Crimes Against Humanity

In 1999, the US Congress held impeachment hearings on then President William Clinton for having lied under oath about his sexual relations with a White House intern, a relationship which caused a great deal of embarrassment to his wife, his daughter, and the American public at large. I have no intention of either supporting or opposing that process. My intention is to question how it is, then, that President George W. Bush has gotten off scott-free for his many lies -- lies which have cost, not temporary embarrassment, but lives -- thousands of lives -- both present and future. This is no ill-advised peccadillo we are talking about, this is meddling with the truth in ways that affect our basic rights to survival.

I won't go into George W's personal vendetta against Saddam Hussein and the thousands of lives, both American and Iraqi, his bungling has cost. If you are interested in that travesty of the truth, you can watch the documentary No End in Sight. What galls me even more is that he seems to have sold our inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for forty barrels of oil (forgive the mixed metaphor -- nothing else seems quite as fitting!) His transgressions are so egregious, I find myself wordless. I will let his actions speak for themselves.

The Bush administration attempts to muzzle scientists, most notably James Hansen, who are speaking out about global warming. Read the article here.

The White House Office of Business and Management edits a multi-million dollar, two-year study by the EPA and removes references to the potentially harmful effects of carbon emissions, as well as suggestions for cutting such emissions and costs involved. Rather than follow the Supreme Court ruling that The Clean Air Act applies to carbon emissions as well as particulates, the OBM suggests that the Clean Air Act itself is flawed and needs to be revoked. Read articles here, here, and here.

While promoting oil exploration in environmentally sensitive areas, Bush calls for a two-year moratorium on solar arrays on public lands so that "environmental impact" can be studied. Read the article here. Thankfully, he later rescinds the moratorium (see here) but still continues to mislead the American public with specious promises of an oil-rich future (see here)

And while George twiddles, the earth burns. Sometimes literally. If you live in California or Georgia or Florida, you know whereof I speak. I'm still looking for that good lawyer -- the one who is willing to try GW for crimes against humanity. And for the lies he has told.