Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, NRA Hired ‘Black Ops’ Company That Targeted Environmental Groups – A private security firm managed by former Secret Service officers spied on myriad environmental organizations throughout the 1990s and the year 2000, thieving documents, trying to plant undercover operations and collecting phone records of members, according to a new report.
Cheney Authorized ‘Harsh Interrogations’ – Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality, The Associated Press has learned. The officials also took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved. The meetings were held in the White House Situation Room in the years immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks. Attending the sessions were Cheney, then-Bush aides Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Exxon CEO Had a $16.7 Million Year – Exxon Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson received a $16.7 million compensation package for 2007, up 28.6% from a year earlier. Exxon Mobil reported a record $40.61 billion profit, and much of the profit was due to the rising value of a barrel of oil, something that neither Mr. Tillerson nor Exxon has much control over. The benchmark cost of a barrel of oil started the year below $60 per barrel and ended near $100.
Bush US Attorney Targeted Wife, Supporters and Friends of Mississippi Justice – Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. was indicted in 2003 on charges relating to his receipt of a loan guarantee from trial lawyer Paul Minor – a personal friend and the largest Democratic donor in Mississippi – to help defray campaign debts. A Bush-appointed US Attorney, Dunnica Lampton, brought charges of bribery against Diaz, Minor and two other Mississippi judges. Diaz was acquitted of all those charges. A jury acquitted Minor of the charges related to Diaz, but was unable to reach a verdict on other charges. Within days of his acquittal, Diaz was indicted a second time. He was again acquitted.
“After I was indicted and before my trial, my home was also broken into,†says Diaz. “Our door was kicked in and our documents were rummaged. Televisions, computers and other valuables were not taken, despite the fact that we were out of town for several days and the home was left open by the burglars.â€
As previously reported in “The Permanent Republican Majority Part IIâ€, Governor Siegelman’s home was broken into twice during the trial, and his attorney’s office was broken into at least once during the tortuous process of his case.
In another eerie parallel, Mississippi judge John Whitfield, who was tried along with Diaz and Minor, had his office set on fire. The Alabama Republican whistleblower, Dana Jill Simpson – who alleges White House involvement in the Siegelman case – had her home set on fire and her car run off the road after she came forward.
Diaz’s wife, Jennifer, was indicted along with her husband. According to Diaz, the US Attorney’s office offered a veiled threat when discussing a plea agreement, making her an offer she could not refuse.
It’s Fox News …’Nuff Said – According to a new Fox News documentary, President Bush is “credited with some of the most eloquent and visionary speeches ever delivered by an American president.” Watch the Daily Show take Fox News to task for being unfair and unbalanced.
2007 Tied for Earth’s Second Warmest Year – The year 2007 has tied 1998 for the Earth’s second warmest this century, NASA scientists announced today. Climatologists at the agency’s Goddard Institute for Space Sciences (GISS) in New York used temperature data from weather stations on land, satellite measurements of sea ice temperature since 1982 and data from ships for earlier years to construct a record of global average temperatures going back for over a century. The GISS analysis has 1934, 1998 and 2005 tied as the warmest years in the United States (with 2005 being the warmest globally). The eight warmest years globally in the past century have all occurred since 1998, and the 14 warmest years have all occurred since 1990.
Regards,
Jim
Andy Hailey