Bad Deeds for 3-6-07

Republican Introduces Bill to Make English the Official Language of Texas – Rep. Bill Zedler (R-Arlington) introduced a bill Monday in the Texas House of Representatives that would add a referendum vote to the Nov. 6 ballot to make English the official language of Texas. It would amend the Texas constitution to say that English is the official language and offer guidelines for state agency workers.

Rice neocon hire sign of Iran war? – Last Friday, Eliot Cohen was chosen by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be new Counselor of the State Department. The promotion of a neoconservative to a key position at the U.S. State Department may be yet another signal of impending war with Iran. “As they have done many times before, neoconservatives, with Iran in their sights, have installed one of their own at State to block any war-avoiding rapprochement,” writes Glenn Greewald for Salon. “It is not hyperbole to say that Cohen is as extremist a neoconservative and warmonger as it gets,” says Greenwald, who quotes a conservative writer’s point that Cohen “was an early supporter of the military intervention in Iraq” and opposed negotiations with Iran and Syria.

Fox News buries Walter Reed coverage, but does plenty of stories on Anna Nichole Smith – After completing a search of cable transcripts, it’s clear that CNN and MSNBC have each covered the Walter Reed scandal more than twice as much as Fox News. The most lop-sided coverage by far was aired by Fox News, which featured only 10 references to Walter Reed compared to 121 of Anna Nicole — roughly 12 times the coverage. MSNBC featured 84 references to Walter Reed and 96 to Anna Nicole.

Coulter makes more ugly comments – At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Ann Coulter said, I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot–so….’

Follow-up: “Dan Borchers – a conservative Christian who is writing a book about Ann Coulter’s “extermination speak” – was bodily wrestled out of CPAC by four of Ann Coulter’s bodyguards.[..] Two of these goons claimed they were CPAC security, but Borchers recognized the most hostile one as Coulter’s longtime bodyguard. It appeared that they staged the whole thing, for they were following him with a camera. During the altercation, they cut Borcher’s hand, tried to pry his name tag and credentials off his neck, physically WRESTLED him out of the hotel, and shoved him. Why? Borchers couldn’t get a straight answer out of the four guards, except “you are not permitted to be here.”

Illegal Wiretapping of Government Officials and Misuse of FISA – State Secrets Privilege Was Used to Cover Up Corruption and Silence Whistleblowers. William Weaver, NSWBC Senior Advisor: “These abuses of power are precisely why we must pay attention to whistleblowers. Preservation of the balance of powers between the branches of government increasingly relies on information provided by whistleblowers, especially in the face of aggressive and expanding executive power. Through illegal surveillance members of Congress and other officials may be controlled by the executive branch, thereby dissolving the matrix of our democracy.”

US asks us to pick up litter while city is in ruins, says mayor of Baghdad – Baghdad’s mayor lashed out at the United States yesterday – for spending huge sums on projects to collect rubbish and plant trees while his devastated war-torn city struggles without electricity.

30 states using untrained cops – Officers with ‘gun, badge, and little to no training’ is ‘common practice’ in US.

US Attorneys Were Fired Because They Were Probing Corruption – Maryland’s former U.S. attorney Thomas DiBiagio said Monday that he was forced out in early 2005 after launching corruption investigations involving associates of the state’s Republican governor, and that he sees suspicious parallels in the recent firings of eight federal prosecutors. Hearings into those dismissals are set for today, with lawmakers scheduled to hear testimony from at least six of those former prosecutors, including Carol Lam, who spearheaded the corruption probe that ensnared former congressman Randy Cunningham. Ousted Prosecutors to Testify before House And Senate

Neglect of Veterans Not Limited to Walter Reed, Say Soldiers – Following recent disclosures of the chronic neglect and filthy conditions endured by wounded U.S. soldiers recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, stories of substandard care all over the country have flooded in from soldiers, their family members, veterans, doctors and nurses working inside the system, who describe similar conditions for outpatients at military bases from Fort Lewis in Washington state to Fort Dix in New Jersey.

Newt Gingrich Blames the Victims of Hurricane Katrina – Newt Gingrich blamed the residents of New Orleans’ 9th Ward for a “failure of citizenship,” by being “so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn’t get out of the way of a hurricane.” And he called for a “deep investigation” into this “failure of citizenship.”

Regards,

Jim