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OfflineAndy21
Armchairanarchist

Registered: 01/01/06
Posts: 288
Last seen: 13 years, 3 months
White House declares itself immune from federal whistleblower protection laws
    #6052408 - 09/12/06 03:30 AM (17 years, 8 months ago)

I really would like to see some kind of justification for this clearly evil act from any Bush administration supporters. Sadly they will probably just ignore the thread until it is buried. The opinion reverses decades of precedent and cites the old English doctrine of sovereign immunity. So they are a sovereign........ They want to make sure that those employees in the EPA with a shred of decency and conscience, who see illegal activities taking place know that they can face the wrath of their government for telling anyone. This my friends is nothing more than evil corrupt bullshit.

Quote:

For Immediate Release: September 4, 2006
Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337

BUSH DECLARES ECO-WHISTLEBLOWER LAW VOID FOR EPA EMPLOYEES — Stealth Repeal of Clean Water Act Protections by Invoking “Sovereign Immunity”


Washington, DC — The Bush administration has declared itself immune from whistleblower protections for federal workers under the Clean Water Act, according to legal documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result of an opinion issued by a unit within the Office of the Attorney General, federal workers will have little protection from official retaliation for reporting water pollution enforcement breakdowns, manipulations of science or cleanup failures.

Citing an “unpublished opinion of the [Attorney General’s] Office of Legal Counsel,” the Secretary of Labor’s Administrative Review Board has ruled federal employees may no longer pursue whistleblower claims under the Clean Water Act. The opinion invoked the ancient doctrine of sovereign immunity which is based on the old English legal maxim that “The King Can Do No Wrong.” It is an absolute defense to any legal action unless the “sovereign” consents to be sued.

The opinion and the ruling reverse nearly two decades of precedent. Approximately 170,000 federal employees working within environmental agencies are affected by the loss of whistleblower rights.

“The Bush administration is engineering the stealth repeal of whistleblower protections,” stated PEER General Counsel Richard Condit, who had won several of the earlier cases applying environmental whistleblower protections to federal specialists. “The use of an unpublished opinion to change official interpretations is a giant step backward to the days of the secret Star Chamber.” PEER ultimately obtained a copy of the opinion under the Freedom of Information Act.

At the same time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking a more extreme position that absolutely no environmental laws protect its employees from reprisal. EPA’s stance would place the provisions of all major federal environmental laws, such as the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, beyond the reach of federal employees seeking legal protection for good faith efforts to enforce or implement the anti-pollution provisions contained within those laws.

These actions arose in the case of Sharyn Erickson, an EPA employee who had reported problems with agency contracts for toxic clean-ups. After conducting a hearing, an administrative law judge called EPA’s conduct “reprehensible” and awarded Erickson $225,000 in punitive damages but the Labor Secretary overturned that ruling.

“It is astonishing for the Bush administration to now suddenly claim that it is above the law,” said PEER Senior Counsel Paula Dinerstein, who is handling Erickson’s appeal of the Labor Secretary’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit based in Atlanta. “Congress could end this debate by simply declaring that it intends that the whistleblower protections of these anti-pollution laws apply to the federal government.”

Congress is now debating Clean Water Act clarifications in the wake of a confusing U.S. Supreme Court decision (Rapanos et ux., et al. v. United States) handed down this June that muddies the extent of federal jurisdiction over wetlands. Unless Congress also resolves the Clean Water Act sovereign immunity question, scores of federal employee whistleblower cases may be dismissed or languish in limbo while the issue is litigated.

###




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OfflineSneezingPenis
ACHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!111!
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Registered: 01/15/05
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Re: White House declares itself immune from federal whistleblower protection laws [Re: Andy21]
    #6052413 - 09/12/06 03:38 AM (17 years, 8 months ago)

well, of course.... The EPA is obviously a terrorist organization. 9/11. patriotism. justice. freedom. (stern look). (smirk of disbelief). These people want to kill us. Freedom. God. America.

you can fill all the other words in to make your own Bush speech addressing this issue.

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Offlinelipan
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Registered: 09/10/06
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Re: White House declares itself immune from federal whistleblower protection laws [Re: SneezingPenis]
    #6052421 - 09/12/06 03:47 AM (17 years, 8 months ago)

god bless the queen! (erm heh)


--------------------
Feel free to forget all that I am saying, for the instant these clumsy words spill out of my mouth, they transform into complete lies.

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InvisibleZippoZM
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Posts: 13,227
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Re: White House declares itself immune from federal whistleblower protection laws [Re: lipan]
    #6052429 - 09/12/06 03:56 AM (17 years, 8 months ago)

jebus,
whistle blowing protection is an very important part of the free market system that we live in.

it actually allows for some morality to seep through the cracks into the light of day. for shame for shame


--------------------
PEACE

:mushroom2:zippoz:mushroom2:



"in times of widespread chaos and confusion, it has been the duty of more advanced human beings - artists, scientists, clowns, and philosophers - to create order. In such times as ours however, when there is too much order, too much m management, too much programming and control, it becomes the duty of superior men and women and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relieve the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption"

"People do it every day, they talk to themselves ... they see themselves as they'd like to be, they don't have the courage you have, to just run with it."

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OfflineAndy21
Armchairanarchist

Registered: 01/01/06
Posts: 288
Last seen: 13 years, 3 months
Re: White House declares itself immune from federal whistleblower protection laws [Re: ZippoZ]
    #6053215 - 09/12/06 11:52 AM (17 years, 8 months ago)

I wonder why this has passed under the mainstream media radar, either their sources suck or it's deliberate.

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OfflineEconomist
in training
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Registered: 10/11/05
Posts: 1,285
Last seen: 16 years, 8 months
Re: White House declares itself immune from federal whistleblower protection laws [Re: Andy21]
    #6053262 - 09/12/06 12:04 PM (17 years, 8 months ago)

I just want to point out that the principle of "sovereign immunity" is not some "old-english" legalistic ideal the way the authors of the article make it out to be.

Soveriegn Immunity is, and always has been, a fact of life in the US. It's what allows the Federal Government to take land for the construction of highways (emminent domain only applies to State power in the constitution). It's also what protects the various municipalities in the US from the lawsuits that plague corporate America.

Haven't you ever wondered why McDonald's has to pay $3 million when someone spills hot coffee on themselves, and yet despite the myriad of injuries and dismemberments caused by subways and busses in cities across America there is not a steady stream of high-profile payouts to those who are injured?

Why doesn't the city of Chicago have to payout millions to the victims of the train derailments (both of them) that occurred this past summer?

The answer is simple: the established principle of sovereign immunity.

Suggesting that sovereign immunity is something "unheard of" since the time of British rule is misleading and irresponsible.

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OfflineAndy21
Armchairanarchist

Registered: 01/01/06
Posts: 288
Last seen: 13 years, 3 months
Re: White House declares itself immune from federal whistleblower protection laws [Re: Economist]
    #6053474 - 09/12/06 01:24 PM (17 years, 8 months ago)

Point taken, do you think this opinion is valid though? I would argue that the risk of frivolous whistleblowing incidents would be minimal compared to the very real risk of incompetance and corruption within a government agency.

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OfflineKonnrade
↑↑↓↓<--><-->BA
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Registered: 09/13/05
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Re: White House declares itself immune from federal whistleblower protection laws [Re: Andy21]
    #6054653 - 09/12/06 06:50 PM (17 years, 8 months ago)

Here's the reason:

"it makes our job easier when we don't have to worry about accountability for illegal actions"


--------------------

I find your lack of faith disturbing

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