Bad Deeds for 6-7-2007

Conservatives Call Them “Alarmist” Scientists, But the Scientists Are Not Alarmed Enough – Greenland’s ice cap is melting, and faster than scientists had thought possible. Greenland, the world’s largest island, is mostly covered by an ice cap of about 624,000 cubic miles that accounts for a 10th of all the fresh water in the world. Over the last 30 years, its melt zone has expanded by 30 percent. “Some people are scared to discover the process is running faster than the models,” said Konrad Steffen, a glaciologist at University of Colorado at Boulder and a Greenland expert who serves on a U.S. government advisory committee on abrupt climate change. In the past 15 years, winter temperatures have risen about 9 degrees Fahrenheit on the cap, while spring and autumn temperatures increased about 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Summer temperatures are unchanged.

Good Deed! Senate Judiciary Committee Passes Bill to Restore Habeas Corpus – Today the Senate Judiciary Committee passed an important bill to restore habeas corpus, the sacrosanct Constitutional right to challenge government detention in court, by a vote of eleven to eight. Habeas corpus was revoked by last year’s Military Commissions Act, which has been assailed as unconstitutional and un-American by leaders across the political spectrum. Today’s habeas bill was backed by the Judiciary Committee’s Democratic Chairman, Patrick Leahy, and its Republican Ranking Member, Arlen Specter. “The drive to restore this fundamental right has come from both sides of the aisle,” said Sharon Bradford, an attorney at the bipartisan Constitution Project, in response to today’s vote. “Restoring America’s commitment to the rule of law is not a partisan cause; it is a patriotic one,” she added. Today’s vote means the habeas bill can now be brought to the Senate floor at any time. One source with knowledge of the legislative plan said Majority Leader Harry Reid has committed to bringing the bill to a vote within the month. Some Democrats are pushing Reid to go further, advocating more comprehensive human rights protections and a repeal of the entire Military Commissions Act. Sign the petition to Restore Our Constitutional Rights.

Republican Representative John Doolittle Opposes House Ethics Probes for Indicted Members – As the House late Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to launch speedy ethics investigations of any member indicted for criminal conduct, Rep. John Doolittle voted against two measures on the matter.

Monica Goodling In Private Email: ‘Send Directly Up To Me, Outside The System’ – New Justice Department communications include an email from Monica Goodling, former counsel to Alberto Gonzales, directing another official to draw up a directive giving her unprecedented authority to hire and fire political staffers. Goodling tells the official, assistant attorney general Paul Corts, to “send [it] directly up to me, outside the system.”

Dick Cheney More Involved in Secret Surveillance Program Than Previously Known – Vice President Cheney told Justice Department officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former senior Justice official told senators yesterday. The meeting came one day before White House officials tried to get approval for the same program from then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who lay recovering from surgery in a hospital, according to former deputy attorney general James B. Comey. Comey’s disclosures, made in response to written questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicate that Cheney and his aides were more closely involved than previously known in a fierce internal battle over the legality of the warrantless surveillance program…. Comey said that Cheney’s office later blocked the promotion of a senior Justice Department lawyer, Patrick Philbin, because of his role in raising concerns about the surveillance.

Bush Cronies Are Cashing In on the War on Terror – A stream of former Bush Administration officials and insiders have been signing on as directors at obscure companies that compete for contracts at their old agencies.

Osama bin Laden Hiding Out at FOX Entertainment Group California Headquarters

Regards,

Jim