Bad Deeds for 5-8-07

Wal-Mart Labels Nuns from Texas Town of Boerne a Security Threat – The Benedectine Sisters, which is part of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility has been questioning Wal-Mart’s business practices for years. Now, the sisters find themselves on Wal-Mart’s security threat list. The sisters have raised questions on wages, human rights, health care and the pay disparity between CEOs and workers. They believe that’s why Wal-Mart has launched a surveillance operation on the small church group. “We wanted to find out more about what was actually happening, and did they do any surveillance on us, either personally or as a community, and to let us know what that would be, and to apologize to us,” Sister Susan Mika said

Oil execs guilty in political kickback scandal – The founder of a multinational oil services company and one of his top executives have admitted to illegally paying more than $400,000 to Alaska lawmakers in a widening political corruption scandal. The pleas came days after the indictment of one current and two former Republican members of the Alaska House of Representatives on federal bribery and extortion charges related to last year’s negotiations for a new oil and gas tax and a proposed natural gas pipeline that would have benefited VECO.

Acting Justice Department Civil Rights Chief Bradley Schlozman Allegedly Ran Minority Voter Suppression Scheme – The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday asked former acting Justice Department civil rights chief Bradley Schlozman to answer accusations that he was a central figure in a broad Republican strategy to suppress the votes of Democratic-leaning minorities. A person familiar with the congressional inquiry said that Schlozman ties together “all of the threads” of the investigation into the recent dismissal of eight federal prosecutors and what appears to be the ensuing attempt at a cover-up.

Former Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz Violated World Bank Rules in Handling of Promotion for His Companion – A World Bank panel has found that bank President Paul Wolfowitz’s handling of a promotion and pay increase for his companion represented a conflict of interest and broke staff rules. One source close to the World Bank board said the panel found Wolfowitz’s actions amounted to conflict of interest, while another source said the panel found he broke governance rules. A meeting of the 24-nation World Bank board of shareholder governments will determine whether Wolfowitz should be fired for his actions.

Migratory Birds and Whales Confused by Global Warming – Birds, whales and other migratory creatures are suffering from global warming that puts them in the wrong place at the wrong time, a U.N. official told 166-nation climate talks on Monday. A warmer climate disrupts the biological clocks of migratory species including bats, dolphins, antelopes or turtles, said Lahcen el Kabiri, deputy head of the U.N.’s Bonn-based Convention on Migratory Species. “They are the most visible warning signs — indicators signaling the dramatic changes to our ecosystems caused in part by climate change,” he told delegates on the opening day of a May 7-18 U.N. meeting searching for new ways to offset warming. Many creatures are mistiming their migrations, or failing to bother as changes between seasons become less clear. The shifts make them vulnerable to heatwaves, droughts or cold snaps.

Senate Blocks Effort to Allow Drug Imports – The Senate sidetracked a controversial amendment Monday that could have saved consumers billions of dollars by allowing them to buy prescription medication from foreign suppliers, after President Bush – with no little urging from the pharmaceutical industry – threatened to veto the bill, which featured a long-sought safety overhaul considered crucial. Instead, Democrats approved the amendment along with a requirement that imports win government certification that they are safe – which the Bush administration is unlikely to provide.

Bush Administration Repeatedly Resisted Calls to Improve Oversight of the $85 Billion Student Loan Industry – Lawmakers say that the story of former Dept. of Education researcher Jon Oberg’s effort, beginning in 2003, to stop student lenders from improperly collecting federal subsidies opens a window onto how the Bush administration repeatedly resisted calls to improve oversight of the $85 billion student loan industry. The vast overpayments continued for three more years after Oberg’s attempt to expose them; now under congressional and media scrutiny, Bush-appointed department leaders claim they didn’t fully understand the problem.

Lesley Stahl of CBS says Journalists should be “Fair and Balanced” Rather than Reporting the Truth
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Kansas National Guard Equipment in Iraq Hampers Tornado Relief – Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday evening that the state’s response will likely be hampered because much of the equipment usually positioned around the state to respond to emergencies — including tents, trucks and semitrailers – is now in Iraq.

Republican Ted Poe of Texas Quotes KKK Founder on U.S. House floor – House Republican Ted Poe of Texas delivered a foreign policy speech yesterday in which he quoted Nathan Bedford Forrest, founder of the KKK. On Monday, Rep. Ted Poe took to the House floor to discuss foreign policy matters. To make a point, the Texas Republican invoked the words of Civil War Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest: “Git thar fustest with the mostest.” The quotation got some floor watchers’ attention pretty quickly. Forrest is a controversial figure who was one of the Klan’s first grand wizards. Although the Civil War hero (if you were a Confederate, that is) ultimately abandoned the Klan for its violent tactics, he continues to kick up dust.

Regards,

Jim