Bishop Hill Bureaucrats are above the law
Aug 6, 2014 Bureaucrats Climate: Parliament FOI From the USA come further evidence that the bureaucracy there is out of control and above the law. I suspect the same is the case here in the UK. The story revolves around Chris Horner's ongoing attempts to get hold of correspondence of senior staff within the Environmental Protection Agency and in particular their text messages. The response of officials seems to have been wholesale deletion of the relevant records, directly flouting data retention legislation.
...they are destroying them, illegally. This isn't a "gaping open-records loophole," it is wanton lawbreaking because the law is quite clear.
The texts EPA produced on Friday prove that EPA's IT system does not automatically delete text messages; that is, for messages not to be there now, they had to be deleted from the system.
These texts also show that not everyone destroyed all of their messages, as McCarthy has admitted she did. Her behavior was deliberate, serial and flagrant.
Congress is doing nothing; the Justice Department is doing whatever it can to ensure the lawbreaking goes unpunished. It is therefore down to the courts to enforce the law.
I'm not holding my breath.
Reader Comments (15)
It's abundantly evident to me (and I presume others, too), that this eco-green nonsense is nothing whatsoever to do with climate, AGW, CO2, or science, but purely a political agenda to establish some form of world governance on everybody. They twist and turn at every opportunity, attempt to silence dissent, produce faulty "models", make patently false assumptions of coming doom, unless we fall into step, and blindly accept what they tell us, they then try and obfuscate and hide stuff that they've written which could invariably seem dodgy to an outside observer, and sack staff who may disagree. None of it gels with honest debate (which of course, is over, as the "science" was settled long ago).
It is now as blatant as the BBC's left-wing bias, and neither they nor the BBC try to hide it, any more. Do as they say, and like it.
Well, I for one, DON'T like it - what (apart from voting for UKIP, of course) can I do? What can any of us do?
"Justice Department"
Another one for my Big Book of Oxymorons...
Old goat: Very little I suspect. We can count ourselves very lucky to be getting old and, until recently, having lived through good times. We won't be around during the Brave New World.
The USA is rapidly approaching the point where political polarisation makes running a democracy impossible. I guess there are some who would say that it is past that point already.
When you believe those with a different view of the way society should function are evil, rather than just mistaken, then any action you take to protect or advance your cause is acceptable.
I am sad to see what is happening in the USA, but have no advice to offer. Only Americans know what kind of country they want to live in, I just hope getting there is not too painful.
I'm forced to agree with Old Goat and Phillip Bratby.
How and when this all came about I don't know and we all need to be careful not to exaggerate what is happening, it being a propensity among people of a certain age (which I suspect the three of us have now reached) to look back at what Phillip calls "good times".
I feel that a part of the problem is that we used those good times to become selfish. We get the governments we deserve and the fact that neither of the mainstream parties in the UK is any longer a mass-membership party is our fault. And saying it wouldn't make a difference if we went out and joined Labour or the Tories is a cop-out. Of course it would — and almost certainly will again except that there is now a lot of pain to be endured before that happens.
It is the three generations of the 20th century — us, our parents, and our children — that history will blame, and rightly so. Our grandparents knew the meaning of poverty, self-reliance and hard work; our grandchildren look like having the poverty forced on them by fanatics who are only allowed their craziness because of the wealth our grandparents and parents helped to create.
Our generation lost its "moral compass" in the aftermath of WWII and the technological revolution that followed, a revolution that still continues and has gathered pace at an alarming rate (arguably too fast for the human brain to comprehend properly) with the result that we were in some ways forced to "opt out" of great chunks of life because we just couldn't handle all the input we were getting.
Being the fallible human beings we are most of us took the easy route which made us all easy meat for those who saw an opportunity and grabbed it with both hands.
As Old Goat says, none of this has anything to do with climate. One thing I will boast about (I try not to normally!) is that I have always maintained that it was never about climate as such. CO2 was always only a wonderful (I would say God-given but I don't think he would do that somehow) excuse for the eco-fanatics to pursue their socio-political agenda of poverty for the masses and (presumably) luxury for the chosen ones.
Some of us (and I know quite a few on this site) saw the writing on the wall decades ago but since we were, and still are to some extent, out of touch with "the spirit of the age" what could we do?
I would like to see my grand-daughter grow up but when the Grim Reaper knocks on the door I shan't really be sorry to go with him. Not any more.
IANAL, but ..........
It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that in the litigious US of A, it may take just one citizen to suspect he/she has paid over the top for a commodity due to government wrongdoing, and a bandwagon of the populous would be roused. In turn, a Class Action could be demanded.
Aided and abetted by the No-Win, No-Fee vultures.
Mike Jackson
Wouldn't disagree with any of that; apart from it was the short term temporary correlation between rising CO2 and rising temperature combined with the fact there was no one willing to question the storyline, which occurred at just the right time. Now Carbon has been labelled evil there's no going back for a generation or maybe more.
'Bureaucrats are above the law...'
So, it appears, are vertically-challenged F1 bosses, especially in Germany...
'You are charged with bribery. Give us a load of money and we'll call it quits...'
@sherlock1 -> drwatson1 would doubtless nod sagely in agreement ... :-)
What are the likes of UEA academics if not bureaucrats?
It's not like some public officials have been unaware of this trend and have sought in collaboration with some politicians to resist the creeping, toxic corruption by drafting legislation designed to constrain their colleagues excesses and misdeeds.
I have wittered on about this here before but ... it is worth repeating - and it applies in spades to DECC ....
Please (pdf) take a look at this which places legally enforceable duties on civil servants - you might splutter a bit when recalling some outpourings of officials ... - but it is there - gathering dust on the shelves. I'd like to dust it off and put it to use....
Mike Jackson on Aug 6, 2014 at 11:34 AM
"It is the three generations of the 20th century — us, our parents, and our children — that history will blame, and rightly so."
I disagree! Or more correctly, they would be wrong if it did. Have you ever been the lone voice that, when proved correct, are told, "Well you should have shouted louder"?
Perhaps, instead of shouting louder, it should have been more of an intellectual debate, or should it have been more passionate, or even less helpful, so the problems were more obvious. Perhaps it is better to wait for the right moment to be noticed. Who knows?
Empires have come and gone, and all it needs is to keep some wisdom alive, somewhere in the world. Much of the problem is that so many think they know so much by the time they are eighteen, and then base their whole political view, for the rest of their lives, on it. Once people realise that these people are woefully ignorant, there could easily be a sea change of opinion.
Educationalists, not necessarily the teachers, and the Media have promoted the idea that hard work isn't necessary, just get noticed, it's who you know that counts, just cram for the exams and then forget everything, as it is of no use. Presentation skills are everything and understanding only gets in the way of following the latest political agenda! If you don't become a manager by the time you are Thirty, you've no chance of becoming a director by the time you are Forty. So much to ignore!!!
But some people believe this, others just follow it without even knowing they believe it.
It will only be when live does not go on as before that these attitudes will change. We can see the future options, and it will take time to pass for more to realise. Then, and only then, will change be possible. But we do need to stay around long enough to influence the outcome.
How Caroline Lucas can, one hand say, she knows nothing about fraccing, yet wants to ban it, is beyond me. Especially when a quick Google gives more than enough information to understand the general process, if you have an O'level in Chemistry! And she has the resources of the Palace of Westminster to aid her!
Anyway, I don't know why I am wasting my time typing this, when I could be watching repeats of X Factor and BB.
"Bureaucrats are above the law..." and Greenpeace and FoE and WWF .. and Gleik and Lew and Cook and Nutticelli and Mann and Thompson and Oreskes and Trenberth. Oh, and Beddington and Nurse and Jones and Walport. Many others also. Allegedly.
Badges? We don' need no steenkin' badges.
The EPA manager in charge of climate issues is a proven, confessed fraud and convicted criminal.
Much of what passes for 'climate science' in america is due to this charlatan.
I find it amazing but not surprising that our media has largely ignored exploring or reporting the implications of this.
It is not at all surprising that the EPA's response to legitimate lawful inquiries into records is to destroy them. they are not after science or reasonable fact-based enforcement of the law. The EPA is a radicalized corrupt organization imposing an extremist ineffective destructive agenda.
It is not just the EPA, another US federal government agency is involved in a data destruction scandal, in which those believed to support hate groups dedicated to upholding their constitution were targeted for special attention by the IRS (apparently a high level decision, not rogue low level employees). All relevant emails were accidentally destroyed, see this for example:
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/06/16/judge-nap-lost-lerner-emails-looks-irs-has-willfully-destroyed-evidence
The most transparent administration ever can do this, and more, because -as with saving the planet from humans- the ends justify the means for our betters. They can drone, waterboard and eavesdrop on virtually all electronic communications, the state appears to have the power to do as it sees fit. The 'war on drugs' gives police the right confiscate property associated with crime, even if the owner was not involved, see:
http://www.wbur.org/2012/11/14/tewksbury-motel-owner-fights-property-seizure
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/05/texas.police.seizures/
I left the UK in the early 70's after graduating, all I could see in the future was creeping socialism and social parasites.
I know it was not what my father and his peers risked their lives for in WW2. As much as he and my mother did not want me to leave they fully understood.
As some above have lamented, you end up with the government you deserve, for what ever reason.
I said in a comment on an earlier topic that government bureaucrats, more so than politicians in my view, are those responsible for the lack of a viable energy strategy in the UK, "Yes minister" was so prophetic.
Problem is, when 51% of employed people work for the government, your are in deep do-do, turkeys don't vote for Christmas. The UK desperately needs a political party that is prepared to do the unpopular thing and cut spending to the bone, before it is too late, it will be painful but necessary.
I notice that the govenment are thinking of fining/jailing anyone guilty of rigging the wholesale energy market...
How about jailing all the politicians who have supported the lunatic energy policy which both this and the previous government have foisted on us..?
Nah - doesn't work like that, does it..?