Loose cannons

Just got his CV up to scratch

"Philip Cooney resigned as chief of staff of the White House council [on environmental quality] last Friday, two days after the New York Times reported that he edited some descriptions of climate research in a way that cast doubt on links between greenhouse gas emissions and rising temperatures. The White House has denied that Cooney watered down the impact of global warming, and said that Cooney, who will work for ExxonMobil in the fall, had been looking for another job for some time." — Reuters, June 17.

Expert on (destruction of) environmental quality

"Cooney had been brought into the [Bush] administration after serving as a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, the main trade group for Big Oil." — Reuters, June 17.

Cheney's gravy train quietly rolls on

"With little fanfare and no public announcement, the US Army quietly awarded billions of dollars in new work to Halliburton's subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) on May 1 to support the United States military occupation of Iraq. The new 12-month task order valued at as much as $4.972 billion ..." — Warprofiteers.com, July 6.

World's best practice

The idea is simple: one tax rate for everyone, including companies. In one swoop, tax avoidance schemes, deductions, the need for accountants and filing tax returns would be eliminated. In the past the idea has been dismissed on the grounds of equity, and has failed to win much support in Australia. However, the idea is sweeping the former communist states of Eastern Europe." — Sydney Morning Herald, business section "Jeepers Creepers" column, July 20.

From Green Left Weekly, July 27, 2005.

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From GLW issue 635