Bad Deeds for 3/3/2010

Interference Seen in Blackwater Inquiry – An official at the United States Embassy in Iraq has told federal prosecutors that he believes that State Department officials sought to block any serious investigation of the 2007 shooting episode in which Blackwater Worldwide security guards were accused of murdering 17 Iraqi civilians, according to court testimony made public on Tuesday.

David Farrington, a State Department security agent in the American Embassy at the time of the shooting in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, told prosecutors that some of his colleagues were handling evidence in a way they hoped would help the Blackwater guards avoid punishment for a crime that drew headlines and raised tensions between American and Iraqi officials.

Karl Rove Portrays Lies as Truth and Truth as Lies – A study by the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism found that President Bush and top administration officials issued 935 false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”
But, in his new book, Karl Rove acts like the proven lies are truth and says many of the controversies that weakened Bush’s presidency were falsehoods perpetuated by political opponents.

President Obama Way Behind on Nominating Federal Judges – After decades of Republican appointments of conservative federal judges (at the time of Obama’s election more than 60 percent of all federal judges and seven of the nine justices of the Supreme Court had been appointed by Republican presidents), President Obama now has an historic opportunity to reestablish our nation’s commitment to the core values of our Constitution by nominating judges who will uphold the fundamental principles of individual dignity, equality, due process, personal liberty, privacy, and separation of powers. However, since taking office, the president has nominated only 43 federal judges — despite the fact that there are currently more than 100 judicial vacancies and 31 judicial “emergencies” due to unfilled positions.

Counting the Errors in Orrin Hatch Op-ed – Reconciliation has been used dozens of times the process has been used with little fallout. That fact was lost on Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, who slammed the idea of reconciling the bill in an op-ed for the Washington Post. Hatch thundered that reconciliation “would threaten our system of checks and balances, corrode the legislative process, degrade our system of government and damage the prospects of bipartisanship.”

But Hatch’s op-ed contains a variety of factual errors:

· Wrong on the Constitution “It’s true that the Constitution requires a supermajority vote in certain circumstances — but under no reading of the Constitution is it required to hold a supermajority vote on legislation, no matter how big or controversial,” writes Joel Mathis at Cup o’ Joel, debunking one of Hatch’s main contentions. “Whether it’s wise or good to use the process is a separate question; but it’s silly to suggest it’s somehow unconstitutional.”
· Wrong on His Voting Record Think Progress’ Zaid Jilani debunks Hatch’s argument that reconciliation is in general an “abuse” of power. “What Hatch fails to mention is that he has voted for bills passed through reconciliation every single time a bill was offered through the process during the Bush years,” Jilani says, helpfully providing a list of all the reconciled bills Hatch voted for. The Plum Line’s Greg Sargent compiles a similar list.
· Wrong on the Terms Themselves At Capital Gains and Games, conservative Andrew Samick balks at Hatch’s misuse of the word ‘democracy’. “Senator Hatch may like the way the Senate requires supermajorities and other obstacles to the simplest version of majority rule that most of us think of when we hear the word ‘democracy,’ but he shouldn’t go redefining words on his own,” Samick lectures. “That’s not what language is for.”
· Wrong on Everything Steve Benen doesn’t single out one particular error–the entire column disgusts him. The Washington Monthly columnist unleashes a furious denunciation of Hatch’s “intellectually dishonest nonsense” that is in sum “a sad joke”.
“Hatch has been around long enough (he joined the Senate 33 years ago) to know that his claims aren’t true. He says reconciliation is “arcane,” but it’s not. Hatch argues President Obama wants to use majority rule to pass the health care reform package, but he doesn’t. Hatch says the Constitution discourages the Senate from approving legislation by majority rule, but it doesn’t.”

And more details on why Hatch is wrong:
· Hatch Abandons All Pretense Steve Benen, The Washington Monthly
· A Strange Op-Ed Andrew Samwick, Capital Gains and Games
· Hatch Rewrites History Greg Sargent, The Plum Line
· Hatch Forgets About Bush Years Zaid Jilani, Think Progress
· Hatch: An Affront to Democracy Joel Mathis, Cup o

Number of US Extremist Groups ‘Exploded’ in 2009 – Extremist groups surged in the United States in 2009, with anti-government “Patriot” militias leading the way, says a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“The radical right caught fire last year, as broad-based populist anger at political, demographic and economic changes in America ignited an explosion of new extremist groups and activism across the nation,” says the report written by Mark Potok.

The number of active Patriot groups grew from 149 to 512 during the course of the year, a 244-percent increase, the report states. Militias — which the SPLC describes as “the paramilitary arm of the Patriot movement” — grew from 42 to 127 over the same period, a three-fold increase.
Today, some of the movement’s central ideas are being plugged by people with large audiences like FOX News’ Glenn Beck and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn).

Are You Skeptical About Skeptics? – Today, we have many types of skeptics and deniers. Climate-change skeptics, commercial-space skeptics, birth-certificate deniers, government-can-do-good deniers, etc.

Here’s some excerpts from an op-ed from an Internet skeptic, published in Newsweek in 1995:

· “Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth is no online database will replace your daily newspaper, …”
· “How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it’s an unpleasant chore … “
· “And you can’t tote that laptop to the beach.”
· “ … we’ll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet. Uh, sure.”
· “Then there’s cyberbusiness. We’re promised instant catalog shopping—just point and click for great deals. We’ll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obsolete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month?”

It seems some people can’t face the future.

Fox News, rightwing blogs, Republican legislators, conservative talking heads, rightwing radio hosts, assorted climate naysayers and their ilk go around denying the obvious. But we should treat them like pariahs for endangering the planet we share. We should shun them for their philosophy of me (first and only).

We should be twice as emphatic and vehement as they are, since we are in motion (progressive) and they are static (conservative), we are trying to make the planet healthier and they are sitting on their rear ends wagging their collective fingers at us, pretending to be objective but in fact just being cowards, afraid to do what it takes to undo the damage we’ve done to the planet God gave us.

Most Airlines Don’t Recycle -Airlines in the U.S. throw away enough aluminum cans every year to build 58 new Boeing 747s. A new report by the nonprofit environmental group Green America reveals that many of the airlines commonly flown by Americans have a long way to go when it comes to recycling the massive amounts of waste generated on passenger flights. The Green America report gave Delta and Virgin America the best grades when it came to airline recycling programs, with both receiving a “B-.” United Airlines and US Airways came in at the bottom of the list, both getting an “F.”

Send a message to the airline executives that you value recycling, and don’t want your mile-high trash going into a landfill when you come down. Send a message to airline executives today.

teCharlie Rangel’s Ethics Problemsxt – The U.S. House ethics committee said Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) violated standards of conduct by accepting 2007 and 2008 trips to Caribbean conferences that were financed by corporations. The committee said it could not prove whether Rangel knew of the corporate payments but concluded members of his staff knew about them — and the congressman was responsible for their actions.

Rangel said he didn’t even have “constructive knowledge” of the corporate sponsorship of the trips and couldn’t be held responsible for something staff members may have known but which he didn’t.
In a separate case, the ethics committee is looking into Rangel’s fundraising for a college center to be established in his name, in addition to other allegations — including belated financial disclosure filings that showed he previously failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments.

Rush Limbaugh Says Nancy Pelosi is the Same as Suicide Bombers Limbaugh: “Mullah Nancy Bin Pelosi … is no different” than those who “convince all these people to put bombs on their kids.”

This is really outrageous even by his standards. He cheapens the lives that are lost to suicide bombers when he says that.

Limbaugh’s Condo is Over-Sized, Loud, Gaudy and Over-Priced (Remind You of Anyone?) – Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is saying adios to the Big Apple and selling his Fifth Avenue penthouse. The pad sprawls across nearly 5,000 square feet and features a double living room; a wood-paneled library; four terraces; enormous baths; and a maid’s room. But it’s not for the faint of heart — or those afraid of a big renovation. The general appearance can be described as, well, ornate, with trompe l’oeil ceilings and mural-covered walls. Other lavish features include gold leaf moldings, mahogany floors, upholstered walls and an Italian marble foyer. Limbaugh is asking almost $14 million. For the tax rolls, the city values the property at $1.56 million.

Regards,

Jim