Bad Deeds for 11-9-2007

Cheney Tried to Stifle Dissent in Iran National Intelligence Estimate in Order to Gain Support for His Militarily Aggressive Policy – A National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran has been held up for more than a year in an effort to force the intelligence community to remove dissenting judgments on the Iranian nuclear programme, and thus make the document more supportive of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s militarily aggressive policy toward Iran, according to accounts of the process provided by participants to two former Central Intelligence Agency officers. But this pressure on intelligence analysts, obviously instigated by Cheney himself, has not produced a draft estimate without those dissenting views, these sources say. Is this Iraq #2? Is this a crime?

Republican Senate Leader Says Iraq War ‘Winding Down’ – Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell insisted Thursday that the Iraq war is “winding down,” one of the most positive (stupid) statements yet by a congressional leader. Gee, why didn’t he just say that the insurgency is in its last throes? And we’re all going to get a pony!

Pentagon blocks testimony of former Marine prosecutor who alleges torture – A former Marine Corps prosecutor was set to testify before Congress on Thursday that harsh interrogation techniques had tainted his case against an alleged Al Quaeda terrorist — until a last minute email from the Pentagon told him not to. Lt. Col. Stuart Crouch, a former lawyer with the Marines now working as a military judge, was prepared to tell a House Judiciary subcommittee about his refusal to prosecute suspected terrorist Mohamedou Slahi in 2004 after reportedly discovering that severe measures had been used to extract incriminating statements from the Guantanamo Bay detainee. Crouch considers the methods used by interrogators to be torture.

Fox News Plays Up Bogus Terrorist Threat – On the 11-9-2007 Fox and Friends program, the hosts were making a big deal about a purported terrorists threat to shopping malls during the holiday season. They were not at all deterred by the article in the Los Angeles Times that was from the previous day (11-8-2007) titled, “FBI says possible al-Qaida threat against LA malls not credible.”

Veterans Charities That Mostly Enrich Their Owners – Since the start of the Iraq War, the number of charity groups promising to help injured veterans has mushroomed, but not all of them actually fulfill those promises. Americans have so far donated $475 million to veterans charities that get a failing grade from the American Institute of Philanthropy. Institute President Daniel Borochoff told ABC, “Under 35% of your budget on actual bona fide charitable programs will get you an F grade.” Thirteen out of 27 military and veterans charities reviewed by the Institute did not meet that standard, and one was found to spend as little as 2% of its receipts on program services. Meanwhile, some of the people running the F-rated charities are getting rich. For example, Roger Chapin, founder of Help Hospitalized Veterans, pays himself and his wife more than $500,000 a year, while only 31% of the $70 million he took in last year actually went to help hospitalized veterans. That’s not all…

Citigroup gives ex-CEO $40 million package – Citigroup Inc., the largest bank in the United States, said on Thursday that its former Chairman and Chief Executive, Charles Prince, will take home roughly $40 million as he retires from the company. Citi said on Sunday that Prince was retiring amid billions of dollars of expected fourth-quarter writedowns for securities linked to subprime mortgages. Citi wrote down $6.8 billion in the third-quarter. The package is less than a quarter of what former Merrill Lynch Chief Executive Stan O’Neal was awarded when he was ousted from the investment bank last week.

Clinton, Dodd, Biden, Obama Skip Mukasey Confirmation Vote – Not voting were Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden of Delaware, Hillary Clinton of New York, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Barack Obama of Illinois. All four had said they opposed Mukasey’s nomination. Democrats voting to confirm Mukasey were: Sens. Chuck Schumer, Diane Feinstein, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Tom Carper of Delaware, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Of the Senate’s two independents, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut voted for confirmation. Republican presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona also was absent, as were Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and John Cornyn of Texas.

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Cannot Account for 80,000 Items – Up to 80,000 items at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library are unaccounted for, probably because of haphazard record-keeping and inventory procedures. Library officials told auditors that “the collection contained approximately 100,000 items, yet the library systems only had information to locate and account for approximately 20,000 items.”

President Bush’s Brother Selling Worthless Software to Schools, According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington – The Education Department’s inspector general says he will review whether federal money is inappropriately being spent on programs by a company founded by Neil Bush, the president’s brother. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [CREW], a Washington-based watchdog group, called for the inquiry and released a letter this week from the department’s inspector general, John Higgins Jr. CREW contends that the educational programs distributed by Ignite!, Neil Bush’s company, are worthless, and that school districts who spend federal dollars on the programs are wasting taxpayers’ money. The program in question is “Curriculum on Wheels,” which includes software for teaching math, social studies and science. Each program costs $3,800 each, not including subscription fees

Regards,

Jim