"They've eliminated the middle man.
The corporations don't have to lobby
the government any more. They ARE
the government." -- Former Texas Agriculture
Commissioner Jim Hightower
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Gregory Palast is an American expatriate journalist whose alarming Guardian and London
Observer investigations into the 2000 U. S.
Presidential campaign went virtually unreported in the nation where it occurred.
In a series of recent reports, Palast has examined the forces molding Bush's energy plan. Smells Like
Texas, California Reamin', and Policy or Payback? analyze the influence corporate contributors have
gathered inside the Whitehouse, a condition where Former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim
Hightower charges, "They've eliminated the middle man. The corporations don't have to lobby the
government any more. They ARE the government."
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Palast tours Texas, the
number one state in emissions of
greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals,
a state filled with caustic air, ground,
and water.
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Palast's studies of California and Texas provide examples from which the rest of the nation may
benefit. "Vending machine" governance, where corporations basically purchase relaxed regulation, is
fully on display in Texas. Palast tours Texas, the number one state in emissions of greenhouse gases and toxic
chemicals, a state filled with caustic air, ground, and water. Texas based companies,
such as oil-refinery operator Exxon, are proposing voluntary emission cutbacks, while Bush has
axed the million E.P.A. fund for civil enforcement to deter pollution, leaving law enforcement to
Texas' weak state oversight. Further, Bush has reduced public
access to estimates on the impact of catastrophic failures--via explosion or chemical
exposures--to residents living near toxic producers
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California's 'energy problem' is a case
study in manipulated shortages.
Palast writes,
"California's electricity watchdog agency claims that speculators
and a little club of energy merchants exercised raw monopoly power to overcharge state consumers by a
breathtaking .2 billion last year."
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California's "energy problem" is a case study in manipulated shortages. Palast writes, "Power
shortage? Nope. The California power grid operator reported that, just over the California border at
the 'Henry Hub' gas pipeline switching centre, you could buy plentiful gas for (
Original: Gregory Palast On The "Energy Crisis" |