The American Trial Lawyers Association

The EPA has halted the permits on hundreds of mountaintop mining efforts, so that they can review the environmental impacts of this disastrous practice. Between 150 and 200 applications for new or expanded mountaintop removal operations are pending before the federal government. The permits are issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, an agency that has been criticized by environmental groups and has been sued for failing to thoroughly evaluate the environmental impact of mountaintop removal. Under the Clean Water Act, companies cannot discharge rock, dirt and other debris into streams unless they can show that it will not cause permanent damage to waterways or the fish and other wildlife that live in them. The EPA has the authority to override or veto any permit that is issued by the Corp., although as expected, it has rarely done so in the last 8 years. For those unfamiliar with this practice, mountaintop mining is when a company basically uses dynamite to blow the tops off of mountains to extract the coal from within. All of the debris caused by the blast runs off into nearby rivers or lakes, poisoning almost any living creature that calls those areas its home. Hopefully this action by the EPA will be the first of many that seek to reduce the amount of damage that we are inflicting on our environment.


In other news, a new study conducted in the UK shows that the human brain actually stops functioning rationally when presented with evidence from so-called “experts.” For example, when a bank manager or investment adviser recommends a financial decision, the brain tends to abdicate responsibility and defer to their authority with little independent thought, the study has suggested. Such expert advice suppresses activity in a neural circuit that is critical to sound decision-making and value judgments. People are likely to be especially susceptible to uncritical trust of experts in times of economic uncertainty, such as during the current recession. While the study mainly tested how people's brains react on financial matters, this study shows us some pretty significant data about how people handle responsibility. For example, if an expert tells them that global warming isn't real, the person no longer has to feel burdened by that threat, even though the expert they're listening to isn't really an expert. Its the classic American tradition of shifting responsibility to someone else.


And finally today, the GOP has a message for Dick Cheney – SHUT UP! That's right. The GOP is growing increasingly frustrated with the former Vice President who has come out of hiding recently during a spate of TV interviews, and the rest of the Republican Party isn't happy about this. Congressional Republicans are telling Dick Cheney to go back to his undisclosed location and leave them alone to rebuild the Republican Party without his input. Republican lawmakers say he's hurting GOP efforts to reinvent itself after back-to-back electoral embarrassments. Republican Congressman John Duncan from Tennessee said quote, “He became so unpopular while he was in the White House that it would probably be better for us politically if he wouldn't be so public...But he has the right to speak out since he's a private citizen.” The problem actually isn't with Cheney, but with the GOP as a whole. Cheney is a perfect example of what the GOP stands for, and because of that, we need to make every effort to post his face on every TV news show, on every blog, and bring him up in as many conversations as possible. Cheney did exactly what the GOP wanted, and now its come back to bite them on the ass.

Labels: Brain, Coal, Dick Cheney, Environment, EPA, Farron Cousins, GOP, Mountaintop Mining, Rational Thinking, Republican Party, Study, UK

A British diplomat has come forward and made it clear that the British government has a paper trail that proves that both the US and the British government were fully aware that Saddam Hussein posed no threat to the world. Carne Ross, who was a first secretary at the United Nations in New York for the Foreign Office until 2004, told MPs: "A lot of facts about the run-up to this war have yet to come to light which should come to light and which the public deserves to know." He told the inquiry that the intelligence made it "very clear" that Saddam Hussein did not pose a significant threat to the UK, as was being claimed at the time by ministers, and that tougher enforcement of sanctions could have brought his regime down. Ross believes that his revelations could call the very legality of the invasion into question. When prodded about why he didn't come out sooner, or try harder to prevent the invasion, Ross said that he was aware that speaking out too often or too openly - even in internal debates - about his concerns about the government's policy direction would damage his career by winning him a reputation as a "naive troublemaker".


In environmental news today, a poll released recently by Gallup says that, while a majority of Americans still believe the seriousness of global warming is “either correctly portrayed in the news or underestimated,” an all-time high of 41 percent of those polled say it is exaggerated. One of the main reasons for this drop in concern can be attributed to the success of climate change deniers in disseminating their message. While they are no more credible now than they were a few years ago, the difference today is that they have more friendly media outlets that are willing to broadcast their message. Since Gallup began tracking domestic sentiment on global warming in 1997, American views that climate change was being underestimated were at their highest in 2001 and 2006 (the year An Inconvenient Truth came out). The poll also saw declines from last year in the number of people who believe the effects of global warming are occurring now, and in the number that believe global warming will pose a “serious threat” in their lifetimes. By age group, the biggest jump (13 percent) from last March in those who now believe global warming claims are exaggerated was in the 65-and-older demographic. While other age groups also saw an increase, the 18-29 segment had no change at all in the number of those who believe claims are exaggerated.


And finally, it just wouldn't be a news day if there weren't something to say about AIG. Admittedly, I'm getting pretty sick of these stories, and would prefer to no longer write about them. But people seem to enjoy it, so I'll play along one last time. But rest assured, after today, I'm done covering anything to do with AIG, unless aliens come down, beam up their building, and probe each and every executive. Now THAT would be a news story. Despite the protestations of a few congressmen, the House voted overwhelmingly to pass bonus tax legislation Thursday afternoon. Roll Call reports the vote was 328-93 to impose a 90 percent tax on employee bonuses at companies that received federal bailout funds, which includes AIG. CNN notes that the measure, which now heads to the Senate for consideration, would tax individuals on any bonuses received in 2009 from companies getting $5 billion or more in money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Those with incomes more than $250,000 would see their bonuses taxed at the 90 percent rate.

Labels: AIG, Bailout, Bonuses, Britain, Climate Change, Environment, Farron Cousins, Global Warming, Intelligence, Iraq War, Ron Paul, Saddam Hussein