required federal agencies to review environmental implications of their projects. Such limits not to apply beyond U.S. territorial waters: e.g. 3 miles from shore. This could lead to activities like fishing and setting up energy and sonar projects being unregulated.

New York Times, 8/10/02. p. 1

Health and Human Services Agency evading any vote by Congress on constitutionality of giving funds to faith-based groups that make prayer central and offer programs infused with religion.

Boston Globe, 9/4/02, p. A4

No whistleblowing permitted within the Homeland Security Agency. Attorney General, John Ashcroft wants detention camps set up for Americans deemed “enemy combatants”. No charges required, no bail, no access to an attorney or protection against self-incrimination.

Clarence Page, Lib. Op.Wk,8/26/02,p.18

Bush Admin. and U.S. Navy want to exempt underwater military testing and other deep sea activities from environmental review. A judge ruled against them.

Grist, 9/20/02

Bush, when governor of Texas, was involved in not just one but four Harken stock transactions. In each case, he was months overdue in reporting them to the SEC. He said he had no idea Harken was in trouble when he dumped his stock in late June, 1990 even though he was warned twice. Harken’s CEO sent a warning on 6/7/90. Also, he was involved in a phony Aloha Petroleum deal. This was a Harken subsidiary which sold to Harken insiders at an inflated price. An Enron-like transaction ensued.

Molly Ivins, Lib. Op. Wk., 9/9/02, p.23

In Sept. of 1992, William Polk, a retired ambassador said that the Taliban and AlQaeda were CIA creations formed to fight in the Afghan-Soviet war.

Wm Pfaff, Lib. Op. Wk., 9/9/02, p. 13

When corporations are fined for breaking the law, they can deduct the fine from their tax bill.

Lib. Op. Wk., 9/23/02, p. 6.

The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy has found that 40,000 acres of ocean wetlands are disappearing annually. Affects fish breeding grounds.

Grist, 9/24/02

Bush’s National Security Strategy of the U.S., 2002 announced on 9/20. The Nuclear Posture Review stipulates that U.S. nuclear weapons will now target seven countries: Russia, China, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Iran and No. Korea in response to “surprising military developments”. The plan calls for development of new types of nuclear weapons to be used against deeply buried targets thus undermining the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty signed by 187 countries. It calls for the 5 major nuclear weapons states (the U.S., Russia, China, France and the UK) to nuclear disarmament.

Los Angeles Times, 3/12/02

The CIA says Iraq is not an imminent threat.

Bush Admin. is trying to sabotage the formation of an independent commission to inquire about events before 9/11.

Tom Oliphant, Bos. Globe, 9/13/02

Funding for FDA’s challenges to pharmaceutical ads reduced by 60% since last year.

Boston Globe, 10/19/02

Bush Admin. urging Congress to appropriate 27% less money to the SEC for recently passed anti-fraud legislation.

N.Y. Times, 10/19/02, p.1

Bush Admin. has proposed mine-safety budget cuts, has halted regulatory improvement and reduced enforcement efforts. The number of miners killed is mounting.

The Washington Spectator, 10/15/02

In re Weapons of Mass Destruction:

12 nations have nuclear weapons
13 nations have biological weapons
16 have chemical weapons
28 have ballistic missiles.

Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Constitution,10/14/02, p. 5

Bush Admin. via the Justice Dept. claims only the Federal government may determine fuel efficiency standards vis a vis California’s efforts to deal with pollution.

Editorial, Bos. Globe, 10/22/02

New VA policy to halt efforts to inform veterans of health benefits due them. Such benefits are now deliberately underfunded.

T. Oliphant, Bos. Globe, 10/22/02, p. A21

Admin.’s lies

Cooked information in re Iraq’s military capabilities. Pressured intelligence agencies to slant estimates to fit its political agenda.
 

Applies, too, to promises about Soc. Sec. privatization and the merits of the tax cuts.

Paul Krugman calls the Admin. an “elitist clique trying to maintain a populist façade”. They’re aided in this by the gun lobby and the Christian right. He pleads for strong responses to this one-party government by the press.

Lib. Op. Wk., 11/4/02, p1

Admin. opposes strengthening the terms of the Biological Weapons Convention to include inspections since Bush feels this would compromise national security.

Los Angles Times, 11/12/02

Bush Admin. pushing to privatize federal jobs in maintenance, construction and other work, with the transfer of a possible 850,000 or almost ½ such jobs.

Boston Globe, 11/15/02, D2

The Admin. is not providing an enforcement mechanism for the 146-nation Biological Weapons Convention for germ warfare treaty of 1972. It doesn’t want trade secrets exposed.

Boston Globe, 11/16/02, A18

The Security Council has never explicitly authorized or endorsed the no-fly zone over Iraq.

Boston Globe, 11/19/02,A30

The special federal appeals court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review operates almost entirely in secret and has removed limits on secret wiretaps used to gather data on spies or terrorists, but also for building evidence in criminal cases.

Boston Globe, 11/19/02,p1

The Total Information Awareness Project (later rescinded) under John Poindexter makes drivers’ licenses, credit card transactions, airline ticket purchases and gun purchases open to surveillance.

Boston Globe, 11/21/02,p1

The EPA relaxes clean air rules for utilities, refineries and manufacturers as well as the mandate for upgrading pollution control equipment.

Boston Globe, 11/23/02,p.1

In the No Child Left Behind law, buried in 670 pages, is a provision requiring public secondary schools to provide military recruiters with ability to access contact information for every student or face cutoff in aid.

Mother Jones, 11/12/02

The cost to the U.S. Treasury of offshore parking of assets and income is $5 trillion.

Tom Oliphant, Boston Globe, 12/8/02,D11

Credit card debt in 1990: $242.5 billion. In 2001, $723.7 billion.

Boston Globe, 12/8/02,D112

More air pollution and more snowmobiles to be allowed in Yellowstone Nat’l Park. Also, forest managers aren’t required to file environmental impact statements before setting aside acreage for use of timber, mining and oil companies. They won’t have to assure viable populations of native wildlife species. No more independent scientific assessments or advisory panels required in re 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands.

Boston Globe, 12/6/02,A30

Bush Admin. allows drug companies to have access to patients’ private records for marketing purposes.

Bill Moyers’ NOW, 12/22/02

Sec. of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, has created a new “Under Secretariat for Intelligence” at the Pentagon. Congress and other agents devoted to oversight are excluded. This is viewed as a way for him to manipulate facts for his own purposes. It’s under the tutelage of Richard Haver, a supporter of missile defense and space warfare.

The Nation, 12/16/02, p.16ff.

The Admin. says it will use nuclear weapons if necessary in response to an attack by WMD according to the Bush Strategy Report.

Boston Globe, 12/11/02,p.A2

The Admin. has retracted health care benefits for life for WW. II and Korean War veterans.

Jonathan Turley, Lib. Op. Wk. 12/9/02.p.11

The Admin. wants to eliminate the #1.2 billion federal program that subsidizes school construction and to freeze federal aid for hiring more teachers.

Ronald Brownstein, Lib. Op. Wk. 12/9/02

The White House Office of Management and Budget thwarted an announcement by the EPA about the asbestos peril in millions of American homes’ attics and walls.

Boston Globe, 12/29/02,p.A14

The Admin. rescinded Family Leave protection that pays for time with family and the sick.

Boston Globe,12/30/02,p.A14

The Admin. has cut Low Income Energy Assistance Program by 18% over the last year. Protests from Congress brought a reversal of these cutbacks.

Editorial, Boston Globe, 1/15/03,p.18

Admin. is calling for 40-hour work week for welfare recipients. 16 hours of this can be used for job training or for substance abuse programs. Not enough money allotted for childcare.

Editorial, Boston Globe, 1/16/03. p.A10

Business lobbyists have influenced the SEC to scale back some corporate reforms: weakened measures meant to bolster independence of outside auditors. Auditors are not forbidden now to provide tax-planning advice. Postponing consideration of a proposal that requires lawyers to report breaches of securities law to regulators.

Editorial, NY Times, 1/23/03

This effort was rejected by the Commissioners of the SEC.

Boston Globe, 1/24/03,C1

Bush Admin. proposes giving religious organizations access to federal housing money to erect or refurbish buildings. This could foster discrimination against people of other faiths.

Boston Globe, 1/24/03,A.21

In July, the Senate with support from 27 Republicans, voted to increase temporarily the federal contribution to Medicaid by $6 billion. Bush opposed the bill and it died in the House. He has proposed sending states half of that for healthcare and social services combined.

Ronald Brownstein, Los Angeles Times, 12/30/02

Increase in AIDS funding offset by cuts of millions of dollars for child and maternal health and for fighting infectious diseases in poor nations.

Boston Globe, 2/5/03,p.A10

The White House disregards its own demand that government restrain its spending to a 4.1% increase by proposing a 9.3% increase for its own ongoing operations.

Boston Globe, 2/9/03,p.A22

Bush’s idea of developing fuel cell technology fails test of asking auto manufacturers who get grants for this to actually produce fuel-cell cars. Furthermore, this approach to fuel economy isn’t envisioned until 2020. Meanwhile, tax deductions are being offered to small businesses that purchase SUVs.

Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe, 1/13/03

Bush Admin. is buying support for Iraqi invasion from Jordan, Poland and Russia with a blind eye for events in Chechnya.

Boston Globe, 1/13/03, A.36

Bush Admin. abandoned Clinton’s steps toward banning landmines. 146 countries had signed a 1997 treaty that prohibits use of any type of mine, either anti-tank or anti-personnel. The U.S. didn’t sign it. The UN states that 20,000 people are killed or maimed by them yearly.

Gloucester Daily Times, 2/15/03,p.A.11

In re fuel cell technology, the Admin. leaves extraction of hydrogen to coal, natural gas-burning and nuclear power plants instead of through renewable energy sources. It will be 10 to 20 years before this is economically feasible. The use of existing hybrid technology would save fuel but it isn’t mentioned by Bush.
 

Robert. F. Kennedy, Jr., NY Times, 2/16/03

In deference to traders, the U.S. voted against a 13-year-old ban on trade of ivory at a recent UN convention.

Mary McGrory, Lib. Op. Wk., 2/17/03

Admin. shot down last-ditch attempt to enact a new international agreement that would send inspectors to monitor biological weapons in all participating countries, including the U.S.

Boston Globe, 12/30/02/ p.D3

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld has started his own Office of Special Plans (alternative intelligence analysis) plus Special Operations under his personal command. It would take orders only from him. This leads to molding intelligence to fit his own mindset: i.e., Saddam Hussein aided Osama bin Laden.

New Yorker, 12/23/02,p.B1

Secrecy of Admin.

A new policy, devised by John Ashcroft before 9/11, in re the Freedom of Information Act: encourages federal agencies to reject requests for documents if there is any legal basis to do so. The Justice Dept. will defend the rejections in court.

Since 9/11, three agencies can stamp documents “Secret”: the EPA, Dept. of Agriculture and DHHS.

Bush was secretive about activities in Texas as governor. In answer to a deadline for curbing air pollution, he convened a private task force and kept its deliberations private. At end of his term, he sent records of this to his father’s presidential library instead of the State Library in Austin. One of his first acts as President was to close the National Archives.

Secrecy about the detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Information about risks from chemical factories, maps identifying pipelines carrying hazardous substances, reports about risks from nuclear power plants not accessible after 9/11.

Adam Clymer, N.Y. Times, 1/3/03

Bush Admin. is preparing to give old trails and roads in national parks to timber, mining, energy and off-road vehicles interests.

Editorial, Boston Globe, 1/4/03.p.A12

The House Republicans unraveled strict ethics rules to allow charities to give lawmakers free travel and lodging at resorts sponsored by charities and to make it easier to send complementary food to congressional offices.

Boston Globe, 1/8/03.p.A2

Pres. Bush nominates 31 people for judicial positions including Charles Pickering who was voted down by Senate Judiciary Committee because of his civil rights record.

Boston Globe, 1/8/03,p.A2

The “Leave No Child Behind” law is seriously underfunded by Admin. $6 billion shortfall.

Boston Globe, 1/9/03, p.A1 and 1/8/03, A18.

U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA ruled that U.S. citizens accused of being “enemy combatants” can be denied basic right to challenge the designation and can be locked up indefinitely. They would have no right to bail or a lawyer Editorial, Boston Globe. I/10/03.p.A14

Bush Admin. has come up with the possibility that up to 20% of nation’s wetlands --20 million acres—could lose the protection they enjoy under the Clean Water Act.

Editorial, N.Y. Times, 1/11/03

The Attorney General’s office has taken over the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from the Treasury Dept. This gives AG Ashcroft carte blanch in re guns.

Boston Globe, 2/2/03,pA16

Less than 1% of U.S. population gave 83% of all campaign contributions in 2002 elections. Given tax breaks in return as well as protection from lawsuits and need to observe environmental regulations.

Molly Ivins, Lib. Op. Wk., 2/10/03,p.26

The Admin. wants to deploy an antimissile system without the required operational testing.

Boston Globe, 2/24/03.p.A2

170 nations over U.S. objections, agreed to a text for a tobacco treaty that would improve worldwide restrictions on advertising and labeling while clamping down on smuggling and second-hand smoke. The objections are seen as an effort by U.S. to protect the tobacco industry.

Boston Globe, 3/2/03,p.A24

Bush Admin. has not revoked the authority of Westinghouse Co. to transfer documents related to nuclear technology to North Korea despite that country’s violations of the Nonproliferation Agreement of 1994

Boston Globe, 3/8/03,p.A9

Bush has proposed substantial cuts in the government’s Impact Aid program which provides badly needed funds for school districts with a significant number of students from military families.

Bob Herbert, N.Y. Times, 2/03

Federal aid for local law enforcement and disaster recovery funds reduced from $11.7 billion in 2002 to $6.4 billion in 2003.

Neal Pierce, Lib. Op. Wk., 3/3/03, P.11

Bush refuses to sign a bill that requires meat companies to tell consumers which stores received possibly contaminated meat.

Boston Globe, 3/3/03,p.A2

The Pentagon wants a blanket exemption from several laws including one that requires it to pay damages for contaminated ground water. Request for flexibility in re the Marine Mammals Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Editorial, Boston Globe, 3/13/03,p.A12

HUD will eliminate the $540 million Hope VI initiative that transforms the nation’s worst, densest public housing projects into livable, mixed-income development. It will change Section 8 housing assistance into state-sponsored vouchers

Editorial, Boston Globe, 3/14/03.p.A18

FDA’s Daniel Troy is in charge of the legal division. Previously, as a lawyer, he worked to restrict the regulatory powers of the Agency.

U.S. News and World Report, p.63

Bush delays the release of documents subject to automatic declassification by April 17th. The government can now keep information classified indefinitely under the broad mandate of national security.

Boston Globe, 3/26/03,p.A2

Tax loopholes for U.S. companies that move to offshore tax havens cost us $70 billion a year—the cost of some of the war in Iraq.

Robert Kuttner, Boston Globe, 3/26/03,p.A15

Bush Admin. has nominated Daniel Pipes to the board of the Institute of Peace. He’s known as being anti-Islam and as a bigot.

Boston Globe, 4/8/03,p. A2

Pres. Bush rejects public financing of his election efforts.

Editorial, N.Y. Times, 4/25/03

The Pentagon eliminates funds for the Army’s Peacekeeping Institute which provides civil stability in war-torn nations.

Boston Globe, 4/26/03,p.A15

Rod Paige, Sec. of Education, prefers college education be grounded in values associated with Christian communities.

Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe, 5/1/03.p.A19

Admin. under the direction of the Interior Dept. will end reviews of Western landholdings up for consideration as part of the American wilderness system, This means 200 million acres will be removed in Alaska, Utah, sequoia forests in California and the Vermillion Basin in Colorado. They will be open for logging, mining and road-building.

Week in Review, N.Y. Times, 5/4/03

Bush Admin. has quietly altered regulations for the nation’s leading job training programs to allow faith-based organizations to use “sacred literature” such as Bibles in their federally funded programs..

Boston Globe, 5/8/03,p.1

The House of Representatives O.K.’s a bill that allows religious groups receiving federal funds to refuse jobs to those with different beliefs.

Boston Globe, 5/9/03,p.A17

The White House, backed by the NRA, is lobbying for a bill that will protect gun manufacturers from lawsuits arising from criminal or unlawful use of their products.

Boston Globe, 5/14/03,p.A5

Bush, without fanfare, signed a bill allowing a rise in the debt ceiling by a record $984 billion, increasing the amount the federal government can borrow to a record $7.4 billion. This is in force until next year.

Boston Globe, 5/28/03,p.A6

Admin. funded a grant to Old North Church in Boston for preservation measures. This breeches the Constitutional separation of church and state

Boston Globe, 5/28/03,p.B1

The White House blocked the appointment of Pierre Schori of Sweden to the post of head of a UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. Presently, he’s Sweden’s Ambassador to the UN. Sweden opposed the Iraq War and had favored sending chemical weapons inspectors into Iraq.

Ben McGrath, The New Yorker, 7/28/03. p.7

The Admin. is attempting to dismantle Head Start and Amtrak by turning their administration over to cash-strapped states.

Boston Globe, 7/30/03,p.14

John Poindexter of the Pentagon proposed a Policy Analysis Market to foretell future terrorist attacks; i.e., speculators in the market would place bets on what was coming next. His Total Awareness Information Program, an attempt to gather electronic data on every citizen was changed to the Terrorism Information Program and couldn’t target Americans.

Editorial, Boston Globe, 7/30/03,p.A14

Bush Administration speaks about the importance of safety of imported drugs but not of imports of food.

Robert Kuttner, Boston Globe, 7/30/03,p.A14

The Admin. is attempting to restrict the power of state regulators to oversee the securities of industry. Note that states rights aren’t considered here even as the idea takes root of turning the administration of Head Start and Medicare over to the states.

E.J. Dionne, Lib. Op. Wk. 8/4/03,p.5

Bush speaks of cracking down on corporate crime but only one high-level executive has been jailed in the past year. As it stands, prosecutors can grant corporations immunity from prosecution in return for cooperation. Sometimes, the filing of public documents in court isn’t required.

Mokhiber & Weissman, Lib. Op. Wk., 8/4/03,p.5

The White House stopped publishing Budget Information for States in March which reported annually on how much states receive under each federal program.

Peter Shrug, The Nation, 8/4/03,p.26

Bush Admin. names Mike Leavitt, former governor of Utah, as head of the EPA. He favored a highway through wetlands and wildlife habitat near Great Salt Lake. He led governors in opposition to the Kyoto Accord and worked with Bush’s Interior Dept. to head off wilderness designations in Utah to keep it for all-terrain vehicles and business uses.

Editorial, Boston Globe, 8/13/03,p.A22

Inspector General of the EPA reported the agency had systematically misled New Yorkers about air quality in aftermath of the World Trade Center’s collapse when, in fact, there were toxic dust pollutants present. This came about because of pressure from the White House.

Paul Krugman, NY Times, 8/26/03

In mid-August, the EPA unveiled revisions to the 40-year-old Clean Air Act that would allow power plants and factories to upgrade without using up-to-date pollution control equipment.

Boston Globe, 8/31/03,p.12

The Federal government is backing a lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court that seeks to overturn a California clean-air agency’s attempt to curb pollution from various vehicles.

Boston Globe, 8/31/03,p.12

Bush claimed on 7/14 that Saddam Hussein wouldn’t allow inspectors in to check on his weapons program. This was untrue. They were allowed in.

John Young, Lib. Op. Wk., 9/8/03,p. 10

Bush Admin. is proposing to shrink number of military personnel eligible for disability benefits.

Boston Globe, 9/13/03,p. A16

Bush Admin. will start allowing companies that mine gold, silver and other precious metals as much public land as they need to develop their claims.

Boston Globe, 10/12/03, p.A18

Bush Admin. vetoed a UN resolution to censure Israel for the barrier that cuts into the West Bank.

Boston Globe, 10/15/03,p. A10

Bush’s “competitive sourcing” initiative requires Federal workers to prove they can do their work better and more cheaply than a private contractor or risk losing it to the latter. This even extends to the mentally disabled.

The OBM has identified 434,820 jobs of which 103,412 are being evaluated for possible contracting out.

Boston Globe, 10/19/03,p. A30

An Army commander in Iraq sent 500 cheerful form letters to hometown newspapers bearing signatures of soldiers under his control, all forged. This coincided with Bush blaming the media for negative reports about Iraq.

The Admin. has transformed the official website of U.S. Central Command from a legitimate news outlet to a means of self-glorification, not speaking of casualty counts.

Marianne Means, Lib. Op. Wk., 10/27/03

The EPA downgrades mercury emissions from the “hazardous pollutant category” to permit companies to save millions of dollars. Mike Leavitt, the new head of the EPA, calls it an emissions trading program when mercury is mostly site-specific in its effects.

Molly Ivins, Boston Globe, 12/13/03,p. A15

The Federal Data Quality Act gives the public the power to call into question scientific research they consider useless, biased or unreproducible. This could damage important initiatives to regulate discharge of pollution, rescuing endangered species and the analysis of the uses of chemicals.

Boston Globe, 12/23/03,p. C4

Pres. Bush sidestepped Congress and installed as a recess appointment Judge Charles Pickering to the federal appeals court. Democrats had blocked confirmation because of his support for segregation, anti-abortion and anti-voting rights stances.

Boston Globe, 1/17/04,p. A2

A New York appeals court ruled the Admin. acted illegally when it rescinded a new efficiency standard for air-conditioners adopted by the Clinton Admin. Under Bush, it went from 30% improvement to a 20% decrease.

In Dec., an appeals court in Washington blocked the Interior Dept’s efforts to overturn rules that would eventually ban snowmobiles from Yellowstone Park. The same court blocked the EPA’s attempt to undercut laws governing pollution from power plants.

N.Y. Times, 1/17/04

The outsourcing of white collar jobs is expected to reach 3.3 million and the loss of $136 billion in wages by 2015.

Boston Globe, 1/19/04,p. A3

The Admin. is critical of a WHO report calling for governments to take strong steps to reduce obesity. Health and Human Services is backtracking from an anti-obesity initiative after The Sugar Assoc. and other corporate interests criticized it.

Editorial, Boston Globe, 1/27/04,p. A14

The Admin. is moving to replace government safety requirements at federal nuclear facilities with standards written by the contractors.

Boston Globe, 1/29/04,p. A4

The FDA is issuing guidelines for drug ads, not mandatory rules, so drug companies can follow them as they see fit.

Boston Globe, 2/5/04,p. E1

The Justice Dept. issued a memo earlier this year that gives prosecutors discretion to grant corporations immunity from prosecution in exchange for cooperation. Note that only two top level executives are in prison despite their criminal activity.

Mokhibert and Weissman, Lib. Op. Week, 1/19/04

Pres. Bush has requested $50 million in the next budget year for local school voucher initiatives while underfunding 38 education programs.

Boston Globe, 2/14/04,p.A12

The Bush Admin. insists that snowmobiles be allowed into Yellowstone Nat’l Park despite a Dec. ruling by a federal district judge that they be gradually eliminated.

Editorial, N.Y. Times, 2/14/04

The Bush Admin. shelved a proposal to ban a gasoline additive (MTBE) that contaminates drinking water in many communities.

Boston Globe, 2/16/04,p.A 3

Pres. Bush named a strongly anti-Roe vs. Wade person, William Pryor to the U.S. Court of Appeals as a recess appointment. Recently, he appointed the very conservative Charles Pickering, using the same tactic.

Boston Globe, 2/21/04,p. A2

Commerce Dept. data reveal that nearly half of the estimated $233 billion earned by U.S. corporations earned abroad in 2001 is held in foreign tax havens, up from 38% in 1999 and 23% in 1988.

Corporate taxes last year accounted for only 7.4% of total tax receipts.

Boston Globe, 2/24/04,p. C1

At a conference in Santiago, Chile, the Admin. delegates refused to join in a routine statement of support for an international agreement on reproductive health and family planning founded on the Cairo Agreement of 1994 which the U.S. then signed.

Editorial, Boston Globe, 3/17/04,p. A14

In 2003, the IRS audited fewer corporations, small business and partnerships with 2.1 audits for every I,000 business and to 6.5 for every 1,000 regular taxpayers. Corporate wrongdoing requires close attention to malfeasances.

Boston Globe, 4/12/04,p. A2

Note: Liberal Opinion Week is a compendium of op-ed pieces from mainline newspapers.

This material has been assembled by a concerned citizen on Cape Ann.