Jusge REFUSES Christine Todd Whitman immunity re: 9/11!!!

[Bluebear]

A federal judge blasted former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman on Thursday for reassuring New Yorkers soon after the Sept. 11 attacks that it was safe to return to their homes and offices while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhood.

U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts refused to grant Whitman immunity against a class-action lawsuit brought in 2004 by residents, students and workers in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn who said they were exposed to hazardous materials from the destruction of the World Trade Center.

"No reasonable person would have thought that telling thousands of people that it was safe to return to lower Manhattan, while knowing that such return could pose long-term health risks and other dire consequences, was conduct sanctioned by our laws," the judge said.

She called Whitman's actions "conscience-shocking," saying the EPA chief knew that the collapse of the twin towers released tons of hazardous materials into the air.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060203/ap_on_re_us/epa_sept11_lawsuit

[emulatorloo]

1. kick and nominating n/t

[stevedeshazer]

61. When I think of her, I always think of this picture

[silverweb]

2. Good.

It was "conscience shocking," indeed. It was done knowingly and calculatedly, and there should be no immunity for any government official complicit.

[FreedomAngel82]

46. Damn straight

[WI_DEM]

3. It would be nice to bring "hero" Rudy down a peg or two, too

[LiberalAndProud]

4. That's my kind of judge!

___

Quoting a ruling in an earlier case, the judge said a public official cannot be held personally liable for putting the public in harm's way unless the conduct was so egregious as "to shock the contemporary conscience." Given her role in protecting the health and environment for Americans, Whitman's reassurances after Sept. 11 were "without question conscience-shocking," Batts said.
____

[blueheeler]

10. or is it?

Something to consider, what if there was an ulterior motive in naming Whitman? Seems she is speaking out and trying to return the Republicans more towards the center. Check out the link. Maybe she is being smeared as revenge?????

http://www.mypartytoo.com/

[LiberalAndProud]

18. Whitman caved to pressure from the WH.

That action is not excusable. (I'll got follow your link now.)

[ObaMania]

48. So bring them into it too! n/t

[rodeodance]

69. caved to WH pressure, yes.

[LiberalEsto]

5. I hope people sue her ass off

I briefly met CTW when she was a Somerset County Freeholder. What a lightweight. She was basically installed as a figurehead and the county rethug leaders did her thinking for her, just like Dick Tater and the oil barons do the thinking for the Chimp.

[Just Me]

11. I hope they sue those who gave her those marching orders.

Cut the head off the snake!!! :grr:

[AlCzervik]

6. Hey now, she'll be on Colbert tonight, should be interesting.

[Mabus]

56. But I thought she's a different kind of Republican

looks like she follows orders just like the rest of them - especially when it comes to not really caring about the environment and its consequences on the human race. She's a lying sack of shit who has formed a PAC to try to keep the moderates in line. That's it - end of story.

At least that's how I see it.

[katty]

7. good!!

[AndyA]

8. Can't nominate

(Not enough posts) but this is an excellent story. I'm glad to hear whenever a judge stands up for what's right. It seems this is becoming a rarity these days.

I've heard some of the horror stories about the firemen and police who are now suffering from chronic illness due to exposure at Ground Zero. These people are heroes, and they are being treated dreadfully by the Bush Administration, who should be making sure they get the medical care they need.

Shame, shame, shame on you George Bush. Is this what a Christian does? Not according to The Bible I know! :mad:

[dweller]

12. no worry, i just nom'd for you

well, i would have anyway, but you get the points for trying all the same.

welcome to DU :hi:
dp

[The Doctor.]

20. I wasn't thinking of nominating 'till I came to your post...

So you can take full credit.

Sounds like you might understand what real Christianity is about too. I applaud that as there aren't many like you.

[Lasher]

71. Welcome to DU, AndyA!

I also nominated this thread on your behalf. You're gonna like it here.

[BuyingThyme]

9. Shenanigans! When I agreed to introduce Judge Alito,

it was my understanding that this would disappear.

[Wilber_Stool]

13. I wonder where Batts will be working next.

Federal judges that sit for repub trials seem to get transfered these days.

[fooj]

14. Good. Actions have consequences.

Peace.

[bvar22]

15. Does anyone here believe that....

...she was NOT acting on ORDERS from higher up?

Without immunity, she may be pressured to do the right thing.
Come on Christie.....Name Names!

[FreedomAngel82]

47. Of course

[EFerrari]

16. TG. Kick

:kick:

[G_j]

17. right on!

about time

great pic BTW

[Metta]

19. Chickens come home to roost. What chutzpa she has.

No moral compass, trying to weasel out of her responsibilities. Btw, watch for current residents and workers in New Orleans to come down with all sorts of illnesses sometime in the future.

[SeattleGirl]

21. That's great!

It's about time someone in this administration (past or present) has to be held accountable.

[journalist3072]

22. Well, remember the White House edited the EPA's reports!

The EPA Inspector General, Nikki Tinsley, released a report in which she concluded that the White House edited the EPA's report on the air quality in and around Ground Zero after 9/11. The White House deleted some of the more cautionary statements in the EPA report, and inserted more reassuring ones.

Saturday, August 23, 2003

White House edited EPA's 9/11 reports

By JOHN HEILPRIN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- At the White House's direction, the Environmental Protection Agency gave New Yorkers misleading assurances that there was no health risk from the debris-laden air after the World Trade Center collapse, according to an internal inquiry.

President Bush's senior environmental adviser yesterday defended the White House involvement, saying it was justified by national security.

The White House "convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones" by having the National Security Council control EPA communications after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, according to a report issued late Thursday by EPA Inspector General Nikki Tinsley.

"When EPA made a Sept. 18 announcement that the air was 'safe' to breathe, the agency did not have sufficient data and analyses to make the statement," the report says, adding that the EPA had yet to adequately monitor air quality for contaminants such as PCBs, soot and dioxin.

In all, the EPA issued five news releases within 10 days of the attacks and four more by the end of 2001 reassuring the public about air quality. But it wasn't until June 2002 that the EPA determined that air quality had returned to pre-Sept. 11 levels -- well after respiratory ailments and other problems began to surface in hundreds of workers cleaning dusty offices and apartments.

The day after the attacks, former EPA Deputy Administrator Linda Fisher's chief of staff e-mailed senior EPA officials to say that "all statements to the media should be cleared" first by the National Security Council, which is Bush's main forum for discussing national security and foreign policy matters with his senior aides and Cabinet, the inspector general's report says.

Approval from the NSC, the report says, was arranged through the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which "influenced, through the collaboration process, the information that EPA communicated to the public through its early press releases when it convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones."

For example, the inspector general found, the EPA was persuaded to omit guidance for cleaning indoor spaces and tips on potential health effects from airborne dust containing asbestos, lead, glass fibers and concrete.

James Connaughton, chairman of the environmental council, which coordinates federal environmental efforts, said the White House directed the EPA to add and delete information based on how it should be released publicly.

He said the EPA did "an incredible job" with the World Trade Center cleanup.

Andy Darrell, New York regional director of Environmental Defense, an advocacy group, said the report is indicative of a pattern of White House interference in EPA affairs.

"For EPA to do its job well, it needs to be allowed to make decisions based on the science and the facts," he said.

The EPA inspector general recommended the EPA adopt new procedures so its public statements on health risks and environmental quality are backed by data and analysis.

Other recommendations include developing better procedures for indoor air cleanups and asbestos handling in large-scale disasters.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/136350_epa23.html

[FreedomAngel82]

49. What would they gain from this?

It's a very strange thing to do. Are they purposley just trying to kill everyone or what? :shrug:

[SnowGoose]

55. I think Bleever gave a cogent explanation below.

I'll quote: "Perhaps with the benefit of time this will be seen as one of the great Lies ever told to a population for the sake of maintaining the civic (and economic) order at the direct cost of human life."

No, I don't think they wanted to kill off Manhattanites, but were willing to put their long-term health at risk to reap the short-term gain of getting people back to work quickly regardless of the consequences.

[Mabus]

57. Who were they going to send in? FEMA?

They knew even then that they had fucked up that agency by appointing their friends and their friends' kids. They weren't prepared then. Besides, by allowing average Americans in to do the work it helped hide the fact that we had no agencies prepared to deal with disasters after they were finished gutting the FEMA. Remember how appalled we all were when the feds starting turning away workers from New Orleans? Imagine if that had happened after 9/11.

[journalist3072]

73. Wall Street re-opening...

From what I've heard, it was more like the Bushies were in a rush to get Wall Street back open.

[sofedup]

75. "Are they purposely trying to kill everyone?"

No, not everyone- just large groups of people who do not vote republican. N.O. is a second example.

[SoCalDem]

23. I FLIPPED when I saw her on tv that day, saying it was safe to return..

The SECOND I saw that cloud chasing those people down the street, I said ASBESTOS..

[EFerrari]

25. I know. And that sealed it for me re this misAdministration.

They were every bit as bad as I feared they would be.

[bleever]

27. "Go ahead, walk back into the poison cloud, all is well."

Perhaps with the benefit of time this will be seen as one of the great Lies ever told to a population for the sake of maintaining the civic (and economic) order at the direct cost of human life.

This could be the Love Canal scenario, times a hundred thousand.

[EFerrari]

37. Exactly. I'd managed to forget Love Canal.

This will be remembered as the Asbestos and Depleted Uranium pResidency.

:(

[alphafemale]

40. "times a hundred thousand" the death toll might be more than that.

But it's doubtful there will be an "official" count.

[EFerrari]

41. The indicator of how bad something is in this misAdministration

is, they just don't count it. They don't count what they spend in Iraq. They don't count our Katrina dead. They just disappear it.

[renate]

66. they don't count the Iraqi dead, either

Nor do they include the costs of the war in their budget.
And they threaten the man who calculated the real cost of the Medicare bill.
The whole approach is "I can't see you, I can't hear you, la la la la la"... they just close their eyes and wish really really hard that the problem will go away.
It's a cute tactic in a four-year-old but catastrophic in people who are purportedly grownups.

[EFerrari]

67. You'd think that after all that work and all those years

the Republican party would have a clue about goverment.

They don't. They're like locusts.

[FreedomAngel82]

50. More IHOP

[MODemocrat]

24. Is she going to be the guest on Steve Colbert Report tonight

I'd sort of like to see what she has to say about that.

[Straight Shooter]

26. bush knew the air was dangerous, too

That's why he waited so long to show up at ground zero, and that's why he did not linger.

Of course, as the commander-in-chief, our Little Boots emperor should be protected from the danger of breathing hazardous air that we ordinary disposable citizens must face, and especially those who were so foolish as to join in rescue efforts. :sarcasm:

[FreedomAngel82]

52. Oh right

I didn't think about that before but bingo.

[Hissyspit]

28. She was just on "The Colbert Report" trying to Powell her legacy.

I don't think they talked about the judge and the immunity.

[fishwax]

30. she'd rather save the republican party than save the country

that's what I got out of her appearance. She pretty much agreed that the country was going to hell in a handbasket because radical right-wingers control the agenda, and she admitted that moderates have no power within her party, but she'd rather oppose those forces on a macro/party scale, even while complicitly supporting those influences on a macro scale, then stand up for her actual "core values." Whatever. She made me tired. :eyes:

[Hissyspit]

32. I know what you mean. That may be why I only half paid attention to her.

[EFerrari]

42. There is a chapter about her in "Bush Women"

IIRC, her core values trend to corrupt politicking.

[Mabus]

58. I agree

"She's a lying sack of shit who has formed a PAC to try to keep the moderates in line. That's it - end of story." from my post elsewhere on this page (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=308902&mesg_id=310803)

[fishwax]

29. good news

that was such utter and obvious bullshit. :puke::eyes:

[lavenderdiva]

31. I wonder what, if anything, will be done to those who have said

its safe to return to New Orleans after Katrina. All that crap has seeped into their well-water, and they are drinking and bathing in it daily. I sheltered 4 Katrina escapees for 1-1/2 months after the storm, being a former New Orleanian myself, and they have all returned to N.O. 2 of them already have the 'Katrina cough'.

I read today elsewhere that Aaron Neville has resettled in Tennessee, and will not return to New Orleans until the air is deemed safe. He suffers from asthma, and his doctors have warned him about returning, and the negative effects it could have on his health.

Here on DU (I can't remember where) I also read links to articles about healthcare workers and guardsmen, police, etc from other areas in the U.S., having returned to their homes, and now suffering from lesions, inexplicable lung infections, etc. Doctors there can't explain what is going on with them, and don't know how to treat their problems. I believe more and more of this will continue to show up in those who have returned to N.O. to live. Whether its reported or not, is another story.

[Tigress DEM]

33. Do the Crime, Pay the time.

It's time we all got a bit more justice from the courts. Course you know which side Alito will vote for because it's silly people against a powerful government, so he knows who is wrong even before he looks at evidence.

[Hekate]

34. Just another BCF consiglieri willing to take a fall for The Family...

...or is she?

God, I hope she spends time in court being made to be ashamed of her part in this travesty. I hope it sinks in. And I hope the threat of prison and ruin causes her to sing arias of evidence against her highly-placed pals.

Please, God.

Hekate

[rman]

35. so, what else is the government covering up?

[Straight Shooter]

68. You'd get a shorter response if you ask what aren't they covering up. n/t

[autorank]

36. Go directly to jail, a bad jail. And stay there. Reflect on your lies

and those who were hurt by them. Pray for forgiveness in the next life because in this one there is none. You are finished. And stop showing up on television shows, any shows. You just remind people of what a horrible act you committed by lying.

[Skidmore]

38. I'm hoping that more judges refuse to extend immunity

to the cabinet level people who have not stood up to * and have lied and covered up crimes. This nation has been severely damaged on many levels.

[pinniped]

39. What qualifications did this bozo have again?

I bet none, other than the blood oath she gave to the * crime family.

[salin]

43. Do I recall correctly, that when the story was first leaked

that the EPA intentionally declared it was safe, though they knew that it wasn't, that it was also leaked that she was *not* in favor of the announcement, but pressured by Bushco to do so (to get the financial industry back to work)?

Another GOPer, who HAD conscience, but ate it and backed bushco - with horrendous results; who could have saved their self by resigning and thus making headlines at the time.

[stickdog]

44. In a SANE world, (you know, before 9/11 changed EVERYTHING)

Bush & Cheney would have already been impeached for these indefensible and unconscionable murders!

[FreedomAngel82]

45. I agree with the judge

I remember reading reports of how dogs would die shortly after 9/11 because of the toxic and kids have bad asthma problems who other wise wouldn't have had (before 9/11 they had no problems). :mad: What, were they trying to kill all those people? (Well duh it's the BEEF)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

51. This is getting a lot of coverage on NY TV! eom

[Hubert Flottz]

53. What she did was to help kill people who trusted her.

Just like in New Orleans the Bush Crime Group writes people off as disposable, meaningless, trash, after Karl's film crews use them for Bush's PR photo shoots.

[Mabus]

59. Like Bush & Company have done in Iraq

:banghead:

[Wind Dancer]

54. Paul O'Neill discusses this at length in his book.

Christine Todd Whitman caved under the pressure of this administration. She knew it wasn't safe for the residents to return after the attacks but refused to stand up to Cheney, etc.

She needs to be in prison, pure and simple.

[jackstraw45]

60. Along with the rest of the cabal....

This administration is BEYOND evil and corrupt.

ANYTHING for a defense dollar...

[bunny planet]

74. Absolutely, but I also want her to implicate the higher ups she was

doing the bidding for, Cheney for one. She can't be the fall guy for that decision. Who told her to say it was safe, those are the beans she has to spill. I can't handle this teflon Presidency much longer, they have to eventually be made accountable for something don't they? I have trouble believing what they've gotten away with so far.

[leveymg]

62. "No reasonable person" would have allowed this to happen to begin with.

I'm convinced that if a federal court were presented the issue of official reponsibility for 9/11, Dubya and Dick Cheney would be convicted of 3,000 counts of negligent homicide, reckless endangerment, obstruction of justice and perjury, at the very least. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0310/S00257.htm

Why nobody else is demanding a Grand Jury investigation is beyond me.

[proud patriot]

63. I rated the article

:grr:

[electron_blue]

64. Anyway we can get this judge in charge of Brownie's (future) trial?

[NoAmericanTaliban]

65. Stop picking on Brownie - haven't you heard - he did a heck of a job

We would need more prisons if Bush & Co actually went to jail.

[savemefromdumbya]

70. What would have happened if there was uranium in there?

However, weren't FEMA at the WTC the day before 9/11

[happydreams]

72. Whitman was muscled by the Bush fascisti to sugar coat

this.

If it goes to trial it could get interesting when she takes the stand and says Cheney and Bush were freaked about Halliburton's liability via WR Grace.

[LeahD]

76. They have no shame. n/t

[Wilms]

77. .

[buddysmellgood]

78. Well, that's because we were handed Buschco brand environmentalism