Bad Deeds for 1-15-2009

The Neoconservative [Bush] Administration’s Bad Deeds Master List – An assessment of the 128 executive branch failures since 2000.

• Consumers & Workers

• Limited Ability To Block Dangerous Imports
• FDA Enforcement Actions Way Down
• USDA Challenged Over Meat Safety
• Lack of Adequate Foreign Drug Oversight
• Problems in Oversight of Food Safety
• OSHA’s Laissez-Faire Attitude
• FDA Failure To Ensure Drug Safety
• Failure To Protect Consumers From Unsafe Products
• Oversight Collapse Leads To Mine Safety Issues
• Agricultural Quarantine Inspection Stumbles
• Eroding Budget Erodes Consumer Safety
• Lack of Quorum at the CPSC

• Contracting & Workforce

• A Failure of Whistleblower Protection
• Labor Relations Authority: Low Morale, Backlogged Cases
• Contractors Failing Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
• Human Capital Issues Plague Government
• Surge in Outsourcing Creates Problems in Performance, Oversight
• Chronic Understaffing at the EEOC

• Education

• No Child Left Behind: A Few Bumps in the Road
• Reading First: Scandalous and Ineffective
• Student Loan Scandal Costs Students

• Elections

• Paralysis at the Federal Election Commission
• “McCain-Feingold” Fails To Solve Campaign Finance Problem
• Election Assistance Commission Has Not Met Mandates

• Emergency Management

• Hurricanes Expose FEMA Woes
• FEMA Trailers Filled With Formaldehyde
• We Can’t Afford Another Flood
• SBA Emergency Assistance Failed for Katrina
• Flood “Protection” in New Orleans

• Energy

• No Robust, Sustained Alternative Energy Policy
• Foreign Oil Dependence Has Grown
• Refinery Bottleneck Puts Squeeze on Gasoline Supply
• Move to a 21st Century Electricity Grid Is Stalled

• Entitlements

• Unsustainable Medicare Spending
• Failure To Reform Social Security
• Social Security Disability Backlogs

• Environment

• Climate Change: Hide the Assessment
• Failure To Advance Climate Change Policy
• EPA Deprives Public of Information on Toxics
• Science Policy Politicized
• Politicization at Department of Interior
• EPA Stalls on Perchlorate Regulation
• Mountaintop Coal Mining Alters Appalachia
• EPA and OMB Slow Toxic Chemical Risk Studies
• Scandal, Incompetence at Minerals Management Service
• EPA Misleads on Air Quality After 9/11 Attacks
• EPA Ignores Advisers on Particulate Matter Standards
• Everglade Restoration a Man-Made Disaster
• Superfund Program Loses Funding, Momentum
• Toxic Mercury From Coal Plants Unregulated
• Nuclear Waste Problem Unsolved
• EPA Fails To Put Children First
• Failure To Launch: Satellite Delays
• EPA’s Free Pass for Aging Power Plant Emissions

• Finance

• Shaky Start for Troubled Asset Relief Program
• Skyrocketing Deficit
• Oversight Fails To Keep Pace With a Changed Market
• Lax Oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
• SEC Allows Investment Banks To Go Unregulated
• More Corporations Pay Less in Taxes
• Audit Rates of Rich Fall, Audits of Poor Spike
• Lack of Regs Fueled Accounting Scandal
• U.S. Companies Hiding Revenue Offshore
• Mismanagement and Cronyism at HUD

• Health

• Medicare Fraud Out of Control
• 45 Million Americans Without Health Insurance

• Information Protection

• Failures in Cybersecurity
• Millions in Equipment Missing From Indian Health Service
• An Epidemic of Missing Laptops

• Justice & Security

• Too Close to the Edge on Torture
• CIA Renditions Draw Controversy
• Politicization of Department of Justice
• Failure To Protect Sensitive Technology
• Arbitrary Detention at Guantanamo
• Osama bin Laden Still at Large
• Lack of Progress on Immigration Reform
• WMD Nonproliferation Needs More Attention
• National Security Agency Mismanages Info Technology
• $30 Billion Virtual Border Fence Faces Problems
• First Responders Still Can’t Communicate
• FBI Abuses Power To Request Personal Information
• Agencies Failed To Share Intelligence on 9/11 Terrorists
• Pakistan Remains an Al Qaeda Haven
• FBI Failure To Create a Modern Computer Network
• Nuclear Sites Lack Adequate Security
• Losing the Battle for Hearts and Minds
• DHS Still Getting Up to Speed
• Terrorist Watch List Mismanaged
• Poor Retention of Counterterrorism Staff
• Inability To Track Foreign Visitors to U.S.
• Lack of Due Process for Terrorism Suspects
• FBI Struggles To Confront Multiple Threats
• NORAD, FAA Unprepared for Aerial Attack
• U.S. Guns Arming Mexican Drug Cartels

• Military

• False Premise for Going to War
• Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal
• Mismanagement at National Reconnaissance Office
• Poor Health Care for Veterans
• Failure To Regulate Security Contractors
• Pentagon Office’s Misleading Intelligence
• Military Failure To Secure Iraq After Invasion
• Lack of Armored Protection for Troops
• Pentagon’s Slow Adaptation to a War-footing
• Inadequate Planning for Post-Invasion Iraq
• Failure To Secure Weapons in Iraq
• Mismanagement of Major Weapons Acquisitions
• Veteran Disability Claims Languish
• Delay in Opening U.S. Embassy in Iraq
• Air Force Failure To Maintain Nuclear Weapons Accountability
• Taliban Resurgence in Afghanistan
• 190,000 Missing Weapons in Iraq

• Other

• NASA Inspector General Lack of Oversight
• NASA’s Failure To Ensure Safety in Human Space Flight
• Massive Backlog at Patent Office
• Census 2010 Stumbles at the Starting Line
• FCC Chairman Martin Under Fire

• Transportation

• Failing To Modernize Air Traffic Control
• Human Fatigue in Transport Accidents Still Unaddressed
• Close Calls on the Runway
• FAA in the Dark on Maintenance
• Record Delays in Air Travel
• FAA Inspectors Cozy Up to Airlines
• Highway Funding Woes

• White House

• Controversial Assertion of Executive Power
• Excessive Executive Secrecy
• Signing Statements Thwart Congressional Intent
• Vice President’s Office Exempts Itself From Information Safeguards
• Executive Office of the President “Loses” E-mails

 

 

Regards,

Jim