Bad Deeds For 11-2-2007

Republicans Speed Children’s Health Care Bill to a Vote to Make Sure it Gets Vetoed – A defiant Democratic-controlled Congress voted Thursday to provide health insurance to an additional 4 million lower-income children, ignoring President Bush’s threat of a second straight veto on the issue. The legislation cleared the Senate on a vote of 64-30. It passed the House last week, but supporters were shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override Bush’s threatened veto. In a situation of bewildering political complexity, Republicans dictated the decision to pass the legislation speedily. It appeared their goal was to short-circuit attempts by supporters of the bill to reach a compromise that could attract enough votes in the House to override Bush’s veto. Attempts by Reid to delay final passage of the bill until next week or longer drew objections from the GOP. the president told House Republicans in a private meeting that he would veto any measure that raised tobacco taxes.

Chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Gets Dozens of Trips at the Expense of the Toy, Appliance and Children’s Furniture Industries – The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children’s furniture industries and others they regulate. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards. The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency’s acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Mitt Romney’s Chief Adviser on Counterterrorism and National Security is Also a Top Executive of Blackwater – J. Cofer Black, who is now Mitt Romney’s chief adviser on counterterrorism and national security, is facing scrutiny for his current role as a top executive of Blackwater Worldwide, the international security firm whose alleged killing of 17 Iraqis prompted a congressional investigation and a demand from the Iraqi government that the firm withdraw from the country.

CIA Head George Tenet Gave “Curveball’s” False Information to Colin Powell despite a letter From German Intelligence Stating That There Was No Evidence to Verify His Story – The man whose fabricated story of Iraqi biological weapons drove the U.S. argument for invading Iraq was known as “Curve Ball” in intelligence circles. He is now known to be not only a liar, but also a thief and a poor student instead of the chemical engineering whiz he claimed to be. Curve Ball is an Iraqi defector named Rafid Ahmed Alwan, who arrived at a German refugee center in 1999. To bolster his asylum case and increase his importance, he told officials he was a star chemical engineer who had been in charge of a facility at Djerf al Nadaf that was making mobile biological weapons. He eventually wound up in the care of German intelligence officials to whom he continued to spin his tale of biological weapons. More than a hundred summaries of his debriefings were sent to the CIA, which then became a pillar – along with the now-disproved Iraqi quest for uranium for nuclear weapons – for the U.S. decision to bomb and then invade Iraq. The CIA-director George Tenet gave Alwan’s information to Secretary of State Colin Powell to use at the U.N. in his speech justifying military action against Iraq. Tenet gave the information to Powell despite a letter – a copy of which 60 Minutes obtained – addressed to him by the head of German intelligence stating that Alwan appeared to be believable, but there was no evidence to verify his story.

Fox News Reporter Falsely Reports That Barack Obama Made a Little Girl Cry – On the November 2 edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, co-host Megyn Kelly teased an upcoming story by saying: “Well, in other news, Barack Obama makes a little girl cry. What? That story … in five minutes.” Kelly added, “He’s made me cry many times.” However, Obama took “questions from a five-year-old girl after she shed a few tears and got his attention.

Fox & Friends’ Doocy falsely claimed Clinton would make driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants “necessary” – On the November 1 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, discussing criticism of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-NY) comments on a proposal by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) to provide driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, co-host Steve Doocy asserted that Clinton said in an October 31 campaign statement, “As president, her goal will be to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would make this necessary.” the statement issued by the Clinton campaign actually said: “As President, her goal will be to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would make [the New York proposal] unnecessary”

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Regards,

Jim