This is a horrible shame. It literally brings tears to my eyes. We all remember watching these people on our television sets working tirelessly to find survivors. How dare the media ignore a story like this?

I wonder if the media's silence has anything to do with the fact that the EPA and the Bush Administration have a history of manipulating information about the environment to suit policy needs.

In February 2005, "Speakers at the national meeting of the American Association for Advancement of Science expressed concern Sunday that some scientists in key federal agencies are being ignored or even pressured to change study conclusions that don't support policy positions." Their concerns are well-founded. In June 2005, The New York Times reported that Philip A. Cooney, "removed or adjusted descriptions of climate research that government scientists and their supervisors, including some senior Bush administration officials, had already approved" so as to play down emissions' links to Global Warming. Mr. Cooney served as chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Now, however, he serves Exxon.

In July 2005, the EPA purposefully held back incriminating reports about our fuel economy so an Energy Bill that served not the people, but the corporations, would pass. As quoted by CBS News, the energy bill "sends billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to energy companies, but is expected to do little to reduce U.S. oil consumption or dampen high energy prices." The EPA's report stated, "loopholes in American fuel economy regulations have allowed automakers to produce cars and trucks that are significantly less fuel-efficient, on average than they were in the late 1980's." No wonder they didn't want it to be known. We've done nothing to become more fuel-efficient, and in fact, have gone backwards. Now, as a result, we've passed an energy bill that helps us not at all.

In August 2003, CBS News reported that "White House officials pressured the agency to prematurely assure the public that the air was safe to breathe a week after the World Trade Center collapse". Why would they do such a thing? Now, as a result, 9/11 firefighters are suffering from long-term lung damage, and now, sadly, a 9/11 Hero has died.

Unfortunately, the deceit does not end with 9/11. Hugh Kaufmann, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency, said that in regards to Katrina, "that a government cover-up is taking place right now, as we speak, to hide information about the dangerous toxins in the flood waters of the Gulf Coast region." Hugh Kaufmann was also the chief investigator for the 9/11 clean-up. He says, "that the Bush administration engaged in the same practice after 9/11—covering up the truth about the dangers in the air and water and lying to the public in the weeks after the disaster."

The sad thing is, there are people within our Government who are aware of what's going on with the EPA and the Bush Administration, and have done little to nothing about it. In October 2005, the Associated Press reported that "The Bush administration was accused Thursday by senators in both parties of minimizing health hazards from the toxic soup left by Hurricane Katrina, just as they said it did with air pollution in New York from the Sept. 11 attacks." In December 2005, the Associated Press also reported Congress Researchers, "say the Environmental Protection Agency skewed its analysis of air pollution legislation to favor President Bush's plan". Hillary Clinton and Jerrold Nadler of New York , "had criticized past EPA testing efforts and demanded more thorough scientific work.", and now as a result, the Environmental Protection Agency has developed a new, "plan for testing any dust that may remain in private homes and commercial space from the collapse of the World Trade Center more than four years ago." Lawmakers even addressed it as being "too little, too late", and I'm sure Hillary is thinking about 2006, and possibly 2008 (Heaven forbid).

It's a damn shame the media isn't covering the death of a 9/11 Hero. Maybe it would open up people's minds to what's going on. I guess that's not what the "Powers That Be" want.