Pinch me! RFK jr. as head of the EPA!

[Swede]

This is just the beginning.

President-elect Barack Obama is strongly considering Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Environmental Protection Agency, a Cabinet post, Democratic officials told Politico.
http://www.masslive.com/us-politics/index.ssf/2008/11/obama_considers_stars_for_cabi.html

[liberalmuse]

1. That just gave me chills.

What a perfect choice! I hope, I hope, I hope!

[roguevalley]

44. oh my sweet Jesus. This is beyond even my feeble hopes.

[thereismore]

2. Sweet. Who for DOJ? I thought RFK would go to DOJ. nt

[JCMach1]

10. I am thinking Bob Casey, Jr. for DOJ unless he wants another post...

[druidity33]

45. Pat Fitzgerald? nt

[MadMaddie]

47. Oooh he would be soooo good!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. Excellent! I thought AG but this is a wonderful choice!!!!

[Citizen Kang]

35. Janet Napolitiano for AG

She'll be one of the best we've ever had.

[Le Taz Hot]

4. If this is true it cancels out

Rahm Emmanuel for COS. I REALLY hope it is.

[Critters2]

18. Yep. I'll forgive the Emmanuel mistake if this happens. nt

[Pastiche423]

40. I will never forgive the Emmanuel mistake

His very 1st appointment SUCKS.

Not hopeful in the least.

[rockymountaindem]

51. Never?

It's 24 hours into the transition and you're already going to write off his decision-making ability?

[Pastiche423]

73. It's 24 hours into the transition

and Obama has made a decision to slap the left in the face w/his extremely bad choice.

[rch35]

55. haha. everyone knows all that talk about including everyone was rhetorical bullshit anyways

right?

:sarcasm:

[Pastiche423]

74. Appointing the anti-Dean DLCer is bullshit

[SharonAnn]

24. Emanuel will help get Obama's agenda through. We just have to be sure it's the right agenda.

Rahm is the "make it happen" guy. Obama has to decide what he wants to happen.

I'm OK with Rahm as COS. He'll neutralize the opposition.

[nolabels]

66. In front of every slick and pretty quarterback is a group of mean and ugly snot knocking linemen

People need get to get a clue on how things work :shrug:

[medeak]

29. inform me concerns re Rahm?

really not familiar with him?

[loudsue]

30. He's a republican w/ a "D" after his name.

Not a lovely guy...kind of a snake...and I'm not comfortable with him having Obama's back. But he's smart, and has lots of connections in the republican/corporate money camp.

[bettyellen]

31. he pushed out lefty Dems running for congress and replaced them w/ DLC ? Repubs w $$$$

he tried to get Dean ousted because he couldn't squeeze DNC money out of him to spend on targeted races - of Rahm's choosing. very stubborn + machivellian, and not too progressive. i dont trust him. i donl;t think he;s a smart as he thinks he is.

[garybeck]

5. I'd rather have him as AG

but i won't complain if he's epa head!

[mod mom]

6. Let's hope this will put an end to talk of investing in the oxymoron "clean coal":

Coal's True Cost
Posted November 29, 2007 | 09:31 PM (EST)

Last evening's GOP CNN/YouTube debate and the Democratic presidential debate on November 15 were jointly sponsored by a coal industry coalition comprised of mining, railroad and utility interests.

Their high profile civic involvement is designed to further confuse American voters about coal's true cost to our society. Many of the Republican candidates have endorsed massive new subsidies for King Coal and dutifully parrot industry talking points including earnest promises of cheap "clean coal." Given that climate change is the most urgent threat to our collective survival, it is shocking that no debate moderator has pressed the candidates to clearly state their positions on "clean coal."

In fact, there is no such thing as "clean coal." And coal is only "cheap" if one ignores its calamitous externalized costs. In addition to global warming, these include dead forests and sterilized lakes from acid rain, poisoned fisheries in 49 states and children with damaged brains and crippled health from mercury emissions, millions of asthma attacks and lost work days and thousands dead annually from ozone and particulates. Coal's most catastrophic and permanent impacts are from mountaintop removal mining. If the American people could see what I have seen from the air and ground during my many trips to the coalfields of Kentucky and West Virginia: leveled mountains, devastated communities, wrecked economies and ruined lives, there would be a revolution in this country.

Well now you can visit coal country without ever having to leave your home. Every presidential candidate and every American ought to take a few seconds to visit an ingenious new website created by Appalachian Voices, that allows one to tour the obliterated landscapes of Appalachia. And it's not just Arch Coal, Massey Coal and their corporate toadies in electoral politics who are culpable for the disaster. The amazing new website allows you to enter your zip code to learn how you're personally connected to the great crime of mountaintop removal. Using this website Americans from Maine to California can see these mountains and the communities that were sacrificed to power their home. The tool uses Google Maps and Google Earth as interfaces to a large database of power plants and mountaintop removal coal mines. A November 15, 2007 article in the Wall Street Journalhighlighted the site as one of the most innovative, cutting-edge uses of these powerful tools. The site puts a human face on the issue by highlighting the stories of families living in the shadows of these mines.

Each day the coal barons from companies like Massey and Arch detonate 2500 tons of explosives-the power of a Hiroshima bomb every week-to blow away Appalachian mountain tops to reach the coal seams beneath. Colossal machines then plow the rock and debris into the adjacent river valleys and hollows, destroying forests and burying free-flowing mountain streams, flattening North America's most ancient mountain range. According to EPA 1,200 miles of American rivers and streams have already been permanently interred and 470 of Appalachia's largest mountains have simply disappeared, leaving behind giant pits and barren moonscapes, some as large as Manhattan Island. I recently flew over one 18 square-mile pit - Hobet 21 - which you can now tour on Google Earth!

-snip

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/coals-true-cost_b_74738.html

[lonestarnot]

7. Oh hell yeah! Woohooo!

either that or AG!

[finecraft]

8. If it's true, I couldn't be happier!

This would be another one of my dreams come true.

[Richard D]

9. I've been crying so much . . .

. . . and now you made me start again.
Perfect.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

15. Can we have a thread called "Coping with and Understanding your Crying" thread?

man- I feel like a leaky faucet and it is like 8 years worth of tears all in the last week or so!

[Indenturedebtor]

53. Seriously. I teared up on the way to work listening to some blah blah on NPR

This is a great decision by Team Obama! RFK Jr is a VERY smart, VERY principled and honorable man.

Putting a well known and capable public figure in this position signals that some serious action is coming out of the EPA :woohoo:

[Mari333]

11. I can get on board with that. n/t

[crickets]

12. Yes!

That would be wonderful. Oh, please let it happen. Our country (and the world) desperately needs someone responsible at that post, now more than ever.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

13. YES YES YES!!!!

This is a fantasy - right?

[NightWatcher]

14. can we get a job for Mike Papantonio too? Damn we're gonna fix this

[vssmith]

16. What about Secretary of Interior

[robinlynne]

42. Al Gore?

[The Hope Mobile]

70. He said he wouldn't take anything less than pres . . . but maybe he'll change his mind.

[Critters2]

17. OMG!! That would be wonderful!! nt

[tom_paine]

19. PINCH! Goddamn is that about the finest choice he could have made in terms of

restoring the integrity and competency of the agency RFK Jr is just the man to DeBushify and do it correctly and fairly.

As in OK, we will not be running this agency like the Loyal Bushies. We will not target Bushies for harassment and poor performace reviews no matter what their performance, as you Bushies did to Democrats during the last 8 years.

But what we WILL do is conduct a thorough review of the corruption and mismanagement here in the last 8 years, particularly supervisory personnel and post-2001 hires. And if someone is found to be repeatedly guilty of unethical behavior, conflicts of interest and undermining the EPA mission out of Party Loyalty, then that person will be terminated no matter what their poltical affiliation.

Oh, if I close my eyes I can see RFK Jr. giving the talk.

:patriot:

[bobmorr1]

67. a dream choice

Is this really happening? I feel like this is too good to be true. Like I will wake up and be under Repug rule. Everything is looking up!!

[shadowknows69]

20. awesome choice I hope he does it.

[flvegan]

21. We couldn't do better than him in that post.

Damn. Dare I dream of an administration that builds and not breaks?

[MessiahRp]

22. That's who I would tab

RFK Jr. for head of the EPA... Jonathan Turley as AG... I don't mind Powell having a cabinet post but keep him far away from Secretary of State. I remember reading about how he wasn't a very big communicator with officials from other nations while in that job. We have some serious making up to do after the past 8 years and we need a great people person for the job.

Rp

[loudsue]

36. Colin Powell can be Sec. of Def. for all I care.

But we also need to fix the Food & Drug Administration. Chinese food imports, and drugs from the pharmaceutical companies that are not independently tested, are killing more & more Americans every day. When we can't trust our water, air, food & medicine, we're in deep shit.

[nichomachus]

23. Just a quick mention -- although all of you already know it

The Kennedy family, despite their personal problems and despite all the shit flung at them, has a record of public service that is epic. Contrast and compare to the Bush Crime Family which is nothing but a decades-long sordid tale of self-serving actions, backroom deals, corruption, lies, and outright theft.

[Hubert Flottz]

25. Vincent Bugliosi for AG?

Or Jonathan Turley?

[sinkingfeeling]

26. Wouldn't that be the greatest?

[mzmolly]

27. THERE IS NO BETTER CHOICE!

;)

[AzDar]

28. THAT would be brilliant!

:applause:

[Chimichurri]

32. Awsome!!!!

[codjh9]

33. That would be f-ing great - that or Dept. of the Interior n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

34. That is PERFECT!! Absolutely perfect!!!

[glitch]

37. That's good, but Secretary of the Interior is better. :) nt

[Lugnut]

38. Please make it so. n/t

[Cleita]

39. Oh please make it so President Obama.

He's perfect for the job.

[robinlynne]

41. PLease let it be true!!!!!!!!! John Edwards for AG!

[Marlana]

43. That would be fantastic! I hope this pans out.

[truebrit71]

46. That would be an INSPIRED choice!!!

Holy crap! If you listen closely you can hear the polluters shitting themselves...

[autorank]

48. Oh, please. This would make such a difference.

[OHDEM]

49. I heard Caroline for UN Ambassador.

I'm so excited now to see progressives and liberals leading our government.

[orleans]

50. olbermann said that. wouldn't it be absolutely wonderful? n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

52. Cool!

[goodgd_yall]

54. That would be great

or someone else just as passionate about protecting the environment.

[tavalon]

56. That would take the sting out of getting Rahm

[Swamp Rat]

57. Please! Please! Please!

Pretty please! O8)

[Raine]

58. That would be just TERRIFIC!!!! nt

:thumbsup:

[xochi]

59. That was my reaction, too! I must be dreaming!

Kennedy would be so perfect for the EPA! We're all waking up from a long nightmare!

[jhain]

60. and I didn't think I could be any

MORE excited.
God, I hope this happens. FAST.

[nuxvomica]

61. I wish Barack Obama would get out of my head!

The first sign he read my mind was when he used the phrase "social darwinism" in a speech, cleanly describing the core problem with the Republican right. I felt a little embarrassed that he was poking around in there. He stayed through the campaign and now this! What's next? Greg Palast for Sec. of Labor?
I'm afraid we'll all have to start wearing oven mitts or we're gonna pinch ourselves raw. :-)

[bdamomma]

62. Well we all seem to agree that RFK Jr.

would be a great choice. Wonderful selection.

[pleah]

63. K&R for RFK,Jr.!

But, Olbermann also said something about maybe Powell being the Sec. of Education. I say hell no to that one. Absolutely no military person what-so-ever in charge of anything to do with education.

[OnionPatch]

64. This was my dream pick.

I can't wait to hear who some of the others are. (Although I must say I am not thrilled with the Emanuel pick for Chief of Staff.)

[nam78_two]

65. kick.nt

[spanone]

68. i imagine the oil companies and the polluters in general are shitting themselves

[The Hope Mobile]

71. YES THEY ARE!!!! :)

[bdamomma]

69. did he accept this position.

[Vidar]

72. Sounds like a "return to Camelot" which sure as hell works for me.

[depakid]

75. Just what we need- another crank with no significant managerial experience

This would send a very bad sign to the scientific community.