The ugly Bush stain: Interior Dep't. tainted nearly every decision on endangered species

By GottaLaff

This ugly Bush stain isn't from one of his New Rules. No, this one has some major history and is one of the biggest, ugliest, most horrendous stains imaginable:

A high-ranking Interior Department official tainted nearly every decision made on the protection of endangered species over five years, a new inspector general report finds, concluding she exerted improper political interference on many more rulings than previously thought.

Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service, did pervasive harm to the department's morale and integrity and may have risked the well-being of species with her agenda, Interior Inspector General Earl Devaney said in his report out Monday.

Okay, stop right there. "May have risked the well-being of species with her agenda". Species. In other words, she played god. But her god isn't kind and loving. Her god kills in huge numbers. How's that for compassion?

The Interior Department last year reversed seven rulings that denied endangered species increased protection, after an investigation found that MacDonald had applied political pressure in those cases. The new report looked at nearly two dozen other endangered species decisions not examined in the earlier report. It found MacDonald directly interfered with at least 13 decisions and indirectly affected at least two more.

MacDonald, a civil engineer with no formal training in natural sciences, resigned in May 2007. Department employees reported that they used her name as a verb — encountering political interference from senior managers was called "getting MacDonalded."

I'd like to tell her to get Cheney'd.

She resigned weeks after the report by Devaney last year found that she broke federal rules and should face punishment for leaking information about endangered species to private groups. That report also said MacDonald censored science and mistreated staff.

What a perfect person to have been given unlimited power over living beings, including her own staff.

The new investigation reaffirmed those findings and said MacDonald's influence was even more far-reaching. It also faulted her boss, former Assistant Secretary Craig Manson, as well as several other high-ranking Interior officials, including Randal Bowman, a special assistant to Manson, and Thomas Graf, a department lawyer. [...]

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said the findings "paint a picture of something akin to a secret society residing within the Interior Department that was colluding to undermine the protection of endangered wildlife and covering for one another's misdeeds."

She should be dropped off at the North Pole. Let's see if she does as well as the polar bears.

Obama Likely to Name Energy-Environment Team Wednesday or Thursday

By GottaLaff

The stock market should jump on Wednesday or Thursday, as it does every time Obama holds a press conference:

President-elect Obama will likely announce his energy and environment team this week, according to CQ Politics.

The announcement "probably will come Wednesday or Thursday."

"Obama is expected to introduce his nominees for Energy secretary, Interior secretary and head of the EPA together, in keeping with a pattern of announcing 'teams' for particular issue clusters. He already has named his economics and national security teams."