Bad Deeds for 12-3-2007

US Says it Has the Right to Kidnap British Citizens – America has told Britain that it can “kidnap” British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States. A senior lawyer for the American government has told the Court of Appeal in London that kidnapping foreign citizens is permissible under American law because the US Supreme Court has sanctioned it. Until now it was commonly assumed that US law permitted kidnapping only in the “extraordinary rendition” of terrorist suspects. The American government has for the first time made it clear in a British court that the law applies to anyone, British or otherwise, suspected of a crime by Washington.

The Bush Administration Has Offered Iraq War Architect Paul Wolfowitz a New Position – Nearly three years after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as deputy Defense secretary and six months after his stormy departure as president of the World Bank—amid allegations that he improperly awarded a raise to his girlfriend—he’s in line to return to public service. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Iraq War, a position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, a prestigious State Department panel.

National Debt Grows by $1 Million per Minute – It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States. Even if you’ve escaped the recent housing and credit crunches and are coping with rising fuel prices, you may still be headed for economic misery, along with the rest of the country. That’s because the government is fast straining resources needed to meet interest payments on the national debt, which stands at a mind-numbing $9.13 trillion. And like homeowners who took out adjustable-rate mortgages, the government faces the prospect of seeing this debt — now at relatively low interest rates — rolling over to higher rates, multiplying the financial pain.

False and Misleading Statements by the Candidates During the Republican CNN/YouTube Debate
Romney claimed New York called itself a “sanctuary city” for illegal aliens. It didn’t.

Giuliani denied New York actually was a “sanctuary city.” But the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has classified it as such, based on immigrant-friendly policies Giuliani still defends.

Huckabee claimed he would “abolish the IRS.” He failed to mention that he’d replace it with another big tax bureaucracy. Huckabee said he had proposed to make children of illegal aliens eligible for Arkansas scholarships if they “had been in our schools their entire school life.” Actually, the proposal required only three years in Arkansas schools.

Giuliani Twists Facts About Crime and Liberalism in the Big Apple – Rudy Giuliani’s latest TV ad falsely claims New York City experienced “record crime … until Rudy.” In fact, the city recorded its highest rates of both violent crime and property crime years before he took office. The downward trend was well established before he was sworn in.

The ad also claims New York is “America’s most liberal city,” but his campaign offers no evidence showing that the city is more liberal than, say, San Francisco; Berkeley; Washington, D.C.; or Detroit, all of which rank as more liberal in a study of voting behavior in the 2004 elections. In that study, New York ranked 21st among cities with populations of more than 100,000.

Giuliani’s ad also repeats some boasts found to be misleading in the past. It claims he cut taxes by $9 billion but counts several tax cuts that he didn’t initiate or sign, and one that he lobbied against before changing course. It also boasts that he cut welfare rolls by 60 percent but fails to note that the reduction in New York was a bit less than it was for the nation as a whole.

White House Blocking Congressional Plame Probe – President Bush is doing everything possible to delay, obfuscate and obstruct a congressional investigation of his possible role in exposing an undercover CIA agent, Rep. Henry Waxman, chair of the House Oversight Committee says. Former administration spokesman Scott McClellan recently revealed that Bush and Cheney were among those “involved” in his passing along “false information” regarding the Plame scandal, making the committee’s inquiry that much more pressing, Waxman says. “I recognize that President Bush and his counsel may not want this information provided to Congress. But the role of the Attorney General is to administer the laws with impartiality,” Waxman wrote Monday in a letter to Mukasey. “The Justice Department provided the exact same information to Congress during the Clinton Administration. There is no special standard for President Bush that exempts him and his senior advisors from responsible congressional oversight.”

Bush Administration Talking Tough on Iran Despite Intelligence That Iran Halted its Nuclear Weapons Program Four Years Ago – A new US intelligence report indicates that Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program four years ago — but the White House on Monday nevertheless urged global powers to “turn up the pressure” on the country. Newly declassified portions of the National Intelligence Estimate find that Iran abandoned its nuclear program in the fall of 2003 and does not currently possess a nuclear weapon. The country is still enriching uranium, however, and could still develop a weapon between 2010 and 2015, according to senior intelligence officials. U.S. report: Iran stopped nuclear weapons work in 2003

Rudy Giuliani, America’s Bully
During a Staten Island Town Hall meeting on June 27, 2001, Larry Hanley, President of ATU Local 726, tried to ask then Mayor Rudy Giuliani about an inside deal to grant bus routes to connected private bus companies that contributed to his campaigns. Not only does Giuliani shout him down, but he calls many other bus drivers idiots and morons at the mere suggestion that this was a compromised deal. And how could they even be bus drivers if they dared question his authority? A prime example of authoritarian, bullying tactics. Most of the union members stood up and walked out on Giuliani.

Dallas Republicans Misrepresented Election Returns to File a False Voter Fraud Claim – A 2006 cynical smear campaign and voter suppression scheme orchestrated by Republican State House Representative Tony Goolsby (HD102, Dallas), along with Dallas County Republican Party Chair Kenn George and a Dallas GOP consultant, may have backfired. Monday, former challenger Harriet Miller, with support from the Lone Star Project, filed a lawsuit in the 192nd State District Court showing that their attack “constitutes slander” and was committed with “actual malice.” The Goolsby/George scheme entailed the blatant misrepresentation of election returns in order to file a false voter fraud complaint against Goolsby’s Democratic challenger, Harriet Miller, with the Dallas County District Attorney. The false complaint was then used as a political prop to libel and attack Ms. Miller, while also suppressing African American voter turnout in House District 102.

Regards,

Jim