Bad Deeds for 7-10-2007

Former Bush Surgeon General Says He Was Muzzled by Bush Administration – The first U.S. surgeon general appointed by President George W. Bush accused the administration on Tuesday of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like embryonic stem cell research. “Anything that doesn’t fit into the political appointees’ ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried,” Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation’s top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee.

CNN Makes Incorrect Accusations about Sicko – Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN reviews Michael Moore’s Sicko, but the doctor gets a lot of his “facts” wrong. The Sicko Truth Squad sets him straight , providing references for the facts presented in the movie.

Republican Health Care Plans Rely on “Personal Responsibility”, “Private Sector” and “Market Based.” – Translation: If You’re Not Rich, You’re Out of Luck. A side-by-side comparison of Democratic and Republican presidential candidates’ heath care plans shows that the Democratic candidates provide lots of detail about their approaches to universal heath care for all Americans. Republican candidates, on the other hand, describe plans based on “personal responsibility”, “private sector” and “market based.” As for details, most of the attributes of the Republican candidates’ plans are labeled as “No information found.”

Executive Privilege: An Assertion of Power Not to be Lightly Invoked, Unless You Are George W. Bush – In the United States v. Nixon, the Supreme Court however rejected the notion that the President has an “absolute privilege.” In an 8-0 decision, the Supreme Court found that the president does have a right to confidentiality, particularly in national security or law enforcement situations, but that it must be balanced against the need for disclosure. In a separate Supreme Court decision in 2004, Justice Anthony Kennedy noted “Executive privilege is an extraordinary assertion of power not to be lightly invoked.”

Here is a brief history of claims of presidential executive privilege:

• George Washington claimed it successfully to refuse to give documents about a treaty to the House of Representatives, which does not ratify treaties. He did give the documents to the Senate, which does ratify treaties.
• Thomas Jefferson claimed it unsuccessfully in an attempt to withhold his private letters concerning the Aaron Burr treason trial.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully invoked executive privilege by refusing to turn over to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s investigatory Committee the notes of Eisenhower’s meetings with members of the United States Army, “claiming that matters of national security might be breached if administration officials were forced to testify under oath.”
• Richard Nixon claimed it unsuccessfully in an attempt to conceal the audiotapes of conversations concerning Watergate that he and his colleagues had in the Oval Office of the White House.
• Bill Clinton claimed it unsuccessfully in an attempt to not testify about the Lewinsky affair.
• The Bush administration has claimed executive privilege four times (so far). His claims have not been formally challenged (so far).

Fred Thompson: Big, Mean and Dumb – During the time of the Watergate hearings, Richard Nixon said Fred Thompson was “dumb as hell.” The president did not think Thompson was skilled enough to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee’s Democratic counsel. “Oh s—, that kid,” Nixon said when told by his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, of Thompson’s appointment on Feb. 22, 1973. “Well, we’re stuck with him,” Haldeman said. In a meeting later that day in the Old Executive Office Building, Baker said of Thompson, “He’s tough. He’s six feet five inches, a big mean fella.” Nixon expressed concern that Thompson was not “very smart.” “Not extremely so,” Buzhardt agreed. “But he’s friendly,” Nixon said. Five days later, Buzhardt reported to Nixon that he had primed Thompson for the Dean cross-examination. “I found Thompson most cooperative, feeling more Republican every day,” Buzhardt said. “Uh, perfectly prepared to assist in really doing a cross-examination.” Thompson blew it for the Nixon team, when he asked about the White House taping system, which he already knew about.

Gonzales Lied to Congress About FBI Abuses – Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was given a report detailing FBI abuses of power six days before testifying to Congress where he sought to renew the Patriot Act. In front of the Senate Intelligence Committee he claimed he knew of no wrongdoing or abuse of power, and that the Patriot Act was free of problems, despite the reports of numerous violations of the law and FBI protocol.

White House argues that zero days behind bars is the appropriate punishment for two counts of perjury, one count of obstruction of justice, and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators – Compare Scooter Libby’s original 30-month prison sentence to those of others convicted of similar crimes and you will find that it was, if anything, a bit short . Records show that the Justice Department under the Bush administration frequently has sought sentences that are as long, or longer, in cases similar to Libby’s. Three-fourths of the 198 defendants sentenced in federal court last year for obstruction of justice, one of four crimes Libby was found guilty of in March, got some prison time. According to federal data, the average sentence defendants received for that one charge alone was 70 months.

Iraq Government Misses All Targets – A progress report on Iraq will conclude that the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad has not met any of its targets for political, economic and other reform, speeding up the Bush administration’s reckoning on what to do next, a U.S. official said Monday.

Clinton, Obama Skip Iraq Debate in Senate for Iowa Campaigning – Instead of Washington DC, both Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will be spending time in Iowa, as the Senate convenes today to start considering policy options for Iraq

Southern Regional Chair of Rudy Giuliani’s Presidential Campaign Admits That He’s on the DC Madam’s List – Republican Senator David Vitter, the southern regional chair of Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign, admitted Monday night that his phone number was on the phone records of the so-called “DC Madam.” In 2004, Vitter campaigned with a promise of “protecting the sanctity of marriage,” and was a co-author of the “Federal Marriage Act” that sought to prohibit courts from interpreting same-sex marriage laws. “This is a real outrage. The Hollywood left is redefining the most basic institution in human history,” he said then. (Looks like it’s the DC right-wing that’s doing the redefining.)

Fox News Attacks the Environment – Tell Home Depot to stop advertising on Fox. No responsible company claiming to support the environment should be advertising with a corporation that consistently deceives America about the climate crisis.

TELL HOME DEPOT TO STOP ADVERTISING ON FOX!

Dead Al-Qaeda Leader Threatens to Attack Iran Over Interfering in Iraq

Regards,

Jim