Bad Deeds for 4-4-2008

McCain Delays Releasing Medical Records for Fourth Time – On Wednesday, McCain’s campaign told CNN that the Arizona senator’s medical file would be produced May 15. Trouble is, they previously said they’d be released April 15, and they’ve refused to turn the records over to the New York Times on at least three occasions.

Attorney General Says Government Failed to Act on Phone Call That Could Have Prevented 9/11 Attacks – According to a recent public statement in favor of warrantless wiretapping by Attorney General Michael Mukasey, federal authorities, prior to the 9/11 attacks, failed to intercept a call from suspected terrorists in Afghanistan, when doing so could have prevented the attacks from taking place. The FISA law that existed at the time, the letter points out, would have allowed such a call to be intercepted and permission granted by the courts retroactively to do so.

Bush Administration’s Fails to Meet Legal Deadline for Determining Whether Global Warming is Pushing Polar Bears Toward Extinction – Senate Democrats yesterday deplored the Bush administration’s failure to meet a legal deadline for determining whether global warming is pushing polar bears toward extinction and lashed their scheduled star witness — Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne — for declining to appear in his own defense. Kempthorne announced 15 months ago that his department would determine within a year whether the bear should be added to the endangered species list because rapidly disappearing sea ice threatens its ability to hunt and survive, but he has yet to issue a decision. A coalition of environmental groups has sued the Interior Department for missing the one-year deadline to act. “The Bush administration is violating the law, and that is why we’re here today,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, opening the hearing. “These species do not have an indefinite time to be saved. . . . Time is running out for the polar bear, and time has run out for this decision.”

‘The Best Qualified Person in the Nation’ Was Fired by the Justice Department – Leslie Hagen, in her final evaluation at the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, received the highest possible performance rating. Then she was fired. Monica Goodling, senior counsel to former Attorney General Gonzales, had a particular interest in Justice attorney Leslie Hagen, according to documents. An e-mail shows that a few months before Hagen was let go, Goodling decided to remove part of Hagen’s job portfolio. Several people interviewed by the inspector general’s staff described the case to NPR and said they came away with the impression that the Attorney General’s office decided not to renew Leslie Hagen’s contract because of the talk about her sexual orientation. As one Republican source put it, “To some people, that’s even worse than being a Democrat.” At the height of the scandal over the fired U.S. attorneys, Goodling admitted to making personnel decisions about career Justice Department lawyers based on improper partisan considerations.

Progress? More Than 1,000 in Iraq’s Forces Quit Basra Fight – More than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen either refused to fight or simply abandoned their posts during the inconclusive assault against Shiite militias in Basra last week, a senior Iraqi government official said Thursday. Iraqi military officials said the group included dozens of officers, including at least two senior field commanders in the battle.

In 2011, which nations will be launching spaceships to the International Space Station ?

• Russians … check!
• Europeans … check!
• Japanese … check!
• America … nope.

Regards,

Jim