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Government at the high levels is seductive; virtually unlimited budgets and low oversight. Read Ronald Kessler's Inside books.

His book, Inside Congress, told how Newt Gingrich came to the Speaker's job firmly dedicated to reforming Congress and reducing excessive administrative spending, but was quickly seduced into ordering a custom chair despite dozens of former Speakers' chairs sitting in a warehouse, many with very low mileage.

His book, Inside The White House, talks about how presidents are encased in a bubble and pampered by personnel whose only job is to make sure their lives flow smoothly. Many are quickly seduced into believing such subservience is their due, and not simply a perk of what is a very important and very stressful job.

While first-class travel and luxury hotel accommodations might be de rigueur for the Oklahoma Attorney General (I doubt the Oklahoma taxpayers are aware of this), such indulgences are bad optics for an EPA Administrator.

If you're inclined to dismiss this as partisan bickering, try to remember that we're in debt up to our eyeballs.

https://twitter.com/kimstrassel/status/981294442123415552?s=21

If you're inclined to dismiss this as partisan bickering, try to remember that we're in debt up to our eyeballs.

A few trillion here, a few trillion there, and eventually we'll be talking about real money.

But it is partisan hackery. I'll note that if it weren't for double standards, the media would have none. Did they raise a fuss about previous administrations? or only those of Republicans?

Did they raise a fuss about previous administrations? or only those of Republicans?

And that is why if you want the fourth estate to do its job regarding accountability you should vote Republican.

Did they raise a fuss about previous administrations? ~ I R A Darth Aggie at April 13, 2018 6:34 AM

Of course not.

Pruitt's security concerns are real, as he was subjected to death threats almost immediately upon assuming the office. The EPA reports that he has received more death threats than his predecessors, heightening the need for security. For this reason, the EPA has stopped publishing his itinerary, earning the public ire of environmental activist groups hoping to stalk and harass him.

Although, I have to question what security benefit he gets from sitting in first class while his staff, including security, sits in coach.

It's the frequency of his trips and his first class accommodations that have raised questions. His predecessors tied their overseas travel to conferences and summits. Pruitt does not, preferring to meet with international counterparts outside of these formal gatherings. That leads people to question whether his trips are integral to EPA business or vacations with a business meeting on the side - his private tour of the Vatican while in Rome did not help the optics.

What tangible or intangible benefit is the EPA and the American taxpayer getting from his trips?

And, yes, if this were a Democrat administration, this would have been reported on Page 12 below the fold after the sports scores and the obituaries, if at all.

Media double standards aside, Pruitt is a public servant and should adjust his travel accommodations accordingly. He has a duty to steward the public fisc and he appears to be remiss in that duty. That his predecessors shirked it as well is not a justification. Besides, he should have known the Trump administration would be under hostile scrutiny from the media.

Travel habits aside, Pruitt has been a very practical EPA head. He does not put the welfare of obscure flora or fauna ahead of the economic welfare of people.

What an ass on the garbage. I guess my "Princess Pruitt" headline was right.

Oh, and regarding security, you cannot bring a dented butter knife on a flight. Nobody's going to murder you while you're sitting in coach. He's the legislative version of people who get free flights for their emotional support parrot.

Nobody's going to murder you while you're sitting in coach. ~ Amy Alkon at April 13, 2018 7:50 AM

I don't know. I've come pretty close to murdering people in coach - the mother whose kid kept kicking the back of my seat despite multiple requests that he stop; the seat mate who spilled lasagna on me when he tried to stand up mid-meal to get his bag out of the overhead; the overweight seat mate who decided that not only was his stomach entitled to my space, but his arm deserved the entire arm rest as well; or the last row seat mate who built a nest with blankets and pillows grabbed as she walked back to her seat and, having boarded early, extended her nest into my seat and went to sleep before I boarded. Flying coach sucks.

I agree you aren't being partisan Conan. But yes this whole complaint is purely partisan. I would be happy with both parties spending less and being more responsible when in power. But it is pretty obvious that Pruitt is little different from his predecessors and the NY Times wouldn't care if he had a D after his name. So meh.

You believe that BS about the garbage? Don’t you think he would have also noticed that the bed wasn’t made, fresh towels delivered and the bathroom was a mess? What makes you hate a person you don’t even know that you would believe, what is essentially a cheap rumor? I don’t know him, but I know he is working to roll back the more egregious aspects of the EPA and people are angry about that. Before I jump on the bandwagon I am going need to some actual proof of his malfeasance.

I guess my "Princess Pruitt" headline was right.
__________________________________

Why not "Prince Pruitt"? Princes don't want for anything either.

Pruitt's security concerns are real, as he was subjected to death threats almost immediately upon assuming the office. The EPA reports that he has received more death threats than his predecessors, heightening the need for security.

Animal rights activits/environmentalits are the W.E.I.R.D. ((Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) ) version of religious zealots.

The have no problem whatsoever with destroying businesses, lives/livelihoods, and research -Golden Rice- as long as they're in the right with saving the planet from teh evul hyoomans. Humans lives are irrelevant to them as long as in their little Dunning-Kruger minds they're in the right side of history.

The only consolation Pruitt has is that just like Antifa, the American version of these fools are pussies compared -if only marginally- to their European counterparts.

I guess my "Princess Pruitt" headline was right. __________________________________

Why not "Prince Pruitt"? Princes don't want for anything either.

That's because these days, Princess is now a gender-neutral term bwahahaha.

This may be why the New York Times is so gung-ho to bring Pruitt down.

"...Pruitt hasn’t done anything to discourage peer review. In fact, he’s done the opposite: he has called for the use of more independent experts to review the EPA’s research and has just announced that the agency would rely only on studies for which data are available to be shared. Yet Democratic officials and liberal journalists have denounced these moves as an “attack on science,” and Democrats have cited them (along with accusations of ethical violations) in their campaign to force Pruitt out of his job.

How could “the party of science,” as Democrats like to call themselves, be opposed to transparency and peer review? Because better scientific oversight would make it tougher for the EPA to justify its costly regulations. To environmentalists, rigorous scientific protocols are fine in theory, but not in practice if they interfere with the green political agenda. As usual, the real war on science is the one waged from the left."

AND

"Pruitt’s new policy will force the EPA to rely on studies for which data is available to other researchers, ensuring the transparency that enables findings to be tested and confirmed. So why is he being attacked? His critics argue that some worthwhile research will be ignored because it is based on confidential records that are impractical to share. They say that it would cost the EPA several hundred million dollars to redact personal medical information in the air-pollution studies used to justify the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. But even if that estimate is correct—it seems awfully high—it’s a pittance compared with the costs of the EPA’s regulations. The Obama EPA estimated the annual cost of its Clean Power Plan at $8 billion; others estimated it at more than $30 billion. Before saddling utility customers with those higher bills year after year, the EPA could at least pay for reliable research."

"Pruitt’s critics have also excoriated him for insisting that the EPA’s advisory boards consist of independent scientists, ending the practice of including researchers who receive grants from the agency—exactly the sort of conflict of interest that progressives object to when researchers receive money from private industry."

Are we willing to pay thousands in travel expenses to save millions from reducing shoddy regulations?

Didn't someone on this forum, in an earlier thread, opine strongly on the need to have the underlying data from any study cited? If it's necessary for a "casual forum," why is it unnecessary for a government agency?

Flying coach sucks.

As for adults, just take their shit from them and trash it

As for unruly children, in restaurants or on air planes, I tell their parents to control them 'or else they wont like how I fix the situation'

I've only had two sets of parents take me up on that offer, and they REALLY didnt like how I taught their kids to say 'you're a fucking cunt' but I'm sure going forward they made sure their spawn didnt bother other people

They say that it would cost the EPA several hundred million dollars to redact personal medical information in the air-pollution studies used to justify the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan.

Hold on, what? the EPA has HIPPA protected personally identifying information (PII)?? OH DEER LORD.

First, who decided that the EPA needed the PII portion of the data? second, how is EPA protecting that data? third, do they know that the data is secure, or is the a dozen copies floating on laptops and perhaps even employees non-government computers? A solid deep dive of the EPA's publicly accessible servers will likely turn up a copy of that data.

What an ass on the garbage.

I'm sorry, what? as pointed out, that doesn't pass the sniff test.

I frankly don't care. There, I said it. Reason why: The EPA has been a religious enforcement bureau pretty much since it was created. Remember, one of the first things it did was ban DDT despite there being no credible evidence that it was either a carcinogen or was causing environmental harm. William Ruckelshaus said "It is banned because I say so", and it became so, and remains so today, despite millions of malaria deaths around the world. The EPA research that was used to justify banning cyclamate sweeteners has since been shown to be fraudulent; in spite of that, the ban remains.

Pruitt is the first-ever EPA administrator who has attempted to put the agency on a solid scientific footing. I'll tell you what the greens are on about: Pruitt's policy is going to destroy the case for global warming. Once people realize that there is no credible data whatsoever supporting the case for anthropogenic global warming, they are going to be really pissed off about totalitarian measures that the greens are advocating to fight it. (The three leading institutions advocating the theory -- the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of East Anglia -- all refuse to release their data or their computer models to the public. If you want Roy Spencer's and John Christy's data, you can get a set -- admittedly two years old -- here.) To the greens, Pruitt is a heretic who is about to expose the corruption of the high priests, and he must be stopped at any cost. That alone far outweighs minor ethical transgressions.

Although, I have to question what security benefit he gets from sitting in first class while his staff, including security, sits in coach.

That gauzy curtain between FC and steerage must have security qualities I've never realized.

Of course it's not about security. It's about his comfort.

As to what this has to do with the topic:

The have no problem whatsoever with destroying businesses, lives/livelihoods, and research -Golden Rice- as long as they're in the right with saving the planet from teh evul hyoomans. Humans lives are irrelevant to them as long as in their little Dunning-Kruger minds they're in the right side of history.

... I have no idea. We're talking about wasteful government spending here. You might as well have veered into philately or peanut butter cookies for all the relevance it has.