EPA has been ordered by W.H. to close all libraries to the public

[donsu]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-pope/the-ministry-of-truth-str_b_28031.html

The Ministry of Truth Strikes Again, and Again, and Again...

The reactionary campaign against knowledge and information is reaching frightening new heights.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been ordered by the White House to "shut down libraries, end public access to research materials and box up unique collections on the assumption that Congress will not reverse President Bush’s proposed budget reductions." Fifteen states will lose library service immediately, the rest will follow, and the public is to be turned away as soon as possible.

Unsurprisingly, EPA scientists are protesting, saying that the lack of access to data will impair their research and scientific capabilities. The Administration says its plan is to "centralize" control of all data; EPA scientists say the real goal is to "suppress information on environmental and public health-related topics." The Administration is not yet burning books, but they are getting very close.

AND THE PENTAGON IS TRYING TO STOP WINDFARMS

They're not much fonder of telling the truth -- the whole truth -- over at the Defense Department. The Department has refused to complete congressionally ordered studies of the potential security threat to radar systems from wind turbines. Until it finishes that study, Defense is blocking all new wind turbines that might help reduce our dependence on what the President calls our "addiction" to oil and natural gas "often from insecure places."

The Sierra Club sued and demanded that Defense finish the study. (Of course, if wind turbines actually were a threat to our air defense systems, you would think that the Department of Defense would be rushing to prove it and make us safer by dealing with the thousands that already exist.)

-snip-

But scientists are good for one thing -- as scapegoats. Only a few weeks ago, reactionary columnist Peggy Noonan was setting up the climate science community to take the fall for Bush Administration inaction on global warming. According to Noonan, if only global warming scientists weren't such obvious liberal hacks, the world would have acted in time. Scientists, Noonan said, are responsible, "for refusing to be honest, for operating in cliques and holding to ideologies. For failing to be trustworthy." She could not, however, cite a single example of such behavior. Perhaps all her evidence had already all been hidden away under lock and key in the EPA's "deaccessed" library system.
-snip-
-----------------------------------


Peggy Noonan needs to be duck taped

the Pentagon needs to be changed into an apartment bldg.

the EPA needs to clean house and get rid of the toxic neo cons and do their real job.

[YDogg]

1. Is this part of the "they hate us for our freedoms" meme?

What better way to assuage "them" than to remove more of our freedoms?

[lvx35]

45. Yep, those liberal scientists had too much information...

...That's why they were able to predict global warming while the Republicans said it was all a fraud. The solution of course is to deprive the liberals of scientific data so the republican's can have a band of paid yes men interpret it in ways that indicate a "slam dunk" for the administrations current policies, without letting those pesky facts get in the way.

[mike_c]

2. K&R-- this is exactly the sort of news folks need to be aware of....

This admininistration is mounting an all out assault on science, especially environmental science. This is incredibly short sighted-- criminally so, IMO. We will suffer because of it, but our children and grandchildren will suffer even more.

[Uncle Joe]

8. If I remember correctly NASA had to cancel some

satellites destined to study the Earth's environment, because of budget cuts. I believe the necons know global warming is for real, but have abandoned any hope of saving the people in general, they are just shortsightedly looking out for the rich and powerful, and are busy trying to get in to their lifeboats and leave the rest of us to die. The more uneducated or misinformed the people are, the easier their task becomes.

[rodeodance]

3. send this to the media and all you know. good god!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. our Libraries are treasures

at least they aren't burning the records... yet.









what are you doing for your local library?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2797305

[FormerDittoHead]

14. self delete.

[Selatius]

5. If the fuckers can't BURN BOOKS, they will BAN THEM instead.

They've got to be stopped.

[Fleshdancer]

6. I had to click on the link to make sure this wasn't a parody

I kept waiting for the punchline but there was none. I can't believe how bad things have gotten in just 6 short years.

:grr:

[Radical Activist]

7. What a case of projection from Noonan.

She was describing Bush and his allies with that quote.

If wind farms are so bad for radar then why do some military bases with air fields have turbines?

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. The Republican party is insane. Criminally insane.

[FighttheFuture]

31. Criminal? Try treason. They should be dealt with as traitors!!!

[TreasonousBastard]

10. This is very depressing, and...

just more evidence that this administration has an agenda of stifling information and education and dumbing us down.

[zann725]

11. Very scarey.

Kick & Recommend,PLEASE.

[lisainmilo]

12. Greenhouse effects affects bothering them????

US pulls out of Kyoto Treaty!

http://www.mapcruzin.com/news/news032901a.htm

Now we are not allowed to see the damage caused by HIS decision????????????

Bastards!!!!

Bush has more important places to spend the federal money...He has to pay Haliburton! and the rest of his buddies!


What happened to freedom of information???? http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/call/foia.htm


I am telling you Bush has NO REGUARD WHATSOEVER FOR THE LAW!

Impeach NOW... www.johnlisainmilo.com/liberty_1.html



:eyes: I am truly sickened by the policies of this adminstration. :rant:

[Nite Owl]

13. And people are still afraid

to label this administrations tactics as fascist (or as Mussolini also called it, corporatism)? When information is suppressed for the corporations profits we are there and it will only get dirtier and meaner from here. We need to work out tails off to put good dems in office in November before it's way too late.

[LuckyLib]

15. The assault goes beyond EPA and the sciences. It is in law,

education, any place where there is a repository of knowledge that has been collected over time, where researchers could gather information and read more deeply. Chimpy's administration has cleansed websites, changed the definitions of accepted policy and practice in a number of fields, and directed federal funding accordingly. It's a scandal, a government bound and determined to create it's own reality at every step of the way.

[cornermouse]

18. They had a story on the network news about this.

It seems they are now blacking out information that has been open to the public for at least the last 20 years.

And they call this freedom?

[liberalla]

30. Bush closes door on open access

"Despite the Bush administration's dismal record on privacy, there is still one area of privacy that it zealously safeguards -- its own.

The number of documents that have been listed as "secret" jumped from 9 million in 2001 to 16 million in 2004. Moreover, this same administration has granted the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture and the Health and Human Services Department the power to classify any of their documents as "secret." (I guess the purpose was to keep such vital information from falling into the hands of terrorists who might try, for example, to blow up a silo or two in the Midwest.)

In that same period, thousands of unclassified documents have been purged from government Web sites and the National Archives. In 2001, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft instructed federal agencies to "resist" Freedom of Information Act requests whenever they could find legal grounds to do so.

If information is the oxygen of democracy (the system President Bush is trying to install in Iraq), the Bush administration seems to be doing everything in its power to cut off the supply here in the good old USA."

Hail O mighty defender of the Constitution.

From Herb Kaufman, http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006608210328

[LWolf]

16. Farenheit 43. n/t

[mirandapriestly]

17. OMG, I thought this was something from "the Onion" - a parody!

I was waiting for the punch line, but it's real? More Bush science, I see. We are becoming like the old Soviet Union, which I would read about/hear about when I was growing up and I thought what a nightmare a world like that would be, now it is happening.

[brokensymmetry]

19. Words fail me. n/t

.

[nam78_two]

20. sigh kicked and recommended...

They don't want uppity people questioning them....

[Raffi Ella]

21. ...

Twilight Zone.

[Why Syzygy]

22. Are these PUBLIC libraries?

I have read this over and over and don't understand. PUBLIC libraries? Closing? Don't fundies use libraries too? When the hell are the people going to wake up. Maybe not. Maybe not until some liberating army comes to save us? And where will they come from? Weren't WE the LIBERATORS?

[druidity33]

23. EPA Libraries... nt

[Auntie Bush]

36. China?

" Maybe not until some liberating army comes to save us? And where will they come from? "

[yorkiemommie1]

24. every day more insanity

diabolical to the core.

[depakid]

25. Aside from being astoundingly ignorant, Noonan's writings

and her sometimes grandious behavior border on the delusional.

She's little more than a "polite" version of Ann Coulter.

[earth mom]

26. We need Gore to take over his rightful office right fucking NOW!

This shit has gone too far! :grr:

[AzDar]

27. God. Damn. n/t

[calimary]

28. Peggy Noonan was Reagan's "Monica" - in one way or another.

She was constantly on her knees. Maybe she wasn't using her mouth the way Monica did all the time, or maybe even some of the time. But she would have licked his ass clean if he'd asked.

So I'm not above spreading icky rumors and other dirty tricks if it's deserved. :evilgrin:

[liberalla]

29. it's truly shocking...

I can't believe what is happening. Ongoing, relentless assaults on every front. Something's got to happen to change the course we're on.

[AZBlue]

32. WHY AREN'T DEMS TALKING ABOUT THIS??

Sorry for the "yelling," but I get so frustrated! This issue is easy to understand, easy to talk about and will resonate with the "general public" - especially with global warming being so much in the news lately.

WHEN WILL THEY GET IT????!!!

[Phrogman]

33. Why isn't EVERYBODY talking about this?

e0m

[Kurovski]

34. Kick,

:puke:

[opihimoimoi]

35. We are suprised??? This BushCo guys were showing Facists signals years ago

Facist Nations do ...gasp...Facist things....git with it...

[lyonn]

37. Damn, there is no end to what this bunch will do to Control

the masses. This leads my thinking to the horrible thought that this coming election, November, will be Another total win for the NEOCONS. We can't prove anything they do are lies and deceipt. They get before Congress and refuse to answer questions with the reasoning that is is secret info. Everything is stamped secret, so we hear. How do we revolt if and when our country gets screwed again? This coming election will be the Game!

[BrklynLiberal]

38. Fahrenheit451 by Ray Bradbury

The theme of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 can be viewed from several different angles. First and foremost, Bradbury’s novel gives an anti-censorship message. Bradbury understood censorship to be a natural outcropping of an overly tolerant society. Once one group objects to something someone has written, that book is modified and censorship begins. Soon, another minority group objects to something else in the book, and it is again edited until eventually the book is banned altogether. In Bradbury’s novel, society has evolved to such an extreme that all literature is illegal to possess. No longer can books be read, not only because they might offend someone, but because books raise questions that often lead to revolutions and even anarchy. The intellectual thinking that arises from reading books can often be dangerous, and the government doesn’t want to put up with this danger. Yet this philosophy, according to Bradbury, completely ignores the benefits of knowledge. Yes, knowledge can cause disharmony, but in many ways, knowledge of the past, which is recorded in books, can prevent man from making similar mistakes in the present and future.

The society envisioned by Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 is often compared to Huxley’s Brave New World. Though both works definitely have an anti-government theme, this is not the core idea of Bradbury’s novel. As Beatty explains in part one, government control of people’s lives was not a conspiracy of dictators or tyrants, but a consensus of everyday people. People are weak-minded; they don’t want to think for themselves and solve the troubling problems of the world. It is far easier to live a life of seclusion and illusion—a life where the television is reality. Yet more importantly, Fahrenheit 451 is an anti-apathy and anti-dependence and anti-television message. People in the novel are afraid—afraid of themselves. They fear the thought of knowing, which leads them to depend of others (government) to think for them. Since they aren’t thinking, they need something to occupy their time. This is where television comes in. A whole host of problems arise from television: violence, depression and even suicide.

Thus, Bradbury advocates the idea that men should think for themselves, not let the government or the television do their thinking for them. The easiest way, Bradbury argues, to think for oneself is to expand one’s knowledge of history and politics and religion. This can only be achieved through the study of books. Though this study may cause discomfort, all in all, it is necessary for any society that doesn’t wish to repeat the mistakes of the past.

[nealmhughes]

39. Here are links for all who are interested. I began researching

this last night after I got an email from a colleague at the NIH library in Maryland. It seems to have begun in Canada under Harper in January, since Canada lacks a national health library, the decided to save money by cutting the monies that Health Canada gives various libraries that serve as a defacto national health library(ies). Someone in the EPA said, Great idea, and drum roll, please...don't need no stinkin' libraries in Chicago or Atlanta or elsewhere, they can ILL everything from Washington, evidently neglecting that there is a vast volume of material that is unique to each individual library and never digitalized...
This isn't formatted well, it is research notes, but here they are:

list of all the epa regional and national and research libraries
http://www.epa.gov/natlibra/libraries.htm

Story initially breaks in US in Feb 06 in the NewStandard http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2803

story breaks out more on 10 March 06 in The Scientist http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23221/ and then continues on 13 March in FCW http://www.fcw.com/article92562-03-13-06-Print

started in Canada with cuts in the Canadian Health Libraries system in Jan 06
http://www.chla-absc.ca/news/20060117HealthCanadaCuts.html

Story broke in Canada in Jan 06 by CBC great quote by can. health libs ass member:
"Tamsin Adams-Webber, president of the Canadian Health Libraries Association, says the research process is too time consuming without the help of skilled support staff.

"The amount of time that the doctor or nurse might spend looking for information online, frankly, for the salary I make versus what a physician might make, it's cheaper to have me do the work," says Adams-Webber." http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2006/01/10/health-libraries20060110.html

[newspeak]

49. so, when are the Canucks getting rid of Harper?

What are the Canadians response to the shut down in their country?

[gulfcoastliberal]

40. What's fact is fiction and TV reality.

Just watch TV - no need for libraries. :sarcasm:

[alfredo]

41. Make sure verybody in your address book

gets this. Pass it on to the media.

[lfairban]

42. What? You didn't see this coming?

I used to work for the State of Ohio EPA. They set the standard that is now being used on a federal level.

Why am I not surprised?

[bulletsandspikes]

43. I can't take this shit anymore.

We know the truth, we know our history it's time for them to see just how much we know.

[alfredo]

44. did they classify the discharge from chemical plants, saying

the collection of that data could be a security risk?

[mnhtnbb]

46. Goes hand in hand with their defunding of satellites to collect

climate information

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1587505

Who needs science when Bush is appointed by God? Surely God will tell him everything he needs to know.

This is completely in character with these evil a$$holes.

[Earth_First]

47. Eh, we had a good run...

:sigh:

[PresidentWar]

48. Information is dangerous

Just ask Goebells.