Bad Deeds for 4-25-2008

McCain Opposed Equal Pay for Women Senate Bill – Republican Sen. John McCain, campaigning through poverty-stricken cities and towns, said Wednesday he opposed a Senate bill that sought equal pay for women because it would lead to more lawsuits. The bill was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 56-42. The Senate had scheduled a late Wednesday vote on the measure, which would have made it easier for women to sue their employers for pay discrimination. Both Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, left the campaign trail and returned to Washington to vote for the bill.

Fox News Parent Company Hired Hacker to Pirate Rival’s Software According to Testimony – A computer hacker testified on Wednesday that a News Corp unit hired him to develop pirating software, but denied using it to penetrate the security system of a rival satellite television service. Christopher Tarnovsky — who said his first payment was $20,000 in cash hidden in electronic devices mailed from Canada — testified in a corporate-spying lawsuit brought against News Corp’s NDS Group by DISH Network Corp.

Just Two Months After Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Announced His Approval of the Mexican Border Fence, the Government Scraps It (Heck’ev a Job, Mikey) – The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted “virtual fence” on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said. The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson. Less than a week after Chertoff accepted Project 28 on Feb. 22, the Government Accountability Office told Congress it “did not fully meet user needs and the project’s design will not be used as the basis for future” developments.

Republican Candidate Tony Zirkle Wishes Adolf Hitler a Happy Birthday – On Sunday, Tony Zirkle, a Republican candidate for Indiana’s 2nd District, took time out from saving the economy by shredding vintage Playboys (of course!) so he could attend a 119th birthday celebration for Adolf Hitler. He claims he was only there to talk about his experience as a state’s attorney in Indiana, his wacky theories about pornography, and to preach the gospel, so of course his being there had absolutely nothing to do with his segregation plan that would allow blacks to “have six states, so instead of having one half-black senator, well they would have 12.”

Newsweek Hires Karl Rove. The New York Times Hires Bill Kristol. CNN Hires Tony Snow – Rove, Kristol, and Snow are the enemies of honesty, truth, facts, reality, and the public’s right to know. anything. By embracing these unabashed propagandists, the mainstream media are not serving the public interests. For contrast, click on the second link to read about the great journalist Edward R. Murrow, who’s birthday we celebrate today. Some quotes from Murrow:

• “To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful.”
• “A nation of sheep begets a government of wolves.”
• “No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.”
• “We proclaim ourselves as indeed we are: The defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world. But we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”

Ship Under Contract to U.S. Defense Department Fires Shots at Two Iranian Boats, Causing Oil Prices to Rise Further
Oil prices rose sharply Friday on news that a ship under contract to the U.S. Defense Department fired warning shots at two Iranian boats. Retail gas prices rose further into record territory, nearing $3.60 a gallon. That’s right, it wasn’t a U.S. Navy vessel, it was a ship under contract. What is this, the naval version of Blackwater?

CEO of Money-Losing Lending Company Gets Only $132 Million This Year – Countrywide Financial Corp. reported a yearly loss of $704 million in 2007 amid the nationwide mortgage market meltdown. So what does the CEO of such a company get? CEO Angelo Mozilo received about $10.8 million in total compensation and cashed out $121.5 million in stock options last year. The compensation disclosed in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing released Thursday represents a nearly 80 percent cut from the 70-year-old’s 2006 pay of about $51 million, back when things were beginning to turn sour.

The Sweet-Talk Express
Stephanopoulos: Even by your own accounting 300 billion dollars a year, that means your previous promise to balance your budget in the first year—that’s gone.

McCain: No, of course not. Look, I’ll find you a hundred billion tomorrow.

 

 

VA Mental Health Director Gives Low Numbers for Veterans Suicides When He Knew the Real Numbers Were 15 Times Higher – After telling the media that suicide rates among veterans were normal, the chief mental health official of the Veterans Affairs Department, Dr. Ira Katz, sent an internal memo with the real numbers that began with, “Shh…” and ended with, “Is this something we should carefully address…before someone stumbles on it?”

John McCain Doesn’t Answer Why You Should Not Get the Same Health Care That He Has Had for Seventy Years – On This Week this past Sunday, George Stephanopoulos asked “straight-talker” John McCain if government health care has been good enough for McCain to receive his entire life, it is not good enough for the rest of us That’s right, John McCain, the son of an Admiral, has had his healthcare taken care of by the government for the last seven decades at taxpayer expense. Yet, when asked this question, he was only able to muster a lame joke in response about the years he was being taken care of at the Hanoi Hilton–which McCain wields like Giuliani did 9/11). In fact, McCain doesn’t even feel compelled to explain why he voted against the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), so that countless children would lose the government health care on which he has relied upon for so long.

Rush Limbaugh Calls for Riots During the Democratic Convention – During his April 23rd show, Rush Limbaugh said, “Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don’t elect Democrats.” He then went on to say that’s the best thing that could happen to the country. He said he is dreaming/hoping for riots after the Dems convention if they choose Hillary over Obama. He even sang his statement to the “I’m Dreaming of a “WHITE” Christmas” tune. It appears that he is hoping African-Americans will revolt if Obama doesn’t win and in his dreams we would riot and wipe each other out so that he can indeed have a “white” Christmas/country. What do you think about Rush Limbaugh’s wish for riots after the Democratic convention?

Supreme Court Justice Scalia Shows His Sensitive Side – Supreme Court Justice Scalia repeated his earlier statement that people should “get over” the court’s ruling in 2000 that halted Florida’s vote recount, giving the presidential election to Republican Bush over Democrat Al Gore. “I say nonsense,” Scalia said, when asked about critics who say the 5-4 ruling was based on politics and not justice. “Get over it. It’s so old by now.”

Hey Look, It’s the Three Johns!

Don’t they make a great-looking threesome? John McCain, Rev. John Hagee, and Texas Senator John Cornyn. Doesn’t Cornyn look proud to be standing next to Hagee?

 

 

– Los Angeles Investor Building Amusement Park in Bagdad Because “Mostly Everything Here is for Profit” – Llewellyn Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles-based holding company for private equity firms, is pouring millions of dollars into developing a massive American-style amusement park. The 50-acre swath of land sits adjacent to the Green Zone. Mr. Werner will retain exclusive rights to housing and hotel developments. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t making money,” he said. “I also have this wonderful sense that we’re doing the right thing – we’re going to employ thousands of Iraqis. But mostly everything here is for profit.” (Some electricity and clean water might be a better idea. – JLV)

Regards,

Jim