Exxon Announces Merger With White House

[Guest guest]

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 08:18:16 -0700

Progress Report: Exxon Announces Merger With White House

" American Progress Action Fund "

<progress

 

 

The Progress Report

by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney, Mipe Okunseinde and Christy

Harvey

www.progressreport.org

6/15/2005

 

For news and updates throughout the day, check out our blog at

ThinkProgress.org.

 

ETHICS

 

Exxon Announces Merger With White House

 

Yesterday, it was announced that the former chief of staff of the

White House's Council on Environmental Quality, Philip Cooney, who

resigned five days ago after it was disclosed that he had doctored

government climate change reports in favor of the oil industry's

position, has been hired by Exxon Mobil. While Cooney will now sit at

the other side of the table at the White House's energy meetings, his

job will remain the same -- to do the bidding of the oil industry.

 

COONEY'S MAGIC MARKER ALTERED SCIENTIFIC REALITY: Just last week, the

Government Accountability Project, a public interest group that

promotes government accountability, disclosed documents to the New

York Times that showed Cooney " repeatedly edited government climate

reports in ways that play down links between [greenhouse gas]

emissions and global warming. " One of the sentences that Cooney

crossed out stated the following: " [Global] warming also will cause

reductions in mountain glaciers and advance the timing of the melt of

mountain snow peaks in polar regions. " Cooney, who has no scientific

training, wrote a note stating that the section " stray[ed] from

research strategy into speculative findings, " a position which goes

against the findings of the scientific community that the greenhouse

effect is accelerating changes in the climate.

 

DOES ACCRUED VACATION TIME AT THE WHITE HOUSE CARRY OVER TO EXXON?:

Cooney chose to resign after the doctored reports became public.

Instead of suggesting that it was ridding itself of a corporate crony,

the White House went into a state of denial. White House spokesperson

Dana Perino said his decision to leave was " completely unrelated " to

the disclosure that he had made changes in several government climate

reports, and that he had chosen to spend time with his family after

having " accumulated many weeks of leave. "

 

ONCE YOU GO OIL, YOU NEVER TURN BACK: Prior to joining the White House

staff, Cooney was a former oil industry lobbyist who worked as the

head of the climate program at the American Petroleum Institute (API),

the chief representative of the oil and gas industry. Exxon is a major

member of the American Petroleum Institute, and its CEO is a director

of API's Policy Committee. Documents disclosed from Vice President

Cheney's secret energy task force meetings showed that the American

Petroleum Institute provided substantial input in the draft of Bush's

energy plan. Exxon purchased its seat at the table by contributing

nearly $100,000 to President Bush. API has been a steadfast opponent

of the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to reduce the level of greenhouse

gases created by industrialized nations over the next decade. While

Exxon has claimed that its opposition to the Kyoto climate change pact

is based on its view that the protocol is " flawed, " the reality is, as

the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, that Exxon is " openly and

unapologetically " opposed to " the notion that fossil fuels are the

main cause of global warming. "

 

EXXON HAS WIELDED GREAT POWER IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION: Prime

Minister Tony Blair recently returned home to London after a meeting

with President Bush to report that they were unable to reach consensus

on how to address global warming and climate change. The reason Blair

was unsuccessful was that he ended up butting heads with an even

closer friend to Bush than himself -- Exxon. According to documents

obtained and recently disclosed by The Guardian, Bush's decision not

to sign the Kyoto Protocol in 2001 was due in part to pressure from

Exxon. Under Secretary of State Paula Dobrianksy wrote memos to Exxon

thanking them for their " active involvement " in helping to determine

the administration's climate change policy. She was explicit in her

praise: " Potus [President of the United States] rejected Kyoto in part

based on input from you, " she told Exxon. Exxon's relationship with

Bush dates back to his days as governor of Texas, when he exempted big

oil companies from a mandate that they clean up their emissions in

favor of a voluntary program. The voluntary program was a concept

pushed by Exxon at the time, and Exxon admitted that Bush had asked

the company to " help develop the concepts " of the program.

 

REVOLVING DOOR BETWEEN BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND CORPORATE LOBBY

CONTINUES TO SPIN: Cooney is only the latest example of a Bush

official using his government job to leverage a position working for

the industry he once regulated. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft

became the first AG to open up a K Street lobbying firm. Ashcroft is

now making money advising clients on law enforcement and homeland

security. Former Commerce Secretary Don Evans took a job with the

Financial Services Forum, where he will lobby for the country's

biggest financial services firms. And former Homeland Security

Secretary Tom Ridge is now helping Savi Technology, a security

technology firm, obtain grants from the federal government.

 

GUANTANAMO BAY

 

The Future of Gitmo

 

The right wing has launched a coordinated campaign to trivialize the

documented problems at Guantanamo Bay. Chairman of the House Armed

Services Committee Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) held a press conference

in which he reviewed the prisoners' daily menu and declared there was

no abuse " unless you consider eating chicken three times a week real

torture. " At yesterday's news briefing, Defense Secretary Donald

Rumsfeld bizarrely boasted that " at Guantanamo, the military spends

more per meal for detainees " than it does on rations for U.S. troops.

Radical right talk show host Rush Limbaugh painted the detention

center as the picture of religious freedom that " may be a great

vacation spot for oppressed Christians in the United States. " And in a

fit of self-congratulation, Vice President Cheney summed it all up: " I

think these people have been treated far better than they could expect

to be treated by virtually any other government on Earth. " Here's what

they don't tell you: abuse at Guantanamo has been confirmed by the

military and the FBI. For all the rhetoric, the reality is that

Guantanamo Bay " has put our soldiers and citizens at risk, become a

rallying cry for our enemies and a recruiting tool for the global

terrorist network. " The Center for American Progress has broken

through the myths and outlined several steps that the president should

take to effectively manage detainees and improve intelligence

collection after Guantanamo's closure.

 

MYTH -- THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE GITMO: Secretary Rumsfeld stated, " as

long as there remains a need to keep terrorists from striking again, a

facility will continue to be needed " and that Guantanamo is the only

facility with the " appropriate " infrastructure. Though the Bush

administration would like to keep detainees in " the legal equivalent

of outer space, " the Supreme Court has asserted its jurisdiction over

the Guantanamo prisoners. There is no longer any excuse, justified or

not, for bypassing other U.S. military detention centers. Furthermore,

Fort Leavenworth in Kansas is the most appropriate location for U.S.

military detainee operations. Established as the U.S. Disciplinary

Barracks in 1874, the facility's personnel are the best trained and

most experienced in managing a prison population in the U.S. military.

 

MYTH -- LEGAL PROTECTIONS AT GITMO ARE ADEQUATE: When the Supreme

Court rejected President Bush's attempt to pick and choose to whom the

Geneva Conventions applied, the administration established combatant

status review tribunals as a substitute for the Article 5 hearings of

the Geneva Conventions. Secretary Rumsfeld maintains that every

detainee at Guantanamo has been processed through these hearings,

" procedures that go beyond what is required even under the Geneva

Conventions. " But earlier this year, declaring that detainees have

been denied the " most basic fundamental rights, " a federal judge ruled

that " the Bush administration must allow [Guantanamo] prisoners ... to

contest their detention in U.S. courts, concluding that special

military reviews established by the Pentagon as an alternative are

illegal. " The legal tango needs to end. To provide clarity in the

status of the detainees and to forestall any similar rulings from the

courts, all detainees should be given Article 5 hearings.

 

MYTH -- GITMO HAS SIGNIFICANT INTELLIGENCE VALUE: Vice President

Cheney claims that it is " vital for us " to maintain Guantanamo because

" we derive significant intelligence out of it. " The Pentagon itself

admits that only about a fourth of detainees are still of any

intelligence value. The detainees that no longer have intelligence

value should be publicly identified and transferred directly to their

home countries, with assurances that they will not be subjected to the

human rights abuses that have occurred under the administration's

extraordinary rendition policies. Further interrogations should be

governed by Army Field Manual 34-52, which would return our military

to using proven and humane practices that have been developed through

decades of experience.

 

MYTH -- CRITICISM ON GITMO IS PARTISAN: Vice President Cheney has

shrugged off criticism of the administration's handling of Guantanamo

Bay by saying, " those who are most urgently advocating that we shut

down Guantanamo probably don't agree with our policies anyway. " In

fact, concern about Guantanamo has become bipartisan. Over the

weekend, a former Cabinet member of the Bush administration, Senator

Mel Martinez (R-FL), urged the president to close down Guantanamo.

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) has warned that Guantanamo is " going to end

in disaster ... if we don't wake up and smell the coffee. " A senior

Pentagon official involved in the administration's debate over

Guantanamo admitted, " From a public diplomacy standpoint, most people

want to [close] it. " And President Bush has " raised the possibility of

closing the facility. "

 

Under the Radar

 

RACE -- FRIST REFUSED TO PUT LYNCHING VOTE ON THE RECORD: When the

Senate formally apologized on Monday for past failures to pass

anti-lynching laws, the resolution was adopted late at night and

" under a voice vote procedure that did not require any senator's

presence. " Why? Because that's how Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) wanted it.

The Senate Majority Leader " refused repeated requests for a roll call

vote that would have put senators on the record, " the Atlanta

Journal-Constitution reports. The bipartisan group pushing for the

resolution " had asked Frist for a formal procedure that would have

required all 100 senators to vote, " but he turned them down. Several

conservative senators still have not agreed to co-sponsor the apology.

 

TOBACCO -- THE $130B FLIP-FLOP: The Justice Department was for a $130

billion penalty for the tobacco industry before it was against it. The

Washington Post reports, " enior Justice Department officials argued

in a court filing one month ago that the government's demand for a

$130 billion smoking-cessation program funded by the tobacco industry

was a legal penalty ... and unaffected by a February court ruling that

rejected other sanctions against the industry. " But last week, the

same officials abandoned that proposal and asked for " a $10 billion

program. " The Justice Department lawyers, " including one who signed

the May 12 document, " argued " the larger smoking-cessation program

would not legally comply with the same February appeals court ruling. "

Rep. Henry Waxman, who has requested an inspector general

investigation of the Justice Department's actions, said, " I am now

even more concerned that this decision was made to benefit the tobacco

industry, not the health of the American people. "

HEALTH -- HERITAGE FOUNDATION'S FACTUAL ABSTINENCE: Challenging an

earlier, peer-reviewed study, the Heritage Foundation has released two

new reports showing that " young people who took virginity pledges had

lower rates of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases and engaged in

fewer risky sexual behaviors. " But " ndependent experts " who

reviewed the new studies " criticized the Heritage team's analysis as

flawed and lacking the statistical evidence to back its conclusions, "

the New York Times reports. Moreover, the experts said the findings

" were unlikely to be published in their present form " in a

peer-reviewed science journal.

CONGRESS -- DOWNING STREET HEARING BANNED FROM HILL: Tomorrow, Rep.

John Conyers (D-MI) will be holding major hearings on the Downing

Street Minutes. Unfortunately, they won't take place on Capitol Hill.

House Judiciary Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) " recently

announced a new policy to deny any request " from any minority commitee

member " for the use of a committee hearing room. " Sensenbrenner's

deputy chief of staff let minority members know with the following

e-mail: " I'm sitting here watching your 'forum' on C-SPAN. Just to let

you know, it was your last. Don't bother asking [for a room] again. "

JUDICIARY -- SENATE CONFIRMS ETHICALLY CHALLENGED GRIFFITH: The Senate

yesterday confirmed Thomas B. Griffith to a seat on the D.C. Circuit

Court of Appeals. Apparently most senators weren't bothered by the

fact that Griffith was guilty of " serious ethical lapses " like

" practicing law with a suspended license in the District of Columbia

and practicing law in Utah without a Utah license. " And, clearly, many

have changed their minds about the number of judges the D.C. Circuit

Court of Appeals actually needs: back in 1999 and 2000, conservatives

blocked the nominations of President Clinton's nominees to the D.C.

Circuit, " saying the caseload of the court didn't justify more

judges. " The court had 10 judges then; now, after Griffith's

confirmation, there will be 11.

GOOD NEWS

Tired of allowing extreme rhetoric to continue to divide their faith,

religious leaders from both sides of the aisle have pledged to come

together and work towards the common good.

DON'T MISS

TALKING POINTS: Beyond Gitmo.

RACE: The photos that inspired the senators behind the apology to

lynching victims.

DEEP THROAT: How Deep Throat fooled the FBI.

CONSERVATIVES: Why President Bush has his followers on edge.

ADMIN: Fear as foreign policy.

DAILY GRILL

" [T]hose who are most urgently advocating that we shut down Guantanamo

probably don't agree with our policies.... "

-- Vice President Cheney, 6/13/05

VERSUS

" It's become an icon for bad stories, and at some point you wonder

[about] the cost-benefit ratio. How much do you get out of having that

facility there? Is it serving all the purposes you thought it would

serve when initially you began it, or can this be done some other way

a little better? "

-- Bush loyalist Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), 6/12/05

DAILY OUTRAGE

Pastor Fred Phelps, the Kansas preacher and gay rights foe who

picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, has a new cause: protesting

military funerals. Phelps sees the deaths as God's " retaliation

against the United States for a bombing " at his church and " abandoning

all moral imperatives. "

© Copyright 2005 by American Progress Action Fund. All rights reserved.