Bad Deeds for 12-13-2007

U. S. Gitmo Propaganda Team Edited Wikipedia – The US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay has been caught conducting covert propaganda attacks on the internet. The attacks, exposed this week in a report by the government transparency group Wikileaks, include deleting detainee ID numbers from Wikipedia last month, the systematic posting of unattributed “self praise” comments on news organization web sites in response to negative press, boosting pro-Guantanamo stories on the internet news site Digg and even modifying Fidel Castro’s encyclopedia article to describe the Cuban president as “an admitted transexual” [sic].

Senate Republicans and One Democrat Give Big Oil a Present – The Senate was on the verge Thursday of approving the first increase in automobile gas mileage in three decades and huge increases in ethanol use. Democrats were forced to strip away from the compromise energy bill a contentious $21.8 billion tax package, including billions of dollars in tax increases on the biggest oil companies, because of determined Republican opposition and a White House veto threat over the new taxes. Democratic leaders fell one vote short, 59-40, in getting the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, was the only Democrat to break ranks.

Alberto Gonzales Named Lawyer of the Year – Negative news coverage may have cost former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales his job, but it won him a dubious honor Wednesday from a magazine published by the American Bar Association: Lawyer of the Year. But hold on, giving Gonzales this title may not be a bad deed after all. The monthly magazine gave the awards to lawyers who made the most news, said editor and publisher Edward A. Adams. “Think about Time magazine’s Person of the Year,” Adams said in an interview. “In years past they’ve named people like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin. So we’re not suggesting by these awards that these are the best lawyers in any sense of the word.”

How the President Has Become a Government Unto Himself – President Bush doesn’t like to veto laws,” says Dan Abrams of MSNBC. “He doesn’t have to. Since he took office, he’s been attaching conditions to laws already passed by Congress, allowing him to essentially disobey the will of Congress and dramatically expand his own power.” Bush has issued 1100 signing statements — almost twice as many as all previous presidents put together — often completely reversing the intended effect of legislation. Law professor Jonathan Turley told Abrams that the practice has two very serious effects. On one hand, “by using signing statements to this extent, the president becomes a government unto himself.” But it also gives lower-level officials cover for their own illegal behavior by creating a deliberate area of ambiguity about the meaning of the laws. Once the executive ceases to respect the authority of the legislative branch, everything else is thrown into doubt. Dick Cheney appears to be the motivating force in this expansion of presidential power. Cheney was chief of staff to President Gerald Ford in the 1970’s, when Congress was taking steps to prevent any future Watergate-style excesses, and he has never ceased trying to bring things back to the way they were under Nixon.

Fox News Analyst Says Americans Are Not Above Torture, and Shouldn’t Be – Americans aren’t above resorting to torture to gain intelligence from suspected terrorists — and it would be a mistake if they were, according to Fox News military analyst Col. David Hunt. Asked by Fox and Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade if Americans were “better” than resorting to such practices, Hunt said he didn’t think so. “First of all, I don’t think we are,” he said. “I think if we are, we shouldn’t be. We’re in a war with people who aren’t…good men have to know how to do bad things to do good.” (What kind of sad, twisted world do these people live in? With that kind of thinking, you could justify any horrific act you feel like committing. – JLV)

The Record of Senator Mitch McConnell (Warning: Hold your nose)
• He led the filibuster of the Webb-Hagel “Dwell Time” amendment that would have given our exhausted troops as much time at home as in the field.

• He led the all-night filibuster of legislation that would have set us on a real change of course in Iraq, that would have allowed us to give Iraqis more responsibility, while freeing U.S. forces to take on the real threat to America — al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

• He consistently worked his side of the aisle against the same veterans he’s been fighting tooth and nail to keep in Iraq, beating back amendments to ensure a funding stream for veterans’ health care, increase Veterans’ medical services by closing corporate tax loopholes, and guarantee full-funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

• And, most recently, he callously quipped that we ought not feel too bad about those who died in Iraq, because, after all, “remember, these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers.”

Bush Vetoes Children’s Health Insurance Bill Again – President Bush vetoed legislation Wednesday that would have expanded government-provided health insurance for children, his second slap-down of a bipartisan effort in Congress to dramatically increase funding for the popular program. It was Bush’s seventh veto in seven years – all but one coming since Democrats took control of Congress in January. Wednesday was the deadline for Bush to act or let the bill become law. The president also vetoed an earlier, similar bill expanding the health insurance program. Bush vetoed the bill in private.

CIA Destroyed Tapes Despite Court Order – The Bush administration was under court order not to discard evidence of detainee torture and abuse months before the CIA destroyed videotapes that revealed some of its harshest interrogation tactics. Normally, that would force the government to defend itself against obstruction allegations. But the CIA may have an out: its clandestine network of overseas prisons. While judges focused on the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and tried to guarantee that any evidence of detainee abuse would be preserved, the CIA was performing its toughest questioning half a world away. And by the time President Bush publicly acknowledged the secret prison system, interrogation videotapes of two terrorism suspects had been destroyed.

White House Press Secretary Admits “I Didn’t Know What The Cuban Missile Crisis Was” – Appearing on National Public Radio’s light-hearted quiz show “Wait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me,” which aired over the weekend, Perino got into the spirit of things and told a story about herself that she had previously shared only in private: During a White House briefing, a reporter referred to the Cuban Missile Crisis — and she didn’t know what it was.

Lou Dobbs’ Head Explodes – The head of longtime CNN anchorman Lou Dobbs exploded last night, fifteen minutes into the broadcast of his nightly news program, Lou Dobbs Tonight.

Mr. Dobbs’ rants about illegal immigration over the past few years have made his head exploding while on television a distinct possibility, but few viewers were prepared for the shocking spectacle they witnessed last night.

During an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Mr. Dobbs blamed illegal aliens for most of the ills of American society, including crime, leprosy, and confusing signs written in foreign languages.

“And here’s the latest outrage, Anderson,” Mr. Dobbs said. “If a border fence is built between the U.S. and Mexico, as I’ve suggested, it’ll probably be built by illegal Mexican workers.”

Shortly after his statement about illegal Mexican laborers constructing a border fence, Mr. Dobbs’ head exploded, filling the screen with smoke and visibly startling Mr. Cooper.

After Mr. Dobbs’ head burst into flames, his CNN cohort attempted to go to commercial, but Mr. Dobbs continued talking undaunted for another fifteen minutes.

Immediately after the broadcast, Mr. Dobbs was rushed to the Head Explosion Unit at George Washington University Hospital where the CNN anchor continued talking for an additional five hours before being administered general anesthesia.

“In all my years as a brain surgeon I have never seen someone with such serious head trauma continue speaking,” said chief of surgery Dr. Hiroshi Kyosuke. “It is almost as if Lou Dobbs’ mouth functions completely independently from his brain.”

“The Twelve Days of Christmas,” George W. Bush Style

Regards,

Jim