Barack Obama and Lisa Jackson

To President Barack Obama for considering the use of the unspent TARP cash (approximately $210 Billion) as well as an additional $30 to $70 billion of repaid TARP funds to reduce the federal deficit. Paying down the deficit with the unused/repaid TARP funds is exactly what the Bush Administration told Congress and the American taxpayers was the intent of the program. Now, if the Obama Administration could do the same for the bailout funds, an excellent precedent will have been begun, and the Administration might begin to restore taxpayer confidence that they are serious about cutting the deficit.

JEERS

To Lisa Jackson, EPA Administrator, for insisting that two EPA attorneys take down their video clip on You Tube with critical comments about the Energy Bill (Waxman-Markey) passed by the House. EPA has encouraged federal employees to make video clips and post them on You Tube, even going so far as to sponsor various contests, with monetary prizes, such as the EPA-Water Quality You Tube Project and the EPA-Earth Day Video Project. Clearly, EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson, doesn't understand that true transparency, "unprecedented transparency" as was promised by President Obama, means that agencies shouldn't siphon off the negative and present only positive, rosy scenarios to the public.

The wisdom of these sorts of bizarre and questionable video clip contests from the federal government are questionable. Americans would be better served with serious facts and solid scientific analysis. EPA is starting to look like amateur hour. Perhaps even worse, Lisa Jackson seems to be shaping up to be one to the weakest and least consequential Administrators at EPA, a figurehead, who is now chiefly occupied with small, boosterism-type projects, while the White House Environmental Czar, Carol Browner, makes the serious policy decisions involving EPA. This is a very bad precedent.