Bad Deeds for 8-21-2007

Republican Administration Slashes Health Plan, Leaves Children Behind – In another not so surprising move, the Bush administration has made a decision that would limit the health care coverage of thousands of children in middle-income families. On Friday, a letter was sent by Administration officials that outline new standards, which would make it much more difficult for states, such as New York and California to extend their health care coverage.

Since Republicans Took the White House, Americans’ Average Income Has Fallen – In 2005, Americans earned on average of 1 percent less then they did in the year 2000 and according to Citizens for Tax Justice, a group that believes Republican’s policies favor the rich, pointed out that people with incomes of more than a million dollars “received 62 percent of the savings from the reduced tax rates on long-term capital gains and dividends that President Bush signed into law in 2003.” Total income listed on tax returns grew every year after World War II, with a single one-year exception, until 2001, making the five-year period of lower average incomes and four years of lower total incomes a new experience for the majority of Americans born since 1945.

Bush Administration Did Not Study Environmental Impact of Fire Retardant; Killed 20,000 Fish – The Administration’s top forestry official has been ordered to explain why the US Forest Service failed to analyze the environmental impact of dropping a fish-killing flame retardant on wildfires — or face contempt of court. Forestry Service chemicals killed more than 20,000 fish in central Oregon. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey may face jail unless the Forest Service assents to a court order enjoining the environmental review.

Cheney has Warrantless Wiretapping Documents, Won’t Turn Them Over – Vice President Dick Cheney’s office has in its possession more than 50 documents related to a congressional investigation of the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, but Cheney’s lawyer on Monday refused to hand over the documents in response to a subpoena.

Neoconservative Calls for Enslaving or Killing All Mexican Immigrants and Invading Mexico – I wrote about this guy last week, when he said that George Bush should be president-for-life. Now we find that he also said, “The very least that must be done to halt the Hispanic invasion is the mass enslavement, or execution, of the invaders, which must be followed by an American invasion of Mexico to enforce American language and values upon the Mexicans.”

The Conservative Family Security Foundation Knows How We Should Have Handled Iraq – Nuclear Weapons! – They stated, “The wisest course would have been for President Bush to use his nuclear weapons to slaughter Iraqis until they complied with his demands, or until they were all dead.”

Electronic Voting Machines Provide Not-So-Secret Ballots – Two Ohio activists have discovered that e-voting machines made by Election Systems and Software and used across the country produce time-stamped paper trails that permit the reconstruction of an election’s results – including allowing voter names to be matched to their actual votes. Diebold’s AV-TSX touchscreen voting machine stores a time stamp showing the time which each vote was cast–down to the millisecond–along with the electronic record of that vote, so it has the same type of problem. Direct Recording Electronic touch-screen voting machines should never be allowed for use in another American election.

Amazon Forest Sold Off in Housing Scam – The Brazilian government stands accused of selling off huge swaths of the Amazon rainforest – including its oldest protected national park – to unscrupulous logging companies, under the cover of a flawed sustainable development project. The Brazilian President, Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva, won power in 2003 with a promise to settle 400,000 homeless families during his four-year term, an unrealistic target he is accused of reaching in last-minute deals prior to last year’s election. An eight-month investigation by Greenpeace into the land scam, revealed that the Brazilian land reform agency, INCRA, had set up large settlements in rainforest areas instead of placing them in already deforested areas, and settling urban families who promptly sold logging rights to major timber companies.

Democratic Congressman Causes Airport Altercation – Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) allegedly tried to enter a restricted area at the airport baggage claim and pushed aside an airport employee who tried to stop him, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Several witnesses told local Washington affiliate ABC 7 news they saw Filner push the employee and refused to leave the restricted office.

Two Months After Giving Iraqis “Two More Months” to Shape Up, Bill O’Reilly is Silent on Their Failure to Do So – On his radio show on June 20, Bill O’Reilly asserted, “I’m gonna tell you that the big picture is, the Iraqis have two more months. They’ve got two more months. And if they don’t step up and help more than they’re helping” on oil legislation and security, “in two months, it’s over. Come September and October, we’re pulling back, and that’s the truth.” August 20 marks the end of the two-month period, but O’Reilly is yet to mention the Iraqi government’s failure to reach an agreement on oil legislation or his claims about the need for improvements by the Iraqi Security Forces.

Regards,

Jim