Bad Deeds for 8-30-2007

Rewritten surveillance law passed by Congress could give Bush more power for domestic wiretaps – The recently passed law which allows President Bush to continue wiretapping Americans’ telephone calls overseas may allow for domestic spying as well. A recently-acquired Congressional Research Service report of the controversial Protect America Act, which formally legalized communications surveillance where one party is overseas, offers nebulous language which is broadly open for interpretation

Iranian Engineers Arrested, Handcuffed, and Blindfolded by US Soldiers in Baghdad – Eight Iranians were arrested, handcuffed, and blindfolded by US soldiers in Baghdad.” The US now acknowledges that the Iranians are engineers who were in Iraq to help rebuild the local electrical system. This occurred just a couple of hours after President Bush began a speech to American veterans which included a bitter attack on Iran, accusing it of arming and training Shiite militants inside Iraq.”

CEO, Worker Wage Gap Widens – Top executives at major U.S. businesses last year made as much money in one day of work on the job as the average worker made over the entire year. Chief executive officers from the nation’s biggest businesses averaged nearly $11 million in total compensation, according to the 14th annual CEO compensation survey released jointly by the Institute for Policy Studies based in Washington and United for a Fair Economy, a national organization based in Boston. At the same time, workers at the bottom rung of the U.S. economy received the first federal minimum wage increase in a decade. But the new wage of $5.85 an hour, after being adjusted for inflation, stands 7 percent below where the minimum wage stood a decade ago. “CEO pay, over that same decade, has increased by roughly 45 percent,” the study found.

American Witnesses Barred From Inquests Into the Deaths of British Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan – American witnesses will not be allowed to travel to the UK to attend inquests into the deaths of British soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Earlier this year the Oxfordshire assistant deputy coroner, Andrew Walker, criticised US authorities for failing to send witnesses to the inquest into the death of Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull, who was killed when two American A10 jets strafed his convoy in Iraq. He described their behaviour as “appalling”.

Not a Single Officer is Found Guilty at Abu Ghraib – The acquittal of a US Army colonel on charges relating to the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib means no officers have been found criminally guilty. The episode stained the reputation of the US military and may well have acted as a recruiting agent for insurgents. The officer, Lt-Col Steven Jordan, was found not guilty by a military jury of failing to train and supervise the soldiers under his authority at Abu Ghraib. Instead he was convicted of breaking an order not to discuss the case. He was reprimanded. [Nothing has been done to fix the “Bad Barrel” described by Dr. Zimbardo.]

Bush Administration Puts Fingers in Ears and Yells, “La, La, La … I can’t hear you.” – Late last Friday the Bush administration issued a proposed new rule for coal mining that not only sanctions the most ecologically unsound form of coal mining, but may also be adopted with disregard to public comments solicited under law. The rule “will be subject to a 60-day comment period and could be revised, although officials indicated that it was not likely to be changed substantially.” That’s right, the Bush Administration is saying they probably won’t listen to the public comments.

Tell Congress to make sure that public comments are respected by ensuring unbiased oversight of the rule change process. Click the link below to send you letter to Congress.

Regards,

Jim