Bad Deeds for 5-14-2009

The Boy Scouts of America Have Moved On From Helping Little Old Ladies Cross the Street – The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence. “This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl,” said A. J. Lowenthal, a sheriff’s deputy here in Imperial County. “It fits right in with the honor and bravery of the Boy Scouts.”

The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out “active shooters,” like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses. In a simulation here of a raid on a marijuana field, several Explorers were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.

“Put him on his face and put a knee in his back,” a Border Patrol agent explained. “I guarantee that he’ll shut up.”

Cathy Noriego, also 16, said she was attracted by the guns. “I like shooting them,” Cathy said. “I like the sound they make. It gets me excited.”

Their hearts pounding, Explorers moved down alleys where there were hidden paper targets of people pointing guns, and made split-second decisions about when to shoot. In rescuing hostages from a bus taken over by terrorists, a baby-faced young girl screamed, “Separate your feet!” as she moved to handcuff her suspect.

In a competition in Arizona that he did not oversee, Deputy Lowenthal said, one role-player wore traditional Arab dress. “If we’re looking at 9/11 and what a Middle Eastern terrorist would be like,” he said, “then maybe your role-player would look like that. I don’t know, would you call that politically incorrect?”

Dick Cheney, Conspiracy Theorist – Former Vice President Dick Cheney swung through New York City Tuesday night to watch his daughter, Elizabeth, a former State Department official, argue the conservative side in a debate over American policy toward Iran. “Everybody’s in a giant conspiracy to achieve a different objective than the one we want to achieve,” Cheney said.

Tea Party Organizer Amassed Nearly $150,000 in State and Federal Tax Liens, Small Claims Court Judgments and Civil Suits – Well no wonder he doesn’t like taxes very much. According to documents obtained by Teablogging by running a simple Nexis search on the internets, national Tea Party organizer, Top Conservatives on Twitter cofounder and TCOTReport.com publisher Michael P. Leahy has, over the past 16 years, amassed nearly $150,000 in state and federal tax liens, small claims court judgments and civil suits. Take a look at the source docs here (pdf).

Republican National Committee to Rebrand Democrats as ‘Socialists’ – A member of the Republican National Committee said Tuesday that when the RNC meets in an extraordinary special session next week, it will approve a resolution rebranding Democrats as the “Democrat Socialist Party.” When asked if such a resolution would force RNC Chairman Michael Steele to use that label when talking about Democrats in all his speeches and press releases, the RNC member replied: “Who cares?” That pretty much sums up the attitude some members of the RNC have toward their chairman these days.

Republican Congressman Defends Keeping Guantanamo Open, Citing ‘Tropical Breezes’ – Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) today defended the continued detention of al-Qaeda prisoners at the military facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, calling it a “logical” site that also provides inmates with “tropical breezes.” “They wouldn’t be treated any better in the United States, and they wouldn’t have the tropical breezes blowing through,” Sessions said.

Bush Administration Saw Law as a “Unaffordable Nicety,” According to Republican Senator – During a hearing on the interrogation of detainees, Senator Lindsey Graham said that the Bush administration did not commit any crimes, but that they “saw the law as a nicety we could not afford.”

Image from Phawker.

Republicans Vote Against Protecting Americans From Crazy-High Credit Card Rates – Check the vote on the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2009 to establish a national consumer credit usury rate. Remember that Republicans want lower taxes, but high credit-card rates are just fine.

Army Doctor Forged Study, Got Money From Medical Company – A former surgeon at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, who is a paid consultant for a medical company, published a study that made false claims and overstated the benefits of the company’s product in treating soldiers severely injured in Iraq, the hospital’s commander said Tuesday.

An investigation by Walter Reed found that the study cited higher numbers of patients and injuries than the hospital could account for, said the commander, Col. Norvell V. Coots.

The former Army surgeon, Dr. Timothy R. Kuklo, reported that a bone-growth product sold by Medtronic Inc. had much higher success in healing the shattered legs of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed than other doctors there had experienced, according to Colonel Coots and a summary of an Army investigation of the matter.

Army investigators found that Dr. Kuklo forged the signatures of four Walter Reed doctors on the article before submitting it last year to a British medical journal, falsely claiming them as co-authors. He also did not obtain the Army’s required permission to conduct the study.

A Medtronic spokeswoman, Marybeth Thorsgaard, confirmed that Dr. Kuklo was a paid consultant to the company and that the company financially supported some of his research at Walter Reed, through a foundation affiliated with the hospital.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry Nominates Totally Unqualified Person to State Board of Pardons and Parole – In a rare rebuke of a governor’s appointment powers, the Texas Senate voted Wednesday to block one of Gov. Rick Perry’s nominees to the state Board of Pardons and Parole over concerns she is unqualified. The 27-4 vote against Shanda Perkins of Burleson was a resounding bipartisan rejection of the former banker. Unlike the occasional high-profile debates over presidential nominees, the Texas Senate rarely votes against a governor’s appointment.

Critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, had assailed Perkins’ nomination, noting she has no college degree and had no criminal justice background before Perry selected her for a board with the power to grant parole and recommend clemency in a death penalty case.

This person is unqualified,” said Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, who led the charge against Perkins’ confirmation. “This is not a partisan issue.” Fifteen Republicans joined the 12 Democrats voting against Perkins.

Why would Perry nominate her? In February, Perkins distributed fliers linking U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to President Barack Obama and abortion rights. Perry, who is running for re-election, is expected to face a tough battle with Hutchison in the Republican primary. Perkins was also notable for her role in stopping the sale of sex toys in Burleson, Tx in 2004.

Sean Hannity’s Hypocrisy About the “B” Word – On the May 12 edition of his Fox News show, discussing his earlier interview with Miss California Carrie Prejean, Sean Hannity said: “[Blogger Perez Hilton] called her ‘a dumb ‘B.’ I mean, how dare — and not only that, he said he would’ve violently ripped off the crown off her head. I love Donald [Trump]; he’s a friend of mine. I’m not sure why he said he would want [Hilton] back, or allow him back.” Hannity added: “I would think that you wouldn’t want somebody that calls a woman — any woman — a dumb ‘b’ ever on your show.”

However, on August 24, 2007, Hannity aired concert footage of rock musician and right-wing activist Ted Nugent holding up what appears to be two assault rifles, and saying, “Obama, he’s a piece of sh#t, and I told him to suck on my machine gun.” He also says, “Hey, Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch.” After airing the clip, Hannity stated: “That was friend and frequent guest on the program Ted Nugent.” Then, Hannity had Nugent back on his show again on October 13, 2008.

Bill Donahue and Fox News Stir Up Controversy That Does Not Exist – Bill Donahue, head of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Liberties, was the guest on Fox News Fox&Friends on May 11, 2009, to complain about the movie Angels&Demons, which Bill sees as anti-Catholic, even though he hasn’t actually seen it, yet. Steeve Doocy introduced the segment by stating that there is a “new film stirring up controversy. Tom Hanks says that there is nothing controversial about it; but Catholics disagree.” (Uh, other than Bill Donahue and his merry inquisitors and Fox News, who cares – but Fox is defining it as a controversy so it must be so!).

Donahue said that comments from the film’s producer, Ron Howard about Donahue’s criticism were “silly and mean spirited.” In a moment of sheer lunacy, Donahue said (regarding Howard), “I’m very specific, he rants.”

You be the judge. Here are the comments from Ron Howard:

I guess Mr. Donohue and I do have one thing in common: we both like to create fictional tales, as he has done with his silly and mean-spirited work of propaganda.

Mr. Donohue’s op-ed and booklet also suggest that we paint the Church as “anti-reason.” There is plenty of debate over what the Church did or didn’t do with Galileo, but I for one do recognize that the Church did much throughout the ages to encourage and preserve education, the arts and the sciences.

Had Mr. Donohue and his allies waited to see Angels & Demons before criticizing it, they would have seen references to struggles within the Church between faith and science, but they would also have seen clear signs of support for the pursuit of science at the highest levels of the Vatican. Indeed, one of the first scenes of the movie depicts a scientist at the high-tech CERN laboratory…and he is a priest.”

In contrast to the comments by Mr. Donohue and Fox News, the Vatican says that the film is “more than two hours of harmless entertainment, which hardly affects the genius and mystery of Christianity.

One more thing… During the ranting, one of the Fox&Friends hosts said in regard to the Church’s treatment of Galileo, who lived under Vatican house arrest because he dared say that the Earth was not the center of the solar system, “Galileo would have died eventually.” (Oh, I guess that makes it ok.)

Regards,

Jim