Lying National Review Liar lies about Franken's latest book

[shockingelk]

Byron York:
http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york091003.asp

(This is talking about the pig shit problem with CAFOs - "Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations" - better known as "factory farms."

Quote:

"But Franken wants to be fair. While Bush's policy has been terrible, he writes, "To be totally honest, I wish the Clinton administration had done more to address the pig s**t problem. But at least he was pushing in the right direction. Toward the end of his administration, the EPA issued stringent new CAFO regulations ..."

What Franken does not mention is that the Environmental Protection Agency issued the new CAFO regulations on December 15, 2000. That was certainly toward the end of the Clinton administration, and it was also two days after the presidential election was settled, which meant that everyone finally knew that George W. Bush, and not Al Gore. And that is when the Clinton administration, which had been in office for nearly eight years, decided to get tough on CAFOs. (In addition, the new regulations would not take effect until after a four-month waiting period, at which point Clinton would be long gone.)"

Note the ellipsis after "CAFO regulations..." - Franken's sentence continues "... and initiating suits against some of the violators." York intentionally left that part out to try to make it seem like Franken was lying.

Even given that error of omission on York's part, Franken's partial statement holds true. The EPA under Clinton, despite strong resistance from the House Ag Committee changed CAFO regulations and strategies and filed lawsuits under the former administration going back as far as September 16, 1998 - "towards the end of administration."

York (correctly) assumed his readership would think the EPA would never change regulations on CAFOs two years in a row. To be fair, the first changes to regulations on March 9, 1999 weren't literally "new regulations" - the EPA implemented a policy change which caused existing regulations to be interpreted more striictly and enforced more stringently.

That's not the best of it though ...

Indeed the date the EPA issued new regulations were due to a lawsuit. December 15, 2000 was a court-mandated deadline for the EPA to issue the regulations - to York the significance of the date is that it was "two days after the presidential election was settled, which meant that everyone finally knew that George W. Bush, and not Al Gore."

"The Environmental Protection Agency is under a court-ordered deadline to update the regulations that apply to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The deadline is a result of a lawsuit by some environmental groups. EPA had to release its Proposed “CAFO Rule” by December 15, 2000, and must release the Final Rule on Dec. 15, 2002."
http://www.nmpf.org/News/dairyCoops/NDCissues.cfm?issue=66

Here's just a few links documenting EPA activity clamping down on CAFOs "late in the Clinton administration":

September 16, 1998 - EPA begins process to revise CAFO regulations
http://www.epa.gov/ow/waternews/1998/091798.html

July 30, 1999 - EPA issues first of a kind permit for AFO
http://www.epa.gov/region1/pr/1999/073099a.html

March 9, 1999 - EPA issues new strategy on AFOs (including CAFOs)
http://www.ag-econ.ncsu.edu/VIRTUAL_LIBRARY/ECONOMIST/econjuau99.pdf

July 23, 1999
EPA FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST NATION'S THIRD LARGEST
HOG PRODUCER FOR MASSIVE POLLUTION
http://lists.sierraclub.org/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A2=ind9907&L=ce-scnews-releases&P=910

[anti_shrub]

1. Isn't it funny

when the best the right can do in an attempt to discredit Franken is to go searching for pig shit....

[american_punk]

2. nice try.....

but I've checked Franken's book and he doesn't lie. He get q uote or two mixed up, but nothing major. It seems that all the right can do is try to smear us instead actually adressing the issues we bring up

[rainstan]

3. Rightwing commentators

seem to have extremely thin skins when their errors are pointed out. They howl when Franken takes them on but then dish out scurilous screed about a moderate american or lie about the "good things' the right wingers in office are doing and say they are completely nonpartisan. Bill O'Reily can dish it out but when confronted with a bright middle age lady who calls him on the things he has said can only hang up on the interview. Big man.