TWO FROM ESCHATON

First, from CBS's site:

9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable

For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

For more, click here.

Of course, I already had a strong suspicion that Bush actually knew it was coming. But, then, that would make me a conspiracy nut, wouldn't it?

Next, from Knight Ridder:

Fewer polluters punished under Bush administration

Civil enforcement of pollution laws peaked when the president's father, George H.W. Bush, was in office from 1989-93 and has fallen ever since, but it's plummeted since George W. Bush took office three years ago. That's according to records of 17 different categories of enforcement activity obtained by Knight Ridder through the Freedom of Information Act.

And here's the punchline:

Bush administration officials said the EPA is enforcing anti-pollution laws, just in a more effective way.

"The agency has what we refer to as `smart enforcement,'" EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt said in an interview with Knight Ridder. "Our focus is on enforcement that changes behavior in a positive way."

Click here for more of the awful truth about Bush and the environment.

"Smart enforcement" reminds me of the voluntary pollution elimination program that Bush instituted when he was governor of Texas that thrust Houston past Los Angeles into the revered most-polluted-in-America position. Hey, that reminds me of a funny This Modern World strip; check it out.

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