Bad Deeds for 8-2-2007

New documents suggest broader White House involvement in replacing New Mexico prosecutor – New documents turned over to Congressional investigators Wednesday show that a White House official echoed a message from the office of Senator Pete Domenici to the Justice Department seeking the installation of a new ‘team’ in New Mexico’s US Attorneys office. Domenici is currently under investigation by a Senate ethics watchdog for appearing to interfere with a public corruption investigation that David Iglesias, former US Attorney to New Mexico, was engaged in last Fall. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) also contacted Iglesias.

Aide to Senator Stevens Performed Personal Work – An aide to Senator Ted Stevens performed personal bookkeeping services for the embattled Alaska Republican. Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has used a Senate employee as his personal bookkeeper but does not appear to have paid her for those services out of his own funds, even as the aide collected more than a quarter-million dollars in federal pay

Rove Refuses to Testify on Role in Prosecutor Firings, but Makes Public Speeches About It – White House senior adviser Karl Rove has rebuked a Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena and will not appear Thursday to testify about his role in the firing of nine US Attorneys, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said late Wednesday. The Senate Judiciary chairman chided the White House for allowing Rove to give public speeches about the attorney firing scandal but not permit his testimony under oath. “Mr. Rove has given reasons for the firings that have now been shown to be inaccurate after-the-fact fabrications,” Leahy said in a statement. “Yet, he now refuses to tell this Committee the truth about his role in targeting well-respected U.S. Attorneys for firing and in seeking to cover up his role and that of his staff in the scandal.”

Pentagon Used Outside Contractors to Shape Messages Related to Public Affairs – Involvement of outside contractors in “outsourcing press” to cover-up the real story behind cases such as Jessica Lynch, Abu Ghraib, and Pat Tillman is unclear at this time.

Fox News and Rudy Giuliani Are Best Friends – Roger Ailes, head of Fox News, was the media consultant to Mr. Giuliani’s first mayoral campaign in 1989. Mr. Giuliani, as mayor, officiated at Mr. Ailes’s wedding and intervened on his behalf when Fox News Channel was blocked from securing a cable station in the city. This year, they were tablemates at the White House correspondents dinner, which Mr. Giuliani attended as a guest of Fox’s parent company, the News Corporation.

Michael Savage Suggests That Democrats Caused Chief Justice Robert’s Seizure – On the July 30 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage reacted to news that Chief Justice John Roberts had suffered a seizure that day by raising the possibility that “his health was in some way tampered with by the Democrats.” Savage said, “Something’s wrong with this picture,” after noting that Roberts’ seizure occurred just three days after Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said he would seek in general to reject any future Supreme Court nomination made by President Bush. Savage asked, “Am I to believe there’s no connection between Charles Schumer on Friday saying he would never appoint, or never, excuse me, approve another Bush appointment to the court, to any court? And then the chief justice suffers a so-called seizure two days later? You’re telling me there’s no possibility of a conspiracy by the Democrats to have caused this seizure in some manner?” He added: “Tell me it’s not possible, and I’ll tell you you’re a liar.”

President Bush Invited Ten Talk-Show Hosts to the Oval Office – All Far-Right Conservatives – President Bush invited ten talk hosts into the Oval Office for an hour of conversation today – Glenn Beck, Bill Bennett, Neal Boortz, Scott Hennon, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larson, Mark Levin, Michael Medved, Janet Parshall, and Hugh Hewitt. Bush surrounds himself with this echo chamber in order to hear good things about himself, and not hear a single critical word about his failed presidency.

After company confessed to paying terrorists, Chertoff took no action – At an April 24, 2003 meeting with then-assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, a board member of banana giant Chiquita International gave a startling confession: his company was paying hundreds of thousands to a Colombian paramilitary group on the U.S. government’s list of terrorist organizations. Chertoff told the boar member to wait for more feedback, but that feedback never came. Chiquita then took the lack of response as a signal the US was tacitly implying they should continue paying.

US Has Been Covertly Arming Gulf States Since 2004 – According to current and former intelligence officials, however, the Bush administration has been arming Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states covertly since “at least” 2004, a year after the US-led invasion of Iraq in March of 2003. The GCC is a union of regional allies, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Created in 1981, it is similar in structure and purpose to the European Union. Using backchannels and corporate partners, arms have been furnished to the Gulf states to beef up security against what the US sees as an increased risk posed by Iran.

House Drops Tougher Auto Fuel Economy – After weeks of uncertainty, House Democrats have decided against a confrontation over automobile fuel economy when they take up energy legislation later this week. Two proposals to boost the required mileage for new automobiles were submitted Wednesday for consideration as amendments to the energy legislation, but they were withdrawn by their Democratic sponsors.

US Cannot Account for 190,000 Weapons Issued to Iraqi Security Forces – The US government cannot account for 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to an investigation carried out by the Government Accountability Office. According to the July 31 report, the military “cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armour and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces.” US commanders often accuse foreign powers such as Iran of supplying arms to illegal militias fighting in Iraq, but the report shows they cannot fully account for the hundreds thousands of weapons they brought in themselves. Last month, Turkey raised concerns over reports that separatist Kurdish guerrillas launching cross-border raids from northern Iraq had received US-supplied guns supposedly destined for Iraqi security forces.

Senators to Abandon ’08 E-Voting Paper Trail Mandate – Democratic senators make push for banning electronic voting machines that lack paper trails, but they’ve backed away from doing so in time for next year’s presidential election.

Editor of Right-Wing National Review Endorses the Return of “Jim Crow” Election Restrictions – After years of browbeating from well-financed conservatives about their “liberal bias”, newspapers feel compelled to be “fair and balanced” by giving column inches in their paper to random conservative idiots. So we get editorials with terrible ideas like this one from Jonah Goldberg, editor of the right-wing National Review: “Instead of making it easier to vote, maybe we should be making it harder. Why not test people about the basic functions of government?” (Yeah, we could make sure that everyone gets their “knowledge” from Fox News. We’ve been down this road before, in darker days in the 1890s when southern states systematically and completely disinfranchised black voters by imposing voter registration restrictions such as literacy tests, poll taxes, the grandfather clause, and the white primary. – JLV)

Regards,

Jim