Buh Bye Gale Norton
And good riddance. The Secretary of
In fact, she and James Watt both worked for the ultra-rightwing Mountain States Legal Foundation.
In her announcement yesterday she actually said “Hopefully, my husband and I will end up closer to the mountains we love in the West.” Say what?? She must’ve been misquoted. There couldn’t actually be a piece of land somewhere that she doesn’t want to have clear-cut, strip-mined, bulldozed and covered from end to end with off-road vehicles.
This presidency — the most corrupt rotting festering administration in our history — has been full of foxes guarding henhouses. And she was one of the worst.
The Bush Administration is famous for using Orwellian names and descriptions, and Norton was one of the sleaziest. She referred to her approach as the “Four C’s of land stewardship: consultation, cooperation, communication — all in the service of conservation.” Hahahahahaha. Yup, that’s right up there with the Clear Skies Initiative and No Child Left Behind.
Her “Four C’s” translated into more logging in national forests, more oil and gas drilling on public lands and more snowmobiles in national parks. She’s been gung ho about pushing for oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.
Now that Bush’s political capital has been spent, he’s in less of a position to put another land-rapist in charge of the Interior Department. Hopefully the Democrats and moderate Republicans will grow some spines. We don’t want Pat Robertson in charge of gay rights or Strom Thurmond in charge of race relations. And we don’t want another shill for the oil and timber companies sabotaging our national heritage.
posted by Tom Harper @ 11:42 AM
12 Comments:
Bye BYe! and Amen.
She was absolutely horrible. A better title would have been Secretary of Rape
Miss Cellania: Yup, Amen.
J. Marquis: Yeah, Secretary of Rape would be a much more truthful title for her.
Norton's resignation is, I believe, a pre-emptive strike. The stink from Abramoff is spread pretty far, and I would be STUNNED if she doesn't smell as bad as anyone from it. She's trying to protect the president from having a sitting cabinet member investigated in the corruption mess.
I say to her...
"Don't let the door hitchya where the Good Lord splitchya!"
Actually had to read her resignation several times to believe it. Secretary of rape would be a great title
Condi can be Secretary of much needless death and destruction. Can really get into this
Brad: I wouldn't doubt it. Abramoff's tentacles have been spreading further than anyone knows. I just read the other day about a conservative columnist who's been pushing for Social Security "reform" for the past year or two. Turns out Abramoff was paying him to write these columns.
Gun-Toting Liberal: My sentiments exactly.
Pia: I was pretty elated when I saw the headline about her resignation. Sometimes I have to think about what to write about next, and other times -- like this time -- I see a headline and instantly "OK, this is my next post."
These people are amazing.
I blogged about that as well.
In Jan, I posted a crony one as well and looked (didn't take long) around on the internets for some lovely examples of Bush cronies.
Here's 3 of my favorites:
Steven Griles, LOBBYIST for mining, oil and gas industry was named Deputy Interior Secretary. Nothing else to say here, this was the obvious choice, of course.
Bush nominated 36 year old lawyer Julie L. Myers to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Homeland Security Department while Congress was in recess. Who was she? A former White House aide and the niece of Gen. Richard Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Recently? As assistant secretary at the Commerce Department, she supervised 170 employees and headed the department's enforcement of export control laws. Awesome.
Ellen Sauerbrey, a former state lawmaker from Maryland is now the Assistant Secretary of State for Refugees, Population, and Migration. What experience does she bring to this job, which includes a massive budget and coordinating emergency relief operations? Commondreams.org says: “As ambassador (U.S. representative to the Economic and Social Council of the U.N.'s Commission on the Status of Women), she has pushed her ideological views, including her staunch opposition to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women -- a position which the Bush administration shares with Iran, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia -- and to any form of abortion rights.” Another winner.
Mike V.: Yup, those are 3 shining examples. Qualifications and experience aren't even factors in this administration. If you agree with Bush's neocon views, and you're a friend or relative of a friend, you're qualified.
I hadn't heard of Ellen Sauerbrey (I know about the other 2) but she sure sounds like she's qualified for her position. I mean, Bush's definition of "qualified."
Arrrrgh!
Nice post, Tom.
Norton is someone we sure didn't need as Sec. of the Interior. I would have to agree she is probably stepping down for other reasons, i.e. to protect Bush and Cheney in some way. If Jack Off's tentacles had found their way all the way to her, then yes, she may have even been asked to resign. Too much more embarassment for the administration right about now would be just awful now, wouldn't it! Heh...
What was it Shakespeare said? "First, we kill all the lawyers"? It was something like that. Maybe it's really the lobbyists who are the problem. I'm actually not in favor of killing them, or even in favor of rounding them all up and putting them in camps, but I do think there are a number of them who could probably be arrested and imprisoned. How did we ever get to the point where they are allowed to write legislation?
Scheise...
she was definitely pretty awful
Snave: Yeah, I think Jack Off's tentacles had something to do with Norton's resignation. She couldn't have been ready to quit yet -- we have started the drilling in the Alaska wildlife refuge yet. That was her purpose in life.
Yup, who knows what to do with these lobbyists. The industries we're supposed to be regulating are basically dictating to Congress what laws to pass. A system like this can't work.
L: Yup, she was pretty awful.
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