Republican Bad Deeds for 10-18-06

Bush Space Plan Reserves Right to Kick Others Out of Orbit
President Bush has signed a new National Space Policy that rejects future arms-control agreements that might limit U.S. flexibility in space and asserts a right to deny access to space to anyone “hostile to U.S. interests.” Though the administration claims it has no plans to develop or deploy space-based weapons systems, analysts say that the White House’s refusal to enter even informal negotiations on the subject fuels international suspicions to the contrary.

teRepublican Senator Larry Craig has consistently relied on “value voters”, but he has not been honest with them about his own conductxt

Republican U.S. Rep. John Sweeney may have violated congressional ethics rules by failing to reveal who paid for a trip he took to a Pacific island with a lobbyist hired by convicted Washington influence peddler Jack Abramoff

In January 2001, Sweeney traveled 8,000 miles to deliver a speech to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory infamous for its garment sweatshops and prostitution trade. He traveled with Tony Rudy, who had just left the staff of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to work for Abramoff.

Republican U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood admits to affair
U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood admitted Thursday to a five-year affair with Cynthia M. Ore, the Maryland woman who alleges in a $5.5 million civil action that he physically abused her, but called her lawsuit “malicious and baseless.” “For about five years I had an affair I deeply regret,” Mr. Sherwood said in a statement issued by his lawyer. “Although it was intermittent and ended last year, nothing I can say can diminish the pain and hurt I have caused my wife and family.”

GOP Sen Burns Says Bush And I Have An Iraq Plan And “We’re Not Going To Tell You”
Immediately following the debate, Tester campaign spokesman Matt McKenna likened Burns’ claim of a Bush plan to President Nixon’s secret plan in 1972 to end the war in Vietnam. The Burns campaign spokesman Jason Klindt, however, said there is no secret plan.

Bill O’Reilly falsely claimed that a pregnant woman’s life could “never” be “in danger” from pregnancy complication

On his radio show, Bill O’Reilly said, “you can always have a C-section and do those kinds of things.” In fact, several potential pregnancy complications, such as an ectopic pregnancy, which is “the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the first trimester” or preeclampsia, which “affect[s] up to one in seven pregnant women” can threaten the life of a pregnant woman.

Dick Cheney says, ‘General Overall Situation’ In Iraq Is Going ‘Remarkably Well’
Rush Limbaugh interviewed Vice President Cheney on his show today. At one point, Limbaugh asked Cheney to respond to growing frustration over U.S. efforts in Iraq. Cheney acknowledged there is a “natural level of concern out there” because fighting didn’t end “instantaneously.” (Next month, the war will have lasted longer than U.S. fighting in World War II.) Cheney then pointed to various news items to paint a positive picture of conditions in Iraq and concluded, “If you look at the general overall situation, they’re doing remarkably well.”

Electricity Levels In Baghdad At Lowest Level Since U.S. Invasion
In Sept. 2003, President Bush promised that he would help Iraqis “restore basic services, such as electricity and water, and to build new schools, roads, and medical clinics. This effort is essential to the stability of those nations, and therefore, to our own security.” But three years later, electricity levels in Baghdad are at an all-time low. Residents of Baghdad are receiving just 2.4 hours of electricity this month, compared to an average of 16 to 24 hours of electricity before the U.S. invasion.

Regards,

Jim