Bad Deeds for 1-31-2008

Bush Issues Signing Statement to Allow Permanent Bases In Iraq – Signing statement overrules law Congress passed to ban permanent bases.

U.S. Troop Reductions in Iraq May Slow or Stop – The Bush administration is sending strong signals that U.S. troop reductions in Iraq will slow or stop altogether this summer, a move that would jeopardize hopes of relieving strain on the Army and Marine Corps and revive debate over an open-ended U.S. commitment in Iraq.

Justice Dept. Blocking Probe of US Attorneys’ Firing, Federal Agency Says – The head of a federal inquiry into the firings of eight U.S. attorneys claims the Justice Department has impeded his investigation. Specifically, Office of Special Counsel chief Scott J. Bloch sent Attorney General Michael Mukasey a letter last week saying the department’s inspector general and office of legal counsel asked him to step aside until internal investigations are finished. But that could take months, Bloch wrote, effectively pushing his agency’s role “into the very last months of the administration when there is little hope of any corrective measures or discipline possible.”

Feds Let States Delay Bridge Inspections – Federal officials have allowed states to delay inspection of nearly 33,000 bridges, including ones in poor condition and interstate highway bridges that carry heavy traffic.

Paperwork Backlog Could Prevent Millions From Voting – More than a million people who want to vote in November’s general election probably won’t get the chance because of a delay in processing applications to become U.S. citizens, according to the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. The dream of voting in the upcoming presidential election — along with a scheduled increase in fees — motivated 1.4 million people across the country to apply after June 1 last year to become naturalized U.S. citizens — double the previous year’s number, the bureau said. The huge jump in applications also increased the time normally needed to process them from about seven months to as many as 18 months.

Mitch Ceasar, a Democratic party chairman in South Florida, says there are suspicions about the delay. “Conspiracy theorists may say this is grinding to a very slow movement or halt specifically to disenfranchise these new legal citizens from finishing their process and becoming voters,” Ceasar said.

That view is dismissed by Jose Riesco, the Republican party vice chairman in Miami-Dade County. “We don’t have voter suppression here,” Riesco said. “That is ludicrous. It is an election year, and that is political rhetoric.”

Bush Budget Cuts Medicare
In his new budget, to be unveiled Monday, President Bush will call for large cuts in the growth of Medicare, far exceeding what he proposed last year, and he will again seek major savings in Medicaid, according to administration officials and budget documents. Over all, the 2009 budget is likely to be the first $3 trillion spending request by a president.

Sky-high lead levels in Galveston, TX – Nearly one in five children in Galveston has enough lead in their blood to cause learning disabilities and behavioral problems — an alarming statistic that officials have known for years but have done little to improve. Across the country, officials in other cities have managed to reduce the number of poisoned children by making housing lead-safe, testing children who are most at risk and applying for grants to fund those programs. In Galveston, they’re just waking up to the enormity of the problem: lead-poisoning rates that are nearly 10 times higher than the national average — a toxic legacy of the city’s old housing. About 20 percent of the children in Galveston who tested positive for lead lived in properties owned by 12 landlords, according to the Baylor study.

Out of 10,000 FBI agents, only about 50 speak Arabic

Regards,
Jim