1115.org

White House Refused to Open Pollutants E-Mail - New York Times (6/25/08):

The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, telling agency officials that an e-mail message containing the document would not be opened, senior E.P.A. officials said last week.

I’m sure there’s an innocent explanation for all of this. Like maybe Pfizer is sponsoring EPA email, and included an ad for Viagra which tripped the White House’s spam filter. But my guess is that Bush thought the email itself contained pollution, and his containment plan entailed not opening the message.

Then again, there might have been some kind of email meltdown like on The West Wing - “Let Bartlet be Bartlet”

MARGARET: Anyway, she sent me an e-mail about the actual calorie count in the raisin muffins they’re serving in the mess. I forwarded the e-mail to several hundred secretaries and assistants at O.E.O.B. and in the west wing, and that was fine, but Jolene Millman who works in Political Liaison then hit “reply,” which apparently —

LEO: Oh, Margaret, Margaret, I’m sorry, I’m gonna have — I hung in there as long as I could, but you long since passed the point when I stopped caring. If you’re curious, it was right around raisin muffin.

MARGARET: I’ll leave you two alone.

LEO: And fix the e-mail.