So EPA chief Lisa Jackson unilaterally declared yesterday that carbon dioxide - yes, that very same stuff that we humans exhale and our friendly houseplants inhale - is a greenhouse gas and thus subject to government regulation. Well, Lisa and Barack were determined to have their carbon caps, and if the freely elected representatives of the people weren't about to do so, well, they'll impose it on us by fiat. For our own good, of course.
But what do we know about Lisa Jackson? Well, she made her name in New Jersey, which makes her hands dirtier than a Parkway rest stop (sorry, Jim !). Wikipedia describes her as an American chemical engineer and politician, although she acted more like the latter than the former. As head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, she was notorious for ignoring the facts and bending whichever way monied pressure groups and influential state pols asked her to.
Best example is the occasion she supported then-Governor Corzine's attempt to change the makeup of New Jersey's Fish & Game Council from six sportsmen and three farmers -- who represented various geographical regions of the state -- to seven political appointees recommended by the Governor. Corzine and Jackson failed at this little coup, but these two professional pols formed quite a bond with each other (more on that later).
And what happened when the Council sanctioned a bear hunt in New Jersey to quell their encroachment upon suburban neighborhoods? Governor Corzine vocally disapproved - bear's lives being more important than his constituents - and Lisa Jackson used her authority to cancel the hunt over widespread objection. When it comes down to a council of civilian experts, or one dumb politician, Lisa Jackson will side with a dummy who can help her every single time, and damn the consequences to the rest of us.
So Lisa and Dirty Jon Corzine got pretty tight, and in October of 2008, he named her to be his Chief of Staff, a nice political plum in a Soprano State dominated by payoffs, bribes, and extortion. But Barack Obama knows a good political hatchet-women when he sees one (Jersey and Chicago are run in a pretty similar way, if you get my drift), and plucked her from Dirty Jon and made Lisa Jackson the head of the EPA.
And what is one of the first things the EPA did with Lisa Jackson at the helm? Why, she was forced to criticize the job done by...Lisa Jackson when she ran the New Jersey DEP!
Confused? Maybe this will help:
Federal officials are criticizing how New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection operates, a report in the Record said.
An Environmental Protection Agency audit found "significant shortcomings," especially in the DEP's division that handles contaminated site cleanups. The EPA said the site remediation program lacks oversight, and the DEP takes contractors hired by polluters at their word without checking.
The report also found the agency has failed to take corrective action to fix problems uncovered in a 2005 audit.
The DEP remedies were outlined in a plan issued by Lisa Jackson, who now heads the federal agency. Jackson was DEP commissioner from 2006 to 2008.
Wow. That's a new one. Just how bad of a job did Lisa do in New Jersey?
Bill Wolfe, a former DEP analyst who now is director of the New Jersey chapter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, says “This audit is an indictment of DEP management for failing fundamental tests of competence.”
Wow. Harshness.
So what have we learned about EPA head Lisa Jackson, who has just assumed control over the entire economy and all of our lives? That her interest in the environment only stretches as far as it can help her, Lisa Jackson. That she will overrule any council, ignore any shortcoming, and obey any politician if she feels it can help her career.
No wonder Jon Corzine and Barack Obama fought over her.
So when you are sitting in the dark, freezing from lack of heat, while your battery-operated minicar uses your carbon allotment while recharging, remember - it's not about you. It's not about the environment. It's about Lisa Jackson helping Barack Obama get what he wants, so she can get what she wants.
Don't you feel better now?
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