Bad Deeds for 7-27-2007

Newly Obtained Emails Reveal Republican Party ’04 Vote Suppression Scheme – Previously undisclosed documents detail how Republican operatives, with the knowledge of several White House officials, engaged in an illegal, racially-motivated effort to suppress tens of thousands of votes during the 2004 presidential campaign in a state where George W. Bush was trailing his Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry. The documents also contain details describing how Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign officials, and at least one individual who worked for White House political adviser Karl Rove, planned to stop minorities residing in Cuyahoga County from voting on election day.

More Political Interference in Science – Tuesday, a presidential executive order went into effect that would place political appointees deeper inside federal scientific agencies where they could more easily prevent inconvenient science from ever seeing the light of day. The executive order bans any regulation from moving forward without the approval of an agency’s regulatory policy officer, who would be a political appointee.

Earth Observation Satellites Neglected – A recent National Research Council report predicts that by 2010, the number of working satellite sensors will drop by 40 percent. Blame in part the shifting priorities of NASA, one of the main agencies that manage our satellites. NASA’s earth-science budget decreased 30 percent between 2000 and 2006. Although the space agency has requested a $1.1-billion increase over 2007, most of its budget is going to fund the International Space Station and President Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration, a plan to send humans back to the moon by 2020 and, ultimately, to Mars.

Bush Administration Issues Subpoena on Michael Moore – Filmmaker Michael Moore revealed on Thursday’s “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno that the Bush Administration had served him with a subpoena regarding his recent trip to Cuba made as part of his new film, Sicko. The Oscar-winning filmmaker filmed his trip to the US base at Guantanamo Bay, where he pleaded with military officials to let three 9/11 rescue workers enjoy the benefits of healthcare extended to detainees.

Republican Presidential Candidates Afraid of Questions From Everyday Americans – Four days after the Democratic debate in Charleston, S.C,. more than 400 questions directed to the GOP presidential field have been uploaded on YouTube — targeted at Republicans scheduled to get their turn at video populism on Sept. 17. But so far, only Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) have agreed to participate in the debate, co-hosted by Republican Party of Florida in St. Petersburg. So far YouTube, CNN and Florida’s Republican Party are staying optimistic. “We’re very hopeful that all the campaigns will get on board,” said Steve Grove, head of news and politics at YouTube.

Transportation Security Administration Hypes Alarm Over Ice Packs and Cheese – The TSA put out an alert to airports that the discovery of items like ice packs and cheese could be “dry runs” by would-be terrorists. The TSA bulletin said the ice packs found in San Diego contained clay. In fact, the woman whose luggage sparked the San Diego portion of the alert was an American woman in her 60s, hardly the profile of al-Qaeda. And what happened at the airport there bore little resemblance to what was in the TSA report — which claimed that ice packs were wrapped in duct tape and contained clay, which are not usually in ice packs and could resemble plastic explosives. In reality, they weren’t covered in duct tape and didn’t have clay inside of them. a Harbor Police officer found what appeared to be hardened old gel that had seeped out of the ice packs and dried, leaving a clay-like substance around the outside edge of the pack. As has been reported many times, we have an administration that loves to get the media talking about terrorism and vague threats to America.

Bush Helps al-Qaeda – Like any terrorist organization, al-Qaeda wants attention. It wants to be perceived as powerful. And it particularly wants Americans to live in fear. Could al-Qaeda possibly have found a better publicist than President Bush?

Support the Troops, NOT! – Servicemen and women who made huge sacrifices fighting in the war and now paying yet another price, even after coming home. One example is Brian Rodriguez, an honorably discharged soldier who’d been deployed in Iraq. “I was a combat engineer,” Rodriguez said. “We deal with land mines, explosives.” Former Army Specialist Rodriguez started getting bills for $700 for lost or damaged government property this summer. Although he was discharged some four years ago, bills recently arrived demanding payment, but giving no details on what or why — nor do they offer a way to dispute the charges. And he’s not alone. A 2006 government report found more than 1,000 soldiers being billed a total of $1.5 million.

Pat Tillman May Have Been Murdered, Then the Army Covered It Up – Medical examiners, after examining Pat Tillman, became suspicious of the close proximity of three bullet holes in his forehead, suggesting that he may have been murdered. One medical doctor said “The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described.” Army attorneys sent each other congratulatory e-mails for keeping criminal investigators at bay as the Army conducted an internal friendly-fire investigation that resulted in administrative, or non-criminal, punishments. Questions linger about how high in the Bush administration the deception reached.

Fox News Attacks Bloggers – This week, Bill O’Reilly declared war on the blogosphere for “hateful ” posts However, in recent months, FOX News has implied that Barack Obama is a terrorist, called black churches cults, and denied the existence of global warming. . Watch the video.

BillOReilly.com Suggests There Should be a Terrorist Attack Against US Capitol Building – O’Reilly attacks DailyKos for hateful comments on their website and says it doesn’t happen on his. But it does.

Billoreilly.com Members Hope for a Day When Illegal Immigrants are Eaten Alive at the Border – More hateful posts on O’Reilly’s website that he says doesn’t happen.

Bill O’Reilly Doesn’t Like Hearing the Truth
Guest Jane Hall tries to make the point that hateful comments get posted to lots of websites including O’Reilly’s, but O’Reilly calls her a liar and cuts off her microphone.

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Regards,

Jim