The WAWG Blog

FEMA Authorized Insurance Companies to Overbill Taxpayers – According to a September 21, 2005 memo, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA may have authorized the insurance companies to overbill the taxpayer-funded federal flood program, while ripping citizens on other insurance payments.

Faced with law-breaking Bush official, Republicans play the race card – In a hearing Wednesday examining the findings that Bush appointee Lurita Doan of the General Services Administration appeared to violate the Hatch Act by politicking in a federal workplace, several Republican Congressmen played the race card. On a number of occasions, Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led his colleagues in accusing their Democratic counterparts of targeting Doan because she was a black woman and a Republican. “You’re an African-American Republican so you’ve got a big bull’s eye on you,” Davis, the former chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said to Administrator Doan at one stage. You’re a Republican, a minority, and a woman, a GOP contributor, and they’ve targeted you, they’re circling you to come after you,” said Rep. John Mica (R-FL), who objected to the hearing at various occasions. Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) also said, “I find that when an African-American is a Republican, somehow, she is treated differently by Congress.”

FBI may have violated surveillance law over 1,000 times – FBI agents possibly violated a surveillance law over and over again while misusing the National Security Letter (NSL) authority vastly expanded by the Patriot Act. An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years, far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in March that ignited bipartisan congressional criticism. The audit covers just 10 percent of the bureau’s national security investigations since 2002, and so the mistakes in the FBI’s domestic surveillance efforts probably number several thousand, bureau officials said in interviews.

Gonzales uses US Attorney appointment power that Congress banned – Attorney General Alberto Gonzales once again used an interim appointment authority at the heart of the US Attorneys controversy that Congress banned in a bill sent to the President for signature on June 4.

Bias Cases Against Muslims on the Increase – Complaints in the United States of anti-Muslim discrimination rose 25 percent from 2005 to 2006, according to a new report by the US Council on American-Islamic Relations. The report released Thursday records 2,467 incidents and cases of anti-Muslim violence, bias and harassment last year, with a marked increase in cases involving government agencies, which CAIR said related to delays in processing citizenship and naturalization applications from Muslims. It cited the example an unnamed Muslim waiting five years after passing the citizenship test in 2002 before finally being granted citizenship in recent weeks — just before a lawsuit CAIR filed on the person’s behalf was to go to court this week. CAIR also said it counted 167 reports of anti-Muslim hate crimes, a rise of 9.2 percent over 2005.

Joe Lieberman Says He’ll Have Whatever Bill Kristol is Having – The Weekly Standard’s promotional package has this testimonial from Joe Lieberman:
“If Kristol says what I’m doing is right, it must be right.” I don’t think any more needs to be said about Joe Lieberman.

Doing the Jobs Americans Aren’t Willing to Do – Given the recent rhetoric in Republican circles about immigration policy, I found this story partictacularly amusing.

The California Republican Party has decided no American is qualified to take one of its most crucial positions — state deputy political director — and has hired a Canadian for the job through a coveted H-1B visa, a program favored by Silicon Valley tech firms that is under fire for displacing skilled American workers.

Christopher Matthews, 35, a Canadian citizen, has worked for the state GOP as a campaign consultant since 2004. But he recently was hired as full-time deputy political director, with responsibility for handling campaign operations and information technology for the country’s largest state Republican Party operation, California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring confirmed in a telephone interview this week.

In the nation’s most populous state — which has produced a roster of nationally known veteran political consultants — “it’s insulting but also embarrassing … to bring people from the outside who don’t know the difference between Lodi and Lancaster … and who can’t even vote,” said Karen Hanretty, a political commentator and former state GOP party spokeswoman.

Wait, it gets funnier. Matthews was hired by Michael Kamburowski, the state GOP’s chief operations officer, who is … wait for it … an Australian citizen.

In light of the GOP’s immigration policy, and it’s take on the H-1B visa program, these hires are a little surprising, aren’t they?

Tony Snow Lying (again) – Tony Snow from March 15, talking about the US Attorney firings: “It’s pretty clear that these things are based on performance and not on sort of attempts to do political retaliation, if you will.” But here’s Tony Snow from Wednesday’s (June 13) briefing at which a reporter asked Snow: “At the beginning of this story, the President, you, Dan Bartlett, others said on camera that politics was not involved, this was performance-based, but –” Snow’s reply: “No, that is something — we have never said that.”

Proud Republican Earmark Daddy – Rep. Don Young of Alaska, went on the House floor Tuesday night to declare himself “proud of my earmarks,” those provisions inserted into spending bills that designate federal funding to be directed to specific projects. Young has faced criticism for pushing forward a $10 million road-building project in southwest Florida that would benefit a campaign benefactor.

Fox News Spent Most Time on Anna Nicole Smith – According to research conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism at its height the Anna Nicole Smith saga consumed 30% of the available “newshole,” the space news organizations have to run content. When it was finally played out, the story of Smith’s death and the paternity struggle around her daughter had generated more coverage than the Democratic takeover of Congress. In the first quarter of this year, Smith accounted for 10% of Fox News’ total news coverage, 6% of MSNBC’s total coverage, and 4% of CNN’s total coverage.

Regards,

Jim

Salon.com reported recently on the 150 letters to try and influence Judge Reggie B. Walton in the sentencing of Lewis Libby. It stated, “Also among the writers were many of the leading lights of the neoconservative movement, like Norman Podhoretz, editor at large of Commentary, and his wife, Midge Decter, a neoconservative author in her own right, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and Richard Perle, former chairman of the Defense Policy Board. ”

Here are links to some of letters:

• Henry Kissinger
• Don Rumsfeld
• Richard Perle

Now let’s contrast this attempted influence of a judge with Article 3 of our Consitution:

The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

What does that mean? Here is a summary from U. S. Courts:

The Founding Fathers of the nation considered an independent federal judiciary essential to ensure fairness and equal justice for all citizens of the United States. The Constitution they drafted promotes judicial independence in two major ways. First, federal judges are appointed for life, and they can be removed from office only through impeachment and conviction by Congress of “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Second, the Constitution provides that the compensation of federal judges “shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office,” which means that neither the President nor Congress can reduce the salary of a federal judge. These two protections help an independent judiciary to decide cases free from popular passions and political influence.

When are the neocons and authoritarians going to stop trying to redact our Constitution? Here is how Jane Hamsher put it at firedoglake

Because they, like Libby, don’t believe he’s done anything wrong.  The modern Republican party is built on the construct that all government is bad, and once in power they  set about bringing into fruition this self-fulfilling prophecy with ruthless efficiency.  They destroy everything they touch, but they are very good at what they are good at:  PR, partisan politics and preserving their own power.  From where they stand, from where Scooter stands, there is no culpability in anything done in the service of this, and Scooter was just doing his job.  Read through the letters.  The presumption of exreme moral rectitude even in the absence of any kind of moral compass whatsoever is gobsmacking.

Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A ‘Gay Bomb’ – A Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting. Pentagon officials on Friday confirmed that military leaders had considered, and then subsequently rejected, building the so-called “Gay Bomb.”

$30 Million Vote From Abroad System Doesn’t Work – Over the last six years, the Defense Department has spent more than $30 million trying to find an efficient way for American soldiers and civilians living abroad to vote in elections back home. 63 voters used it in the 2006 election to request and return ballots over the Internet, according to a Defense Department study. Fewer than 20 local election officials in the United States have said they want to use the military’s Web system in the coming election. With the presidential primaries approaching, the Pentagon’s system, which is Web-based, remains slow, confusing and plagued with security and privacy problems. And that has left many of the five million Americans overseas uncertain that their vote will be counted.

Iraq is Failing to Meet Benchmarks – Iraq’s political leaders have failed to reach agreements on nearly every law that the Americans have demanded as benchmarks, despite heavy pressure from Congress, the White House and top military commanders. With only three months until progress reports are due in Washington, the deadlock has reached a point where many Iraqi and American officials now question whether any substantive laws will pass before the end of the year. Kurds have blocked a vote in Parliament on a new oil law. Shiite clerics have stymied an American-backed plan for reintegrating former Baathists into government. Sunnis are demanding that a constitutional review include more power for the next president. And even if one or two of the proposals are approved — the oil law appears the most likely, officials said — doubts are spreading about whether the current benchmarks can ever halt the cycle of violence gripping Iraq’s communities.

Justice Department Official Gave MisLeading Testimony – The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee criticized a Justice Department staffer connected to the US Attorneys controversy for reversing testimony he gave to the Committee last Thursday. The statement came after Bradley Schlozman, the Associate Counsel to the Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, wrote a letter Monday to Senate correcting some of his statements. “It is deeply troubling that after weeks of preparation Mr. Schlozman appears to have misled the Committee and the public about his decision to file an election eve lawsuit in direct conflict with longstanding Justice Department policy,” said Senator Leahy

Republican-Supported $63 Million Airplane is 0 for 49 in Tests – An experimental airplane, designed to take off like a helicopter and then fly at high speed, failed to remain in the air for more than a few seconds in 49 separate tests last year, according to John Kinzer of the Office of Naval Research. “None of these attempts resulted in controlled hover for more than a few seconds,” Kinzer told members of the House Committee on Science and Technology. Since 1986, Pentagon analysts have consistently rejected the aircraft design as “technically flawed,” but Congress has continued to pour money into the project. Congressman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has led the effort on behalf of a hometown company, DuPont Aerospace. Hunter has received at least $36,000 in campaign contributions from the owner of the company, Anthony DuPont.

Neocons Invade Churches – What are neocon groups like Project for the New American Century and The Heritage Foundation doing funding something called “Institute for Religion and Democracy”? Hint: it has to do with reversing any dividend from churches doing peace stuff.

We’ve Found the WMD. The Bad News Is They’re Ours and We Found Them Dumped In The Sea – It is no secret that the U.S. military has used the ocean as trashcan for munitions in the past. Federal lawmakers were pressing the US Army to reveal everything it knows about a massive international program to dump chemical weapons off homeland and foreign shores. The Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste – either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels.

Lurita Doan: Unqualified, Unlawful, and Uncooperative – GSA head Lurita Doan’s qualifications to head the nation’s main federal contracting agency, the General Services Administration (GSA), seemed to have been primarily that she and her husband had given hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions to Bush and other right wing politicians. Yesterday Bush’s Office of Special Counsel recommended she be fired for engaging in “the most pernicious of political activity” banned by the 1939 Hatch Act and for refusing to cooperate with the investigation. ““Doan solicited the political activity of over 30 of her subordinate employees when she asked ‘How can we help our [Republican] candidates?’” The recommendation points out that “Doan has shown no remorse and lacks an appreciation for the seriousness of her violation.”

Regards,

Jim

Leadership PACs Circumvent the Intent of Campaign Finance Limits – Individuals can contribute up to $5,000 a year to leadership PACs, giving them a way to avoid contribution limits. For a typical House race, a contributor can give $1,000 for the primary election, $1,000 to the general election, and $5,000 per year to a candidate’s leadership PAC, effectively raising the contribution limit to $12,000. If a contributor gives the maximum to a Senate leader’s PAC, he can give a total of $30,000 over the six-year term – 15 times the limit for campaign contributions. Contributions to a member’s leadership PAC are converted to campaign contributions when the sponsor contributes the PAC money to his or her colleagues in order to curry favor with them.

Mitt Romney’s Lie About the Iraq Invasion – Asked during the Republican presidential debate if it was “a mistake for us to invade Iraq,” Romney replied, “We wouldn’t be in the conflict we’re in if Saddam Hussein had opened up his country to IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspectors and they’d come in and they’d found that there were no weapons of mass destruction.” In fact, Hussein did allow IAEA inspectors into Iraq before the invasion, and they “found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons programme in Iraq.” Saddam also allowed the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) into Iraq before the invasion, and its inspectors “did not find evidence of the continuation or resumption of programmes of weapons of mass destruction.”

Mitt Romney’s Staff’s Crazy Explanation of His Lie About the Iraq Invasion Ezra Klein called up Romney’s office for their comment on his lie (see above) at the debate: – When Romney said “if Saddam Hussein had opened his country to IAEA inspectors and they’d gone in and found that there were no weapons,” he didn’t mean that the inspectors didn’t go in and find that there was no evidence of a revived nuclear weapons program; he was instead offering a near-metaphysical commentary on Saddam’s intentionality throughout the whole process. Because Saddam did not welcome them with joy in his heart and transparency on his lips, they weren’t actually there.

Majority of Republicans Doubt Theory of Evolution – Maybe they haven’t evolved enough to do the Scientific Method?

Regards,

Jim

First of all, three definitions:

• Malapropism – A ludicrous misuse of a word that sounds like the one intended. ex: “Lead the way and we’ll precede.” (should be proceed), the unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar    
• Freudian slip – A slip-up that (according to Sigmund Freud) results from the operation of unconscious wishes or conflicts and can reveal unconscious processes in normal healthy individuals
• Oxymoron -  The inappropriate yoking together of a democratic institution and — well, a moron.

Here are a few of the hundreds of G. W. Bush quotes with “my government:”

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH’S PRESS CONFERENCE AFTER 9/11/2001 – The actions my government takes, in concert with other countries, the actions we take at home to defend ourselves will serve as a go-by for future presidents, or future prime ministers in Britain, for example, or future FBI directors. It is important that we stay the course, bring these people to justice, to show — and show others how to fight the new wars of the 21st century.

Press Conference by President Bush and President Havel of Czech Republic – “Some of the comments that have been uttered about Islam do not reflect the sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most Americans.”

Press conference: Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush – Later this week Prime Minister Blair and the Taoiseach will release a plan setting out the remaining actions that must be taken to realise the promise of the Good Friday Agreement. I support, and my government strongly supports, their efforts. 

2004 Presidential Candidates’ Views on the Middle East – “There’s a — the murderous ambitions of a few are trying to derail the hopes of many. And my government wants to work with governments to prevent that from happening.  

Tokyo War Crimes indictment against George W. Bush – ” Since 11 September, my government has obtained clear and compelling information that the Al Qaeda organization which is supported by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, had a central role in the attacks. There is much we do not know .Our enquiry is in its early stages .We may find that our self-defense requires further actions with respect to other organizations and States ”

President Addresses the Nation in Prime Time Press Conference – I mean, one of the things about Elisabeth’s question was, I step back and I’ve asked myself a lot, is there anything we could have done to stop the attacks. Of course, I’ve asked that question — as have many people of my government.  

President George W. Bush; King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan – The free trade agreement between Jordan and the United States is a model for the region, as my government works to build a Middle East free trade agreement.

OPENING OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES GENERAL ASSEMBLY – Working with our partners in the region, my government has helped the leaders of this hemisphere meet our goal of delivering treatment to 600,000 HIV sufferers across the region.

President condemns climate change treaty, dependence on Middle East oil – “I think that people who look at my government they’ll say that old George W. has surrounded himself with some great people. And I have.”

President Discusses Hurricane Katrina Lessons Learned Report with Cabinet - The more people learn about the transaction that has been scrutinized and approved by my government, the more they’ll be comforted that our ports will be secure. 

President Discusses Strong U.S.-India Partnership in New Delhi, India. – “My government is helping Americans who have lost their jobs get new skills for new careers. ”

And here is Mr. W’s most recent use of the phrase.   It’s the Decider’s world. We just live in it – “And they can try to have their votes of no confidence [on AG Gonzales], but it’s not going to determine — make the determination who serves in my government.”

I could go on and on, but let me close with an article by Marty Kaplan from February 23, 2006 on the same topic and the definition that best fits this on going situation:

Here’s how W is defending the Dubai decision: “The more people learn about the transaction that has been scrutinized and approved by my government, the more they’ll be comforted…”

For a moment, set aside the “trust-me” part of this, and focus instead on the “my government” bit.

If he’d said “my administration,” I wouldn’t have blinked. “My cabinet” would also have raised no hackles. If he really wanted to use the word “government,” then how about these pronouns as antecedents for “people”: “their government” or “our government.”

But no, he said “my government.” I don’t think that’s just a garden variety Bushism, a trivial malapropism. I think it goes right to his understanding of who he is, and who we are. It’s not a Freudian slip; it’s an Orwellian siren, an anti-democratic red alert.

The founding documents of our nation talk about the government, our government, a government, any government. If my is used, it’s said on behalf of the citizens, not their rulers.

But W really believes that it’s his government. He doesn’t see himself as a steward, a trustee, a caretaker, someone who temporarily gets to steer the ship of state because of the momentary consent of the governed and an enduring set of rules. No, he believes it’s his ship, his state, his rules — his and his ideological fellow-travelers.

The heads of some countries with parliamentary systems, like India, sometimes say “my government“; when they do, it means ‘my Cabinet,” “my temporary ruling co[a]lition,” “my majority” — which could fall in an instant, if there were a no-confidence vote.

But in the US, we don’t have governments that get made and dissolved year-round; we have Administrations, that get formed every four years.

In the American context, unless it’s an ordinary citizen like you or me speaking, let’s recognize the expression “my government” as what it really is: a deeply troubling oxymoron, the inappropriate yoking together of a democratic institution and — well, a moron.

Republican “Environmentalist” With Ties To Abramoff/Bush Administration Pleads Guilty – Italia Federici, a Republican activist will plead guilty to tax evasion and obstructing Congress in the influence-peddling scandal centered around former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Federici had close ties to senior Interior Department officials as head of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, a nonprofit group founded by former Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Federici introduced Abramoff to her sometime boyfriend, ex-Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles. Over the next several years, Federici served as a go-between for Griles and Abramoff. Abramoff donated roughly $500,000 to her group during that time.

Conservative Wants to Hold Down the Number of Voters – Paul Weyrich, father of the right-wing movement and co-founder of the Heritage Foundation and Moral Majority, said, “Now many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome – good government. They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” That’s why the Republicans are obsessed with so-called “voter fraud”. They want to disenfranchise voters because as Weyrich said back in the ’80’s…the more voters there are-the less of a chance the wingers have in any election.

Confirmed: The CIA Ran Secret Prisons in Poland and Romania – The secret detention facilities in Europe were run directly and exclusively by the CIA. While it is likely that very few people in the countries concerned, including in the governments themselves, knew of the existence of the centers, we have sufficient grounds to declare that the highest state authorities were aware of the CIA’s illegal activities on their territories.

80 Percent of Sex Scandal Leads are on Republicans – Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, days after posting a $1 million bounty for verifiable information on the sexual exploits of Washington politicals, says he’s been deluged – getting more than 200 leads, “80 percent of them on Republicans.”

Alabama State Republican Senator Punches Democratic Senator [Another slip down the slop to ruin, Andy]

Conservative Judge Says You Shouldn’t Sue for Big Money, But It’s OK for Him To Do It – Judge Robert Bork, one of the fathers of the modern judicial conservative movement, who has argued for tort reform against frivolous claims and excessive punitive damage awards, is seeking one-million dollars in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages after he slipped and fell at the Yale Club of New York City.

Regards,

Jim

Conservatives Call Them “Alarmist” Scientists, But the Scientists Are Not Alarmed Enough – Greenland’s ice cap is melting, and faster than scientists had thought possible. Greenland, the world’s largest island, is mostly covered by an ice cap of about 624,000 cubic miles that accounts for a 10th of all the fresh water in the world. Over the last 30 years, its melt zone has expanded by 30 percent. “Some people are scared to discover the process is running faster than the models,” said Konrad Steffen, a glaciologist at University of Colorado at Boulder and a Greenland expert who serves on a U.S. government advisory committee on abrupt climate change. In the past 15 years, winter temperatures have risen about 9 degrees Fahrenheit on the cap, while spring and autumn temperatures increased about 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Summer temperatures are unchanged.

Good Deed! Senate Judiciary Committee Passes Bill to Restore Habeas Corpus – Today the Senate Judiciary Committee passed an important bill to restore habeas corpus, the sacrosanct Constitutional right to challenge government detention in court, by a vote of eleven to eight. Habeas corpus was revoked by last year’s Military Commissions Act, which has been assailed as unconstitutional and un-American by leaders across the political spectrum. Today’s habeas bill was backed by the Judiciary Committee’s Democratic Chairman, Patrick Leahy, and its Republican Ranking Member, Arlen Specter. “The drive to restore this fundamental right has come from both sides of the aisle,” said Sharon Bradford, an attorney at the bipartisan Constitution Project, in response to today’s vote. “Restoring America’s commitment to the rule of law is not a partisan cause; it is a patriotic one,” she added. Today’s vote means the habeas bill can now be brought to the Senate floor at any time. One source with knowledge of the legislative plan said Majority Leader Harry Reid has committed to bringing the bill to a vote within the month. Some Democrats are pushing Reid to go further, advocating more comprehensive human rights protections and a repeal of the entire Military Commissions Act. Sign the petition to Restore Our Constitutional Rights.

Republican Representative John Doolittle Opposes House Ethics Probes for Indicted Members – As the House late Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to launch speedy ethics investigations of any member indicted for criminal conduct, Rep. John Doolittle voted against two measures on the matter.

Monica Goodling In Private Email: ‘Send Directly Up To Me, Outside The System’ – New Justice Department communications include an email from Monica Goodling, former counsel to Alberto Gonzales, directing another official to draw up a directive giving her unprecedented authority to hire and fire political staffers. Goodling tells the official, assistant attorney general Paul Corts, to “send [it] directly up to me, outside the system.”

Dick Cheney More Involved in Secret Surveillance Program Than Previously Known – Vice President Cheney told Justice Department officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former senior Justice official told senators yesterday. The meeting came one day before White House officials tried to get approval for the same program from then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who lay recovering from surgery in a hospital, according to former deputy attorney general James B. Comey. Comey’s disclosures, made in response to written questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicate that Cheney and his aides were more closely involved than previously known in a fierce internal battle over the legality of the warrantless surveillance program…. Comey said that Cheney’s office later blocked the promotion of a senior Justice Department lawyer, Patrick Philbin, because of his role in raising concerns about the surveillance.

Bush Cronies Are Cashing In on the War on Terror – A stream of former Bush Administration officials and insiders have been signing on as directors at obscure companies that compete for contracts at their old agencies.

Osama bin Laden Hiding Out at FOX Entertainment Group California Headquarters

Regards,

Jim

Jack Abramoff and His Associates Had 485 Lobbying Contacts with White House Officials Between January 2001 and March 2004 – Abramoff associates having extensive contacts with the White House include Neil Volz and Tony Rudy, who have both pleaded guilty to federal charges; Kevin Ring, a one-time Doolittle aide who is under federal investigation; and Todd Boulanger and Shawn Vasell, both still lobbyists. Susan Ralston, a key aide to presidential political strategist Karl Rove who had worked for Abramoff, resigned last October after the Government Reform report showed she had extensive contacts with Abramoff.

AT&T Planning to Put Up Internet Toll Booths and Cash In (But They’ll Call It Deregulation) – AT&T chief Ed Whitacre handed the keys over to his replacement Randall Stephenson yesterday, but not before giving a rousing pep talk to fellow executives in the company’s San Antonio board room. We just received exclusive video of the AT&T chairman’s parting speech. “There’s a problem. It’s called Net Neutrality,” Whitacre told the heirs to AT&T’s telecommunications empire. “Well, frankly, we say to hell with that. We’re gonna put up some toll booths and start charging admission.” This statement echoes those made in the press by Whitacre and Stephenson over the last two years. Despite claims of poverty whenever pressed to offer better services, these AT&T execs are privately gloating over more than $35 billion in gross profits over the last 12 months. Moreover, Whitacre (and now Stephenson) are pressuring Congress to allow them to provide privileged Web access to their customers to companies that pay them a special fee. “Will Congress let us do it?” Whitacre asks his colleagues. “You bet they will – cuz we don’t call it cashin’ in. We call it ‘deregulation.’ “

Cheney Has Made Iraq Look like Kansas

Several Thousand Turkish Troops Crossed Into Northern Iraq Wednesday to Chase Kurdish Guerrillas – This was predicted in an earlier Bad Deeds several weeks ago.

State Department Short People and Other Resources; Suffering Low Morale – The State Department has too few people to fill increasingly difficult jobs while the Iraq and Afghanistan wars drain off resources, an independent report found Tuesday. The report from the Foreign Affairs Council, which includes retired ambassadors and senior diplomats, also said morale is dropping among diplomats. The council found a severe staff shortage and holds Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice partly responsible. The State Department needs 1,100 more employees, especially since recent staff additions have gone to fill jobs in Iraq, Afghanistan and other difficult posts, the report said.

Most Conservative Presidential Candidates Would Pardon Scooter Libby

Rep. Tom Tancredo Wants to Halt Legal Immigration – Republican Congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo said, “We have to stop all legal immigration except for people coming into this country as immediate family members or refugees.”

Regards,

Jim

Bush Administration Cuts Back Climate Checks From Space – President Bush is trying to convince the world the US is ready to take the lead in reducing greenhouse gases. But meanwhile, the administration is drastically scaling back efforts to measure global warming from space. A confidential report to the White House, obtained by The Associated Press, warns that American scientists will soon lose much of their ability to monitor warming from space.

Fox News Can’t Tell the Difference Between One African-American Congressman and Another – Fox News coverage of the indictment of Bill Jefferson shows footage of John Conyers.

Unworkable, Half-Baked Plan to Blow-Up JFK Airport Labeled as Terrorism of Unthinkable Devastation – Even if this plot had gotten to the execution stage, and it wasn’t even close to that, it would not have done more than cause one big but well-contained bright orange fire at one fuel tank, that would not have spread and would not have harmed people or airplanes. They were yet another band of ne’er-do-wells with a homegrown hatred for the U.S. They had no terror training or know-how, no links to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, or the big-bucks funding mechanisms of the kind that carried out real terror on 9/11. Their driving force in this plot of “unthinkable devastation” was a government informant, a twice-convicted drug dealer eager to win a lighter sentence. Aside from the most important aspect that their plan was not feasible, they also had no explosives to carry it out. Let’s call these schemes what they really are: Not terrorism, but “looneyism.”

Ron Paul on Race and Crime – Excerpts from Paul’s newsletters provide insight into his views and it ain’t pretty.

Cheney Lies To High Schoolers About Debunked Iraq/al Qaeda Connection – Addressing about 100 wide-eyed Wyoming high school students learning about government and the political process, Vice President Cheney yesterday repeated one of the key fabrications that helped send the United States into war. During the question and answer session, one student asked, “I was wondering — I’m not trying to start a debate, or anything, but do you still think that the Iraq war can be won?” Cheney immediately answered “yes,” adding, “I think we’re making significant progress now.” He then launched into a justification of the war, citing the September 11 attacks. “The fact of the matter is Iraq is part of the global war on terror,” he told the students. “And you’ve got to go back and look at what happened on 9/11. Cheney then recounted his tall tale of how the late al-Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was proof of Saddam Hussein supporting terrorism. The implication that Zarqawi helped justify the war was thoroughly debunked last year by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which found that Saddam Hussein actually attempted to locate and capture al-Zarqawi.

Arkansas GOP Head Says That We Need More Attacks on American Soil So People Will Appreciate Bush – In his first interview as the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, Dennis Milligan told a reporter that America needs to be attacked by terrorists so that people will appreciate the work that President Bush has done to protect the country. “At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001],” Milligan said to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country.”

Louisiana Congressman Indicted in Bribery Probe – U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-Louisiana, was indicted Monday on federal charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering in a long-running bribery investigation into business deals he tried to broker in Africa. The indictment handed up Monday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, is 94 pages long and lists 16 alleged violations of federal law that could keep Jefferson in prison for up to 235 years, according to a Justice Department official who has seen the document.

Regards,

Jim

Detainee Abuse Was Planned in Detail – Many of the controversial interrogation tactics used against terror suspects in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo were modeled on techniques the U.S. feared that the Communists themselves might use against captured American troops during the Cold War, according to a little-noticed, highly classified Pentagon report released several days ago.

Bush Climate Plan is the Same Old Song – President George W. Bush’s plan to tackle climate change merely restates U.S. policy which has been ineffective in the past in cutting emissions blamed for global warming, the EU’s environment chief said on Friday

G8 greenhouse gas emissions rise: US is Biggest Emitter – Greenhouse gas emissions by leading industrialized nations have accelerated since 2000. The United States is the world’s biggest emitter; however, Russia, Italy and Canada have each had bigger rises than the 1.6 percent U.S. gain since 2000, when Bush won election to the White House. The revival of the Russian economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union is a main spur. Only Britain, Germany and France have cut back since 2000.

Raising Questions About 9/11 Gets an Army Sergeant Demoted for “Disloyalty” – Today, Donald Buswell’s job is taking care of some 40-plus wounded soldiers at San Antonio’s Fort Sam Houston medical center. But, Buswell has been where these men are — three years ago, he too was recovering from wounds received in a battle zone in Iraq. “I truly consider this an honor,” Buswell told his dad not long ago. Since joining the Army in 1987, he had risen to the rank of sergeant first class, serving in both Gulf Wars, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Korea. He ended up with shrapnel scars and a Purple Heart and, back in the U.S. after his last tour in Iraq, a job as intelligence analyst at Fort Sam Houston. He couldn’t have foreseen that one e-mail could derail his career and put him on his way out of the Army. Buswell wrote that he thought the official report of what happened on 9/11 at the Pentagon, and in the Pennsylvania crash of United Airlines Flight 93, was full of errors and unanswered questions. Fort Sam Houston’s chief of staff penned a letter accusing Buswell of “making statements disloyal to the United States.”

Bush Administration Begins New Arms Race
President Top of Form 1
Bottom of Form 1
Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia’s test-firing of new missiles this week was a response to U.S. plans to build missile defense sites across Europe, and suggested Washington is pursuing an imperialist policy that has triggered a new arms race.

Tell the Judge: Should Scooter Libby Get Off with Probation or Serve Prison Time? – Lewis “Scooter” Libby asks a federal judge to spare him prison time in the CIA leak case. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said he received more than 150 letters on Libby’s sentencing. Over Libby’s objection, Walton said he would make those letters public.

Judge Reggie B. Walton’s contact information:

Telephone Number: 202-354-3290
Fax Number: 202-354-3292
Address:
United States District Court for the District of Columbia
E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse
333 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001

Republican Senator Jim DeMint Says Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical weapons that still exist – During a luncheon speech to 100 constituents in Spartanburg, SC, DeMint took issue with the now widespread belief that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, saying the executed Iraqi dictator had “stockpiles of chemical weapons” that still exist.

Bill O’Reilly States His Priorities: It’s Not About All People; It’s About the White, Christian, Male Power Structure
Bill O’Reilly: “But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you’re a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have.”

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So Many War Dead That Ft Lewis Can No Longer Conduct Individual Memorial Services – Fort Lewis, which this month has suffered its worst losses of the war, will no longer conduct individual memorial ceremonies for soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, the post will hold one ceremony for all soldiers killed each month, the Fort Lewis acting commanding general, Brig. Gen. William Troy, wrote in a memo to commanders and staff last week. “As much as we would like to think otherwise, I am afraid that with the number of soldiers we now have in harm’s way, our losses will preclude us from continuing to do individual memorial ceremonies,” Troy wrote in the memo.

Regards,

Jim