Bad Deeds for 11-13-2011

 

Republican Texas State Rep. Joe Driver to Plead Guilty to Felony – State Rep. Joe Driver, who candidly acknowledged pocketing taxpayer reimbursements for travel paid by his campaign, will enter a guilty plea on abuse-of-office charges, a third-degree felony, a top prosecutor said Tuesday night.

Last year, Driver acknowledged that for years he had been submitting identical receipts, for airfare, fancy hotels and other expenses, to his campaign and to the Texas House of Representatives. The Garland Republican admitted to the double-billing in an interview but said he thought it was appropriate — until a reporter asked him about it.

 

Congressional Bill Would Use Military Rather Than FBI and Law Enforcement to Investigate Terrorism – The U.S. government already has broad authority and strong tools to disrupt, detain and prosecute international terrorist suspects under current criminal law. Sections 1031, 1032 and 1033 from the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 would limit the ability of the FBI and local law enforcement to investigate terrorism suspects. In addition, our federal courts have convicted more than 400 people of terror related crimes, while military commissions have only convicted 6. Congress should focus on strengthening established and effective counterterrorism tools, not weakening them. The defense bill would also mandate military custody for most terrorism suspects — a policy that the Department of Defense, retired military leaders, and national security experts oppose. Forcing the transfer of terrorism suspects to military custody could have devastating effects on counterterrorism operations and undermine efforts to secure actionable intelligence from terrorism suspects. The NDAA would also unwisely restrict the transfer of Guantanamo detainees, even those who have been cleared of any wrongdoing, and undermine our criminal justice system. Under these provisions, we will continue to wrongly hold men in prison, keeping the failed experiment of Guantanamo open. Keeping these provisions in the NDAA would risk U.S. national security by jettisoning effective counterterrorism strategies in a misguided attempt to appear tough on terrorism. It is morally bankrupt.

Tell Senators Harry Reid and Carl Levin to put America’s safety first. Urge them to strip away dangerous provisions on the defense bill that perpetuate some of the country’s worst mistakes in the struggle against terrorism

 

Asheville, NC Police Snatching People Off the Streets – On Nov 2nd over 100 people took to the streets of Asheville, NC in a fun, spirited and family friendly march to show support for Occupy Oakland and their general strike. People of all ages from toddlers to grandparents participated in the march carrying banners reading, “We are all Scott Olsen” and “Asheville is Oakland, Oakland is Asheville”. Though the APD did little to stop the march, they did bring out dozens of officers, including the forensics team and undercover officers to video and photograph Asheville residents expressing their First Amendment rights. The APD has done this sort of unconstitutional surveillance for years at all types of protests. However this time is different. Starting Saturday Nov 5 the APD began grabbing Occupy Asheville participants off the streets that they claim they identified from police footage of the march. So far 7 have been arrested, and the police say there are many more arrests on the way. They are being charged with resisting public officers, impeding traffic and unlawful assembly. One person has an additional charge of wearing a mask in public. If marchers were breaking the law, why did they not arrest us on November 2nd?

This is a truly frightening assault on the right to protest in this country. The APD is utilizing the very same tactics that the repressive regimes of countries like Iran, Libya, and Egypt have used against their people.

 

Republican Rep. Joe Walsh Melts Down, Screams At Constituents – Freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) is known for his anti-Obama rhetoric on cable television and his inability to pay his child support payments. But during a recent meeting with constituents in his Chicago-area suburban district, Walsh lost his cool when several attendees asked about why banks have so much power in government. At one point, Walsh even threatened to a eject a man who calmly asked Walsh about the revolving door of bank lobbyists infiltrating Congress and financial regulatory agencies.

Walsh at one point screamed, “don’t blame the banks … this pisses me off!” After several constituents accurately pointed out that bank lobbyists occupy key positions within Congress, the SEC, and other oversight bodies that are supposed to supervise bank practices, Walsh began sticking his finger close to his constituent’s faces, yelling, “quiet for a minute or I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

 

Kay Bailey Hutchison Tried to Overturn Net Neutrality – Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), apparent hater of the Internet, decided she had enough of America using it to easily gain access to information, news and Nyan Cat. So she demanded that Congress overturn the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules. She lost. After the House of Representatives voted to overturn the legislation that was passed last year, Hutchinson picked up the flag for the Senate and began crusading against the single greatest innovation ever. Senate rejected the measure 52-46, ensuring that the original Obama-backed ruling will be upheld, and our corporate ISP overlords can’t charge for premium access to select websites. [Imagine trying to organize and Occupy effort and being relegated to slower access speeds.]

 

Republican Debate Audience Cheers Waterboarding – The audience at Saturday night’s Republican presidential debate erupted into applause at the mention of waterboarding, an interrogation technique that is often described as torture. The National Journal‘s Major Garrett asked Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain to respond to a Vietnam veteran who said he believed torture was wrong in all cases.

“Mr. Cain, of course you are familiar with the long-running debate we’ve had about whether waterboarding constitutes torture or is an enhanced interrogation technique,” Garrett noted. “In the last campaign, Republican nominee John McCain and Barack Obama agreed that it was torture and should not be allowed legally.”

“I don’t see it as torture. I see it as an enhanced interrogation technique,” Cain replied as the audience expressed approval.

Garrett then turned to Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann for her response.

“If I were president, I would be willing to use waterboarding,” she explained as the crowd cheered wildly.

Regards,

Jim