Bad Deeds for 3/31/2010

 

Bush-Appointed Federal Election Commissioner Helped Republican Party Conceal Role in 2004 Vote Suppression – Caroline Hunter, a Bush-appointed Federal Election Commissioner who remains in office, provided misleading statements under oath in an effort to conceal Republican National Committee involvement in vote suppression activities during the 2004 presidential election, a Raw Story investigation has found.

Legal experts say Hunter’s submission of such statements under oath is a serious ethical and professional breach which could warrant a bar review and potential disbarment. At the time, Hunter was serving as deputy counsel to the Republican National Committee.

 

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison: I Didn’t Mean What I Said About My Pledge of Retiring – Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, will announce Wednesday that she will not retire and will stay in the Senate until her term ends in 2012, a Republican familiar with the announcement tells CNN.

 

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison: I Didn’t Mean What I Said in 1994 About Retiring – Hutchison is one of the Republican class of 1994 who is in breach of their Contract with America. In the summer of 2005, Hutchison announced she would run for a third Senate term rather than challenge Republican incumbent Rick Perry in the race for Governor. But on election night in 1994, Hutchison made a commitment to term limits:

“I’ve always said that I would serve no more than two full terms. This may be my last term, or I could run for one more. But no more after that. I firmly believe in term limitations and I plan to adhere to that.”

 

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison: I Didn’t Mean What I Said About the Space Shuttle Retiring – Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison sponsored a bill in 2005 bill that became public law, with four other co-sponsors in the same year, that called for the retirement of the space shuttle in 2010. Hutchison, knew that the Constellation program would not have a space vehicle ready for at least four more years, after the retirement of the shuttle.

Now Hutchison’s new bill – with no co-sponsors, not even our other Texas Sen. John Cornyn – to fund the shuttle for at least five more years, seems highly suspicious.

 

Sarah Palin Left Alaska With the Largest Debt Burden in US – Sarah Palin has long sold herself as a fiscal conservative, arguing against the Democrats’ health overhaul on the grounds that the nation simply can’t afford it.

But when the former vice presidential candidate resigned as governor of Alaska in the summer of 2009, she left the state with a 70 percent debt-to-GDP ratio — the highest state debt burden in the United States.

By comparison, crisis-stricken California has a debt ratio of less than 40 percent. All the more confounding about Alaska’s debt is the fact that it is an oil-producing region with a small population to share in that wealth.

 

Fox News Misrepresents Interviews for Upcoming Palin Show – After the network announced that Sarah Palin would host a special Thursday called “Real American Stories” — featuring interviews with LL Cool J, Toby Keith and other celebrities — the rapper and country singer both hit back claiming Fox was lying.

“Fox lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else & are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palins Show. WOW,” he tweeted.

Likewise, Toby Keith never sat down with Sarah Palin, Keith’s spokesman told HifFix. “We were never contacted by Fox,” Keith’s spokesman said. “I have no idea what interview it’s taken from. They’re promoting this like it’s a brand new interview.”

 

Bush Illegally Wiretapped Americans According to Court Ruling – A federal judge ruled Wednesday that government investigators illegally wiretapped the phone conversations of an Islamic charity and two American lawyers without a search warrant.

U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said the plaintiffs have provided enough evidence to show “they were subjected to warrantless electronic surveillance.”

 

U.S. Internet is Slow, Expensive, and Not Available in Many Homes – The United States basically invented the Internet. So U.S. connections must be the fastest and cheapest in the world, right? Not so much.

Broadband Internet speeds in the United States are only about one-fourth as fast as those in South Korea, the world leader, according to the Internet monitoring firm Akamai. Here are some average speeds:

• U.S. 3.88 Mbps
• Canada 4.25 Mbps
• Romania 6.18 Mbps
• Sweden 5.74 Mbps
• Ireland 5.32 Mbps
• South Korea 14.58 Mbps

And, as if to add insult to injury, U.S. Internet connections are more expensive than those in South Korea, too.

The slower connection here in the U.S. costs about $45.50 per month on average, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In South Korea, the much-faster hook-up costs $17 per month less. An average broadband bill there runs about $28.50.

The Obama Administration is now pushing forward with a “broadband plan” that aims to speed up connections, reduce costs and increase access to the Internet, especially in rural areas.

Regards,

Jim